Natsu was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed under his head. He could distantly hear the shouts of the other Fairy Tail members as they celebrated - well, Natsu didn't know what they were celebrating this time (not that Fairy Tail ever needed an excuse). He didn't particularly care, either. Normally he would be out there with the rest of them, eating, drinking, and getting into fights with as many people as possible, but not today. Today, Natsu was sick. And not the type of sick that could easily be cured by Wendy's healing magic - he didn't even have motion sickness. No, Natsu Dragneel was...lovesick.
He didn't even know how it had happened - or why. They went on jobs together; was he expected to cope with constantly being around them and not do anything? Natsu's musings were interuppted by Happy suddenly running into his room. "Natsu!" the cat exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you, aren't you coming to join us?" he asked. Happy frowned when Natsu shook his head, but then he thought of something which was bound to get his friend outside: "Lucy's been worrying about you..." he said slyly. Happy didn't really know how Natsu would react to that, but he did not expect him to groan and roll over so he was lying face-first into a pillow. "Go away, Happy," Natsu mumbled, his voice muffled somewhat by the pillow. Happy blinked in surprise, sure he had heard wrong. "...Natsu?" he said softly, padding over. "Please just go, Happy. I'm sick," Natsu turned his head to speak to his blue friend, who was now feeling a little blue too. Happy frowned. "Do you want me to get Wendy?" he offered, feeling concerned - Natsu only ever got motion sick, and he wasn't even moving right now! "No! Just go away Happy, please," Natsu pleaded, hating himself as he caught the look of utter dejection on his best friend's face as he turned away and left the room.
Lucy was out joining the celebrations with the rest of the guild - Gildarts was back! - and she was currently deliberating whether or not it would be a good idea to accept Cana's offer to see who could drink the most, but then she saw Happy slowly making his way towards her. Lucy had never seen the cat look so sad, not even on the day he discovered flying fish don't taste as good as they look. "Happy, what's wrong? Where's Natsu?" she asked. Happy looked about ready to cry at the mention of Natsu's name, and Lucy feared something awful had happened. "Natsu won't come outside and he says he's sick and...and he told me to go away!" With a wail, Happy threw himself at Lucy's ankles and hugged them as he sobbed. Lucy looked bewildered and was about to offer to go and check on him - anything to get away from the crying cat! - when Gray, who had overheard the whole thing, stepped up. "I'll see to him. I'm sure the prospect of a fight will have him out here in no time," he said wryly, looking at Lucy. "And you can look after Happy," he smirked, before heading up to Natsu's house.
Natsu hadn't moved since Happy left, so he was still face-first in his pillow. It was getting a little harder to breathe, but Natsu was figuring that if he suffocated, he wouldn't have to deal with the current object of his affections. He heard his door open and close, and he sighed. "Happy, I said go away!" he said, lifting his head off the pillow slightly. There was a small chuckle from by his door. "Good thing I'm not Happy then," said an all too familiar voice. Natsu sat up properly, turning to face the intruder. Just as he had expected, Gray was leaning against his door, with his arms crossed over his chest (still clothed, thank goodness), and a smirk on his face. Natsu sighed - Gray was the last person he wanted to see right now...
Resisting the temptation to bury his face in the pillow again, Natsu frowned at Gray. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I've already told Happy to go away, do I really have to repeat myself?" At that, Gray raised an eyebrow. "That's kind of why I'm here... Happy's your best friend and you've made him cry, and Gildarts is back and you've not come looking for a fight yet - what on earth is wrong with you?" he asked. Now it was Natsu who raised his eyebrows. "Why would I tell you?" he asked. "In fact, why are you even asking?" Gray, still smirking at him, shrugged. "Maybe I'm just a nosy bastard?" he suggested. "Or perhaps I'm just bored?" he shrugged again. "Who knows?"
Natsu rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sick. So go away." He noticed he didn't say please, as he had with Happy, but he figured that was because he didn't like Gray. At all. At least, that's what he'd been telling himself for a long time... Natsu was suddenly aware of Gray clicking his fingers in his face and his head snapped up. Gray had crossed the room without Natsu noticing and now stood in front of him with an amused expression on his face. "See something you like, Salamander?" Gray asked nonchalantly, looking down at Natsu. Natsu could feel blood rushing to his face but tried to pass it off on a put-on coughing fit. "What? You do keep staring at me..." Gray pointed out. Natsu's fake coughing turned into real as he choked and spluttered in surprise. "I wasn't staring at you! I was thinking!" he objected, which only caused Gray to laugh. "'Thinking' isn't something you're too good at though, is it Natsu?" he said, crouching down slightly so was looking directly at Natsu, who was continuing to blush - despite his best efforts to contain it.
Gray pressed a hand lightly, almost mockingly, against Natsu's cheek, looking for all the world as if he were cupping his face. "Gosh, you're feeling pretty hot. I guess you are sick after all..." he tried to look concerned, but couldn't stop a smirk creeping slowly back onto his face. "Maybe you need to cool down?" he teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Natsu could only stare at him, and although a voice in the back of his mind was telling him he ought to pull away, he found he just couldn't - or wouldn't? "Wh...what are you on about?" he asked, internally cursing himself for stuttering. Gray rolled his eyes, getting somewhat more serious now. "It's kind of obvious; I've seen how you look at me when you think I can't see you - when you think I'm not watching you back. Honestly, you're less discreet than Juvia!" Natsu found that his blush had only intensified when he realised Gray knew he watched him (and that he watched him back!), but at the mention of Juvia he frowned. "Gray, what about Juvia...?" he asked hesitantly, almost as if he feared the answer. He quickly discovered, however, that he had nothing to worry about: "If I cared about Juvia in the way I care about you, I wouldn't be here right now, okay?" Gray said reassuringly, tilting his face down towards Natsu's so that their foreheads now touched.
Natsu smiled slowly as he gazed into Gray's eyes, the irony of them being 'Fire and Ice' not lost on him. It was said that opposites were meant to attract, and Natsu wasn't disputing that. "Okay," he responded softly, his smile growing as Gray raised his other hand to Natsu's other cheek to cup his face tenderly – for that is very much what was happening now – and Natsu reached up to pull Gray closer to him. Their lips were merely millimetres apart, but neither moved to close the gap. Even now, their competitive natures meant both were determined to wait it out the longest, eager to see who had more self–restraint. After almost a minute of silent staring and willing the other to give in, Gray finally caved, brushing his lips against Natsu's. It was brief, over far too quickly for both Natsu and Gray (but Gray had to pretend he still had some control), and Gray pulled back very slowly, as if inviting Natsu to make the next move.
"Your compulsive stripping certainly knows when to make an appearance…" Natsu was smirking now, looking pointedly at Gray's now bare chest. Momentarily surprised (he hadn't even been aware of it!), Gray quickly recovered and matched Natsu's smirk with one of his own. "You're not complaining, are you? I could always cover up if that's what you want." He pulled even further away from Natsu, reaching around for his discarded shirt. But before Gray could even blink, Natsu's arms had shot out and he caught hold of both of Gray's hands. "That's not what I want," he said sincerely. Gray raised an eyebrow as if to ask, 'what do you want then?' and with a smile Natsu leaned in towards him, simultaneously puling Gray back into him too. "This is what I want," he said, as he suddenly kissed Gray, taking him by surprise.
If their first 'kiss' had been quick and oh-so brief, this was a slow and drawn–out one, and both boys closed their eyes in bliss as they finally got to experience what they had each wanted to for so long. But, like all good things, it couldn't last forever, and eventually they both had to pull away (albeit very reluctantly), their eyes slowly opening as they did so. They both had matching smiles on their faces, and Natsu was still blushing slightly – in fact, even Gray had gone a little pink. Gray stood up, knowing he should re–join the others before they came looking for either he or Natsu. "I'm going to head back out, before we have a search party after us. Are you going to join us now?" he asked, sounding more than a little hopeful. Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I need to apologise to Happy. And I'm feeling a lot better now, so why not come out and have some fun?" he added, grinning at Gray, who was the whole reason he was feeling better. "Good," Gray returned the grin, knowing exactly why Natsu was miraculously recovered. "I'll see you out there," he said as he headed over to the door.
"Gray!" Natsu called, just as he was opening the door. Gray turned to face him and saw Natsu was looking pointedly at him, with one eyebrow raised. "Forgetting something?" he asked, holding up Gray's shirt. He tossed it over and Gray caught it and pulled it over his head in one smooth, effortless motion. He nodded his thanks and turned, again, to leave, before pausing in the doorway. A wide smirk appeared on his face as he looked over his shoulder at Natsu. "I bet you're all fired up now, huh?" Gray winked at him and finally left, leaving Natsu staring after him, shocked but over–joyed at the turn the day at taken.