The old man stood at the side of the hot spring. His once matted grey hair was now like flowing gold; the blue light from the gems were reflecting off his hair. His eyes gleamed a spectacular blue, as deep as sapphires. The four of us- me, Natsu, Erza and Lucy- just stared at the man. There was no mistaking it; this was the same man we saw at the desk, but he looked different. Eventually, after just looking at us, he began to grin and laugh. He chuckled to the point where his eyes began to water.

'What's so funny?' I thought.

Obviously, the look on my face gave my thoughts away because soon after he looked at me, clearly trying to suppress his laughter and said "Sorry, 'tis thy countenance. Truly, thou are so comical."

"Thou art?" questioned Erza.

"Yeah…oh… I meant 'you are'," he corrected "I guess I've just been reading too many books, huh?" We weren't going to be fooled that easily. We all clearly thought it wise not to question openly, in case he was dangerous. Instead, we all returned to relaxing – or as much as we could with that guy there. He just watched us, almost like he was waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, Wendy came over from her wander around the cavern.

"H-hello?" she said, clearly nervously. Carla flew around the front of the man, wanting a better look at his face.

"Huh, it's not every day you see an Exceed, is it?" he said with a subtle grin on his face, placing a hand on Carla's head.

We all had a look of shock on our faces as he said. How did he know what an Exceed was? This man was not your average inn keeper.

"Who are you? How do you know what I am?" asked Carla, clearly as taken aback as the rest of us. However, he just looked at her, almost as if it wasn't the first time he had been asked that question. He muttered something under his breath and then stated, "I've seen and heard many things during my life."

I felt something strange when he said that, it sounded almost like an old man missing his younger days. I heard an air of nostalgia in his smooth voice. After a while, we all had left the hot spring since we couldn't relax while that man was just standing there. So we all headed back to our rooms (thankfully it was mandatory to wear a towel in the hot spring; although it was unusual, I didn't feel comfortable with that man around). As I walked to my room, I noticed that the man's eyes followed me. It made me feel uncomfortable. It felt like they were scanning me. The feeling made my hair stand on end and sent a chill down my exposed back. I don't know why; I was used to people looking at me, especially when I was top-less as I often was. For now, I just ignored it.

When I entered my room I dried myself then quickly changed back into my normal clothes. I still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around the room as I buttoned up the top button on my shirt. It wasn't the eyes of the man from before. Once again, it felt like it came from everywhere, like my very surroundings –although still and silent- were watching me. I looked around for the source of this strange yet familiar feeling. The flow of time seemed to pass so slowly that it felt like an eternity between each heartbeat before a pounding at the door awoke me from the trance-like state. I walked up to the door slowly, cautious if the strange man was at the other side. It was Natsu. He stood half-dressed, his chest bare, missing his usual vest. He looked straight at me. His chest was still shiny; he must have not dried himself properly, which I found odd considering he normally dried the quickest. His abs reflected the light from the wall mounted lamps. His hair was dripping, and his face seemed to glow red again although I couldn't understand why.

'That's kinda cute,' I thought before I could stop myself. 'Wait, what?!' I tried to convince myself it was just a slip of the tongue – although it was inside my head.

"Yeah, Natsu, what do you want?" I asked the wet wizard. Natsu just looked at me for a second, I could feel my face becoming warm.

"Oh!" Natsu gasped realising he had just been looking at me for the past minute or so. "Eh… Can't remember," he said with an obviously fake grin on his face.

He turned to leave, but I couldn't stop myself. I grabbed his hand before I knew what was happening and pulled him in, closing the door with my free hand. I pulled Natsu with such force that he was now left standing in the middle of the room. His abs and pecs now became more noticeable. We both now looked perplexed by my uncontrollable actions.

"G-Gray," whispered Natsu. His usually confident posture was now that of a shy child.

'Even cuter', I thought again. 'Wait… what? Natsu can't be cute. He's a guy, not a girl… I can't be...' I couldn't even think the word.

As Natsu's face becoming even redder, took hold of my hand, and pulled me closer. His eyes stared down at the floor, avoiding my eyes. I couldn't keep track of what was happening.

Before I knew it, Natsu had his arms around my neck and his lips slid onto mine. They felt soft and slightly wet but I guessed that was just because of the water he had been trying to relax in only moments ago. The scent of his wet hair entered my nose. It sent a pulse of electricity down my body. It was like everything about Natsu was a magnet to me. I slowly opened my eyes, gazing at Natsu. I saw him become redder and redder. I couldn't help but place my arms around Natsu's waist. Then Natsu pulled tighter. His warm, bare chest burned like a furnace against my body, causing my heart rate to accelerate. I couldn't help it; until this point, he'd been the only one kissing. Now I was kissing back.

It felt… amazing. Admittedly it was my first kiss, so I didn't know how it normally felt, but this just felt so… so right! Almost like my entire life had been empty until how, and Natsu filled that gaping chasm of loneliness. The kiss went on, minutes, it felt like hours; I wanted it to last forever. However, it didn't end like I expected it to.

I fell unconscious.

Instant darkness. I felt like I was hanging from strings tied around my wrists and ankles. Looking down, I saw my reflection in ripple-like waves and assumed I was suspended over water.

"That was fun," said the disembodied voice I had been dreading to hear.

"What was?" I asked, hoping it didn't notice his obvious attempt at hiding what just transpired.

"What else? That kiss," said the voice. Then on in front of my face, my reflection rippled into Natsu, but this version of him was dress in his vest.

"What kiss?" I asked. Playing dumb was never my strong suit.

The voice then sounded as if it was coming from the reflection of Natsu. "Don't play dumb. I may only be in your head, but that's how I know exactly what you're feeling and doing."

This took a while for me to process. I tried to keep my thoughts to myself.

'Shit!' I thought and stated at the same time.

"Oh, don't be so surprised!" it said as Natsu raised his hand out of the water and placed it on my chest. Then suddenly there was a flash of light, like a fountain was erupting from my chest. Its light was so bright I couldn't see Natsu.

"It's not enough," it said.

I suddenly felt the air rush past my face as the strings that kept me up snapped. I fell into the water bellow and instantly woke up.

I jolted up and saw Natsu at the foot of my bed. He sat on a stool, his face lying on my bed, soundly asleep. I turned my head to look at the clock; it was almost mid-night… assuming it was the same day. I lay my hand on Natsu's (now dry) pink hair. It was kind of soft. I just sat there, tracing over every detail of Natsu with my eyes, hoping to keep the image in my brain. After a while, I shook Natsu awake.

"Y-yeah?" Natsu yawned and he sat up. When he realised it was me his began to blush again. Looking into Natsu's brown eyes, a thought occurred to me.

"Natsu… how…" I managed to slur out, but Natsu appeared to understand what I was trying to ask.

"You fainted… I didn't realise I was so good as to make an ice princess like you faint," joked Natsu, a half-hearted grin on his face. "So how are you?"

"I- I don't know… I mean…" trying to string my words together ", I feel fine… but… Nah I'm fine." I finished, deciding not to worry Natsu. Remembering the time I asked "How long have you been here?"

"For as long as you've been out." He replied simply I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, it appears it was now my turn to blush.

"Did you also…?" I asked- indicating the bed with my hands. Natsu's face seemed to begin to glow with a red light. Was he embarrassed?

"Yes… I carried you. I wasn't just going to let you lie there on the floor," said Natsu, trying to justify his actions. I wanted to talk to him more but when he noticed the time, he quickly bid me "goodnight" and left. I felt so confused.

'It was just this one time… It won't happen again. I mean I can't be… gay… can I?' was all I thought as my head hit the pillow, returning blissfully to sleep.

Thank you all for being so patient. This is my first ever time writing a scene like this. Please R&R.

Also if you want to keep up with me at what I'm doing in terms of the story please follow my tumblr blog:

The password is: "icecubes". I will give credit where credit is due. Thank you Wild Rhov for beta reading this chapter!