Don't take what's mine
Summary: Gray thinks Lyon always takes what's his. Lyon thinks Gray only wants what he can't have. Young Gray vs. Lyon sibling rivalry.
Characters: Gray, Lyon, Ur, (Juvia briefly mentioned)
A/N: A big thank you to everyone who has been reviewing my stories!
Lying on the ground in front of Gray was a crystal. It was the largest and most beautiful crystal he had ever seen. Gray just stood there and stared at the crystal, admiring its unique beauty. His view was suddenly blocked by Lyon.
"This is perfect!" Lyon exclaimed as he scooped up the crystal. "Just the size I've been looking for!"
"That's mine!" Gray shouted angrily.
"How can it be yours?" Lyon asked, confused. "It was lying right there on the ground."
"It's mine! I wanted it first," Gray yelled, as he tried to grab the crystal from Lyon.
"If it was really yours, it would have been in your pocket by now, not in my hands," Lyon retorted.
"Give it back!"
"No! Why should I? It's not like I stole it from you or anything," Lyon said. "If you wanted it, you would have picked it up already. And you didn't. So it's mine now."
"I said give it back!" Gray shouted, trying to wrest the crystal from Lyon.
Hearing the yelling, Ur ran towards them.
"Are you two unable to go a day without fighting?" Ur sighed, pulling them apart. "What are you fighting about now?"
"Gray wants the crystal I found," Lyon said, opening his fist to show Ur the crystal.
"I found it first!" Gray yelled. "It's mine!"
"There are tons of those things lying around!" Ur exclaimed, pointing at the ground. "Just find another one!"
"I can't!" Lyon insisted. "I've been looking and this is the biggest one. I need one big enough that I can carve."
"That'll ruin it!" Gray exclaimed. "It's good enough as it is!"
"If you aren't going to carve it, why would the size matter?" Lyon pointed out. "Get a different one!"
"I want that one! The others aren't the same colour!"
"You're only saying you want it now because I have it," Lyon replied, contemptuously.
"That's not true! I wanted it first!" Gray shouted, his face red.
"That's your excuse for everything. Quit copying me!"
"Boys!" Ur yelled. "Stop arguing!"
Gray and Lyon looked at Ur sheepishly.
"You two are going to start acting like men," Ur said, looking at each of them in turn. "We will have one battle between two ice mages to determine who will get the crystal."
Ur dictated the rules. "No holds barred. No redos. And no whining about the outcome."
Gray and Lyon nodded.
"Hold your poses," Ur said and began the countdown. "Three, two, one…"
Lyon had chipped away at the crystal and it was starting to form a rough shape. Gray had overheard Lyon tell Ur that he was going to turn it into a tiger. The crystal was now much smaller than before and not as pretty. As far as Gray was concerned, Lyon had ruined the crystal and he was bitter that he lost it to Lyon.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Gray saw Lyon drop something close to Gray's pillow before leaving for the washroom.
Curious, Gray went to check it out. Beside Gray's pillow was a large crystal. It was smaller than Lyon's but it had the same colour. Gray picked up the crystal and held it towards the light, admiring how the light reflected off of it.
As part of their training, Ur often made Lyon and Gray do housework. It was Gray's least favourite form of "training." He hated it even more than the pointless marathon runs across the snow.
"So for today's training, you are going to be cleaning the cabin," Ur told them. "You can either pick the windows or the floors."
"I pick the windows!" Lyon piped up.
"I was going to do the windows!" Gray shouted, furious.
"I called it first, so you're doing the floors!"
"Lyon can do the windows today and next time Gray can do it," Ur said diplomatically.
"That's fine," Lyon agreed.
"No, that's not fair! I don't want to do the floors!" Gray yelled. "I was going to call the windows but Lyon took it from me!"
Gray shoved Lyon and Lyon punched Gray back.
Ur slapped her forehead. "You two are going to be the death of me!"
Grabbing them both by their collars, Ur dragged them towards the door. "We're going outside and settling this like men. Whoever wins will get to clean the windows today. Ok?"
Gray grumbled to himself while he tried to clean the floor using an old rag. He hated doing the floors. Cleaning the windows was much easier.
Lyon had already finished the windows and came up behind Gray as he slowly moved the cloth across the floor.
"You're doing it wrong. That's why it's taking so long," Lyon said, picking up another cloth and rinsing it in the bucket. "Watch my example!"
With Lyon helping him, cleaning the floors took no time at all. After they put away the cleaning supplies, Lyon turned to Gray.
"Let's go outside and play tag," Lyon suggested. He lightly punched Gray in the shoulder and headed towards the door.
"By the way, you're it!" Lyon yelled over his shoulder and took off.
"Why am I always it?" Gray shouted angrily, running after Lyon.
Lyon and Gray sat by the window, eagerly waiting for Ur's return. Ur had gone into town today and said she would bring them back cake.
When Lyon and Gray saw Ur approaching the house, they quickly flung the door open for her. Ur laughed and carried the cake box to the table while Lyon and Gray crowded around her.
"So which cake do you want, guys?" Ur asked, opening the box to let them see the choices.
"The strawberry one!" Lyon said immediately.
Gray was shocked. Lyon usually picked chocolate.
"You can't take the strawberry!" Gray shouted.
"Why not?" Lyon asked, surprised.
"I always get the strawberry cake!"
"No you don't!" Lyon retorted.
"Yes I do! It's my favourite!" Gray insisted.
"The strawberry cake is mine! Ur, tell him that it's mine!" Gray implored, turning to Ur.
"I didn't buy it for you Gray," Ur said, sighing. "It was a variety pack. It came like that. If you wanted me to buy you a strawberry cake, you should have said so earlier."
"But..."
"Lyon said he wanted the strawberry cake first," Ur said. "You can have the chocolate or the chestnut one."
"Take the chocolate," Lyon advised. "It tastes better."
"I don't want chocolate! I want strawberry!"
"Gray, just take the chocolate cake!" Ur cried, rubbing her temples.
"But it doesn't have a strawberry on top!" Gray whined.
"It has a hazelnut on top. It's just as good," Ur pointed out. "Or grab the one with the chestnut."
"No!" Gray shouted. "It's not fair! You always take Lyon's side!"
"Must you argue over everything?" Ur said exasperated, hands on her hips. "You know there's only one way to settle this, don't you?"
"Come on! Lyon, Gray, outside now!" Ur said, grabbing both her students and heading towards the door.
Grab stabbed at the chocolate cake, shoving another bite into his mouth. The cake was good but it wasn't the same as a strawberry cake. The strawberry cake came with a nice, juicy strawberry on top.
When Gray was about half-finished, Lyon suddenly grabbed the chocolate cake from under Gray's nose. Gray looked at Lyon in shock.
"Hey! What are you -"
Lyon had switched their plates. In front of Lyon was Gray's half-eaten chocolate cake. In front of Gray was Lyon's half-finished strawberry cake. More importantly, the strawberry was still on top of the cake.
Gray stared silently at the plate in front of him.
"I thought you wanted the strawberry cake," Lyon said, curiously. "You don't want it anymore?"
Lyon reached over to switch the plates again.
"No! I still want it!" Gray said quickly, shaking his head and holding on to the plate. Gray picked up his fork and stabbed the strawberry. He smiled as he chewed on the fruit, savouring its sweet taste.
As Lyon, Gray and Juvia ate in the restaurant that Lyon picked out, Gray peeked at Lyon out of the corner of his eyes.
Once again, they both wanted the same thing.
But Juvia was a girl and she was one of a kind. They couldn't find another, share or give each other half. They would be no happy outcome for the loser of this battle.
And no matter what anyone says, she was his first.
The End
A/N: The last scene is from the restaurant shot in Chapter 265.
It was implied in the manga that Gray always lost to Lyon when they were kids. Before Ur's death, Lyon seemed more like the good son type, so I figured he might have been a nice older brother.
Thanks for reading!
PS: After I wrote this, I found out that the translation of Gray's line "what's mine" was wrong. Unfortunately, the truth kind of ruins the title of my story. That'll teach me to work from a translation of a text. Lol.
Although the whole bet sequence in Chapter 265 makes a lot more sense now. Since Gray implies that Lyon's not allowed to hit on Fairy Tail members, Lyon comes up with the idea to make Juvia join Lamia Scale.