Story Title: Hidden Flames of Emerald

Rated: T

Warnings: Language, Yaoi, includes sexual themes.

Beta Reader: Gothpandaotaku

I don't own Fairy Tail. This Fanfic is produced for entertainment purposes only.


O.o.O Hidden Flames of Emerald O.o.O

Chapter 11


"B-but… I think I…"

Like, hiding things is considered lying, and he hid things that he wasn't supposed to be hiding. Natsu Drganeel was by no means a liar, or dishonest. He was always straightforward. He liked to put it out there for everyone to know.

"… Like you."

But this was the one thing that he wasn't so sure about being bold with.

And he never knew why.


Splashing water, roaring Air Conditioning grills, flickering fluorescent lights, pants and gasps, these were the things anyone would hear in the shower area.

Natsu reached the point of almost getting petrified, not just from the shell outside, but from the inside as well. His heart was racing, his arms were wrapped tightly around his upper frame, trying to desperately shield himself from the unbearable icy sensation while gasps escaped his mouth, his hair fell completely down, flattened.

Some traces of water were visible sliding off between his nose and right green shimmering eye with tears that refused to fall as he stood realizing what he has just said and why on earth he did say it. He knew that he has profusely made a profound mistake, like it has to be, but the words were so fast, he wasn't able to control himself.

Chills were just eating him up. More than predicting that he would die from cold, he didn't have the courage to look up and see the effect of his words. His ears felt like an enormous pressure was pressing in on them, and he really couldn't take it as he was under a huge consternation.

He couldn't freakin' take it… Anymore.

"I-ah…" He began, chills breaking his usually strong voice, "Need to-"

"-You've any change here?"

His drowning emerald eyes widened at the abrupt question.

"Um-e-emergency one, yeah, I got that."He replied.

"You got any keys on you?"

"…" Natsu sniffed, rubbing his nose, having the ugly realization, "No. My keys are... not with me."

"Figured so. Alright, you stay here. I'm gonna give you mine. Let's see if it fits."

Before speaking, Gray had already exited the shower chamber, and closed the door carefully behind him, leaving Natsu with an upset gut.

Oh God. Just what in the living hell has he done? It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't like he planned it at all. Why wasn't Gray beating the hell out of him already? It was so wrong.

He rubbed his nose furiously and sneezed a couple of times, feeling his head spinning and his nose closing from all of the pressure. Then after seconds, Gray threw him a towel over the door, and a clean uniform change. With one more sneeze, his heart clenched, some locked up tears were able to get away as a perfect natural urge to do so when sneezing, so no, Natsu wasn't the weeping type or anything for that matter-

-That being mentioned, he rubbed his runny closed nose, and kneeled down, wrapping his arms around himself, trying to get a flicker of warmth—and not ready yet to go outside and face the-

God god god god god GOD! LIKE YOU? That's so messed and royally fucked up dude.

Natsu winced, then groaned, then sniffed holding his spinning head and clenched at his flat sopping pink locks in distress. His breaths were coming out hard, still shivering at the mere stupid thought.

At some point, he thought he would have to pull his shit together, and face the reality that he so fucking created himself, and an idea popped up.

What if he pretended nothing happened? It's not hard, he just has to dress up, go out there, say goodbye and then it'll be over with and everything will be like before the fucked up shit even developed. Yeah, it sounded like a great idea. WONDERFUL, actually.

He slammed his fist on his knees, then stood up, huffing a quivering breath.

"Okay… okay…"

He unbuttoned his drenched shirt, it proved to be a tedious process since his fingers were shaking and missing its aim, pulling him to the edge even more.

"Okay… c-calm down…" He breathed, then resumed, his words having no effect on him whatsoever.

He sneezed, then sniffed, his chest, seemingly exploding because of the enormous pressure. He took the towel, then wrapped it quickly around himself, wanting to be warm after getting rid of all his annoying clothes.

God, he would give anything in lieu of getting out of that room. Normally he wouldn't give a shit about anything and everything, and would go bursting in the face of his troubles, nevertheless, this one thing, he didn't know how to reason, it was all tangled up that he found no hole in it for him to see the light. It was all overwhelming thoughts, he didn't know what to make of.

Sniffing, he dried himself up, then slipped into (supposedly) Gray's pants, and okay, he would have to stick to no underwear for now. The embarrassment wasn't even describable.

Gray's shirt came in seeming an extra size too large as well as the pants, but as long as they were dry, Natsu couldn't complain, especially when he used the extra long sleeves to cover up his hurting red nose, then he discovered that Gray had also provided a short coat with-god-long sleeves and a hood. That was the fantastic thing about it.

Natsu quickly reached out and slipped in it, rubbing his hands, which were covered by the sleeves together, and put over the hood trying to calm down his breathing pattern, to slow down his heart beats.

Lavendar, crisp citrus, mixed with a hint of sweat, came hitting his nose full-force, and then he realized that he was practically in the presence of Gray Fullbuster.

Man, shit…

Instead of feeling cold anymore, warmth started to spread in his stomach, spreading in all directions, especially his chest. Slight discomfort came first, his sleeved hands on his nose prevented the redness on his face from showing.

"Okay… calm the fuck down…"

That being said, he buried his nose deeper into the sleeves, and prepared himself to exit the small room. Natsu was thankful that he took off his shoes from the very beginning of entering the shower area or it would have been a real pain in the ass having his feet soggy in water."Okay… Okay…" He turned to the door, quickly opening it and when he was about to make a run for-he didn't really know what-Natsu jumped at the surprise of finding Gray standing right outside the door—leaning on it actually.

And giving him that look which says surprise, surprise.

But Natsu was quick to take it all in. "Ah, thanks for the stuff, I'll be sure to get it back to you as soon as I'm able, see you."

When Natsu tried to move, Gray blocked him.

"Woah, woah! Not so fast. What's with the rush?"

Natsu looked down, not wanting to have direct eye-contact with the other who wore an unreadable expression, but surely, the feeling of leverage was well distinguished.

"I wanna go. See you tomorrow."

Gray didn't budge from his position.

"Gray."

Gray snorted, then crossed his arms over his bare slightly sweaty chest with cold blue eyes ready to burn a hole in his head.

"Hm. Lemme tell you somethin'. You're gonna sit down on that bench, listen to me and slash or answer my questions. Wanna know why you're gonna do that? Yeah, it's because you turned out to be more fucked up than I originally thought." Gray prodded Natsu's chest harshly with his finger, Natsu looked at Gray with eyes still swimming in red and agony, but at the same time, a bit angry and knowing of Gray taking the advantage of the situation he was stuck in.

So he just slammed the door shut, and stared at the other with fire burning in his insides.

"Fine." Natsu was forced to comply.

"Good."

"I'm gonna do it."

"Sure."

He just couldn't stand the damned victorious look on Gray's already exhausted face. He hid his nose in his sleeved hands and threw himself on one of the benches, still trying to get warmed up.

Gray kneeled on the floor next to him, as if trying to intimidate him with his close presence.

"So, for how long exactly was this thing about you LIKING me has been going on?"

Natsu could feel himself heat up just by hearing the stupid question, but then rolled his eyes, knowing that it had to pop up soon.

He sniffed, then wiped his nose. "Listen Gray," Natsu sneezed this time and tried to recover, "If… we're gonna do this, then I'll be damned to hell if you're thinking you're gonna get any chick-flick moments—because I could just break your jaw right now, seriously."

"…"

"That question is a big no-no for me." He sniffed once more, rubbing his nose furiously.

Gray tousled his hair with some frustration, obviously finding Natsu irritating more than anything, then finally nodded, "Okay fine. Why didn't you come clean about that fact?"

Natsu glared down where Gray kneeled and gave him the look of: Dude, that's another chick-flick moment question. Which added up to Gray's displeasure, apparently, "Fuck you. Now, answer the damn question." His face literally showed resentment.

Natsu just didn't like it. "You gave me a difficult question."

"Do I look like I give jack-shit?"

Natsu bit his lips, then sniffed—feeling his freaking nose already getting some sort of a nasty jam, his straightened hair started to annoy the crap out of him, His bones haven't yet warmed up, and he already knew who to put the blame on. As a consequence of his foolish actions, now he gets to sit down and be bossed around by an asshole who gave him 'Truth or Consequences' from the sucking ass 1950's.

"I'm gonna try to go over this quickly." Natsu started, "Man, there's just too ma—I don't know how to make you understand-"

"—Sucks to be you."

"Funny, you like being the sadist, don't you?"

"I don't like it, I freakin' love it, get on with it."

Natsu rubbed his face with the sleeves, then breathed, "um, when you decided to jump on the bandwagon, you got me thinkin' you know. Now, this is a guy with an insatiable ambition and knowin' you, you'd be successful… wherever you go and… you got a bright future, I think, I just…" Natsu exhaled, and his warm watered red eyes finally made a clear contact with Gray's cold ones, "-I dunno man, I just don't see myself in the picture that far ahead."

"Wait a minute… come again?"

"I… I mean, don't you want… like, a house? Wife and kids? These are the things any successful—even the normal average person wants. If I was in your shoes, and I'm working that hard… I dunno, a crappy guy for a serious relationship… it's just too—like, not real."

Gray rubbed his tired eyes and gave Natsu a neutral look, "Is that so?"

"Yeah, besides. You're gonna be in a new place with lots of new people—you might even find Mister right there and hit it off—I dunno, new life, new events, bottom line, the universe has stored something greater for you than a pink head with killing stupidity."

"Gee, Great. Something else you wanna tell me?"

"…"

"I mean there's gotta be another reason, you know? What about before I jump on the bandwagon?" Gray gave him a mocking look, "If, of course, I was that lucky and there was something… going on there."

"Ah, there're um. A lot of stuff." Natsu tried to breathe because his chest was hurting, "I mean, I've never talked to my dad about it—I don't know how his reaction's gonna be and… You… You're so sure you're-Ahem-that-but I'm not cause I'm a straight person and…" Natsu trailed off, "You just won't understand."

"That's easy. Why don't you just try me?"

Natsu could see the way Gray's attitude changed towards the anger zone, and he didn't know for what, but he got angry himself.

"I've got no valid argument Gray, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I mean, is this thing even real?! I don't know what to tell him man, if I-up to this fucking moment-think that I'm gonna be turned into one of those cheap flings-"

"Tr-"

"-Yeah, you're giving me that shit of a feeling because of the way you act." Gray wouldn't be really bothered if there was a loop of females surrounding him, he would just fool around, laugh, joke, and one time Natsu was the joke, and it sent them into Wendy's infirmary. Natsu hasn't said that bluntly, but he wished that Gray would be smart enough to think between the lines.

Gray looked away for a minute, then gave him a questioning look, "So lemme get this straight. The core of this whole fucked up situation, is that you somehow think that I'm not serious about you. That I'm just looking for good times, right?"

Natsu sniffed, rubbing his nose, inhaling and exhaling, then looked somewhere else other than Gray's piercing tired gaze, the pink straight strands of hair disturbing him quite badly.

"Right." Gray repeated, "Wow. That's a lot of shit and you know it."

"No, I happen to NOT know it."

"You can say all you want, truth is, you're way too chicken for giving up yourself to someone else-"

"-Now tha-"

"-I'll tell you what Natsu? Yeah, I'm leaving, yeah, I'm this bad guy who wants a cheap fling, and this fling happened to be you, so what're you gonna do about it? I mean, you've the shit of hots for this shit of a guy, so now what?"

He was overwhelmed and provoked, but when he looked ahead, he saw the hint of red and tears locked up in Gray's radiant blues, and right then he knew that he wasn't the only one thinking of this whole ordeal as unfair. Too many reasons for him to think about and to ponder, nevertheless, he didn't know what Gray was thinking at all. He must've his own questions, his own fear, but he never showed that he cared about all of it.


"Natsu, what I want to say is… It's okay to be weak… with the person you like. It's just the way it is supposed to be. Once you get that, you'll find out the person who shows interest in you will also be weak, maybe even scared. I think Gray must be suffering on top of that plane."

"Yeah, no way that guy is-"

Wait…


Seeing the evidence in Gray's eyes made Natsu slightly believe in what Jellal had already told him.

Gray stood up, walking over to the box full of letters, then held it for seconds before tossing it on the ground. He went over to his locker to get his backpack and shoes out, however, for a minute he turned, "All of that shit… doesn't matter to me. Let's not talk about it again. The thing is, for today, I can't deal with you, Natsu."

Natsu stood up and headed towards Gray, "Gray, man, I'm sorry—god, I didn't-"

"Don't." Gray interrupted firmly, "Just don't, I'm not dealing with you today."

Natsu remained standing as he watched the back of Gray slowly disappearing from the boys locker and shower room. He looked down to his bare feet and he didn't know why his chest felt so tight. That instead of feeling relieved, he felt twice as bad as before. Contrary to what he originally thought, what he did and said tonight was nothing short of crap.

Guilt.

Fear.

Doubt.

Love.

Hatred.

They were all feelings colliding within. They were pressing on his chest so bad that he wanted to hit something so bad until he's gotten it all out. Suddenly, in a moment of clarity, Natsu wondered if Gray knew about what's going on inside, and if he chose to let Natsu suffer silently as the ultimate punishment instead of a simple, painless punch.


He dressed the next day for school, with no appetite for it whatsoever. If it was up to him, he would've taken the day off, but knowing that they were practically at the end of the semester with god's most intensive quizzes, it made his unwavering conscience, waver.

Thursday was a very special day at exactly that time of the month-semester-year. Trembling students, terrible silence, extra clean blackboard, girls refraining from chewing gum and making ridiculous remarks and finally… Loke-not-in-hell-or-heaven-fucking-looking at any female, but actually taking off his orange sunglasses and looking ahead with a serious expression that once was used against facing a natural epidemic.

They actually believed that it was hotter that day because some sweated too profusely. On the forehead, between the thighs, etc. when in fact, it was a cold breeze refreshing afternoon—or as others called it, the miracle of the month.

Natsu wanted to sigh, he really wanted to, but no way in hell he could.

The door opened, and Laxus Dryer, entered with a nod at them, like he actually wasn't fazed by all that sudden respect.

"Suckers. Why so shy? Nakahara, don't faint on me yet."

Natsu heard a groan.

Oh no.

"What do we have're? A winner. C'mon champ, get your ass here."

The boy's head hung low as he walked in slow motion towards the center of the class, and the females shrunk in their seats, anxiety and terror taking over.

"I wanna do somethin' different this year, you know guys, since the shitty thing repeats itself over and over from when you were in your mama's diapers until what? High school? Man, that's insane."

Nakahara refrained from groaning again.

"Our champ. I'll give you the lead. I wanna hear from you personally in a quick-yet detailed brief, of what I asked the likes of you to achieve in this crap of a semester."

Nakahara wasn't envied. No one even wanted to look because they didn't want to embarrass the boy. He forced himself to straighten up, to get back his lost voice and to get control over pronouncing words the right way.

"Yes, sir. Um…" He looked at his classmates and felt like fainting, or puking, "Basically—it was a term paper. Fifty percent of our grade-and our choice from the very search-able topics you gave us."

Nakahara was one of two things. Either he was brave, smart, courageous, or very, very, really, totally, stupid.

"Gosh, you deserve an A plus for that answer. EXCELLENT. People, please, clap-clap."

Students weren't clapping, they were sweating.

"Lost kinesthetic intelligence? Clap-clap, miserable suckers."

They didn't need to hear it twice. After seconds, the class was producing claps, some in tears already.

"Ok, Nakahara. Good job, buddy. You can go back, but don't get too comfortable, eh? I might want your dazzling presence here again."

Nakahara went back to the seat, not yet secured.

"As a tradition blah-blah-blah, I'm gonna be selecting a sample of the term papers you fantastic beings wrote, and like the generous Sensei I am, we're gonna share and have some fun. Pay attention now, and stop drooling all over yourselves. The nursery's a couple blocks from here, whoever feels that they need to go back in time, be my guest."

Laxus laid the stack of papers on the desk. "Mmmmm-AH. There we go. This group's really awesome. Awesome. Awesome. The most perfect sample the human race ever saw."

Prayers were being recited, some muffled sniffles, and Natsu felt like they needed to go to that nursery because it was too damn pathetic.

"Natsu Dragneel."

God… God. God. God… If you were there, and you had a grim reaper, please send him right away.

Laxus looked as if he was impressed from the paper when in fact, all of them knew better, "Need a special invitation or what?"

Natsu rolled his eyes, and dragged his feet, joining Laxus.

"This young man never ceases to amaze me." Laxus wrapped an arm around Natsu's lithe figure in comaprsion, "Natsu-boy… I'm gonna skip all the formalities you know. Stupid inane things, you don't need 'em. Like what the hell's maximum word limit? Who's the fucker that invented layout and paper format? And what's with the shitty rubric? We're kings, we're better than that, eh? Stupid things."

As much as he wanted to be away from Laxus right now, he wasn't, and Natsu wasn't actually intimidated by the guy's extremely close hulky figure, he was just… nervous, and eager to get this over with. If it was any other student, they would've crapped their pants already.

Maybe that's why Laxus choose Natsu to begin with. Because he knew the kid was stubborn as hell.

"Nothing bothered me with it Natsu, but you see um, I've a question." Laxus looked like he was stopping himself from shouting out so loud, "When you were doing this… thing, were you eating Falafel?"

Awkward.

"Ahem, Sensei. What's a 'Falafel'?"

Laxus adjusted his reading glasses and held the paper, then raised his eyebrow at the teen, "You don't know? Let's say it's the weed in a shape of a sandwich that Egyptians eat. Basically, I'm asking about the whereabouts of your mind state the second you decided to type on the keyboard this fucking essay."

Natsu was still blinking not getting Laxus Dreyar at all, however, he saw some of the students slapping their foreheads and some rolled their eyes at the teacher, but the majority, quite simply, stared, unable to look away because it was such a train wreck.

Usually, when Laxus chooses Natsu to pick on, or to shout at, for doing a sloppy homework, or a pitifully executed project which doesn't even reach the elementary school student level, they bicker, someone gets injured (ninety-nine percent of the time it's Natsu) then he runs away from the whole damn lecture not wanting to hear more.

"Sorry." He shrugged.

Laxus' face was blank of any emotion. For a minute, Natsu thought he'd stopped functioning or something because he hadn't moved for quite some time.

"HEARTFILIA."

The saffron blond hairs of Lucy were tied up in a high pony-tail, with some sweat rolling from her forehead, she flinched at the sudden callout, then appeared as if she saw a reaper dancing before her.

"S-S-YES?"

"Come forward please. For you-go stand in the back." He pointed to Natsu, who nodded reluctantly, not showing that he even cared enough.

Lucy stood up, going forward, and Natsu went backwards, briefly their eyes met, and he shook his head mockingly at Laxus antiques, trying to tell her that it's no big deal and it's not THAT bad.

Laxus held Lucy's paper and smiled abruptly, then stopped. "Why're you here with us Heartfilia? As a personal opinion, I suggest you convert. Like, instead of being in the science department, you can move to literature, those suckers will probably welcome you like the Mongols did with Shah Jihan."

"S-"

"Seriously sweetie, you've got terrific writing talent. It's like novel writing, however way, sweetheart… in your… paper, you made me feel like I was watching Oxygen Oxide committing adultery with H2O in the shape of freakin' messed up rust. I swear, by the time I was done reading this, I was over one and half bottle of Gin to numb the feeling of pain in my tortured puffed red eyes."

He walked a little bit closer, holding out the paper, "This-let me tell you-Fantastic writing. Terribly wrong information. Scientifically unacceptable, period. So, sweetie, go join Natsu in the back."

There were no negotiations, no conversations, just words piercing through her skull, tears trapped in her eyes, knowing that her grade is probably blown off, as a sigh escaped her lips. Natsu didn't snicker actually (which he usually does) and somewhat it baffled Lucy, but relieved that at least Natsu wasn't gonna laugh or say a stupid remark.

"Maxine."

Another girl stood up, with long hair, stuck-up personality and-well, a lot of make up. One of the girls who gave Natsu the confession letters.

She was pretty.

"Your highness." He got her paper and gave her a questioning look, "Last time I checked, writing was done by keyboard OR pencil. By a freakin' ass lipstick is new. So… what is it exactly? A new thing? A trend that I don't know about-which makes you grab your nearest favorite lipstick and waste it on writing this shit of mine?"

She looked at her colorful nails, then puffed on them, totally ignoring his words, "So sorry. Couldn't find the time. Done it this morning."

"Very sorry. Please join the guys in the back."

"Fullbuster."

When Laxus said Fullbuster, students were shocked. Part one, was due to the fact 'Fullbuster' was one of Laxus' brightest students, part two was due to the fact that Laxus only calls out those who were close to failing their classes.

Gray couldn't be failing the class.

Gray stood up, "Yes?"

"Congratulations, I heard about your little trip to the CSU. How'd you find it there?"

Of course, psshhh, stupid praise.

FUCK YOU, Gray Fullbuster.

"Ah, it was fine, I guess. Good place."

"And the exam?"

"Difficult, but, I managed. The rest is… on luck."

"That's my boy. Come here."

Eyes glared at Gray as he approached the teacher, the feeling of jealousy ate them up. They didn't hate Gray per-se. It was just that Laxus was a demon, and whoever managed to escape his clutches would be a lucky bastard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Gray Fullbuster. Got his all quizzes cleared up with flying colors, excellent done homework. Went to the CSU for taking entrance exams, flew all the way to Colorado more than ten hours, and probably getting an F grade as a term paper score."

Laxus patted Gray's back then held his paper out for him, "In my head well-you don't want to know what I think now-but, I tried to find a reason for this to turn out so crappy, and I didn't. Jet lag? Pressure? Family issues? None of those would've been so crucial, Gray. Tell me boy, what happened? You couldn't have possibly eaten the Falafel too, now could you? No offense, but I'm finding Natsu's foolishness rubbing off on you lately."

"…" Gray remained silent for some time, then cleared his throat, "I think Falafel is a pretty damn good sandwich—anyways, no, haven't really eaten it."

"Then? Smart-ass? Why does this suck like your grandma?"

"… Mmm, dunno, Sensei. I was wrapped up in... Stuff. Just a lot of things to do, I guess. Sorry."

"Let's pretend I buy it. Unfortunately, you'll have to join your pals in the back. Just wanna make sure you know I'm so disappointed."

"Sorry." Gray said as he walked backwards, standing next to Maxine, who smiled instantly at him, already trying to open a conversation.

"Edo, come forward."

The boy was huffing and puffing when Laxus held the paper for him and explained how it wasn't proper… at all. "All I can say is, you went to the bathroom this morning and this shit came along with the shit outta your ass."


Natsu stood first in the lane of almost half the class. Laxus has done a heck of a job with cleansing each and every one with every insult out there.

"I'm not really mad at you people. In fact, I'm thanking each and every one of you so much for being so fond of me. I didn't know you wanted my extra summer classes that bad."

"Sensei!"

"Not fair!"

"You shower us with quizzes and-"

"-We have other things besides chemistry-"

"-I'm gonna go to London, I can't stay for summer-"

"-We have lives too!"

"NOT FAIR!"

Laxus cleared his throat loudly, then adjusted his glasses, "I don't wanna hear any other crap. You brought this upon yourselves. I've given you the topics, a fairly reasonable deadline too, unfortunately, you all failed your own person. So go whine to your mommy, not me. Be responsible for what you've done."

Natsu heard much more. It is true that at first, he didn't care, but with summer school… cram school was… like, ten hours of studying a day-for a month-and, summer semester was as useful as boobs on a man.

So he became frustrated.

Angry.

After class, they all left heartbroken, tearing up, not wanting relive the experience. They knew this day would come, however, they didn't predict it would be that bad. Laxus made sure every year, they get the same treatment when the term paper is due. Natsu admitted to himself that they needed a special training for term papers because they just SUCKED-ASS at it.

He stopped, then entered the National Laundry to get Gray's clothes since he'd used them the day before. Probably not the smartest thing he ever did as he would have to interact again with the boy. Natsu didn't know if this feeling was mutual, but that day in school, both of them weren't really in a position to have a decent conversation, to patch things up, given the fact they're never really alone.

So it was a bit frustrating.

Natsu did want to apologize once more for keeping the letters, and for basically explaining how he doesn't trust Gray whatsoever. Well, technically he doesn't trust him, he doesn't know him well enough, it's been what? Weeks since he barely knew the guy—how the hell is he supposed to trust someone that fast? Apologizing is just a way of calming things down, as he believed he would not be sincere. He would try to ease the situation.

And Ironically, he wasn't in the position of talking about trust, given the fact that he hid things from Gray. He was the worst, but he was still that stubborn of a man.

"Mmm."

He paid the fees for the dry cleaning, then headed straight home where he took a quick shower, changed his clothes, then took his keys and the washed and perfectly ironed clothes, heading back out.

Visiting Gray's home again unannounced was his only choice. A: he didn't want Loke finding out about it. B: what was he supposed to do? Pick up the phone and say 'Well Hi, I've got your clothes that you so generously gave me yesterday in lieu of a punch or two, so welcome me there.'

And C: he would be damned if he gave him these things in school. It's like the weirdest thing, and people will ask questions. And he wasn't in the mood to invent any answers to any of it.

The ride on the bus was awful. It made him sick in the stomach. Forcing himself to endure, and endure, he finally got off the nearest station to Gray's house, wanting to resume the rest walking, but before actually doing that, he allowed himself to sit down in the small air-conditioned cabin for those who are waiting for their buses to arrive, to try and take some lost breath.

"Damn this shit weather."

Natsu rubbed the side of his head from the queasiness in his system, not paying attention to whoever.

"Pardon, could you move a bit?"

Natsu looked clueless to the person who just cussed, and realized he was practically letting Gray's clothes occupy a free seat.

"Sure, sure." Natsu took the laundry bag.

As soon as the boy sat down, Natsu stared and stared, then he met the guy's gaze.

"Something wrong… ?" The guy asked a bit offended.

"Nah, sorry. It's just your uniform. Um… Fujiwara Naoki Kōtō?"

The guy looked at Natsu and huffed a small chuckle, "That's right man."

"Same school." Natsu slightly smiled, explaining the reason he gave him weird stares at first.

"I'm goin' to retire soon, how about you?"

Natsu laughed, "Ah-well, no, I still got another year in the chaos."

"Sucks, man. Who's your homeroom dude?"

"Laxus Dreyar."

"You're with the disciplinarian I take it? Poor guy." The guy gave him a pity look.

But Natsu actually laughed. "Yeah, big time. Today was a mess, you know."

"The guy's a rumored demon, I don't expect less. I've one class with him enough to see his colors."

"Buddy you have no idea. But who's your guy?"

The boy's coal eyes rolled once, then released a fake groan, "Guess."

"Okay um… MMM, Ah—Any of the two Strausses?"

"You kidding me?" The boy scoffed, "I wish I had Mirajane whooping my ass instead of the moron."

Natsu grinned, then asked, "No hint?"

"Nope. Not until I see you desperate enough."

"Okay, wait, Freed?"

"Not even close. And no, not even his other buddy."

Natsu got frustrated cause his options were limited now, "Doranbolt?"

"That old man? No way."

"Macao? No, wait, Jura? No? Bob?"

The boy shook his head, "Not the transvestite."

"Jose?"

"Not the mentally challenged king of Kandahar."

"Man, you're killing me here." Natsu decided that he gave up.

"You'll be surprised, I swear." He cleared his throat. "It's Babasama."

Natsu blinked, and stopped breathing for a second.

Then the next he found himself laughing, "Gosh! So I've got the disciplinarian and you've got the bitch?"

"Asshole." The boy slightly laughed as well, "Yeah, basically true. Hey, my brother is also under Laxus, could you be in the same class by any chance?"

"I dunno. Maybe I'd know if I've his surname."

"It's Malkovich."

Natsu shook his head. "Malkovich no. Ah-not with me. Definitely another class. "

"Mm, weird. He's definitely under Laxus, bitching about him like a bitch every morning, Anyways, don't you have somewhere to go? I'm afraid I'm gonna keep talking to you here."

Natsu was for a moment, a little bit concerned about his condition. This guy was… familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint why he felt him so. He had this air around him that… is so familiar.

"Well-ah, nice to meet you. Actually, I'm gonna keep spouting things, so better get going, I'm sure you've somewhere to go, too."

"Nice to meet you man. Nowhere important don't worry, and take care."

"You too."


Natsu walked in the path of Gray's home, as if remembering that he should be doing something after the little encounter with the Senior in his school. While Natsu knows almost all the seniors in his school, the guy was a stranger, yet familiar, and it killed him why he couldn't identify the reason. Something, just…

Ok, focus, now, yup.

He was practically two blocks away from Gray's home when he realized the senior, he met earlier, was walking a couple of meters behind.

Awkward.

Natsu looked ahead, and didn't pay it much of a thought, however, whenever he turned at a corner, or passed a road, the boy would be doing the same, and it got Natsu to doubt the situation. But then he remembered that the boy could be living there and there was no helping it.

He was two houses away from Gray's, so he sped up the walking, and stood in front of the door, finally, panting. It was close to evening, and he was exhausted, not wanting to remain out there for too long.

He placed the laundry bag at the door, then rang the bell, and turned around to leave immediately since it was his plan from the very beginning. Cowardly, but hey, anyone would understand his situation.

"What th—hey-"

Natsu bumped into the boy from earlier, his green eyes were wide in shock, then Natsu struggled.

"…"

"Dude, what the hell're you doing at my door?"

"Y-Your… door?"

"I live here—what did you just leave there?!"

"Sorry. Must've got the wrong house!" Natsu felt so embarrassed, he went quickly to get the laundry bag, nevertheless, as soon as he was going to turn around and leave at once, the door opened, and his jaw dropped.

"What..."

Yeah.

That was definitely Gray Fullbuster.


Natsu sat in the living room in the same spot he did a week ago. This time, he was shocked, then silent, then confused all over as Gray and the senior from school sat next each other on the sectional, same in the state.

"Okay, that's just awkward, could we please move on? Got an important date at six."

Natsu looked at the guy he just met with a confused manner, then he looked at Gray who was giving the other an annoyed look.

"What were you doing with him?" Gray asked Natsu calmly.

"… Ah… I wasn't… I mean, I wasn't really… with him. I just-"

"We met at the bus station." The guy explained to him, "He was coming down from a bus in a station close from here, and what the hell do you have in that bag anyway?! Why did you put it there like a creepy dude?!"

"That's-" Natsu started.

"Don't answer that, please." Gray stopped him from doing so. "Where are my manners, right? This is Lyon, my brother. The older one."

"Oh… Oh, right. Ah… shocking, but okay. Pleasure to meet you."

"And he is…?" Lyon inquired.

"Natsu Dragneel. A… friend in class."

"Or the guy who beat you up and mom was sitting there stitching your eyebrow for it." Gray's brother gave Natsu a small glare, "I always wondered why you didn't give me the name of the bastard."

"Hey,Hey. Enough alright. Go get ready or something, I'll handle it from here." Gray firmly cut his brother off.

"Whatever man. Gonna go shower. Where's Ur?"

"She's watching the stupid Drama in her room. Grab a tissue box with you if you're going into that."

"Tch."

When the boy was completely gone, silence was a replacement. There were many things that Natsu wanted to ask about, but he knew that it wasn't his right at all so he just kept silent, 'till it got uncomfortable more and more.

"You're-ah, missing your shirt." Natsu warned quietly.

Gray looked genuinely shocked for a moment, then scoffed. He looked for his shirt next to him, around him, until he finally found the primary blue V-neck T-shirt somewhere on the floor, so he grabbed it and put it over his black pants.

"I'm gonna go, you take this."

Gray sat back down, and shot Natsu a look of disapproval. "Sit down, Natsu."

"I really should be-"

"-Down boy."

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

Natsu sighed and sat back down. "Okay, what?"

"You look nice today."

Natsu rubbed his eyes, aggravated, "Knock it off. I don't have time for crap, alright? You saw what Laxus did today."

"Yeah. Lexy-damn-Volkoff got issues, but you can't blame me for trying' to open up a conversation."

Natsu sighed again, "Gray…" he stopped, looking at the boy who was waiting for him to complete while looking in the contents of the bag, "In school, I've never got the chance to say this, but… I'm sorry. For everything, I screwed up and… I don't understand why. So."

"I get you man. Also, I wanna let you know that you don't have to beat yourself up. It's only natural to not want anyone to… get my handsome ass." Gray finalized with a smile.

Natsu nodded slowly, furrowing his eyebrows, feeling a bit disturbed at the words that he just heard, "Okay, no. That's not really it, but whatever. Thanks dude."

"With that out the way, I think we're ready for our real conversation-"

"-Which is what, exactly? Gray, that's it, okay? That's the end of the line, I'm not going to try to do this again only to screw up, or show how much of an ass I am when-"

"-When you should just shut up and for once, hear what I've to say."

Natsu swallowed back the line of words he was about to spill, his Adam apple literally moving in a slow motion up and down, indicating that he has got more to say, but he was trying so badly to keep his mouth shut, because he knew that Gray has earned that right more than anything else.

"Natsu… I dunno what to say. I mean when you surprised me that day, all that was on my mind… I really wanted to sleep, I'm tired, I don't understand a thing, and I couldn't deal with it, but more than anything, I was feeling happy, actually."

Yeah, right.

"You might be thinking that this is crap, but I'm telling the truth here. I wanna also let you know you weren't the only one to do something that you don't usually do in order to be a little selfish."

At this, Natsu was choked, wanted to talk, but no words came out.

"I've… been actually cornering you the last weeks. Like, wanting to get you to do something, to reject me, or to accept, I wanted to know for sure, and I didn't care if you're hurt, or if you crumble at the cost, so it was all… a damn train wreck if you get what I mean."

"No, I don't." Natsu sharply said.

"Ah…" Gray actually laughed, and tried to suppress it, "Like, now that I look at everything, it's just so damn childish."

"…"

"For starters, I've, like, used a lot of pretexts to get to into your home, to just… see you."


(Chapter 5)

"Listen. I am not a fan of this weather, so whatever you are here for, make it quick. What do you want?"

Gray raised an eyebrow challenging Natsu's behavior. "Yes, of course. Last time, I forgot my math's notebook here, ah, I think it's in your bookshelf. Can you bring it, please?"


(Chapter 7)

"That's more like it. I have a theory. No matter how much I try to search for my physics textbook, I can't find it like it has disappeared into nothingness, and because I'm so educated, I know that's not the case. So my theory says, my textbook is somewhere in your house. Maybe on your shelves or something."

"And you want it because-"

"-Tomorrow we have a test."


"If you checked your house, you'd find… a lot of pretexts that I've planted without you even noticing."

Natsu's heart skipped a beat, then his chest tightened, then his brows began to take a new shape of astonishment.

"All over the place dude, just all over it." Gray shook his head one time, obviously, mocking himself, "And the Juvia-letter-thing. That I knew about. Long time ago, I was just waiting for you to tell me about it… I've pushed and pushed and pushed… I knew it wasn't fair to you. I mean I know, I'm naturally selfish, but-"

Natsu stood up, cutting Gray off. "Wh-"

"I'm not finished. I let you do your thing to the end, so let me do mine."

Natsu clenched his fists and his eyes glared like flares, but he didn't sit down.

Gray set the bag aside and stood up, closer to Natsu than he wanted Gray to be right then.

"I've hid and lied about tons of things that you'd probably never think of. I know it doesn't justify anything for the both of us, but um, I need you to understand—that… if I wanted an easy lay, I'd have gone for that, I'd never have to do any of this."

"Don't-"

"-It's not so simple for me, Natsu. Heck, I can't just promise you that we'll be this perfect couple, sit under the sunset, go goofing the hell out somewhere or go ride the rainbows—nothing's gonna be alright if you're with me, you get me?"

"J-"

"-No, you need to know this. It's true that I'm not looking for a one-night stand, but it doesn't mean that I know the future and how the fuck things are gonna work out. No one does, damn, it's the same way for straight guys. They never know when things're gonna go-PSSHH-go down."

Natsu didn't talk further and kept staring at him blankly, with a hint of redness in his eyes.

"I want you to know that… right now, today, and for the present, for that much time… yes. I wanna have you. With me. I know that much. I don't know if it's enough, but I hope it's something."

Natsu's lower lip slightly quivered, then he looked next to him, trying to get rid of the burning feeling in the bottom of his stomach. He briefly rubbed his nose, then looked back at Gray with a tired expression.

"I can't… be dealing with you… Gray. Not-Not today."

Gray pursed his lips together with a nod. "Fine. I'll be waiting then. Whenever you're ready."

Natsu didn't wait for long before he left the house.

One thing was clear though…

They both wanted to break something into tiny little indistinguishable pieces.


Author Note:

To be Continued.

Guys, I just want all of you to know, that I have amazing, amazing, amazing reviewers who are so generous to give me one of a kind entries. I'm really satisfied by the class of people reading this story, and even those who are only reading. I fell in love with last chapter's reviews, and for that I can't put thanks in mere words, so I hope my feelings reach you all. Thank you.

And... Yeah, Gray and Natsu are... well, you tell me what they are. (goes to hide.)

Love,

Flame-Belt


To all my reviewers:

blackhatred

"The wait is worth while! And i wish i had more stories of yours to read! And i dont need sleep, im too badass for that. Now ima go punch more holes into my wall.
Aaand about Jellal, i wont particularly enjoy his screentime but ill still read it. Im not againts the idea.
...My hand is bleeding."

Thank you sweetie, I wish too, that I had more stories to freakin' produce, cause I'm so much of a lazy wuss. I have… probably tons of story ideas stored in my laptop, waiting for me to bite into it, but first, I am still scared of writing, second, I have stories that I have to focus on finishing so yes, I'm still… storing them or taking them to my graveyard.

I swear to god, if you hurt yourself because of my STUPID writing, I will haunt you down, and I will quit writing. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

… And enjoy the chapter… without injuries please. Begging here.

snowflake00

"No worries, you weren't crossing the line. But if you ask me for my address or number, a red flag will be raised. (Along with war. No! I'm just kidding) But guilty is charged, was indeed on a date. Aside from that, I hate that moment when you suddenly realize their out of character. It's like their threatening you behind your back as you type. Kinda got a chill last time I thought of making an OOC story. On a completely unrelated, yet related subject, why!¡!¡ the whole time I read this chapter I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I mean like, ohmehgurr! One more cliff hanger and I'll have a heart attack, it won't be attack on titan, it'll be attack on fanfiction…"

No thanks, I won't ask for your address number cause that would be extreme I know. Maybe your car plate number? No? How about your last name? Your school name? Your Major? No? ok.

Kidding I swear.

Oh… wow. You know what? This is, actually, the first time I think that I have good intuition capabilities. MY GOD, I mean you were with a date? Seriously? I can't wrap my mind about it, like you're reading the chapter and totally ignoring the one you're sitting with, and then they were probably cursing me because their beauty of a person is being busy with something else… I feel horrible… no doubt.

No, that's not true. I feel flattered, thanks for the amazing excitement. Haha. I laughed at your remark on the cliffhanger. Well darling, sometimes, I get complicated, so the story gets complicated, so your lives turn miserable because of me, but… I promise, I will make it worth the wait. I'm a straight good endings writer, so don't worry about it much, even if reads like there is no hope for both of them…

OMG… I just realized there is no hope for them… *Sobs*

Enjoy the chapter!

Mgluvsbl25

"Gosh I love this chapter so much and I can't access the poll from my phone so I'm yay for Jellal and oh ma glob this chappie made me cry a bit but I just love the intensity of the situation. And another cliffie Y.Y but meh I'll get over it I'll wait patiently for the next chapter until next time C:"

Woah buddy, don't worry, there is no poll posted on my page either. I was just asking because I've got no time for it. So naturally it won't appear, trust me. OMG, it made you cry, that's unbelievable. YOU BETTER NOT READ THIS CHAPTER THEN! But if you did, I hope it will be as good as the last chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger, I swear. Enjoy sweetie.

ksanta

"love the chapter
but with this kind of end i'm dying to know what hapens next(thought i surely won't die, 'cause then i won't be able to read the next chapter :D)
And i would love to see some yaoi with Jellal, sadly there are too little stories about him and another man :(
Anyway, great chapter, can't wait to see what hapens next :D"

Ksanta-san, thank you so much for your praise, I really appreciate your time invested in reading this. About Jellal… well let's not talk about it for now, and leave his screentime for the unknown! I'm glad the last chapter got your excitement, and I'm hoping this one will do too. Get your juice, pillow, ice-cream, some rocks to throw at the screen after you're done with this.

Ha-ha, sorry for cliffhanger.

gratsulover117

"DID NATSU JUST SAY HE LIKED GRAY!?
can't wait to see how this turns out :)"

Yes he did… that stupid moronic idiot. I know, I'm sorry I am the one writing him to be like that. But ANYWAYS, don't lose it after reading this chapter, and thank you so DAMN much for following you sweet you.

Happy reading.

Ijustwanttolive

"No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no... This cannot be hapining ... I HATE cliffhangers and this is the absolute BEST gratsu story I have ever read! I LOVE it! Please,please,PLEASE update soon, as in today... Or tomarrow. You are an AWSOME writer ! The best of the best! The most amazing ! So please update soon ... Do it for the gratsu! ... And for me…"

Hohoho, sorry. Seriously, I apologize for the abrupt ending last chapter, but I had to in order for the chapter not to be painfully long. Sweeeeeetie! Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm not the best or anything, but for you to think so, I'm so so so ecstatic! Thank you! I could swear, I moved my ass and update just because of your latest review so I appreciate it. But just so you know, writing a chapter does take like three weeks or something, so it will take time, but eventually I will get it done. So be patient with me, I am an ass, but I will give you something good to read!

So, enjoy this one and try to wait for the next chapter.

disgurluvs8fiction

"… I read this chapter like RIGHT when you first updated it buuuut... i felt KINDA lazy, so yeah. Sowwy. BUT I REVIEWED NONETHELESS... weeks after…

And just out of curiosity. When i first read your stories (Yes, i read them ALL in about an uno number oh days: just says how great of a writer you are), I always hoped for you to one day update My Shining Star and I still do. It has my attention in it's unforgiving hands and seems to hold a lot of potential. But if that is actually a one-shot or is just not to be continued, i apologize for the inconvenience. Just forget that happened if so. :)"

Hey there. You know? I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of reviewing or not-or even not in time. I love your reviews yes, I would always want to read them, it's true, but I SWEAR TO GOD, I wouldn't mind if you decided not to it at all. DON'T WORRY, it's not a must. Yes, it gets me motivated all the time, but I don't want you or any other reader to apologize for not doing it or doing it LATE, EVER AGAIN! PLEASE!

Ok, with that out the way, I can thank you very much for your sweet words and answer your question. Now, regarding My shining Star… I know this is gonna sound so cruel and lame, but this story was… without thinking of me posted, and I don't like the way I approached it, cause I didn't plan for it, I had this stupid rush, and It was bad planning. So don't cry, I know how I must sound right now. The story is great no doubt, and I can even try to mend parts of it, regardless, it would not be as great as anyone expecting. So basically, what I'm going to do is… I will take it out, delete it, and post a better upgraded version that will satisfy you and others more, and when I say upgraded version, I want you to expect something big. Something that will compensate for the loss of the older story, so calm down, sit back, and one day you will be thanking me for this!

Haha, anyways, don't be mad please. I just won't write something that is not planned anymore, I was an amateur that's for sure. So yes, you can blame my stupidity. Don't let this get to you, okay? *Hugs!* Try to forgive me, and enjoy this chapter! I love you! And I can't tell you what it means to me reading all of my stories. It's amazing, you made me really warm in the inside.

p.s: I WILL KILL YOU if you said "inconvenience" or "apologize" once more in any comment.

Amy Kitty Katz

"Everyone seems to like my blonde-ness. I don't know why... But I have a feeling that you want to know what I look like, since I'm blonde, right? Well, in that case, if you have an Instagram, my username is _ .dreams_ So, you can know what I look like. I only have one picture, it's not very good, but oh well.

"…And I seriously though gray was going to passionately kiss Natsu when he shoved the guy in the shower. Sort out those sexual auras. Hehehe…"

Hey. Seriously, I should have replied to your review since forever, but being busy sucks. ANYWAYS, AMYYYYYYYYYY! *Sobs!* You gave me the chance to see you! and I CAN'T! Your pen name in Instagram doesn't show with me I don't know why, so please! Please! Please! *getting on her knees and begging!* Can you just type it again? Because fanfiction might have swallowed the words you wrote, so if you could leave enough spaces between the username so that it would show, it'll be great. JUST WRITE IT RIGHT THIS TIME, I have almost gone crazy when I couldn't find you.

With that out the way, Thank you so much for your lovely review! And I kinda see that you are so interested in the moment they both take off their clothes, which is… awesome. I know the feeling. Yesterday I was reading this fanfic, and I was literally saying (I beg you two, KISS!) Haha, yes, It happened. So I'm glad you're excited, I'm trying my best to not let this moment be far outta reach, but god help me with Natsu and Gray.

The morons.

Well, enjoy? And remember, patience. PATIENCE.

Guest (Fairymangafan)

"Now, I will begin the real review. So you found a great plot with interesting twist and a great, great GREAT writing style! I really like how you seem so delusional and fucking good humorist. And even if some can say that school fic aren't exactly an original plot, fuck them off, you have a way to write simply wonderful.
The Gray you describe all the time, this fucking asshole, he's completely OCC, but a good one. You go deeper in his character, in all the character, and it's adding at they're natural attraction. You know how to describe emotions, how to play with our feelings. You literally kidnap us in your stories, and don't let us leave until the end. We always want more, and you have a natural way to keep suspense even at the end with cliffhanger who are just killing us.

The only thing that is a bit too much for me it's how you slowly take away all Natsu's virility and add it to Gray in all your stories ( like you say in the last chapter of "Magnolia's Shonen-ai" ). I think you should, at least time to time, try to make Natsu more... Natsu! Destructive, idiot, but less blushing and confused, more I-go-head-first-in-the-problems xD
But it's only my opinion, don't feel obliged to do so :)

I hope you won't get too bored 'cause I always write too much in my reviews
Ah! And thank you for writing those freaking amazing yaoi stories ( and if one day you decide to show us you're real yourself in a full scene of sex, then do it xD I'm eager of it, 'cause porno is life xDDDD) ;)"

WOW. Ok, I was stunned when reading this, mainly because it was a hell of great review. I can't believe that you were apologizing for writing too much. HEY, I give you guys 20 pages of chapter readings, so you should at least give me 5 pages of review! No, that's extreme… ok maybe one page? Hehe, I love that you shared all your thoughts with me. I love that you like my writing style, I really am struggling with it over and over, but you know, I just hope every time when I'm writing, that I give you guys the best. So thank you so much for reading and commenting on it.

About Natsu's virility, well I will tell you something. I discovered that what you've talked about is a major problem in all of my stories, now, recently, I've decided on reading gay novels, so that I would at least see the dynamics between a dominant one and a submissive one, and WOW I learned a lot and I just hope that from the many books that I have read online, I will be able to display the roles in a gay relationship more clearly, and more realistic for you guys when you're reading. So yeah, I'll try to be careful with it and with characterization, and I thank you for the valuable warning, I just need these more often.

Although I'm not really great with sex scenes, I'll try to give you guys a good one-shot M-rated soon, since I dunno, people are asking me to do it, and I don't really trust myself, but I will try. I have to if I want to learn new ratings, and how to write in those. I just hope it will satisfy people, because I usually write masked sex scenes.

GAH, soon I hope. Anyways! Lovely review, and entry, and I would love for you to follow this story all the way 'till the end. And… enjoy this chapter!

MiserablePunk

"… In vocabulary lesson:
And kids, today we've learned a new word. And that is "douchebaggary", yay! Please jot it down in your vocabulary list! Okay, class dismissed!

THAT WORD IS HILA-FUCKING-RIOUS I LOVE IT"

OMG! I freakin' laughed so freakin' hard when read this! Omg, I thought this word was well-known for you native speakers! Hehe, sorry, because I don't know the language, I tend to mix words together, sometimes it's so great, other times, it's just so-so. NOW, thank you so much for the wonderful review yesterday and for this story, I can see well enough that cliffhangers are not always welcome, I know, I know, I know. However, I decided that I needed them if I want you guys overly excited!

This chapter was pretty long, so I only hope it wasn't… you know… boring! So enjoy! And my friend, thank you so damn much for following and reading and then re-fucking-reading my stories-I just can't believe that you ARE doing that! I mean, I feel awesome! SOMEONE IS RE-READING MY STORIES! MY GOSH! I can't put my appreciation in words, so I just hope you know that I'm very happy and impressed from your activity towards my writings. LOVE YOU ALWAYS.

Dark Sorcerer of Fire
"Haha. If you're not going to do that then maybe I would. I have tried doing a Gray X Natsu X Lyon triangle. Maybe my next project should be Gray X Natsu X Jellal triangle? What do you think Flame Belt-san?"

Hello there! Just… insane. Your reviews blew my mind while reading them, of course I didn't put both of them here, mainly because they were wholly interesting, however, I'm going to answer all of your thoughts here.

Well, dear… the scenarios you've suggested… the pictures you've pictured and everything, it was like… I was asking myself… HOW THE HELL IS THIS PERSON NOT UPDATING OR EVEN MAKING NEW STORIES?! I swear if I could see you, I would've strangled you, cause you've so many ideas and potential, but you don't use them much more often you genius youuuu.

Now, about love triangles… mmm. I don't really write them much if you've noticed in my stories because… of the many reasons you know. Mainly, I believe that if the character is serious about someone, they won't be easily manipulated to look at someone else, and I really am bad in writing this sort of a thing, so instead of love triangles, I use jealousy more often since jealousy would give a hint of a love triangle, but not to the point it's so obvious. In my story, A Walk on The Beach, I've certainly used the element of a love triangle between Gray, Natsu, and Jellal, and people liked it. But I don't know if you read the story or not, the element of love triangle is very tenuous and not so explosive like in other stories.

But if you want to have a project with Natsu, Gray, and Jellal as a love triangle, then BUDDY you have my heart, I suck at writing those, obviously you don't. You had an experience with Ice-roses, so I'm sure whatever you decide to write next will be just as good and people will love to read so do whatever you want, I'm sure it'll be good.

Me? No. Nuh-ah. No way. Put me as far as possible from love triangles. It's so emotionally brutal that I will be dying if I ever wrote one so buddy be my guest and do it. You're so couragous I give you that. Also, thank you so much for giving me such a detailed review, I'm glad you found the chapter humorous to some extent, and in this chapter, well, I wish you enjoy as well. *Hugs!*

nori of the sea

"Finally! Natsu finally admitted he liked Gray! I have been living for this moment! Jeez, a cliffhanger! Why must you torture me so?! I got so into it, I was so pumped to know if gray still likes him and what would happen and it just ends! Indeed, it has been a long time! I got all caught up in stuff and updating my own story that I think I forgot to review a lot. It's good to be back though! Can't wait to read the next chapter! I know it's gonna be amazing!"

You know, I was just saying long time, cause many of you reviewers do disappear, I don't know how… I FEEL worried, so even if you're not going to review a story, just give me a PM, SHOW ME ANY SIGNS OF LIFE! I'm a freak, but I get worried that's all. But I'm glad I'm hearing from you every once in a while, it's enough for me, thank you very much for easing my fears.

On another different note, I know Cliffhangers sucks, but… if you read this chapter, then you'd surely know that If I continued the chapter before, it would've been like… 10,000 words or something, and I don't wanna do that to you guys, I don't want you to get bored reading 20 or 30 pages! I only do that torture if I'm writing a one-shot, so… forgive me, but cliffhangers do save the writer and the reader sometimes.

AT least… now you know how the things are. Hope you enjoyed reading this one nori-san.

OnePiece Slayer

"love where this is goin and I have being looking at ya other stories, thus far AMAZING - really ya makin me feel bad bout me own work *sobs a little* but in a good way XD
could you give me some tips about drama - be really helpful *gives puppy dog eyes* pleeeeeaaaaaaassssse!"

HEY THERE. I was extremely thrilled with your review. Honey, first, no one should feel bad about their work, especially in writing, cause it takes courage to write and even more so to post it for everyone OUT there to see and to criticize. I mean, until now, I want to write so bad for other fandoms, but… I dunno, I get scared. Like I waited maybe a year before I was able to enter the Fairy Tail fandom and introduce myself as a new writer.

So you should be proud that you're trying. Making mistakes makes you improve and writing makes you improve, so don't worry about it now, just write, write, write, write, and eventually you'll get there! Hehehe, ok so I have lots of advice that I would give, but first I would have to know what exactly do you want in drama or even in other geners, so if you would contact me by PM and ask about the points you want, I would certainly reply. So gather up everything you wanna know, and I will do my best in answering each one of them.

Good luck! Oh… and enjoy the chapter!

MistySoul
"Did I sound demanding in my last review? hope not. I rather rot looking at my PC monitor waiting than forcing anything on you. Yes, that story was amazing. Wait, all your stories are amazing! Anyway as usual an amazing and funny (I have amateur humor sense) chapter! Love ya, and a long review just for you! p.s Yes, more yaoi pls and take yer time!"

Dear nooooooooooo. You didn't sound demanding at all or forceful at all! BUT LET'S FACE IT, even if you do, I will still love you, nothing makes me more happier than seeing someone wanting me to write a CHAPTER. Haha, so really it's all fine, I'm just telling you, I will do my best. And for you to find me… funny… that's… the ultimate praise anyone could ever have… thank you my love. There you go the chapter, try to enjoy.

Guest

"Update or I WILL hug you to death, loving the story but why such a cliffhanger... So, darling update.. Or I will kidnap you. And make you write for me. Love, Some random person who stalks people
PS. Im not as bad a stalker as Juvia..."

Psssssh. Well well well. YAAAAAY, someone is gonna hug the hell outta me! Seriously, I'm so pleased with the way you like this story, and I don't know what to say. Thank you so very much for this, I really appreciate the time you put into it. Hm. Well, there you go! I hope you're satisfied a bit until I gather my writing brain cells and decide to update for this story once more.

betterresolution
"Yay! You updated! Rather than saying how great the writing, the plot, and how in character the FT characters are (all that I'm sure a thousand other reviews you have said), I would like to congrat you for still updating (really, people should applaud authors who worked for their stories until they're finished, it's a huge deal) and succeeded balancing a narrative and descriptive story.
Well enough yada yada, I'll get to the point: I really liked how the storyline goes and I kinda want Gray to reject Natsu, seriously :D
After all that shit (does it count as cursing if I type the word? :p), it would only make sense if he did, and I would Natsu to do the chasing this time. Maybe add a third-party too? ;)
And maybe I'm crazy but I kinda want them to... not...hook up? (before any of Gratsu fans kill me, let me finish) Well, not until a considerable time skip maybe…"

Hahaha, WOW. I don't know what to say. First of all, it's true that I haven't seen you reviewing this story before, but I'm glad that you were following all the way, because your point of view is just awesome. Well, I could understand why you didn't want them to jump in each other's arms cause it's only natural, you know? Like… It's very complicated, I can't do anything about it, but to give you a realistic atmosphere… which makes it even more difficult. ANYWAYS, I just hope the continuation of the previous chapter was something that you didn't hate here.

You know, I actually agree with you. I mean, sometimes it's just too hard finishing a certain story, but then… I can't just leave it hanging, even if I'm tired or there is no time, no matter what happened (it's a cliché I know) I WILL finish every single one of my stories mainly because no one can finish it but me, and it'd be unfair to those who have followed every single one of them so far, so thank you for the sweet words. HOWEVER… Yes, after all the shit… I think I will let them find their way towards each other. Happy that you're reading this, and wish you'd read more.

Hope you like this chapter.

grayXnatsuFT

Hey there! As you so said I your review, it's the ULTIMATE one, ad I can't just put it here and take chunks of it, because the whole things was awesome. Your emotions about the chapter was very WELL CONVEYED! It was awesome to know how you did find every aspect in the chapter bit by bit, I just am speechless.

I totally understand that I'm frustrating when it comes to updates and all that stuff. I mean, I always am trying to find some sort of balance, and you guys don't deserve that torture I know, but I want you to know that… take for example this chapter, ok? For me to create it, I took like half a month. I can do it in one day, I really can, but it won't come out as good. I write, then re-write, then erase, then re-write, and this process takes so much thinking and sometimes (arguing with my fucking-self).

Because for me, a chapter is like a sculpture. You write first time, it'll be shitty (everyone KNOWS that) and, then you re-write some parts and you're sculpting your statue, so It'll be better and so one and so forth until it comes out. Now I don't know if it comes out so good or not, but I certainly hope so because it takes a lot of effort. That's why you'll be finding out that the pattern f my updating time is one month. Because it takes one month working on a chapter literally.

Of course I can speed up the process if I'm not too lazy, however, I want you to know that I am thinking of it, I'm working on it, and I only hope that you like everything that I produce. I look at other examples, and I'm like… why can't I just write sleazy porn? Or why can't I write a chapter per day?! It's because I know I can't produce anything shitty even shittier than what I produce, I'm not perfect, so I'm trying my best.

On another different note, YOU ARE STACKING UP MY CHAPTERS?! THAT'S SO FEAKING AWESOME DUDE! I MEAN hell yeah! I do that to my favorite chapters too! I also do that to my favorite series-anime-manga, everything! Oh my gosh, someone is just thinking like me! yaaaaaaaay! Hehehe,thank you sweetie! That's a pleasure, but then I miss your reviews, which sucks, but no problem! Take your own pace, I never mind as long as you're following. Oh, and believe me, I will put their (rape) part into consideration. I might REALLY DO BECAUSE THEY ARE FRUSTRATING ME!

Thank you sweetie. I know my reply is rushed, but you know, other stuff needs to be done here, so I gotta go, but enjoy ok?

AsDarknessSpreads
"My my. Gray wants to be friends, and Natsu... Ah think ah like you. Weird person!
I wonder who Grayson behind the shower door was."

WOW. You know what? Somehow, in the last chapter, I kind of figured out that you guys would eventually figure out that someone has forgotten the shower turned on behind the mysterious Grayson door, but obviously, it didn't come as my prediction. *Sobs*

Sometimes I see myself pretty damn good with writing, other times, I feel utterly a failure with descriptions and details. Gaaaaah, whatever! The Grayson behind the door was actually no one. Oh, and… Natsu is not a weird person, Natsu is a mentally ill person, and let's just hope Gray finds a cure for that soon.

Enjoy love.

ahuna67

"Wohooo! An update with some progress between Natsu and Gray! Finally! I, as always loved the chapter and I'm waiting for the next one. As always xD
PS: If you do write uke Gray, only a one-shot please as I share the same opinions as you."

Buddy, I don't think I'm gonna write UKE Gray anytime soon, like, if I did, it wouldn't be with Natsu anyway, you know? Cause however, I try to imagine, it just doesn't fit. So don't worry about that AT ALL. As always, I too, have enjoyed the amazingly wonderful review.

For this chapter if you wanna write a review… just… calm down while writing-or even before-cause… god helps you, I know I'm complicating things more. Remember… I'm your friend… *Hugs!*

Guest

"Where tf have you been?!"

Hey there. Was here the whole time, but no time buddy. Sucks. Anyways, thanks for your concern! And, enjoy this chapter.