Author's Note: Whoo! Finally up! Sorry for the late update. I know I said on my profile that I would update this chapter yesterday, but I went to visit a friend and it was so hot. When I got home I pretty much just went to bed. Anyway, here's an update on my life. I am working two jobs. Chapter updates will not be fast. Sorry but I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on my writing. Please be patient. I'm still actively working on the fics in my writing schedule. If you ever want to see where I'm at in my writing check out my profile. I have it written down on and I show the progression of each chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fairy Tail.

Gray was back in the guild, and everything was just as it used to be in Fairy Tail before it had disbanded. Lucy and Levy were in a corner talking about who knows what while Jet and Droy hung out nearby. Gray smirked in amusement to see Gajeel sneaking glances at the solid script mage every once in a while before rejoining his conversation with his exceed. At the bar Mirajane was serving another round to Macao and Wakaba, who were getting drunk, and Cana who had already reached that point. Not far away from them Master Makarov and Laxus were sitting together in silence. Laxus' Thunder Tribe weren't far away from their leader, though they certainly seemed more interested in conversing with Lisanna and Elfman than whatever conversation Laxus was involved in. Gray had just begun to turn his head to look for Erza when a warm, muscular arm wrapped around his shoulder.

He looked up in surprise to see Natsu grinning down at him. Immediately he felt his heart jump in his chest and pick up a few beats. Natsu looked whole again. He looked like the care free Natsu he'd grown up with. Gray found himself sliding his gaze over every inch of the fire mage's body. From his cherry pink hair, to his pointy eyes, to his rock hard abs, to his…

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Natsu teased him suddenly. Gray blushed, and snapped his eyes back up to Natsu's face, feeling suddenly flustered. Since when did he blush? And since when did Natsu ever pull that sensation from him. He didn't want to have to deal with these emotions. He scowled and shoved Natsu away from him.

"Get lost, Flame-Brain!" he shouted.

"Dude, what the hell?" Natsu asked glowering back at him.

Gray opened his mouth to respond, when Erza's voice rang through the guildhall. "Knock it off you two," she ordered stepping in between them.

"He started it," Gray grumbled.

"What?!" Natsu exclaimed. "You pushed me."

"I said enough!" Erza shouted over them. "If you two are going to fight, take it outside."

Gray sent an icy glare at Natsu. "Fine," he replied in response to Erza before storming out of the guild. He hadn't gotten far when he heard feet thudding after him. He turned to tell whoever it was to leave him alone when he felt the person grab his arm and then drag him behind the guild before slamming him back against the wall. When he got his barings he found himself face to face with Natsu.

"What was that about, Gray?" Natsu asked demandingly.

"Come on, Natsu. Let it go," Gray grumbled trying to step away from the wall but Natsu shoved him back.

"Look was it about last night?" he asked.

"Last night?" Gray questioned, suddenly confused.

Natsu sighed. "It was just sex, Gray," he said. "We don't have to make a big deal out of it. If you don't want to do it again just say so. My feelings won't be hurt."

"It's not that I don't want to…you know, but, God, Natsu I raped you!" Gray blurted out clumsily. To his shock, Natsu burst out laughing.

"Dude, how drunk were you?" Natsu laughed. "I mean, I knew you had a lot to drink but…" He paused when he saw the serious look on Gray's face and forced his laughter away before placing a reassuring hand on Gray's shoulder. "You didn't rape me Gray. Everything was consensual. I said yes."

"What? But…"

"Gray, I promise I said yes," Natsu insisted. "If I hadn't do you really think I'd be here asking you if you wanted to do it again?"

"You want to? Again?" Gray choked out.

"I do," Natsu confirmed. "But it doesn't look like you do."

"I…I don't know if…" Gray stammered.

"Need to think about it?" Natsu asked. "I don't mind waiting."

Gray hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, I…" he cut off when Natsu dropped onto his knees before him. "What are you doing?"

Natsu stared up at him as he unzipped Gray's pants. "Well, I have to leave you with something to think on," he teased before pulling Gray's already half-hard cock out and immediately swallowing it down to the root. Gray keened and fisted a hand into Natsu's hair as the heat around his cock overwhelmed him with pleasure. He felt Natsu smile around him and slide back, releasing his cock with an obscene pop that made Gray groan. "Want me to stop?"

"Don't you dare," Gray growled, tugging Natsu's hair. The dragon slayer smirked before taking him back into his mouth. This time he only took him in halfway before hollowing his cheeks and sucking hard. Gray moaned, tightening his fingers in Natsu's hair. The action seemed to please Natsu who hummed around him. Gray nearly came just from that. Natsu noticed and hummed again on purpose before running his tongue along the vein on the underside of his cock until he reached the head and burrowed his tongue down into his slit. Gray cried out and…

Gray startled awake with a shout. He was shocked to find himself in the woods. He was also stunned to see a wet stain spreading over the crotch of his pants. He looked around and saw Natsu staring down at him, eyes glued to the stain on his pants. The details of his dream suddenly hit him all at once and he felt sick. Gray flew up onto his knees and vomited. He panted for breath, shaking, and for a moment he didn't notice the soothing hands running up and down his back.

He looked back to see Natsu staring at him in concern. "You okay, Gray?" he asked softly.

Gray felt even worse. Natsu shouldn't be asking him if he was okay. He shouldn't care about him at all. "I'm fine," he snapped testily. Natsu backed off and he took a few more shaky breaths, trying to reorient himself.

"I think there's a small creek nearby," Natsu suggested. "I thought I heard running water last night."

Gray nodded. He made his way to the creek and washed up. When he trudged back to their campsite, Natsu had already packed up all their gear. "Let's go," he ordered taking his bag from the fire mage.

"Gray," Natsu began after an hour of traveling.

"No, Natsu," Gray replied.

"But…"

"We're not talking about it!" Gray snapped. He instantly regretted the outburst. He looked back over his shoulder expecting to see Natsu near tears, but instead he was surprised to see an angry frown on the fire mage's face.

"You don't talk to me anymore," Natsu accused.

"That's not true," Gray argued. "I talk to you. Every day."

"No, you give me orders every day," Natsu replied. "You don't talk to me."

Gray sighed and looked down at the ground. "I don't know what to say to you," he admitted.

"You could start with the weather," Natsu suggested snidely. "I know you think I don't want to be near you, but that's not true."

Gray immediately grew serious again. "You shouldn't want me around you," he whispered. "Natsu, I…"

"I know what you did," Natsu cut him off. "And I also know you were just as unwilling a participant as I was. You didn't violate me, Gray. Avatar violated us."

"But I still did it," Gray said. "How am I supposed to live with myself after what I did?"

"By talking to me about it," Natsu answered him.

Gray turned away from the dragon slayer tears filling his eyes. "I can't," he said and walked away quickly. It was a moment before he heard Natsu's steps behind him. The two didn't talk for the rest of the morning. Gray was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the woods beginning to thin out until he heard a door slam somewhere ahead of him. He glanced up and was startled to see houses. He froze.

"We need to go back," Gray said turning around.

"What? Why?" Natsu asked.

"We reached a town," Gray replied. "We'll be seen."

"But we're miles away from the Avatar Guild," Natsu whined. "And there's actual food in towns."

Gray frowned. "I don't think you realize how serious our situation is," he said.

"I don't think you realize how seriously hungry," Natsu complained.

Gray glared at him. "Stop acting like an idiot!" he cried. "Right now your stomach is the least of our problems. Avatars membership extends far past the small group you met at the guild. Most members don'' even reside in a guildhall. There are thousands of Avatar members living throughout Fiore."

Natsu crossed his arms across his chest. "What are the chances of any of them living in this town?" he asked. "Or that they'll know who we are even if they do?"

"You really want to take that chance?" Gray challenged.

"Yes," Natsu answered before marching out of the woods and into someone's backyard.

"Natsu!" Gray hissed and chased after him. He followed Natsu down the side of the house and onto the following street. Natsu seemed to be following the scent of something. Gray sometimes swore Natsu was raised by a dog rather than a dragon. He followed the fire mage through the town until they reached a market place.

"Food!" Natsu exclaimed and started to make a beeline for a hot food cart. Gray grabbed onto the dragon slayer's scarf and pulled him to a halt.

"You don't even have money, Natsu," Gray pointed out.

"No!" Natsu replied face falling. "Do you have any money, Gray?"

Gray sighed, giving in. "Let me see," he said slipping his bag from his shoulder and digging through it. He grumbled as he continued to come up empty. "We're out of luck."

"Maybe we could trade something," Natsu suggested hopefully.

"Trust me. There's nothing in here worth trading," Gray said immediately feeling guilty for the defeated look on Natsu's face. "Look, maybe someone will…"

"Excuse me?" a woman's voice broke into their conversation and they turned to see a young woman standing beside them. "Did I hear you say you don't have enough money for food?"

"Yeah. It's fine. We'll just…"

"Let me pay for your meal," the woman said cutting Gray off.

"Thank you. But we can't accept that. We wouldn't be able to pay you back," Gray replied.

"It's fine," the woman responded walking over to the food cart. "I don't want you to pay me back. Order whatever you want."

"Thanks!" Natsu exclaimed happily and immediately gave the vendor his order.

"Thank you," Gray said sincerely. After the two had ordered their meals the woman stuck around.

"I guess you boys don't have a place to stay?" the woman inquired.

"No. We're just rolling through," Gray replied.

"You two look like you could use a good rest," the woman said. "Why don't you stay at my place tonight? Oh, my name is Kali by the way."

"I'm Gray. He's Natsu," Gray replied. "And thank you, but we can't intrude in your life."

"It wouldn't be an intrusion at all! Kali insisted. "In fact, you'd be doing me a favor. My roommate just moved out and I've been lonely. You'd be keeping me company for a night."

"It's just for one night, Gray," Natsu said. "It would be nice to sleep indoors for a night."

Gray sighed. "Alright," he gave in. "What can it hurt?"

The boys followed Kali back to her place. They spent the evening listening to her prattle on and on about her life. Gray was sure they both wanted out of there early the next morning. They both had to fight back a sigh of relief when Kali announced she was going to bed.

"Finally,' Natsu murmured after Kali had cleared the stairs.

Gray snickered. "No kidding," he replied settling down on the floor of the living room. He'd let Natsu have the couch. "The forest is looking pretty good right now, isn't it?" The two were silent for a while as they settled in.

"Hey, Gray?" Natsu whispered after a moment.

"Yeah?" Gray asked.

"I'm sorry about this morning," Natsu said. "I don't want to make you talk to me if you don't want to."

Gray winced. "It's not that I don't want to talk to you. I can't talk about what happened and…"

"We could always talk about what we used to when Fairy Tail still existed," Natsu suggested.

"I don't recall us ever talking when we were in Fairy Tail," Gray huffed. "We just fought all the time."

"That's not true," Natsu protested. "We talked all the time."

"About missions we were going on together," Gray pointed out. "We never talked about anything outside of missions."

"Well maybe we should start," Natsu said.

"Okay," Gray laughed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"No idea," Natsu replied and they both burst out laughing. After they'd caught their breath Natsu spoke again. "I miss Fairy Tail."

"Me too," Gray admitted. "I was really angry when Gramps disbanded the guild. It felt like a betrayal. I mean…after all we've been through together…to just end it like that…I was angry."

"I was devastated," Natsu whispered. "I never dreamed Fairy Tail would be disbanded. The only thing that got me through that last year was thinking I'd see everyone again. Even you."

Gee, thanks," Gray chuckled. "I missed you too, Flame Brain."

Silence fell for a few minutes before Natsu broke it again. "Gray, I know you can't talk about what happened, but I need you to know that I forgive you for what you did," he said seriously.

Gray swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I don't deserve forgiveness," he choked.

"That's not for you to decide," Natsu replied gently. They didn't speak for the rest of the night.

When Gray woke up the next morning he had the distinct feeling that something was wrong. He lifted his head up and looked around the room. Nothing. No one was there. Nothing was out of place. Still, all the hair on his arms were raised and nerves prickled up and down his spine like sharp needles. Gray stood up and shook Natsu awake.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked when he saw his face.

"I don't know," Gray whispered eyes darting around the room again. "We need to go."

"We can't leave without warning, Kali," Natsu protested getting up. "What if…" He froze, eyes widening in fear.

"Natsu? What…"

"They're here," Natsu whispered.

"Who?" Gray asked. "Who's here?"

"Forget about us already, Gray?" Jerome's smug voice rang throughout the room.

Gray stiffened and turned around to face his old guild mate. "I didn't forget about you," he spat. "I just assumed you had better things to do than chase after us. Don't you have to plan a welcoming party for Zeref?"

Jerome smirked. "That wouldn't be nearly as fun as killing you will be. Or taking my toy back," he taunted. Gray's eyes flashed in fury and he went to attack Jerome, but was beaten to the punch. A burst of flame went past him straight into Jerome who screamed in agony. Gray whipped his head back to look at Natsu and what he saw shocked him. Natsu was glaring at Jerome's enflamed figure, eyes glowing a coal red. He thought he could see scales on the dragon slayer's face and arms, but he wasn't positive. He couldn't look away from the terrifying expression on Natsu's face. It was an expression that could make a heart stop.

"Natsu," Gray said. The dragon slayer's eyes flickered over to him. "We need to go." Immediately, Matsu's face softened and he nodded his head in compliance. The two ran out of the house, through the town, and back into the forest. It would be awhile before they stopped.