Summary

In the world of Edolas, Gray Surge and Natsu Dragion are best friends. Inseparable since the moment they met, it would only make sense that they knew absolutely everything about each other. But perhaps Gray doesn't know Natsu as well as he thinks he does. After all, he's completely blind to the fact that his best friend is in love, and even more ignorant to the fact that its with him.

Content suitable for most ages.

There was nothing more painful than loving someone who you know will never love you back, Natsu decided.

The disappearance of all magic from their world, having Erza Knightwalker on a mission to eliminate Fairy Tail, the realization that he would never drive his car again - none of that could even come close in comparison to the way his heart ached now. As he watched Gray watching her, Natsu's stomach twisted in nauseating knots, his body thrummed with barely restrained jealousy, and his fist itched to punch something, if only to serve as a momentary distraction from the way his heart felt like it was bleeding inside of his chest.

But Natsu did no such thing, too scared that if he lost his cool, Lucy or Mira would ask him questions; questions that he was nowhere near being prepared to answer. The last thing he needed was to admit his feelings, have the girls announce it to the entire guild and not only be rejected-slash-humiliated, but also lose his best friend.

Because no matter how much Natsu hated to admit it, that's exactly what would happen. Gray would dismiss everything he said, declare (for the millionth time) his love and adoration for Juvia, and simply move on with his life, too disturbed by the fact that another man (his best friend, nonetheless) was in love with him. Gray would leave Natsu behind, years of friendship lost simply because Natsu was stupid enough to believe that even for a second, Gray might feel the same way.

Natsu had made his peace with this a long time ago. He knew that Gray wasn't gay, bisexual, or even just a bit curious. Natsu knew because Gray looked at Juvia the way he looked at Gray, with longing and adoration and desire. He knew because once, in one of the more serious conversations shared between the two men, Gray had said that one day, he was going to marry Juvia. That was proof enough that he would never return Natsu's affections, so he lay the idea of confessing to rest. It would do no good, because the heart wants what the heart wants, and no matter how much Natsu's heart yearned for Gray, Gray's heart yearned for someone else. There was nothing Natsu, or anyone else for that matter, could do to change that.

But it didn't stop him from feeling jealous. It didn't stop him from wanting Gray to look at him like that, with bright eyes filled with love and devotion. It didn't stop Natsu's thoughts from racing as he lay in bed at night, thinking about those smooth lips and what lay under all those layers of clothes. Natsu felt like a pervert, fantasising about his best friend like that, but he figured it was safer to take care of his problems while alone instead of bottling it up and accidentally blowing up on one of his guild-mates one day. Lucy would have his foot lodged up his ass before he could even blink.

"What are you staring at?"

Natsu jolted so violently in his seat that his knee collided with the table in front of him. He let out a silent curse, clutching the now throbbing appendage as he lay his head on the wooden surface. He knew by the voice alone that it was none other than Lucy Ashley herself, and to say she sounded annoyed would be a major understatement.

Natsu blushed at being caught staring at Gray, then began to sweat as Lucy's demonic gaze burned holes into the side of his head. He cringed away from her on instinct, afraid that she might hit him (or worse), and that only seemed to infuriate her more. Anger rolled off of her in palpable waves. "I asked you a question, Dragion," she said through gritted teeth.

"N-Nothing," he stammered. "I was just staring, that's all. Not at a-anything in particular. Why would I be staring at something in particular? Should I be staring at something in particular?"

Natsu felt panic rise within him as Lucy's arm shot out. He flinched, bracing himself for the inevitable impact of her hit, and let out an oomph when her hand smacked the middle of his back. When he felt nothing more than that, just the sensation of her warm skin radiating against him, he opened one eye to a slit. Lucy was staring at him with a soft smile, one very unlike her, and it made a whole new level of fear roll through his entire body.

"Why don't you just tell him how you feel?" she inquired, and Natsu felt his entire face start to flame with embarrassment. Not only did she catch him staring, but she knew? Great, his life was official over.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered miserably, deciding to feign innocence.

Lucy sighed, sitting back in the chair next to Natsu and kicking her legs up onto the table. She watched Gray with curiosity, wondering what exactly her friend saw in that over-dressed fool. He was cute, sure, with his messy midnight blue hair, and those charcoal coloured eyes, but Lucy couldn't look past his obsessive personality.

"Look," Natsu sighed. "Just ... Just don't tell anyone, all right?"

Lucy knew that this was not something she could tease him about, so she nodded solemnly. She understood what Natsu was going through. She understood what it was like to want something unobtainable. There was no way she could tease him about something like this, because it would make her a hypocrite.

And so Lucy watched Natsu who watched Gray watching Juvia, the cycle of unrequited love spinning into a whirlpool of beautiful misery, until there was nothing left but the familiar ache of a bleeding heart.

The End.