Csilla: The long-awaited project performance~ I won't say anymore :)

(by the way, for those who have noticed... I changed the time-period for their projects from one month to two weeks - two weeks seems more fun)

Dedication: Kris (because she's amazing and has helped me out so much with this multi-chapter fic)

So enjoy~

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To say that Gray and Natsu couldn't wait until today was over would be the understatement of the century! After the enjoyable dinner that made them forget about their 'almost' kiss, they went upstairs only to be flooded with the remembrance of their 'almost' kiss! The time for all of them to perform their scripts in the auditorium was drawing near, Carla and Happy-sensei had drawn up a list of what order they would be going in: Natsu and Gray were a few spots down from the current performers. Although both teachers graded according to how much effort seemed to be put into each scene, it wasn't the grade they would receive that was making them wish the day would just end...

"Gajeel and Levi, you're up!" Happy announced and afterwards heard a: 'Levi stepped out for a bit...'

"Okay then... umm, Natsu and Gray!" Their names made their legs shake as they stood up and went onstage.

"Whenever you're ready," Happy-sensei practically purred once the two boys were onstage; Gray took a deep breath before turning to face his partner, gingerly placing a hand on his shoulder he seemed to pass on his calm feelings onto the other.

They kept their spots onstage before loosening up the rest of their bodies as Gray began: "I should go... before anyone sees us together," curling his hand that he had laid on Natsu's shoulder into a fist before turning and walking offstage.

"Wait-why," his voice stopped the raven in his tracks, "Who cares what everyone else says," Gray turned slightly to face the rosette once again, "I don't," sniffling in an attempt to hold back tears, "I've spent years being mistreated by everyone around me and then you show up and," breaking into a sob, "everything falls into place! Without you around, everyday will be hell on earth for me." Natsu concluded as he fell to his knees and began to actually cry when he thought of his raven friend really leaving him.

A little surprised at how real Natsu's fake crying sounded, Gray went along with it as he spoke with pained eyes: "Do you think that just because everyone disapproves of us being together: I'll just let you go?" without even a second though he began thinking about all the awful things people had said to him about the rosette.

He walked back over and knelt down in front of him: "Like hell I will." He smirked, although was completely surprised when he saw real tears streaming down those tanned cheeks, and continued on: "After being by your side these past weeks, I couldn't leave you if I tried..." His smirk transformed into a genuine smile.

"Do you... Do you think anyone will ever accept us?" Natsu's tears fell lessened at the sight of such a smile appearing in front of him.

Completely lost in their own world the raven replied back softly, "After some time, maybe," sighing as he ruffled his raven locks with a hand before looking into the cobalt orbs before him, "And then we won't have to hide it," smiling again, "and when that time comes I'll show you off to the world."

Within their cram practice last night, Natsu never thought that that line would end up making his heart speed up; "I'm glad we met then," a nervous smile spreading across his features, "if we hadn't I don't think I would have been able to smile like this," tears had begun to form again in the corners of his eyes.

"Trust me, this is only the beginning Natsu," pausing as stared for a moment his heart speeding up at the sight before him, "But its late and I really should go..." He leaned in as they had agreed before falling asleep last night.

As he closed the distance between their mouths so many confusing thoughts passed through Gray's head making him pause in his action; feeling the other stop, one look at the raven said that Natsu had to take matters into his own hand or risk getting a bad grade so he spoke softly: "Stupid," before chuckling enough to push confidence back into his partner's features, "You really can be quite stupid."

Without waiting for a sign, Gray diminished the space to kiss Natsu quickly enough to avoid getting in trouble but long enough for his chest to nearly split open before pulling away and running off the stage, leaving his friend to say his last line. Touching his lips in surprise, Natsu smiled as he just looked over with volumes of emotions as he said his last line: "But then again, I'm pretty stupid for falling for someone like you."

The sound of clapping broke Natsu's gaze on the now-flustered Gray, who took his opportunity to disappear; the rosette stood up expecting his friend to be walking over but felt a pain in his chest when there was no trace of him. Carla-sensei spoke first: "I gotta hand it to you boys... picking that Romeo and Juliet scene from the hat must have been hard but you both did very well otherwise," with a smile as Natsu walked down the step leading off the stage.

As he took his seat, he noticed that Gray wasn't there; meanwhile as Natsu sat watching the other performances, Gray was in the men's bathroom splashing water in his face. Even after splashing so much cold water in his face, the red dusting still refused to disappear! He couldn't get the image of those emotion-filled cobalt eyes out of his mind; he knew that Natsu was special to him.

Knew that the first day he saw him re-stocking shelves at his dad's bookstore.

Knew that the first time they spoke.

The first time he lied for him.

The only question he still had unanswered was: why?

Why was someone he didn't even know already so important to him?

Was it out of pity that he befriended Natsu when no one else did?

No, he wasn't the type to do that someone. EVER.

Why is that kiss messing with his head?

He looked back up at the mirror in front of him, seeing the red dusting only darker than before made the raven come up with two possible conclusions.

Either A) he was just a little messed up from kissing his friend or

B) a choice he didn't want to accept but couldn't rule out-

"Huh? O-oh there you are... you left so quickly I thought maybe you weren't feeling well," He didn't even need to move his eyes to know that the reason for his blush was right there.

-he had somehow fallen in love with Natsu.

"Just a little dizzy but I'm fine now... so did the teachers say anything?" Gray coughed out, splashing his face with cold water again.

"Just that considering our scene... we did amazingly well... now I guess we wait until they hand us a grade," Natsu replied, scratching the back of his head.

While sitting in the seat, he too was thinking about how things after their performance kiss went: he had never felt so warm and happy in his life. He had felt something similar when he was around Lisanna but it wasn't as overwhelming as it was with Gray. He had only read books about feeling like this; he wasn't sure if it was possible to have fallen for his friend. Slipping out, he wanted to find his friend to ask him in hopes to get an answer; he figured he'd start with the bathroom since Gray did look a little feverish on stage. Sure enough he found his friend appearing in deep thought; Natsu broke the trance Gray was in hoping to ask his question very soon.

"I'm sure we did well," The raven dried his face with a paper towel before disposing of it in the trashcan.

"C-Can I ask y-you s-something, Gray?" All of a sudden the rosette was feeling a knot develop in his stomach, which made him a little queasy.

"Sure, I suppose... Though I don't know if I'll be must help..." Scratching his chin, the raven looked away.

"Have you ever fallen for someone?"

And then there was silence, pure silence as the two teens stood there; one awaiting an answer the other not sure how to respond. Before he could respond with words, someone walked in making their discussion be pushed to the back of their minds; neither of them spoke as Gajeel walked in between them and the moment he moved out of their line of vision the two walked out.

"We can talk at lunch about this..." Gray scratched his chin, trying to lift the heavy silence that had fallen between them before he walked back into the auditorium with his friend following closely behind him.

They had missed quite a lot of their classmates' performances, which depending on what was performed might have been a good thing considering the raging mob of girls that surrounded Gray after everyone was done.

"Gray-sama... The performance meant nothing to me! I only love you!" and "Gray-sama! I'm sorry! Sensei made me do it with that stupid (-insert classmate's name-)" all came out together from the raging mob of girls.

Natsu, of course, found himself pushed away by quite a few glaring fan-girls who immediately turned their attention back to the raven. Lunch seemed so far away at this point...

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Csilla: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review~ XD

Hypothetical Question - If these two were to visit Lisanna's grave: who should find it first?

Leave a review with your answer~ :D