My exams are finally over so I have time to write again! This is some kind of 'in-between-chapter'. I felt like writing something romantic, so this chapter basically is all fluffiness between the ice and fire mage.

I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 4

Love bite

A small drop of sweat dripped down Gray's neck. The ice mage moaned annoyed in his sleep as he wiped it away. His whole body tingled from the unusual warmth and it was starting to wake him up. Still mostly asleep, he tried kicking the sheets off of his body, but when he moved his leg, a small moan sounded beside him. He opened his eyes as he remembered where that heat came from.

Spiky pink hair filled his vision. The dragon slayer lay curled up against Gray, spreading his maddening heat. The ice mage lifted his head a bit to look at the pinkette's face and a small smile appeared around his lips as he saw the cute frowning face.

'He must be dreaming.' It crossed Gray's mind. He rubbed his thumb over the burning cheek and the frowning face immediately relaxed a bit. 'How did we ever end up with each other like this?'

The fact he had spent the night with Natsu, twice already, still astounded him. But the fact that it felt so natural straight out scared him.

Gray looked out of his window and saw that it was still completely dark outside, only some moonlight lit the quiet night. Another drop of sweat slipped down his skin, this time stinging his eye. "Damn heat." He mumbled and decided to get a glass of water, that always helped to cool his body down. When he tried to shift, he noticed his right arm was all numb, since Natsu had been lying on it all time. He carefully pulled it from underneath Natsu's head and separated their bodies so he could get out of the bed. A small moan of protest came from the pinkette, who shifted a bit and mumbled softly.

"Gr… Gray… where are you…"

Gray quickly turned around when he heard the mumbling. Natsu's hand moved and searched the other side of the bed, where a minute before Gray still had been. The raven mage thought it was adorable to see the fire mage eagerly looking for him in his sleep. He leaned over the bed and placed a small kiss on the pink hair and whispered. "I'll be right back." Then he went to grab a glass of water.

Only now Gray noticed how sweaty and sticky his body was, as if Natsu still clamped to him. He kneaded his arm to get the blood to circulate again as he walked over to the kitchen. When he passed the mirror in the hallway he stopped abruptly and glanced in it.

"He got me good there." He chuckled as he ran his fingers over the love bites and hickeys on his neck, shoulder and chest. "I'll have to punish him for that later."

Gray grabbed a glass and filled it with water. He tapped his finger against the bottom and a second later a few ice cubes floated inside the drink. He walked back upstairs as he took a sip, back to the bedroom. He saw the peaceful silhouette of the dragon slayer and a smile formed on his face. He took another sip of the cold water and he felt his body slowly cool down. He placed the glass on the night stand, in case he needed it again.

He slipped back into the bed next to Natsu, who let out a small sigh in his sleep. Gray could feel the heat radiating from him, tingling his skin. He placed a small kiss on the burning forehead and shifted to his other side, facing his back to Natsu. This way he wasn't suffering from the heat as much and he tiredly closed his eyes.
Not soon after though, two warm arms wrapped around his chest, gently caressing his skin.

"Where were you…" a sleepy voice asked. The hot body crept closer and pressed against Gray's cold back. He felt the Dragonslayer's nose nuzzle his neck.

"Just got some water to cool down… you're a damn furnace." Gray grumbled. A sleepy chuckle sounded behind his back.

Natsu could feel the lowered body temperature off the ice mage's skin and goosebumps formed on his skin where their bodies touched. Nonetheless he pressed even a bit closer, wrapping his arms tighter around his beloved rival.

"Really? Spooning?" Gray whispered.

Natsu chuckled and gave a small nod. "And you're the small spoon." He placed a kiss on the ice mage's neck. "Now shut up and go back to sleep."

Gray grumbled something about 'stupid flamebrain', but still soon after he fell asleep with a smile on his face. The heat not bothering as much as before.

The arms lay relaxed around him. Gray turned around, facing the still sleeping dragon slayer. The heat he had felt before was almost gone and he wondered why. He looked at Natsu and saw a blue-ish shine around his lips.

'Looks like I cooled my body down a bit too much.' Gray thought. He freed himself from the arms and stepped out of bed. He took an extra blanket and wrapped it around the fire mage, trying to warm him up.

Gray looked out the window and saw the sun was rising.

Natsu lazily opened his eyes. The faint light stung his eyes and he had to blink a couple of times to adjust. When his eyes adapted, he saw that the other side of the bed was empty again. Disorientated he leaned up on his elbow.

"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" It sounded from behind him.

Natsu quickly turned around and saw Gray sitting in the open window, a cigarette between his lips. He leaned his back against the frame, his left leg pulled up, his right hanging outside the window. Of course there was no shirt to be seen.

Natsu slumped back onto the pillow. "Finally? It's not even fully light outside. Do you ever sleep? Tonight you were awake too."

"Tonight I needed some water and now… I dunno, I just woke up and the sun is truly beautiful at the moment." Gray looked outside again and took another drag of his cigarette, slowly letting the smoke roam in his lungs.

"I thought you stopped smoking months ago?"

"Hmm…" Gray puffed out the smoke. "I only smoke when I feel really good or depressed."

"And this is…?" Natsu asked, still lying in bed.

"Ooh, very depressed." Gray smiled and gave a wink. Natsu snickered.

"Where did the second blanket come from?" The pinkette noted.

"Your lips were all blue from the cold just a while ago, so I grabbed an extra one."

"Oh… thanks."

Gray smiled and turned his gaze back outside. Natsu crawled out of bed, grabbed his scarf and put on some boxers, then walked to the ice mage. He quickly caressed the raven hair.

"It's a beautiful scene indeed." The dragon slayer smiled as he watched the rising sun, peeking out over the pine trees. "It's a bother that you live so far from the guild, but this place is kind of worth it."

Gray's house lay just outside the village, a while up in the mountains, surrounded by pine trees. From his bedroom window you could see the whole village in the distant, down the hill. Natsu never really noticed it was this beautiful, but then again he had almost never visited Gray before.

"Yeah, it's really nice in winter, when everything is covered in snow."

"That sight would be a perfect representation of you."

"What do you mean?" Gray blew out some smoke and turned to the dragon slayer.

"Well you smell like a pine forest covered in snow and ice, so the sight of it would resemble you." Natsu smiled, a light pink appearing on his cheeks.

"I have that kind of smell?" Gray mumbled surprised. "Interesting."

"It sure is beautiful." The pinkette smiled as he looked over the landscape. The ice mage put the cigarette back in his mouth and took another drag, from the corner of his eye he could see Natsu's nose cringe.

"Does it bother you?" Gray asked as he blew out the smoke, holding up the cigarette.

"It reeks and stings my nose." Natsu admitted.

"Just say so then, flame brain."

"Filthy smoker."

"Furnace face."

"Damn stripper."

"I know you love that part." Gray countered with a smug smile, which left Natsu speechless for a second.

"I…" Natsu didn't know how to react to the comment, so he just pouted, which made Gray chuckle.

"Come here, you damn squinty-eyes." Gray smiled as he held out his arm invitingly. He flicked the rest of his cigarette away. The dragon slayer still pouted, but went in on the invite nonetheless. The cold arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. Still sitting down, Gray's head only reached Natsu's stomach. He rubbed his cheek against the soft skin that covered the hard abs.

"Never thought I'd love waking up together this much." The ice mage mumbled.

"We could have done it the first time too, if you hadn't kicked me out so early." Natsu said a bit pissed, ignoring the cold caresses. He remembered their first morning 'together'.

"I was late for my mission, I had to hurry." Gray grumbled.

"Still, you didn't have to kick me out that harsh. I was still peacefully sleeping and the next minute I was naked on your doorstep."

"If you say it like that, I sound like a major douchebag."

"Well you are!"

"I'm not! Okay, maybe I was rude, but I really had to leave. Don't be angry for that now."

"You could have just woken me up and asked me to leave."

"…"

"Couldn't you?" Natsu asked a bit bitter.

"Yes…but maybe I was just a bit freaked out at the time… realizing what we did and stuff." Gray sighed.

"You regretted it after all?" Natsu asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

"No." Gray said firmly. "I didn't regret it. I was just… surprised? I guess. I never thought this to happen and then when I woke up… I was stupid, I'm sorry for kicking you out." He placed a gently kiss on the warm skin of Natsu's stomach. "During my mission I thought about it and realized I really enjoyed being with you and spending the night together."

"Really?" Natsu asked, finally taking up the cold caressing. In response he caressed the raven locks that tickled his abs.

"Of course, stupid. I told you I love you, didn't I? And did you already forget about last night?" Gray looked up.

"How can I forget? My ass hurts like hell."

That last comment washed away the tense atmosphere from before. Gray chuckled and wrapped his arm a bit firmer around the dragon slayer.

"Now you know how I felt."

"My neck hurts too by the way. You really bit me hard last night." Natsu said as he pulled his scarf down, exposing a large red bite mark surrounded by bruises.

"Well, you covered me in hickeys and love bites too." Gray said, gesturing at his neck, shoulders and chest. "And you'll be able to hide it with your scarf."

"Just don't strip, then no one will see it." Gray snickered.

"I can't control it."

"You'll have to. You promised this would be our little secret."

Natsu pushed Gray's pulled up left leg down and then sat between the parted legs, keeping his eyes locked on the ice mage's. He leaned forward and his lips were warmly welcomed. Gray slowly pushed his tongue inside and ran it across Natsu's.

The dragon slayer could taste the tobacco on the cold lips and tongue, but didn't bother since it was mixed with the minty fresh taste of Gray.

"Don't leave me." Natsu panted when they broke the kiss. Gray pulled the pinkette in his arms as a response. The fire mage shifted so he sat with his back against Gray's chest, pulling the arms around him. They silently stared out the window for a while, watching the sun climb higher.

"So we're really going to do this?" Gray whispered, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" Natsu hummed questioningly.

"Us. Being together and stuff…" Gray mumbled embarrassed.

"I'm up for it. I can see me doing this on daily basis." Natsu smiled, looking at Gray. A wave of relief washed over the ice mage.

"I have to warn you tough." Gray said.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked surprised. A smug smile appeared on the raven haired mage's lips.

"I like being spoiled, so be prepared."

Natsu laughed relieved. "Cocky little snow flake."

It wasn't that long, but like I said, it's more an in-between-thingy. After this I'll probably write one more chapter, maybe about Gray's first experience with men or the guild finding out.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it and look forward to the next chapter.