Note- the story right now is all about the three months in which Natsu and Gray got together. The present will come at the end.
That said, please do not hesitate pointing out the errors. A big thanks to all those who reviewed, and added the story to their favorite/alert list.
You may enjoy the ride now.
"I hate that bastard!"
Lyon cringed as Gray threw the bag on the floor, fuming all the while. The blue-eyed teen plopped down on the couch, sighing, and closed his eyes. Lyon bit his lip nervously, and slowly sat down beside the younger male. He patted the latter on the head, smiling nervously.
"Don't think too much about that idiot. He's just annoying initially. He's a nice guy, otherwise. The whole campus likes him for a reason, after all."
"Likes him?" Gray snorted, cracking an eye open. Closing it again, he smirked, "More like hates him. Despises him."
"You've got some serious misunderstandings then. Because frankly, I've never seen anyone harboring feelings for him which mirrors yours." Lyon smirked, finally letting his hand drop.
"I can name the people."
"Sure, but don't feel embarrassed when you find out that they hate him for a stupid reason." Lyon shrugged. Gray sat upright and leaned forward, daringly staring into the eyes of the senior.
"Gajeel-
"He had a crush on Natsu."
"He had a what on Natsu?" Gray stood up, surprise evident in wide cobalt eyes. Lyon smiled, sympathy showing on his face.
"I had the same reaction, but really, they had something… Gajeel's the bad guy. Natsu is the popular jock. And even though they make the most unlikely pair, I actually have seen them kissing each other. Well, being kissed forcefully is more like that in Natsu's case…"
"Whatever. I can still mention Cana's name!" Gray mocked, resting his hands on his hips. Lyon grinned, wrapping his arms around his brother's waist and bringing him close. Gray took a sharp intake of breath when Lyon's hand slid up his shirt, trailing feather-like touches over the bare skin.
"Lyon…" Gray moaned, clenching the latter's silver locks. He pulled away though, and ignoring the way Lyon's lower lip was puckered out into a pout, he sat down in his previous position, and continued, "So, as I was saying, Cana Alberona hates him as-
"She lost."
"Huh?" Gray stared, face crunched up confusedly. Lyon rolled his eyes and repeated, "She lost."
"And what exactly, did she lose at?"
"Drinking competition."
Gray groaned, because even though he hated to admit it, Wendy had also said the same thing.
Sighing, the boy continued, "Laxus-
"Now that's an interesting one." Lyon grinned, confusing Gray further. The raven-haired male gestured to continue, so the grinning senior did just that.
"In sophomore year, Laxus and Lisanna were going out. She was a freshman then. Turned out that Natsu was the guy she had been crushing over since her childhood. Natsu and Lisanna are on and off all the time since then."
"Oh."
"Oh? Just oh? Man, I told you such an interesting story…"
"Yes, Lyon, just an oh. Let me think…uh, ah, there's another person! Sherry Blendi-
"Oh Goodness! You met her? Her- of all the people?"
Gray shrugged, wondering what the hell was wrong with meeting the cute pink-haired girl. Something definitely was, judging by his brother's unusual paleness.
"She is the crazy stalker! And so is her best friend…"
"Holy shit! Are you kiddin' me, Lyon? So that is the reason why she was glaring at me? She knew about us!"
Lyon shrugged, "I can't say that surely, Gray. But I've tried my best to not let anyone know. But Sherry…well, she's a different case altogether."
Gray sighed, rubbing his temples, "Lyon…what's gonna happen next? What about us?" The teen motioned between the lack of space between the two. Lyon brought the younger teen closer, engulfing him in a hug. He kissed the raven locks and sighed.
"I don't know, Gray. But one thing's for sure, my love for you will never fade."
Gray clenched his eyes shut, burying his face in Lyon's chest. He remained quite because God knew how he felt. He wasn't even sure if he was letting Lyon love him just too much. Enough to shatter his heart in pieces.
"Lisanna?"
The blue eyed girl smiled brightly, entering the house. Natsu walked over, on the way picking a shirt-which was lying over his messy bed- and put it on.
Grinning, the captain pulled his girlfriend against his chest.
"You didn't inform me!"
"It was a surprise." Lisanna grinned up at him, drawing circles on Natsu's chest. He smiled and dropped a kiss on the junior's forehead.
"In that case, it was a really good surprise."
"I know." She grinned and they both burst into fits of laughter. Natsu plopped down on his bed, planting his hands by his side. Lisanna sat down on his lap, running her fingers over his tanned skin. Natsu shivered.
"L-Lisanna-
"I need to tell you something."
The young male looked up confusedly at his girlfriend, who stood up abruptly. Furrowing his eyebrows worriedly, he stared at her. She sighed and looked at him nervously, gulping as if drinking her courage.
"What is it, Lisanna?"
"Natsu…I…" She sighed again, and then turned around, closing her eyes and continued, "I think I'm in love with you."
Natsu stared at her and stammered, "That's uh, that's great! Yeah, great!"
"You don't need to pretend excitement."
Natsu sighed and stood up. Running his tanned hand through his salmon locks, he started calmly, "Lisanna, baby, it's great that you think you love me-
"I don't just think I love you, Natsu. I actually do love you!"
"Yeah, but I… God, can we just go a bit slow? I obviously don't want to lie about loving you. I mean, of course I love you, but I'm not in love with you. Not that deep. I just like you too much."
"I understand. Anyways, I've gotta go. See you tomorrow, 'kay?"
Natsu nodded and kissed her cheek.
"I'm sure I'll fall for you way too hard someday, don't worry, alright? Not like anyone can resist you."
Here's a situation, been to every nation-
Gray's eyes fluttered open. He groaned and tossed over, picking up the device lying beside his pillow.
"'Ello?"
"Hey, love."
"Lyon? Dude, its middle of the night-
"I know, I know. Now get down, and bring Ultear if you want."
"Why?"
"I'll explain that later."
Gray groaned, "Is it important for me to come? I'm tired as hell!"
"If you love me even a bit, then come down right now."
"…Fine. I'm not bringing Ultear, though. She's a demon when woken up in the middle of the night."
"No problem. Just be quick. And don't forget to bring a torch with you."
"I just hope whatever it is you're planning doesn't involve ducks… or aliens. Well, the latter is fine-
"Honey, stop rambling. I'm waiting', be quick. Love you."
Gray pouted, staring at his cell phone. Yawning, the teen stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He absolutely hated it when someone stopped him in the middle of his speech. Especially if it concerned annoying white and feathery creatures or aliens.
Sighing, he picked up a shirt, sliding it over his head and wearing it. He looked down to check his pajama bottoms, considered changing for a moment, and then decided against it.
He crept out of his bedroom quietly, keeping in mind not to disturb Ultear or Ur. Because even though Ultear was a sophomore, she was capable of squishing him like a demon awoken from a long sleep. Whereas his mother was just…over-motherly.
Gray unlocked the door, requesting it to be as silent as possible. Of course, his request was ignored. The door opened with a loud creeeeeeeeeek and forced Gray to mentally curse.
Something moved, and Gray's eyes widened. He rushed out of the door, forgetting to pick his cell phone up with him.
He looked around, and then walked over to the blue car. There, with all his glory, was Lyon Bastia. He was leaning against the car, humor swirling in his eyes. Gray stood before the slightly taller male and crossed his arms.
"You're stupid, you know that? Its middle of the night for the love of-
Lyon chuckled and shut the younger senior up by placing his lips upon the latter's. Gray's eyes widened momentarily, then shut and he relaxed into the kiss, trailing his fingers up and down over Lyon's arms.
They broke the lip-lock, staring at each other. Lyon composed his breathing- because God knew how much Gray affected his breathing.
He bit his lip and interlocked his fingers with the latter's, and breathed over his face, "Let's go."
Gray looked up, cheeks flushed and eyes glazed, and asked, "Where?"
Grinning, the football player winked, "You'll have to wait for that. Just think of it as an apologizing gift for blurting out about your earlier appearance."
Gray sighed, smiling a bit.
"It doesn't really matter, I guess. You know why I was angry, Lyon. I've always been insecure about my appearance. And it… Let's just forget about it."
"Alright. But you'll have to get inside the car." Gray nodded and opened the door, occupying his seat. Lyon leaned down and grinned, "And yeah, you look hot in those pajama bottoms."
Gray just rolled his eyes.
"That's fucking hilarious, man!" Natsu slapped on Jellal's shoulder, laughing all the while. The action, however, ceased when two guys came into his view. He looked briefly at Gray, then at Lyon, and grinned.
"Yo!"
"Hey, man!"
Natsu stood up, and bumped shoulders with the other football player. They exchanged grins, exchanging a few words.
Gray turned his eyes in the other direction, inspecting the dark woods. Excitement rushed through his veins, causing him to bite his lower lip. The others were sitting on the barks of trees, lying over the slightly wet ground.
"Why are you wearing those? Aren't you supposed to be wearing something more suitable of your age?"
His gaze snapped back to glare harshly at Natsu, who was snickering. Gray's eyes narrowed.
"Has anyone ever told you to shut up before?"
"Nah, everyone loves my voice." Natsu leaned down, grinning arrogantly.
"Figures." Gray crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing the captain. He smirked, "Maybe that's why you have this useless holier-than-thou attitude."
"I think someone else here carries that attitude."
"I disagree."
"Doesn't matter."
Lyon rolled his eyes and pulled Gray away. The raven haired teen kept his heated gaze locked with the football player's amused ones.
The silver haired senior muttered, "Aaaaand I'm stuck."
The next hour proved to be excruciatingly painful for a certain green-eyed blonde. Loke sighed, turning his gaze away from the cheerfully singing group of his friends. Movement behind the bushes caught his attention.
He looked again at the rest of the oblivious group, then decided to stand up and quietly walk over to the bushes. He peaked down, finding nothing. Eyebrows furrowing, the blonde football player started walking towards the deeper part of the forest, searching for the little bunny he saw moments ago.
"At least it's better than watching Lyon go all googly-eyed over Gray."
Jellal laughed, his arms wrapped around Erza's body. He stood up suddenly, stretching his arms over his head. Brown eyes darted around, looking at the cheerfully grinning teenagers surrounding him and the broken barks of trees.
The blue haired swimmer faked a puking gesture when he caught Lyon staring at Gray's ass, who was busy dancing with Lisanna. He chuckled at the fact, as Lisanna was Natsu's girlfriend and Gray and Natsu weren't exactly on... good terms.
Lyon's love sick expressions reminded him of another love-sick boy. He looked around, frowning when he noticed that the blonde was out of sight.
Erza noticed her boyfriend's worried expressions and stood up, putting a hand on his shoulder, and asked seriously, "What's wrong, Jellal?"
"He isn't here!"
"Who isn't here?"
"Loke!" Jellal turned to look at her, his face stricken with panic, and gulped, "Loke isn't here."
Gray stopped, a grin still adoring his face.
"I'll go and have my medicines. They're in Lyon's car. And he's parked it faaaaar away."
"Alright! I'll dance with Natsu while you're gone." Lisanna smiled. Gray nodded and made his way through the other side of the forest, praying to not get lost.
The blue eyed girl turned to look at her boyfriend, who was laughing with Lyon. She smiled and made her way towards him.
"Hey Natsu-
"Guys!" All the heads turned in the direction where the panicked voice rang from. Jellal continued, his eyes wide with fear, "Loke's not here. We need to find him! Everyone, in pairs of two! We don't want anyone else to get lost now."
Erza touched Jellal's arm, causing the latter to look at her. She looked into his brown eyes and nodded, "You come with me. Lyon and Lisanna will go together. Gray will- wait, where's Gray?"
Lisanna answered immediately, "He's gone to take his medicines."
Erza sighed in relief. At least he wasn't lost! She looked at Natsu, and commanded, "You're gonna wait for Gray."
"Why me?" Natsu whined, pouting.
Erza raised a threatening brow, causing the latter to roll his eyes with a sigh and mutter a 'fine'.
"That's better. Now everyone, go around, and look for Loke. And Natsu, don't you dare leave Gray alone."
"Whatever."
Loke leaned down, clutching his knees, and panted hard. He closed his eyes and looked around, still not finding the bunny. The little devil was no where in his sights, and neither was the way back to the spot where the rest of the group was.
"Shit." He muttered, groaning.
"There you are!" A familiar voice rang out and Loke looked back, his eyes widening when Lyon's relieved face came into his view.
"Lyon?"
The football player grinned, stepping towards him in a fast pace. Suddenly, it dawned over the blonde that he was alone with his crush in the forest. Funny, shouldn't be breeze dancing around them right now? And shouldn't the moon's size increase a bit more? Isn't that how they show romantic scenes in the movies? The blonde looked up to see the moon, only to sweat drop when he found no moon in the sky.
"Uh, Loke?" A hand waving in front of him snatched the blonde away from his obviously off-track train of thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Dude, we were so damn worried! I and Lisanna were supposed to look out together for you, but she ran back to her 'love' after taking two steps."
"...That's...heartbreaking."
Lyon nodded. And they both burst out in fits of laughter.
"Where's everyone?" Gray raised a brow at the couple, a water bottle in his hand.
Lisanna stood up and smiled, walking over to him and sighed, "Loke's lost."
"Greaaaaat." Gray rolled his tongue sarcastically.
"Can you just stop being so damn pessimistic for a moment? We're tensed!"
"You were making out." Gray pointed out, smirking. The latter rose up, his temper flaring.
He stabbed a finger in Gray's chest, and sneered, "He's our friend. So you better stop-
"Puh-lease." Gray rolled his eyes, removing Natsu's finger off his chest. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked up disinterestedly at Natsu.
"We should just go and search him instead of arguing."
Natsu remained quite. Lisanna sighed and agreed, "Yeah, and it's getting late, anyways. C'mon."
"Why did you leave, anyways?" Lyon asked, kicking a piece of trash.
"Was getting' bored there."
"Oh."
It was almost an adorable moment in Loke's head. He and Lyon alone. In a forest. Talking like sweet little idiotic kiddos.
Life was bliss.
"You know, it'd be better if you just shut your damned mouth!"
"I think you are the one supposed to do that!"
Lisanna groaned, praying to all the deities above to just strike a lightening and make the two idiots walking by her side shut up for at least a single moment.
Life was hell.
Jellal stopped, looking back at Erza, who had stopped walking.
"What is it?"
The scarlet haired senior looked up, showing her cell phone. The bright screen flashed a text message. Jellal squinted his eyes, "I can't read it."
"Sure you can't. Come here."
Jellal rolled his eyes and walked over, leaning down to read the text.
Found him. U guys can go. V'll wait for Gray.
-Lyon.
"I hate this format."
"Me too."
"Let's go." Jellal leaned down, and pecked his girlfriend on her shell-pink lips. She smiled back at him.
At the moment, life was romantic.
Natsu was sure about one thing. He was gonna smash the raven haired teenager's face if he didn't stop the rubbish he was sprouting.
"Look, I get that most of the jocks you have met are homophobic and players. But I'm not, so for the millionth time, shut up-
"Why the hell should I shut up? You are the one who started the topic. And don't deny it. You are a big time player!"
"Look, Fullbuster, I get your hatred for players. But it's not our fault if we just wanna try!"
They continued to bicker about ways of dating.
'Cause for Natsu Dragneel, life was a game.
A few more moments had passed, and they were finally nearing the other side of the forest where Lyon had parked his car. As for the short white-haired girl, she had given up trying to shut the seniors a long ago.
In those moments, they had received Lyon's text and were heading for the car. Gray certainly didn't have any problem with the blonde riding with them. They just couldn't share a goodnight kiss though, seeing how Gray's home came first, and their relation was a secretive one.
"Talking about players, your brother is a big one."
"What the-?" Gray's eyes furrowed in confusion at the sudden statement. His gaze darted in the direction where Natsu –who was smirking like an idiot –followed, and his blood stopped running for a moment.
There, Lyon Bastia and Loke Celestica were making-out, like rabbits in heat. Gray's glare intensified, and he turned his head sharply in Natsu's direction, who was now grinning and applauding.
The blonde pulled away suddenly, and both the guys looked at them. Loke's cheeks were dusted with pink, while Lyon looked like a gaping fish.
"About time you two got together!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Yeah, you two are adorable together!" Lisanna clapped, rushing towards Loke and flinging her arms around the basketball player's neck.
Lyon stuttered, "It's not- I can explain-
"Congratulations, brother dearest." Gray smirked, fire burning in his cobalt eyes. His brother gulped.
"Wait, I can explain!" Lyon said, and looked at Loke apologetically, "Loke, I'm really sorry, but I just don't feel that way about you."
Natsu spoke, "Dude, shut up-
"No, wait, Natsu!" Lyon exclaimed, gulping nervously, his eyes locked with Gray's angry ones, and he continued, "It was just an accident."
Natsu followed Lyon's gaze, Gray entering his view. His face hardened, and he spat at the newbie, "You just had to come in between, no?"
Gray glared at him, and hissed, "Shut up."
The captain walked over to the frozen blonde, and grabbing his hand, he exclaimed, "Loke, you're coming with me. These brothers are idiots."
"Natsu-
"Lisanna, we're leaving." Natsu interrupted, and started walking back. Lisanna gave Gray an apologetic look, and then followed her boyfriend.
Lyon and Gray were alone after that, the awkward silence hanging between them. Gray rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, and glared at Lyon, "Let's just go already."
Lyon nodded with a gulp.
For him, life was complicated.
"You just had to come in between, no?"
The words rang through the teen's head repeatedly. He hadn't come in between. No. The blonde was the one to just make his way through.
The rest of the ride had been silent. Gray's gaze was fixed out of the window, his eyes narrowed in a glare. Lyon had tried initiating many conversations, but so far, Gray had managed to ignore him. The rage inside of him just screamed to let out, and the teen did not want to create a scene. His mind was clouded by the flashes of the recent incident. It was still tough for him to believe that of all the people, Lyon had cheated.
"Gray," The senior pleaded desperately, "At least talk to me-
"Stop the car."
"Gray-
"I said stop the car. My house is here." Gray commanded.
Lyon did as he was told, and attempted a final try to engage the latter in a conversation.
"Gray-
The teen got out of the car, gritting his teeth in anger. He slammed the door, and without sparing Lyon another glance, he entered his house. The slamming of the door was the only sound heard then.
"You just had to come in between, no?"
Life, for Gray Fullbuster, was always a bitch.
A/N: I changed the genre. Humor really didn't go with the plot anymore... many of you must be confused at the moment, but rest assured, dear readers, as things are gonna be explained in the later chapters. Hope you liked the chapter! ^.^ Please review! :D