Gray had a good reason as to why he never got with Juvia or wanted any contact with the blue haired mage. He really had no interest in the girl but felt bad about it, he didn't want to tell her why, no one knew why. It felt weird to be different from everyone else and having to keep it a secret.
Gray never dated, he really didn't have in interest in girls at all. He wanted to tell someone, but who? He could never tell any of the girls in the guild, how could they help him at all? He really needed to tell Juvia to back off and get on with her life. This was killing him.
Today was a very normal day at Fairy Tail, Gray was walking slowly to the guild today, he was determined to tell her the truth and let her get on with her life. It just didn't seem fair to Juvia, having her try so hard to get with him when it would never work, and it totally wasn't her fault either.
When the ice-make mage opened the guild doors, the noise hit him first. Loud as ever, Natsu screaming about wanting to fight Erza and Lucy yelling at him to stop being dumb; like that was ever possible. Gray walked in rolling his eyes in the process, trying to be as quiet as possible. Juvia was in his sight in seconds because she was running towards him with hearts in her eyes. Gods this was going to suck.
"Gray, my darling! You were late today! Juvia missed you." The said man sighed as she grabbed his arm with both of hers.
"Yeah, I was just thinking." His gruff and tired voice shocked her. He had been up all night trying to figure out how to tell her the right way.
Juvia gasped with wide eyes, "Darling, you sound tired. Maybe Juvia can help with that. Mira can get you something to wake you up." The water mage pulled him to the bar and asked Mira to get him some coffee, this was not going well for him.
He sighed again, sitting on the stool, finding the wood of the counter very interesting. A cup of coffee was set in front of him with cream a second later, he looked up to the resident takeover mage. She held a small smile to him and he replied with one back. Gray saw from the corner of his eye that Juvia was glaring at the white-haired mage.
He took a sip from the coffee and almost groaned, perfect mix of cream and sugar and coffee and it was an iced coffee. When he finished his coffee, he would pull Juvia aside and tell her; the voice in his mind told him.
Behind him he could hear conversations around the guild, many different missions they took and arguments because this was Fairy Tail. One conversation he took interest in, was with a new member and Natsu.
"Do you dye your hair cause you're gay?" The new comer asked the dragon slayer.
Natsu frowned his eyebrows at the guy, "What? I ain't gay!" his mouth spilling with fire and Gray just dunked his head lower than it already was. "This is natural, you bastard. Fight me!" Then he hit the new member in the face with a fiery fist. Gray had to guess he was just trying to get Natsu to fight him, but Gray took it to heart.
Juvia looked at Gray with curiosity, "Something wrong my darling?"
Gray heard her but also heard the fight that was happening behind them with Natsu and the new mage. "No, I'm fine." He grumbled out. "Juvia, can I speak with you?"
Gray stood up from the bar and Juvia followed him to one of the back rooms, he closed the door and turned to look at her.
"Is my Gray going to finally confess to Juvia?" He hands flew up to her face, covering her cheeks that were very pink.
"Juvia –" He started but she gasped.
"I've been waiting for this day for so long." Her eyes were closed as Gray ruffled his own hair in frustration.
"Wait, Juvia –"
"Oh! Did you want to say if first? Juvia is so sorry. She has just been waiting –"
Gray had enough because this was not how he wanted to do this. "I'm gay!" He yelled, interrupting her speech.
Juvia stood where she was, with her wide blue eyes. "Juvia is sorry, but she thinks she heard you wrong." She said steadily.
Gray scratched the back of his head, "Juvia, I'm sorry but I am" He sighed and dropped his hand to his side, "I am interested in men." That sounded weirder than just saying he was gay.
"Did Juvia turn you gay?" She pushed a hair behind her ear.
The ice-make mage looked back up to her, "No! Not at all. I was gay before."
She nodded, thinking over it. "I'm sorry Juvia. I just needed to tell you, so you can move on. We can still be friends." He offered, it's the least he could do since he strung her along.
Juvia just ran and hugged the cold mage, "Of course! Juvia is glad you told her." Gray was shocked, he didn't think she would be happy about it. He slowly hugged her back.
"Thank you so much Juvia. You have no idea how much this means to me." They split apart and smiled to each other. "So, you will move on?"
Juvia nodded and smiled towards Gray. "It may take some time, but Juvia will. Thank you Gray."
Both left the room and Juvia headed to a table with Lucy and Lisanna, he hoped that she wouldn't tell them. He forgot to tell her not to tell anyone, but he thought Juvia knew better than to spread that around. He sat at the bar again, when Mira stepped in front of him.
"You finally confess to Juvia?" Her smile creeped him out, now he really wanted to go home.
"No. Nothing like that. Just leave it Mira." Gray took the iced coffee and walked to another table. Mira was confused but brushed it off.
xxxLINExxx
It had been a few days since Gray told Juvia and she hasn't followed him or praised her love to him since then and he has been so grateful. They still talked, more civil and she almost touched him a couple times. He had time to breathe and think, should he tell someone or even tell the whole guild.
Right now, Gray was in his apartment, on his couch just thinking about what to do. He was going to go on a job by himself to think things through. Should he even start dating? It was all new to him, even though he's known that he was a little different and that he liked guys, but he didn't know what to do about it.
He got up from the couch to get something to drink, that was until a knock was heard on his door. He raised an eyebrow but walked to the door anyway. He opened it and saw Erza, Lucy, Wendy and Natsu with Happy flying behind them.
"We have a mission to do." Erza shoved in the door and pushed Gray in the process.
"Come in, I guess." Gray said under his breath. His shirt lost the minute he opened the door.
Wendy walked in and smiled attentively at the ice-make mage. "Sorry Gray. You have a nice home." She was holding Carla in her arms when she sat on his couch.
Lucy was looking around when she came through the door, "It's cold in here." She shivered and rubbed her arms.
"I think it's fine." Gray commented while crossing his arms. Then Lucy asked him where his shirt was. He panicked and looked around, he just had it on. Gray located it on his arm chair in the corner and put it on.
"Nice place ice princess!" Natsu complimented while slapping him on the shoulder. Gray was about to yell at him back but then he glance up to the fire dragon slayer's jade eyes.
"Fuck." Gray sighed out, Natsu just looked at confused but Gray shook his head and shoved Natsu's hand off his shoulder. "Nothing." Gray moved over to the side chair. "So, what is this mission?", not looking at Natsu. Gray thinks he found his first gay crush and it was not ideal.
Erza stood in front of the kitchen with one hand on he hip and the other holding a job flyer. "We have to assist an heiress on travel. She is coming from her home in Bosco to her fiancé's in Seven. It should only take a week at most." She explained.
"You okay with this job Lucy?" Natsu asked from his position at the door with Happy laying on his head. He was leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed and Gray couldn't look away. His large muscles in his vest and his fangs when he spoke to Lucy. Gray closed his eyes before he looked at anymore of Natsu. He wasn't gay, and it would be hopeless.
"Yeah, I don't know her, but she might a bit, um," she paused looking for the right word.
"A bit of a bitch?" Gray guessed and Erza covered Wendy's ears.
"Gray! Language!" The equip mage yelled as Gray rolled his eyes, this little girl heard a lot more offensive language at the guild. Now, Gray's pants were missing. "Gray, your pants." She pointed out.
The dark-haired man cursed and searched for the clothing, luckily it was at his feet and he quickly put them back on. This sounded like a simple mission why did they need all of them? Plus, how much are they paying them?
"How much is it?" Lucy asked while fiddling with her keys. Gray assumed she wanted to know because of her rent again.
"It's 675,000 Jewel. So that's 135,000 for each of us." Erza read off the flyer and then tucked it back in her pocket.
"That's awesome! Food money!" Natsu cheered while Happy 'ayed' in the air. Gray just shook his head at idiot but loved looking at his smile. The dark-haired man lowered his head and closed his eyes. He's had this crush for less than an hour and he couldn't even look at him without thinking sexually. He was so screwed.
"We leave at 10 in the morning." Erza was already heading towards the door and opening it when everyone else was leaving.
Gray got up to close the door behind them when Natsu was the last one out. "See ya in the morning ice prick." He smiled again as he turned to leave.
"Yeah whatever fire freak!" Gray smiled back at the pink-haired man.
This was going to be an interesting mission for Gray.
xxxLINExxx
At 10:15 everyone was now at the train station, Lucy obvious was the last one there and Erza was the first, Gray showed up before Natsu and was sitting chatting with Erza and Wendy when the pink-haired mage came running in.
"Hey guys! I'm not late this time." He yelled waving with Happy flying behind him.
"He was almost wasn't, saying he needed to wash up beforehand!" Happy snickered behind his paws. Natsu threw him a narrowed glance.
Gray tilted his head, who was he cleaning up for? Then Lucy showed, Natsu gave her a large, toothy smile and Gray knew. He looked down to his feet and tried to brush it off. He felt so much like Juvia, it hurt. He needed to find someone else or just not look at all, that's what everyone says anyway. That if you don't look, love will find you.
"Gray!" Wendy yelled, he looked up from the ground to see that everyone was boarding the train now.
"Coming!" Getting up and throwing his bag on his shoulder he followed them.
Gray sat near the window to stare out at the scenery. He didn't know that Natsu would be sitting opposite of him, he would have to stare at his gorgeous face the whole time. 'Fuck', maybe he should get some sleep with he was on here.
Four hours later, they were at the door of the heiress' home. Gray thought the whole time they were on that train, he was going to die of embarrassment. He wouldn't stop staring at Natsu and a few times the pink-haired man caught him. Although, he never said anything like Gray thought he would.
Gray stood behind everyone else as they greeted the client and was told more about the mission, he really didn't care about though. His mind was on his feelings coming out. He should really talk to someone about this.
When the group walked into a room, they all saw the heiress standing in the middle of the room with her maid holding her bags. "Are we ready yet?" Putting a hand on her hip, with a raised eyebrow.
The girl was wearing a giant dress that was light purple at the top with an ombre going down it. She had dark purple hair that was pulled up in a tight bun on the top of her head. She even had a periwinkle colored gloves running down her arms from her elbows. Gray would say that she was pretty, but her face ruined it. She had a scowl on her face at the group that was here to help her.
"Yes mam, the mages just got here, and they are ready to get going now." The butler told the prissy heiress. The girl then snapped her fingers that the maid carrying her bags, she hurried to the door and ran off with her stuff. Gray heard Natsu growled beside him, he looked to him and the dragon slayer was glaring towards the heiress.
Lucy just smiled to the girl, but he knew it was fake and Erza just had a stoic face not showing anything. Wendy wasn't looking at anyone and Gray knew that she couldn't hide her emotions on her face. Natsu, he just looked angry.
They made a whole for the heiress to pass them, but she stopped right in front of Gray, looked him up and down. Then, he was reminded why he was gay. "You're cute. I want to sit by him." she brushed against his arm and his lip curled upwards unconsciously.
"Uh," Gray didn't know if he should say anything. This was a client, but he just didn't want to be near this girl. He looked to Natsu, he looked angrier than he did before.
The heiress took his hand and walked off with him, "Come with me." it was a demand, but wasn't she engaged? Gray wondered as he was being pulled by this horrid person.
The group of mages and the heiress stood by the carriage. Erza told them that she and Natsu going to be stationed outside the carriage for the first half and Lucy, Gray and Wendy will be for the second half. Natsu hated that idea, but he never stated why.
Gray sat by the door of the carriage while the client sat very close to him, he almost cringed. Lucy and Wendy sat opposite of the two, with Carla sitting on her lap. "So, when are you getting married?'' Wendy tried to break the tension.
The heiress scoffed and started to pick her nails, "In a few months. My father picked him, he's fine I guess." Her eyes drifted to Gray who was staring out the window. "He's not as handsome as this boy here." He hand landed on his shoulder. The ice mage jumped, turning his head towards the purple-haired girl.
"Uh," He still didn't know what to say to her, should he lie that he was taken? "I'm good." What the fuck was that? That's all he was going to say to her?
"What do you mean 'I'm good'?" Her hands dropped to her sides, raising an eyebrow at the dark-haired man.
Gray's eyes went to Lucy, she looked concerned. Her hands gripped her skirt as she was trying to help him, Wendy just looked uncomfortable.
"Well, of course he wouldn't want some who has a fiancé." Carla blurted out and crossing her tiny paws over her chest.
The heiress gasped, having her mouth wide open and Lucy's eyes widened as well. Gray just wanted to laugh and also leave. His hand was laying on the door handle, wanting to just jump.
"Fine, I guess you're right. Who would want someone who could die anytime they leave on a mission?" She crossed her legs under her wide dress.
Lucy wiped her hand over her keys, mentally giving love to her spirits. "We work very hard to stay alive and it's very rewarding to help people around the world." Lucy tried to explain to the heiress, they didn't have the same mindset as the celestial mage.
"Right, it's not like everyone is grateful for you guys." She flipped a strand of hair behind her shoulder.
"That's not what matters." Gray grumbled but opened the door before she could make another snide comment. His foot stepped on the ground as the carriage was still moving, he was walking as he stepped out.
"What are you doing?" Natsu asked, still looking very angry.
Gray crossed his arms, "She was hitting on me and I didn't want any of that." The fire dragon slayer actually laughed at the statement. "What?" He punched his arm. Happy was sleeping on top of the carriage.
Natsu turned around, walking backwards with his hands behind his head. "It's just funny whenever a girl hits on you." Gray almost kicked him, he shot his foot out but missed him by an inch; he laughed at his attempt.
"What does that mean asshole?" His hand fisted his shirt, about to take it off.
"You don't like any of them. I just think it's funny." He winked at Gray and turned his back to the ice mage. Gray stared at his back for a good 5 minutes before he looked around to see if he was still alive.
"It's a break time." Erza's authoritative voice came from the other side of the carriage. The group from inside walked out with the heiress having a scowl on her face and Lucy looking just livid. Wendy obviously looked uncomfortable.
Natsu walked over to Lucy, throwing his arm over her shoulder, Gray looked away from them. "What's the matter Luce?"
When the violet-haired heiress was far enough away, she blew air out of her nose, "She brought up me running away and how much of a coward I was." She crossed her arms under her chest, she just looked like she wanted to hit someone.
"Gods, I hate her." Natsu narrowed his eyes at the retreating form of an heiress.
"Same." Lucy was glaring with him.
"I do as well." Erza said after coming back from the bathroom.
"I think she's a bitch." Gray said, unconsciously taking off his pants.
"Gray, your pants." Wendy commented, "I don't enjoy her company either."
xxxLINExxx
The next 2 days the team had to endure the crappy attitude of the heiress which, they didn't know her name. Lucy knew it, but she was happy just calling her bitch. Gray was stuck next to Natsu and Happy the whole time. The ice mage was kind of happy about it, they still picked fights, but it seemed a bit different from before.
They would yell and joke, but Gray was having a better time then when he was sitting in the carriage, in there was Erza and Wendy.
"Gods, how much longer?" Lucy groaned from beside Natsu. She sagged forward, letting her arms hang down. Natsu laughed as he blew a little bit of fire out of mouth.
Gray was making different objects out of ice and dropping them on the ground. First it was a rose and then he made a tiny horse. Since Lucy got out here, he was a little bored. The two of them sure are best friends, telling jokes and referencing inside jokes.
Gray had his head down focusing on making a little cat that he didn't see the small tree in front of him. The ice mage tripped and landed on his hands but still managed to smack his face in the dirt. "Fuck!" He cursed as he hit the ground.
Natsu laughed and Gray was pushing himself up, "Fuck you charcoal breath!"
The fire dragon slayer kept laughing, leaning his hands on his knees, "You wish icicle." He held a smirk to the ice mage.
"Yeah, maybe I do." Gray grumbled, wiping the dirt off his forearms. Natsu stopped in his tracks, Lucy didn't hear what Gray had said, so she looked at her pink-haired best friend weird.
"Natsu?" Gray looked up at that, when the slayer was staring wide eyes at him, he realized that Natsu heard what he said. Gray cursed.
"What is taking so long?" The heiress yelled from the open door.
The three Fairy Tail mages looked over at her then looked at each other, Gray took the incentive to answer since it was his fault. "Sorry, I fell when I wasn't paying attention."
She landed a hand on her hip, "Did you lose your shirt in the process?" The violet-haired girl pointed out.
The ice mage looked down and saw his pasty white chest. "Fuck." He cursed again. It was Natsu who handed him his shirt back, Gray looked up at the fire dragon slayer and his eyes showed a lot of emotions.
"We need to talk." Natsu whispered as he walked away.
He was going to kill him, he said the wrong thing and now Natsu will want nothing to do with him. Gray stood up, putting his shirt on and he glanced over to Natsu and Lucy. They were talking quietly now. This was such a bad idea, he should have never come on this mission.
Gray now was walking on the other side of the carriage with his hands in his pockets and staring down at the ground. He really wanted to just disappear in the woods, at least they were almost to the place, so he could just run ahead of them when they got their reward.
It was quiet for the rest of the ride to Seven, Lucy and Natsu kept talking quietly to each other while Gray stood off to the side kicking stones and wishing he was dead.
Once Erza and Wendy had got the heiress comfortable with her fiancé and his family, the group was walking back to the train station to get home faster. Natsu was grumbling about being sick and Gray would usually make fun of him for it, but he didn't feel like it.
The team walked into the cabin of the train Gray hesitated and then went to get something to eat in the other cabin. Gray sat in the food cabin for close to an hour just watching the sense outside. Then he felt someone sit next to him.
"Wanna talk about something?" Erza asked getting a water for herself.
He sighed and leaned back into his chair more, "What do you mean?" Trying to fain innocence.
Erza raised a red eyebrow at the ice mage, "Something's bother you. It has been for a while now."
Sometimes he hated how much she knew him. "Yeah, well. I don't really know how to deal with it."
"You want me to help you?" The equip mage offered leaning forward to listen more.
Gray sighed again, eating another piece of ice he had in his drink, "I'm gay." Her eyes softened, and the dark-haired mage was shocked, "And I may, kind of, like Natsu." Now her eyes widened. "Yeah, that's my problem. I know he's not gay so this sucks." He chewed on another
Erza looked down at the counter between them, "Well, have you even talked to him about it?"
"Erza, I heard him say that he wasn't gay to a new member that accused his pink hair of being gay. I also may have made a comment about seriously fucking him and he didn't take it very well." Gray was now rambling.
Erza touched his hand on the table, "Gray, I think you should talk to him."
Gray threw her hand away, "Why? So, he can tell me to stay away from him and never talk to him and what?" This was his first gay crush and it was someone he knew very well, now he hates him because of some stupid shit he said.
The red-haired mage smiled at her childhood friend, "I think it would do you some good if you talk to him." Then she left him to think about it.
xxxLINExxx
It was late at night when Team Natsu arrived back at the Fairy Tail guild. Natsu pulled Gray aside in the back of the guild when they first arrived. Natsu grabbed Gray's arm just as the latter was about to leave to his own apartment.
"Get off me flamebrain." The dark-haired man pulled his arm away from Natsu and back up against the wall.
Natsu looked down at his feet and fiddled with his hands, Gray didn't understand why he was getting nervous. "What do you want?" Ice mage crossed his arms over his chest.
"Gray can we please talk?" Natsu looked up through his pink bangs.
"Go ahead."
Natsu shifted his feet, why was he so nervous? Was he going to yell at him and felt bad about it? "Did you mean what you said?"
Gray tilted his head but then remembered the embarrassing thing he said on the mission, "Yeah, I did. So, what?" What was the point in lying now? He already embarrassed himself enough.
"Well, what if I wanted to act on it?" Now Natsu had a light blush on his face and Gray was shocked.
"What?" The ice mage was confused, then something came to mind. "Don't do that."
The fire dragon slayer snapped his head up raising an eyebrow, "Do what?"
Gray was getting angry, was this some kind of joke to him, "This isn't funny. I know that you aren't gay and now you're trying to make fun of me." Gray kicked his foot off the wall to walk away from this conversation, he didn't need to be made fun of by his own family. This is exactly why he didn't want to tell the guild. They would play some stupid prank on him and all laugh while he sat home and cried, not that he would tell any of them that.
Natsu got frowned his eyebrows, what the hell was this ice bastard talking about, now he was walking away from him. Natsu grabbed his arm again but Gray pulled away instantly, then the pink-haired mage pushed his shoulder to the wall behind them.
Gray growled at his friend, he pushed him back to the opposite wall then felt to walk away again. Natsu growled louder and tackled the poor mage to the ground. "Natsu, what the fuck?" Gray yelled. His tan knee was set in between the ice mages legs on the ground and the other was pinning down his left leg down. His hands were pinning his wrist to the ground.
"Listen to me!" Natsu yelled in his face. Gray stared at him, he wanted to hit him, but he really couldn't. Natsu was strong, but Gray wouldn't tell him that. "I like you, moron."
"You fu-" He was about to cuss him out for lying to his face again until Natsu forcefully kissed Gray. To say that he was surprised was an understatement. His lips were soft, and very warm. He let go of his wrist to cup one of Gray's cheeks.
The ice mage has never kissed anyone before, but he never wanted to. He gripped Natsu's soft pink hair, his tongue kicked Natsu's lips to let him in. His mouth was even hotter than his lips. Gray heard a soft moan from the man above him and his heart soared. He never thought he would get this far with him and he was loving it.
When they broke apart, Natsu's jade eyes shinned as he stared at Gray's midnight eyes. "Wow." What all Gray could say.
Natsu then smirked at his wonderous gaze, "Told you to listen to me."
"Shut up fucker." He pushed Natsu shoulder and they both got to their feet, Natsu grabbed his had and pulled them to the front of the guild. Today was a very interesting day for Gray.
Thank you for reading, I'd love to know what you guys think. I really loved writing this but it was kind of difficult since I am I straight female but I think I managed. Till next time.