Author's Note: This story was written after getting home from a party, while I was more than half asleep. So sorry if it makes about as much sense as the wild ramblings of a madman but hey, had an idea and had to write it down. Once it was written down it seemed a shame not to let people see it.

Disclaimer: I only wish Fairy Tail was mine

Rainy Day Gray

Natsu hung his head as the rain pounded down, soaking into the parched ground and drenching him quickly. You would have thought he'd be used to it by now, he thought sadly. This wasn't the first time he had been dumped because he was "too obsessed with that guild" or "just plain weird". This one had topped all others, though. To someone who had thought they had heard every excuse possible and some that weren't, this was… unbelievable.

~flashback~

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I can't possibly continue to go out with you when it's clear that you love someone else."

What bullshit! Natsu didn't love anyone, not like she was suggesting and he told her that straight away.

"You might not see it yet - you might not be ready to," she replied, "but to those who watch you it is obvious that there is someone who means far more to you than anyone else ever could. You have a shared history that binds you to this person. They may not realise it either but the bond is there, clear as day and while it exists no one else can even begin to get close." With that, she had kissed him on the check and walked away, as the clouds above loomed, threatening to break open and rain at last, after weeks without rain.

~end flashback~

Natsu stood there, long after the sound of her footsteps had faded away and the rain that those grey clouds had heralded arrived, her last words ringing in his head. What had she meant? Someone who meant more to him than anyone else? Someone he had a shared history with? He was close to everyone in Fairy Tail, had a history with everyone there, but none of that should affect his relationship with other people, not really. And what she had been suggesting, that he actually loved someone… well that was completely ridiculous.

He ran a hand through his hair and realised that while he had been lost in his thought, it didn't seem that he had got any wetter. But he knew it was still raining, he could hear the rain hitting the hard ground and smell the wet air. Natsu looked up, to see a dome of ice hanging overhead, acting like an umbrella. He hadn't even noticed the ice mage's arrival; he had been so consumed by what she had said.

Gray wasn't looking at him; instead he was staring off into the distance as if thinking through his own problems. He looked for all the world like he was as lost in his thoughts as Natsu had been, but Natsu knew better. It took serious concentration to keep a structure like the ice umbrella above their heads in one piece and where he wanted it to be.

"What are you doing here?" Natsu asked, trying to infuse his voice with its usual derision, and instead only managing to sound weary.

"Just watching the rain," Gray answered, his voice softer than Natsu had ever heard it before. Natsu knew it was an excuse and a pretty lame one at that, but just for today, he decided to let it go. He was too tired to even verbally fight with Gray, too confused to think straight.

The two boys stood in silence, the air filled with the history between them, their pasts and the future they could have. Despite all their fighting, all their competing, the silence between them was one of camaraderie and a friendship that was the bedrock of both their lives. As they stood, shielded from the rain by the ice umbrella, thinking their own thoughts, an unseen ribbon wound between them, tying round wrists, arms and spirits, binding two souls together. A ribbon of stunning, imperial purple, the colour of fire and ice combined.

Author's Note: Friendship is a wonderful thing, not matter what kind. Treasure each and every one of your friends for the individual they are, because they are the family we chose, and they are who make us the people we are.