Crisp cold air claims the night as the sun sink low behind the skyscrapers of New York. It's getting late, but that doesn't stop the city from moving, or Gray's friends for that fact. Natsu and Juvia had insisted that he should come over to dinner at least one night this week, even he's working late every day. The comic he was drawing for, S.H.O.T.: Super Heroes of Tomorrow, had just hit a spike in popularity, so he had to churn out more art faster. It was exhausting, but Gray had to question if it would be less painful.
Gray hates the conundrum he is in. It is pitiful. It is pathetic. He tries not to think about it, burying his feelings in smoke and graphite, but it is hard to ignore a crush. Or, crushes. He has a crush on Natsu and Juvia. And they're dating. Yep.
He hates himself for it. It's greedy, it's pathetic-especially because they're happy together-but he can't help it, so he stays silent. He would rather be quiet than say something and ruin their friendship.
Gray takes another drag of his cigarette and pulls his coat collar up closer to his face, trying to shoulder the cold. He forces himself through the crowds, wondering if it would be easier to just stop being their friends. However, that seems worst. Amidst all the bad luck thrown in his face, it would be worse without their bright smiles and hopeful outlooks on life. It was probably why he fell in love with both of them.
It is hard to forget how he'd gotten to this point.
The musty shop was filled with relics left behind by the modern age of the internet. Boxes filled with fraying comic books covered all the tables in the room. Faded posters of mediocre movies decorated the shop. It smelled like an old person's house. Gray really hated it.
However, all he wanted was on the other side of the basement comic book store. A small black rack that held fresh pages in between shiny covers-probably the newest thing in the store.
Gray stepped off the last step of the staircase leading to the shop underneath a small apartment building and quickly walked across the shop to the other side, eyes focused on the prize and ignoring the curious gaze of the owner. It was his first time in the shop and hopefully it would be his last.
The rack is covered with the newest comics of the month. Gray begins to scan the rack as the doorbell chimes. It's followed by loud clops of feet echoing down the empty stairwell, the new patron apparently having the enthusiasm of a child and thinking that there was a Christmas tree in the wasteland of nerds.
Gray paused for a moment to glance up at the new patron, a man about his age with pink hair and an annoyingly large smile. He had a smudge of grease on his face, as well as some on his jacket, but his white scarf was impeccable. He was apparently a seasoned customer as the owner takes the time to nod in his direction, in which he nods back.
He makes his way to the back of the shop where Gray was standing, taking a moment to scan the rack before taking a glance at Gray, just as Gray had done to him seconds earlier. Gray prayed that he wouldn't bother starting a conversation, as he just wanted to get out of this shop as fast as possible, but the customer had other ideas.
"You're new here, right?" he asked, and Gray cringed inside. "Whatcha lookin' for?"
"A comic called SHOT," Gray replied wondering that if he tried to bolt for the door now, he wouldn't see this pink-haired man ever again.
"Oh, the Super Heroes of Tomorrow?" he replied. "That came out a week ago, right?"
"Yep," Gray popped the 'p'.
"I think this place is all out at the moment," he answered.
God dammit, Gray thought.
"But I got it last week," He continued. "It was pretty good. I like the art."
"You really think so?" Gray really couldn't believe it.
"Yeah! The style's cool! Why? You don't like it?" he replied.
"No! I drew it!" Gray explained.
The man looks like he's been star-struck, "You're a comic book artist?"
"This is my first one," Gray tried to dissuade him. "And I' not even working for Marvel or DC."
"Hey! But you're still good! And it's a good comic!" he continued. He figured that it was a good time to introduce himself, and held his hand out, "Natsu Dragneel."
"Gray Fullbuster," Gray shook his hand.
"Hey! If SHOT was your first official comic, were you doing anything before then?" Natsu then asked, actually interested in what Gray did for a living.
"No, just freelance work and commissions," Gray answered. "I just moved down her from Maine a few month ago. I have a friend who lives here so I stayed with her for a while before I actually got a job."
"Yeah, I've been in New York City for about over a year now. I moved here from a small town in the upper part of the state near Buffalo. When I came down here my uncle gave me a job and I still work at his mechanic shop. It's still good work, and I get to annoy my cousin," Natsu explained. Gray realized that his smile was becoming less annoying, and more charming. Gray wished that what he think was happening, wasn't happening, because god, he was raised by Catholics and he wasn't sure what his father would think (you know, not that he really cared but still, he didn't want to damage his relation with his father further than it already was).
"How long does it take you to draw a comic? Is it hard?" Natsu began to ask, obviously an avid comic fan to willingly to come down into the wasteland. Gray couldn't say the same thing, as Cana wanted a copy of his comic but insisted that he get it so he could sign it and at one point in the future it will be worth a lot of money and she could sell it. Cana wasn't Gray's best friend for nothing.
"Yeah it's hard," Gray answered. "It'll usually take me one to two weeks, which is why we have a whole month in between releases."
"Cool," Natsu replied. Wonder sparkled in his eyes, and the realization hit Gray like a truck.
Okay damn, he's cute, Gray thought.
Gray would have continued but Natsu's cell phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and quickly answered, "Hey Gajeel . . . how many cars? . . . When I left there was nothing . . . alright I'll come back . . . is Metalicana there? . . . no okay I'll go." He hung up the phone and turned to Gray, "Well, I have to go. Apparently there are six cars down at the shop and one waiting-both from two different car accidents. Hope I can see you again Gray!"
"Same," Gray replied as he nabbed four different comics from the rack and running over to the counter, paying for them and bolting out.
Gray stared at the stairwell for a moment, knowing that it was unlikely that they would ever meet again in a city as big as New York, and considering his luck, they wouldn't. Gray looked over to the counter and shared an awkward stare with the owner, then bolting out like Natsu, away from the wasteland and into the bustle of New York City.
A month later, Loke's car gets smashed by a drunk driver overnight. He recently had reunited with a childhood friend of his, Lucy, who suggested that he goes to Redfox Mechanics, not only a quality mechanic but was also owned her friend's family and was where he worked. Loke insisted that Gray joined him in getting his smashed-up ride to the mechanics, and since Gray was suffering a drought of inspiration, he agreed.
It had been a month since Gray had met Natsu Dragneel in the musty comic book store in the basement, and damn, Gray actually still had a crush. He gave up on all apprehensions and just admitted it, thanks to Cana edging him on one drunken night at the Strauss Bar, a different basement establishment but was much classier than the comic book store. However, Gray would not make any effort to search out Natsu as that was creepy and played right into the hands of romance tropes. He wouldn't do that.
Redfox Mechanics was in a quieter part of New York, if that was possible. It looked old from the outside but the inside was clean and modern. Loke was directed inside one of the garages by a tall man with a mane of black hair held back with a headband. His face was studded with metal and a plethora of tattoos covers his bare skin underneath the black tank top.
"Man, what happened ta yer ride?" the man asked as Loke and Gray got out.
"A drunk driver rammed into it in the middle of the night," Loke explains.
"This'll be fun ta fix," the man mumbles before introducing himself. "Gajeel Redfox."
"Leo Key," Loke replied. "That's my friend Gray Fullbuster. Are you the owner?"
"Na, that's my dad," Gajeel answered. "You'll wanna go an' speak ta him in the office in the back before I can get ta work."
"Alright," Loke said before going to the other end of the shop. "Thank-you."
Gray was left to awkwardly stand around with Gajeel as he finished up his job with another car in the shop. Gajeel didn't seem much one for talk, and neither was Gray so though it was awkward, it was a peaceful coexistence.
That peaceful coexistence was destroyed when the loud metal door to the shop slammed shut and a familiar pink-hair man entered with an unfamiliar blue-haired woman.
"Hey Gajeel! Did Lucy's friend come in yet?" Natsu shouts and he runs into the shop the blue-haired woman only a few steps behind. Natsu looked the same, if only a bit shaggier, and his goofy smile looked as though it had never had left his face in the past month. His friend looked beautiful, she had brilliant blue eyes and a soft smile. She swayed into the room unlike Natsu's explosion, much like a small brook.
"Was his name Leo Key?" Gajeel asked.
"Well she said it was Loke, but close enough I guess," Natsu shrugged, and looked over to the car far enough to see Gray. "Oh, hey Gray!"
"Hey Natsu. Nice to see you again," Gray replied.
"Ya know Silent Jay over there?" Gajeel asked.
"Juvia's sure it's Jay and Silent Bob, Gajeel," the woman corrected Gajeel.
"Whatever," Gajeel rolled his eyes.
"Gajeel, Dogma is one of your favorite movies," Natsu pointed out.
"Just because I like it doesn't mean I have to remember the characters names," Gajeel argued. Natsu and Gajeel obviously disagreed, as they stared at him in silence with mouths slightly open for a moment without continuing on.
"Well, anyway," Natsu moved on. "Juvia, this is Gray Fullbuster. Gray, this is my girlfriend Juvia Lockser."
Gray felt like he just been smashed underneath the weight of an ACME anvil. However, he manages to shake it off and shook Juvia's hand.
"Nice to meet you," Juvia said as they shook hands.
"Nice to meet you too," Gray replies.
"So where did Gray and Natsu meet?" Juvia asked.
"We met at the comic book store," Natsu explained. "Gray draws for the one comic with the costumes you like."
"Gray draws that one?" Juvia asked.
"Yeah," Gray answers.
"Juvia thinks Gray's costume designs are much more practical than all the other superhero costumes she's seen and they look nice," Juvia explained.
"Yeah I was trying to go in that direction when I was designing the costumes," Gray replied. "Spandex are impractical."
"And just ugly," Juvia agreed.
"Spandex are classic," Natsu argued.
"Juvia wants to know who's idea it was to make heroes where spandex underwear outside of their suits. It's one of the ugliest design decisions Juvia's ever seen-and she's reviewed thousands of fashion shows," Juvia argued.
"Exactly," Gray continued. "I was never a fan of earlier superhero costume design, usually in the DC realm of things. At least Marvel got rid of spandex underwear but Superman still saved the day in the most impractical costume."
"You're both just cynical because one, Gray you draw for a living, and two, Juvia you design clothes for a living. It's classic. And three, Superman doesn't need a practical costume-he's invulnerable," Natsu insisted.
"Well, it's still ugly," Gray finished, and he and Juvia high-fived each other.
"Not a good argument," Natsu grumbled.
Gray knew that he and Juvia would have continued but they were interrupted by the return of Loke and the owner of the shop. He was a tall, older man, who looked a bit like Gajeel aside from his short, silver hair pushed back with grease. He has more piercings than Gajeel, and definitely more tattoos, but he looked much nicer and had a sharp smile.
"Natsu! Juvia! Glad you could join us!" Metalicana greeted the two before turning to Loke's wrecked ride. As he observed it, he ran a hand through his hair, "Whew. This looks like a load 'a work, but . . . we can do it. Why don't you an' yer bud there walk around a bit and come back 'bout two hours from now an' see what progress has been made."
"Alright, thank-you Mr. Redfox," Loke thanked.
"No problem. After all, you are payin' me ta fix it," Metalicana answered and laughed at his own joke.
"Alright, I'll see you in two hours," Loke replied. "Come on Gray. I bet we can get lunch around here."
"Wait," Natsu stopped everything. He turned to Gray, "Hey, give me your phone number bro."
"Uh, what?" Gray just had his chances at a potential relationship crushed by a metaphoric ACME anvil literally minutes earlier by the fact that Natsu was dating Juvia. Juvia was, though, really nice and pretty beautiful, and Gray didn't know why he was going on this tangent but the fact was, why was Natsu asking for his phone number.
"Just give me your number," Natsu insisted. "So we can hang out at some point in the future because you're pretty cool."
"Yeah," Juvia agreed. "Juvia would love to see Gray again.
"Alright," Gray gave in, and gave Natsu his phone number who quickly plugged it into his phone.
"Thanks Gray!" Natsu replied. "See ya soon!"
"Bye Gray!" Juvia added.
"Now let's get ta work," Metalicana instructed as Gray walked away from the shop with Gray.
"So, was that the Natsu you have a crush on?" Loke asked.
"How'd you find out?" Gray replied. A bad mood leveled over him as he left the shop, as he had removed the metaphorical ACME anvil from his back and was now brooding in the pain.
"Cana, obviously," Loke answered. "Was it?"
"Yeah," Gray grumbled.
"He asked for your number. Why are you in such a bad mood?" Loke continued.
"Well mainly because," Gray answered. "He's already dating someone."
Gray came to Loke a week later with his conundrum. Loke was a playboy, and could give advice on any sort of relationship. Hopefully, he could help Gray.
"Loke," Gray began. "I think I'm in love with two people."
"Well, you're going to have to choose one," Loke advised.
"I can't," Gray replied.
"Why?"
"They're dating each other."
"Oh."
It had been months and months since those first meetings. Since then there had been parties, video games, guy nights, dinners, lunches, and more. It hurt to hang out with the two people he loved as just friends, but Gray suffered happily, as just being friends with even just one of them was worth all of the pain.
Gray snuffs out his cigarette and discards the butt into the trash can before marching up the steps of the apartment building. Their studio apartment is on the eighth floor, a large open space, save for the bathroom. Their bed is hidden in between the bathroom and the outside wall behind a curtain, but the rest was open to everything. The living room, the kitchen, the dining room, and a work space all in one open floor plan.
Gray knocks on the door and it flies open. He's squished by Juvia's greeting hug before he can step inside.
"Juvia's glad Gray could make it!" Juvia states as she lets Gray go.
"Same," Gray agrees.
"Come on in, Juvia's just about finished with dinner," Juvia explains as she steps away from the door and over to the kitchen. Gray hangs up his coat and nods to Natsu, who's sitting at the island counter.
"Hi Gray!" Natsu waves with a bright smile on his face.
"Hey," Gray replies as he walks over to the dining table. As he walks over, it's obvious to see Natsu and Juvia lean over the island to whisper something to each other. It sounded as though it was in Spanish. It wasn't odd from them to whisper each other in Spanish, they both spoke the language and did that when they wanted to say something private in a public place, however they rarely did it in the presence of one person. The tension in the air soon became apparent: Natsu and Juvia wanted to tell or ask him something, and it was something big.
Gray sits down and ignores the heavy atmosphere, and Natsu moves from the barstool to the dining table.
"So how's work been?" Natsu asks as he begins to drum his fingers on the table.
"Busy," Gray answers. "My hands are usually covered in graphite by the end of the day."
"Same, except with grease," Natsu adds. "Got any spoilers?"
"No. I could get fired for that, and you wouldn't be able to see my beautiful artwork anymore," Gray replies.
"Family and friends discount?" Natsu hopefully asks.
"Spoilers aren't discounts Natsu," Juvia reminds Natsu with a chuckle.
"I can try," Natsu argues.
"Still no," Gray answers.
"Alright, dinner's ready!" Juvia announces. Natsu gets up and helps Juvia move the bowls and plates filled with food to the table.
A cloud of nerves settles over the table as Natsu and Juvia sit down. They all collect their food and begin to eat in an awkward silence.
Gray watches Natsu and Juvia share nervous glances throughout the dinner. Natsu kept on fidgeting and Juvia twirled the pendant on her necklace. Gray finally had to ask.
"Why did you guys want to have dinner with me?"
Natsu and Juvia shares the longest nervous glance of the night. Natsu suddenly gets that impulsive look in his eyes and he turns to Gray, "We know you have a crush on us."
Gray's heartbeat picks and his mouth hangs open. He is frozen, staring at Natsu and Juvia in horror. Never in his life has he ever felt so much embarrassment and he had no idea how to react or what to do. One thing was clear in his mind: this is the end.
"Natsu!" Juvia scolds Natsu and swats his shoulder as she realizes what he has done and that Gray was in distress.
"But that's cool because we like you too!" Natsu tries to fix his mistake.
"Uh . . . uh," Gray is really confused. "Wh-what?"
"What Natsu and Juvia where going to explain before someone just blurted it out is that . . . well," Juvia tries to get a footing in her explanation but can't find one.
"Okay," Natsu tries again. "So about a week ago Lucy pointed out to me that you had a crush on me and possibly Juvia too."
Gray really just wants to sink into his seat and disappear into smoke. Lucy knows too, or at least it was obvious enough so who knows who else knows. He sends a quick pray up to God: Dear God, fuck you. I end up falling a love with two people and you decide to kill me with embarrassment. Thanks. Gray really wished that his Catholic upbringing was more useful in situations like these. Praying was apparently the solution to everything but it never solved anything for Gray.
"So I ended up telling Juvia this later that day but the strange thing was is that I kinda also feel the same way? But I still love Juvia? And Juvia agrees with this too so after I discovered that she's never seen Pinky and the Brain or Animaniacs-which is a crime-we thought that we could ask you over and see if you were cool with this," Natsu explains, though he did leave out something.
"What do you mean by 'this'?" Gray asks, sweaty palms on the table, though he was relaxing a bit. His feelings had just been returned but there was still an unsure tension: now what would happen? What was even the direction of the conversation? Why is he so sweaty? Gray really hoped the first two would be answered and the third one left unmentioned.
"By 'this' Juvia and Natsu mean the idea of all three of us being together and dating each other-a polyamorous relationship," Juvia answers.
Gray feels like he's just been hit in the face with a light bulb followed by a brick. He never thought of the idea, mainly because he was raised Catholic. Realizing that he was bisexual was a complicated experience that involved years of denial, hours of online research, one trip to confession, and finally a talk with Cana after a painful experience at confession. He always knew that polyamory was a thing, but it had never occurred to him as a solution and now that it had been offered to him, it was a shock.
"Is Gray okay?" Juvia asks.
"You kinda look like you're gonna throw up," Natsu states.
"Yeah, uh, yeah, I'm fine," Gray feels like he's finally able to move. "I'm sorry but you didn't exactly lead me into this idea easily."
"You're welcome," Natsu replies.
"So what does Gray think?" Juvia ignores Natsu.
"Well," Gray tries to think. "I never actually thought that there was actually an easy answer to this, and I actually didn't think it was that."
"Yeah but it's definitely the best one," Natsu comments with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
"You guys do know that I was raised Catholic, right?" Gray checks.
"Gray may have mentioned that at some point," Juvia answers. "But get to the point."
"Uhm, how is this going to work?" Gray asks.
Natsu shrugs and Juvia replies, "Juvia and Natsu aren't quite sure. It's new to all of us, but Juvia guesses that we would all learn as we go along."
"Yeah, just like any relationship," Natsu adds. "We'd go on dates, cuddles, joke around, have sex, fight, some other relationship hardships-it's just that it would be the three of us."
"Exactly," Juvia agrees.
"So?" Natsu edges on. "What's the verdict?"
The answer really shouldn't have been that hard, considering the man-pain he was going through up to the point, but the Sunday mornings of his childhood that were spent in Sunday School had built up in his mind making the question more difficult. However, Gray did just say 'fuck you' to God and his experiences in recent years with the Catholic Church haven't been that good . . . .
"Yes," Gray answers.
"Sweet!" Natsu fist pumps the air but Juvia gets out of her chair and goes around the table to hug Gray. Natsu gets up and joins them in a large group hug.
"Uh," Gray's the first person to say anything as the hug breaks apart. "Now what?"
"We finish dinner," Juvia answers, going back to her seat with Natsu. "It's probably cold but now."
"I can warm it up if you want," Natsu offers. Juvia hands Natsu her plate, "You want me to heat up yours too Gray?"
"No," Gray replies. "The last time I trusted you with food you almost burned off my taste buds."
"I can't help that you have a sensitive tongue and the only food I can make is spicy as fuck," Natsu argues as he stuffs his plate and Juvia's plate into the microwave.
"And I'm more than fine with cold food," Gray adds.
The rest of the night goes smoothly, ending with planning for their next date (if that could be considered their first) back at the apartment, watching Animaniacs, as Natsu had learned with horror that Gray had never seen that either.
Gray goes to the door and grabs his jacket, followed by Juvia and Natsu to wish him goodbye. Gray gets the courage to kiss Juvia on the cheek before he leaves and when he turns to Natsu, he is surprised with a full-blown kiss on the lips. Gray leaves with Natsu wearing a mischievous smile and a victorious look on his face.
As he leaves the apartment and enters back into the streets of New York, alive with pulsing neon blood and buzzing night life, Gray can feel the stress of any worry, anger or sadness he had felt in the past months lift off his shoulders. It is a strange feeling for him, as he got used to the weight which he masked with graphite and smoke, but now as he left, he felt no urge to pull out a cigarette.
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