Natsu's tired haze did not disappear the next day.

The week was finally drawing to a close. Missions were officially starting to appear back on the guild board, not that most of them were being taken yet. Between the war, the wounds and the repairs, almost every wizard in Fairy Tail had worn themselves to exhaustion, and Natsu more so than most. His head had spent most of the day against the wooden tables, slumbering away the words of care advising him to go to just go home and go to bed.

He didn't see Gray or Juvia for the whole day. It had been almost an entire week since Gray had set foot in the guildhall. Maybe they were busy, Natsu mused to himself …Maybe they were just more interested in each other's company than anyone else's…

He had no intention of returning to the bench that day.

It was late when he finally gave into the friendly suggestions to walk home. The hard desk hadn't exactly given him a comforting rest, but he knew that he'd slept too much to get any more that night. He'd told Happy as much, and for yet another evening asked him to stay with Lucy or Lisanna. The little exceed may have looked worried, but he kept a brave face. He knew that Natsu was using him to scout around the rest of his friends and check up on everyone. He took this role seriously, proud to be a part of the winning pair, so for yet another night he went to Lucy's side and let Natsu tackle the other half of the guild. Which always seemed to lead to just one person.

Natsu really had intended to go straight home. As soon as he saw Gray by the canal, he knew that wouldn't happen.

The damp air muddled Gray's scent, the moisture made his hair flat and lifeless, and he didn't even turn in Natsu's direction no matter how loud his footsteps were. But it was him. It was finally him. Natsu felt that lump again, that horrible feeling growing and reminding him just how much he'd missed Gray. He'd so genuinely missed him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

That was all they said for the first few seconds. Gray with his hands deep in his pockets, Natsu adjusting his scarf uncomfortably. The air was thick and unbearable, laced with a soft mist from the previous day's downpour and filling their breath with stifling closeness. The sounds of the canal washing away the rain quickly and loudly was all that fell between them, splashing over the side and threatening to burst through.

"Gray-"

"You're an idiot."

Natsu stopped. He hadn't even had the chance to finish deciding what to say before it was abruptly cut short! "I- Why am I the idiot?!" he yelled out.

Gray suddenly turned back to Natsu. Anger blazed in his eyes, a deeper and more personal vein than in their usual spars. Every muscle in the Ice Maker's body was tensed, coiled tightly and ready to explode, but he somehow managed to get one finger to point aggressively at Natsu's chest. "If you ever try to mess with my love life again, I swear to Maker I will break every one of your fucking teeth," he hissed.

Natsu's eyes widened, clearly confused. He had barely the time to even process what he could have done wrong. His words were threatening, laced with an unusual strain of anger; raw, hurt and cold. But the truly devastating message was much quieter; if this was one of their usual fights, he would have punched him already.

"What happened?" Natsu asked.

Gray's eyes hardened, cold and glazed with that frozen rage. "I thought you knew me better than that," he told him flatly.

And then he turned away.

Somehow, that was even worse.

Natsu's brain was spinning in circles, trying to work out what on Earthland he was talking about. Gray had taken several steps back now, lifting a cigarette to his lips and struggling to ignite the flame in the moist air. Something about the image, the older man hunched over the old habit, the hooded gaze and stubbornly ignoring him, was unrecognisable. Natsu realised now it must have been an awful mistake, threatening to break what was already so fragile. "I don't understand – just tell me what I've done?!" he spat out, his concerns shining as red-hot anger.

Gray pulled the unlit cigarette from his mouth, throwing Natsu a sideways glance. "I'm not in love with Juvia. Never have been," he said.

"Wh-what?!"

But that didn't make sense! Even while Gray seemed clueless, and at times even terrified, the affection between the pair was undeniable. Everyone in the guild knew the two would eventually gravitate towards each other. It may have been twisted and strange and broken, but weren't most things in the guild? "If-if you didn't love her, why didn't you just tell her?!" Natsu demanded.

"I did. Several times."

"B-But then you kept her close! And she kept flirting with you, but you were always going on missions together and days out and stuff! Why did you do that!?" Natsu shouted again, feeling strangely protective.

"I didn't do-" Gray swallowed suddenly, swiftly glancing away as he swallowed his instincts just to fight back. Not because he didn't want to fight, but because he felt the familiar strings of guilt holding him back. "I was put into a difficult position. I wanted to like her. Things would have been easier if I'd liked her, even just a little…" he said, his words drifting away from him. "She's always been a really good friend to me, and I never wanted to break her heart. Besides, if people thought that I liked her they wouldn't ask me who I actually like…"

That was a lot of information for Natsu to take in a very short amount of time. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control. Up was down, left was right, and now Gray didn't even like Juvia? He was trying to protect both her feelings and his own? "Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?!" he demanded.

"I thought you knew me!" Gray snapped back at him, his eyes sharpening back to Natsu. He growled under his breath, trying to shove the cigarette back into his mouth. It still wouldn't light, only adding to his frustrations. "Or you could have at least fucking asked."

"I'm not the one that was using Juvia all this time!" Natsu shouted.

"That's not-!" Gray let out an angry sound of annoyance, having to start again and taking out the cigarette just so he could scream at him. "I wasn't using her! I was- I already told her that I wasn't interested! It's not my fault that she just didn't believe me!"

"That's bullshit!" Natsu yelled back.

"No, what's bullshit is you trying to force me and her together when you know nothing about our situation!" Gray said, taking several steps forwards before pushing Natsu heavily against his chest. "You don't know anything about me or what I want. You clearly don't know who I want, so just back the fuck up and get out of my life."

"But she loves you!" Natsu said, glaring at his friend as he felt something close to empathy. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"You think I have to love her just because she loves me?" Gray asked, looking at him in complete disbelief. "That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works!"

"Well, maybe it should be!" Natsu yelled back at him.

"That's- Grow up! Things don't fall into place just because you want it that way!" Gray snapped at him.

Gray finally lost his temper. Something inside of him seemed to snap. But as Natsu braced himself for the first of many blows, nothing happened. Instead, Gray took the cigarette in his hand, crushing it and throwing it away. A small, angry hiss escaped through his teeth as he stormed forward, keeping his distance and moving straight past Natsu.

Natsu growled, grabbing onto Gray's arm as he tried to escape. He kept his eyes on him, stony and determined, reflecting the years of experience and maturity he'd gained – whether he'd wanted it or not. "You can't just pretend that you didn't lead her on."

Gray paused, only slightly, before shrugging himself out of the grip. He matched the glare with one filled with despise. "Think what you like. But it was your stupidity really hurt my best friend, Natsu," he told him.

He didn't wait for a reaction. The Ice Maker turned away, the bitterness lowering the chilling temperature around him as he moved away.

Natsu stood, helpless and frozen, trying to work out which part of that had hurt him most: The words, the implications, the hatred, or the fact that Gray had refused to raise a hand against him.