"I love you!"
Little did he know those simple words would hurt him so deeply.
Natsu walked into the guild one summer morning, everything was the same as it was everyday, people fighting, others sitting at tables or at the bar drinking or eating something.
He sat on the stools in front of the bar and Mira placed a plate of food in front of him
"Ooooh, thank you! Smells great!" Mira laughed as Natsu stomached the food as fast as he could.
"Yo, Flame-Brain!"
Natsu spun around just in time to receive a punch to the jaw. "Jeez what was that for ya stupid ice princess?!"
"That's for skipping out on yesterday's mission with the team!" Gray was furious and he had no idea why gray would care that much about him missing one stupid mission, it wasn't even a hard mission. Besides Natsu had something else he absolutely had to do.
"I already told you…" He punched Gray in the face "I had something to do!"
Gray retaliated fast and Natsu got smacked on the head which caused him to fall to the floor "Yeah! Well what the hell was it that was so important you had to ditch us?!"
Something was off with Natsu and others who gathered around to see what was up had noticed, but it wasn't that hard to point out something was off with the dragon slayer when he did not get up and hit back, he just sat on the floor and lowered his head. Gray was stunned by this, he had his fist clenched in the air ready to throw another punch but with this sight he just stood there not moving."Natsu?"
"I don't want to tell you yet.."
Gray got angered again, Natsu never kept secrets. Erza noticed gray's anger rising again and stepped in before he did something else. "Gray, if Natsu doesn't want to say anything yet he probably has a reason. It's probably too personal for him yet…"
Gray nodded to Erza to let her know he understood and would not do anything else. As he was about to leave he pointed a finger at Natsu who was now looking up at him with regret filled eyes, Gray sighed "You own me and everyone else here an explanation…." He dropped his hand to his side "When you're ready to spill it" with those last words he left the guild.
Natsu got up with the help of Lucy "You okay Natsu?"
"I'm fine" He brushed himself off and sat back down on the stool
"You sure?" She asked him again
"I said i'm fine!" He snapped at her.
Lucy stepped back a little shocked that Natsu had snapped. Natsu sighed, apologized and got up, leaving the guild hall. He made his way home and collapsed on his bed. Happy was left at the guild with Carla so natsu was left alone and he was thankful for that.
He curled up and his bed and let all of his emotions out.
Gray was walking along the street of Magnolia thinking about what had happened between him and Natsu at the guild 'dammit why did you look like that? Why do you have a secret?! Ugghh i hate you!' he kicked something and frightened a few people walking around too. He didn't care, he wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Gray seen natsu leave the guild and walk the way to his house in the woods. He found himself following Natsu, he had to be extra careful considering the dragon slayers special hearing.
He watched as Natsu entered his house slamming the door behind him and gray made his way up to the one window where he could see every room in the house. What he saw was shocking for him, he's never seen Natsu so broken 'Dammit Natsu what are you keeping to yourself that's making you this way! Stop being stupid and tell someone!' oh how he wanted to say that to him but he couldn't.
He watched a bit more, the window was open a crack so Gray had to be even more careful not to make a sound. He listened to natsu's small sobs and anger yells. But there was something he was not expecting to hear.
"Why?! He makes my heart go weird! It's so hard to be around him! Damn why'd i have to fall for that popsicle?!" Natsu punched his wall in frustration then sobbed again
Gray was in utter shock, natsu had fallen for someone...he said he fell for a popsicle, he meant Gray 'Natsu is in love with me?!' he didn't know what to do he kinda just stood there for a moment before regaining his mind. He decided that he would knock on the door and see if they could talk.
Natsu heard the knock on his door and sniffed. 'Gray? Why are you here?' he wiped his face and went to answer the door.
"Can we talk natsu?"
Natsu stared at him for minute trying to calm down his heart. He was alone with gray just outside the door, right in front of him "u-uh, sure" He adverted his eyes away and moved to let him in.
"I can't wait for you to be ready, i want to know what happened to you, i want to know why you so suddenly had to skip a mission" His eyes were cold.
Natsu shuddered at the cool icy stare he was receiving but he sat down on the couch and stared straight back at him. "You won't let it go will you?"
"Hell no!" Gray stared at him now with anger.
Natsu covered his face with both hands before standing up and making his way toward gray. Gray backed up a bit and natsu just got closer "you really want to know why i avoided the mission, i did have something to do, and that was avoid you! I don't want to be around you knowing i will probably see you get hurt and i don't want to see you get hurt! I never do! Gray i think i might have fallen for you…"
He lowered his head on those last words. Gray stood silent for a moment before he pushed Natsu away, hard.
"No! We're teammates, that's just wrong! I could, no i would not go out with you or whatever!" Gray had a disgusted look on his face.
Natsu looked devastated, he had just confessed his feelings towards Gray and got shot down so fast. Anger boiled up inside him and his eyes blazed with fire "Get. Out"
"What?" Gray actually took a step back, shocked by the bitter tone in Natsu's voice also he was shocked to see his eyes glowing and he was literally steaming with lightning crackling around him along with some flames, Natsu had never been this angry toward Gray and it really freaked him out.
"I said….GET OUT!" Natsu was about to punch him in the face so hard but he hit a wall instead because gray fled.
Natsu balled up his fists and punched another wall leaving a hole when he walked away.
Gray ran back to the guild hall and burst through the doors panting. Erza noticed him and ran over, she grasped his shoulders "Gray what's wrong? Why were you running?"
Gray didn't want to admit natsu and frightened him so he said "Natsu's gone crazy! Someone needs to go calm him down! And it cannot be me!" Gray had fear in his eyes which he was trying to hide. Erza caught that gleam of fear and knew something was seriously off now.
"Lets leave him be for today, we can go check on him tomorrow, alright?"
Gray sighed but agreed.
When nightfall came gray made his way back to his apartment. Once there he stripped his clothes and went to bed yet he couldn't sleep no matter how hard he tried. All gray could think about was Natsu's confession. 'Stupid ash for brain, confessing like that...yet he didn't have to get that angry when i turned him down. Whats with that?'
The next day at the guild the aura was dark and ominous...natsu was there.
Natsu had a cold look in his eyes and unlike the cheerful smile he always sported he now had a ice cold frown taking its place. He looked like a demon without the horns.
When gray entered the guild the aura got darker and people moved further away from the dragon slayer, even Gray flinched at the aura surrounding them. He took a chance and looked at Natsu who had been glaring daggers at him the entire time he stood by the doors. When he tried to talk to Natsu he got a punch in the face that happened to be a hell of a lot harder then normal and hell did it hurt, then Natsu stormed out of the guild.
Gray was on the ground rubbing his now throbbing cheek when Erza came up to him. "What happened between you and Natsu?"
He stood up and led her away from to group so he could tell her in private. "Natsu said he fell in love with me...and i turned him down"
Erza looked shocked "He...In love with...you?" she put a finger to her lip "You turned him down, that's why he's so depressed and angry!"
Gray nodded.
"He won't let me apologize apparently either. That's what i tried to do when i walked over to him but i got freaking punched in the jaw" he glared. "Stupid flame-brain…" his expression softened when his mind flashed back to Natsu's confession and he sighed 'maybe i shouldn't have been so hard on him...i turned him down pretty badly…'
"You have to keep trying to apologize to him, no matter how long it takes you...he'll get over it someday."
"Yeah i guess you're right.." Gray looked down "I think i might go take a walk. See ya" and with that he left. He walked along with only his thoughts bothering him. He was thinking about the confession so much that he started imagining what would happen if he had said he liked him too, which he didn't but he still thought about it.
He imagined Natsu sitting by him on the couch and he had his arm draped around his shoulders pulling him close, natsu leaning up to kiss him, him returning the kiss, playing with each others tongue, then touching each other and oh god no he had to stop fantasizing about him that way, he had no feelings whatsoever towards the dragon slayer. He never would...would he?
Gray was pulled out of his thoughts, to his joy, only to hear someone scream. He ran into that direction and came face to face with the dragon slayer he was currently avoiding.
Natsu looked less than pleased to see his face but at least gray's showing up helped the other people to run away 'geez natsu a fairy tail wizard does NOT act this way, broken hearted or not, we don't scare others intentionally' which is what he wanted to say but Natsu was already attacking.
"Ice Make: Shield!" gray needed to act fast in order to block the fire coming his way. But there was no use, the fire melted away his ice as fast as it appeared. It was as if Natsu's flames were hotter and burning gray's body without even touching him
"Fire Dragon's: Roar!" Natsu sent a blast of fire straight towards Gray, he dodged it, but not easily, he'd be lucky to still have hair on his legs
"Ice Make: Hammer!" A hammer made of ice plummeted down towards Natsu's head but melted before it even touched him.
'Damn how could he have gotten this strong so fast!? Is it his anger fueling him?!'
"I hate you!" Natsu suddenly bellowed.
Gray stopped moving for moment when Natsu said he hated him. He never wanted Natsu to full out hate him, sure they were rivals but they were friendly rivals but i guess they aren't anymore. Gray had stopped long enough for Natsu to land a punch on him.
Something was off, the punch didn't hurt as much as he thought it would, he looked up and saw that Natsu was clutching his chest as if breathing had become a strain.
Gray quickly got up and rushed to Natsu's side.
Natsu stayed conscience but his breathing was uneven.
Gray picked Natsu up bridal style and rushed him to the nearest hospital. Natsu managed to look at Gray but there was still a bit of anger in his eyes but now there was more fear in those green orbs. As Natsu was hauled away to get checked on Gray felt a sting in his own chest. He kept thinking the worst. He didn't want to lose natsu.
As Gray waited for the doctor or Natsu to come back out he kept thinking. 'Idiot, Ash for brains, what other secrets have you been hiding? Just don't die on me, on everyone else, Fairy Tail needs you….i n-need you, i need you to push me to be stronger..Dammit Natsu..'
The doctor finally came back out from treating Natsu and Gray instantly bombarded him with questions asking if Natsu was okay and what was wrong with him.
"Please tell me he's okay!" He grabbed the doctor's shoulders as he spoke
"Sir please calm down" Gray let go of the man's shoulders and waited for a response to his question. "The patient was not receiving enough oxygen to his lungs causing him to have an attack, we have stabilized his breathing and he should be able to go home by tomorrow morning"
Gray let out a sigh of relief to hear Natsu would be coming home tomorrow. "May i see him?"
"Of Course, right this way" The doctor led Gray to a room with only one person in it, Natsu.
Gray looked over at Natsu who was now asleep on the bed, he asked for some time alone with him and the doctor nodded before leaving the room and shutting the door. Gray went over and pulled a chair up next to the bed and stared at Natsu, he was hooked up to something that was monitoring his breathing rate.
Right there staring at Natsu on the bed looking so peaceful as he slept, Gray realized just how cute his face was, and how beautiful his pink hair looked.
'Natsu...I never realized it till now but you really do make my heart go crazy...either i'm worried about you or i'm angry but right now it's because of you..just you..'
Gray had ended up laying his head on the bed and fell asleep. Natsu was waking up and was a little shocked to find himself lying in a hospital bed, but he was more shocked when he looked down to see Gray's head. He became a little angry at him again but it soon faded when he remembered that Gray was the one who brought him here and he also remembered the worry on his face when Natsu stopped breathing.
He gently stroked his head, playing with those raven locks. Gray stirred a bit which caused Natsu's hand to freeze.
Gray woke up to feel something on his head, he reached up and grabbed the object which happened to be a hand, he looked up to see Natsu staring at him. There was no hate in those green eyes, and gray almost choked out a cry as those eyes were warm. He pulled Natsu into a hug which surprised Natsu so much but he hugged back anyway.
"Natsu...I'm so sorry for saying what i did!"
"It's okay, i was being a bit too dramatic with how i took what you said…"
Gray looked up at Natsu but couldn't meet his eyes, Natsu was looking down at the sheets. He gently grabbed Natsu's chin and made him look up. "I think i made a mistake. I should not have said no...i realized that i may feel the same way, when i thought i was going to lose you i was so scared you were going to die..I'm so happy you are okay. You stupid ash for brains idiot!"
Natsu was taken aback at what Gray had just said… 'he feels the same way?!'
Gray slowly leaned in closer and placed a kiss on Natsu's forehead. "Don't scare me again! You had an attack, you weren't getting enough oxygen in your lungs and you stopped breathing! "
Natsu looked down again, he knew his lungs weren't as good as they used to be and now he felt guilty for not mentioning it.
Gray sighed. "I'm going to go home..i'll come back to get you tomorrow morning, they said you can go tomorrow. Just rest.." he stood up and got ready to leave.
Natsu grabbed his hand. "You can't just say you feel the same way, kiss my forehead and leave, i want a real kiss! Don't back out on me now popsicle breath!" He grinned at him his usual grin.
Gray chuckled a little and bent down to give him a proper kiss.
Natsu's face turned red and so did Gray's. He pulled away and looked away. "See ya flame-brain"
The next day Natsu was release from the hospital and taken back home by Gray.
They had been spending more time together either at each other's houses, on missions, in the guild or just walking around and a month had passed since Natsu's incident. They decided that today they would go to Natsu's house. Once back at Natsu's house Gray decided to do something. "Hey..would you like to be my...boyfriend?"
Natsu looked at him with an expression like happy when he gets a big pile of fish! "Of course!"
Gray smiled and pulled Natsu in an embrace. Natsu snaked his arms around Gray's now somehow naked torso, and leaned up to give him a small peck on the lips. "I really do love you Gray"
Gray smiled and kissed him passionately. "And somehow you've got me falling for you, I love you too. idiot."