A Mistletoe Kick
A/n: This is my first story. Criticism is highly encouraged. I tried my best to keep characters in character but sorry if I messed it up. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
Christmas Eve. A time of high spirits, drunkenness and romance. The Fairy Tail guild was no exception to this. It was only 10:30 and at least half of Fairy Tail's members were already drunk, including the Master who had made the mistake of getting into a drinking contest with Cana.
Mirajane, Lucy, Erza, Levy and Gajeel were busy cleaning up the guild hall in preparation for the night's festivities. Mistletoe was being hung in multiple places across the guild hall when a booming voice interrupted the friendly chatter. "This year we're doing something different with the mistletoe, something manlier!" Confused looks spread across the room but the speaker, now identified as Elfman, ignored these looks and continued "Last year I had to witness my two sisters being constantly molested under the mistletoe so I had a talk with Gramps and he agreed that instead of a mistletoe kiss you give a mistletoe kick like a man underneath any mistletoe hung around the guild hall."
"We did?" slurred a drunken Makarov.
"Yes." replied Elfman a little too quickly. Nobody noticed when both Natsu and Juvia slipped out of the guild hall.
"You're just annoyed because no-one wanted to kiss you under the mistletoe!" stated Lissana whilst pouting, slightly annoyed at the fact her brother was putting a pause in her love life. Mirajane hummed in agreement..
"Yeah. Don't be such a spoil-sport!" chimed Evergreen from her seat on the second floor.
"The decision is final. Deal with it like a man."
Evergreen was starting to get annoyed and screeched at Elfman "But I'm a woman!" Elfman just walked over to the Christmas tree to help stabilise it, ignoring Evergreen completely. Evergreen got up and walked over towards Elfman and had, as Mirajane called it, a lover's spat with him.
Gray had just gotten back from a long and tiring solo mission. He was just about ready to go home, collapse onto his bed and fall into a deep sleep but he knew he should drop by the guild first. He was welcomed by Lucy and Erza offering him a beer which he gladly accepted. He glanced over to Elfman and Evergreen arguing. "What's going on with them?" he asked Lucy and Erza. Lucy was about to answer when a loud crash interrupted her.
Natsu was back. He saw Gray asking Lucy about Elfman and Evergreen. He had to stop Lucy from telling Gray about the mistletoe if his plan was to succeed, so he did the first thing he could think of; a fire dragon's iron fist to the nearest table. This got him some confused stares from people around him. He walked over to the nearest piece of mistletoe and called out to Gray.
"What do you want flamebrain?" snapped Gray, walking over to Natsu. He really didn't want to deal with him right now. Gray stopped himself when he saw Natsu was standing underneath mistletoe and gave him a puzzled look.
"What?" asked Natsu.
"Do you know where you're standing?"
"Yes."
"Then you know why I'm not coming over."
"I don't see what the big deal is. We do it all the time anyway."
"WHAT!" shrieked Gray. "We do not!" he said to the entire guild who was now staring at the two mages.
"Yeah we do. In fact we did it the day before you left for your mission. As a goodbye gift." Natsu was trying to keep his cool but it was hard, the look on Gray's face was priceless.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Gray half asked half yelled. Natsu was about to reply when he was interrupted.
"Gray-sama!"
Gray groaned. He knew that voice all too well. Juvia was a sweet girl and all but there wasn't any romance between the two of them. Gray knew this but apparently Juvia didn't. "Gray-sama there is a new rule to do with the mistletoe in Fairy Tail. You have to give a kick instead of a kiss underneath any mistletoe hung up in the guild."
"Oh." Gray said. That was what Natsu was talking about. He was going to kill Natsu later for making him look like a fool.
"Well Juvia thought that if she brought in her own mistletoe then the rule wouldn't apply." Gray did not like where this was going. Juvia held out a piece of mistletoe above her and Gray and blushed. Gray didn't know what to do. Juvia had gone through all this trouble but he didn't really want to kiss her. Suddenly, an idea popped into Gray's head. He kissed her on the cheek. "No. On the lips." Juvia said sternly, not willing to give up her chance. Gray sighed and gave in, giving Juvia a quick peck on the lips which made her faint.
Natsu dropped the mistletoe he had been hiding behind his back when Gray kissed Juvia. Both Natsu and Juvia had had the same idea. Gray turned and saw Natsu picking up the mistletoe and decided to walk over. "I'll do this for you and help you out just this once. Okay?" said Gray. Natsu nodded his head quickly. He was giddy and decided to ignore the whole 'just this once' thing. Natsu prepared himself for the kiss but it never came.
"Lucy come over here" yelled Gray "Natsu has something he wants to tell you." As Lucy came over, Gray walked away, winking at Natsu as he did. If Natsu had had hearts in his eyes, he was sure they would have cracked in two when Gray walked away. When Lucy saw the mistletoe she frowned and gave Natsu a small kiss on the cheek.
Gray burst out laughing. "Hahahaha. Flamebrain just got friendzoned!"
"Shut up ice freak!"
"Make me ask breath"
"Stupid stripper!"
"Pink haired lizard!"
Their insults quickly escalated into a fight. Erza was about to bash their heads in when Natsu suddenly stormed out. "I can't believe he got so worked up because you friendzoned him, Lucy." said Gray.
"I wasn't the one who friendzoned him" sighed Lucy. Gray and the rest of the nosy guild (bar Happy) didn't understand what Lucy meant by this. To them it was pretty obvious that Natsu liked Lucy and Lucy had rejected him.
"Maybe you should go see if he's okay Gray." suggested Happy. Lucy sent him a sceptical look and Happy mouthed 'trust me'.
"Fine." said Gray and he walked out of the guild to find Natsu. If he was honest, Natsu's behaviour did make him a tad concerned.
"What did you mean you weren't the one who friendzoned Natsu, Lu-chan?" asked Levy.
Lucy and Happy looked at each other, both unsure as to what to say. After a short pause, Lucy answered "Natsu does like someone but that someone isn't me."
"But you know who it is?" questioned Mirajane. Lucy nodded. "Who?"
"It's not my place to say." said Lucy looking down, hoping they would accept her answer.
"It's Gray." said Erza suddenly. She had been contemplating the situation and had come up with that conclusion. Lucy's head shot up.
"How did-" Lucy started.
"I observed Natsu's reactions and came to that conclusion." interrupted Erza. There were many gasps and murmurs throughout the guild hall. Natsu was gay and he liked Gray! Those were two very big revelations so close to Christmas.
"Natsu has only told Happy and me though, so don't tell anyone." Lucy said to everyone in the guild hall.
"Basically everyone is here Lucy." said Erza and it was true. The only person missing was Gildarts and no-one knew when he would come back. Lucy sighed. "Do you happen to know how Gray feels?" Erza asked Lucy who shook her head.
Although Cana had been involved in a drinking contest, she was still basically sober due to her high alcohol-threshold. "We have a problem." she stated to no-one in particular. "About a year ago, Gray and I had a drunken night together. Gray isn't gay." she said glumly. She couldn't help but feel bad for Natsu.
"WHAT!" yelled Juvia who had just woken up. Lissana quickly filled her in on everything that had gone down. Juvia was eerily quiet.
"We have no problem with Gray's sexuality." said Loke who had appeared by Lucy's side all of a sudden.
"Ah!" squeaked Lucy from surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked composing herself. "And please don't surprise me like that." she added.
"I'm so sorry for scaring you my love." said Loke with a panicked look on his face. Lucy face-palmed and gestured Loke to go on. "Well what I meant is that Cana isn't the only one to have slept with Gray. He's bi so like I said, sexuality isn't a problem here." continued Loke.
"Wait. You've slept with Gray!" shouted Lucy in shock. She was not expecting that but she supposed it made sense for Loke to be bisexual. Him and Gray did always seem to be pretty close.
"We still have the problem of if Gray actually likes Natsu." said Erza, pulling some of the pervier guild mates out of their fantasies. Juvia smiled.
"Are you okay Juvia?" asked a concerned Lissana.
"Yes. Juvia is. Juvia thinks Natsu-san and Gray-sama would make a cute couple." replied Juvia.
"Really?" asked Lucy in disbelief. "You're not jealous of Natsu?"
Juvia shook her head. "Juvia has been thinking for a while that if something was going to happen between her and Gray-sama it would of happened already. Juvia is sad but Juvia has had time to accept and come to terms with it. Juvia just wants Gray-sama to be happy." she said with a sad smile. Lissana pulled her into a hug. "Guess this means Juvia and Lucy are no longer love rivals."
"I never liked Gray in the first place!" shouted Lucy.
"I really hope Gray isn't mean to Natsu if he finds out about this." said Happy.
"Yeah." Lucy agreed. "There's something else you should know." she said to the guild. "About a month ago, Natsu got really drunk on a mission. It was just Natsu, Happy and me on the mission and this was when we found out about Natsu's feelings. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but Natsu has never actually gotten drunk in front of any of us before. He'll drink yes, but never as much as to get himself drunk. As it turns out the reason is because he um" Lucy paused, unsure how to phrase it.
"He's an emotional drunk." finished Happy. "He got really emotional and sensitive and started crying. Then he told us about how he likes Gray but is sure that he hates him."
"It was hard to watch. Natsu's like a different person when he's drunk." Lucy waited for the guild's reactions.
"I'm sure Gray would never intentionally hurt Natsu when it comes to something like this." Erza was the first to speak. "And if he did, I'd punch him to the other side of Fiore." People would have laughed if it wasn't for the deathly aura surrounding Erza. This made Happy and Lucy feel a bit better but they were still worried.
Meanwhile…
Gray was leaning on the door outside the guild hall. He had stayed behind to try and find out some information on why Natsu was acting so strangely and had overheard everything. "Shit." he mumbled. He'd never thought about the dragon slayer like that before and didn't know what to do. He decided the best thing to do would be to talk to Natsu himself. As he got up and started moving, a large gust of wind blew past him and into the guild hall.
Gajeel was sitting down trying to comprehend the revelations that had just come out about Natsu and Gray when a gust of wind brought the scent of the latter into the guild hall. 'Shit. He must of heard everything.' he thought. Gajeel got up and quickly walked over towards the guild doors.
"Where are you going?" asked Levy.
"Tell ya later. Gotta go." was his rushed reply.
Gray had not gone far when he felt someone grab him from behind and spin him round. He was about to attack when he saw the face of his attacker. Gajeel Redfox.
"You heard?" it was more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah."
"What you gonna do?"
"I don't know. I need to talk to Natsu about this. I've never thought of him in a romantic way before." Gray sighed and scratched the back of his head. To Gajeel, he looked kind of nervous and slightly guilty at the same time.
"You should also apologise for those friendzone comments. You were rather harsh."
"Why do you care?"
"Salamander's like a little brother to me, believe it or not, and I don't like seeing him like this. It isn't like him. He's supposed to be carefree and dense, not actually have feelings for someone, let alone a prick like you."
Gray was quiet. He ignored the insult because, in all honesty, Gajeel was right. All they ever seemed to do was fight.
"I suppose the two of you do have some chemistry. You look out for each other in battle and for some reason even though the two of you fight all the time, you still always hang around each other. You make each other laugh, smile and strive to be better and stronger. To be honest, out of everyone, I'm glad salamander chose you."
"Really?" Gray asked quietly and Gajeel nodded sincerely. "But like I said, I've never thought about Natsu in that way. I'm just going to go home and deal with this at a later date." Gray turned and started walking away.
"Ever think the reason you've never thought about salamander that way is because you always believed he was straight and didn't want to get your hopes up?"
Gray stopped for a few seconds before continuing, however this time in the other direction, towards Natsu's house. Gajeel smiled to himself and headed back into the guild.
Inside the guild…
"Maybe I shouldn't have sent Gray after Natsu." said Happy.
"I wouldn't worry about that. Everything is going to be just fine cat." said Gajeel as he took a seat.
"How do you know?" asked Levy.
"I talked to iceboy. Don't worry shrimp." Gajeel patted Levy's head which made her slightly agitated. Gajeel was bombarded by a number of questions from around the guild hall.
"What did you talk to Gray about?"
"Does Gray love Natsu?"
"Are they dating yet?"
"Are you jealous?"
Naturally, Gajeel punched the person who asked the last question.
With Gray…
Smoke could be seen coming from the forest near Natsu's house. Gray panicked for a second that something may have happened to Natsu until he remembered that Natsu was a fire dragon slayer. He was probably the one who caused the smoke in the first place. As he turned left towards Natsu's house, he saw the very man he was looking for punching the shit out of some nearby trees.
"Someone is worked up." Natsu yelped at the sudden voice, silently cursing himself for not sensing Gray approach.
"What do you want?" he snapped.
"Happy asked me to check up on you."
"Yeah? Well here I am. You can go now."
"You never actually confessed your feelings, you know. You might actually not be friendzoned."
"I think it was pretty obvious I was." said Natsu bitterly. "If that's all you have to say, you can leave."
"Fine." Gray turned away and started walking back down the path. "Actually there was one more thing I was going to say to you but I forgot."
"Can't of been that important then."
"Oh! I remember" he paused "I like you too."
Natsu's head snapped round, eyes wide and mouth agape. Once the original shock subsided, it was replaced with anger. "You bastard!" he shouted as he launched himself at Gray. Gray was expecting Natsu to react like this. The boy was so easy to read. Gray blocked Natsu's first punch but Natsu quickly landed an unexpected blow to Gray's side. Gray retaliated by kicking Natsu in the gut. They continued on like this for about 10 minutes. By the end, they were both heaving and panting.
"I can't believe you cried over me." Natsu could physically feel Gray's smirk.
"Shut up you cocky exhibitionist! It only happened when I was drunk." There was silence for a few moments. "Did you mean it? When you said you liked me too, did you mean it?"
"Yeah I do. You can thank Gajeel."
"What does metalhead have to do with any of this?" asked Natsu with a puzzled look.
"I'll explain later. But you know, I return your feelings and then you show your gratitude by trying to kill me. Rude much."
"No. I show my gratitude by doing this." Natsu launched at Gray again but this time he aimed for Gray's mouth. The kiss was rough at first, with Natsu taking dominance as he caught Gray off guard. Gray slowly started to realise that he was kissing Natsu and that Natsu was controlling the kiss. Hell no! Gray was having none of that. He flipped Natsu onto his back and started kissing back fiercely. Gray bit on Natsu's lip which made him moan. Gray seized this opprtunity and dived his tongue into Natsu's hot cavern. Once Natsu realised he had let Gray into his mouth, he started to suck on Gray's tongue which made Gray moan this time. Natsu tried to launch his tongue into Gray's mouth but it was intercepted by Gray's own tongue. They fought for dominance but as it was getting nowhere they both eventually gave up. After this, the kiss became sweeter and gentler but equally as passionate. They broke away for air and stared into each other's eyes.
"I'm curious." said Gray "I've got a bit of an idea from Gajeel, but why do you like me?"
"You're Gray. You're strong and smart. You may be an arrogant bastard at times, but you do care about people. You're kind, sweet and respectful. When we were younger, there was so many insults you could have done about Igneel but you didn't. I guess I first started to like you during the whole Lullaby incident. You thought I didn't hear you when you told me not to die on you, but I did and I really appreciated it. I also know I can always count on you, like when we were in the Tower of Heaven and you saved me from the owl freak. I don't have to worry about you on missions either since I know you can protect yourself. Not to mention the fact that you're constantly stripping. Do you know how hard that was for me? I'm not quite sure when my feelings turned into love, but they did."
When Natsu looked up and saw Gray's face he suddenly got really nervous. "What's wrong? You look like you've been hit by a train. Was it something I said? Shit. It was something I said, wasn't it?"
"You love me? I just thought you liked me." Gray was shocked to say the least.
"And you don't? Shit. I said too much and messed everything u-"
"Shut up and listen to me Natsu!" Natsu felt some reassurance by the fact Gray used his name rather than an insult. "I wasn't done talking. This is all really new to me. I didn't even know I liked you till about half an hour ago. Now it's my turn to say why I like you. You're a carefree idiot who never listens to anyone and destroys first and then asks questions later. However, you do have a deeper, more mature side which you show at certain times. I wish I could be more carefree like you. I don't understand how you do it. You've lost people just as I have yet you can keep up your childish antics. You're strong, kind and understanding. I love that." Gray paused "I love you."
Natsu almost felt like crying after hearing Gray's confession. Almost. Natsu hugged Gray out of sheer relief and joy.
"Gajeel pointed out to me that probably the reason I never realised my feelings for you was because I always thought you were straight."
"Never knew you were gay either."
"Bi." Gray corrected. "To be honest, I didn't even think you knew what relationships were."
"I don't know much about them. You're the only person I've ever wanted to be in a relationship with."
Gray thought about this for a moment when a realisation hit him. "Wait. Does that mean you're a virgin?!"
Natsu nodded meekly. "I take it by your reaction that you're not."
"No I'm not. Things are going to get interesting tonight though." Gray said smirking.
Natsu punched Gray in the arm. "No. We have to go on a date first."
Gray stared at Natsu in disbelief. "Seriously? We grew up together, can't we skip the formality of going on a date?"
"No. If you're only in this for the sex then I don't want to be with you." Natsu had a sad and pained look on his face and Gray realised just how badly he had phrased his sentence.
"I didn't mean never go on a date with you. I just meant that as it's Christmas Eve, there isn't going to be time to go on a date and I'm very eager."
Natsu blushed and his face almost went the same colour as his hair. "My answer is still no. You're just going to have to wait."
"I never took you to be so romantic. The whole mistletoe thing was a cute idea. Let's go back to the guild, I can't wait to tell everyone about our new relationship." Gray got up and beamed at Natsu who looked sceptical.
"Maybe we shouldn't go. When Juvia finds out she'll probably flood the guild hall."
"Nah. She's cool with it."Gray looked at Natsu's puzzled expression. "I'll explain on the way."
At the guild…
Gray and Natsu walked down the streets of Magnolia with their hands intertwined. This caused the couple to receive some odd stairs from last minute shoppers who could not comprehend the fact that Fairy Tail's two biggest rivals were holding hands. Neither Gray nor Natsu cared about this, they just wanted to get to the guild hall and announce their relationship to the only people they really cared about.
As they reached the guild hall doors, Natsu kicked them wide open, catching the attention of everyone in the guild. "Can't you ever enter a building like a normal person?" Gray asked. Natsu was about to retaliate when he was interrupted by a loud squeal courtesy of Lucy.
"Look! They're holding hands!" she exclaimed.
Natsu was beaming and Gray had a gentle smile. "Yep. We're boyfriends now." said Natsu. He walked up to Gajeel. "Oi metalhead."
"What do ya want salamander?" Gajeel replied gruffly but secretly he was happy for the pair.
"Thanks." was all Natsu said as he went back to Gray who was busy answering multiple questions from Lucy, Happy and Erza. Gajeel smiled.
"Looks like Fairy Tail has a new resident matchmaker." teased Levy.
"Shut up shrimp"
There were many congratulations through-out the guild. Natsu talked to Juvia and just as Gray had said, she was okay, a little sad but okay.
"Listen up brats!" shouted Makarov who was still a little tipsy. "It's Christmas Eve and we have a new couple. Double the reason to celebrate. I say we party hard Fairy Tail style! Bring on the beer!"
Everyone laughed besides Mirajane. "I think you've had enough to drink Master." she said taking away the drink he had just poured for himself.
They partied long into the night and before long Christmas Day had come around. Natsu woke up next to Gray in his bed. Panic and alarm rushed through him. "Relax Natsu. We didn't sleep together. I ain't going to take advantage of ya. Now come back to bed, you're nice and warm." Gray mumbled. Natsu smiled to himself and went back to cuddling Gray. "I didn't get you anything for Christmas." said Gray.
"Yes you did. You got me the best gift ever. You. And I hope you like your gift of me as I didn't get you anything else." explained Natsu, already half asleep again. Gray shot up in bed after Natsu said this and a million dirty thoughts started running through his mind. "Not like that you perverted stripper!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." said Gray feigning innocence. He kissed Natsu on the forehead. "Merry Christmas, Natsu."
"Merry Christmas, Gray"
THE END