Author Notes:

Warnings: Swearing - Sexual themes/Content.

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

Story Cover Art: Astrovique.

Beta Reader: 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 Fourteen O.o.O

Fukuoka, Japan – 10:30AM – Blue Pegasus Base, Unit 8

Ten freaking minutes please. His eyes begged for a ten-minute rest. Orange sparks flew from the metal welding-Why the FUCK did he have to deface the interface? GRAY! Name one good reason. None? Yeah, NO SHIT.

Bullshit amateur move. He had to pay the price: Staying up all night, plus, stressing about fixing what he's destroyed because Erza Scarlet wasn't so forgiving. She'd deface Gray if she found Vance was defaced.

"Fuck you man. Motherfucker, you're a piece of shit who thinks himself a prodigy and you go fuck up. Why? Fuck you dude." His voice was a distant echo from the soul that left his body around 5:00AM.

"Amazingly, you have lost your mind." Natsu's bitching was the last he wished to hear (his alarm-clock comes BEFORE Natsu at this point), especially, not so early, "The bloody hell are you doing man?"

"Um, Porn." Gray crossed his legs under the study desk, his internal voice chanting a melody to remain calm as he welded the metal with caution.

"Seriously, haven't you had sleep at all?!"

"Baby it's porn. You open one video, then you find yourself sucked in deep. Don't you see me jerking off and how my cock's enjoying it?"

"Excuse me-"

"Ohh~~ what's love got ta do, got ta do with it~~ What's love but a second hand emotion~~ What's love got ta do, got ta do with it~~ Who needs a heart~~ When a heart can be broken~~ Ah oh~~ Ah oh~~ What's love, what's love~ Baby don't hurt me~~"

Those 20 hours he hadn't had a wink of sleep burnt the motherboard of his brain. If that shitty wire didn't repair itself, he'll go mad for real.

"Woot, we're back to college. What's up? Got a project submission?"

College days were both the best and worst. Gray pulled three all-nighters in a row, sometimes an entire week, and Natsu witnessed and lived those days. In fact, the only beverages Natsu made in the kitchen safely were Gray's coffee and vanilla milkshake. He mastered it like no one else, and it was strange, now that he thought about it.

Usually such an action shows that a person is head over heels for someone, but whom was he kidding?

"That it's only the thrill~~ Of boy meeting girl~~ Opposites attract~~ It's physical~~ Only logical~~ What's love~~ Ah oh~~" Gray smirked as sparks flew. Being an asshole was fun.

"Being your jackass self, I see. Okay! I'm hungry. I'm gonna take the Jeep, ok?"

"Why~~? Baaaaaby whyyyyyyyy~~?"

"To buy us breakfast."

"From where? Special military store?"

"Yup. You're beat, we've missed the mess hall meal, no one's cooking, and I ain't starving myself, so, the dreaded sandwiches again."

"Good call."

Gray's safety glasses reflected baby blue and orange sparks. He wished Natsu said the special military store wasn't his destination. The questions last night about Natsu's conduct rushed to his head, and his fingers squeezed around the metalic tool.

"Want anything specific?"

"What do they have?" Gray mumbled, "Shit, fuck. Do they have soft drinks? No, wait. I don't need it. Tell you what, get the sandwiches. I'll be sleeping, so take the keys with you. Don't you dare wake me up until I do on my own."

"Aye captain."

"Good boy." Gray blew against the wire and yelled, overjoyed, "OH YESSSS! I DID IT BABY! HOOYAH! I DIDN'T RUIN A MILLION DOLLAR WEAPON!"

"Aye." Natsu was emotionless.

Gray's suspicious eyes appeared behind the safety glasses after the sparks stopped. He analyzed the boy leaving in silence, and if Vance wasn't a million-dollar weapon, and Erza Scarlet-the very much officer of the law-wasn't the owner, he'd have thrown it across the room and pulverized it till it wasn't recognizable.

He wanted to ask Natsu so bad about a lot of things, but the answers terrified him. How far has Natsu changed? Just how far?

'Go sleep. You're tired and grumpy and bitchy.'

His sucker laptop grabbed his attention after it had displayed a long ass message, one that he couldn't shut off and head to bed in peace.

"Fuck…"

"OH MY GOD! What in God's name are you doing NOW? Didn't you say you'll be sleeping?"

"I swear I was going to, but double penetration and sex toys… dude, can't stop. I'm so horny right now."

Natsu dragged Gray from his laptop and study room along the corridor, then tossed him on the sofa in the living room.

"Enough you bastard! Wait here until I'm finished!"

The hint of red on the boy's cheeks signaled abashment from Gray's 'porn' comment. In normal cases he'd find that adorable, but not then.

"Let's go, come on."

Natsu's hand on his arm was a scorpion's sting. It expelled sleep, replaced it with pain, anger, and annoyance. Annoyance that has exploded as he flung Natsu. The boy flew, tumbled on the floor, and almost hit his head against the coffee table's glass edge.

'What am I…? Shit…'

Natsu was helping. He brought them food, he worried about Gray, he dragged Gray so that they could eat breakfast together. Because Gray couldn't go without breakfast. And what did Gray do? The guy stared at Gray as if he had pushed him off a dangerous deep cliff, intentionally, willingly. He had skipped breathing, and not a limb moved off the floor. Not a 'why the hell did you that for?', not 'You're dead!'. Nothing.

Gray was so self-conscious. How was he going to nurse this?

"Coming, so noisy. My head's about to explode."

If he ignored it, his friend won't take it to heart. That's what he wished for because that was his best bet.

Two minutes later, Natsu trudged towards the dining table. Instead of taking the seat next to Gray, he maintained a one-seat gap and unwrapped the shopping items. That one-seat gap signaled for a cracking rift between them.

Gray's mind soothed him with the thoughts the pressure magnificator's model he obtained lately. Whoever created the device's manual registry was fucked up. They wrote text worthy of a science book, followed by appendices of helpful graphics and the physical model, deliberately dumping both in a cave (on the flash drive) for exploration, or NOT.

That was so user-friendly, thank you very much sickos.

He ended up having the laptop on his left side on the dining table and his food on the right side.

Gray ate while zooming in and out of the model viewer. That doesn't mean his mind was clear enough to process.

Natsu opened his mouth to talk so Gray replied, "It's porn. Sick one. Sadistic."

"I'm sure." Natsu rolled his eyes, "What are you doing?"

"After so much explanation?" Gray chewed, "You disappoint me."

"Are you ever giving me a decent reply? What the hell is that giant bug doing on your desk? Where did you get it from?"

"Giant bug? You offend me." Gray sipped from the tea, "Ahhh, so warm. Natsu, boring stuff. You wouldn't understand anyway."

"Try me." Natsu's used a high tone, thickening with exasperation.

"Later. Can't focus on anything now."

"You sure are doing on the screen."

"Closed." Gray shut the screen and took a huge bite of the smoked turkey sandwich with cheese.

Fuck! He was starving. Thanking Natsu for getting the food was only right, but words refused to come out when he required them to.

"I'm gonna sleep. Can't do this whole staying awake thing any longer."

Natsu stuffed the remaining sandwiches in the fridge, "I'll attend the afternoon practice with Loke, just so you know."

"Just so you know~ This feeling's takin' control-"

Natsu hurled the wet kitchen towel at him.

"Hmmm…" Gray raised the towel with his finger tips and put it aside, "I knew it was Loke. Why so slow in taking a serious leap with him?"

"Ah fuck. Sleep. You need lots of sleep."

"Whatever you say." Gray stretched, "Don't be late."

"Yes, daddy."

What the hell was Natsu contriving? If Loke's not his type, and Natsu damn well knows the guy's hitting on him (he has seen that on the first day), why would he lead him on? Either Natsu was too damn oblivious like a virgin (he ain't one), or Gray read WAY too much into it.

His behavior brought a sour taste in Gray's mouth.

'He enjoys his company, that's all.'

That twisted behavior disturbed him after a whole decade of visualizing his friend as a pure, warm, and kind soul.

Did… Natsu change?

The bed was inviting and big. He removed the safety glasses, his cloths, and sunk into the mattress, incapable of working his brain further.

Fukuoka, Japan – 9:00PM – Blue Pegasus Base, Unit 8

Ok, what, when, who, which era was he in?

The heavy showers thumped against the window and pulled him out of his peaceful slumber. He expected the afternoon drill of the aircrafts to do it, and he was wrong.

Curse global warming, it was fucking May in Fukuoka.

He reached out for his phone, relief washing over him that a day hadn't passed. He has still got Vance for another day. Outside, the showers washed the landscape, while the lamp posts and vehicles reflected yellow and pink glow on the ripples streaming on the streets.

A yawn escaped him. For a minute, the disturbing dreams and thoughts hushed, and the water thumping appeased his heart. Despite of life complexity, the drama, the heartache, the action, the terror, a dazed smile relaxed his tension, and his eyes, those which reflected the darkest segments of the ocean, captured the tricolor glimmerings emanating outside.

Those vibrant colors in the dark were too beautiful to shun even when he put on the safety glasses to restart his research.

Natsu was nowhere in Unit 8. He said he'd join Sergeant Loke's training in the afternoon, and now it was nine evening. It gave him the sense of a reversed déjà vu.

Natsu was the missing one now.

Gray picked his phone and dialed Natsu's number.

"Hey you. You're up?"

"No, this is the parallel world me from steins gate."

"Always so funny."

"Where're you at?"

"Somewhere. Who gives a fuck?"

"Are you kissing a guy under the rain or something?"

"Yeah and enjoying it."

"Fucker, where're you?"

"I'm kissing a guy under the rain~ Hey, don't interrupt my blooming romance."

"You can never have romance, you're useless."

"Oh fuck off Gray-" A harsh sneeze, then a sniffle, "…Shit."

"Dude?"

"… I'm waiting for it to stop raining. Stuck I guess."

"Why're you stuck? Where's the chivalry of your boyfriend?"

Natsu sniffled and laughed, "I wanted to go alone."

"Now you're defending him?"

"No dude, I told him I needed to go on my own, period."

"I'll pick you up." Differences between them aside, Gray wasn't gonna let Natsu freeze and die.

"No, It's okay, it's fun. When was the last time I've seen it rain here?"

"I'll pick you up," Gray wore his black shirt, and black jacket and… fuck, where was his pants? "Location please."

"I said it's okay."

"It's not okay, you said you're stuck."

"No-that's-listen, I don't want you to come."

"I said, I'll come pick you up, so answer the damn question."

"… And I said it's okay. Continue watching your porn, I'll be fine."

"Why is your performance being that of a senseless girl?"

"Wah-Why is your performance being that of a jerk?" He snapped.

"I'm the good guy trying to help, in what way is that jerky?"

"Asshole. You've been acting like a stick was shoved up your ass since yesterday, and I dunno why. I mean… for god's sake, you're so unreadable. Bipolar psycho."

"Are we gonna have this conversation now? Really?"

"So typical. Keep dodging conversations. I'm fine with it. I've taken a lot of shit from you and kept quiet because then I'd be a pussy if I do nothing but complain, but this time, you've gone too far. We were laughing and cracking jokes, the next minute—no, no-second-I'm trash! Why? What did I do? This is SO not fair, and you don't wanna have a conversation, to hell with you."

"…"

"At least I beat you up and hurt you physically when I'm mad. You… you, you're the worst. You keep quiet, you keep on bruising me in places where it hurts like a bitch and its unseen and I'd have no idea why. Fuck you, enough with your bullshit."

Natsu hung up on him.

Somebody, please tell him this didn't sound like a girl throwing a fit? Gray knows Natsu's gay and shit, but that was ridiculous. Gray sat in driver's seat and sighed as he fastened the seat belt, ruffling his hair to get rid of the few rain drops.

His ego was crumbling as he called the gayest in town.

"Give it a rest man. I thought I told you to fwwuck owwff."

"Ok gay boy, where're you?" Gray sniggered, "Bitch, stop sneezing."

Natsu sniffled, "None of your business."

"I promise we'll talk. I do, but first you have to let me come and get you."

"No, we need not to talk. We can remain in this loop for god knows how long your mood is up for it, and it'd be okay."

"Natsu. I'm serious. I'm coming your way, and you're not gonna stop me. Now, where the fuck are you?"

Gray saw Natsu's figure from afar. His back leaned against the wall of the steel framed workshop they visited before. The white and red checkered shirt stuck to his body as water drops rolled down the pink strands of hair, and his bare elbows. Natsu ignored his presence and his annoyance resonated in the air, five meters away in a large Natsu-gnetic field.

Natsu stared at the moon as Gray tapped on the Jeep's steering, expecting Natsu to jump in.

"Shall we?"

"I told you where I'm. Doesn't mean I'm coming with you."

Gray exhaled and honked, "When are you gonna stop being so childish? Hop on before anyone thinks I'm freaking flirting with you."

"Just leave then."

"Look at me." Gray ordered, "You wanna talk here?!"

"I doubt you have anything to say."

"Natsu, get in the car. We'll talk when we get home, I promised you that, didn't I?"

Natsu pursed his lips and his eyebrows furrowed. Gray exited the vehicle and pulled Natsu from the arm towards the passenger seat. He expected resistance, but Natsu moved with him like he's lost all hope, that rain has sated his fighting spirit.

"Come. Let's go." He opened the door and when Natsu was seated, Gray fastened the seatbelt for him.

As he drove them back, Natsu sneezed twice, and had his face looking the other way.

"So? Talk."

They weren't three minutes in Unit 8 when Natsu demanded an explanation for Gray's actions. He had refused sitting or drying his soaked self or doing anything other than listening to Gray's excuse. Boy, he hated this. They were about to be pushed apart once again, if they went through with this conversation. There was no way they were finishing this off unscathed. He'd be scarring Natsu, and he tried his best avoiding it.

But his friend asked for it.

"I feel you changed." Gray pushed his glasses and crossed his arms, "I'm not certain, but that's what I want to know."

"Huh?" Natsu was lost. Of all things he thought he'd be confronted with... this wasn't it. "Excuse me?"

In Gray's eyes, a ferocious winter raided the warm endearment breezes he showed Natsu whenever he was near. They were condemning, insulting.

"You helped Ondrej, he helped you, cool. There's no real basis why a relationship came out of it. Did you like him for real? Were you taking advantage of his connections? I can't tell."

"… What-"

Gray flashed his palm towards Natsu, "And Loke. He's after your ass and you know it, so why mingle with this guy if you're not interested? Hell, if it's a genuine relationship, I understand, but what are you playing at? That's what I'm thinking of, and that's why I keep quiet, because I know how this sounds."

Natsu's hand held his own arm as he stared at his muddy trainers. His shoulders trembled, not from the cold, but from the bullet Gray shot at him. That's why Gray despised talking.

Natsu swallowed and gave him a thin smile. "You think I'm a cheap bitch." Something in his throat muffled his voice.

Why does Natsu have to be so stupid?

"—That's—nnnnot what I was trying to-"

"-No, that's what you're trying to say."

"No. It's weird, that's all-"

"—Lemme ask you. You think I was having sex with him or Loke now for material or something?"

Yes.

"See?" Natsu's bitter laugh reverberated.

'Shit…'

"Let's forget we ever talked about this, let's just-"

"I'm not." Natsu swallowed, his nose red from the chilly weather and earlier sneezing, "It all depends on how you see it." He waited to gather his stuttering voice, "You know pretty well that I travelled to Guinea to-to help Alzack, right?"

Gray didn't respond.

"He has a little girl." Natsu's voice regained health and delight, "Asuka's so pretty. She helped her daddy and mommy whenever she could. She's a sweetheart, like a magical girl in a damn cliché fairy-tale."

His smile disappeared as he looked down again, "Because of the constant fears that her father might leave his unstable business in Guinea, Asuka cried a lot. She'd be leaving her friends… and she liked a cute boy too-his name's Aaron. She asked for my help. Both kids did… and I…"

Gray pictured it happening because kids always gravitated towards Natsu's kindness.

"Once, I lost someone precious, so I related to her tears, and I wanted to do anything to not break her heart as mine was, even though she's a little thing. I told myself, man she's so young, that's unfair! I hoped I could save her somehow you know, cause she… she doesn't deserve that for the angel she is."

"And… like a miracle or something," Natsu chuckled with a sniffle, "...Ondrej was persistent to help, Alzack and I were astonished. I seized this chance, and… whenever Ondrej asked me to go out with him, I did because I was frightened if I refused, he'd stop aiding Alzack, but I found him likeable, and that's what it was. He was likeable, not a marriage likeable."

Gray listened to every word, but cringed inwards.

"So... Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe I was faking it for material and it bit me in the ass. But if you tell me to look at what I've done and show regret, I won't because Asuka is happy and Alzack is stable."

Natsu's hold tightened on his arm and said, "I'm guilty with Loke's thing… I admit. I promised myself that I was gonna learn a lesson from Ondrej's case, but… he had something that I needed."

Gray raised an eye-brow.

Natsu rubbed under his nose with the back of his hand the annoying rain water and licked his lips.

"… When Gajeel took our guns and the other bag, it had something I needed, so I used him to get into Gajeel's office during the triathlon." Natsu bit his lower lip, his smile joyless, "He knows now. He said, Natsu you're a dick, but I like you and shit. Gray, he and I are great friends and he's acting kindly on his own."

Natsu's cheeks flushed, and his lips trembled as he talked, "In the past three years I've gone through loads of shit you can't imagine. And you're right, I have changed."

'No. You haven't.'

When they became friends, Natsu's kindness and care towards his friends astonished Gray. Natsu was a delinquent, but he would sacrifice a lot to save a friend in need, and Gray should've known better. It was the very reason Natsu respected Gray after he had saved him countless times.

Natsu's methods may be changed, but his core didn't. Never. His dumbass was still the dumbass he knew. Why did he think otherwise? Why did he picture Natsu as the guy himself nicely put 'cheap bitch'? At the very first shout of need in the airport, Gray has failed his friend judging that he was guilty with a forged passport, and he continues to fail him.

Natsu turned towards Unit 8 entrance door, "I'll go. You obviously can't breathe the same air I do in this stuffy place. Thanks for everything so far." Natsu's voice fell as he exited.

What… Natsu was walking out of his life. Gray walked out of Natsu's life, and it had his insides torn mercilessly. Earlier, Natsu had asked him to stay because he couldn't do the whole-we're apart thing-anymore. Truth is, Gray was the one who couldn't do it anymore.

Natsu was the reason he could breathe again, smile, laugh, feel warm things that a human is supposed to feel. Anger was one thing he restored too. Before, Gray didn't blink when Erik sent countless emails underrating his work and bruising his corporate reputation. He owned that shit and harnessed sadism from it then turned it to revenge.

Anger? Natsu always stirred that in him. Sometimes, it was fierce. But that's fine, because that boiling anger was accompanied by care and the need to protect.

'What a chicken.'

He strode out of unit 8 towards the only person who mattered.

The showers wetted his jacket and shirt as if he had taken a dip in the swimming pool. He had to remove his glasses to see the fool who he had gripped his arm to prevent him from making a mistake. Natsu didn't look back, but he resisted Gray's hold.

"'Thanks for everything so far' my ass. Dude, get back inside, this is stupid."

"I…" Gray attempted to pick up Natsu's words, "I shouldn't have come back to your life… I can't. I'd rather die than have you look at me this way, let go… oh god, let go."

"In what way am I looking at you?"

Natsu raised a hand to grip at his own chest, "… like dirt. Like I've lost all my worth and respect from you. I can't stand that, and I won't live with it. Please, I need to go. I'll come later to get my belongings, and I'll ask Loke to stay in the military barracks until we-"

"-Honestly? I didn't think you'd be such a fat chicken."

Natsu's muscles stiffened under his touch.

"One question and you're hauling ass. And you're blaming it on the way I looked at you? Of course I was furious seeing your conduct because it's the perfect trouble magnet. I don't want you in trouble."

Natsu snatched his arm. His back shook with cold and the locked up heated tears, "You always… talk like you know every damn thing when you don't. Unlike you… I care… I care about how I'm looked at by you, that's everything to me… and I've lost that."

Are you serious? Worldwide reporters, please come and witness the idiocy and obliviousness of this guy. Gray didn't deny his pride blossomed from those words, or the floating sensation in his gut, but he marveled Natsu's stupid insecurity. If Natsu died and lived so many times, he wouldn't understand the way Gray looked at him. How his look went far beyond cloths, body… just straight to the heart.

He wanted to own Natsu's heart.

"So, you're gonna discard the way I looked at you all those years and will continue to 'cause of a random confusion? You're giving up on me?" Gray's voice sliced through the rain.

"…" Natsu flinched and looked ahead, "You don't-"

"-You don't wanna leave, and I don't want you to. It doesn't make sense that you do." Gray clenched his fists, "Turn around, and haul ass back here, unless you want me to drag it myself."

The seconds Natsu didn't move in, lasted for long. Gray prepared himself to force Natsu into the house and fight hours for it because he couldn't let go, not now when the pieces of their friendship are still sticky with the glue that put them back together.

"Natsu. Here. Now."

The drums of his heartbeats resonated in his ears and his friend turned. His damp hair stuck to his forehead, his red nose breathing slow, and two tears hung on the corner of his green eyes. He progressed towards Gray, lips quivering until he wrapped both of his arms around Gray's neck.

"I… don't wanna leave. But if you don't want me, I'm gone... No matter how I hate it, I just can't."

"But I need you."

Gray squeezed Natsu in his hug. His life and breath returning.

"I do."

Never came a moment so certain that he wanted Natsu by his side.

To be Continued...

Next Chapter Release: TBD. My (expectation) is 15 days, subject to change.

Special thanks to: Ren, mdelpin, deboome, Jo. Guys, your support means the world to me. I hope this story brings joy and anticipation for all.

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