Hey Fairy Tail Fans!

This one-shot has now turned into 2x One-Shot! Previously named 'Forgiveness'.

Part 1, Natsu vs Gray. Part 2, Gray vs Natsu. The exact same situation, just the other way around, with very different consequences!

Natsu looked out of the window towards the sky, watching the clouds pass over the sinking sun. He tried to work out what time it was just from the way the sky was turning red, refusing to look at the clock for at least another hour. Time was shifting painfully slowly in the unfamiliar surroundings, and watching the time tick by would only make it slower. He had promised himself that he would be here until at least daybreak, and that promise had been passed onto Erza, which was even more terrifying than his own disappointment. He was regretting taking on this 'shift', but the regret of the day was burning through him deeper. He wanted to concentrate on neither emotion, watching the birds slip across the horizon and wishing the time could pass quickly. He sank deeper into the sofa, folding his arms across his chest in boredom and complaining in his head at the ice mage's strange furniture. Everything just seemed strangely different to what he had been used to, but then he had to remind himself that while Gray had spent the last ten years in Fairy Tail, previously he had come from a foreign land. It was easily forgotten, and Natsu had never once thought of him as an outsider for it, but he had been surprised to have walked into such a bizarre reminder. Though he hated to admit it, this sofa was oddly comfortable. There would definitely not be room for something like this in the dragon slayer's trashed home.

The bedroom door slid open, and the ice mage stepped out. His hand rested on the back of his head, feeling the crisp white bandages pushing down his black hair. He winced at pain to himself, looking up and almost jumping back. "Natsu what are you doing in my house?!" he asked suddenly, taking a small step back. His headache screamed out painfully at the sudden surprise and he winced again, his hand feeling where the bandages began and ended.

"Hi!" Natsu began cheerfully, trying to somehow get himself out of the ridiculously low sofa. It was a little less classy than he'd expected but he was able to bounce onto his feet, awkwardly scratching the back of his own head. "Uh… how are you?" he offered with an awkward grin.

Gray narrowed his eyes. "In pain. Wondering why you're in my house," he growled, more irritable than usual from both the pain and the sudden unwelcome visitor. He could feel as he spoke in his low voice the trembling through his chest brought new pains, an ache spreading across every muscle and stabbing him through his chest and head. Though he could feel a tightness across his abs there were no bandages there, at least.

Natsu looked at him, his heart racing a little faster as he saw the pain across his friend's face. The nagging inside of him grew, a somewhat new and confusing emotion. "I was checking up on you. And I wanted to say I'm sorry."

The words caught Gray off-guard. They certainly weren't words that he was used to the dragon slayer saying, or at least not ones that he usually said with any real meaning. He read his face quickly, seeing a hint of guilt hidden behind his joking demeanour, an emotion that, while uneasy with Natsu, was a demon Gray knew all too well. "What did you do?" he asked him, piercing straight through Natsu's guilt. He had neither the patience nor the consciousness through the stabbing pain to deal with Natsu trying to fumble through an apology without explanation.

"Ok, first of all, it was an accident!" Natsu started quickly, defensively building himself up for an attack. The words rung in his head, however, remembering whispering them when he thought that something truly terrible had happened. He could hear the memory of whispering them over and over, as if they were a prayer. He turned away, his voice softening. "It was an accident…"

Gray narrowed his eyes at Natsu, trying to see through the fog in his mind. The pain in his head gave a sudden twist, reminding him that it was there. "This was you?" he asked him, both disappointed in himself for 'losing' and that Natsu had caused him such real damage. As he shouted out his lungs protested, and he gritted his teeth tightly. "What the hell did you do, flame brain?"

Natsu saw his sudden flinch of pain and mistook it for instant anger, bracing himself for the attack that Gray was going to launch at him. He had made a promise to himself, to Gray, and to Erza, that he wouldn't hit him again. Knowing their relationship, it would take all of his willpower, and he wasn't only bracing himself to take the hit but to not return it. "Uh, you remember we were fighting, right?" he asked carefully. Looking at the bandages on his friend's head he realised that he may not have remembered much. "Oh, uh, yeah, well, I kind of sent you into the ocean. But then you knocked yourself out on the lamppost on the way, so, yeah…"

Gray continued to grit his teeth. That certainly explained the shooting pain across the back of his head. "What the fuck, Natsu?"

"I wasn't exactly aiming!" he admitted. "Well, maybe I was aiming a little, but I didn't expect you to be such a block head and knock yourself out on it," he shrugged his shoulders, regretting now that he had ever come to check on his friend in the first place. He should have listened to Erza and Lucy when they warned him that he would be the worst person to watch over him, but Natsu had been determined to make what was wrong right. Gray had never been an enemy, and it was his duty to make sure that his mistakes were corrected.

Gray shook his head, though instantly regretted it as the dull ache complained at his movements. He leaned against the doorway, at least now having half an explanation. "So my chest? That was you too?" he questioned, feeling his breathing tearing painfully through his lungs.

"That one you can blame Erza for," Natsu told him, remembering just how violent the redhead had been. "Also me. You should probably blame me for that one more, since I was the one that, you know, chucked you in the middle of the ocean unconscious," he said, very aware that he was rambling. Explaining things without his fists had never been one of his strong suits, especially not to the ice wizard. The blank look on Gray's face told him that he was making even less sense than he had hoped. "We had to revive you. Wendy said she fixed you up, though…" He explained reluctantly.

Gray's eyes softened. Now he finally understood not only the pain but the look in Natsu's eyes, the reason why he was standing in his living room and trying to make his way through what was quite possibly the worst apology of all time. He couldn't say that he had any anger inside of him, however, and if anything, he only felt sorrier for the pink haired wizard hearing what had happened. "I see," he said slowly, pushing himself off the doorframe and making his way across his living room. "Sit down, Natsu…" he said softly, scratching his bandages gingerly.

Natsu looked at him blankly.

Gray refrained from rolling his eyes. "Natsu, you're in my house, I'm being a host. Sit down," he ordered him as he walked into the kitchen and pulled across a metal kettle onto the stove. He heard the collapse of the dragon slayer eventually falling back into the sofa and smiled gently to himself, knowing that the simple apology would have been difficult for Natsu. He had to admit to himself he wasn't sure if he would have had the courage to do the same himself if the situation had been reversed. "I'm surprised you knew where I lived," he commented gently, careful not to raise his voice and invite the pain back in.

Natsu looked back at him, curiously taking in his kitchen. "I didn't. Erza told me," he replied calmly.

"Ah, of course," Gray nodded slowly as he poured the boiling water into two cups, realising that explanation made the most sense. Natsu had already mentioned that Erza had been with him, and it did bring a little flicker of humour to Gray's eyes as he imagined the armoured wizard yelling at Natsu over this. He walked back through slowly, placing one of the mugs of tea into the dragon slayer's hands as he placed his own down to cool.

Natsu held the boiling water in his hands, surprised that he had been so casually offered the hospitality. It wasn't that he hadn't trusted his friend or thought he was particularly rude (apart from certain habits) but it seemed bizarrely normal to have taken a drink of tea from him while sitting in his chair. There was something about Gray that made him feel awkward too, realising that while he was clearly suffering there had been none of the shock that he had expected. He'd heard sometimes things like that could take some time to sink in, and worried that in a few moments he would suddenly freak out. "Uh, you do realise what almost happened, don't you? You pretty much died, you know," he pried, not-so-carefully.

Gray's eyes unfocussed, letting the numbing aches wash over him. "Not the first time…" he said slowly. He tilted his head back, realising from the look on Natsu's face that he had failed to tell his companion of the previous times. He had found no reason to explain most of the details of the pains of his life to Natsu, or to anyone, but moments like this made him feel like an enigma of Fairy Tail, a distant shadow that was barely there. From day to day he changed his mind on how he felt about this. Sometimes he found himself wishing that he had someone beside him, someone that could share the torment and the emotional scars he'd picked up from both his childhood and Fairy Tail years, but more commonly he relished in knowing that there was little of him for anyone onto cling to and his inner darkness could not spread and infect more lives with unhappiness. He looked away, knowing that wasn't a conversation he wanted to have right now. Natsu's guilt had driven him here, and it would drive their conversation. "I'm not mad," he said firstly, knowing that these were the words that Natsu would need to hear first. In all of his years of guilt he knew the most basic of forgiveness went a long way. "No harm done."

Natsu swallowed a big gulp of the rich tea. Even the tea was different, he realised after he had taken the sip and was wondering how he could tactfully get rid of the rest. He nodded quickly.

Gray smirked and pretended not to notice as he carried on. "The truth is, I think we both knew that something like this was going to happen one day…" he continued, reaching over to the counter and taking the cooling drink in his hands and letting the warm smell soften his aching chest. "We're both much stronger than we used to be. We can't just expect to hit each other and get away with nothing more than bruises anymore," he explained, his voice steady and calming.

"Well, I dunno about you and your weak-ass punches but that's not exactly anything new?"

Gray glared.

Natsu folded his arms and rolled his eyes back. "I'm not an idiot. It's not like I'm going to just cast a fire roar at you," he blurted out, trying to ignore all sentimentality Gray was adding to the conversation.

Gray continued to frown. "You did last week."

"That wasn't at you!" Natsu tried to defend himself.

A small smile appeared on Gray's face, realising that this was an argument that could go on for quite some time. There was something oddly comforting to it, that made the awkward situation in front of them just that much easier to deal with. Though some would question just how healthy it was for the two to fight in this way, for the pair that had always ended in fistfights it was somehow easier to manage than nice words. "Natsu, you know what I'm saying. And if you're actually sorry, and not just sorry that your actions almost killed me, then I think you must understand too. One day we're probably going to end up killing each other if we keep this up."

His words dropped the room into an awkward silence. Natsu hung onto his mug, despite the fact that it tasted foul he needed the warmth running through his hands now. The entire room was a completely new experience for him and there was something in that which made him afraid even more than the sombre warning. This was the longest conversation that he'd ever had in all of the years of knowing Gray, and most of this had been spent bickering like an old married couple. There was only a very select few in Fairy Tail that he would trust his life with over Gray, and most of them would only be to save face if he was asked to choose the ice wizard. A few short years ago they had done everything to stay out of each other's way, but nowadays even when they weren't on a mission or fighting they were rarely apart from each other. And all of this without even stepping within these four walls. An entire relationship built on fighting was either fading away or going to end in disaster. All of his trust was placed on a man that he felt he was only just meeting for the first time.

Gray stood with a groan, twisting his back and trying to unknot the aches as he stepped across the room. He pulled open the cabinet in the far side, slipping two glasses between his fingers and taking a bottle with his free hand. With his elbow he closed the cabinet once more, putting the glasses down on the table to pour and offer his friend one. He knew the fiery liquid would be far more to the dragon slayer's tastes, he thought with a smile as he saw Natsu's eyes light up a little, and the warmth would do him some good as well. Where healthy relationships broke down, alcohol would always be there to cover the void, he thought to himself as he slipped back into his seat and pulled up his legs. "It's actually not so bad having some company other than Juvia…" he admitted into his drink.

Natsu's eyes went a little wider, almost spitting out his drink. "You and Juvia…? Here…?"

Gray gave him a dark glare, realising that there was a lot that Natsu just didn't pick up on. The dragon slayer had always seemed kind to the water wizard, and always seemed to be offering his help whenever she struggled to find her 'Gray-sama'. Gray couldn't be certain just how much of that was Natsu's naivety and how much was him genuinely trying to annoy the ice mage. "She refuses to leave, and its creepy having her hang outside all night…" he said, absently looking out of the window to the street below, jus in case the rain woman had crept her way back towards his house.

Natsu couldn't hold back from laughing, looking over Gray's shoulder to see if he could catch a glimpse of the obsessed wizard. "That's pretty cold," he told him, sipping on the drink. "She's not that bad," he shrugged, partly to see Gray's reaction.

Gray raised his eyebrow, both at the pun and the statement. It was incredibly easy for Natsu to say such things when he didn't have to be by her side every hour of every day. It wouldn't be right to say that Gray didn't on the odd occasion enjoy her company, but he just wished that she would be content in the shady façade he gave to the rest of the guild. "No, she's not a bad person," he admitted eventually. He truly did believe that, even from the first day that she joined Fairy Tail he could see that she had a kind heart. He would, despite everything, consider her as one of his closest friends in those brief moments she would seem rational. "If she wasn't so needy she'd probably actually be cute… But if you tell her than then I will personally throw you in the ocean and tie an ice block to your feet."

"Doesn't ice float?"

"Shut up. That's why it's on your feet, not your head."

Natsu chuckled into his drink, tipping back the last of his first glass. He had to admit he'd been drinking it quickly, but now he barely felt as if he needed it. The strange room, the first real conversation with his friend for years, and the panicked swim had all left him shaken, however, but at least with the drink his nerves were calmer than they had been. It was the silences that stung. The awkward moments that seemed to last for a lifetime, even with the warming ruby liquid. He took the bottle back from the table, helping himself to a taller glass than before and not even looking to see if Gray was judging him. He'd buy him another one, probably… maybe. Now he just wished that he'd dragged Happy along with him to come up with something ridiculously random to say.

"So how long was I gone?" Gray asked eventually.

Natsu almost choked on his second drink. It burned uncomfortably as it ran down his windpipe, shocking him and taking a few seconds to even begin to think about how to answer that question. "Uh, I'm not sure…" he admitted, remembering pulling Gray from the water and screaming for his friends as he felt the blood in his hands. The salt water had made the red liquid run right down his arms, his head-wound filling him with terror even before he'd realised he hadn't been breathing. "It was all a blur, really," he said shrugging, wishing that was more true than it actually was.

"Mmm…" Gray murmured slowly, dropping ice cubes into his drink and leaning over to tap Natsu's drink and cool it gently.

"You OK?" Natsu asked him hesitantly, not sure how he would have taken something like that. He knew how it had felt to watch, knew the pain that it had caused his friends and the guilt that was tearing his body from the inside, but the dark look on Gray's face was nearly unreadable.

Gray nodded slowly, trying not to think too hard about the question. "I don't think I should sleep tonight," he thought out loud as he put his hand to his head once again. "Will you help keep me awake?" he asked Natsu.

Natsu looked a little surprised by the request but nodded dumbly. He didn't want to say out loud that he'd forgotten whether you were meant to stay awake with a head injury or go to sleep. Since the others had left him with Gray sleeping off the day's injuries he'd simply assumed that he was meant to rest, but Gray also seemed to know what he was talking about. His eyes glanced down at the drink in his friend's hands, realising that it hadn't been touched yet. "You think you should have that?" he asked him cautiously.

Gray looked into the glass, the ice clinking as he saw that it was now mostly frozen in his hands. "Probably not…" he admitted, realising the mistake as soon as Natsu pointed it out.

"Hey, no worries," Natsu said, trying to release himself from the strangely comfortable sofa and almost tripping up yet again as he lunged for Gray's mug. "I'll make you up another tea," he said, running into the kitchen and trying to remember exactly where he had gotten everything.

Gray flinched as he heard crashing and breaking and the odd mumbles that everything was fine. In a horrifying moment he remembered the one time he'd ever been to Natsu and Happy's house, and the complete mess that it had been. Well, a little mess wasn't a bad thing, he tried to tell himself as he took the smallest of sips of the liquor while the dragon slayer was distracted. Everything in moderation, he thought to himself, realising that nights of drinking tea and whiskey could only last for so long between them. He hadn't been lying when he'd said that they would one day end up killing each other, and that to prevent that things had to change. Over the last few years they had taken so many leaps and bounds in their relationship, and he was certain if this had happened when they were both young teens they wouldn't have lasted this long before striking punches at each other. And actually he was starting to enjoy winding his friend up without ending up battered and bruised – well, more bruised. "Erza really this?" he said as he put his hand on his chest wincing.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu called from the kitchen, "She was basically breaking every one of your ribs. I had to rip her off you and do it myself."

Gray lay back a little, knowing that the requip wizard could certainly be a little less than careful. "She's going to kill me, isn't she?" he asked, sudden dread in his voice.

"Ohhh yeah..." Natsu said, desperately trying to damp out the flames that he had caused in his impatience for the kettle to boil on the stove. "Yeah, she said that if either of us fight or do anything like this again blah blah blah threaten threaten threaten."

Gray groaned, but there was a strange sense of comfort that also came from the words. Erza was deeply protective above all else, and he suddenly wanted to go to her and remind her that he was alright. He wanted to thank her for looking out for him, and in turn for looking out for Natsu, even if she had a particularly violent way of doing so. "Typical Erza. I wonder what she would say if she could see us now…" he mused out loud, resting his head against his hand, elbow on the back of the sofa.

"She would probably still have something to punish us over…" he said, finally coming out of the kitchen and making a mental note to try and fix the mess he had created when Gray was finally allowed to sleep. "She said she was coming over tomorrow morning."

"To check on me or to check you haven't burnt down my apartment?" Gray questioned, glancing behind the dragon slayer and genuinely worried for the safety of his kitchen.

"She did mention both, actually," Natsu told him, placing the tea in Gray's hand. Gray flinched at the roasting hot touch, twisting his fingers to creating a cooling balm and eventually able to take the cup within his hands. Even with his magic to cool it slightly it was still incredibly warm and he put it down quickly, worried that the sudden temperature change would crack the ceramic. "Actually I think it was Luce who told me not to burn the place down. Erza who told me not to fight with you. Happy told me if I hit you I'm not allowed to hit you in the head," Natsu continued.

Gray grinned, able to hear each of their pieces of advice clearly in his head as Natsu explained. "I'm surprised Happy isn't here with you..." he commented slowly, realising it was incredibly rare for the dragon slayer to be away from his feline companion, and even rarer for them to spend a night apart.

Natsu took another quick swig of the warming liquid as he sat back down. It was definitely better than the tea. "Ah, yeah. He did offer, but I said it was my fault so I kind of had to do it myself."

"No, you don't," Gray said suddenly, speaking incredibly speaking before Natsu could even consider his words. There was a look in his eyes that was laced in his own memories, speaking to Natsu almost like a teacher would speak to a student. "You don't have to take any mistakes on by yourself, no matter how big or small. That's what Fairy Tail is there for, isn't it?" he said, his voice low and with not the slightest hint of the humour or jest that had been passed before them.

Natsu looked into the drink, thinking that it must have been impossible for Gray to understand exactly how he felt. If he had been a moment too late he wouldn't be in this room now, sharing a drink and speaking to his nakama. If he hadn't noticed his mistake immediately he would be trying to battle his own tears. He gritted his teeth, knowing that this strange foreign feeling was already trying to claw through his mind. It wouldn't last long, he told himself, but while he could hear the ragged breaths and see the bandages on his friend's head, he clutched his drink tighter. How could Gray possibly understand what it was like to almost kill your best friend? He looked up finally, seeing Gray was watching him with the awkward coldness. Natsu had always presumed it was part of who he was, part of his ice magic, but looking at him now he could see that just like Erza wore an armour he protected himself in mystery. Memories of some distant quest suddenly came to mind, recalling a battle-cry confession. He had seen the look in Gray's eyes before, heard the cold tone to his voice. "Your master…" he said slowly, realising just how stupid he must have sounded. Gray hadn't known what it was like to almost kill a friend, but he had known what it was like to be responsible for his master's death.

Gray didn't say anything as he simply leaned forwards and turned more of the whiskey into ice for the fire wizard. His face was unreadable, but in his silence it was clear that he had known exactly what Natsu was talking about, and that it had from been the same memories that his own warnings had come from.

"You've never told me anything about your home…" Natsu said slowly, realising that it may have sounded even more foolish now that he was sat inside of the ice mage's apartment. Although it seemed nice and clean, he could see none of the familiar touches that he cherished about his own home. He could see no pictures, no momentos, nothing that made this apartment in any way recognisable from all of the others on this street. "I don't mean this place, or Fairy Tail. I mean before that."

Gray leaned back again, doing his best not to tense up. "I'm sure being raised by a dragon is far more interesting," he deflected tactfully, but there was also a gleam in his eyes. Though he hadn't realised it before, he was genuinely interested in hearing about Natsu and Igneel. When they were boys Natsu had rushed around the guild, telling anyone with the patience to listen about the huge fire breathing dragon who had taken him in and cared for him as his own. Though most of the guild had laughed and played along, the longer he spoke the longer his words became believed. Gray had wanted to believe them. He had wanted to believe that one day a huge creature could take you on its back and sweep you far away from your old life. Fairy Tail was as close as he ever reached to that dream.

Natsu grinned. "I really can't argue with that," he said, putting down his glass as he could feel the palms of his hands beginning to go cold. "But you're from a completely different country. What's Isvan like?"

"It's not a…" he trailed off, knowing the semantics and geography of the land would just go over Natsu's head. "It's very cold," he said simply, suddenly finding himself tricked into talking about a place he told himself he barely remembered. There would be certain memories that would always remain buried in his mind, that would be with him until the day he died, but the more he spoke the more he realised that there were other memories that had been happier. He had touched the subject of his parents only briefly, but instead of the usual pain that ran through him, as he thought of them he could feel their warmth, remembering the home that they had lived in and not the burning wreckage that they had died in. He spoke about the lay of the land, about his town, and Brago, the small hut where Ur lived and days in the mountain where they had battled the elements naked. Gray broke their no violence rule as Natsu said he'd just thought he was some kind of pervert and hadn't realised there was a reason behind his habit, but the strike had only been light and in jest and they had both laughed about it. In turn Natsu explained how difficult certain things had been to learn from a dragon, and for the first few weeks on his own he had spent trying to communicate with the people around him in the strangest ways. He explained how even now he struggled to write clearly, which was no surprise to Gray, but it was interesting to see how the roots long before their friendship had created the two fierce wizards.

Eventually, despite all of their warnings, the two fell asleep. The sofa was literally too comfortable. In the morning, as Erza ran up the stairs to the apartment she cursed herself for letting the two stay together. She wondered why it was so quiet, why neither of them had come running to the guild yet, and why there was no smell of smoke. It seemed too good to be true. Slowly she knocked, but heard nothing, and opening the door gently she peered over to see the mugs and glasses and a half empty bottle of liquor on the table. On the sofa, the fire and ice wizards slept, surprisingly peaceful, knowing that while there was some way to go, their friendship was far stronger than it had ever been.

Damn I want that sofa haha!

Hope you enjoyed this. Please let me know what you think and feel free to check out my other works. :)