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And the World Went By

When Lyon sees Gray for the first time after seven years of being presumed dead and the first thing he does is walk straight past him to fawn over Juvia, Gray doesn't care. At all. Mostly. Maybe it stings a little.

Seven years. It actually blew Gray's mind a little, even as he drifted among his guildmates in their now rather dilapidated guild hall. It felt like he had seen these people only a few days before, but they were seven years older now, some with graying hair or even a new child to show for it. The only small comfort was that everyone from Tenrou was still the same, although what that really meant was that they were all in the same boat.

He smiled and laughed along with everyone's celebrations, but he felt disconnected and unmoored. Natsu was his normal annoying self, belligerent and loudly cheerful, which was comforting in its familiarity but made Gray a tad envious that he seemed to adjust so easily. Then again, this was Natsu. Not much fazed Natsu. Even the rest of the Tenrou group seemed cheerful enough as they joined in the festivities. A couple people showed a hint of uneasiness, but they mostly seemed fine.

Or maybe they were good actors like Gray. He was sure that with a few days to adjust he would come to terms with things, but… It was a different world out there now, and it felt like he didn't quite belong.

The doors swung wide, and he looked over out of habit. His heart lifted as he spotted Lyon heading a small group of Lamia Scale mages. The lines of Lyon's face were a little sharper, his eyes a little older, but he was still Lyon and Gray was suddenly glad to see him.

"Oh look," Lyon said, raising an eyebrow, "you are alive."

Ah, and some things hadn't changed after all.

"Sure looks like it," Gray said dryly. "So, how have you–?"

"And who is this enchanting lady?" Lyon interrupted suddenly, his gaze catching on Juvia.

Gray blinked, taken aback. "Um, Juvia?"

But Lyon wasn't paying him any more attention anyway. Gray watched in disbelieving bemusement as Lyon swept right past him and proceeded to harass Juvia with all the tact of a suddenly lovestruck man. Juvia was easily flustered by the attention, but Lyon was undeterred as he immediately began the campaign to woo her.

"Uh, hello…?"

But Lyon was well and truly distracted. Gray bit back a fierce scowl. Had Lyon just overlooked him entirely in favor of Juvia? Seriously? It shouldn't matter. It wasn't like he needed Lyon anyway. Didn't even like him that much. But Juvia? Really?

It wouldn't have been a big deal under other circumstances and it still felt like Gray had seen the idiot only a few weeks ago, but hadn't it been seven years for Lyon? If Lyon had been missing for seven years, Gray would have been a little happier to see that he was alive. Wouldn't have bypassed him for some chick he'd barely even met before, anyway.

Good to know he'd been so missed.

Well, what did it matter? Gray didn't even particularly like Lyon very much, so who cared?

To be fair, Lyon was the only one who really might have missed Gray. His team would have, but they'd been with him. The part of the guild that was left might have missed everyone, but hardly him in particular. Mostly they would have missed the guild's superstars like Natsu and Erza and Mira and Makarov and even Lucy. And, to be honest, Gray didn't have a whole lot of relations outside of the guild.

So it was basically Lyon, and it looked like even Lyon hadn't particularly cared. Gray supposed this was what he got for being an annoying brat—no one would particularly miss him when he was gone.

Well, screw the bastard. Gray didn't need him.

"Hey, ice block!" Natsu called. He had, of course, initiated a huge brawl already. Nice of him to take a brief break from trying to incinerate Gajeel in order to pull Gray into the fray. "Come on and join the fun! They say it's been seven years since I've pounded your face in!"

"Later," Gray grunted, turning away and leaving a puzzled Natsu staring after him. Oddly enough, he wasn't really in the mood to beat Natsu up, despite his sour mood.

He drifted around the guild instead, steadfastly avoiding looking in Lyon's direction. Mostly. Occasionally he caught a glimpse of the jerk still trying to seduce a red-faced Juvia.

Eventually he gravitated over to Cana. She had reclaimed her favorite table and gathered Macao and Wakaba around. With, of course, a huge barrel of booze. Her fortune-telling cards were fanned across the table, and all three players had five in their hands as well.

"Hey, Gray!" Cana slurred, spotting him. "Want me to deal you in?"

Gray hesitated but then shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

He sat down heavily next to Wakaba and accepted the stack of cards Cana shoved at him. This was some unholy mix of poker and war that Cana had created a long time ago, partly out of boredom and partly as a result of an alcohol-induced lapse of sanity. The only real rule was that she could change the rules at any time, resulting in an extreme difficulty in winning against her and the subsequent drunkenness of her opponents. Because, of course, all the players got drunk. Losers always got wasted, although Cana was always drunk by the end too. Winner's perks.

Gray was the only one who had really gotten the hang of the lawless game, and had the dubious distinction of being the only person to ever actually win. He could win a good forty percent of the time now, if only because he'd gotten creative at outmaneuvering Cana and her cheating ways. The only way to beat a cheat was to be creative about it, and he'd created a wide repertoire of workarounds now.

"Oh good, maybe Gray can figure it out," Wakaba muttered. "She's creaming us."

"I don't even remember the rules anymore," Macao added, his voice slightly slurred. "It's been so long."

"What rules?" Gray asked as he fanned out his cards and looked over the pictures staring back at him. "Cana cheats."

"I don't cheat!" Cana protested indignantly. "It's my game."

"I'm so drunk," Macao mumbled.

"We're getting too old for this," Wakaba moaned as he hesitantly set down a cupbearer card.

"Never too old to drink," Cana said cheerfully. "My knight beats you! Take a shot."

"Oh man…"

"Actually, take three shots. Your wager's on a three now, right?"

"I'm going to die…"

Gray snorted. He would have thought people would have learned better than to take Cana up on these kinds of offers, but maybe they'd forgotten over that seven-year interim.

Although he could really use a shot right now.

He absorbed himself in the cutthroat mechanics of the game, ruthlessly cutting down Macao and Wakaba while simultaneously starting a vicious campaign against Cana, who struck back just as viciously.

"This has never made sense to me," Lucy said, shaking her head as she drifted over and peered over Gray's shoulder.

He waved off Cana's jubilant cackling at her latest win and downed a shot. "It's not supposed to. You just have to know how to work around Cana's cheats."

"But what are the rules? Like, why could she beat you with that?"

"It's really complicated, Luce. But fortune- and death-attribute cards usually trump everything else."

"…I'm confused already."

"Yeah, it's… Uh-uh, Cana, don't even try it. The wheel of fortune is going to run right on over your fool."

Cana scowled. "But–"

"Nope, not even the fool can escape his fate. Fortune wins."

Cana grumbled to herself but took half a dozen shots.

"Weird game," Lyon commented.

Gray automatically stiffened, but kept his gaze firmly fixed on his cards. "Yup."

"No need to be snippy."

His eye twitched. "Sorry, Macao. That's not going to beat anyone."

"Hey, I was talking to you," Lyon grumbled.

"I'm busy," Gray said irritably. "Why don't you go bother Juvia some more?"

There was a long pause, with only Lyon's silent presence to distract Gray from the still-raging game.

"Wait," Lyon said finally, his voice pitched in disbelief, "are you jealous?"

Gray choked on his shot and promptly coughed alcohol all over the table. "What? Of course not. Why would I be jealous?"

"…Because I paid more attention to Juvia…"

"Ha!" he scoffed, scowling down at his cards. "Like I care. Don't flatter yourself. I don't think so highly of you that I need your attention. I'll have you know that I did just fine without you for nearly a decade. I don't need you."

Another pause. "You are jealous," Lyon said with something approaching awe.

Gray growled low in the back of his throat, his hands tightening around his cards. "I already said–"

A hand grabbed his wrist, and he blinked down at it blankly. Then he looked up slowly, finally meeting Lyon's eyes for the first time. Underneath the normal cockiness in Lyon's eyes, there glittered something frighteningly fragile, a soul-deep melancholy.

Gray stared at him in alarm. "Whoa, are you okay?"

Lyon's hand tightened. He jerked his head in a 'come away' motion. Irritation forgotten, Gray stood immediately.

"Here." He shoved his cards roughly at Lucy. "Step in for me."

"What?" she squawked. She stared down at the cards with wide, terrified eyes. "But I don't even know how to play! I don't want to get wasted!"

"Just never play that one," he advised, tapping a finger on the card at the end. "She always makes you drink a billion shots for playing that one. You'll figure it out."

Leaving Lucy to splutter impotently while Cana cackled in delight, Gray threw Lyon a sidelong look and led him through the crowd. He almost headed for the front door, but changed his mind at the last second and went to the back, starting up the staircase that would lead to the roof.

"What's up?" he asked gently, pushing the door open and ushering Lyon out into the chilly night air.

Lyon followed him listlessly and then sat down heavily on the roof to stare out at the city below. Gray sat beside him, letting his gaze drift over the darkened cityscape with its twinkling lights dancing cheerfully.

"You don't really have to be jealous," Lyon said finally, his tone impossible to decipher.

Gray scowled. "For the last time, I'm not–"

"I mean, Juvia's cute and all, but I didn't even know her. It was a major upset to lose most of Fairy Tail like that, but I really only cared about you."

Gray could feel the heat splashed across his face under his skin, and was suddenly glad that it was dark. "Uh…"

"I went on a lot of those search parties, looking for you. And it's almost embarrassing how I broke when we couldn't find you. You're so annoying and arrogant and frustrating, but you're my little brother and I love you and it nearly killed me to think that I lost you again."

"Y-you–" Gray stuttered, his face burning. "Geez, when did you get so sappy?"

Lyon glanced over and a small spark of humor lit his eyes. "Isn't that what you wanted? I mean, you obviously wanted something, or you wouldn't be so jealous…"

"I'm not jealous," Gray repeated stubbornly. "You can talk to whoever you want to."

"I don't know. Probably it was easier to focus on her instead of you. I promised myself I wouldn't cry or do any of that sappy shit."

"Oh my God, please don't cry," Gray said, his eyes widening in panic.

Lyon coughed out a wet laugh and his eyes roved over Gray's face hungrily, taking in every detail. "Ah, you're just the same. And you haven't aged a day, either."

"Wish I could say the same about you," Gray muttered, striving for snark as he glanced away and shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

Lyon's laugh was almost a breathy sigh this time. "I missed you. I didn't want to believe you were dead, so sometimes I'd imagine how you were changing and what you'd be like when I finally found you. And…you're exactly the same. God, it's good to see you again."

Gray dared a look up through his lashes, feeling awkward and shy under that uncomfortable blush. On the outside, Lyon hadn't changed that much in seven years. His face was a bit more angular and weathered, but most of the differences weren't so obvious at first glance—although they drew Gray up short, because he had seen Lyon just a few weeks before and the sudden changes were jarring.

But Lyon was different. His eyes were different. A little more open and unguarded, more emotion and melancholy bleeding through. There was a different air about him and he seemed almost a little more mellow, with less of that immature emotional defensiveness that he and Gray had shared. The old Lyon would have rather cut out his tongue than say any of this 'sappy shit'.

"You've changed," Gray said with a melancholy smile. "I guess I missed you grow up."

"I guess that must be pretty disconcerting," Lyon mused. "Almost as disconcerting as finding someone after seven years and realizing they haven't aged a day."

Gray's lips tightened and he turned his gaze back out to the city. All those little lights and dark buildings looked so distant and far away. A faraway world lost somewhere in the future, while Gray was lost somewhere in the past.

"Everything is different," he mumbled. "The world moved on without us, and… I don't even… I mean, just a few days ago, I had a place here and I knew what it was and I knew how the world worked. And now the world is suddenly seven years in the future, and I'm stuck somewhere in the past. Things have changed, and…I don't know where to go from here. I'm lost now, I guess. And I feel like I lost something somewhere along the way."

Lyon didn't say anything for a moment, but then he inched closer and cautiously draped an arm around Gray. "The world is a less scary place when you aren't alone," he said quietly. "And you're not alone."

And Gray believed him. He leaned his head against Lyon's shoulder, the past and present becoming one, and together they watched the world go by below.

Note: Maybe to help make up for last chapter a little bit? XD

emmahoshi: LOL you should be a motivational speaker XD But yeah, I've ended up in that rut many a time before, so it's always good to keep that in mind. (Which country, btw?) Lol this scene in canon annoyed me so much, so I wrote a fix-it. Also, jealous Gray is kinda cute. And seriously, who would rather spend time with Juvia than with Gray? Or with anyone? D: And yeah, I'm super awkward with emotions too lol My reunion would probably be even more awkward XD [EDIT: Wow, you're so worldly lol Italy has always seemed like a cool place. The only place I've been in Europe is Poland—my grandmother is an immigrant and we still have family there. That was the first (and probably last :/) time I've seen them. And I was in Australia for a couple weeks once. That's about it lol And yup about the paradoxes. I'm right there with you on the painfully punctual yet horrible procrastinator bit XD Aw, you're sweet. Thanks. I've enjoyed having you hang around so long lol Take care, and don't let all that busyness overwhelm you :)]