Magic
Chapter 7

Their attempt was fairly quiet. Lucy and Erza had managed to pass the time without seeing any sign of the man they were looking for. In fact, they seemed to be having a please stroll throughout town.

Lucy sighed, annoyed by the lack of action; though she did enjoy her one on one time with Erza.

"I wonder if Natsu and Gray are having better luck?" she asked. "I want to get this over with and go home."

"I agree," Erza mumbled. "We still have to be on our guard, though. This wasn't listed as S-class for no reason."

A wave of nerves fluttered through Lucy's belly. That's right. This was an S-class mission. She hoped she'd be able to pull through a fight without burdening any of her teammates.

She felt Erza bump her elbow. She looked up to see her friend giving her a warm smile.

"When the time comes, I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Lucy felt her cheeks flush from a mixture of appreciation, anticipation, and excitement. Only Erza could make her feel so useful and appreciated.

In fact, she wasn't fazed as a flying blue cat suddenly latched onto her head crying out their names. If anything, the presence of Happy only made her feelings stronger.

"Natsu and Gray are in trouble!" he squeaked, not waiting for the two girls to acknowledge him.

Lucy and Erza both looked in the direction the little cat flew from, both suddenly on their guard.

"What happened?" Erza asked.

Suddenly, the ground shook as an explosion could be heard not far from where they stood. Smoke billowed into the air and immediately people started screaming and running in the opposite direction of the explosion. The two girls tried to push their way through the crowd, attempting to go the opposite direction of the flow of the panicked population. Erza grabbed a hold of Lucy's hand, not wanting them to be separated.

Happy flew above her head. He noticed an empty alleyway, so he pulled her hair and pointed toward the side.

Lucy was pushed and pulled in the midst of the crowd. If not for Erza, she probably would have toppled over and been trampled on. When they reached the quiet of the alley, she felt herself sink to the ground, appreciative of the emptiness.

Erza allowed her friend a few seconds of rest before she pulled Lucy's hand making her stand.

"Let's go," she ordered. Lucy and Happy nodded, and the three of them rushed towards the explosion.

Natsu and Gray walked through the smoke. It seemed like they wren trapped in a large dome, their visibility close to nonexistent. The walls of the alley had disappeared, as well as everything that was scattered on the ground.

"What the hell is going on" Natsu mumbled under his breath.

Gray, having returned to his senses, shook his head. "I don't know, but it's pissing me off. Don't use your magic until we can figure what it is. We don't want you to blow us up if it's flammable."

The rosette gawked at his friend, though secretly glad to see the old Gray again. Whatever happened back there now seemed like a distant dream. Of course Gray wouldn't do that to him! They were both guys. Besides, Gray had Juvia to satisfy any sexual needs he may have had, and, likewise, Natsu had Lucy, though Lucy has yet to allow him access to her sexual self.

Natsu sighed and brought himself back to the problem at hand:

Gray just insulted his self-control!

"I wasn't going to use any magic in the first place," Natsu shot back. "At least, not until I get my hands on that little bastard."

Gray stopped walking. They were going nowhere, everything looked the same. He reached out and grabbed a hold of Natsu's arm to keep him from wandering too far away. Natsu looked back questioningly, but Gray's focus was upwards. Following Gray's gaze, Natsu glanced upwards, wondering if Gray had seen something, a clue in getting out of this foggy mess. There was nothing but a thick fog, the same cloud that swirled around them.

Looking back down at Gray, he noticed the other boy looking around them now. It seemed like a good idea, looking around one's surroundings to get a good feel of where they were. Well, again, there was nothing a thick fog. Natsu knew they were still in the alley - they had to be - but he also noticed the lack of rubble, walls from the buildings that were on either side of him. In fact, he hadn't seen anything since Gray pulled him off the wall earlier.

Gray let go of Natsu's arm and knelt to the ground. He waved his hand at the fog, trying to get it move, but it didn't. He hadn't seen his feet in awhile, and he was starting to wonder if they were even on the ground anymore. Either this was some type of strange magic he had never heard of, or…

Looking back up at Natsu, a sense of dread flowed down his body. Would that explosion be strong enough to kill them? Natsu, maybe, since he was so close to the kid when he blew up the wall. Natsu's eyebrows furrowed, obviously not having come up with the same conclusion he had. Gray couldn't bear the thought of Natsu being dead. He didn't give two shits if his own self was dead, but not Natsu…

Standing up quickly, Gray reached out and grabbed Natsu's cheek, grabbing the skin with his forefinger and thumb, and pinched as hard as he could. The dead can't feel pain, right? So, if the pinch hurts, then they weren't dead!

Natsu blinked at Gray, the raven haired boy slowly feeling the dread fill his whole body. Suddenly Natsu brought his arm back and punched Gray in the face, as hard as the rosette possibly could, sending Gray flying back, landing on his back. The beauty of it was that it hurt….a lot. With a smile, Gray haggardly pushed himself up, wincing as a slight pain ran through his body and focused on his cheek were Natsu punched him.

Natsu was on Gray in a split second, grabbing his shirt with clenched fists. His eyes were flaming, his body was hot. There was a little red spot on his cheek, which Gray thought was tremendously cute considering the situation.

"That hurt, you bastard!" Natsu yelled. "You're standing there, acting all quiet and mysterious and suddenly you pinch me! What the fuck was that for?"

Gray smiled, more than relieved that they weren't dead. They both felt their pain just now, so they were only stuck in some sort of magic that they had never experienced. Gray placed his hand around Natsu's head and brought the boy closer, forcefully putting their lips together. Natsu was only stunned for a moment, realizing that what had happened before might repeat itself, and he wasn't quite okay with it.

Natsu unclenched his fists and pushed against Gray's chest, trying to break away from the kiss, but Gray's hand held him close. Natsu really didn't want to punch his friend again, but if Gray was going to try this again, he might not have a choice.

Natsu's body was fire against Gray's body, but, instead of hurting, it only excited Gray more. He hadn't intended on taking it this far - honestly, he was just so happy that they weren't dead that he suddenly started kissing the other boy - but the more Natsu fought against him, the more he wanted the rosette boy.

Memories of what happened a few moments ago flooded Natsu's mind, and he could feel anxious that it might happen again. Even if Gray had been a girl, this was the wrong place and the wrong time to even be thinking about doing those things to one another. At the moment, he wasn't sure if he had hated the feeling of Gray's tongue touching his most sensitive body part; there were other things going on in his mind to really assess it, just like now. They needed to get out of wherever they were, not sit there with lips locked and Gray's tongue trying to force its way into Natsu's mouth.

Natsu brought his fist back, allowing small sparks of flame bounce off his skin. He only wanted to test heating his body up to the point where it became too unbearable for Gray to be so close to him anymore. The only way he knew how to do this was to set himself on fire, but without the risk of hurting his friend.

Gray could feel the heat of Natsu's body, which he thought was a bit odd. Opening his eyes, the sparking flames of Natsu's fist caught his attention. His eyes widened when he realized what was going on around those flames.

Gray pulled back, his eyes fixated on Natsu's fist. A flame would appear, but the fog around them seemed to almost repel from it.

Natsu stopped the flames, content with Gray not kissing him anymore. He leaned back, and ran his hand through his hair. "Man, we have to get out here. It's really starting to mess with your head."

Gray scooted back a bit. "Natsu, set something on fire."

Natsu blinked and stared at his friend with a blank expression. That seemed pretty random and out of nowhere, and what did either of them have that he could set on fire without hurting themselves?

Gray took off his shirt and threw it on the ground in front of Natsu. Taking the hint, Natsu carefully set a small flame onto the fabric, igniting it immediately. The two boys noticed the change in the fog almost immediately. The smoky substance around them repelled from the flaming shirt, revealing the dirt from the ground upon which they stood.

Natsu smirked, and rubbed his hands together. "I want to apologize, Frosty, but it's about to get extremely hot in here."

Gray smirked back, not fazed in the slightest by the nickname. He backed away from the human inferno as Natsu began conjuring a fireball. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it out unscathed, but as long as they made it out alive, he didn't care.

Natsu held his hands toward the ground, the flame swirling under his palms, the fog instantly disintegrating and flowing madly around the heat. The atmosphere around the two began to clear - they could see the ground, everything around them started becoming clearer as the flame grew. Once the fireball reached from the ground to Natsu's waist, the fire mage began waving his arms around, clearing the fog away as he did so.

The heat hit Gray, and he slumped to the ground. Taking his clothes off right then seemed like a good idea, but watching Natsu throw the fire around stirred Gray's lower regions, and he didn't want to make Natsu any more uncomfortable than he probably already was. Besides, if they got out of this mess soon, he didn't want anyone to see him with a full erection.

Just watching his companion spin and wave that fire around conjured images in Gray's mind. The way Natsu's muscles moved painted a picture of what the boy would look like, sitting on top of Gray, riding him furiously, his cheeks bright red from feeling the pleasure of Gray's dick inside him, Gray's hand pumping the boy's cock as they both get closer and closer to a climax.

Looking down, Gray noticed his hand in his pants. He wasn't sure when he put it there, but his hand was working overtime at the images in his mind. It didn't take him long before he released, wetting the inside of his boxers with that sticky, wet substance.

Natsu held his hands above his head, the fire having cleared a fair amount of the fog around them by then. Gray moved closer to the source of his torment, away from any remaining smoke, hoping that by moving closer to the source, the fire wouldn't get him - though the heat was almost unbearable at that point. Gray could feel his body shaking, not used to that much heat. If it wasn't about life or death, he would have forced Natsu to stop, but he wanted out of there as much as the other guy, and this was the only way.

If only he could get a drink of water, or maybe conjure some ice to cool him down a little, but he couldn't do it. He stuck out his hands, but nothing appeared. It was too hot, the water in the air had all evaporated at that point.

"Hurry, Natsu," he rasped, setting himself down by the other boy's feet.

Natsu pushed his hands once more, sending the fire exploding around them. Gray closed his eyes and hid his face as he endured that last blast of heat.

Erza and Lucy were almost to the explosion site, Happy flying in front, leading the way. They ran as fast as they could, not paying any attention to their surroundings, hoping to get to Natsu and Gray as fast as possible, until, as they came upon another crossroads in the alleys, Lucy stumbled, falling forward. She immediately sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through her body.

She glanced down the crossing alley and saw a boy, leaning against the brick wall a few yards away from her. He held his stomach, and was leaning over. He looked like he was in pain. Had he been caught in the explosion? Did something ricochet and hit him? She stood up and made her way over to him.

Erza stopped, noticing Lucy not running with her anymore. She walked back, not curious in the least what had caught Lucy's attention; they had to keep moving if they expected to get to their friends in time.

Lucy bent over so she was eye level with the boy. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The boy jumped and backed away from her. He seemed frightened at first, but once he registered that it was just a girl, he glared and spat at her. "Get the fuck away from me, bitch."

Lucy blinked and straightened up. Her fists clenched, but she refused to hit the little brat.

Erza, however, suddenly appeared behind the kid and grabbed his shirt collar, raising him the air so he was face to face with her.

"Hey, kid, aren't you too young to be talking like that?"

The boy struggled, but Erza was stronger…he wasn't going anywhere. Kicking his feet, the boy grumbled and grunted.

Happy hovered over Erza's shoulder, recognition suddenly hitting him. "That's the one who Natsu was chasing," he squeaked. "He was the one who caused the explosion!"

Erza's glare became deadly, making the boy stop struggling and wet his pants. He reached into his pocket and threw out the glinting object.

"Fine, take it! I don't understand why you people want it so bad, anyway. It only belonged to some pervert anyway."

Lucy picked up the object, and gasped. It was the needle they were looking for. She was surprised to see it golden, and encrusted in tiny diamonds. Who decorated a sewing needle like that?

She pocketed the needle and waited for Erza to finish with the boy.

"Who else wanted that thing?" she asked.

The boy opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a sudden explosion happened behind Lucy - causing her to jump and fall to the ground, her hands over her head - as a ball of fire suddenly appeared. Erza lowered the boy a little - without letting up on her grip - and watched in amazement as two figures took shape as the fire died down.

Natsu slumped to the ground next to Gray, who looked as if he had been knocked out. Taking a deep breath, Natsu placed a hand behind his head and gave his friends a wide smile.

"That took a lot more energy than I expected," he said, before the realization that they had finally escaped hit him, and he fell onto Gray, passing out.

-A week later, back at Fairy Tail-

Lucy and Natsu sat at a table, Lucy separating the money into four equal parts, Natsu stuffing his face with a random assortment of foods.

The needle had been returned safely to its original owner. Erza managed to squeeze information about an organized underworld crime group who specialized in the trafficking of rare and valuable goods. After extracting that information, she took on a side solo-mission and destroyed that organization. Natsu and Gray were forced to stay in a hotel for two days to recover while Lucy and Erza returned the needle. When the boys awoke, the group immediately made their way back home.

Lucy stretched her arms over her head, finally finished with distributing the money. She pocketed her share and pushed Natsu's share to him. He grabbed the money and shoved it in his pocket, not missing a bite of his food.

"I'll need you to take Gray his share," Lucy said, picking up Erza's share and tapping it, making sure the pile was uniform and neat.

At the mention of Gray, Natsu dropped his chicken leg and stared at Lucy. Naturally, Natsu had been avoiding Gray the whole time they had been back - which seemed fairly easy considering Gray seemed to be avoiding him as well - and he didn't think he was ready to face Gray just yet. The things Gray did to him when they were stuck in the smoke bubble didn't erase itself from Natsu's memory, and he was sure Gray remembered it as well. He wasn't comfortable being alone with Gray.

Natsu laughed at himself. Uncomfortable in Gray's presence? Like anyone would be uncomfortable around that walking popsicle. Natsu knew that the things Gray did were initiated because the smoke somehow affected him. Honestly, it affected Natsu as well. Had Gray done any of those things on a normal day, Natsu would have beat that guy to a bloody pulp without any remorse.

Grabbing the money off the table, Natsu stood and made his way out of the Fairy Tail headquarters, on his way to Gray's place.
-line break-
Gray was ashamed, to say the least. Even though it had been a few weeks since that event happened, and they were all healed and healthy, he still couldn't believe that he did what he did. After he woke up in the hotel room, the memory of him masturbating in front of Natsu mortified him, and he had been unable to look Natsu in the face since then. Even now, he cowardly hid in his room, not wanting to risk running into his friend.

Gray laid on his bed, his arm over his eyes.

What if Natsu had seen him? Gray didn't give Natsu the time to explain whether he had seen it or not. If he did, add on all the other things Gray did to him in that place, and Natsu would show up with an intent to kill.

But, was it Gray's fault that Natsu was incredibly attractive? Was it Gray's fault that the images of Natsu brought erotic things to mind? Gray wouldn't exactly blame Natsu, either, but any guy in Gray's situation would probably have done the same.

Gray suddenly remembered the feel of Natsu's manhood against his tongue. If only the boy had allowed him more time than that split second. The organ had been burning hot, and it burned Gray's tongue a little.

Presently, Gray could feel his tongue tingling at the memory. He stuck his tongue out and gently touched it with the tip of his finger. Closing his eyes, he could visualize Natsu laying under him, in full detail, like in his memory, only this time he wasn't struggling. He wrapped his tongue around his finger, and smirked as his imaginary Natsu gasped and twitched. His imaginary lover whispered sweet words of encouragement, gasping aloud as Gray began sucking.

"Aah…Gray…don't…ah ah…"

Gray grunted as his own dick twitched, asking for attention. He removed his finger from his mouth and quickly placed his hand in his pants. Imaginary Natsu rolled over, showing off his firm, smooth ass, begging for Gray to penetrate.

"Fuck me, Gray…"

Gray rolled over and moved his hips, pumping into his hand, imagining it was Natsu underneath him. He imagined the bed rocking hard against the wall.

Knock…knock…knock…

"Gray…ah…yes…harder…"

Gray thrusted faster.

"Gray?"

"Ah, god, Natsu…"

Knock…knock…knock…"Gray, open up! I've got the mission money!"

He opened his eyes, brought back to the real world. Natsu wasn't under him, he was outside his home. He pulled his hand away and rolled off his bed, trying his hardest to hide all evidence of what he had been doing. He had already taken his shirt off, he adjusted his pants, ruffled his hair, and opened the door.

Natsu held up the bag of money. Gray took the bag and bounced it in his hand. "Bout time," he grumbled, sending Natsu a smile.

The rosette shrugged. "It was a lot. Not to mention Lucy was the one counting. Apparently she lost her place a few times."

"Thank you."

The boys stared at each other for a moment, both thinking the same thing, but with different emotions to accompany it. Gray wanted nothing more than to grab his Salamander and ravage him, and Natsu wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave.

Clearing his throat, Natsu nodded. "You're welcome," he mumbled. He turned around to leave, but Gray called out to him.

"I want to say I'm sorry for everything that happened."

Gray knew Natsu was feeling uneasy about the whole thing, but he still wanted to patch things up. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he and Natsu were no longer friends because of something so simple as what had happened - was it really so simple?

Natsu shrugged and smiled. "Forget it. Nothing actually happened. It was just the effects of the smoke, anyway."

Gray held out his hand, offering it for a handshake. Natsu looked at it a bit warily, almost as if it were a snake and was going to bite him. In the end, he took Gray's hand, and they shook.

"Still friends?" Gray asked.

"Yeah," Natsu replied, nodding.

"Good." Gray tightened his hand on Natsu's and pulled him so he was against Gray's chest. Gray placed his hand behind Natsu's head and kissed him, deeply, but briefly. He immediately let go. "That's a promise." He smirked and closed the door, leaving Natsu staring at the door, wide eyed, mouth hanging open.

A promise for what? He would be okay if it were a promise to stay friends, but what if Gray meant something else?

Natsu turned around and ran from Gray's room, not wanting to stick around any longer to find out.