Author's note: Again, thank you all so much for reading. This is just another completely irrelevant and unorganised AU piece based on the song Million Roses. Suggested music to go with it: Zigeuner Weisen.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the song Million Roses.
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Artist
Natsu watched as the long-fingered hand lifted the violin up in that almost loving manner that never failed to steal the breath away from him, the way practised elegance easily slid the instrument into place sending a glitch to his throat. He swallowed and imagined the sound too loud in the sacred silence of the auditorium. And then, like a drip of dew from some delicate morning petal, music spilled forth.
It was a strange feeling, like he was floating in a limbo as his heart thumped once, twice, before sinking to the short pause between the notes. Without his realising it, the people about him had blurred into indistinct blobs of grey and white. On the stage, the only thing that stood out was Gray Fullbuster, a perfect contrast of pale skin and ebony hair. Eyes tightly closed, his dark eyelashes fanned against white, white cheeks, fluttering to the ebb and flow of the music, he was a study in beauty, because even though he was a man, Gray Fullbuster was beautiful. However, what drew Natsu's eyes the most was the violin, a spot of colour on the stark black and white of Gray's person. Or, to be more accurate, the white of Gray's long fingers on that dark brown as he stopped and stroke the strings as he would the skin of a lover. An almost non-existent shift of his fingers, and the note trembled as though a cry was torn out of the instrument into the great tragedy playing out. Natsu's insides quivered in sync with the shudder of the music, and his heart cried as the music cried, while on stage Gray stood in his ethereal glory, the white of his skin and the black of his hair hurting Natsu's eyes, so much so that he fancied he was crying real tears.
What a foolish man he was, Natsu Dragneel. Perhaps he thought he was a hopeless romantic who could sell his lovely house on the edge of town to buy a beloved artist a million scarlet roses - no, that was not what he thought, though he had come close to it on occasion. It was a hopeless affair, adoration from afar with no hope of reciprocation that spelled nothing but heartbreak in the end. He knew that very well. And yet, like an addict his drugs, Natsu Dragneel had spent how much money he could not remember to come back to each and every one of Gray Fullbuster's performances in town. A man, as familiar as a stranger on the other side of the world could be, and yet, as though he had casted a bewitching spell on Natsu, he was powerless to rid himself of this obsession.
He really was a fool. Gray Fullbuster was the god, the creator, the centrepiece of his own tragedy, and Natsu its hapless protagonist. Or he was no more than the cowardly stalker that never worked up the courage to even come near the man, despite the throb in his heart to just reach out and take him. A carved icy rose every day, he left at Gray's room in the back of the theatre, and still it never was enough to express how his adoration for this man was the sole reason he breathed. Maybe if Gray could just stay here, Natsu would be willing to leave him a frozen rose every day till the number reached that million and nothing would be left of Natsu Dragneel but a wisp of mist, the ashes of his heart burning for this man.
The poignant melody entered a new frenzy, Gray's pale finger flying over the strings in a blur, and Natsu fancied the earth was pulled away beneath his feet. Thin lips pressed together into a harsh line, Gray looked as though he was in pain, but Natsu knew it was pleasure, the height of his ecstasy translated into furious music. It was true, though, for music was Gray Fullbuster's everything, the lover that accompanied him on a lonely night, the gentle embrace to fall back into, the very reason why he walked the earth. Natsu almost envied Gray's music, except that he, too, was so far lost in it he never knew which way was out anymore. Lost in the only lover his beloved had eyes for. What a joke it was, and how grand it was, too, for he could feel another piece of his heart fell away into dust while his spirit throbbed with the roaring of Gray's soul, thundering in the crest and fall of the piece.
Gray inhaled a last breath, and his whole being came alight, as though wings sprouted from his back in that very moment, threatening to take him to the far heavens to which he belonged. An angel, he was, yet a cruel one nonetheless, heartless in his innocent ignorance. Natsu's life seeped from him like sand through gaps between fingers as the music faded into nothing. And as colours returned to his world, Gray's brilliant blue eyes opened to sweep over the crowd, unseeing of the wreckage he had left behind. But of course, Natsu thought, a resigned smile stealing upon his lips. He was the stranger half a world away, anyway. It was probable Gray thought the roses for him had been from a bashful lady. There was nothing to it, though, because Natsu was the dragon ensnared in the trap of his own greed, Gray his beloved treasure. A grand tragedy, indeed.
And so Natsu would keep dying in this man's potent love, hoping against hope for the day he could leave Gray his millionth icy rose.
He clapped, all the while dying a little more inside.