Chapter Text
Things were beginning to settle. But, not in the way that Gray wanted them to settle. Which, yes, he was aware that it was selfish but he still couldn’t help himself.
They were beginning to settle back into familiar ways and he wasn’t sure that he knew how to ask for something different. He also wasn’t sure that Natsu would want something different.
-
“Hey,” Gray greeted as he slid into the seat next to Natsu.
Natsu gave him an odd look before nodding and going back to his magazine.
Gray drummed his fingers on his knee. “So, uh, any jobs catch your eye, recently?”
“Not really.” Natsu shrugged.
This was going terribly.
Gray cleared his throat and shot Natsu an apologetic look when the pinkette gave him a sideways glance.
“Gray,” He started, “Do you need something?”
Gray went to pull at his collar only to scratch at his collarbone—huh, when had he lost his shirt? “Not really.”
“This is painful,” Lucy muttered just loud enough for them to hear, as she walked by with Erza.
Gray scowled at the blonde mage before Erza met his look with something far more threatening. But, they did have a point.
He took a breath to steel himself. “Natsu, do you want to take a job together?”
Natsu blinked at him before throwing his head back with a laugh. When Gray didn’t start laughing, he sobered. “Oh, you’re serious.”
“Well, now I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t have been,” Gray retorted, “Probably could have saved myself a solid five minutes when I finally compose my comprehensive letter detailing why I will no longer be existing in the land of the living.”
Natsu rolled his eyes. “You people and your dramatic monologues.”
“That was not dramatic, that was a perfectly appropriate response to being laughed at.”
“Oh, come on! Cut me some kind of slack. Usually you’re all like Natsu, go fuck yourself, no one likes you’”
Gray had to force his mind not to linger on the first part. “I am not like that.”
At Natsu’s pointed look, he did relent.
“Okay, maybe I was. But, you gave as good as you got.”
Natsu looked to consider it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, I’ll give you that.”
“Careful, pyro, your graciousness is showing.”
Natsu narrowed his eyes. “Careful, stripper, we may be turning over a new leaf but don’t think I won’t hesitate to turn you inside out.”
Gray felt his mouth spread into a grin.
This! This was a good sign! They were beginning to settle into their old, natural ways but this time without as much toxicity.
Funnily, neither of them had been the first to throw a punch. Instead, a stray barrel from a brawl happening just a few feet away crashed into Natsu from where he had been standing and facing Gray.
Which resulted in Natsu, unsuspecting and not at all braced for impact, tumbling into his lap slightly. Slightly raised knee first.
Gray grunted. “Watch it, Pinky!”
Natsu scoffed and pushed off of him, further knocking Gray back, before whipping around to face the brawl. “Oh, can it, Ice Princess. I’ve got bigger problems than you, right now. WHO THREW THAT BARREL!”
“Bigger problems than me?!” Gray screeched as he launched himself at the pinkette. “You can’t just ditch a fight whenever you want!”
Natsu glanced at him from over his shoulder, most of his attention on the mage he had in a head-lock. “Fuckin’ watch me, Stripper.”
Gray launched himself at the pinkette. “You’re so rude!”
Natsu took the punch and retaliated with a kick. “Oh, I’m rude?! At least I’m not naked!”
“Half-naked!” Gray managed to dodge the kick but paid the price of not being able to completely dodge a chair.
Natsu grunted when Gray managed to land a hit.“No, I’m wearing a vest. It counts.”
“No, it doesn’t. I can see your stomach.”
He scoffed in response. “I’ll wear what I want. Besides, it’s fashionable.”
Gray laughed. “What do you know about fashion?”
“More than you do!”
“You don’t know that.”
“How could you of all people know about fashion? You don’t even wear clothes!”
Gray rolled his eyes. “You’re so infuriating.”
Natsu grinned at him. “And yet you still come and search me out.”
“For as long as you keep letting me.” The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about the implications.
Natsu only rolled his eyes.
And, despite, chairs and fists being flying about around them, Gray found it impossibly hard to take his eyes away from the small smile that spread across Natsu’s face.
-
Gray tried his best not to let the little moments like that get to his head. And he meant that he was really trying.
Natsu was taken. As much as he would like for them to be something more, he knew that Natsu was not the cheating kind.
He was as loyal as they come. He also…hated cheaters and did not care for people who willingly slept with taken people. ”You have to be a special kind of evil to do something like that. Or maybe they just lack self-esteem.”
Every time the pinkette grinned at him, or patted the seat next to him, Gray found himself recalling the magazine.
At night, he kept the copy on the nightstand to remind himself that he had already lost Natsu. As much as he would like to take it to another level, right now, that wasn’t possible.
…Natsu didn’t like cheaters, but he had never said anything against people who had rebounds.
No. He wasn’t going to be that kind of guy.
He refused.
.
“We aren’t even dating,” Natsu said, downing another shot glass.
Gray coughed as he choked on his gulp of beer. He had been careful to only sip at the one—he couldn’t risk getting drunk and saying something stupid and ruining everything. And, oh boy, was he glad that he hadn’t.
“What?!” Gray asked.
Natsu shrugged in nonchalance, already picking up his next drink. “It was all fake, and hey—the easiest way to come out and cause chaos.”
“And why are you telling me this?” Gray asked, holding himself back from asking ‘Why are you only telling me this now’ and screaming in pure joy that holy shit, he may have a chance!
Natsu laughed before taking another shot. The glass hit the counter with a thunk. “Come on, Gray! You’re my friend, and as much as I like chaos, I don’t like lying to my friends. Especially not my teammates.”
Gray blinked and swallowed. He wanted to look away, he knew he should avert his gaze. But when Natsu was leaning forward, propped up by one arm resting on the countertop, his eyes genuine and half-lidded, his hair falling and framing his face in just the right way, and his lips parted ever so slightly— well, how could he look away when the man looked like a masterpiece.
“Hello? Earthland to Gray?” Natsu snapped his fingers in front of him. “Good God, I thought you would never snap out of it. I was beginning to get worried.”
Gray blinked and tried to clear his thoughts. “Yeah, whatever.”
“Aw, don’t be like that. I meant to tell you earlier, but I kept forgetting! Honest.”
“I’m not upset about that,” Gray immediately denied, despite Natsu being partially right on the money.
Natsu hummed and leaned back in his chair. “You absolutely are. Or at least were. Hard to tell now.”
Gray swirled his drink around in his cup.
“I really was going to tell you,” Natsu repeated, this time in a softer tone.
“Well, if you kept forgetting then clearly it wasn’t important.”
There was a brief flash of hurt and Gray remembered all at once the event that had started all of this mess—
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
Natsu waved a hand at Gray and flagged a hand at Mira. “I know.”
There were a few beats of silence when Gray was scrambling with something to say. He truly hadn’t meant that, he had mostly been playing although there was a little part of him that might believe it on a bad day.
He knew that this was coming, it had to have been. The past few months had been going too well. It was about time for Gray to slip up and ruin everything.
“At least this time the blame truly doesn’t lay on me,” Natsu confessed with a mild look.
Gray didn’t get much farther than opening his mouth before Natsu was standing and interrupting him.
“When I’m around you I’ve got this terrible habit of forgetting everything outside of us. So, really, it’s your fault.”
The combination of the words that were borderline flirtatious and the leering expression Natsu wore was enough to stun Gray into silence as he sipped on his beer.
.
They didn’t talk about the event. But, Gray also wasn’t sure that they needed to. It was mostly harmless, at least it was at this stage.
Besides, it wasn’t a huge change. They had just begun to have little moments in their conversations when their conversation would take a more…suggestive turn.
It had taken a few more quips from Natsu before Gray felt confident enough to reciprocate.
“Careful, Flame-brain, I’d hate for you to get hurt,” Gray teased as he watched Natsu try to balance from where he was standing on a branch.
Natsu rolled his eyes. “If you keep distracting me, Ice Princess, I’m going to fall for you, but this time literally.”
This time.
But, since that moment in particular, they were just kind of dancing around each other.
And then Sting came around.
Gray did not like Sting, even after learning that Natsu wasn’t dating him nor held any interest in doing so.
He still didn’t like the way Sting’s arms winded around the pinkette’s neck. Or the way he shoved himself onto him.
“Hey, Gray.”
Gray huffed as Natsu slid into the booth next to him, motioning for Sting to sit on the bench across from them.
“Sting,” He greeted.
Natsu hummed and plucked his cup out of his hands. “And here I thought jealousy would look just a tad bit hotter on you.”
“You know I don’t do hot, Pyro. That’s your thing.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natsu both fan himself and burst into flames with a grin.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone grumpily flirt until just now. Congratulations, Fullbuster. You deserve a prize.” Sting’s neck was looking more and more strangle-able.
“Cut him some slack, Blondie.” Natsu waved a hand. “Oh, yeah, he knows that we aren’t really dating.”
Sting wilted. “Aw, come on! But what about the chaos we were going to cause!”
“It didn’t feel right,” Natsu answered with a non-apologetic shrug. “If you really want to, though, we can come together later to plan a huge, messy break-up?”
“Won’t that damage you guys’ reputation?”
Natsu smiled at him. “Not if it’s your fault.”
Sting narrowed his eyes and sniffed. “Alright, I can take a hint. I won’t go crazy and stir the pot so that I can have more excitement in my life.”
“Your friend has a cat that dresses as a frog and is green,” Gray pointed out.
“Yeah, but that got old fast,” Sting said.
Natsu hummed and nodded. “So, how’s the whole Guild Master thing going?”
Gray felt himself settle when the pinkette leaned back and allowed his thigh to press against Gray’s. His warmth was a nice contrast to the ice mage’s cold.
-
It got around via word of mouth, at least in the guild, that Sting and Natsu weren’t dating.
“As exciting as it was, it just wasn’t realistic. It was one of those things that were nice while they lasted. There’s no bad blood, though.”
He’d overheard Natsu explain to Mira and Lisanna the other day when they cornered the pinkette for answers.
Truthfully, after telling the two of them it was no wonder it got around that the two were no longer together.
“I’m kind of concerned at how much these people are invested in my love life,” Natsu muttered into Gray’s ear as he plopped into the seat beside him.
Gray sighed. “In all the time you’ve been here, I think that was your first relationship. And it wasn’t even a real relationship.”
Natsu rolled his eyes and waved at Mira. “Well, it’s not my fault that I’ve had my eye on someone for like…a while.”
Gray felt himself perking up slightly. “Oh, yeah?”
“Gray if you don’t know that I’m not talking about you by now, I really don’t know what else to tell you.” Of all the responses Gray had expected, that one was not it.
“What happened to Smooth Natsu?” Gray asked when he finally recovered.
“Lucy stopped supplying me with helpful things to say.” Natsu deadpanned.
“Wha- You’re telling me that this whole time Lucy was feeding you lines?”
“Nah, she was feeding me books. And from the books, I took inspiration and then she said ‘Oh my God, we should start a book club’.” Natsu shook his head. “I didn’t want to agree, but Erza made me. But, while she was on this retreat with Juvia and Erza, I did some self-reflection now that I wasn’t forced into attending the book club. And I realized that I don’t need to be anything other than myself.”
Gray nodded to himself. “Uh-huh, and what kind of books do you guys read during book club?”
“Huh? Oh, we don’t really read books during book club.”
“What- then what do you do?”
Natsu blinked at him and then sniffed as he looked away. “We, uh, debrief about the various situations going on around the guild and various circles.”
Gray processed that for a moment before gaping. “You guys sit around and talk shit about people!”
“I never said that!” Natsu defended. “And it’s not talking shit!”
“Well, it sure does sound like it!”
Natsu crossed his arms. “And this is why we don’t invite you, droopy-eyes.”
“Who all is a part of this?!”
“Don’t worry about that, Gray.”
.
Natsu took another drink.
Gray matched it. He was feeling slightly buzzed and felt none of the previous hesitation he had felt the last time they had sat together and drank.
The party was still roaring behind them. They had already had their fun with the group and were content to just idly drink and chat.
At least they were.
Until someone made a joke and then they were laughing, and then Natsu put his hand on his thigh, just above his knee, looking at him with questioning eyes, and then Gray was leaning in and they were kissing.
They pulled back after a short moment.
“So, would it be horribly inappropriate if I suggested the two of us get out of here?” Natsu asked, leaning slightly away from him.
“It would be inappropriate if you didn’t,” Gray answered, “So, my place sounds good?”
Natsu nodded and hurried after him. “Hey, Lucy! Erza! Would you two mind watching Happy tonight or finding Wendy and asking her to let him stay with them? You don’t, okay bye!”
Lucy and Erza were frozen before laughing together, their glasses clinking together as they celebrated.
.
Natsu’s hands were tangled in his hair, every now and then tugging and twisting.
“Fuck,” He muttered against Gray’s lips when the ice mage’s hands dropped down to grab at his ass. Natsu leaned back slightly to pant, “I’ve got to say, I’m feeling a little overdressed compared to you.”
Gray rolled his eyes but made quick work of Natsu’s attire, all while pushing him back until the pinkette landed on the bed.
It really wasn’t anything far too special, Gray mused. Sucking another bruise onto his neck, nipping at the edges of the scar, and relishing in the moan that he earned and wincing when Natsu dug his nails into his skin.
They weren’t doing anything other than making out and grinding—and yet it felt like one of the most special things he’d ever done.
The fact that Natsu was letting this happen. That he was letting himself relax and cling to Gray, letting Gray touch and caress him without a single trace of hesitation or fear.
It was a type of intimacy that Gray wasn’t sure he deserved.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
He felt Natsu’s hands come up to his shoulders and gently ease him away.
“Gray, if you’re not comfortable with this, then we can stop. You know that, right?”
Gray rubbed his eyes, he hadn’t even been aware they were wet. “It’s just- you know that I really do love you, right?”
Natsu’s eyes widened slightly and he appeared to be slightly taken aback before his features softened. “I know, Gray. It might’ve taken some…time, but I do know.”
“And I’m so fucking sorry, Natsu.”
Gray let himself be guided back into Natsu’s arms. The touchest that had once been filled with passion and heat and desire had cooled into something still warm but more reassuring than anything.
“We’re okay, Gray.”
-
The two of them weren’t perfect. As people, they were far from it and it was unrealistic to expect that not to reflect in their relationship.
Inevitably, they would make some kind of misstep. Natsu would still have his moments where he got paranoid and would begin to shut himself out. And Gray would have moments where he would sit and stew about the wasted time and the too-far actions he had once taken before.
But, they would be there.
When Natsu would pull back, Gray would be there to follow and assure Natsu that No, he didn’t secretly hate him, he loved him.
And when Gray would find himself stuck reliving past mistakes, Natsu would be there to gently reassure him that he had long since forgiven him.
They had their issues, but, they also had each other.