Gray always assumed heartache would hurt. Like a pain in his chest, or something. The name had to come from somewhere. Instead, it was as though he felt nothing at all. No pain or anger or disappointment. Gray wasn't even certain he felt apathy, which didn't seem right if he felt nothing else, but then who was he to say how heartache was supposed to go?

There hadn't been any jobs that would take Gray out of the country forever, so he settled for one that would take over a week a few towns over, then never checked out of his hotel room. Some little voice in the back of his mind, one that had yet to break free of old habits, told him that this was a bad idea. He needed to save up as much as he could so he wouldn't need to work too frequently while looking after Natsu. He didn't like that little voice. That little voice was just rubbing it in that Natsu was gone.

At one point, Gray considered seeing how much he could drink before he needed to be rushed to the hospital to get his stomach pumped, but he refrained. Drinking that much would cut into his hotel budget, which meant going back home faster. Going home meant dealing with all those suspicious looks from everyone. All his guildmates wondering what he'd done to Natsu. No… feeling vindicated in their suspicions that he was bad for Natsu. He wasn't. He'd tried so hard to make sure Natsu was safe and happy, and it was unbearable to have everyone suspect him. Even the townspeople were picking up on the guild's attitude, noticing Natsu with others when, previously, Natsu was only out with someone other than Gray when Gray was out of town. He didn't want to go back to that.

Worse, once he went back to Magnolia, he might see Natsu. Natsu being friends with Lucy, but not talking to him. Sting visiting Natsu, and Natsu loving Sting over Gray. Natsu… Natsu…

Natsu who was sick and needed a lot of help. Natsu who Gray was a terrible person for thinking of so selfishly. If Natsu wanted to try and move forward with his life and that meant finding someone, then all the power to him. But Gray? Gray was his caretaker, emphasis on the was part. His role was to help Natsu manage with his disease, not to use the fact that they were (emphasis on the were) doing everything together to further his own romantic interests. If it weren't for the part where Natsu hated him so much for something he didn't remember doing as to have Makarov forcibly separate them, it would be better that Natsu was with Lucy now. It removed any ethical dilemmas involved in Gray wanting to…

Gray shook the impure thought from his head. Whether or not he was Natsu's caretaker, that had to qualify as taking advantage of him. Even a little kiss when Natsu couldn't fight back would be wrong.

It would have truly been better if Natsu never developed Suraci's in the first place, and Gray had realized what he wanted while they were both in good health. Maybe they could have gotten trapped during a job and lost themselves in a kiss while waiting for the girls to rescue them, or something similarly sappy and clichéd.

On second thought, Gray thought he needed that alcohol poisoning after all.

-o-

The bartender cut him off before he could get too drunk, which was annoying. Gray didn't even feel any better, for as loopy as he'd gotten himself.

He stumbled out of the bar with the intent of finding a seedier dive that wouldn't care how drunk he got so long as he paid for everything upfront, but no sooner had he turned down the street than did he see the last person in the world he wanted.

Gray wasn't too wasted to realize, when he spotted Sting and Rogue across the street chatting, that it would spare him a drunken confrontation if he walked on and focused on his next dive. Then again, he was pissed about the situation with Natsu, and there was the asshole who stole Natsu's heart away from Gray, just standing there laughing like some kind of idiot who's whole life hadn't just fallen apart. He wanted a confrontation with Sting. That old guy who was in charge of Gray's guild, whatever his name was, would probably let Natsu stay with Sting too, and just thinking of that pissed Gray off.

"What're you doing here?" He shouted.

Sting glanced back at him, scowling, and almost turned to face Gray fully, but Rogue grabbed his shoulder and said something to stop him.

Gray waited long enough for Rogue to let go before yelling, "You too chicken t' come over and face me?"

Rogue didn't have the chance to grab Sting before the blond bolted across the street, forcing a magic 4-wheeler to swerve around him, and then Rogue was too busy apologizing to the driver to stop Sting from tacking Gray to the ground.

"Where's Natsu?" Sting demanded. "You leave him to fend for himself again?"

"You would ask about him first thing," Gray spat, which even he realized didn't make a whole lot of sense. Natsu was the first thing everyone asked him about. Or course Sting would ask right away.

"I'll take that as a yes. It's a wonder anyone trusts you with him."

In all fairness to Sting, there has been no word from Natsu since Gray picked him up, and no statement from the guild as to changes in Natsu's care. In fact, Fairy Tail still hadn't put out any official information about Natsu's condition. Sting might have suspected that the comment warranted a punch, be he had no reason to realize just how sensitive a landmine he stepped on.

When Rogue reached the two, Gray had already flipped Sting over on his back and given the blond what would develop into two black eyes.

"Calm down!" Rogue shouted, straining his voice to be heard above their incoherent yelling. "Both of you calm down!"

Neither of them, of course, calmed down just from Rogue insisting they do. Rogue grabbed Gray's shoulder and tried to pull him off, but Gray wiggled out of his grasp. Hissing in frustration, Rogue jumped into Gray's shadow, then grabbed Sting and pulled him in as well.

Gray was drunk enough that when Sting slipped through the pavement, he still punched twice more before realizing he was only going to do damage to himself. Angry, he stood, took a moment to make sure he had his balance, then slurred, "Say that again, you bastard."

"Let me go, Rogue," Sting's voice rose from the ground. "I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Sting, no. He's drunk."

"All the more reason."

Rogue emerged, leaving Sting behind in Gray's shadow. It was Gray's anyway, so Sting would be dragged along with them. When Gray swayed, Rogue hooked an arm under the man's elbow.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get you back to your hotel. We can talk calmly there."

"I'm not doin' calm."

"We can talk calmly, or I can chain you to the bed, and then we'll talk until you're calm enough for me to let go," Rogue said, voice somehow conveying a world of annoyance by maintaining a perfectly even tone. "I think you might need some sleep before you're up for intelligent conversation anyway. We'll get you something non-alcoholic to drink on the way to bed, and hopefully you won't be too hungover."

Rogue made a point of stamping a foot on Gray's shadow with the first step the two of them took together, and Sting dared not give a quip about how Gray deserved whatever headache he had coming.

-o-

Gray dozed while they waited for the alcohol to wear off. He woke with a mild headache and one hand cuffed to the frame of his hotel bed, and it took him a moment to figure out why.

"You actually had a chain on you?" he asked, looking around until he spotted Rogue playing cards with Frosch and Lector on a table against the wall. "What the heck? Please tell me you bought these after I passed out."

"I wasn't convinced you'd keep calm," Rogue said, skipping over the detail of where the handcuffs came from. "Sting? He's awake."

"I heard." Sting's voice echoed from the bathroom.

Despite his situation, Gray couldn't help but grin when Sting stepped out. He held an ice pack to one eye, but the other was still dark purple and swollen. Gray imagined the dragon slayer vision that far outdid that of a normal human's wasn't working too well for Sting just then.

"Now that he's sobered up, can I kick his ass?" Sting asked.

"He beat you up drunk, so probably not," Rogue replied, sticking a leg out to block Sting from getting too close when the blond retaliated to the teasing with a swing at Rogue. "Settle down. Didn't you have something to ask him?"

Sting froze up, remembering, then whirled around to face Gray. "Where's Natsu? You didn't tell us anything drunk, and he's not in the hotel. I can't smell him at all. I swear to god, Gray, if you dumped him in some bar before you got yourself wasted, I'll break both your arms."

"Natsu's back home!" Gray snapped. "As if I'd take him into any potential danger. The only time he ever came along on a job with me was when everyone else in the team overruled my vote."

Rogue nodded his approval at this, but Sting, who had two black eyes and vaguely resembled a rabid raccoon, wasn't willing to let go of his anger so quickly. "And what were you doing, then? Because what we saw wasn't work. I guess you're in the habit of dumping Natsu on others so you can goof off, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Gray demanded "I've never left Natsu alone longer than I could help it."

"Bull."

Gray bristled, gave the chain a good tug, then let his arms go slack. He could break the bedframe if he wanted, but it wasn't worth it just to sock Sting rather than fessing up. The brat would only run to Magnolia for answers anyway. "I lost him."

"You what!?" Sting shrieked.

"Not like that!" Gray cried

"We're in a hotel," Rogue reminded them in an indoor voice. "Try to keep your volume down for the other guests."

"He lost Natsu!" Sting yelled in a still outdoor voice.

"Natsu's safe at home," Gray said. "The old man doesn't want me looking after him anymore. I don't even know why. Natsu complained to the guild about something instead of telling me off himself like he normally did, and apparently enough people had come forward saying they thought I was controlling so that was the final straw."

"You shouldn't have been controlling, then," Sting said, imitating Rogue's obnoxiously calm tone.

"Sorry for telling him he couldn't run off and try to do everything that would make his condition worse!" Gray snapped. "Back when he could still kind of run, sometimes he would just for the heck of it, even though he could get fifty feet before he'd collapse, and wouldn't be able to do anything the rest of the day! You two didn't see him until he fought all his restrictions so hard that he got himself too weak to keep fighting! I'm sorry for trying to keep him from getting to that point! Apparently, everyone else just wanted to see him wreck himself, so long as he was happy doing it!"

Neither Rogue nor Sting responded while Gray caught his breath, struggling to regain his composure. The whole thing had been so unfair. He'd only wanted to keep Natsu safe and healthy, knowing Natsu would be happier in the long run if he retained as much ability as he could. No one else had seen how he took it, just hearing that he couldn't run anymore. They kept pandering to him, letting him take stupid risks for instant gratification and patting themselves on the back when that made him grin, and heckling Gray for actually thinking of how they put Natsu in harm's way. That they then brought up the idea of dumping him in a nursing home when their lax attitudes towards his wellbeing left him all but unable to walk was just icing on the cake. He'd been right, and he'd been the one to do everything Natsu no long could thanks to the recklessness everyone else enabled, and they still thought he was out of line for having tried to reign Natsu in.

"Well, not like you care, anyway," Gray grumbled, turning away so he wouldn't have to look at Sting. "Just means I'm not in yours and Natsu's way, doesn't it?

Looking for an explanation, Rogue turned to Sting, whose eyes might have widened in realization if they weren't in danger of swelling shut.

"Damn. I thought Lucy just wanted me to mess with you. You like Natsu?"

Gray's swerved back to Sting. "You don't? Why even invite him over if you can't stand him?"

"No. I mean, not like... dammit, Gray! I meant you have a thing for him!" Sting snapped, and this time Rogue was too distracted to scold them for getting loud. "Agh. Why couldn't you give me a black eye during that stupid love rival thing instead? Natsu wouldn't have even cared that you dragged your feet bringing him home if you got that possessive."

"Who dragged their feet? I went straight to your stupid guild!"

"No. You spent days wandering around town first."

"I got on the first train I could the second Lucy told me where Natsu was!" Gray snapped. "Sorry if you had some secret schedule I was supposed to follow! Since you pulled the whole damn thing off behind my back, I didn't realize there was a certain day I was supposed to magically know that he snuck off with you!"

"Oh." Gray, who usually tried to keep an at least moderately cool exterior, felt like every emotion he normally tried to keep in check was boiling over. Seeing Sting calmly shrug at that made him want to sock the blond brat and break his nose on top of having given him those black eyes. "I guess I assumed Lucy would stay in town. Natsu thought you'd run straight to her place when you finished your job."

Gray had, and knowing Natsu had his number made him too embarrassed to admit as much.

"Well, that's an easy fix. Tell Natsu it was an innocent confusion, straighten things out with whoever said you couldn't keep looking after him, kiss him, and help him move back into your place."

"Kiss him?" Rogue asked before Gray could.

"Well, yeah. They like each other, right?"

Gray snorted, unable to process that his feelings might be requited. "The way they act, you'd think Natsu and Lucy are a couple before you'd think he feels anything for me."

"Yeah," Sting deadpanned. "Because there are so many couples where the girl is trying her hardest to hook her 'boyfriend' up with a mutual friend of theirs. You know Lucy was the one who put me up to that stupid love rival thing, right? Natsu's been trying to get a read on whether or not you like him back for months. They wanted to see if I could make you jealous."

If Gray could see himself in a mirror, he was sure his entire face would have turned a deep scarlet, because that plan had worked too perfectly. He got jealous. So insanely jealous that he did nothing but grill Natsu on how things went with Sting. They argued about nothing but Sting, and he got Natsu so worked up over how much he couldn't stand Sting that Natsu went and complained about the delay in being picked up instead of asking Gray about it first.

"O-okay. Fine. How much beer did you and Lucy bribe Cana with to make her play along?"

"Honest?" Sting asked.

"I want to ask her it was worth it."

"Well if you really want to know…" Sting leaned forward,, and Gray leaned towards him as much as the handcuffs allowed.

Sting paused for effect, then, dropping into a whisper, told Gray, "I have no idea who Cana is."

"Wh-what? But… she said… She said you and Natsu…"

"Maybe she overheard something and misunderstood. Or maybe it was another attempt of Lucy's to get you jealous. If you slugged me over something she said, then I'd like to have a word with both of them before they get me involved again without even shooting me a heads up."

"You were already running over to punch him yourself," Rogue reminded Sting. "You're not mad anymore?"

"Well, he didn't ditch Natsu anywhere this time, and I guess he didn't ditch Natsu last time either. So long as he lets me make him look like a raccoon too before we go, I'll call it even."

"We're not giving him two black eyes."

"I didn't say you had to help me with it."

"Neither you nor I will attack Gray," Rogue amended.

"Does that mean you're going to undo these cuffs now?" Gray asked. "Legally, I think it's considered assault to restrain someone like this."

"They won't leave any damage if you don't struggle, and I don't trust you not to hit Sting again. I'll give you the key once Sting's gone."

"Okay. But then I'm going to have to smack you the next time we meet."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Please don't," Sting said. "If you're not gonna let me hit him now, I'll need to excuse later. You can't complain if I'm defending you, right?"

Rogue's voice dropped alarmingly low as he said, "Sting…"

"You know I'm right. You also can't complain if I give whoever Cana is a talking to about going and spreading rumors about me."

"Sting, after your little love rival stunt, half the guild thinks you like Natsu," Rogue said. "I mean, a few of them already thought that, but you didn't exactly discourage any rumors."

"That's neither here nor there," Sting said. "The important thing right now is that I went through all that trouble to make Gray jealous, and now some stupid misunderstanding is keeping Natsu from enjoying the aftermath of that."

"And here I thought you didn't want me around Natsu," Gray muttered.

Sting paused, giving Gray a long, hard look over. Finally, and it seemed to paint Sting to say this, the blond said, "Natsu likes living with you. Heck, for whatever reason, Natsu likes you as a person. Like, he likes you likes you. I might question his taste, but there are other people looking after him to make sure you don't get him hurt, and if Natsu wants to be around you, it's not really my place to tell him no."

That was thoughtful of Sting. In fact, it put Gray and his jealous behavior to shame. He had to remind himself that only one of them thought the other was trying to steal Natsu away to stop himself from burying his head between his knees in shame.

"Well, however Rogue plans on freeing you without giving you a chance to sock him, I'll leave him to it," Sting said. "I'm guessing your own word doesn't mean much for defending yourself, so for Natsu's sake, I'll go tell your guild master that you're probably innocent."

-x-

STA: I really like Sting and Rogue. My favorite chapters to write are always the ones where they banter.

FranGipani: Don't worry. Gray's coming home :)

Ryuu91: Nice to see everything finally wrapped up, right?