as promised, here's the 2nd part of By The Pool, phew! i finished it yay!

also i made this longer than the first one, i think it's twice as long, Glad i finished it before the week ends again LOL. i think the story has more speech than the narrative part, oh well i'll try to do better next time, i'm gonna make it into GrayxLucy completely rather than just implied, since i don't think i just implied that their together LOL, oh well rookie's mistakes i guess, XD

as always please Read and Review! ^^

Disclaimer: i don't own Fairy Tail. and i don't want to get sued since i can't give a fight XD, still belongs to the complete and utter Genius that is still and always will be Hiro Mashima,

Enjoy ^^

By The Pool

Recap:

Natsu approached Erza while holding 2 glasses filled with orange juice, "Hey, sorry for the wait, I talked with Mira for awhile" "no problem" "oh uhhmm.. here's your drink" Natsu said handing Erza her drink and sitting on the other long chair beside her, "thanks" "hey uhmm.. Erza.. I want to tell you something.."

Part 2

"what is it Natsu?" Erza asked looking at Natsu with a curious face,

"I uhh… well you see the thing is…. I sorta.. kinda.." 'damn it Natsu! Just spit it out already she's waiting!' Natsu thought,

"what is it Natsu? C'mon you can tell me anything" Erza assured him

"I like you..r swimsuit! Yeah that's it!" Natsu blurted out while rubbing the back of his neck and smiling nervously at Erza

Erza raised an eyebrow, "My swimsuit? Uhh.. thanks?" Erza said, not really sure on how to respond from Natsu's affection towards her swim wear,

"yeah, no problem, it's nice, it suits you perfectly" he said still smiling quite nervously, 'I like your swimsuit? What the hell Natsu?, I thought you're going to man up about this? Good thing Elfman isn't here or else he would surely lecture me on being a man again, I'm not sure I can take another go at "Being a Man 101" ' He thought

"so Natsu, do you uhh… have any interests in girls?" Erza asked out of the blue which caught Natsu's attention as he once again break away from his thought.

"yeah I do, I'm a guy aren't i?" Natsu answered chuckling.

"are you?" Erza playfully asked laughing a bit

"hey! That's not funny Erza" Natsu retorted back pouting a bit,

Erza giggled "calm down Natsu, I was only playing around, I know that you're not gay, well I hope"

"Errrzzaaa" Natsu whined,

"just kidding, just kidding"

"hmm… hey Erza, what do you think Gray and Lucy did during their break?"

"I don't know, but it sure did took them a while to return"

"yeah, plus their appearances aren't that presentable either"

"True, Lucy's hair was a mess. Her face was flushed too"

" and Gray has that, "that-went-well" look on his face too"

"I wonder what they did?" "you tell me"

They talked for a few more minutes, they had random topics, like Gray's ridiculous habit of taking his clothes off or about Lucy being boyfriend-less or even Happy's affection towards Charle, on which they both thought hadn't made any progress at all,

"we better get back to work before Master thinks that we're slacking off" Erza said getting up from her chair and offering Natsu her hand, Natsu nodded and took her hand, while standing up he trips, which caused both of them to lose their balance and they fell,

Now their current position was that Natsu was on top of Erza, faces not more than 2 inches apart, they stared at each other's eyes, both faces are red as a tomato.

' she looks really beautiful I can't take my eyes off of her' Natsu thought,

'he's cute, he really did grew up to be quite a handsome man' Erza thought

'if I can only move my face forward just a little more' they both thought as their faces slowly gets even more closer than before closing their eyes on the process,

"do you guys plan on staying like that all day or are you going to help us with the pool? Or maybe would you guys prefer to roll around to add up more drama?" Gray said from the pool, which caused Natsu and Erza to break away from their almost kiss and quickly stands up

"i-I'm sorry Erza, that was clumsy of me" Natsu said face still flushed

"it's okay, no harm was done" Erza replied face just like Natsu's

At the pool Gray earned a hard smack at the back of his head from Lucy,

"way to ruin the moment stupid!"

Gray rubbed the back of his head "ow! Geez Lucy, what was that for?"

"for disrupting other people, you ruined a perfect moment for them!" Lucy exclaimed through gritted teeth, "what moment? They were just lying there. They're being lazy and you're siding up with them?" Gray said

Lucy face-palmed "honestly Gray, after what happened during our "break", I thought you of all people would know what a kiss is"

"of coarse I know what a kiss is, and they weren't kissing" Gray stated

"they were about to!"

"they were?" Gray confused

"yes, until you rudely interrupted them with your stupidity on which I never knew you had"

"there's a lot more things that you don't know about me Lucy" Gray said proudly which earned a sweat-drop from Lucy

"why are you so proud? That wasn't a compliment idiot!"

"oh? Then forget about what I said"

"why? What did you say popsicle?" Natsu asked while walking towards Lucy and Gray.

"who are you calling popsicle burnt-brain?" Gray said glaring at Natsu, and automatically Natsu did the same, "who do you think frozen-brain?"

Erza pulled Natsu's arm, Lucy did the same with Gray,

"Didn't I tell you two to stop fighting and get along?" Erza said with venom on her voice which caused the two male wizards to shiver violently due to fear,

"we're sorry! We're friends now!" Gray and Natsu said at the same time while buddying up to eachother, "it still amazes me how you can make those two to stop fighting with one look" Lucy said sweat-dropping at the boy's actions,

"well, it's either you got it or you don't" Erza said

"by the way, you guys looked quite intimate moments ago" Lucy said winking at the currently red wizards.

Natsu and Erza who was close to each other quickly created a gap between them, "we have no idea what you're talking about!" both said in unison while trying their outmost best on hiding their red painted cheeks or should I say faces,

"uhh… let's continue with the pool, it's almost time for lunch, and I uhhmm… am hungry" Natsu said nervously grabbing a brush,

"I second in emotion, let's begin" Erza said

"right, Gray why don't you and Natsu start cleaning the other side, me and Erza will continue cleaning this part, so we can finish faster" Lucy said looking at Gray,

"what? I don't want to work with this idiot!" Gray protested which earned a deathly glare from the Titania,

"I thought you guys were friends?" Erza asked with a stronger venom obviously present in her voice which once again caused both boys to shiver in fear,

"we are! Right Natsu buddy?" Gray said nervously while putting an arm around Natsu's shoulder, "Aye!" Natsu replied doing the same thing as Gray

"very well then, proceed with your work, no slacking off!" Erza commanded,

"yes ma'am!" Both boys saluted her then ran to the other side of the pool with their pails of water and a few brushes,

To Natsu And Gray

"I can't believe I'm forced to work with you, of all people" Gray said as he scrubs the pool tiles,

"I'm no more happier about this than you icicle" Natsu retorted back while scrubbing the wall tiles,

"if Erza didn't forced me to do this, I wouldn't even think about working with a lame head fire jerk like you"

"she didn't force you popsicle! You're just too scared to refuse her request!"

"and you're not?"

"no I'm not, I'm working with you against my will not cause she forced me, I'm doing this because she asked me"

"same difference"

"not really"

"I'm starting to think that you like Erza Natsu, but of course chances of that ever happening is close to zero right?"

"who knows" Natsu replied shrugging

"wait! Don't tell me that you actually like Erza"

"What if I do?"

"why?"

"what's the matter? She's likeable"

"yeah, but this Erza we're talking about, she's scary" Gray said still working on the tiles,

"well Lucy is scary too, and you like her"

"ok, one, Lucy is not scary, two, I don't like her like that" Gray said trying to defend himself

"first of all, if you think that Luce isn't scary then you really don't know her that much, and secondly, if you don't like her like that, then why did you made-out with her during your break?"

"wait! You know about that?" Gray asked nervously

"nope, but now I do" Natsu replied smirking

"damn you sly jerk"

"it takes one to know one"

"whatever, let's just finish up here, I'm starving" Gray said rubbing his tummy indicating that he really is hungry,

"yeah me too" Natsu replied "come on, let's hurry up. We're almost done"

"alright then" Gray replied not really caring about what Natsu said and trying his best to get the job done quickly,

"oh and Gray, you probably know this by now, but just in case you don't, I'll fry your sorry behind if you ever hurt Lucy, you got that icicle?" Natsu warned

"why do you care?" Gray asked

"she's my bestfriend moron, that weirdo is my bestfriend, so you better treat her right or I'll melt you until you turn into a puddle!"

"that's lame Natsu! And worry about your own girlfriend not mine"

"I don't have a girlfriend in case you haven't notice"

"you would have one if you move your butt and make some progress with Erza since you already admitted that you like her"

"I didn't admit anything!"

"well then, do you like her or not?"

"well, I do but-" Natsu tried to say but got cut off by Gray

"then move! Before somebody else gets the chance and never pass it up, if that happens you're gonna regret it"

"what if she got her eyes on someone else? What if she rejects me? I'll lose her and our friendship which is way too important to me!" Natsu said looking away from Gray

Gray puts a hand on Natsu's shoulder, "technically, you won't lose her cause you never had her in the first place, but that's beyond the point, don't be a coward, take a risk, you'll never know if she feels the same if you don't move"

That is of course is the truth, the truth than everyone avoids hoping that their feelings would be noticed without having to risk anything too big, but even though moves aren't made, the awkwardness of feelings getting out without actually being together is quite inevitable. That is the thing that bothers Natsu the most,

Can he actually take this risk? He knows he promised Mira that he will, but can you blame a guy for having second thoughts? He had taken tons of risks before, some including the risk of losing his own life, but for him this is the biggest one yet, it's not a life or death situation but for Natsu it's even worse than that.

He just can't lose a friend, especially not Erza, No! not her!, he can't even stand thinking about losing her as a friend, but Gray was right, what if she feels the same? What if she's just waiting for him all along?

"you're right Gray, but what can I do? I'm scared" Natsu admitted, this took Gray off guard, scared? He can describe Natsu as a jerk, idiot, and cocky, but scared never even came close to a word that describes the salamander before him, not even once. Well except when it comes to Erza's punishments, hell even he was scared just thinking about what the Titania would do if she got pissed off.

"scared? Natsu that's stupid! You faced death head on and you're scared of telling Erza how you feel?" Gray said grabbing both Natsu's shoulders, "listen to me Natsu! You can do it! I haven't seen any challenge that you back out of!"

Natsu shook Gray's hands off of his shoulders "this is not a challenge!" Natsu said glaring at Gray,

"then I'll make it into one! Natsu! I challenge you to tell Erza how you feel!" and with that Gray turned his back at the salamander and continued his work,

Natsu was now deeply in thought, honestly he doesn't care about the whole challenge thing, he admits that his reputation might be at stake if he backs out but right now he really could care less, this is a challenge that he can back out of without having to worry about being called a chicken or coward cause as far as he's concerned he already proved himself to them, but he can't help but think that maybe he is not as brave as he wants to be,

Gray was right, he faced death head on, but how come he cannot express how he feels to someone?

"damn it! My brain's gonna crack because of this stupid thinking thing! Who invented thinking anyway?" Natsu growled, Gray who heard what Natsu said just sweat-dropped, "honestly, of all the things that can come out of his mouth, why must only the nonsense things escape?"

"hey Gray, you're right, but I need to find the perfect moment to tell her" Natsu said while walking towards Gray,

"Finally! Let's see, perfect moment huh? I got it, Gramps is throwing the guild a pool party tonight with light shows, tell her tonight during the light show"

"that's the reason why the old man wants us to clean the pool?"

"I guess so, but don't mind that, let's get this pool cleaned up for tonight" Gray said, Natsu just nodded as he continued his work, determined that tonight will be the night he tells Erza Scarlet how he feels,

'I'll tell her tonight, no matter what'

To Lucy and Erza

"hey Erza"

"yeah?"

"I was wondering, what did you guys did during your break?" Lucy asked putting the brush aside as she talks to Titania with curiosity and hope clearly visible on her face

"we just talked about random things, any particular reason why you're interested?" the scarlet-haired knight asked, not stoping what she is doing, which was cleaning the pool like the guys,

"and by random you mean what exactly? And I'm not really interested, just curious" Lucy answered

"curiosity kills the cat Lucy"

"well, I'm not a cat so no problem here"

"that's not exactly what I meant, but if you're that curious, I guess there's no harm in telling you" Erza said setting the brush by the pail as she talks to Lucy

"yay! Now start from the top"

"well, honestly speaking, there really isn't much to tell, at first he was nervous and he said he needs to tell me something an-"

"oh my gosh! Did he confessed?"

"not the confession that you have in mind though"

"then what did he say"

"he seems to be quite attracted to my swimwear and not the person who's wearing it"

"well, he's a guy after all, I guess all guys are perverts"

"I can't actually describe him as a pervert, I mean, it doesn't look liked he was checking me out, rather he was acting nervous and almost stuttering the words before he quickly blurts it out" Erza stated, remembering what happened during her break with Natsu,

"then maybe he's hiding something, but then again, like what I said before the guy's too dense to understand any of this"

"don't underestimate his capability to think Lucy, I know he acts like an idiot all the time but, he might surprise you every now and then"

"I know, I've experienced a lot of those surprises first hand, basically I never thought he was as powerful as what he shows now, at first I thought he was just another cocky wizard but he sure proved me wrong" Lucy admitted remembering everything Natsu did ever since she first joined Fairy Tail,

"and there's a lot more about him that you don't know, in reality, even I, myself don't know everything about him, he's mysterious even if he doesn't act like one"

"yeah, hey Erza, c'mon let's finish up, I'm sure Mira-san would call us for lunch soon, plus we need the pool filled for tonight's pool party" Lucy said finishing up the remaining slimes on the pool tiles

"alright then" Erza answered doing the same thing,

A good half hour had past and the pool was finally cleaned, the tiles were shining again under the bright rays of the sun, not a single dirt or slime can be found.

"finally done! Let's get ourselves cleaned before lunch" Lucy suggested, the rest of the team just nodded, "hold on! You guys go ahead, I'll fill up the pool" Erza said trying to find the hose or at least anything that would fill up the big pool with water without consuming too much time.

"I'll help you" the salamander said following the scarlet-haired beauty, "I'll help to-" Gray got cut-off by Lucy pulling him by the ear,

"you're coming with me!" she said pulling Gray away from the salamander and knight,

"ow!" Gray screamed in pain but to no avail, Lucy never let go of him.

To Natsu and Erza

"now where's that hose?" Erza asked nobody in particular while searching fot the said equipment,

"I just realized something, it would have been easier if we asked Lucy to summon that fish-lady who carries a lot of water, she could have filled the pool in a second" Natsu said, also searching for the hose

"true, but if we do that, she'll fill the entire city with water and not just the pool"

"oh yeah, that fish has anger issues" Natsu said grabbing a big hose from nowhere

"where'd you got that?"

"it was just lying there"

"oh, well then let's fill the pool and clean up before we eat" Natsu just nodded as he hooked the big hose to a faucet with equal size and put the other end of the hose in the pool, Erza twisted the faucet's main control system and opened it, the water flows freely from the faucet to the pool in a rapid motion

"the pool should be ready by tonight"

"yeah, let's get cleaned up, shall we Natsu?" Erza said

"alright"

They went their separate ways, each reaching their respective homes, they cleaned themselves up, got dressed and hurriedly went back to the guild for their free lunch.

Arriving at the guild at practically the same time, the other members were already eating, some are drinking and others are chatting

"oh there you guys are, I have been looking for you guys, your food is ready, it's on team Natsu's table" Mira said pointing at the table where the team usually sits, the table was filled with different foods all for free

"alright! Let's eat!" Natsu said sitting down mouth slightly drooling, the rest of the team nodded and sat down, Gray sat at the left side of Natsu, Lucy sitting beside Gray, which leaves Erza to sit at the right side of Natsu, they all started eating filling their empty stomachs,

After only 15 minutes the used to be filled table was completely empty, the only thing left was the empty plates and glasses, "woohoo! That sure hits the spot" Natsu said rubbing his stomach in complete satisfactory,

"hey Natsu, I need to talk to you for a minute, come with me" Lucy said standing up and walking out to the pool,

Natsu followed, leaving Erza and Gray at the table looking slightly confused, well Gray was confused and Erza was as stoic as ever.

Lucy and Natsu

"so Luce, what do you want to talk about?"

"look Natsu, I know that this might be outside the realm of your understanding but, what exactly do you feel for Erza?" Lucy asked

"why did you asked all of a sudden?"

"I just want to know, you act like you like her, but you never made a move"

"I don't like her" Natsu said

"you don't? so what do you feel for her then?"

"it's stronger than like"

"then what?" Lucy asked getting confused

"what's stronger than like?" Nastu asked rolling his eyes

"Lust?"

"what? Hell no, I was talking about Love, I'm not a pervert Luce"

"well you're a guy"

"not all guys are perverts you know?" (that's true, you tell her Natsu XD)

"besides, if I'm as stupid as you think I am, then you should know, I don't think like that, coz I'm probably too dumb to know those things" Natsu teased Lucy

"how am I supposed to know? You're a guy, you got 2 heads, who knows which one you use more" Lucy stated putting her hands on her hips

Natsu laughed "I don't think with south Luce"

"thanks for letting me know, and you're not much of a north thinker either Natsu"

Natsu rolled his eyes, "yeah, coming from someone who thought of "Lust" first instead of "Love" " Natsu stated smirking causing the celestial mage to turn red due to embarrassment

"shut up Natsu!, anyway when will you confess?"

"tonight, but I'm having troubles"

"what kind?"

"well everytime I look at her, I can't get the right words out, and ends up saying random things"

""so, what do you suppose you should do?"

"hmm.. I got it!"

"what?" Lucy asked getting curious of what Natsu's brilliant idea was

"I won't tell you"

"it better be something good Natsu"

"don't underestimate my capability to think Luce" Natsu grinned while walking away from Lucy

Lucy smiled at what Natsu said, and she remembered what Erza said to her when they were cleaning the pool

Don't underestimate his capability to think Lucy

"they're a perfect match"

Natsu was running out the guild, 'I have to prepare, the party will start soon'

"hey Flame-brain!" Gray called out to Natsu

"what? I'm in a hurry popsicle"

"you're telling Erza you like her tonight right?"

"nope"

"what? Don't tell me you chickening out again?"

"I'm not chickening out, I'm not gonna tell her I like her, I'm going to tell her that I'm inlove with her" Natsu said smiling

"what? But I thought-"

"I guess I'm more into her than I thought" Natsu cut Gray off while running again

Gray smiled, 'Good Luck Buddy' he thought as he walked home to also get prepared,

Night Time! Party Time! (I'm not gonna go and do the rather long details on how they prepared for the party, I'm gonna cut to the chase,)

The pool was filled with wizards enjoying the party, some were dancing others eating and chatting and the rest were swimming, hey it's a pool party after all right?, the music was loud and catchy that the wizards couldn't help but dance with the rhythm, at one of the tables a pink-haired young wizard is sitting at one of the chairs,

"hey burnt-brain you ready?"

"yeah, a little nervous though"

"don't be, you'll do fine, just try and stay calm ok?"

"thanks for the help popsicle, so how do I look?"

Natsu was wearing a white dressed shirt, a black vest over it, a pair of black pants, and a pair of wjte converse shoes, and of course his famous trademark scarf.

"you look fine" Gray said which earned a smile from the salamander.

"alright, the show is about to get started, find a nice spot" The Master shouted at the wizards, the wizards gathered around the pool.

"oh no! where's Erza? We need to get a good a great spot" Natsu exclaimed panicking a little while searching for the knight

"calm down, first of all Erza is over there, and second I told everyone to save a perfect spot for you which is over there" Gray said pointing at a spot, he and the other wizards saved for the lovely couple

"thanks Gray, I owe you one" Natsu said making his way to the scarlet-hared knight.

"hey Erza, I uhhmm, I found a perfect spot where we can watch the show" Natsu said offering Erza his hand

"Natsu.. you want me to watch with you?" Erza asked

"yeah, more than anything" Natsu replied, his cheeks starting to get red

"well, ok then" Erza replied taking his hand with the familiar color shading her cheeks,

They walked hand in hand across the crowd of wizards, until finally reaching their destination

"you look Great Erza" Natsu commented

Erza was wearing a purple dress, a black jacket that stops just below her chest, and a pair of stylish black boots.

"thank you, you don't look so bad yourself" Erza replied cheeks still as red as her hair

Soon the show began, the night sky was illuminated with various magical colors that the master had prepared, the lights were of different shapes and sizes, their colors blending with each other creating a sight that would surely be marked in your mind

"Erza.." Natsu said looking at the magnificent sky, his voice calm and barely above a whisper, but it was enough for Erza to hear through the "ooh's and ahh's" and gasps of the wizards surrounding them

"Yes?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the lights,

'alright Natsu, this is it, don't look at her or you'll lose your nerve'

Natsu tooked a deep breath, not looking at her he said what he wanted to say all day to her

"I'm in love with you Erza Scarlet, is that ok?" He confessed, his voice still as calm as it was when he called her name

Erza chuckled, "why wouldn't it be? Took you long enough, was that so hard?" Erza asked finally taking her eyes off the sky and looking at him

"I guess not" he smiled still not looking at her

Erza turned her attention back at the sky, "Natsu?" She said with her soft voice

"hmm?"

"I'm in love with you too, just so you know"

Natsu looked at her, his confidence rising, Erza looked at him again, their faces getting closer to each other, barely an inch of gap separating them when..

"does that mean you guys are a couple now?" Gray asked which made the two wizards stop and turned to look at him

"idiot, stop doing that" Lucy growled smacking Gray at the back of his head again

"ow! What I do?" Gray asked rubbing the spot where he got hit,

"way to ruin the moment again Gray" Lucy said glaring at her boyfriend who seems to be more clueless than Natsu

"sorry" was all he said before Lucy grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down,

"come here you big dummy" She said before kissing him

Natsu and Erza just chuckled at their team mates, before looking at each other

"I hope we don't end up like that, I don't think I can handle being smacked by you" Natsu said which caused Erza to laugh a little,

"then be a good boyfriend Natsu" Erza said before pulling him in for their first kiss, it was sweet and full of emotion, they felt the spark run through their entire body, they separated after a minute or so, "I Love You" they both said in unison while looking at each other's eyes

'I did it! We should clean the pool more often then, I won't forget this spot, hehe, this spot her just By The Pool'

well what do you think? is it alright? hope you liked it, ^^

thanks to all the people who reviewed my story, i really appreciate it!

amd thank you so much NXE-Forever for the helpful tip, do you think that this chapter is ok?

oh and i look forward to the next chapter of "I Love My Rival" so i hope you update soon, i'm a big fan of yours, so i was really happy that you reviewed my story,

hey has anyone ever realized that Jellal and Natsu almost have the same personality? well except for the Natsu being an hyperactive idiot and Jellal being a quiet serious dude, i was talking about Jellal's personality when he was a kid, you know, Friendly, never say die confidence, and he cares for his friends alot too, does that remind you of a hyperactive dragon slayer? and wasn't those the personalities that Erza fell inlove with back when she was a kid?

well anyway please Review

Au Revoir'