The five of them had spent the rest of the evening together. Apparently, Erza had just had some beers and was tipsy. She had searched for Lucy and Happy when she recognized Gray and Natsu. While approaching them, somebody had tripped her and she had accidentally stumbled into them. At least that's what she had told them.

The evening turned out to be quite fun, watching the fireworks with his closest friends. However, spending it alone with Natsu would have been far better. And if Erza hadn't interrupted them so brutally, the evening could have become the best of his life so far. Like this, it only left him with a sour feeling towards Erza that he had a hard time hiding, and a slowly fading ache in his upper lip where his skin had been broken. He refused to let this incident count as their first kiss.

Now that they had finally reached their hotel, Gray couldn't wait to be alone with Natsu again. Would they continue where they had been interrupted earlier? He was going to make sure they did. He couldn't wait any longer - he had already been waiting most of his life for this to happen.

They were about to bid each other good night when Erza interrupted him before he could even say a word.

"Gray, please come with us for a minute."

"Wha- why?"

"It's important. Just come, it won't take too long."

"Can't that wait until-"

"No, it cannot wait."

If it wasn't for the evil face Erza made, Gray would never have given in. Like this, he didn't have much of a choice, really.

He gave Natsu a quick nod, then followed Erza, Lucy, and Happy to their room.

After Natsu had closed the door of their room, he let out a long-suffering sigh.

It had been so close. They had nearly kissed - well, they had kissed, but that didn't really count. He sighed again. Natsu wasn't sure how he should act around Gray once he came back to their room. He was pretty sure he couldn't muster the courage to just continue what they had been about to do before Erza interrupted. He briefly wondered what Erza was going to tell Gray, but he figured that Gray would tell him eventually. There was nothing to worry about and there were more important matters at hand to take care of. Somehow he was even a bit relieved for the extra time he had to think of a good strategy... Or maybe not. Planning something like this always went wrong, as the past few days had shown him.

Why was it so hard? They loved each other. Gray loved Natsu and Natsu loved Gray. Easy. They should just confess to each other, become a couple, and then spend the rest of their days happily together. In theory it all sounded so easy.

Natsu ruffled through his hair with both hands. Then he went straight to the bathroom, leaving the bathroom door ajar and splashed his face with some cold water from the tap.

He decided he just needed a bit practice to get over his nervousness. So he looked up to the mirror and took a deep breath.

"I love you."

That hadn't been so difficult. But saying it to his own reflection was kind of weird. He should practice saying it to Gray, not to himself. So he sat down on the cold tiled bathroom floor and closed his eyes. He imagined Gray being right in front of him, looking at him expectantly. His heart sped up immediately. His imaginary Gray raised an eyebrow, urging him to say something. He took a deep breath.

"Gray... I... I'm in love with you."

"What did you want to talk about?" Gray asked as soon as the hotel room door was closed.

On the way, Lucy had suddenly remembered 'something important to do' and had dragged Happy along with her. This was starting to get strange.

Erza turned to face him. Her expression was serious and worried.

"Gray... I just wanted you to know that... if things go wrong with Natsu, you can always come to us and we'll be there for you."

Gray blinked incredulously. Talking with Erza about his feelings was something he had never expected to happen. He had never thought about talking to anybody about his feelings towards Natsu. Nobody was supposed to know in the first place. How Erza had figured it out, he really didn't know. He always thought he did a good job hiding his feelings.

But here they were and even though it was a bit uncomfortable being confronted with his own feelings by another person, he was also thankful. Talking sometimes helped, people said. Maybe he should try it for once. Erza was one of his closest friends, so why the hell not? Maybe she could take away some of his nervousness.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think of an appropriate answer. Erza seemed to notice his hesitance. She gave him an understanding smile and motioned towards the only chair in the room while she was sitting down on her bed. Gray reached for the chair, turned it towards the bed, and took a seat.

"So. You're surprised I figured out your feelings for Natsu." A quick nod. "Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out. At the beginning, when we were still kids, I thought you two really hated each other. I mean, the first thing you did when you two met was fight. Later I noticed that fighting and insulting is just your own way of showing your friendship and trust to each other. And you are still behaving like this... I thought you'd grow out of it and become best friends without feeling the urge of beating the shit out of each other every time you meet." She laughed. "But you're Gray and he's Natsu, so I guess it was obvious that things wouldn't change."

She cleared her throat and her expression went back to serious. "Every time you think nobody is watching, you keep looking at Natsu and your expression always becomes softer. I can tell from the look in your eyes how much you long for him..."

Gray dropped his head to hide the heat coloring his cheeks. Had he really been that obvious? He swallowed, still not sure what he should say. There was nothing to add. What Erza said was true. He loved Natsu so much it hurt. He'd do nearly anything for Natsu. He trusted Natsu with his life.

"It wasn't only you I observed. Naturally I also wanted to know what he thought about you."

His head shot up immediately, making eye contact with Erza and silently urging her to go on.

"He also looked at you with the same expression whenever he thought nobody was watching."

Gray's breath hitched. He had never noticed Natsu staring at him.

"But then, after he was found unconscious in the hills near Magnolia, he changed. I'm not sure what happened between you two, or if something happened in the first place. It just seemed like he had forgotten that he was in love with you, or maybe his love had faded away... He still stared at you sometimes, but he always looked confused. I felt so bad for you, seeing as you were still so in love with him. I couldn't do anything for you, so I just tried to stop your fighting whenever I got the chance. I didn't want you two to hurt each other physically when you already put each other through so much emotional pain."

She sighed. Gray's chest hurt at the thought that Natsu had at some point stopped loving him.

"However, since we defeated Tartaros, he started to behave strangely, especially towards you. I think he was in denial, but taking it out on you doesn't necessarily mean he's in love with you, it could just be that he's trying to distract himself from the person he's in love with... Uhm... And... I just wanted to let you know that you can always talk with me, or Lucy, or the both of us... I... I thought this mission would be a good opportunity to make you two talk with each other and finally settle things... And you seem to be getting along well these days, but you obviously haven't settled things yet... and... I just thought... if he rejects you- don't get me wrong, I hope he doesn't- but if he does... or if you aren't ready to talk about it yet and it gets too much, too painful being around him, and if you need a place to hide, to-"

Gray had crossed the distance between them in a quick stride and was now hugging Erza tightly. He felt incredibly thankful. Knowing he had somebody supporting him gave him strength and suddenly he couldn't wait to see Natsu again and set the record straight.

"Thank you, Erza. We were actually about to kiss before you stumbled into me."

He could hear her gasping.

"Oh- oh my god! Sorry! I'm really-"

"It's okay, but right now I really want to see Natsu."

They let go of each other quickly, Erza looking apologetic. She gave him an encouraging nod and pushed him towards the door.

"Then go and make him yours!"

"I will."

He smiled and then hurried out of Erza's and to his and Natsu's shared hotel room.

Gray wasn't sure what he had expected when he returned to their room. Natsu sitting on their bed, waiting for him, maybe. Or Natsu taking a shower. Never would he have expected to find Natsu in the bathroom, talking with somebody. He hadn't even known that Natsu owned a mobile phone or a communication lacrima. Because it was highly unlikely that somebody else was with him in the bathroom. Plus Gray didn't hear anybody answer.

The fact that Natsu was talking with somebody wasn't the problem; it was what he was saying.

"... I love you... I- ... I want to... be with you always, forever... let's become a couple... yeah, I promise. It's you or nobody. Dragons mate for life..."

His blood ran cold. Natsu loved somebody else. Forever. He wouldn't ever be able to be with Natsu. Never.

He snapped. He didn't want to hear any more of this shit; he needed to get out of here.

A loud bang snapped Natsu out of his reverie. He had completely lost track of time. And more important, he also hadn't noticed anything around him anymore. The bang sounded like a slammed door. He quickly exited the bathroom and took in the scents.

Gray. Surprised. Angry. No, extremely angry. And hurt. Shit.

Before he could even think about it, he was already outside the hotel, following the scent of Gray. He barely even noticed that everything around him was frozen. He sped up as much as he could.

When he had finally gotten into earshot, they were already deep in the adjacent forest - which was surprisingly not frozen.

"GRAAAY! STOP, PLEASE!"

And Gray really stopped. Natsu came to a halt a few meters away from him. Gray turned around to face him. His expression was blank.

"Why, Natsu? Can't you just leave me alone for once?"

"Gray... I'm so-"

"Sorry for what? Breaking my heart? For not having done it sooner? It's fine, I'll manage."

Seeing Gray like this hurt even more than seeing him angry. Natsu slowly stepped closer. He needed to set things straight.

"No it's not fine," he reached out for Gray and tried to grab his shoulders, but Gray smacked his hands hard before they could reach him. Now Gray's face was a grimace of anger.

"Don't you fucking dare to touch me."

"Fine, sorry. But please listen to what I have to say."

Gray scowled. "I've already heard enough. Spare your breath for your lover; I'm not interested in what you've got to say."

"It's not-"

"Shut up!"

"But-"

"Go away!"

"No, it's a mis-"

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Gray had taken up a fighting stance. And he was angry, really angry. Natsu didn't know what to do, he didn't want to fight. Gray was heartbroken because of some stupid misunderstanding and he just wouldn't let him explain it. He was desperate.

Natsu sank to his knees and bent over until he was on all fours. Then he lowered his head until his forehead nearly touched the grass.

Gray staggered. He didn't expect Natsu to kneel down and beg. Because that was what he was doing right now, wasn't it? His anger faded, confusion taking over instead. He gave up his fighting stance; Natsu had surrendered and he wasn't going to hit somebody defenseless.

"Please Gray... please listen to me, I want to explain everything."

He let out a shuddering breath. If Natsu went that far, throwing away his pride and begging him to listen, he should grant his wish. He didn't really want to hear Natsu telling him face to face that he was in love with somebody else, but his heart was already broken. It couldn't possibly get much worse.

He sighed, then went to the closest tree and sat down, leaning his back against the trunk for support.

"I'm listening."

Natsu came crawling closer and sat on the grass a few meters away from Gray, facing him.

"I wasn't talking to anybody in our bathroom. I was alone. I don't own any mobile phone or communication lacrima, you should know that."

"But then why-"

"I was practicing... I have tried to confess several times, but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth... So I thought if I practiced saying them aloud, maybe it would become easier to say them to the one I love..."

When his brain had processed the information Natsu had just given him, his heart leaped. That meant Natsu hadn't confessed yet, it could still be him, he still had a chance, maybe-

Natsu sighed. "How much did you hear?"

"U- uh... j- just that you... you... I heard you confessing a- and saying that you wanted to stay with that person forever..."

Natsu smiled faintly.

"Yeah, that's the essential part of it. But there was much more... There is much more I want to say. Will you listen to all of it, Gray?"

Natsu stared at him with such intensity it made his heart jump in his chest. He didn't trust his voice right now, so he just gulped and nodded.

"The moment I first saw you, it was like something clicked into place. Like you were everything I had been waiting for without even knowing that I had been waiting for something. I didn't understand what it meant back then, we were still so young. It felt like my whole world was just turning around you, I was always thinking about you, what you liked, what you hated, what clothes you wore, what food you were eating, what you liked to drink... I liked your stripping habit but at the same time hated it. I liked to see your beautiful body but I hated that other people could see it as well. I was always wondering if you liked the things I did and then I wondered why I even cared and purposely acted in a way you wouldn't like. Just to convince myself that I didn't let my actions be ruled by another person."

Natsu smiled to himself, no longer looking Gray in the eyes but at his hands, which were fidgeting nervously in his lap. Gray was glad he wasn't being observed right now. His face and neck were tingling hot and his eyes were glassy. He was biting his lip, refusing to let a tear fall.

"That was the reason why we fought so often. I was confused as hell. My heart was always beating faster when you were around and the closer you were, the more my pulse was racing. I tried to convince myself it was because my body was anticipating a fight and was providing enough adrenaline to win... But even after our fights were over, when we were both exhausted, my heart wouldn't calm down. And I always felt so hot inside when you were close to me. I could barely keep myself from reaching out and touching you. I didn't know what it meant, though. I knew you were special, I've never felt something like this before for anyone. I spent years fighting these emotions and at the same time wondering what they meant. It was a hard time..." He sighed.

"The one who finally made me realize what these feelings meant was Erza. It was when I was 10 years old on an early morning when there were only a few people in the guild hall. She forced me to follow her outside the guild into a small alley where we were alone. She was really scary. She told me I should behave nicer towards the person I love and when I asked her who that might be, she looked at me like I was the greatest idiot she's ever seen and just said 'Gray, of course'. And really, she was right. I was probably the greatest idiot she's ever met. I spent the whole day thinking about what she had said and I came to the conclusion that she was right. I loved you with every fiber of my being. I always have, right from the very first moment I laid my eyes on you."

Natsu chose this moment to look up again and Gray was unable to look away and hide his face. He was sure his cheeks were purple and tears were streaming down his face. He bit his lip in order to stop the flow of tears but if anything, he even made it worse. Natsu regarded him with a fond smile before he continued.

"That was when I decided I'd behave nicer towards you. And I did, the following days we didn't fight at all. On the fourth day after that, there was this... incident... It was the anniversary of the death of... well... you know... You were so sad and you ran away and I just couldn't stand to see you sad, so I followed you. You know... what happened then... And I felt so... so stupid, it hurt so much, knowing you are sad and I couldn't help you. I may even have made it worse, and I blamed myself for my uselessness and I despised myself and my stupid feelings for you... And then... I did something stupid I should have never done... I subconsciously used magic to lock my feelings for you away, to forget the memories of what I felt for you... I never wanted something like that to happen again and at the time I thought everything would be better if I didn't love you. I had used so much magic that I fainted right then and there...

"And when I woke up, I didn't know what had happened. I couldn't remember what happened between you and me shortly before I fell unconscious. I didn't feel love for you any more, just deep friendship and admiration. And it felt as if there was a giant hole in my heart. Like the most important piece of my heart was missing. I was heartbroken and I didn't know why. I was crying myself to sleep more often than not. And there was always something about you that I couldn't put my finger on... It was torture."

Gray saw a single tear making its way down Natsu's beautiful face.

"Then, after we defeated Tartaros, we fought like we hadn't fought in ages. We really gave it all we had, until our Magic Power ran out. It was then when the imaginary box I had created to conceal my feelings for you cracked a bit. I can't really imagine how that worked, but obviously I always needed a small amount of Magic Power to keep the box intact. And during the fight, I had used some of that... Then suddenly there were again these feelings, the warmth in my heart when you were around. It was too much and too sudden and I didn't know where it came from and I was again so confused. I reacted in the exact same way I did back then - with fighting... I'm so sorry for that, really. I'm just the same idiot I have always been..."

Natsu shook his head, looking honestly apologetic. Gray hesitantly opened his mouth, ready to say that he'd already forgiven Natsu, that he didn't need to apologize. But then Natsu smiled at him and Gray's breath hitched in his throat. He didn't need to say anything. Natsu already knew.

"It was again Erza who made me realize my feelings... When we played truth or dare, she just announced that I was in love when I couldn't answer her question. And then, when I ran after you, it seemed so familiar, like déjà-vu. I suddenly remembered what had happened nine years ago. I destroyed that box inside my heart and set my feelings free. It was overwhelming... I love you so much, Gray..."

Natsu's expression was so soft and warm. He looked so very vulnerable right now.

Gray was glad he was already sitting; his knees wouldn't have supported his weight any longer, had he been standing. He felt dizzy, the edges of his vision started to blur. Everything except Natsu became hazy; nothing around them mattered any more. It was only them.

"Gray... can I touch you?"

But Gray was already moving, crawling towards Natsu on all fours and then gently pushed him down so that Natsu was lying on his back. He straddled Natsu's hip and put his hands on the grassy ground on either side of Natsu's head for support.

Without breaking their eye contact, he slowly leaned down.

Natsu's breath hitched when Gray came closer and closer. He could feel Gray's warm breath on his cheeks.

He let his eyes flutter shut and pursed his lips, expecting to be kissed any second. But then he felt Gray's nose softly nudge against his. He couldn't help the desperate whimper that left his throat at the gentle touch.

After a few seconds, Gray pulled away again and Natsu opened his eyes with irritation. He was met with beautiful blue eyes so close to him and he couldn't breathe.

"Natsu, relax."

He felt Gray caressing his face for a split second before he sat up again, freeing his hands from the weight of his body so that he could grasp Natsu's wrists. Just then Natsu noticed that he was really tense, his hands cramped into fists beside his body. He let Gray move them over his head, where he unclenched his fists. Gray intertwined their fingers with each other, effectively pinning Natsu's hands to the soft grass over his head.

Natsu opened his mouth to complain about the loss of control but before anything came out, soft lips touched his and suddenly everything else was irrelevant. Gray hesitantly moved his lips against Natsu's, the friction sending waves of heat and pleasure through his body. Natsu sighed contently into their kiss and happily kissed back, leaning into the touch of their lips.

After the first moments of insecurity and shyness, the kiss intensified and became sloppier when they started sucking and biting softly at each other's bottom lip. Gray had, somewhere along the line, loosened his grip on Natsu's hands and started to caress soft pink hair.

When Gray pulled away after some minutes but still felt like not long enough, they gaped at each other open-mouthed, both flushed crimson and panting heavily.

"Natsu... we're... ah..." Embarrassed, Gray buried his face in the crook of Natsu's neck.

Due to their positions their crotches were pressed together and they were both rock-hard. Natsu hadn't noticed it while kissing, but now he just couldn't restrain himself any longer.

He moved his now free hands to grope Gray's ass and was immediately rewarded with a shudder that ran through Gray's whole body and resulted in their crotches being slightly rubbed against each other. They both moaned in unison.

"Nah- tsu, what-"

"Take a wild guess." And with that, he began moving his hip up and down while intensifying the grip on Gray's ass.

It was too much for him, too alluring to resist, so he went along with Natsu's actions, dry humping Natsu with so many layers of clothes between their cocks. The sensation was overwhelming and soon he was a moaning, whimpering mess and completely at Natsu's mercy.

"Gray... ahh... G- Gray, I- I can't- ahhh, I'm c- coming"

Then Natsu's body went rigid and Gray encouraged him by moving his crotch against Natsu's more violently, carefully biting his earlobe and moaning. Then Natsu was shouting his name and it was all it took to trigger the most intense orgasm he'd ever had in his life, shooting his come in his pants and not caring in the slightest, riding out the waves of pleasure by frotting against Natsu and moaning his name loudly. The knowledge that Natsu was coming undone under him, because of him, spurred him on even more and prolonged his orgasm.

Completely spent, Gray collapsed on top of Natsu. He could feel the wetness in his pants spreading but right now he didn't care. He rubbed his nose along Natsu's neck and took in his scent, then buried his nose in Natsu's scarf. He sighed contently.

"Natsu... I love you... so much..."

As an answer Natsu wrapped his strong arms around his upper body and caressed his hair. Gray closed his eyes and savored every second of their closeness, every gentle touch and softly spoken word.

They would have to clean up eventually and get back to their hotel room, but for now they just wanted to cuddle a little while longer.