Love Knot
Prologue - The Unexpected Kiss
by Contrail

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.

Gray was glad that it didn't take very long for Juvia to come to, because stuck in a block of ice with Lyon really wasn't someplace he wanted to be, and embarrassing as it was to admit, neither of them could free themselves right now (or, y'know, move at all). Careful to make her water hot but not scalding, she started releasing a steady stream of it over the top of their icy prison. The ice around them was slowly but surely melted away by the water washing over it.

Once the ice was thin enough that they could break through it, Lyon was the first one to move, pulling himself off of Gray with an expression of great relief on his face and quickly turning away to stalk off towards Lamia Scale's lodgings. Gray swiftly shook himself free of the remnants of the ice cube and started after the other Ice-Make mage, ignoring Juvia's attempts to get him to stay put so she could check him for injuries. He was fine, but he'd be damned if he'd let Lyon just walk away right now without giving him a piece of his mind.

If Lyon hadn't shown up, maybe he could have spent more time enjoying Juvia's company before certain idiot guildmates made a mess of everything (after he talked her out of her silly idea to ride that slide, of course). And if he hadn't been around, Gray definitely wouldn't have had the weird, uncomfortable, and unsettling experience of going down the stupid love slide with Lyon hugging him, their arms wrapped around each other's naked chests. Being around Lyon always gave him this weird, antsy feeling, actually, particularly when they got up into each other's faces or the like, but it was probably just because he found Lyon so irritating.

Anyway, Gray was mad at him for ruining what was supposed to be a fun night (along with an idiot pink-haired Dragon Slayer, but he could always pound Natsu over it later). Chasing him out of the (now ruined) water park into the streets of Crocus, he called after him, "Lyon! Come back here!"

Lyon looked back over his shoulder at him but kept walking - if anything, he sped up. "No." His response was as simple and blunt as it was unexpected. Gray frowned. Shouldn't the silver-haired man be just as mad about having ended up on that slide with him as he was? He'd certainly seemed angry while they were going down it.

Well, whatever. He'd just have to change Lyon's mind about wanting to fight him, that's all. "Since when have you been willing to back down from a challenge?!" he yelled again at his back.

Stiffening, Lyon hesitated for a moment, but then continued on like he hadn't heard it at all. Gray was growing increasingly frustrated with Lyon's weird disintrest in having things out. "Damnit, Lyon! Don't just ignore me!" When he just kept walking, a thoroughly fed-up Gray brought his hands together, determined to stop Lyon from walking away one way or another. "Ice-Make: Wall!"

A wall of ice sprung up in front of Lyon, blocking off the side street they were taking and finally forcing him to stop in his tracks and turn to face the other Ice-Make mage. "Do we have to do this right now, Gray? Really?"

Fisting his hands at his sides, Gray glared at him. "Yeah, we do."

Lyon let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Can't you just let it go? I don't want to fight you right now."

But Gray didn't want to let it go. Instead, he asked, "Why not?!"

His face taking on a strangely pensive expression, Lyon looked away. "I…" His voice trailed off, as if he was having trouble putting what he wanted to say into words, and then he shook his head. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand, anyway."

He turned away, preparing to make something to break down the wall blocking the street, when Gray stepped forward and grabbed one of his wrists, pulling Lyon back around to face him. "What do you mean, 'I wouldn't understand'? Don't be so mysterious!"

Lyon's eyes narrowed as his mouth pulled into a scowl. "It doesn't matter. Now let go of me!" He tried to pull his wrist out of Gray's grasp, but their strengths were too closely matched for him to be able to do so easily.

Keeping a tight grasp on Lyon's wrist, he leaned forward, nearly pressing his forehead against Lyon's as he matched him glare for glare. "What is up with you?! You've been acting weird since the slide!"

After making one last failed attempt to pull away from Gray, something seemed to snap inside Lyon, and he retorted, "You really want to know what's up with me? Then fine, I'll show you!"

And then Lyon's lips were pressed against his. Gray froze on the spot. A small part of his brain that wasn't completely consumed by shock noted that they felt a little dry and chapped against his own. Before he could respond, or even figure out how he wanted to respond, the kiss was over, as Lyon took advantage of his surprise to pull away from him and make an elephant to break through the wall he'd made earlier.

Gray just stared blankly after Lyon until Juvia's soft voice broke him out of his reverie. "Gray-sama? Are you alright?"

Turning to look at her, he wondered if she'd seen Lyon kiss him. Probably not, he concluded. If she had, she'd probably have been throwing some kind of jealous fit already. She'd thrown ones over girls doing far less to him, after all. So he tried to act normal as he replied, "Um, yeah. …Let's just go back to our lodgings."

Juvia gave him an uncertain look but nodded. "Alright. Good night, then, Gray-sama." She turned to make her way to where Fairy Tail's second team was staying, but she couldn't keep herself from pausing and looking back at him over her shoulder for a moment before turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

As he trudged his way to the Honeybone Lodge, where his team was staying, Gray was lost in his own thoughts, which had been thrown into confusion by what had just happened between him and Lyon. Why had Lyon kissed him? Had he meant it as a joke? Had it just been a trick to get him to let Lyon go, so he could leave without having to explain himself? But Lyon had said that he'd show Gray what he'd been talking about. Could… could Lyon like him that way…? It would sort of make what he'd been saying make sense, but… It was just such a weird idea to even contemplate, that he didn't know what to think or do about it.

Then there was his own reaction to the kiss. If you'd asked him before that night how he'd react if another guy kissed him, he'd've said that he'd be disgusted, or at least found the experience unpleasant. Hell, even now he didn't like the idea of some random guy kissing him. And Lyon often managed to get under his skin just by existing. But… while he'd definitely been surprised by Lyon kissing him, it hadn't been- he hadn't found it to be unpleasant. Not that he'd found it pleasant, either - really, it had been too short and sudden for him to form a definite opinion on it. Shouldn't he have hated it, though?!

This entire line of thought was giving him a headache. Finally reaching the inn, he let out a deep sigh. He'd just try to pretend the whole incident hadn't happened and push any thought of it out of his mind. It's not like what had happened really mattered that much, right?

But as the games continued, he couldn't keep the incident out of his mind. When there were other things to concentrate on, like the competitions, Gray could ignore what had happened, but thoughts about it would creep back in whenever there was a lull in activity. He kept asking himself two questions: Why had Lyon kissed him? Why didn't he hate being kissed by Lyon? Outwardly, though, he gave no sign that anything strange had happened. Neither did Lyon, and he wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not.

It wasn't until after Fairy Tail's amazing victory in the Grand Magic Games, and some catastrophe involving dragons and a magical gate was averted by a version of Lucy from the future, apparently, that he decided that he couldn't just leave things like this. Those questions wouldn't stop nagging at him, and the only way he could think of to try to get answers for them was to talk to Lyon about it. And it would be easier if he did that while the guilds were all still in Crocus. The king was going to hold a celebration the next day for the end of the Games - that would probably the best time to try to talk to him.

Since this prologue is so short, the first chapter will be posted immediately after this.