Hello, and welcome to another Fairy Tail fanfic! Gee, I should really stop coming up with new ideas and focus on the ones I have. Ah, the pressure sof writing...you have so many ideas and so little time. Damn you life.

It wasn't because he was jealous of Natsu's constant glory. He just...genuinely...felt left out of everything nowadays. Even Juvia paid him no mind ever since her affections had somehow drifted onto the Fire Dragon Slayer. Right now he was desperate to leave the guild hall and celebration behind after Team Natsu had come back victorious from a long mission. Gray hadn't been able to go since he'd fallen sick a few days before they left, and now it seemed that everyone had pretty much forgotten about him. Ten years of service to Fairy Tail, and the minute he gets sick he's just cast off? Just like that? Heck, Juvia had taken his spot on the mission, where her strange affections for Natsu had occurred, and now she had officially become part of Natsu's team - in obvious replacement of him.

Gray gave an angry sigh, knowing nobody would see him leave. Oh yes, he was going to leave. He'd been prepared for this for some time now, since the day the team had decided to take the mission anyway while he was sick. So he got up quietly, like a ghost, and left his resignation on the bar counter for Mira, buttoning up his white shirt as he felt his Fairy Tail insignia fade away and disappear. It pissed him off that he could be so easily forgotten like that. Like he meant nothing to anyone.

He wouldn't cry. No. Not for people who didn't show they cared, why should he show it back? So he went home, packed up his belongings, which weren't much since he was renting the place for now, and left the spare key in the box on the wall outside by the door. Without a second glance back, he headed for the train station and boarded the next train to Margaret Town. There was only one person left he could completely count on now, and even then he didn't know if he would accept him or not.

Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale was his only hope right now.

"Haha, Yuka you should totally get those eyebrows shaved! You're beginning to look older than you should!" Toby howled.

"Honestly, somebody really needs to put you on a leash. Lyon, can't you do something?"

The second top mage in the guild just gave his signature smirk from where he sat with Sherry and Chelia, shaking his head and shrugging. "Sorry Yuka, I'm not the one with the magic to do that".

"Unbelievable..." the short mage muttered. Lyon gave a chuckle and went back to his previous thoughts when the doors opened and let in the chilly night air. Everyone looked round to see it was only Jura returning from a quest.

"Evening Jura!" Chelia greeted cheerfully. "Was the mission fun?"

"I'd hardly call it a mission of anything, Chelia, and isn't it time for you to go to bed?" the wizard saint ruffled her hair playfully, earning a pout.

"No, Sherry said I could stay up with her until she goes home, isn't that right Sherry?"

"Yes, but I'm ready to go now. Goodnight everyone, goodnight Lyon-sama". Sherry gave the man a quick hug, as her little cousin did the same, and headed home for the night. The rest of Lamia Scale took it as a cue and also began to leave for their homes. Soon enough Lyon was about to leave when Jura caught his shoulder. He had grown pretty close with the other top mage within the guild, to the point where Lyon had spilled everything about why he and Gray Fullbuster had such a strong rivalry.

"Lyon".

"Yes Jura?"

"Have you heard about your fellow ice mage from Fairy Tail falling ill recently?"

"Yes, but I didn't feel the need to bother him. Knowing him, he would want to be left alone".

"I'm not sure but...I think I saw him around town just now. If he's still even the slightest bit sick then you should find him before something gets worse and leads to some sort of infection".

"Gray will be fine, though I don't understand what he'd be doing here this time of night...anyway, thank you Jura". Lyon nodded briefly to the other mage and stepped outside. Winter was on it's way and that meant Lyon's power would strengthen slightly, melding with the weather's element.

He trudged through the silent and glittering town until he made his way to the dormitory block he rented along with Toby and Yuka. Even if he was a top mage of Lamia Scale, and a proud one at that, he didn't want to waste money on a house he would hardly be at. He climbed up the fairly small hill and what greeted him on the doorstep was certainly a surprise. "Gray...?" the other person looked up at his name and Lyon saw darkness in his eyes, almost emotionless if not for the slight quiver and soft biting of his lower lip. "Come inside...we can talk".

Gray got up and let his surrogate brother let them both in, Lyon ordered him to take a seat on the couch, the latter doing so, and joined him moments later with a mug of hot chocolate, just how Ur had done when they were done playing in the snow on a day off from training. Gray sipped his drink but kept it mostly rested on his knees, unsure of what to say.

"It's funny, y'know, just before I was leaving, I was thinking about you".

Gray looked up through his fringe at his senior. "Really? How come?"

"Oh you know, no big deal, just fond memories. So what brought you all the way to Margaret Town at the dead of night and to my doorstep? And how'd you find it even?"

"I saw Yuka and Toby and followed them. As for what I'm actually doing here I...well, I could just show you this..." Gray gently lifted up his shirt revealing a patch of skin where a dark blue Fairy Tail insignia should be. Lyon blinked in shock and stared at him in disbelief as Gray lowered his shirt.

"You...where's your insignia? Don't tell me those lowlifes kicked you out?"

"No. I chose to leave..."

"How come? I didn't think you'd ever do something like that".

"They told you about my sickness, right?" Lyon nodded, "Well, I've just been feeling so left out of everything since the team got back from their mission. They went without me, taking Juvia in my place, and when they got back today, they announced that she'd joined their team as a sixth member. Meaning there's Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Erza, Wendy and now Juvia".

"What about you? Surely they can't just replace you like that! You've been with them for so long, and then the moment you get sick they take a job anyway and then replace you? Sheesh, for a guild that only talks about caring for your nakama, they're being real hypocrites".

"Exactly...so I came here. I didn't know...what else to do..." The raven ice mage sighed deeply, "What do I do Lyon...? Anything but go back there, or even back to Magnolia...it wouldn't feel right to me".

"...Stay with me".

"Huh?"

"Stay with me. Live here with me. Be my little brother again. ...Join Lamia Scale". Lyon gave a genuine smile and set his mug aside, Gray doing the same before he was drawn into a calm embrace by his senior. "I should've taken you away from them back when we met again on Galuna Island. But then when Natsu stopped you from killing yourself like an idiot, I thought he could take care of you in my place. I trusted myself to look after you from afar...now I see I was wrong to do such a thing. ...What about Juvia, how does she feel about all this?"

"Oh her? Yeah, like she even gives a damn anymore. She's fallen for someone else".

"Who?"

"Natsu Dragneel of all people".

"You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding".

"'Fraid not. Not that I'm jealous, I'm just pissed more than anything".

"They were the two people you felt closest to in Fairy Tail, understandable". Lyon patted the younger's back and pulled away. "We'll get you signed into Lamia Scale tomorrow and you can join my team. It'll be like old times. After all, I've missed you for seventeen years".

"Seventeen?"

"The ten years after Ur, and then the seven you spent on Tenrou having a nap".

"I was not having a nap Lyon".

The older man chuckled and got up, leading his brother to bed, "No, but you're gonna have one right now".

"Yes Boss" Gray let out the first chuckle he had done full-heartedly as Lyon tackled him onto the bed, the two wrestling for a bit before settling down and stripping down to their boxers, crawling into the covers of Lyon's bed and giving one another a small smile and drifting to sleep.

LyoRay brotherhood! Cause that's what it was made for! Okay, I lied, it was also made for the yaoi xD Juvia's got the right idea though; "I have two hot guys, one likes me, the other loves me, what do I do? Ship them together of course!" xD Okay, so I know that Gray wouldn't really get forgotten and ignored just because he didn't go on a mission due to sickness and blah blah blah, but I did this cause I found it a super cute LyoRay idea (not romance, this isn't romance) and couldn't resist the urge to write it. PLUS! I did this cause I haven't read a fic where it focuses on Lamia Scale yet (actually, that's a lie, I read one LyoRay fic where it showed how Lyon was during the seven years Gray was missing on Tenrou, it was a good one). Plus Lamia Scale's my second favourite guild! (Cause Lyon's there...and he's like my fourth favourite character).

Anyway, hope you enjoy, this is a twoshot so the other stuff happens next chapter :D As in, Fairy Tail finally noticing their stripping ice mage is gone and their reaction to it.