Bus Times

Disclaimer - I don't own Fairy Tail, desu.

Summary - "In which Gray is a semi-hardcore otaku and somewhat of a shut-in. He always had friendship problems but one particular event brought him to mistrust others. It felt like it would last this way forever, not until he meets someone who changes his life forever." A GrayLu AU multi-shot (Depending on response)

Genres - Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort

Staring at the computer screen endlessly, a young guy sat on a chair in the corner of a brightly lit room. He had multiple tabs opened at the same time as his fingers moved fast at the speed of lightening. As he rolled over the mouse to click open the last tab and closed it, he put on a sheepish smile of satisfaction. Sighing in relief, he pushed back and relaxed his tense muscles.

"Finally done, huh..."

He passed a hand through his spiky cerulean hair, absent-mindedly gawking into empty space. He had a strange smile put over his face for a while now.

"This week, she really shone, didn't she?"

He grinned as he got lost in his own thoughts; thoughts about her, about him and their possible life together. He clicked his tongue with joy, as he started feeling overfilled with the endless possibilities.

"That girl..."

As far as the aforementioned condition of the ice maker was concerned, blame it on his life. He had gone through a lot. His life had been a true roller coaster, the one without any wheels.

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Gray, the son and one of the three heirs of Fullbuster family which was known as one of the most privileged magic using families in the area. Shortly after his birth, his father had gotten vanished off to somewhere, never to be heard again. Regardless of this, he was never deprived of love, his mother happily did both roles for him. He was an healthy child whom everyone adored. He was just that cute with his puppy-dog eyes, dark blue hair and fair features: no one could resist his cuteness and would immediately want to hold him as soon as they would get their hands over him. It continued this way, not until he put on some weight and got heavier as he grew.

The kid Gray was known for his weird verbal inventions and not-so-ordinary behaviour. Ever since he had started speaking, he had nicknames for most of the things he had an encounter with. Like in case of cow, he would call "baa", just 'cause it sounded like so. As for river, he preferred to call it "big water". Why? Rivers can hold a large amount of water, so why not?

He had an awful habit of hitting almost anyone on the face, but only if anyone teased him. Due to his awfully firm hand at such a tender age, he was feared so no one

He was absolutely loved by his siblings, i.e. Ultear Fullbuster and Lyon Fullbuster who had prayed their asses off to God for a lovely brother. As soon as their wishes were answered, their happiness had no bounds. They often had (cat)-fights on 'who-is-gonna-hold-Gray' as soon as they came home from the school, only to see a crying Gray who had apparently gotten annoyed to see their fight. At such moments, not knowing what to do, they both would try to babysit him but fail to accomplish anything. At such times, Ur, their mother would come and calm the raven-haired kid down as the other two would get lectured real bad.


The ice maker started going to a well-known magical academy. As predicted, he was good at school-work, doing almost all of his homework without anyone ever telling him to do so. As a result, he was admired a lot and often told as an example to other kids. Unfortunately, the child wasn't particularly fond of speaking as much as to be told. He would rather be quiet, and speak as less as possible, often gesturing for a 'yes' or 'no' and speaking only when the circumstances demanded it.

He was considered to be one of the good kids in his classroom, but due to rarity of speeches, he was often alone and had almost no friends to be with. But it never really bothered him, at times he would want to have one but then again, he had his 'lacrima computer' which he adored to death.

As he reached an age of 6, he performed his first spell, which was, as expected, an icy one. It was nothing big, but still quite earlier for a kid to perform one which was a hint of his possible adeptness at the element. Pleasantly surprised, his mother started training strictly under severe conditions. During this process, he had inherited an awful habit of stripping down to his boxers. Quite a freaky habit.


He transferred to a new academy which went by the name "Fairy Tail", the same one which Lyon and Ultear were studying currently. Quite surprisingly, on his first day, he bawled once he reached home. His sister and mother got worried and rushed towards him.

Ultear thought, maybe the school was too tough for as him as it was on a much higher level as compared to his old one.

Ur reflected, maybe he was having friendship problems.

And then they were told the unreasonable reason. Apparently, the school remains open way too late as compared to his old one.

His sister sweat-dropped, and tried to comfort him but never really succeeded. As the weekend came to an end, a "happy-than-ever" Gray came home, grinning excitedly. Surprised to see him like this, his sister once again asked out of curiosity, the reason of his happiness. And she would her find herself jaw-dropping as the youth would tell her that apparently, the school offers two holidays instead of just one, so all in all, he ended up liking his new school.

Such a simple reason could make him happy.

In his new school, he met a pinkette dragon slayer whom he considered too stupid for his own good. The dragon slayer would continuously pester him around, and wouldn't listen at all whenever he would tell him that he didn't want to be his friend.

Then one day, something happened and the pinkette won him over.

Tired. gave up. The pink-haired mage was too stubborn. Maybe it was just for his own good. Albeit a little annoying, he was relieved to find someone after so many years of being along. And so he grabbed his hand and hence, a legendary friendship and rivalry was born.

Shortly after this, he became friends with the fiery swordmaster, Erza and tarot-card mage, Cana, easily befriending rest of the gang to his surprise.

Still, Gray wasn't the type to make friends easily. He was friendly but not to the extent that he would make friends with anyone right at the spot. He would rather be with them for a while, study them and then take the relationship any further. So as a result, he had a lot more acquaintances than friends.

On a positive note, he had proven himself to be a good friend several times, like those countless times, he helped the fire-breather with his summer homework.

In his heart, he was much more of an indoor person than outdoor, and would rather to be with his close friends and family than strolling in a crowd. In other words, an introvert.

On a whole, he had grown to be a likeable and fun person whom anyone could rely on. He would end up joiningthe brawls, his best friend would drag him into.

As the stripping habit kept intensifying, unknown to him, a small fan-club had formed.


On his path to be an adept mage, the raven-haired ice maker had enhanced his abilities to a much greater extent, became more powerful and was no doubt, among the top 10 of his academy. Often praised for his battling style which was more about a balance on his mental and physical abilities, the youngster was proving to be an upcoming force to be reckoned with. He was on a par with his eternal rival, they would compete all the time. While in physical battles, they would barely outdo each other but everyone knew, Gray was smarter so academical performances so things were in his favour. Although he could still do better, Gray found out that he wasn't fond of coming at first position. He didn't quite like fame and the consequences it brought.

Jealousy. envy. hate.

He would rather stay a step behind, and so he did. Eventually, he wasn't giving quite as much of an effort as he was able to.

"It wouldn't make much of a difference on others," or so he thought.

On one evening, walking home with his eternal rival, he ended up blurting out some details on this particular part of his personality. When the flame mage found out about this in one of the conversations he shared with ice maker, he stunned on his mark.

For a moment, his face darkened and then all the ice maker could saw was a furious punch headed towards him. He fell to the ground, taking the unexpected blow. He was confused at this all. "Why was he causing such a fuss over such a small thing?," he thought.

"I don't want to be friends with some half-hearted bastard!" he heard.

He hadn't seen this coming. Maybe that's what had added to the pain. He thought, he had finally made a friend who understands him. He treasured their friendship to a great extent.

But maybe, no one understood him after-all.

So he returned the favour by hitting him with the same fury. In this way, a brawl started out. It continued till they collapsed on the ground, all exhausted amidst the sunset.

On that day, Gray was the one to win. But inside his heart, he had lost it all.

"I would rather not be friends with the likes of you." He hissed.

And then walked away.

This proved to be a turning point in his life. Gray changed. On his exterior, he would behave the same, but deep inside, he knew he was just acting. He felt like, he had become a liar. He had stopped trusting others, even his comrades. He always put up a strong front, but on his inside, he was fallen apart.

Ultear felt it. Ur felt it. Lyon felt it.

But despite all their efforts, no one could bring the old Gray back. The Gray who was always ready to help everyone, who was positive about everything, who was cheerful; became dark and cynical all of a sudden. He wasn't showing to be so, but they were his family. They knew more about him and understood him more than outsiders could. Even Natsu felt it, but he had his manly pride on his side, so he turned a blind eye to this.

It clearly wasn't a nice development on Gray's part.


On the graduation day, everyone was sad and regretful. How they are going to stay away from each other now. Gray only posed to be so. Actually, this wasn't what you could exactly call 'graduation'. The classes of 11th and 12th grade of their high school life were going to be held in another branch in another city which wasn't too far from theirs. He knew that all of them were going to be around so crying your eyes out felt pointless to him. It was another thing that he was going to miss the academy, he had spent so many years in.

So many memories.

It was the place where he made his first friend.

Who betrayed him.

And he was unable to stop the increasing urge of hitting his head against a wall.

As he was thinking so, his eyes caught a dragon slayer who was practically attacking the food. He was biting on a chicken-leg one minute and then gulping down juice next moment. He eyed towards him too. For a moment, the eye-contact lasted, not until the fire mage turned his head away, hinting a "Hmph".

All he could do was really smash his head into a wall.

.

As school was closed for summer holidays, he was having quite a few months of free time now. His main hobby had been net-browsing for a while now but ever since his graduation, he had been like practically glued to the screen. He would stay up late at night, doing his otaku tasks.

No matter how much he tried to live it, his life had became tasteless in all honesty.

Until he saw someone, and felt a change in himself. Kitsune Monika, she had the most beautiful smile in the world. Kind and caring, although it wouldn't look like it but she was always helping others behind the screen. She didn't demand things in return. She was true to herself, very down to the earth.

Maybe, he saw a part of himself in her.

At first, it felt to him that it was just an attraction, a silly one to be exact. But then he felt that with each appearance of her in his favourite anime character would make him smile unintentionally. He would find himself cheering for her involuntarily. Just like him, she didn't have the most remarkable past. How she was always so hard. How she was always cheerful arounds. At the same time, she had difficulties involving relationships.

Her insecurities, her fears, he could feel them all. Wasn't he the same? Didn't he have been betrayed too?

"Maybe, she could bring him back to life?"

As time passed on, he felt his feelings becoming more and more clearer. Waiting for her appearances each week became enjoyable and painful all at the same time.

She really was like him.

Lost. Lonely. Heartbroken.

He felt her to hold his other half, a piece of puzzle who could complete him. He knew it was stupid, she wasn't even real. They didn't even live in the same world. Yeah, she was just an anime character, a mere imaginary sketch. But knowing it all, he fell for her.

And fell for a girl, who would eventually find her prince.

Monika found a love interest. Yeah, she fell for a guy in the very same anime. The day he found out this, was probably the most difficult day of his life. She was supposed to be reason to live, but now, just looking at her with another guy was painful to him.

He was feeling disgusting. He could see himself as an idiot. Afterall, didn't he have all the marks spot on? He fell for an anime character, tried to find a way with her, and when she left, he shed tears in the dark.

Pathetic.

In the end, he decided to give her all his support. He was a man, after all. He wasn't giving up on her yet, if he got the chance, he would travel to her world and steal her away, any minute. But for now, he wanted to support her. He wanted to treasure that smile.

He had no idea where his life was going. It felt so meaningless and worthless. He would trade his crazy life for a normal one any day.


Lying on his bed, the ice mage was all wrapped in the bed-sheet. The calender read 27th August with the next date marked with a rep pointer. It was a chilly night, as everyone enjoyed their sleep. The same could not be said for the raven-haired mage who was lying motionless. He had been deep in thought for a while now, thoughts about her.

"Seriously, how long I am gonna stay like this?" Gray screeched.

"What's done is done... It was just a stupid love and now I am out of it." He tried to reassure himself.

He tried to stand up but losing his balance, fell on the bed once again.

"Damn it!"

Silence spread everywhere He was listening to the ticking of clock very keenly. Sighing, he covered his eyes with his rugged hand.

Tomorrow was going to be start of his new academic life. To be honest, he had no idea, how was he going to handle it. He had been a near shut-in for a while now. Will he be al right? Will he even show up tomorrow?

"No way... I had enough...!" He gritted his teeth, clenching his fist as the images of his life-so-far passed through his eyes. He didn't want to feel the same again. He wanted to live happily. He wanted to hope for a better tomorrow, but he didn't know how to.

As his inner feelings started to boil up, he sighed once again. Frustrated, he gave up. As his eyes started to feel heavy, he decided to leave it all on God, praying one wish repeatedly in his mind.

"Please God, let this new life of mine bring me back to reality...!"

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