Chapter 1
Lucy glanced at Natsu and Gray again. They had been acting weirdly for 4 days now and she still couldn't work out why, though she had her suspicions. They were sat in the guild hall with Lucy sat opposite. Most of the guild seemed to be here today, though there were a few faces missing, probably the people out on jobs. She watched as Gray murmured something to Natsu and Natsu giggled in response. She then saw Gray subtly grab Natsu's hand under the table, interlocking their fingers together. Several things went through her head at once, mostly consisting of "Are they really holding hands?" and "Are they in some sort of relationship?". She decided they were, and jumped up loudly asking "Are you two together?". Lucy clasped her hands over her mouth, realising that she had asked the question a bit too loud. About half the guild had heard and, with their curiosity aroused, had started to flock to the table. Gray looked at Lucy, blushing slightly, but Natsu was looking at the table in front of him, blushing a deep crimson colour. Mira had arrived at the head of the table which Lucy, Natsu and Gray were sat at, and Erza, who had been obliviously eyeing off a piece of strawberry cake when she noticed people flocking, was now stood behind Natsu and Gray.
"Well?" asked Mira impatiently as she continued to dry the glass which she had brought with her.
Gray glanced at Natsu, who still had his eyes downcast as the guildhall started to grow noisy with speculation. He looked back at Lucy and mumbled a small "yes".
"WHAT?" Lucy yelled back over the noise which the guild was making.
Gray stood up, causing Natsu to look up at him. "YES WE ARE TOGETHER" He yelled back at Lucy as loud as he could. The whole guild grew suddenly silent, interrupted only by Cana's drunk giggling at the situation. Erza was the first to speak.
"Well I think it's cute and as long as you love each other, I don't have any objections" She said with a big smile as she pulled their heads into what she though was a warm embrace, but to them was more like having their heads crushed against her armoured breasts. "And to celebrate we should have a go at my second picnic!" she exclaimed, with a hint of excitement in her voice.
Lucy thought back to the events of Erza's first picnic, which had been interrupted by a group of unsavoury characters. Erza had then proceeded in a blind rage to requip into her lightning empress armour and beat the nuisances to a pulp. "Er maybe we should pass on that Erza" she laughed nervously.
The guild hall got noisy again as everyone started asking questions at once. Gray shot a withering glance in the direction that a particularly personal question came from. He looked at Natsu sympathetically who was shy usually anyway, but now looked overly uncomfortable. He decided that it would be better for Natsu if they left and so grabbed his hand and dragged him through the large crowd of people towards the guild hall door and out onto the streets of Magnolia.
Several of the guild members looked like they were about to give chase, still with unanswered questions, but Erza glared at them and firmly demanded that they sit down. The guild members in question returned to their seats unsatisfied, not wanting to anger the woman that could probably crush them with one finger.
Gray dragged Natsu through the door into his house. Natsu's original embarrassment in the guild had been replaced on the way home with pouting, and Natsu now stood just inside of Gray's house sulking."Well there goes our little secret" Natsu huffed clearly annoyed.
"And?" Gray asked. "It's not like anyone had a problem with it so why are you worrying?"
"I suppose" Natsu mumbled back, still pouting.
Gray dropped himself down on the couch and picked up a book near him. He flipped though the book to a certain page and started to read. Natsu, being as impatient as he was, began to wander around the room, rooting through draws and looking for something to do. Natsu didn't really read much but nonetheless, he picked up a book and flicked to a random page and started reading. A few sentences in Natsu's face became a picture of confusion. Gray noticed and took the book off Natsu, reading the cover;
"50 shades of Mage" He read before raising an eyebrow. He looked back at Natsu, his face still a mask of confusion.
"I don't understand what's happening in the story" Natsu explained to Gray.
"Your innocence is cute" Gray laughed back at Natsu, who blushed slightly in response.
Gray sat back down on the couch and picked up his book again. Natsu flopped down on the couch next to him and rested his head on Gray's shoulder reading a bit of the book Gray was reading but quickly getting bored. Natsu sighed dejectedly and threw his head over the back of the couch so he was looking at the ceiling.
"Is my little dragon getting bored?" Gray asked in a somewhat patronising tone. Natsu hummed in an annoyed agreement before Gray asked "What do you want to do then?".
"I'm hungry" Natsu replied without hesitation.
"What's new, dragon breath?" Gray replied teasing him.
"You can be so cold sometimes, icicle" Natsu retorted with a smile.
"Well" Gray started "If we are going out to eat then I'm going to have a shower first". Gray put down his book again before getting up and heading to the stairs.
"Ok" Natsu called after him as he disappeared up the stairs. Natsu closed his eyes, thinking about food and what to eat, but with no distractions, he quickly dozed off.
20 minutes later, Natsu was awoken by light, cool kisses on his lips. His eyes flickered open to see Gray's face just inches from his own. They both smiled and Gray planted another cool kiss on Natsu's lips.
"Come on, lets go" Gray ushered, grabbing the still sleepy Natsu's hand and dragging him off the couch and towards the door.
A short while later they found themselves seated opposite each other in a little restaurant overlooking the river. The table between them was small and the only ornament was a small candle. The rest of the restaurant was dimly lit, amplifying the romantic atmosphere. They had arrived at sunset and were now patiently waiting for their meals to arrive.
"Hmmm" Natsu mused to himself, staring directly at Gray.
"What?" Gray replied worrying if there was something wrong with his face.
"Your eyes look lighter blue in this candlelight" Natsu speculated, leaning in until there was only a couple of inches between their faces to get a better look. "I like it" he mused.
Gray grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips before he sat back down again. Their conversation was then interrupted by the arrival of their meals.
Natsu had ordered something with both steak and chicken with a few grilled vegetables on the side, which he tore into ravenously. Not being so hungry, Gray had ordered a salad, which had little pieces of chicken cut up into it. He began delicately picking at his, savouring each mouthful approvingly. It only took a few minutes for Natsu to finish his meal, and Gray finished soon after. He looked across at Natsu who seemed content but could feel the impatience radiating off him.
Gray went and paid before beckoning Natsu to follow him out. Natsu practically sprung out of his chair and raced over to Gray, hugging onto his arm as they left the restaurant. They walked silently back to Gray's house under the now velvet black sky, Natsu clinging onto Grays arm the whole way.
The persistent clinging onto his arm would usually annoy Gray (something he had actually never told Juvia) but he didn't mind too much with Natsu. Gray shuffled back into his house with Natsu in tow and proceeded to flop down on the couch, much like Natsu did earlier. Natsu dropped down next to Gray and flung his arms around him, resting his head on Grays shoulder again. Nothing else needed to be said as they could both feel each others warmth so Gray just picked up his book and continued reading from where he left off earlier.
An hour later Gray put the book down again, yawning widely. He looked at Natsu, who had fallen asleep still clinging to him "He's so cute when he's asleep" Gray thought to himself.He caressed Natsu's face for a second before picking him up bridal style and carrying him upstairs to the bedroom where he dropped him onto the bed and stripped him down to his underwear so he would be more comfortable sleeping. Gray then stripped off his own clothes (something that was easily done) and crawled into bed next to Natsu.
Natsu rolled over cuddling up to Gray "I love you, stupid icicle" he murmured almost silently with a small smile.
Gray wrapped his arms around Natsu and whispered faintly in his ear "I love you too, sleepy dragon"
With that they both drifted into sleep.