Author Notes:

Warnings: Swearing - Sexual themes/Content.

Genre, in depth: Male/Male Romance, also known as, Yaoi.

Story Cover Art: The Amazing Astrovique.

Beta Reader: The one and only enjoys literature.

Disclaimer: Dear reader, I'm not the owner of Fairy Tail's characters. If they were mine, Gray and Natsu would be boyfriends.

O.o.O Chapter Twelve O.o.O

Too late to apologize or object.

Heh, so what?

As per their promised little date, Loke picked up Natsu in his Jeep with four other military hunks. They cheered, yelled, and whistled as Natsu joined—and that raised Gray's qualms. Were they going for the normal triathlon, or was it the orgy-triathlon?

Motherfucking Gray had to act all high and mighty and refuse participating. He could've stuck by Natsu's side and act as a bug repellant, but no, he had to be gigantically stupid.

'Fuck.'

Indeed.

Forget the 'they will rape my love' problem. Will Natsu be fine on his own with those morons? Technically speaking, Natsu was a moron too, so they would gel fine. Yup, nothing to worry about. EXCEPT THAT THEY MIGHT ATTACK HIM.

'God.'

The moment Loke arrived and Natsu prepared to leave, Gray wished to pull his friend to his chest and ask him to stay, kiss his lips and tell him how much he cared for him. How much he liked him and wanted all of him. He would've done it, if Loke wasn't better than him, which he was. Who knows? Maybe fate led Natsu to the Blue Pegasus military base just so he finds the colorful unicorn-ass ending with Sergeant Loke.

Gray clutched his book, threw it against the wall. His heart pulsed with a record-breaking speed that Gray halted and held his waist. He forced himself to inhale and exhale to calm the fuck down because his deep anger blossoming from sharp jealousy will be the end of him.

In regard to Eve's advice, Gray made sure he showed his face to Loke, and blamed his forfeit on his injuries. The clueless Sergeant bought it, and not only that, he apologized for the third time for abusing Gray's leg the day of their arrival to the base. Natsu clenched his fists and Gray was aware of the boy's homicidal intentions towards him since he faked the pain, nausea, and weakness.

The grudge Gray harbored for Loke lessened in intensity because UNFORTUNATELY, Loke's a good guy, and he is good for Natsu. He accepted it and stomped on his feelings for the umpteenth time (Not that he EVER let himself act on them) and sucked it up. He can't win against a Sergeant. Those people know what they want, and they get it in the end.

'Not that I tried... should I even try? I'm really considering. And that's crazy, go back.'

Twenty minutes after they had left, Gray walked to his Jeep. The sun was gentle and driving in the cool weather was therapeutic to damaged heart. He would kill all those governmental bastards to get his smart phone back; it had an exceptional music playlist that can't be compensated by the Jeep's radio.

As melodies filled the Jeep, Gray rested his arm on the opened window. He let the cool breeze hit him hard and fill his welcoming lungs. A beautiful flowing canal came into view, its blue water was sparkling jewels underneath the sun, surrounded by violet irises and yellow marigolds.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

SCREEEEECH!

HALT!

If Gray was seconds late, he would've collided with the pickup truck that came out of NOWHERE.

"Fuck! Shit…"

His heart exploded, and he gulped down several breaths. The pickup truck's mountain of sealed boxes wobbled and a few of them fell.

Gray exited his Jeep as well as the driver of the pickup truck.

"How did you get your license?! Crazy guy! Looking at the birds? You insane?!" A yell deafened him.

The blood in Gray's veins ran cold when the military lady driver took her sunglasses off. She was in her army cargo pants, and a sleeveless white top, and fuck, she was so familiar he lost speech.

"Ah…"

She hurried towards the fallen boxes, and…

Ok. Long Scarlet hair?

Burning amber eyes?

Heavy boobs?

After Gray had ran to help, he froze and dropped the box he planned to save. Her glare said she'd murder him if she had the chance because not only her boxes fell because of him, but also, he was vandalizing her delivery deliberately.

Her eyes were red, brimming with tears, which meant she cried long before this incident.

Instead of beating him up, she narrowed her eyes, then she gasped, "Have we… met before?" Her curious gaze sizzled him, "My goodness…"

Dark fire burned in him as his hostile tone shot through her, "Take the plate number, go fucking complain, I wouldn't care."

As he decided to leave, the tears fell off her left eye and part of Gray regretted his comment.

Oh fuck no.

Woman's tears are men's horror, Men's tears are women's honor.

Gray has heard that somewhere, but he couldn't remember. The first part of the quote was so true though. Whenever he sees a female cry, his chest twists around, even if he wasn't the reason behind their breakdown. Also… so dumb… and useless.

Fuck, no. If he hears one more sob, he'll kneel and apologize for NO damn reason.

That woman's accommodation was small in the military barracks. A room, a bathroom, and a foyer. At least she had the canal's view. He sat by a small window in front of a sniffling woman and two strawberry cake plates.

The million-dollar question was… where the hell did she get that motherfucking tasty strawberry cake from?

Erza Scarlet creased a napkin as she stared down, her left eye tearing up as if she had no control over it. Her posture, the air of authority, strength, it differed like night and day when he first met her at the airport. Her dull eyes, disheveled clothes, stooping… and her broken voice…

She caused them a life crisis, so she deserved it.

Jellal's words hit him, and for a second, he allowed himself to doubt her conviction as an accomplice in Natsu's case.

Gray sipped from the red tea cup and nodded. It was good tea, and the mint added a special flavor he took a liking to.

"So what's going on with you? Those hundreds of boxes… are they your punishment or something? These are at least fifty. The fuck? Twisted organization you belong to-assholes they-"

"Oh… No… no, no, these are—well, my luggage."

Gray almost lost his grip around the teacup and got himself a nice large burn on his hip.

LUGGAGE?!

When Gray and Natsu moved in the base, they had two pathetic suitcases, two handbags, two freaking backpacks, one laptop bag, and most of them were emptied after Gajeel has confiscated their weapons.

Think they were under packed?!

There ARE limits to what a single person should own. Erza Scarlet has crossed ten more red limits behind the initial limit. She surpassed humanity and she should be listed in the Guinness encyclopedia.

What does she have in those boxes?! And they were huge.

"Ok." Gray nodded his head like a fool, "Cool."

"I'm transferring jobs, might as well get comfortable." She chuckled, bitterness lacing her tone, "Can't believe I'll work under Gajeel who has a narrow mind and perception."

She wiped her unstoppable tears and stared at her plate. "I'm… I apologize, I don't know why I'm telling you this… after causing you misfortune… this is foolishness."

Gray, don't be fooled. She deserved some of it for putting on a bitch face before.

He can't hug her and be nice, and he couldn't stop his comforting words, dumb fucker, "I know what you're going through. I used to work in a monster-big firm, and with all the drama, I think I've lost my job. Although I loved my work at the firm, it's not worth shedding tears. It is what it is. I can't and wouldn't be able to change anything. Oh, it's killing me, absolutely. But things happen for a reason. You… have to have faith that it's happened for the best."

She sobbed, "How can this be for the best? How… You don't understand. You have no idea how hard I worked to join aviation security and manage it. I fulfilled my dream, and now this—and, and for what?! I'm not… damn... I learned to trust no one, yet, what did I do?!"

He sympathized and stood to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's alright. I understand, and… you will too. Trust me. Everything will come to pass. Working under the narrow-minded prick will pass too, though... I don't think he's too bad."

His inner organs were jelly-squishy, and he hated it. This woman was the reason he and his friend ended up in an unfortunate state. On the other positive side of things, he wouldn't have met Natsu if it wasn't for her. If she didn't implant his number as the first emergency contact, Natsu would've met his father, and Gray would've been stuck forever in misery.

He met Natsu, he clarified their problem, and they made up. And that was better than working like a robot trying to forget about someone his soul cared for like it did for no one.

"I'm sorry." Erza sniffed, and he returned to his seat.

"We should get you all unpacked. I'll help."

She shook her head, "You lost your job and your friend almost died... you'll help me unpack? Stop joking around."

"Someone said it's not you. I kinda believe in their words." Gray assured, "And I don't force myself to act nice to people who've hurt me. Take my word for it."

'Unpacking', was it? Two things defined this woman. A psychopath or drugs addict. There wasn't a third.

If Natsu ever caught wind of Gray carrying twenty plus heavy boxes from a pickup truck and climbing up two flights-the same Gray who ditched the triathlon because he was not fine and weak, he would rip his balls off.

But that wasn't the problem.

The problem lied in the elephant trunk, the two swords from the chiwogon fuck-face empire, the twelve-century old knight's armor, and the cremated corpse for good luck. This stuff was for witches, not for a young stunningly beautiful lady who used to work as the aviation security MANAGER.

She should be arrested, not demoted. Was this woman supposed to transfer to the Blue Pegasus military base or the Blue Pegasus Asylum?!

If a mermaid popped out and asked Erza Scarlet for a human form, she would have what it takes to grant her wish. In one of those fucking boxes, something will do the job.

Among all the bullshit, Erza Scarlet's most valuable possessions were her trophies from high school till present, god, she got like loads of'em. Everything else was witchcraft material and garbage.

Ah… to be fair she got incredible sets of underwear with all his favorite colors (Purple, yellow, red).

And bras.

He wasn't enjoying this afternoon. NO.

They discussed the method behind organizing the unique items. Turns out, Erza Scarlet's categorizing system was as screwed up as her mentality.

He was aghast when she threw the underwear box at him, telling him to take care of 'the underwear sets' because she had other important things to look after. Like girl! What could be more important than your own underwear? The heat scorched his ears.

If Natsu knew about this… Probably he will understand, right?

Natsu… he's probably goofing around with his kind officer-kun.

Enjoy the moment visualizing the girl in those.

"Where can I get water?"

Erza Scarlet wiped her forehead, and pointed towards the back, "On the counter."

Gray poured himself a glass and gulped it at once. And there it was… a glimmer in the corner where the sandy boxes stacked on top of one another. A heavy metal device rested on the floor and triggered Gray's obsession towards electronic devices with complicate designs. He stood and rubbed his chin, contemplating about the function the device offered.

"Can I ask?"

She let go of her swords collection with a frown and nodded.

"What's this?"

Her bust puffed out in pride, and her hands held her waist, and her nose rose, "Well-done noticing this piece of pure innovation."

If she had a tail, it'd wiggle.

"It was doing a poor job staying hidden…"

She clenched her fist and put it on her chest as her eyes twinkled, "In Japan, there's only five prototypes. Once, we were visited by a prominent weapon producing company, and they introduced this to us."

"Hmm." And one of the five was with ERZA? The Japanese government is crazy.

"This is a pressure magnificator. How can I explain this to you?" She said, "Ah yes! You know how they test doors durability?"

Gray nodded, "They slam them hundreds of times with different force levels and see how many slams bring the door down. When it comes to fire rating, they have special labs for that where they mimic fires and so on to see how many hours it would last according to the production specification so that the product is certified."

She nodded, "The weapon manufacturing company got the idea from the doors and walls tests. Through this device, you can produce the pressure of barrel thrown at a wall, a chair, a light bottle-"

"-What-"

"-A bomb, a heavy vehicle crashing, a cannon, a long-range rocket, etc. It's all tweaking with the buttons. All you have to do is to set the pressure you require, then throw the device at the object you want to obliterate and it will apply it."

Did he look dumb with his gaped mouth? "So… say I have a car moving and I wanna get it outta my way, I set the device to a bomb explosion, then I do what?"

"You throw it at the car."

"Is that even possible?!"

"With this yes." Erza Scarlet grinned, "It's fascinating, right? Also, use it wisely because it's like a grenade, you throw it, and it's destroyed along with its aim, so usually they won't use it on cars, but bigger threats… unless you set it to something other than an exploding bomb. It has so many settings I'm not aware of."

Sweet heavens, "That's… not fascinating, that's a leap in technology. This is wonderful… and look at the design of this shit… Why are there only five? Why not hundreds?"

Erza rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged, "I'm not sure. They say it has many flaws and problems that they need to find solutions for."

"I can't believe this thing exists… Can I-" Gray cleared his throat, "-Sorry, got carried away."

Erza raised an eye-brow, "Tell me what you have in mind."

"I don't know I…" The desire for knowledge became too vast that he risked and ask, "Can I study it? I'm curious to know how they assembled a piece like this…"

"You like it?" She giggled, "You got it."

"Serious?" Shit, shit, shit! He touched the device with an absent mind, "You can't go back on this offer… I'm gonna take this thing and study it you know? Meaning, It'll be disassembled and rebuilt."

"I'm serious. However, we need to agree on a couple of things first."

Fuck, she gives up on the one thing which isn't witchcraft and a true piece of innovation. Because of her insanity, he gets to study something unique during the long stay. Besides, it'll be a throwback to college days and his previous work where he designed electronic devices for projects.

Oh, he needs music, energy drinks, chips, and his safety glasses. And a desk… and a laptop, and a software to input data. Shit, this is gonna be delicious.

After they agreed on some points, Erza made him sign a spontaneous contract with terms and conditions, such as handing it over after fifteen days since this was a governmental secret, among other things.

"Thanks… this is truly appreciated."

"My pleasure." She smiled.

Anyone sees a problem with this?! This woman was a psychopath handing over governmental secrets to random civilians.

When he comforted her earlier, he didn't think his reward will be this… What if he did more than comforting her? Gray mind smirked devilishly

In the middle of categorizing Erza Scarlet's shoes as per their color spectrum (No one needs so many shoes, NO ONE), while the girl was assembling her honors and rewards, the darkness loomed over the Blue Pegasus military base. How many hours has he been doing this shit?

"Break time." The girl was the first to crack, "I'm starving."

"To be honest, me too." Gray sat on the floor, extending his legs, "My juice ran out."

"Let's get you back to life." She laughed, "My treat."

She was so beautiful when she laughed. Who was he kidding? She's beautiful, and that's that. In any form or shape or mood.

Gray followed her pickup truck to a building close from the Pegasus Grand Institute red-brick building. They parked, and she guided him inside. The building was military barracks; first two floors were services, and one grill restaurant existed on the ground floor.

The juiciness of the steak cheered him. They discussed a variety of topics, and the girl looked best when she smiled and gushed about dumb obsessions or dreams or missions. Her manly pride was another charming trait.

They had dessert and lost the track of time. Differences aside, they gelled perfect, and he thought of asking her out again soon. Making new friendships is nice, and Gray didn't expect this young-lady of all people to become one so fast.

She was such an eye-candy too.

They parted ways from the restaurant after she had told him she would take care of the rest of her belongings. The remaining boxes contained confidential documents, and Gray didn't complain since his shoulder muscles quivered from today's workout.

His Jeep towed the pressure magnificator and his lips grinned all the way back to Unit 8.

YES, he's got so many things to be done with Vance (The pressure magnificator).

The lights were on in Unit 8, signaling his friend's presence. He parked, hopped off the Jeep and pushed Vance's platform into the foyer, and the living room.

'Oh Vance, baby, you're so big.'

Gray worried. One of Erza's terms and conditions was to keep Vance's information confidential. Although he despised lying to Natsu, he needed to.

'Natsu will understand…'

Gray removed his shoes and didn't worry about lying right away since Natsu wasn't in the living room. A hint of Natsu's flowing voice informed Gray that the boy was upstairs—and something in Gray broke.

'Don't tell me he's got the guy home.'

Especially, not in their bedroom. Where they slept together. His feet mounted themselves to the sandy tiles of their living room. The resistance towards progressing into the house dominated him He wasn't ready for something like this… not ever. Natsu had a boyfriend before, and he almost got married, but Gray didn't witness it.

Witnessing it was another thing. Witnessing it would crush him beyond repair.

His thumb brushed over his pocket repeatedly, the spot he stood at was like rocky wavy tides upsetting his stomach.

'You can't run away from it… you have to face it, you're not part of his future.'

Gosh, why was it so difficult? He won't accept Natsu being with someone, yet he couldn't do shit, so how does he solve this problem?

There's only one way. He had to walk up those stairs, kick the motherfucker out, tell Natsu to be in bed with him instead, and to hell with the consequences.

So he did that. He climbed the stairs and marched to their room with adrenaline pumping in his veins.

"I can't… I looked everywhere! He wasn't at the mess hall, and I asked dozens of people if they've seen him but come on! Why will they know?!"

What?

"Please do something! I'm going crazy! If anything happens to him again, I'll die!"

Gray was out of the foreplay dirty talk for a long time since the last meaningless one-night stand he had ages ago, so… maybe he needed an update because that didn't sound sexy.

The idea of Natsu having someone home got overruled.

He leaned on the door frame in their room where Natsu paced back and forth as he held his phone. Natsu's hand grabbed his own pink hair as he spoke.

"No, I can't ask that jackass for help! He hit the pole today in front of his division while giving the speech! Please, anyone else, not him!"

Gray's world revolved once again, his blood pumped with a stable rate, and he sighed. So he didn't have a guy home, that's shit—that's wonderful.

"Ok. Uh-huh. But… yeah… yeah. Please, no. Isn't there anything I can do?"

Who was he speaking to?

"It's all my fault... I went to that stupid country and…"

The minute Natsu faced the door where Gray stood, his body shook as if he'd been spooked by a giant bear. A sharp gasp escaped him, and his mouth was left open. Gray worried because Natsu was all flushed red as if he was getting a fever. He worried even more when Natsu's hand turned to a fist he bit then kneeled.

What the fuck?

Gray mouthed, "Everything alright? What's wrong? Who's this?"

"H-hold on a second. Hold on, wait, I found him…" Natsu jumped to stand on his feet and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm so sorry for all the trouble! Shit, I don't know what to say. Yeah, please tell them it's fine. Yeah, sorry, but I need to go."

Natsu threw the phone and kneeled again, rubbing his face. "Shit…"

"What's happening dude?"

Natsu closed his eyes and breathed hard, "Your phone… where is your phone?"

Gray's fished for the phone in his pocket.

"Fuck." He saw 33 missed calls and 20 texts, and… the silent mode.

Shit… why so many? Why on the fucking silent mode?!

"I s-searched… everywhere… I went to all the security checkpoints with Loke, I scanned the whole Institute, I fucking searched under the leaves, and I swear to god, if you don't give me a damn good explanation RIGHT NOW for not answering your phone, you're doomed."

Natsu took in a long-heated breath, and approached Gray like a predator, and no, not in the sexual nice way. And Gray kept retreating.

"So?"

Shit, why was his phone on silent mode? "wo-wo-wo-Wait—wait! These phones are new, and I'm not used to it, and-"

"Okay…" Natsu's veins pulsed in his arms, "So you have no shit to say! Oh my god, you're so dead!"

His instincts pushed him to run down the stairs with a hammering heart because he knew of Natsu's capabilities at this raging state.

"GRAY FULLBUSTER, YOU'RE FUCKED!"

Gray leaped over the sofa and ran upstairs where Natsu followed him like a Hellhound. They jumped over the bed, down, then up.

Upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs.

They panted standing on either side of the coffee table. If Natsu was correct, he has been through a badass triathlon the whole day with other militants, and Gray has been lifting boxes, and both had no energy left. They were using spare drops that would dry so soon.

Despite of that, Natsu grabbed the nearest object to throw in Gray's direction. A pillow, then a vase that shattered (totally insensitive to Hibiki's ownership of this unit), and when Gray dodged, more sofa pillows, then…

"NO!"

Natsu pulled Vance's trolley and marched to the front, his muscles aching because of the heavyweight.

"NATSU! LEAVE IT RIGHT NOW OR I'LL FUCKING STRANGLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS AND ENJOY IT! DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS IS?! LET IT GO, NOW!"

Gray used the LOOK. The one with knitted eyebrows, clenched jaw, and red-eye gleam with a demonic posture. Believe it or not, it causes fright and intimidation overload. Anyone could've been intimidated, anyone. Not the sucker Natsu Dragneel.

"Oh! Oh! Oh goodness! No!" Natsu spoke with a princess-y tone, "I'm so scared!"

Gray gulped as Natsu attempted to hold Vance.

"Strangle me, you say? You can try ASSHOLE! After I destroy your balls and beat the living shit out of you!"

"BE CAREFUL! Just what is your problem?! I told you it's a fucking new phone, and no one would call anyway, so I didn't care!" Gray panted, "Do you even know how crazy this is? I don't-"

"You fucking vanished. I called around-I dunno, million times?" He panted, "I texted you-" Harsher pants, "-I dunno, a zillion? Nothing! It's so freaking late, and you can imagine the scenarios I have in my head! Don't fuck with me! I called Hibiki freaking Lates when I searched and couldn't find you! You still think I'm crazy?!"

OK YES. Natsu had the right to lose it, but he wasn't wrong! He lost the track of time, and the bullshit PHONE he got from the military administration sucked, so he didn't think of using it even for communication!

"Gray, there's only one way this is gonna end."

"Wait—"

Natsu let go of Vance's trolley and it happened so fast Gray couldn't react. Natsu has jumped over the table with his bare foot and pinned Gray to the floor who shut his eyes and hoped he would get out of this alive.

Nothing came. Not his death, not Natsu's blow. He heard the harsh pants and smelled the raw fiery rage, but nothing came.

"Fucker!" Natsu shouted, got off of him and threw a pillow on his face as he walked off.

Shit… that was so close. Gray spread all his limbs on the floor and let out the breath he held. Natsu didn't beat the crap out of him and he managed to breathe, he was lucky. But why?

He collected himself from the floor and sat on the sofa, rubbing away imaginary dust.

Man that was close. Shit, worried Natsu was no joke. He was that much worried though… shit. And just how insane was it gonna be if Gray barged in, assuming Natsu got a guy home and suddenly asked Natsu to sleep with him?

Gray, you need to calm your shit down, and stop assuming crazy shit all the time.

He rubbed the face of his hand and climbed the stairs for the twentieth time, and Natsu wasn't found in the room they shared. He wasn't in the bathroom either. Gray tried his luck with the room next to his and found the boy sitting on the edge of the bed, panting.

"Nat..." Gray had to demolish his pride and self-preservation this time. Also, he didn't dare to step into the room, and gave Natsu plenty of space.

"Get out. Now. Get out now."

He had done the math and the probability of a positive outcome of a conversation was fairly low, so he retreated.

He had mixed feelings about the incident. Part bounced up and down like a toddler cause Natsu worried for him so much, part was relieved Natsu didn't bring a guy home, part was disappointed he didn't launch his big you need to be with me stunt, and part thought of how to make up with the pink haired boy.

Will he be able to do that though…?

And part groaned that Natsu deserted their bed.

To Be Continued...

Next Chapter Release: TBD.

Special thanks to: mdelpin, deboome, Rennn. Guys, thanks for your lovely comments and support.

Thank you ALL for reading. Feel free to share any comment, inquiry, or advice. I'd love that.

Alright, till next time!

Looooooove,

Flame-Belt