When Natsu looked up at his best friend again, he was glad he was already sitting on the ground. How could he ever have thought that these feelings were bad? They were pure, wonderful and made him incredibly happy just by looking at Gray sitting on a trunk. This was nothing he could ignore or hide from any longer. He had waited too long already, spent too much time not knowing what he felt for his rival and best friend. If Gray was in love with somebody else, he would make him fall in love with him instead. He'd do everything for his icy princess, everything he possibly could. He wasn't afraid anymore. And Gray also shouldn't be afraid of his own feelings any longer... even if it meant that he would become a couple with someone else... If they really weren't meant for each other, then he at least wanted to see the love of his life happy...

Gray was completely lost in thoughts, trying to figure out how he should hide his feelings if Erza was insisting on telling Natsu... He didn't even know how she had figured it out as he had always tried to hide what he was feeling. He didn't even want to think about what might happen if Natsu were to learn the truth. He'd despise him, laugh at him for being gay, for falling in love with his rival. And what was even worse was that now Natsu seemed to have figured out that he, too, was in love with somebody. He couldn't stand to see the Dragon Slayer date somebody else... His heart couldn't take it if that was going to happen...

"Gray..." A soft voice was saying behind him. It belonged to Natsu. Was he really that desperate already that he imagined things? Or had his friend really come to find him? Had Erza told him what she knew about his feelings? Did he come to dump him, to break his heart? Please, no... don't...

"I'm sorry Gray... I followed you even if you didn't want me to... Please don't shout at me or punch me like back then..."

He remembered! Gray jumped to his feet and turned around. Natsu was stand standing before him. There was no trace of disdain in his eyes, no hate or pity, only sincere worry.

"You... remember?"

"Yes, I remember everything now... crystal..."

This was his chance, his chance to finally do what he had wanted to do for the last nine years since that incident... He dropped to his knees and bent over so far that his face was nearly touching the ground.

"I'm so sorry for what I've done to you back then... You were following me to help me, to distract me, but I... I just... trampled on... I- I shouted... and I... hit you..." he was weeping bitterly; finally able to release the sorrow he had felt over all these years because of what he had done.

"Shhh, it's o-"

"No. Let me finish... please... There's so much... so much I've wanted to tell you... But you... you seemed to have forgotten... completely forgotten... so I couldn't tell you... but now... I- I wanted you to know that... I feel incredibly sorry... and endlessly thankful for what you've done... you've saved me from my demons... After you left, crying... I- I- I..." he sobbed heartbreakingly, "I wanted to run after you... but you were gone already, I didn't know where you had gone... couldn't find you... wanted to apologize and make your tears go away... all I could think about was how stupid I was, that I should've been happy you followed me... but instead I made you cry... and I... I hate to see you cry..."

"I forgive you, Gray, so please get up..."

He felt a tug on his shoulders, trying to pull him up. He didn't resist, he let himself be helped in a standing and somewhat upright position, but he was feeling wobbly. He was still crying and didn't find the courage to look at Natsu, so he kept his eyes closed, feeling the tears streaming down his face and falling off his chin.

Then suddenly he felt something incredibly soft on his face, wiping away his tears. He was surprised, opened his eyes to see what it was and when he noticed Natsu was wiping his tears with the scarf Igneel had given him, it was too much. Seeing his best friend care for him like this made his knees so weak they couldn't hold him upright any longer. He was about to sink to the ground again- when he felt strong arms wrapping around his body, holding him tight, preventing him from falling. It was an embrace... Gray's chin was resting on Natsu's right shoulder and Natsu's face was pressed against the crook of his neck.

"That makes it two of us, I also don't like to see you cry..."

He wasn't crying anymore, too overwhelmed by this new sensation of having his best friend so close to him. So close he could smell the pleasant scent of Natsu, feel his heartbeat against his chest and feel the warmth his skin was radiating. It felt so good to be pressed against this person he desired more than anything else. He was thinking hard if it was okay to hug Natsu back, to pull him in even tighter, but then found that he couldn't stop himself from doing so anyway. His arms were already moving around the body of his best friend, his right shoulder shooting sharp pain through his body as he did so, but he didn't care, not now, this couldn't stop him from hugging the only person he had ever fallen in love with. When he closed his arms firmly around the body in front of him, Natsu's arms seemed to clutch at him even tighter. What exactly was happening here?

"Gray, please don't run from your feelings any longer."

Huh? Why would he say something like that? And what was he supposed to say?

"I've also run from my feelings way too long and I finally noticed that's not the way to go. I'll act on it, make him fall in love with me and make him mine, no matter what or how long it takes."

Hi- him? Oh dear god... He was trembling by now and if it wasn't for Natsu still holding him tight, he would have sunk to the ground yet again.

"You- you... are-"

"In love with a man, yes. Is that a problem for you?"

"N- no, no, not at all!"

"Good. You should do the same. I don't know who it is you're in love with or if she loves you back, but even if she doesn't, I'm sure you could make her fall for you in no time."

Her? You're my only love, stupid flame-brain... How had Natsu not noticed by now that it was him he was in love with? He had thought that a Dragon Slayer's nose could smell emotions. Had he been wrong? Or could Natsu not recognize the smell of love or just couldn't identify the target of it? He decided to push his boundaries, it was now or never.

"Why do you think I could make her fall for me?"

"Because you're Gray. You're strong, clever, good-looking, charming, funny, sexy, adorable... you're just the type to make somebody fall in love easily... You should have more self-confidence. Just be yourself and you'll make her yours in no time..."

Holy shit! This was what Natsu thought about him? Sexy? Good-looking? Adorable? His heart was beating so fast and irregular it couldn't be healthy anymore. Plus he really couldn't fathom that the Dragon Slayer still hadn't noticed anything... He was nearly going crazy in his arms, their bodies were so close to each other that Natsu must have noticed what was going on with him! Maybe this was the right time to finally confess... Natsu had wanted him to not run from his feelings anymore, so he'd face them... Right now!

"Natsu... I want to... tell you something..." you can do that!

"Go ahead."

"Th- the one... I'm in love with... is..." breathe... calm down "... male..." idiot.

"That's fine by me, then go and make him fall in love with you!"

Natsu was releasing the embrace and he wanted to scream no, wait, but he didn't find the courage to do so. He was panting heavily and when Natsu had released him completely and thus didn't support him anymore, he needed to sit down on the nearest trunk. He didn't dare to look Natsu in the eyes.

"Let's fight for our happiness."

That made him look up and what he saw was breathtaking. His best friend was smiling widely, offering him his left hand and he wondered if it was for helping him up or for making a promise. He found himself smiling just as widely and taking the offered hand, not caring why it was offered, saying "Yeah... let's fight." And he swore to himself he would fight for his love from now on. Even if he couldn't confess his love outright, he could still do many things to show it. He could take it slow, getting closer to Natsu bit by bit, showing a bit more of his love and dedication every day.

He was pulled upright by Natsu's hand and Gray nearly hugged him again, but the pink haired mage turned around and started walking, waving him to follow. They spent the way back in comfortable silence, both lost in their own thoughts, coming up with a plan on how to make the other fall in love.

When they finally reached their hotel again, it was already past 10 p.m. and they had to get up early for work the next day. The tidying up of the garden had taken very long, as they didn't only have to fulfill the tidy-up task, but also needed to take care of Erza, who had drunken two more beers while Natsu and Gray had been gone. It wasn't only once that Erza had caused more chaos while they weren't paying attention to her. So they had taken turns in watching over her. What had made the process even longer was Natsu's absence for nearly fifteen minutes after saying he had 'something important to do' and he'd be right back. Happy hadn't woken up until everything was clean again.

Gray had walked straight to their hotel room, wishing a good night to everyone briefly. He wanted to take a quick shower and sleep already. Shortly before entering their room he looked back and saw Natsu whispering something in Happy's ear while Happy was covering his mouth with both his paws, eyes wide and face turning red. It was at times like this when he wished he had the sharp senses of a Dragon Slayer so he could hear what his friend was whispering. He shook his head and entered the shared hotel room. He quickly grabbed his showering utensils, entered the bathroom, locked the door behind him, wanted to take off his clothes but noticed he had already lost them somewhere on his way. Shrugging, he entered the shower and turned on the water.

He tried to think about something that wasn't Natsu-related but failed miserably. His voice echoed in his mind over and over again. Because you're Gray. You're strong, clever, good-looking, charming, funny, sexy, adorable... His heart sped up again, heat was spreading throughout his body. He still felt a tingling sensation on his skin where it had touched Natsu's. He imagined his best friend touching him erotically on his chest, his back, his ass... Shit. His cock was hard and throbbing and aching to be touched.

He turned the water as cold as possible, hoping to cool himself off enough to make his boner go away. Of course it didn't work on him and he had laughed about himself for the try if he hadn't been so damn horny. He couldn't control his hands any longer, he needed to work this out of his system now, so he opened the tap to its maximum, hoping the sound of the pouring water would overlap what he was about to do. He pictured Natsu the night before; how he was masturbating in bed next to him, moaning his name, and reached down to grab his cock and started stroking at a rapid pace.

"nghhh... ahhh..."

He bit on his left arm to suppress the moans, speeding up even more. He hadn't jerked off since some weeks already plus the recent events had him building up more sexual energy, so he reached his limit quickly. Thinking about Natsu moaning his name while coming, he climaxed, shooting squirts of white cum against the tiles of the shower, hardly able to hold himself upright while the orgasm rocked his body heavily. When his body had finally cooled down, he quickly washed off his sperm and finished showering.

When he exited the bathroom, dressed only in shorts and still toweling his damp hair, he found Natsu sitting on their bed, curiously watching him.

"Is that how you usually do it?"

He felt his cheeks turning red.

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb, you just 'touched yourself' in the shower."

So he really had heard it. Damn his ears. This was fucking embarrassing. He walked to his side of the bed in what he hoped was a nonchalant way and flopped onto the bed.

"I could even hear how your sperm came out and how it hit the tiles..."

Gray choked on his breath, turning even redder.

"How did you make your penis hard?"

Okay. This was enough. He sat up, facing Natsu, preparing to scold him.

"This isn't something people normally talk about. It's embarrassing as hell to talk about any sexual issues. And it's also not... common... to... uh, touch yourself while lying next to somebody who isn't your boyfriend or girlfriend... That's called 'masturbating' by the way..." Gray's voice had softened while he was talking and when he finished it was nothing more than a whisper.

"So if I succeed in making my special one fall for me and we become a couple, I can talk with him about it and 'masturbate' next to him?"

Was there really no limit to the cockiness of his friend? Why couldn't he just drop the issue? Because he's Natsu... He sighed.

"If that's... okay with him, yes... b- but you shouldn't rush it..."

"I'm even more fired up now! Ah, but I can still do it in the shower now, right? You'll not be in the bathroom after all."

What the...? Gray was sure he never had blushed as purple as now.

"D- do whatever y- you want when you're alone... And quit talking about this to me already!"

Natsu was giving him a wide grin, collecting everything he needed to shower and disappeared in the bathroom. The ice mage sighed and let himself sink down on the bed.

It wasn't long before he heard moans coming from the bathroom. That perverted bastard... He should've told his friend to keep his groaning to a low volume.

"Ahhh... nghhh..."

Fuck, he was getting hard again... Relax, keep your shit together, he can hear you...

"Haaahh..."

Was he doing that purposely? Did he know what kind of influence he would have on the ice mage and he was provoking it? But he guessed that for somebody who didn't know a thing about sex the idea of arousing somebody else with his actions was beyond imagination.

He just needed to endure it, wait until Natsu finished and his erection wore off. The mere thought at the Dragon Slayer coming against the same tiles he had not more than ten minutes ago made his cock bounce happily in his pants, wanting to be touched.

Think about something else. He propped up on his right elbow, but immediately regretted it as sharp pain surged from his right shoulder through his body. So he sat up completely instead. He tried busying himself with examining the hotel room closely, trying to block out the moans coming from the bathroom, which were getting more and more heated. If he had to guess he'd say Natsu would come in less than thirty seconds- but he wasn't listening or guessing, he was examining the hotel room. Closely. There was this beautiful painting on the wall, it showed a red rose before a black background and Natsu's moans were getting more and more heated- and there was this beautiful nightstand made out of... wood. Judging by the moans his best friend was already climaxing or very, very close- but he was just checking the hotel room. There was a bottle of lube on Natsu's nightstand and tissues... lube and tissues? Holy shiiit. What had he planned to do with these? And when exactly had Natsu bought the lube? Or had he brought it here from home? But it hadn't been there yesterday... Maybe he had it hidden in his bag until today? But why... He'd said he was in love with a man, and for a pretty long time already, that meant it had to be somebody of the guild, but the only other man of their guild that was here beside Natsu was... Gray. Was it him? Was he really Natsu's special one?

The moaning had stopped. Gray had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed. He sighed with relief and let himself sink down on the bed once more. He refused to stare at the lube or think about what it meant. He'd notice soon enough if it was meant to be used on him. Maybe he'd just ask Natsu about it. The silly Dragon Slayer surely wouldn't even find the question intruding.

When Natsu entered the room again, he was already wearing his pajamas. He was striding straight to the bed, sitting down, grasped the bottle of lube and faced Gray. So soon?

"Gray, turn around, please."

This couldn't be true.

"What are you planning with this?"

"Massaging you, of course."

With that, he showed Gray the label of the bottle. It was saying 'massage oil & lube'. The bottle had been standing on the nightstand in a way where he had been only able to read 'lube'. He felt silly for believing that the Dragon Slayer had actually known what lube was used for. However, he would be receiving a massage from his best friend. His skin tingled with anticipation. He didn't care about the reason why the Dragon Slayer wanted to give him a massage, the mere fact that he'd be massaged by Natsu was enough to make him follow the order without hesitation.

"I'll massage your right shoulder, so it would be the easiest if I could sit on your ass, if that's okay with you?"

On my ass... He didn't know what else he had expected as most of the non-professional back massages were given with the masseur sitting on the ass of the other... But he felt really nervous now...

"S- sure."

Natsu gulped, he was nervous as hell. He really felt guilty for the shoulder ache of his best friend so it was his duty to take care of it. For that reason he had run off to a 'Conbini' while the others were tidying up the garden and bought the bottle he was holding now. He had brought it to their hotel room before running back to the garden to help the others again. It was meant to be a surprise after all and was also a part of his plan to win Gray over.

He crawled over the bed to his best friend, swung his right leg over him and sat down on his muscular ass. He was really happy he had just masturbated in the shower or he was sure he'd already be hard by now. And Gray didn't like him being hard, so he tried to avoid it.

He opened the bottle, poured a bit of the massage oil - which smelled strongly like lemongrass - on his hand, closed the bottle with one hand and tossed it on the bed and moved his hand towards the aching shoulder. He paused shortly before touching the skin of his best friend, closed his eyes and then laid his hands on the smooth skin. The feeling was incredible, sending warm shivers through his body. Slowly he began moving his hands, spreading the oil on Gray's shoulder, pushing slightly to the spots where he expected the muscles to be cramped. This earned him a painful hiss from his friend.

"If it's too much, please tell me and I'll stop."

"Yeah... I'll tell you... but this feels good, even if it's a bit painful"

Encouraged, Natsu kept massaging the shoulder of his best friend thoroughly. Whenever he got a painful hiss as response, he kept the pressure on that spot and waited until the pain would ease before he continued.

After some minutes, Gray didn't seem to have pain while massaging anymore, so Natsu asked him to move his right arm and tell him if it was better than before. He didn't want to stop, didn't want to break the physical contact with his best friend, but what else could he do to stay close to him? When Gray told him that his shoulder was indeed feeling much better now, he didn't get up immediately. He craved to touch him some more, but he had no idea for what reason he could possibly do that.

"Natsu?"

"Yes?"

"If you don't mind... could you massage me some more... also my back... you're... pretty talented."

"Okay!"

"O- only if you... want..."

Hell yes, I want!

"Anything for you, princess."

"He- hey, I'm not-"

"Then how about... 'snowflake'?"

Natsu had spoken the last word so tenderly that Gray's heart leaped for joy. He could have just as well said 'I love you' and it would have caused the same reaction in his heart. Snowflake... He loved it, loved how it sounded when Natsu said it.

"Th- that's okay."

"Snowflake, then."

And with that Natsu put his hands flat on his shoulder blades and started moving them, then noticed he didn't have enough oil on his hands to cover his whole back, so he grabbed the bottle and poured some more- directly on his back. He jerked, not because of the cool feeling but simply because he hadn't seen this coming. He heard Natsu giggle and toss the bottle on the bed again. That cocky bastard!

When he felt those hands moving against his back, he believed to be back in paradise. He relaxed and enjoyed these skilled hands moving over his skin. Seriously, where had Natsu learned to massage like this? Had he done this before to other people? Jealousy swept over him and he immediately regretted thinking about it. He should savor his rare moment, not spoil it with dwelling on jealousy.

He sighed with pleasure as Natsu found a spot on his lower back that felt really good. It was close to the waistband of his pants, but he didn't care, it felt too good and he wanted more of it. The fire mage seemed to have understood, because he was giving that spot extra treatment.

Gray had completely lost track of the time as he was enjoying the massage. It felt like it had been only a few minutes when Natsu stopped massaging, claiming he was tired and wanted to sleep. He raised his head to check the clock. 11:30 p.m. His best friend had massaged for about an hour. A whole fucking hour. They should really go to sleep as they had to wake up at 6 a.m. the next day. On the other hand, both he and Natsu had slept during the day. Was that really today? So many things had happened that day, it almost was hard to believe it had happened in only one day.

"Yeah, let's sleep. Are you for available for rent? Your massage was awesome..."

"You couldn't afford that, droopy-eyes."

"Who said I'd pay with money?" Oops... He mentally face-palmed for spurting out something like that without even thinking about the consequences. He blamed it on the massage for making him so light-headed. He felt Natsu shifting slightly.

"Oohh? Then I'll think about it." And with that, the fire mage crawled off of him and to his side. Gray had expected a teasing response or something really mean, but this? It made his heart leap with excitement. Talking about excitement... something had become bigger during the bodily care he had been receiving the past hour.

"You haven't brushed your teeth yet, ice princess."

"I said I'm not a goddamn princess."

"And when did I ever stop doing something that annoys you?"

"B- but you said..."

"That's an additional nickname. A special one... Now be a good princess and brush your teeth, will you?"

"Screw you!" He jumped over to pin Natsu, ready to punch him in the face, when the eyes of the Dragon Slayer wandered down to his crotch and an evil smirk spread on his face.

"And maybe you should touch yourself while you're in the bathroom. You sure look like you need it."

Gray blushed crimson, jumped off the bed and fled to the bathroom. He shot a furious "as if I'd do that with you eavesdropping, you perverted bastard!" before slamming the door shut.

When Gray had shut the bathroom door, Natsu at last let himself relax. The last hour had been a rollercoaster of emotions, touching his best friend, yet knowing he couldn't do any more than massaging even if he wanted to so badly. His spiraling thoughts had left him dizzy and barely able to concentrate on the massage and now he felt drained, ready to fall asleep any second...

But he couldn't fall asleep just yet; he had one final thing he wanted to try... Earlier that day when Gray had been sleeping and he had not, he had leaned over his friend and nearly kissed him... He wondered what would happen when he was sleeping and Gray was not. If his friend really had feelings for him, would he do something similar? He'd pretend to be asleep and see what happened. Even if nothing like that happened, it couldn't do any harm. He purposely faced Gray's bedside when he closed his eyes and steadied his breath. Sleeping people were breathing slowly and deeply. He heard the handle of the bathroom door being pushed down. Action! He went still and started snoring slightly.

The sight that greeted Gray when he re-entered their sleeping room was lovely. A sleeping Natsu, sprawled out on his bedside, one leg covered by the blanket, the other one over it, his left arm lying over the blanket on his stomach, the right one stretched out so far his hand was dangling over the edge of the mattress.

He went to the bed, hopped on it and turned the lights off. He let his eyes wander to his right side and gulped. The moon was lighting up the room to a degree where he could still see nearly every detail of the sleeping beauty next to him. His heart rate increased. Natsu was sound asleep. If he happened to brush a finger over this beautiful face... When he noticed what he was about to do, he was already leaning over his sleeping friend, his left hand only millimeters away from Natsu's cheeks... He shouldn't do that... He had no right to touch him like that, even in his sleep. With all the self-control he could muster, he pulled his hand back. Trying to satisfy the strong urge to release his feelings somehow, he settled for whispering "I love you, you flame-brained idiot..." before pulling back completely and trying to fall asleep despite his inner turmoil.

Natsu was glad that Gray was making some noise right after confessing, because he couldn't stop himself from gasping after hearing those words. I love you, flame-brained idiot... He loved him! This love was mutual, it was returned, they would be a couple and they would someday... have sex with each other...

Suddenly pictures flooded his mind, pictures of two men without faces, naked, their cocks hard, touching each other, stroking each other, then one of them was putting his cock inside the ass of the other and was moving in and out until he reached his orgasm and shot out his semen, cum, ejaculate, sperm in the ass of the other. Words like these were ghosting through his mind, words he had never heard before. He saw more, different sex positions, face-fucking, masturbating next to each other and much more he was embarrassed about as hell.

After the flood of new information had ebbed away, he finally understood the behavior of his best friend. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about sex with him or see him hard or have him see Gray hard, it was just embarrassing as hell. He thought about the previous night, when he had masturbated in bed right next to his best friend. Fuck. Holy, fucking shit! What the hell had he done? Just now he noticed what he had done to Gray. He had been lying next to him, horny as hell, but hadn't dared even looking at him. He could now recognize the smell of lust and he could tell that this scent had been the most prominent the night before. Hell, if he had any chance to undo what he had done he'd do it without hesitation.

And it was not only last night. He'd masturbated again, today, in the shower, and - oh god - he had moaned like a bitch in heat. He'd fucked things up without knowing what he'd done. He'd harassed Gray unknowingly. Though he knew it had bothered his best friend only because he had to control his own emotions and desire, he felt the urge to make it up to him.

Now that he knew how love smelled - it was the sweetest and most addicting smell he had ever scented - and with whom the ice mage was in love with, he searched his memory for the first time he had ever smelled love on Gray and figured he didn't even remember when that was. It had always been there, for as long as he could remember. Had he been in love with Natsu since they were little children? He couldn't even imagine how hard it must have been on him, hiding his emotions for so long. If Gray had acted on it earlier, he didn't know how he would have reacted. Whether he'd just outright rejected him or maybe even remembered that there had been something he'd forgotten, suppressed - it wouldn't have been the same as now. It could have destroyed everything they had. Natsu had buried the feelings for his icy princess deep inside his heart for nearly 9 years and had completely forgotten about them. He had just gotten aware of his feelings some hours ago and he already felt like they were drowning him if he didn't let them out, too much love to be kept inside. He couldn't even imagine containing those feelings for far more than a decade.

He'd do this properly. He'd woo Gray, make him melt and make him truly his. He'd take him out on dates, show him he cared for him, romance him, make up for the last day...

His heart was pounding heavily in his chest. He'd do this thoroughly. He was a dragon and a dragon had to fight for his mate. He needed to.