Pairing(s): Natsu/Gray, OMC/Gray

Rating: R

Genre(s): Romance

Warning(s): language, pre-slash, jealousy, established relationship, possessive!protective!Natsu, cross-dressing!Gray... unbeta-edness!

Author's note: Gift!fic for MiyuTanemura :D

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, written for fun, not money. All canon characters belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

Skirting Around

Natsu set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "No."

Gray looked up incredulously. "No? For fuck's sake, slanty-eyes, we need the money. If we don't do this, Lucy's going to be kicked out of her apartment!"

There was a pause as Natsu weighed the benefits and short-comings of this particular job mission. On one hand, Lucy really needed to pay her rent; on the other… well. What was it they said… 'bros before hos'? In this case, Lucy would have to figure out a solution herself. There was no way he was going to let his boyfriend go prancing around the local clubs looking a right whore. He crossed his arms, looked Gray in the eyes, and said just as much. He wisely left out the whoring part.

The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow. "Better not let Lucy hear what you just said, or you'll have an over-sized, axe-wielding cow spirit aiming for your balls. And I like them just the way they are."

Natsu managed to wince and blush at the same time.

"No," he growled resolutely. He clamped a firm hand around Gray's arm and dragged him to one side – he didn't like how the passers-by were looking at his boyfriend – and purposefully encroached on Gray's personal space to get his point across. "I'm not letting you go into that damn club looking the way you are. Over my dead body."

The unholy gleam in his boyfriend's eyes made him flinch and cross his arms protectively over his chest. He would have arranged a metal shield over his groin area if not for the fact it would have made him look pathetic.

"And just," Gray said in a scary voice, "what made you think you can dictate what I can or cannot do?"

The look in his boyfriend's eyes notified him his bollocks were in danger of being frozen solid should he give the wrong answer. He let out an aggravated sigh to show how much this was costing him and said grudgingly, "Behave yourself at the club or your arse will be feeling the effects of my dissatisfaction when we get back home."

His boyfriend's answering grin told him that that particular idea wasn't exactly unwelcome.

"Alright, let's get going!" Gray said chirpily, ducking past him and disappearing into the darkened interiors of the club. He watched in growing dismay at the glittery, white skirt swishing around his boyfriend's bare thighs. The hem of the skirt bounced up and down with his boyfriend's movements, occasionally revealing the barest hint of the red, lacy underwear the man was wearing underneath just enough to tease. His mouth dropped open as he fought a sudden, rising tide of arousal.

"Damn it. Wait up, Gray!"

He suddenly felt like this entire job mission was a bad idea, especially with the appreciative look the bouncer sent in his boyfriend's direction. He gave the man a warning look as he hurried in after his wayward boyfriend. Inside the club was a mass of heaving, writhing bodies dancing under the flashing strobe lights and heavy bass of the music. He gritted his teeth as he squeezed through the crowd. To hell with getting the necessary evidence about the pedophilic bartender – Gray had better not be rubbing up to other people on the dance floor.

At that thought, he forged through the throng of dancing club-goers with renewed purpose. He finally spotted a familiar head of long, dark hair at the bar. How did Gray move so fast? Then he almost stopped walking; he swore he just saw another man leer at his job partner. That fucking… he shook himself angrily and began elbowing his way to the bar.

In the mean time, Gray was waiting for the bartender to finish mixing a cocktail. The man was taking his own damn time, and kept eyeing him surreptitiously. Gray was fascinated with how the bartender threw together liquids of varying colours and viscosity. They all blended nicely into the small cone-shaped glass bowl of the cocktail glass.

"One martini, dry," announced the bartender. A woman turned round, took it by the stem and sipped delicately at it. Gray watched, intrigued, at the muddy green colour of the little olive nestled inside the glass. Why did people drink it with olives anyway? They tasted so bitter and astringent. He disliked them immensely.

"Hey, babe," said a voice from right next to him.

He started and cautiously gave the stranger a sideways look. He was relatively pleasant looking, with light brown hair and sky-blue eyes.

"You alone?" asked the man, looking at him appraisingly.

Not really knowing what to say, he merely answered, "What's it to you?"

The man grinned, showing two rows of perfectly straight, white teeth. "Huh, the cute ones are always so snappy. I like that."

Gray felt a little uneasy. Where was Natsu?

"I'm busy," he told the guy. "Go bother someone else."

The man's grin grew. "What you busy with, love? Waiting for the right man to come pick you up?"

He sniffed and returned his attention to the bobbing olive in its sea of alcohol.

"Babe, you gotta loosen up." The man settled beside him and prompted the bartender for recommendations. "Hey, Jeff – what's hot?"

"You mean, besides that chick to your left?"

Gray idly noted he was to the stranger's left and scowled inwardly at the outburst of friendly laughter that followed. He couldn't decide if he should feel offended or delighted that Lucy had managed to make him look like a real girl – and a do-able one at that, judging from all the looks and pick-up lines he'd gotten. From the looks of it, this man obviously knew this 'Jeff'. It was the perfect opportunity to subtly gain more information about the bartender.

"Well, the Cherry Hooker and Madras are all-time favorites with the tamer crowd. Wouldn't want the lovely over there to have a bad first impression of my bar, no?"

"One Cherry Hooker then, for the cutie to my left," said the man, sending a charming smile in Gray's direction. "Straight up."

"One Cherry Hooker, coming right up!"

"Don't I get a say in this?" Gray asked, deciding to play along. "I could go right now and leave you hanging, you know."

"That'll be really unfortunate," sighed the man and leaned against the bar. "I'll have to go drown my sorrows in the spare Cherry Hooker and think about how pathetic I was to let a babe like you just go like that."

Gray had to admit; this guy was smooth. If he hadn't already had a boyfriend, and if this guy wasn't supposedly straight…

"So," he said. "You come here often?"

The man perked up. "Yep, that's how I know Jeff, and how we both knew you were new here."

"What do they call you?"

The man grinned mischievously. He seemed to grin a lot. "They call me Ricky, but you can call me tonight."

Gray fought the urge to groan out loud. He wasn't one to appreciate cliché pick-up lines. He was more for the somewhat awkward but adorably honest approach – much like how Natsu had first asked him out. Speaking of, where was his boyfriend? Instead, he let out a sufficiently girlish laugh. "Is this how you get all the girls to fall into your bed? I must say… it's a good shot."

Ricky winked. "Well, why don't you stick around and see what else I can do?"

Gray forced a laugh. "That depends on what you intend to show me."

Ricky snaked an arm around his waist and leaned in to murmur in his ear, "That depends on how wild the lady is tonight."

That was when a fire dragon let his raging jealousy be known.

"YOU! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HI– HER!"

Natsu rampaged his way through the remaining people between him and his boyfriend. He caught hold of the man's wrist in an iron grip and forcefully wrenched it away from his boyfriend's waist.

"What – hey!" The brown-haired man yelled out in angry surprise.

Natsu moved to stand in front of a mildly shocked Gray. He glared daggers at the man and snarled, "You look at my girlfriend again and I'll bash your face in."

"Natsu," whispered Gray urgently, getting a hold on his sleeve and shaking him. "Wait–"

Ricky looked pissed off. "Well, then, I'll keep a closer eye on your girlfriend if I were you. The slut was practically inviting me to fuck her into the bar top!"

Natsu gave a thunderous snarl and made to lunge at him, his fists abruptly bursting into flames. There were cries of shock and fear from the surrounding crowd.

"Natsu!" Gray had to use all his strength to hold the enraged fire-dragon slayer back.

Ricky was momentarily stunned by the show of magic. He recovered quickly, spitting his disgust at them before stalking off.

Natsu watched him go, the flames engulfing his hands slowly dying out. Then he spun around and grabbed hold of his wrist, but his grip was a far cry from how he handled Ricky; gentle and light. "Gray, you okay? Did he do anything to you?"

Gray shook his wrist free and punched his idiotic boyfriend in the shoulder. He whispered harshly, "You bloody idiot! He had information on the bartender! He knows the bartender!"

"He'll be knowing my fists if he so much as glance your way again," Natsu growled, running his hands possessively up and down Gray's hips as if his touch would erase the taint of Ricky's touch on him. It was Gray's turn to flinch when he looked up to see a gleam in his boyfriend's dark eyes. Whatever protests he had died on his lips as Natsu leaned forward and hungrily claimed his lips.

"Mmmff!"

All attempts to push the other man off him were futile as the man kept an iron-grip around his waist and back of his neck. A devious sweep of a tongue had him parting his lips instinctively, and then he was moaning from the back of his throat as Natsu's tongue plundered his plaint and entirely willing mouth.

"Mmm," said Gray after a while. "Slanty-eyes – get off! Everyone's looking!"

"Good," growled his irksome boyfriend, who had began to attack his neck with eager teeth.

With some effort and a little icy assistance on his side, he managed to untangle himself from Natsu. He wiped their combined spit off his mouth – he saw how his boyfriend followed the motion, no doubt thinking all sorts of nefarious things about his undoubtedly kiss-swollen lips – and slapped the other man's shoulder.

"What the hell was that for!"

"He was touching you," hissed his overly-protective boyfriend, who moved closer and cast suspicious looks around as if fearing there would be more of Gray's potential suitors. "Nobody touches you. Nobody but me."

"Great," grumbled Gray, crossing his arms defensively over his chest and looking sourly at the murmuring onlookers. Jeff the bartender had finally emerged from behind and under his bar top, and was rapidly making his way over to them. "Thanks to the little fiery show you gave them, we'll probably never be allowed in here again!"

"Oi, you over there!"

Natsu honed in on the unsuspecting bartender immediately and asked aggressively. "Who are you? What do you want!"

Jeff the bartender looked a little startled as he gestured in the direction Ricky left. "Get the hell out of here. I don't want your freak show running off my customers!"

Natsu narrowed his eyes and jerked his thumb in Ricky's direction. "You know that guy?"

The other man looked offended. "Yes, of course – that was one of my mates you picked a fight with!"

Gray watched in increasing alarm as his boyfriend rubbed his palms together gleefully; smoke and sparks were emitting from his hands. He knew what this meant – Natsu was getting ready for a showdown. He couldn't have that! Not when they had a job mission to complete! He quickly pulled his willful boyfriend aside and hissed, "You fucking idiot, now we can't get any dirt on Jeff!"

Natsu stiffened. "Jeff? What, so now you guys are on first-name terms now–?"

"No," he said in annoyance. "We obviously aren't. I only heard Ricky say his name–"

That was obviously the wrong thing to say, because the surrounding temperatures sky-rocketed. He gulped at the expression on his boyfriend's face and began scrambling for cover.

"Ricky? Really, Gray," Natsu reached out and caught hold of him, pulling him close. Gray let out an indignant yelp as a hand boldly snaked under his skirt and grasped strongly at his knickers-bound cock. He stifled a moan and craned his neck upward to glower at his unruly boyfriend. He suppressed a shiver as the fire-dragon slayer whispered breathily into his ear, "I wonder if they know about this?"

He gasped as Natsu squeezed.

There was a predatory look in Natsu's eyes as he purred, "I love how only I know the secret hidden beneath this sinfully short skirt." Squeeze. Stroke. "Only I can see you this way." Stroke. Rub. "You're mine."

Gray barely had time to rearrange his skirt before Natsu was dragging him out of the club, shooting murderous looks at anyone who eyed him up. He looked on, dazed and painfully aroused, as the other man turned his head and grinned wickedly at him. "Remember your promise? On behaving? Or else…?"

He swallowed hard.

A hand brushed across his rear and squeezed lightly at one arse cheek. "Your arse is soo mine tonight."

A/N: Like? No? Review C: