This is just a small one-shot that I came up with and wrote today, I hope you enjoy it!
Gray softly gasped as his cheek stung from the sudden slap, head turned to the side.
"'Acting like we're friends?' We've always been friends! Stop saying such heartbreaking things!" Lucy hiccupped, tears streaming down her face.
"We don't want to hear you—"
Suddenly, pain exploded in the back of his head and staggered backwards, black dots starting to fill his vision.
"Natsu! W-What are you doing?"
"I can sense someone coming, we're taking him back with us."
The last thing he felt before drifting away was something warm pressing up against his back.
He woke up stiffly, his neck and head throbbing in pain. He softly groaned and slowly opened his eyes, blinking hard, adjusting to the light. He looked around, observing the unknown location he was currently in, surrounded by trees and bushes. He went to lick his dry lips, but instead, his tongue was met with a soft fabric.
His eyes widened as he realized that there was a cloth inside his mouth, secured tightly around his head. Then, he struggled to move his body and glanced down, realization dawning on his face as he looked at the thin, black chains wrapped around his chest, over his arms and down on his legs, too.
What the fuck?
He growled as he noticed that his magic was being canceled, leaving him completely helpless. Although, for some odd reason, the black marks on his body were still evident, the guild mark of Avatar still there.
"Natsu! Lucy! Gray's awake!"
He glanced up, watching as Happy looked down at him with a startled expression. Then, two figures emerged from the trees across from him, hurriedly coming towards him. He observed Lucy and Natsu who were silently staring down at him. Natsu kept his eyes glued to him, staring at him intently, whilst Lucy kept anxiously glancing back and forth between him and Natsu.
How the fuck am I going to explain it to them now?
He exhaled from his nose frustratingly, struggling against the chains.
"Natsu, don't you think this is a little bit too much? Maybe we should release him…?" Lucy suggested, guilt evident in her eyes as she stared down at him.
He perked up at Lucy's comment, thankful that she had some common sense.
"No, we can't risk it, he stays like that," Natsu replied, voice stern.
He narrowed his eyes, glaring up at Natsu.
After this is over, I'm going to beat your ass so hard, flame-brain.
"Maybe we should take away the cloth from his mouth? And listen to what he has to say?" Lucy suggested again, gesturing with her hand towards his mouth.
Natsu observed him silently, hard eyes raking up and down. He couldn't help but shiver at the intensity behind those eyes.
"Happy, take Lucy and head back to where Juvia and Wendy are," Natsu ordered, eyes never leaving him.
"What? No, we'll stay here with you—" Lucy objected, but gasped as Natsu finally moved his eyes away from Gray and glanced at her.
It seemed like they exchanged a silent conversation just from staring into each other and he felt jealousy flare up deep inside his chest as he watched them.
Why am I getting so worked up about it? It's just Lucy…
He averted his eyes as Happy grabbed Lucy and flew away, leaving the two of them alone. He clenched his jaw, biting down on the cloth in his mouth.
He would never admit it out loud, but he was left heartbroken from Natsu's sudden departure one year ago. He understood the fact that Natsu needed some time to himself— hell, he needed it too, but leaving him behind without any warning? He had thought that, considering their newly developed relationship just before the fight with Tartaros, he would depend on Gray for everything.
"I assume you had your fun this past year, right? Did it satisfy you to go against our backs? Against mine? Is this my punishment for leaving without saying anything?"
He flinched at the harsh tone of Natsu's voice, yet fury flared up inside him at the false accusations. As he couldn't voice out his frustration, he settled on glaring up at Natsu, hoping that his message was delivered.
There was a tense silence stretched between them as they glared into each other's eyes. Natsu walked up to him and knelt down to his level, grabbing his chin with a gentleness that he wasn't expecting.
"I know that I'm mostly to blame for what I did, but fuck, didn't any of this mean anything to you? Was I something that you could toss away so easily?" Natsu asked, voice nothing more than a broken whisper.
His eyes widened as he stared into Natsu's glistening eyes, a small, sad smile stretched on his lips. Natsu's hand moved from his chin to his right cheek, caressing him with his thumb.
"You're unfair, you know that?" Natsu's other hand moved up on his chest, rubbing in slow circles the skin over the Avatar's guild mark, "what am I going to do with you now? Tell me, Gray, what should I do?"
Untie me and let me explain the situation to you, idiot...
He stared pleadingly into Natsu's eyes, hoping that he would understand his intentions and at least remove the cloth from his mouth. He leaned in into Natsu's hand, rubbing his cheek against it.
Natsu's breath hitched in his throat, lower lip quivering, "Stop, stop it…don't act like that when nothing of this is real for you…don't pretend, I'm not going to give in…"
He made a soft voice in the back of his throat and kept staring up at Natsu, hoping that he would stop being so stubborn.
Come on, Natsu, give me a chance.
Natsu heavily sighed, "Fuck, I thought that one year being away would help, but I still can't say no when you're looking at me like that."
Affection welled up inside his chest as Natsu's hands moved up and came behind his head, untying the knot of the cloth, removing it. Immediately, he licked his dry lips and leaned forward.
"Idiot…" he whispered hoarsely and closed the gap between them.
He connected his lips with Natsu's, kissing him softly. He felt Natsu tense up against him, unresponsive as shocked emerald eyes stared into his. Then, Natsu placed his hands on his shoulders and pushed him away.
"No! I won't let…fuck, you can't do that," Natsu said and bit his lower lip, conflict evident in his eyes.
"If you weren't such an idiot, you'd actually let me explain before jumping to any conclusions," he replied.
"Conclusions? Oh, so it's my fault again? Well, excuse me, but I don't think that this is 'jumping to conclusions'," Natsu snapped, nails digging into the skin over the Avatar guild mark.
He inhaled sharply, "Fuck, just— remove the chains and you'll understand," he stated, groaning as the nails dug deeper, making him shiver.
"Don't you dare try something funny or else," Natsu threatened and grabbed the chains around his chest, breaking them and then moved to his legs, doing the same.
He sighed in relief as he felt his magic again and moved his hands up, taking his cloak off. Then, he grabbed Natsu's hand and placed it again over his chest, where his guild mark was. He let out a deep breath and focused on his magic, the marks slowly started to disappear from his body, the Avatar guild mark replaced by his blue, Fairy Tail guild mark.
"What the…"
"What I said back there, it was all a lie, a cover-up as I had to play along for the mission. Honestly, I was quite mad when you broke in and all of my hard work was tossed outside of the window like that, but goddamn, was I glad to hear your voice again," he tightened his grip on Natsu's hand, "took you long enough, flame-brain."
"Mission…?"
He nodded, "Erza had assigned me to join the guild and play along with their schemes until we could find the perfect chance to eliminate them."
He stared into Natsu's shocked expression, eyes glued on his guild mark. For a long while, he decided to remain silent and let the information sink in, as he was sure that Natsu was still struggling to believe him.
He bit his lower lip, wanting to lighten up the mood.
Eventually, he settled on huffing out a laugh and lightly patting Natsu on his right cheek, "What, did you really think I would get over your sorry ass that quickly? I'm hurt, dragon-fre—"
A yelp escaped his lips as he was pushed backwards, his back hitting the ground as arms were wrapped around his waist, a warm body above him holding him tightly.
"Mine," Natsu breathed against his chest, rubbing his face on Gray's chest where his guild mark was.
He gaped down at him, watching as Natsu possessively rubbed and marked him with his scent, softly growling.
He placed his hand on top of Natsu's head and ruffled his hair, "I'm glad we cleared things up, but we should probably head back to the others, they still don't know the truth and I owe Juvia an apology—"
"Mine." Natsu growled again and moved his head up, nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck.
"—or we could stay here for a while, there is no need to hurry." He quickly replied, sighing in relief as Natsu's growls lessened.
He knew better than to deny Natsu's instincts when his dragon side came to the surface.
Then, he placed his head back against the ground and kept ruffling Natsu's hair, body relaxing for the first time in a long while as he inhaled in the familiar and comforting scent of his mate, allowing himself to bask into the warmth wrapped around him.