HELLO EVERYONE!

This is a sequel to a one shot I did with Ling Mei Mei a while back called 'Why does Gray Strip?' She owns the Ground Zero Devastation (Look below she's Ling) So you should probably read that first if you want to understand this fully, but if you just want if for the romance/humor this is pretty easy to understand without reading it. SO READ! Oh and by NO POV I mean third Person POV

My disclaimer is below but I will put it anyway!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fairy Tail!

Pairing: NatsuXGray

Rating: M (For later Chapters… Maybe)

Genre: Romance, Hurt, Friendship, Rivalry and such? Read to find out

Star: So... hello my dear readers and welcome to AWKWARD ROMANCING *smiles brightly*

Natsu: *reads* ...oh dear Mavis! Why do I get that done to me? I thought it was a top!

Ling: *stares at Natsu* A top? Really? You the idiot could be a top?

Gray: *high fives Ling*

Lucy: *takes out camera* whenever you're ready Natsu, Gray *evil grin*

Erza: I'm always right *proud look*

Ling: *blank stare* oh dear Mavis...

Star: Why is it always dear Mavis? I mean can't we say Oh dear Mystogun for Once? I mean he was like the god where I used to live.

Everyone: *stares at Star* He's not a god...

Star: In Edolas he is numbskulls...

Ling: *pats Star's back* we're in Kiramura right now *shrug*

Hikaru: Oh dear Mystogun, is this ok Auntie Star?

Star: *gets all teary eyed* OH MAN I LOVE YOU HIKA-CHAN!

Rose: *pouts* Me too!

Star and Hikaru: Yes you too~

Giovanni: *runs over from Ground Zero Devastation* Enjoy the story... except for the two nitwits... you shall suffer, just because I'm bored. *leans against Ling*

Ling: *kicks Giovanni* get offa me! Star doesn't own Fairy Tail, nor does she own me!

Everyone from Ground Zero D.: NOT US EITHER!

Star: But I do own me, because I am me, though I'm in Ground Zero D. But I hope you enjoy! PEACE!

Ling: *pops up and whispers* I own Star's counter part *evil laugh* jk :P * flies away*

Gray's POV

I didn't exactly know what to do about the situation that awaits me.

A date… with Star, the very reason for my miserableness at the moment. I mean the only reason I accepted it was that if I didn't she would tell the entire guild/town/Ling/all her informants I'm gay and have a thing for Natsu.

I couldn't let anyone know the truth…

NO POV

The ice mage sat impatiently in the guild tapping his fingers against the wood of his usual table, Fairy Tail was filled with members tonight. It was easy to tell he was overly nervous as he was never one to stay quiet with so many people around. Also he seemed a little over dressed to everyone in the building, with a black blazer trimmed by silver cloth that covering his usual dress shirt and he had replaced his baggy ones for slim black dress pants as well. Erza had put up quite an effort to keep Juvia from throwing herself at him, in most of the girl members of Fairy Tail's minds, he looked sharp. And everyone was wondering why, but when one of them came up to ask, they would receive a grunt and then nothing.

"Juvia wants to know why Gray-sama is acting so weird, and why he looks so hot," Her eyes couldn't keep off her crush.

Lucy waved her hands infront of the water girls face with no success of getting her attention, "She's totally gone." Both the blonde and Erza let out a deep sigh.

Another half an hour passed by and the ice mage continued the constant pitter patter until two figures showed up at the door. His eyes shot towards them widening in impatience not being able to see them clearly. There was silence in the guild as Star walked up to the mage with a satisfied grin, though they were more surprised who she was dragging by the scarf.

Natsu was also more dressed up more than normal; in fact he seemed to be dressing like a typical male for once. With black dress pants, a honey colored v-neck and black converse. In the dragon slayer's world, this was almost as fancy as he could get.

The two continued into the guild stopping infront of Gray with the same expression she had entered with, "You ready for your date?"

He choked back some nervous laughter, "Course I am…"

"Good! Here!" The strawberry head pulled Natsu forward by his scarf so he was standing beside her, "Your date~."

"Wha…" Is all he managed completely shocked by what she had just said.

"Natsu is your date~."

There was a long pause as the two males stared at each other practically sweating bullets.

"But I thought I was going on a date with you Star…" His voice trailed off still trying to unlink his eyes with the pink haired fellow.

"I said our deal was a date, I never specified who you would be going on the date with, just a date, and the person I decided who you're going on the date with is Natsu."

The fire mage turned the same shade as his hair, "Star! This is why you came to my house stripped me, made me take a shower and then forced me into these clothes…."

"Yep," Her reply was short and simple.

Gray flushed a whole new shade of red imagining how that must have turned out while Natsu leaned down and whispered into her ear,

"But I'm not wearing underwear…"

"All the better~" She grinned happily knowing the ice mage had heard that as his gaze finally went to the floor to embarrassed to look at anything else.

Another long pause filled the air in the guild making everyone on edge, thinking the two rivals might break out into a fight any second. But it was interrupted happily by Star slapping both their backs, "Go! Don't forget if I'm not happy with this I'm going to make you do something else! And remember, I got enough dirt on both you guys to cover you up to your necks!"

Her voice echoed through everyone's ears as the two headed out into the evening side by side. And just as they left Star closed the door behind them muffling a loud ,"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" From the entire guild.

On the streets of Fiore…

The two walked in silence avoiding all eye contact, after a few minutes Natsu grunted,

"So where are you taking me?"

"A quiet restaurant just down here."

"Great…"

"Yep…"

All of the passerby around them in the quiet night could just feel the awkwardness oozing out of them. Again, there was a long pause before Gray pointed out on the water of the river making Natsu lift his head followed by his eyes twinkling at the sight.

On a small wood platform just above the gently flowing river what was a small building lit with dozens of lights from the inside making it glow as it was filled with fire flies only visible because of the windows giving it close to a 360 degree view of the town.

"How could this be quiet? I'd think a lot of people would come here," The fire mages smile was wide as he continued to stare at it noticing the dark green vines that rapped around it's pillars.

"It's only open after 9, so many people don't know much about it thinking it's a bad place to be, I don't know how though. I saw this place and I just had to go in."

"I can see why."

"Good, because I made special reservations… though I thought it was going to be Star, I would think she would say the same thing as you. I mean both of you have a tendency to bug me or torture me," The ice mage added that to try and keep his mask up.

There was huff from the fire mage who punching his company in the arm before speeding up to the bridge and then stopping waiting uncomfortably for him.

Gray's POV

This was starting to get bad. I had spent years and years building up all the layers I have on my mask of hatred towards Natsu. And it seems the way things are going at the moment, it might crack within one night.

I had to put some extra reinforcement on it sealing it even tighter.

I, Gray Fullbuster, have been in love with my fiercest rival from the moment I turned into a teenager.

Before my hormones kicked in I hated him, he was the exact opposite of me and everything I was. It was annoying as hell. But I was a little kid, what kind of little kids fall in love?

I guess it was around the time I turned fourteen, I'd learned some more 'things' and was appalled by it. All the older members of the guild talked about some 'things' they did to woman. Maybe that was the point I figured out I was gay, I mean woman had never seemed interesting to me, they were just another human on the face of the earth.

But men on the other hand seemed to be different, one in particular, that is the boy, or should I say man now, who is sitting across from the table from me starring out at the water with absolute fascination,

Natsu…

I don't know what it was but it's almost as if everything he was fascinated me, his ferocious attitude, his drive, his pointy eyes.

Everything.

Though I knew if I started acting nice to him afterall those years I know he would notice that, no matter how dense he was.

Though I find his lack of intelligence cute.

Anyway, I decided to put on a mask, one that kept it all the same, my attitude towards him and everything. It's difficult, but I manage. I think the habit of stripping infront of him more than anyone else was the little crack that is always there.

When Star told me I was going on a date with Natsu, well I think I almost died from happiness, and I was still awing in his glory of his outfit. It seems that, that girl is a lot nicer than she makes it out to be. I'm pretty sure she knows I like him and didn't just make that up… damn, sometimes smart people can be so… SMART!

NO POV

The clatter of cutlery on plates filled the air along with the soft undertone of piano as there was a player sitting across the room from the two.

They ate in silence, even though both of them were wanting to rave about the food they were eating.

Natsu had to admit, Gray knew a couple of good places to eat. Maybe he… isn't a gigantic popsicle head, but he's still a popsicle head…, the pinkette thought slowly with his mouth full of food. Coming to the realization that he had just mentally said that, it became a silent mime show, the dragon slayer slapping his check while still chewing and failing his body into weird positions.

Gray chuckled quietly making Natsu freeze and swallow, "What?"

The ice mage imitated him making the same movements, "This."

A small grin appeared on his lips watching the certain black haired fellow he was with.

Finishing with his flailing Gray laughed making Natsu as well. Just as he concluded his flailing a fork full of food was stuff into his mouth, "Murf."

Natsu pulled back his fork letting his 'date' chew, which he did slowly letting himself fill his spoon with his own dish ramming it into the dragon slayer's mouth with a smirk. Both of them swallowed loudly watching each other's Adams apple bob up and down.

"Mmmm,"Natsu managed with his mouth closed.

"Yep, the food here is great."

"I soooooo want to come here again! We should bring everyone next time!"

"I would li- You'll probably blow me through a wall and the building will be ruined, or maybe the other way around. I mean I haven't hit you since the day before yesterday have I?"Gray caught himself repairing the cracks in his mask.

It had been a long time ago that he came to the realization being nice to Natsu, would just hurt both of them in the end. And the only way he knew how to prevent it was to act like an ass, as usual.

Salamander scowled and picked up his knife throwing it at the ice mage's left eye only to be barely dodged before becoming lodged in the bar counter, "It would never be the other way around asshole, next time I'll smash you across town, I just haven't done that yet because I want to come back to this place."His voice was raised slightly from frustration. Gray was acting so much weirder than usual. If this had been any other time, he would have been at his neck by now. But he was going from nice to rude to nice and then back to rude, it bothered the fire mage greatly.

Over the while that they had met Star, Ling and other friends Natsu had matured quite bit. He still wasn't the smartest banana of the bunch, but he could tell when someone was acting different than usual. This was definitely one of those times.

Gray forced a smirk, though it looked completely natural, after all the years, he'd become a good actor. His eyes narrowed beginning as he began the usual banter among the two, "I'd freeze you before you could even hit me, I mean you're slow as hell." The ice mage placed some money on the table before heading out the door motioning for the dragon slayer to follow.

Natsu grinded his teeth together pushing his chair back creating lines in the floor from his strength following after the person who would be thrown into the water in just a few seconds, "I'm gonna kill that stripper."

Once exiting the restaurant, the pinkette surveyed his surroundings.

"Come and get me ya damn Hot head!" came from underneath the bridge making Natsu sprint to the side just in time to see Gray appear from underneath it in a blueish white gondola. One closer inspection the dragon slayer saw that it was made completely of ice.

Its driver gave a salute just begging for Natsu to jump onto the boat with him, and within a second he was off the bridge and flying through the air perfectly aimed to land on the boat. The ice mage crossed his arms over his chest shaking his head, "Numbskull."

The impact caused the boat to tilt and splash as it began to head down the river, "You damn icicle! I'm gonna beat you so h-!" The dragon slayer stopped in the middle of his sentence falling to his knees the cold seeping through his pants.

"You forgot this was a kind of transportation didn't you," Gray cocked and eyebrow sitting with his legs crossed and leaning his elbow on the side of the ice boat.

"D-did not," He managed to choke out before resting his back against the stern starring at his feet while trying to keep his dinner down.

"Did too and that's final, sadly Wendy isn't here to fix this… So I win."

Natsu scowled crossed his arms feeling himself begin to sweat as he continued with great effort to control his nausea.

Time passed by and Gray continued to watch the pink haired male who in turn was staring at him breathing heavily. Moving was no longer an option for the dragon slayer, they had been on the river for nearly thirty minutes and his motion sickness wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

The ice mage smirked and moved forward until he was on his hands and knees. Natsu began to panic, he looked around frantically for something to grab onto, a rock, another boat, anything. But the only thing he could see was a bridge ahead of them in the distance. They wouldn't float to it soon enough, and in his mind, whatever Gray was going to do began to seriously freak him out.

Gray's POV

Shit.

I've lost it.

Completely lost it, my mask wasn't even close to my face anymore. It had dropped into the water nearly ten minutes ago.

I couldn't take watching Natsu sit there staring at me; he broke my mask I spent so long building up in just the time we've been on my little ice creation. For the first little while I was fine but… but I couldn't keep it up.

Now I'm on my knees with my hands on either side of him as he leans against the ice. He's fidgeting like crazy and it's just making this worse in his favor, because while he's keeping his eyes off me, Natsu doesn't realize it just makes him hotter.

Shit, I really have lost it.

Natsu's POV

I admit at the moment I'm scared as hell.

Gray's body is less than three inches away from mine.

Any other time I would've punched him in the gut and have kept punching till he was just a thing of mush on the sidewalk, but everything is spinning. I've spent so long on this boat I don't even think I could stand if I tried.

Frick.

I don't know what this Popsicle head is going to do; I mean I'm sure the thing that Star had said about him having a thing for me was a total lie. Freaking out and running out of the guild was just an automatic reaction, I didn't think about the fact that it wasn't true till I had gotten home.

So what the hell was he going to do? Was he going to throw me off the boat? No, we may hate each other but he isn't out to kill me…

I'm nervous, all I really can do is keep my arms crossed and stare at the water.

I can feel his breath in my ear.

NO POV

Natsu flinched feeling the heat of Gray's breath. Both of them were breathing heavily now, though for completely different reasons.

"Wha- what the hell are you doing?" The dragon slayer choked out.

The ice mage didn't answer his question in words. Taking his left hand away from Natsu's hip he slid the pinkette's face so his pointy eyes were staring into his own.

And then his both their lips were pressed together. It took a few seconds for Natsu to realize what Gray had just and he didn't know what to do. His arms were at his sides but he knew no matter how hard he pushed, with how weak he was now, the ice mage would over power him easily.

Suddenly Natsu's lips were bare and he looked down confused wondering what the heck was happening until he felt a slick sensation on his neck. A shiver went through his entire body as a Gray's tongue traced down his neck pulling his scarf down until it reached the top of his v-neck.

He was panicked. Natsu was very panicked. He didn't think when he shot his hands up grabbing the wooden planks of the bridge he had noticed earlier. The dragon ' body slid out of the boat until he was hanging with his thighs and below in the water.

Another second passed before he pulled himself up onto the bridge lying on his back to slow his breathing. Gray had also jumped up onto the bridge and was standing on the other side, his face contorted into a painful smile.

"I- I-," The pinkette's voice cracked as he sat up.

The ice mage slowly made his way over until he was just above Natsu, "Just forget it happened…"The words were almost a whisper before he made his way off the bridge leaving the dragon slayer by himself.

Natsu sat there for a while, staring in the direction Gray had disappeared in. He couldn't believe it, Star had been right… Almost as if he was in slow motion he got himself to his feet and began to head back to the guild.

Back at Fairy Tail…

"WHAT?" The voice boomed through the guild like a shock wave. Natsu peeked into the door frowning as he knew whose voice it had been.

Gray was standing with both his teeth and fists clenched, he looked furious, frustrated and heartbroken all at the same time.

"You heard me, I wasn't happy with the date so you guys have to do something else I tell you," Star sat on a bench leaning back on the edge of the table as the she locked eyes with the ice mage. She was small but vicious, a lot of people were amazed she was never fazed even when someone was screaming at her.

"NO!" Gray leaned down inches from her face his eyebrows furrowed holding back tears.

"Yes, it was a deal. I know you're the kind of person to keep your word," the headphone wearing girl was right. He was the kind of person to go to all lengths to do full fill something he said.

The ice mage scowled and sat down beside her with his head in his hands. "Fine… But…Natsu probably won't agree, You can go ask him if you want. But I doubt it," He let out a deep sigh as Star messed up his hair.

"Well, he's already heard it and hasn't said anything. You have no idea what I have on that guy."

Natsu flinched hearing Star give him away and hid behind the door a second too late for Gray not to see him.

"Natsu…" His voice reached the pinkette's ears making him remember what he had said.

Just Forget it happened, the words bounced through the dragon slayers mind and he put on a brave face heading into the guild at a sprint.

"HARAHHHH!"Natsu screamed punching Gray in the gut with a fierce smile, that was of course and act. On the inside he was in turmoil, but he couldn't let the other guild members find out what had happened.

"AHAHA! I win!" He hollered with an extremely cocky tone.

The ice mage pushed a table off of his torso sitting up and waving his hand infront of his face getting rid of the dust, "Frick…"

Star looked from one of the two to the other with a blank expression before going back to Natsu, "I'm taking that as a yes to the deal."

"…Well, those pictures… are… uh, I don't want them to get out," His voice cracked as his face turned the shade of a tomato not wanting to remember what they were.

A wicked grin popped onto the face of the strawberry haired girl, being a good actor as well, "Good, I'll be back at your house tomorrow to dress ya all pretty again. Maybe I'll make you wear pink; I mean it would match your hair."

Everyone in the guild burst into laughter at her comment thinking it was just another joke, completely oblivious to the tension that encircled the three.

Both Natsu and Gray didn't think it was funny, letting out nervous laughs, while thinking exactly the same thing,

This… is… bad.

Star: DONE! I wonder what I'm going to put those through next…*smiles evily*

Natsu and Gray: *shakes heads* why do you torture us so?

Star: It's fun! Why else? R&R PLEASE AND I WILL LOVE YOU! The next chappy should be posted in about a week or 2 but if you review it gives me more motivation to post sooner~