'Ouch!' Natsu's cry rang out through the house, piercing the almost suffocating silence. The only other noises in the house were the shuffling of cloth, a steady tip-tapping, and the occasional murmur. The tapping was Lucy, working silently on her novel. She didn't know what else to do with herself. Another sound was added. 'Shut up, Natsu. It'll hurt less if you stop moving so much,' Gray growled through tears. Natsu stopped struggling and looked up into those cold eyes he had grown to love. 'It doesn't matter how much I hurt, Gray!' he spat angrily, glaring at him. The ice mage glared right back and continued to stitch up the gash across Natsu's stomach. His eyes softened again as they travelled over his torso, and a single tear fell from his eye, splashing off his chin onto the dragon slayer's forehead. It fizzled into steam on his skin, Natsu's fever being hotter than it should be, even for him. Gray continued to work in the silence of the house, sewing up the wound with surprisingly steady hands. He stopped and let out a shout of anger when Natsu's hand clasped firmly around his wrist, yanking it upwards and away from his skin. 'Leave me to die, Gray. You know it's going to happen anyway. Stop trying to help me to feel better about yourself. This is what you've always wanted. So leave me, leave me to die.' Gray stared coldly into Natsu's eyes and gasped. 'You really think I want you dead? Natsu, I…' 'You hate me, Gray! You'll never love me the way I've learned to love you! So leave me, leave me to die here!' Natsu's voice was raised and angry, but there was a softness hiding behind the furious tones. Gray suddenly realized Lucy had stopped typing. He looked down at his blood-soaked hands with a new disgust. 'You… you love me?' Natsu hung his head and nodded. 'For years. But it doesn't matter now.' 'Natsu…' Gray murmured, his voice shaking with raw emotion. In a flash of sudden movement, Natsu found Gray's lips upon his own. His eyes widened as he kissed back the ice mage's cold lips, feeling Gray's tears mix with his own and stream down their joined faces, dripping onto the wound. But Natsu didn't notice the pain. All he could feel was a warm glow spreading from his lips, moving quickly to his heart and slowly out through the rest of his body. And Gray felt it too. It warmed up his freezing body, and excited a part of his body that really should not be excited at this point in time. He pulled away from the kiss before he got too excited and hurt Natsu, although all he really wanted to do was kiss him harder. As soon as their lips parted, Natsu regained feeling to his stomach, and let out a howl of pain. Gray put his hand over his mouth and gasped. He'd bled fast, and now the whole couch was just a mess of dark red. 'N-Natsu…' he muttered, the realization that he really was going to die finally dawning on him. He'd been so intent on saving him, but… he's really dying. 'Take your clothes off, Gray.' Silently, Gray stripped to his board shorts, never once taking his eyes off of Natsu's. The dragon slayer watched him with the slightest of smiles. 'I love you, Natsu,' Gray said, a new parade of tears marching down his cheeks. Natsu smiled up at him. "I l… I… I lo- I,' Natsu's eyes went glassy and his head tilted back onto the couch with a tiny thud. Gray's eyes widened to the size of a dinner plate and he cradled Natsu's lifeless face in his hands. 'No, Natsu… NATSU!' He screamed, loud enough for the closest three guilds to hear. He heard a sniff from Lucy, but he couldn't bear to leave the dragon slayer's corpse. 'Natsu… I…' Gray sighed. 'I loved you for so long. And you never knew. You thought I wanted you dead. But I don't, I never did. I want the opposite. I need your life to power my own! Without your fire, my heart would never have thawed from the frozen barriers around it. Natsu!' He felt Lucy's slim finger on his shoulder, heard her sobs, but didn't dare to look up. 'Gray…' The ice mage shoved her hand off and sniffed, wiping the many tears from his face, but still, new ones kept falling. He hung his head and closed his eyes, resting his face on Natsu's chest, straining his ears for a heartbeat that never came. He eventually fell asleep there, waking up the next morning, the sound of birds chirping from the window. He felt a warmth near his body, and jumped up, looking at Natsu's eyes for the slightest sign of life. But there was none. He slowly turned his head, and saw Lucy sitting by the glowing fire. On top of the fireplace, he could sort of see something engraved in the stone. NATSU, MAY YOUR WARMTH NEVER LEAVE OUR HOME.