In the morning Natsu decided to put the first step of his plan into action. They were about to leave the room when he finally found the courage to act.
"How about we eat dinner at some restaurant today?" Natsu asked nonchalantly.
Gray arched his eyebrow in surprise.
"Will the girls and Happy come along?"
"U- uh... I haven't asked yet. I wanted to know what you think about it first."
"Since when do you care what I think? Usually you would just announce that we'll go to eat dinner at some fishy restaurant and drag everybody along."
Natsu shifted awkwardly at the alert stare of his best friend. He was acting too nervously, of course Gray would take notice of his odd behavior. He shouldn't behave differently or Gray would find out too soon. What would he usually do? Just announce it confidently and drag everybody along. Exactly what his ice princess had said. Plus he really didn't have any reason to be nervous as he already knew that it was him Gray was in love with. He straightened himself.
"Right. Today we'll go out to eat dinner together and if you don't want I'll beat you there. And the places I'm choosing are not fishy! Now let's hurry, I don't want Erza to kill us first thing in the morning."
On the way to work, they were arguing about whether or not the restaurants of Natsu's choice were fishy, earning them a death glare by Erza as soon as they met up with them.
The second day of their mission passed uneventful. Lucy had learned from Erza how to determine the direction in which a logged tree would fall, so she didn't endanger her friends any longer. Natsu and Gray hadn't dared to start another fight with Erza eyeing them like a hawk searching for prey.
When they returned to their room in the afternoon, Natsu wanted them to take a shower before heading to the restaurant.
Gray wondered if it was going to be expensive. But knowing Natsu it would probably be the fishiest and cheapest restaurant in town. He briefly wondered when Natsu had found the time to select a restaurant, but didn't pay the thought much attention; he would find out soon enough.
When the both of them were ready to go, they left their room and Gray expected them to go to the girl's room and fetch Lucy, Erza and Happy, but Natsu was heading straight to the exit.
"Hey, flame-brain, didn't you forget something?"
Natsu turned around, looking confused.
"What? Do I still have shampoo in my hair or something?"
"Idiot! What about the girls and Happy?"
"What about them?"
"You won't drag them along?"
"Nope, we're going alone. You've got a problem with that, popsicle?"
Gray paused. Did Natsu even notice how this sounded like? A date... He tried to fight the blush that was threatening to spread on his cheeks and resumed walking.
"Are you challenging me to an eating contest?"
"Not this time, ice princess. We both know I'd win anyway," Natsu answered with a cocky smile.
Not an eating contest and the two of them would go alone... That really looked like a date... He couldn't fight the blush any longer.
Gray was too busy with his own thoughts; he even forgot to oppose Natsu's teasing. He was mentally freaking out, thinking hard about how he should behave on a date with Natsu.
'Just be yourself and you'll make her yours in no time...' Be himself, huh? How could he possibly act normally if his heart was racing when he was so close to Natsu and on a date with him? Although Natsu was probably thinking this was anything but a date, being the idiot he was. He was likely just trying to appease Erza and Lucy, showing them that he was able to eat dinner with Gray without them ending up killing each other.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he bumped into Natsu's back. He hadn't noticed that his best friend had stopped walking. They had just left the area of the hotel.
"Oi, don't just stop like that!"
"You should pay more attention to your surroundings, ice princess."
Uh. Well. He had a point.
Natsu turned around, looking at him lost and apologetic and he was scratching the back of his head nervously. Gray wondered what happened.
"Do you know any restaurant in this town?"
This couldn't be true! Natsu had asked Gray to go out to eat dinner and he didn't have any clue where to go? He sighed. This was so like him.
"I thought you already decided on a restaurant."
Natsu shook his head.
"I thought we'd just ask some people in the town and then decide where we want to go."
So he still had a choice. That was good. He didn't want to end up in some fast-food restaurant.
"Yeah, fine, let's do that."
Natsu lead them to the main shopping street of the town, looked around a bit and then approached a woman and a man walking hand in hand. Gray guessed they were both about twenty years old. He decided it was Natsu's duty to do the talking, so he waited a few meters away.
"Excuse me, are you locals?"
The blonde woman eyed Natsu curiously and when she spotted the guild crest on his upper arm, her eyes widened a bit. Then her eyes wandered over to Gray, who was leaning - shirtless - against a nearby brick wall. Her tall, black-haired boyfriend kindly answered.
"Yes, we are. Can we help?"
The woman didn't take her eyes off of Gray and her scent changed slightly to lustful. Natsu nearly growled at her but he held it back.
"Yeah, I'm wondering if you could recommend a restaurant, nothing fishy, but also not too expensive... Somewhere you can spend a nice evening."
The woman was inspecting Gray's face, her eyes lingering on his lips. Natsu quickly glanced over his shoulder to check how Gray was dealing with her stare, but then their eyes met and his friend quickly averted his eyes to the ground. His cheeks were colored red. Gray hadn't even noticed the woman staring at him because he had been busy staring only at him. Natsu couldn't help but smile.
"You mean, like a date, eh?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"There is a really good German restaurant a few blocks from here, it's cozy inside and the food is not too expensive."
His girlfriend was still staring at Gray, now she was eyeing his crotch and gulped, then licked her lips. How blunt this woman was! And her boyfriend didn't seem to notice anything! He resisted the urge to look over to Gray again.
"That sounds nice. How do we find it?"
"We're heading in that-" he pointed down the street they had been walking before Natsu had stopped them "-direction anyway, we could walk you there, right Becca-chan?"
Becca-chan shot her boyfriend a lovey-dovey glance before nodding.
"We'd love to show you."
The boy laughed, teasing Becca about how she was always sooo nice to people and some other stuff he didn't pay attention to. He was too busy controlling the anger that was building up inside him. If he didn't take care, he would punch her right in her heavily made-up face. But punching a girl, especially a non-mage was despicable. Natsu waited until the boy was finished fawning on her, then gathered all his self-control to keep his voice neutral and spoke again.
"Thank you, that's a friendly offer, but I actually still wanted to see something over there-" he pointed in the opposite direction "-and after that we wanted to head to the restaurant."
"I see, then you just need to follow this street and turn left at the third crossroad from here. It's on the right side, called... I can't really pronounce it, something like 'Zoom Lowen'. You can't really miss it; it has a huge sign with the head of a lion on it."
"Thank you very much! Have a nice evening."
He wanted to get away from this nasty woman - who had her eyes on Gray again - as soon as possible.
"A nice evening to you, too" the man answered, bowing his head slightly.
He beckoned Gray and started to walk in the direction where he had 'wanted to see something'. He was trembling out of the sheer force to keep his boiling anger inside. They were well out of earshot when Gray had caught up with him.
"Natsu! You didn't tell me you wanted to go shopping before dinner."
"I don't."
"You don't want to go shopping? Then why-"
"Gray. Cool me down."
He had stopped and turned around to face Gray. He took the hand of the ice mage and put it on his forehead. Gray faltered and looked at Natsu suspiciously, but when he saw the stern face, he pulled himself together and let magic flow in his hand, cooling the fire mage down.
When Natsu felt the chill on his forehead, he sighed with relief, slowly letting go of his anger. He released the grip on Gray's arm, but the hand stayed on his forehead, cooling him down until he felt better.
When he had finally regained full control of his feelings, he regarded Gray with a thankful glance, nodding slightly, showing him that it was okay to let go now. Only when his friend removed his hand he noticed the stares and whispers of some people around. When he shot them angry glares, they quickly turned away, resumed walking or whatever they had been doing before.
It was then when he noticed that offensive scent coming closer again. He quickly walked into a small backstreet, dragging Gray with him.
"Gray... you're not interested in women, right?"
His best friend blushed purple, his gaze fixing on his shoes.
"Uh... You know I'm in love with a man, so..."
"That doesn't matter; it doesn't mean you're gay. If a woman offered you sex, would you accept?"
With a start Gray looked him directly in the eyes, face still blushed heavily.
"Why do you want to know? What's wrong?"
"Just answer!"
Gray jerked at that. Natsu felt sorry for shouting and startling his friend with his behavior - but he needed to know. And quickly.
"I... I wouldn't accept."
Natsu sighed in relief.
"That's good."
He didn't really know why he was going to do what he was about to do, but he would think about it later. It just appeared to be a good idea.
He dragged Gray back to the main street, guiding him to a quiet corner between two small shops.
"Please wait here, I'll be right back."
"Why should I wait here? Why can't I just go with-"
"Just do it, please. And don't do something inconsiderate" he said, trying to convey the urgency of his plea with his eyes. He saw icy blue eyes melting under his stare. Gray sighed in defeat.
"Thank you, snowflake... I won't keep you waiting for long" he whispered with a seductive voice. Then he entered the nearest shop, but he could still hear Gray gasping for air and leaning against the shop wall for support. He smiled. Maybe he should not tease his best friend like that? But it was just too cute to see his reactions.
Shortly after he had entered the shop, he could smell and hear that impertinent woman approaching. She was running.
Gray didn't notice anything around him anymore. He was too caught up in his thoughts, his heart pounding heavily in his chest, heat spreading throughout his whole body. What the hell had just happened? Had Natsu just flirted with him? His sage green eyes had been piercing him with such intense affection... or had it just been his imagination?
Somebody cleared their throat close to him. He looked up, confused, and met brown eyes. He recognized the woman Natsu had been talking to. She was smiling shyly at him.
"Hey, uhm, I'm Becca. I was wondering if you have a girlfriend..."
She shifted slightly. Gray was completely taken by surprise. His heart was still racing because of the previous incident. His brain didn't have the capacity to think this over, so he just answered honestly.
"No, I don't."
Her eyes lit up in delight, then she fumbled about in the pocket of her too tight jeans and drew out a small paper. She handed it over to Gray, who took it, still dumbfounded.
"If you... feel lonely and want to spend a nice time..."
She winked shyly and blushed.
Then suddenly he felt a weight on his right shoulder. Natsu had approached them and was now leaning on Gray's shoulder.
"Yo, Becca! Was the man beside you your boyfriend?" Natsu sounded friendly, overly so, and Gray could tell he had a hard time controlling his voice. It trembled ever so slightly.
"Oh, hi again" she nodded politely. "Yes, why?"
Natsu snapped the note out of Gray's hands, opened it and held it out for the three of them to see. It showed a mobile phone number.
"And what's that?" he hissed with barely restrained anger.
"A phone number, obviously" she said arrogantly, crossing her arms before her chest.
"Does your boyfriend know of this?"
"Of what exactly?"
"That you're cheating on him!" Natsu spat the words out like acid. And really, they were.
"Oh darling, giving him a number can hardly be called cheating."
"It shows your intention to cheat on him." Natsu was snarling at her now.
"Who said it was my number? You shouldn't jump to conclusions." She giggled, turned and walked away, waving her hand at them but not looking back.
Natsu clenched his fists, his whole body trembling with anger. Gray didn't understand why he was so angry. Sure, it was despicable to cheat on somebody, but this was not his business after all. Plus there was no proof that Becca really had cheated on her boyfriend or was about to. And she would sure as hell not cheat with Gray. The mere thought of having sex with somebody who was not Natsu made him nauseous.
"That bitch."
Hearing Natsu swearing was nothing new, but hearing him insulting somebody he barely knew and who was not his enemy was something that had never happened before.
"Natsu! That's enough! She didn't do anything for you to freak out like that!"
"She wants go get into your pants."
"Like I care. I don't want to get into hers so it really doesn't matter, right?"
"She's willing to cheat on her boyfriend. He loves her so much. And she's just toying with him, cheating behind his back... That's repulsive!"
"Innocent until proven guilty! How would you possibly know all that?"
"I can smell it. His deep love and admiration for her. Her lust when she stared at you like you're her prey... I swear if she tries something fishy on you, I don't know if I can control myself."
Could it be that Natsu was jealous? Gray shook his head. No way.
"Hey, I can defend myself."
Natsu sighed. He straightened himself and looked straight into Gray's eyes. Gray could see mixed emotions reflecting in the beatiful sage green eyes of his best friend, but he couldn't really pinpoint them.
"Yeah, you're right, sorry... I didn't mean to freak out like that... I just... I don't know, but seeing somebody play with the feelings of another just makes me feel sick..."
"I feel the same way, but there's nothing you can do about it. Come on, just forget about it and let's go. I'm hungry."
Natsu nodded and started walking in the direction of the restaurant. Gray followed him shortly after and caught up with Natsu after some steps. They walked in silence next to each other until they reached the restaurant. It was really easy to find, with its big sign painted with a lion's head swaying slightly in the wind over the entrance. The name of the restaurant was spelled 'Zum Löwen' but Natsu and Gray found that they didn't know how to pronounce that, so they didn't even try. When they entered, a tall male waiter was greeting them.
"Welcome to our German restaurant. Did you reserve a table?"
"No, we didn't."
"Oh, I see... two people? Or are there more to come?"
"Nah, only us two" Natsu answered.
"Actually... we're booked out... But please wait here for a second."
He bowed slightly and then hurried behind the counter and into a back room. It took him about one minute to return.
"Thanks for waiting. One of our guests who had booked a table for two just cancelled a few minutes ago. But the table is... maybe not what you want."
"What do you mean?" Gray inquired.
"Well... I'll just show you and then you can decide if you want to stay."
Both of them nodded and the waiter asked them to follow. He was leading them in the back of the restaurant. There were five broad steps that led up and around a curve. The waiter stopped at the base of the steps and shifted awkwardly but then stepped out of the way and signaled them to take a look.
Natsu climbed up first and let out a "whoaaa" as he reached the top. Gray was curious and pushed him aside. What he saw was really amazing. It was a private booth, the window board decorated with red roses and other beautiful flowers, a dim light illuminating everything. The table cloth was pure white, a beautiful red candle standing in its middle. A pink ribbon and some expensive looking jewels were draped beautifully on the table, around the candle and champagne glasses. Gray gulped. Even the table napkin was white with red roses. This had obviously been meant for a proposal... Or an anniversary or maybe both at once.
The waiter had followed them with a polite distance.
"Of course we could remove the decorations, if you give us some minutes... What do you think?"
"It's okay, no need to remove it, it's beautiful! Uh... do you know why this was canceled?" Natsu blurted out.
"I was told the man on the telephone was crying, so, uh..."
"I see... what a waste... We'll just take the table as it is."
"Thank you. I'll be bringing the menu soon."
Natsu didn't seem to have a problem with this; he even seemed to like it. He sat down on the far end of the table. When he noticed Gray was still standing dumbstruck on the upmost step, he jumped to his feet again, walked to Gray's chair, pulled it back and offered it for him to sit.
"Here you go, mylady" he said with a wink.
Gray's face went crimson, he punched Natsu's arm, but sat on the chair and let himself be pushed to the table. He refused to look at Natsu, only staring at his plate and cutlery, trying to fight back the blush on his face.
Then the waiter reappeared and ended the awkward situation. He handed them the menu and declared that the champagne was free for them as an apology for the circumstances. They let the waiter explain them some of the dishes since they both never ate German food. Natsu ordered an escalope with French fries and Gray ordered fried beef and onions in gravy.
When the waiter left them alone, Gray felt nervous again. He still didn't have the courage to look Natsu in the eyes. He didn't know how he should behave, what Natsu expected of him. They were caught in a highly romantic place after all.
"Hey, popsicle, let's drink the champagne! It's free!"
He smiled. Of course Natsu wouldn't think about this as something special. So he would behave like always. He looked up, finding that Natsu had already lifted his glass and was eyeing him with anticipation. He wanted to clink glasses. What a grotesque thing to do for somebody who destroyed whole buildings within the blink of an eye. He shook his head and lifted his glass. Natsu smiled widely.
"Cheers!" he shouted.
"Cheers..."
Natsu downed his champagne in one go. If they had been in public, Gray would've been ashamed of him, but here, in private, it just made him smile fondly. It was just so much like him. Gray noticed he'd been staring only when Natsu set down his glass and looked back. He quickly averted his eyes, took a nip of his own champagne and set the glass down.
When he looked in Natsu's eyes again, the world stopped for a moment. It was just him and Natsu and his beautiful eyes. He felt like he was falling in love with Natsu even more, if that was at all possible. The dim light, the fire of the candle and the reflection of the light of their glasses made his green eyes shine more beautifully than a jade ever could. He would happily spend hours just staring in these seductive eyes, drowning in them like in an ocean. He couldn't tell how long they had been staring at each other in silence, but when the waiter cleared his throat and snapped them out of their thoughts, he wished it had lasted longer.
"Do you wish to drink more champagne, sir?" he asked Natsu while he was serving their food.
"Will that be also free?"
Now he really was ashamed of him. That was just shameless! He opened his mouth to apologize to the waiter, but when he saw him smiling widely, he closed it again.
"Yes, sir, we opened a whole bottle of champagne for the customers of this table. If you don't drink it, we'd just have to throw it away. I will bring you the bottle right away."
Gray's jaw dropped as the waiter walked away. Who would order a whole bottle of champagne for two people? Did that guy want to make his girlfriend drunk and then propose because he was afraid she'd say no if she wasn't drunk? He shook his head and eyed his food. It looked delicious, but he was going to eat with knife and fork. He was not good at eating with knife and fork, but somehow he would manage to get the food inside his mouth. He saw Natsu awkwardly holding his cutlery and knew he wasn't the only one. This would be embarrassing for the both of them.
When the waiter came back with the bottle of champagne inside a bucket of ice, they had only managed to take a few bites of their meal. He placed the bucket on a small side table, bowed and wanted to leave again, when Natsu spoke up.
"Excuse me, why do I have a quarter lemon on my escalope?"
"You can press out the juice over the meat, spreading the droplets all over it. It tastes good, please try it. Alternatively it can be eaten with sauce. If I should bring you sauce, please ring this bell-" he pointed to a small button in the wall near the stairs "-and I'll come here. Please enjoy your meal."
He bowed and went down the stairs.
Natsu wanted to follow the orders of the waiter and took the lemon in his hand. He obviously had the wrong idea of 'pressing out the juice', as he just squashed the lemon completely, shooting jets of lemon juice in different directions, also in Gray's. It splashed all over his face, a droplet finding its way into his right eye, making him whine. Natsu jerked, uttered a few sorry, sorry's, picked up his napkin and leaned over the table, his left hand cupping Gray's chin to hold him in place and his right hand wiping away the juice with the napkin from his face.
When the pain in his right eye subsided and he opened his eyes again, Gray saw Natsu's face only a few centimeters away, eyeing him attentively, searching for lemon juice that he hadn't wiped yet. Natsu's gaze wandered up to meet Gray's eyes and both of them held their breath. Their eyes were heavy with emotion, shouting out the love they felt for each other, begging the other to realize what they were feeling.
"Are you okay, sires? I heard a pained whine and I thought I'd better check-" when the waiter reached their booth and saw which position they were in, he blushed heavily. "Uh... I- I'll better... so- sorry for interrupting!" He stumbled down the stairs again.
Natsu sighed, let go of Gray's face and leaned back in his chair again. Why did they always have to be interrupted in such moments? He was trying to convey his love here! He found that just blurting out 'I love you' seemed to be not an option, as his throat clenched when he wanted to say it and he felt a nervous tingle in his stomach that left him unable to utter a word. He was about to say it a dozen times already throughout the evening, but he always found himself unable to really do it. Why was it so hard to confess his love even if he already knew it wasn't one-sided?
So he figured he'd convey his feelings by actions. He had wanted to take Gray's hand while they were walking or just push him against the nearest wall and kiss him or hug him so tightly that Gray had to notice how he was feeling... but he hadn't found the courage to do any of this. Even when they were staring in each other's eyes, saying a million things to each other that words couldn't express, he found it near impossible to act. He had wanted to caress Gray's face just now before the waiter had interrupted them, but he hadn't found the courage yet. He was growing desperate. He wanted to become a couple with Gray, wanted to show him how much he loved him day by day... But his clumsiness was getting in the way. Why couldn't he just lean over the table and kiss Gray? Why couldn't he reach over the table and caress his cheeks?
He had decided to get drunk, maybe that would make him forget his shyness. He was just about to reach out for the bottle of champagne when Gray took his glass and downed it in one go. He smiled. Maybe he wasn't the only one who wanted to loosen up with alcohol. He grabbed the bottle and poured himself and Gray another glass of champagne.
He emptied also this glass in one gulp. Gray had emptied half of his. Natsu sighed again. If both of them didn't know how to take the first step, then at least he wanted to spend the evening talking about meaningless things instead of awkward silence. So he started talking about the mission. Gray seemed to be relieved and joined in.
Eventually they even debated on whether or not Lucy and Erza were a couple, laughing and joking comfortably, like nothing between him and Gray had happened. Well, nothing had happened, but he was sure that both of them had noticed that there was something going on between them. He found that this was already a small success, even if it didn't turn out quite the way he wanted, but it was a beginning. If he could take small steps like today, it would eventually evolve into a relationship.
When the waiter brought their bill, Natsu insisted on paying everything, which left Gray grumbling and the waiter amused. When he wished them a nice evening, he secretly winked and showed thumbs-up to Natsu when Gray was already busy with getting up from his chair. Natsu smiled back and nodded slightly. Even the waiter had noticed there was something going on.
They spent half of their way home in comfortable silence. But one question had been nagging at Natsu since the incident with Becca. He knew it was stupid and he hoped that he already knew the answer but he couldn't be sure until he asked...
"Hey, Gray..."
"Yeah?"
"D- do you think you're bisexual... or gay?"
"I haven't really thought about that... But I guess I'm gay, since I am not interested in women at all."
"Then you're interested in guys? I mean besides the one you love?"
"Hmm... I don't know. I'm never really paying attention to anyone besides... him..."
"So... that means... you're still a virgin?"
Gray eyed him suspiciously and didn't answer for quite a while. Natsu thought that maybe he had overstepped and was close to apologizing when Gray answered with a quiet voice.
"Yeah... I want to have sex only with the one I've been in love with for almost my whole life... I- I mean... after we... uh... if we become a couple..."
Natsu sighed with relief. I'm sure we will become a couple eventually...
They spent the rest of the evening in silence, busy with their own thoughts.
When they lay in bed, their hands ended up so close to each other that Natsu could feel the coldness Gray's skin was radiating. But neither of them found the courage to reach out and so they fell asleep without their hands touching each other.