Ya know, I swear I didn't ship Gratsu all that much a few days ago. I swear it. And yet, here we are.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Also, they're sort of out of character, but I tried, okay? Don't I get an A for effort?

Natsu wanted a fight.

Not because he was angry or upset, but more because he was kind of bored and – though he'd never admit it – a little worried about a certain ice mage friend of his.

Gray had been a little…off lately. He never engaged Natsu in his offers to brawl – part of the reason why he was bored – and he had just seemed sort of distant from everybody the past couple of days. Broody, even, and more so than was usual for Gray.

So when another attempt at starting one of their typical fights was once again declined, Natsu went to the only person he could. Well, the only cat he could.

"Something's not right with Gray," Natsu said to Happy while the Exceed perched himself on his shoulder as Natsu led them both down a forest trail so that they might speak without fear of being overheard.

"What makes you say that?" Happy asked, attention drifting momentarily to the lake they were walking passed. "You think we could stop and catch some fish?"

"What? No! Happy, just- ugh." Natsu rolled his eyes, huffing and crossing his arms across his chest, much like an irate child. "I just think somethin's wrong. He doesn't even want to fight."

"Awww, you're worried. Must be because you two are so close," Happy hinted suggestively, like there was more to his and Gray's relationship than them just being friends. Which Natsu could confirm there was not.

"Yeah…" Natsu simply trailed off. The weird feeling constricting his chest made it difficult for him to get enough breath into his lungs to argue.

"Oh no, something must be wrong. You're not even getting riled up," Happy said, and Natsu couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, so he just settled for believing that he was.

"Can't you take this seriously? I'm telling you that something is wrong, but all you do is make jokes! Can't you see that he's acting weird?" Natsu yelled, surprising both himself and Happy. Natsu wasn't generally one to act so serious in any situation, especially when their wasn't any immediate danger around. But how could Happy not notice Gray's strange behavior? How could he not feel this weird tightening sensation in his own chest when it was all Natsu seemed to be able to focus on in his?

After a moment's pause, Happy said, "I didn't really think anything was wrong. Gray is usually kind of broody."

"It's different! He won't fight!" Natsu pointed out again, like it was the most telling sign. And really, it was.

"I'm sure he'll be fine in a few days." What was Happy not getting? Was his little buddy really that unobservant? Natsu had thought he was the slow one, that since he'd picked up on Gray's attitude, it would have already become common knowledge by then. But no one else even seemed to realize anything at all was going on. How could that be?

Happy activated his magic and flew from Natsu shoulder, opting instead to hover in front of him. "If you're that worried, why don't you just go talk to him?"

What was Happy suggesting? He wasn't worried, just… Okay, maybe he was a little worried, but he definitely couldn't just talk to Gray about it. That wasn't really how their relationship worked. They just sort of fought through their emotions. But, with Gray refusing to fight, what other option was there?

...

"Hey, uh, Lucy? Have you seen Gray?"

The blonde looked up from her book, blinking at Natsu slowly for a moment before tapping a finger to her chin thoughtfully and answering, "I saw him a little while ago, but he left the guild hall. I think he said something about going into town to pick something up."

Going into town? For what? Since when did Gray go pick up anything in town? If you asked Natsu, it sounded an awful lot like an excuse.

"Oh, okay. Thanks." He was just turning to leave when Lucy interrupted him.

"I think there's something bothering him," Lucy said, and Natsu could hear the concern in her voice, even though she kept her eyes glued, unmoving, to her book. So Natsu hadn't been the only one to notice. "If you find him, just…make sure he's okay. And don't be a stubborn jerk." Lucy lifted her gaze from the pages then to meet Natsu's eyes, glaring at him sternly. "I'll tell Erza you two aren't getting along if you do something dumb."

"I won't, I promise." Natsu would have liked to say that he'd only promised that because of the threat of Erza looming over his head, but that wasn't really it. There was this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach – different from the suffocating worry that he'd been feeling earlier – that made him want to stay in line. He figured that he could be nice just this once. For Gray.

...

When Natsu finally found Gray, it was in a dark, abandoned side street that felt like it could suck the life out of anything that set foot in it, and it had just begun to rain. He wondered if somehow Mother Nature had set it up this way, so that everything could be that much more dramatic.

"Gray?" The ice mage was just sitting there, on a crate on the side of the pathway, simply letting the rain fall on his dark hair and carve wet trails down his face, almost like tears. The call of his name seemed to startle him from whatever thoughts he was lost in.

"Natsu?" Gray's expression turned confused, and then morphed to annoyance. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Natsu retorted. "Why are you just sitting in the rain?"

Gray glanced down at himself, then around him, like he had just noticed where he was and that it was raining. Natsu also noted that the other boy wasn't wearing anything other than his boxers, which wasn't all that astonishing. He was just surprised he wasn't sick. Could ice wizards catch colds? It seemed kind of ironic to Natsu, but who knew? He didn't think it was worth taking any chances.

"Come on," he said, grabbing ahold of Gray's wrist. "Let's go back to the guild hall and-"

"No," Gray cut him off, ripping his hand out of Natsu's hold like the dragon slayer had burned him. Like, actually burned him. Not like those times when they'd fought and occasionally used their magic on each other, but like Natsu had really hurt him. Gray tore his arm away like he was scared, and of Natsu. It made something inside the pinkette feel…like maybe he was the one who'd been burned.

Natsu wasn't sure how to react, because Gray had never done this before, and therefore he'd never felt this way before. So he just sort of stared at Gray in a sort of dumbfounded shock, like he'd suddenly done the most unbelievable thing out of the blue. In Natsu's eyes, he had. It wasn't like he'd ever burned Gray, not seriously, not enough to seriously injure him. But he acted like he expected Natsu to do something horrible, like he did expect him to hurt him. And Natsu just couldn't wrap his head around it. For the first time since Gray had started acting strange, Natsu thought that maybe the reason why was because of something he'd done.

"I don't wanna go back to the guild hall right now. I'm fine here, just leave me alone," Gray was saying. Natsu had almost forgotten that Time was still going. It seemed that something so not right should stop it in its tracks. But Time stopped for nothing and no one, not even Natsu. Not even Gray.

"Is…is something wrong?" Natsu wasn't exactly sure why he'd asked that question, because clearly something was wrong, but he guessed that, in his bewildered state, that was really all he could think to ask.

Gray looked at him then, and the look on his face was just so out of place there. It was a look that made Natsu's heart ache, because there was so much sadness there, but it was like he was trying so, so hard to hide it, like he didn't think he was allowed to feel sad about whatever was bothering him, like he'd be looked down upon or derided for it.

It was so obvious in that moment that something was seriously upsetting Gray. Had he had that look in his eyes for the past few days? Natsu wouldn't have been able to tell, Gray hadn't been looking him in the eyes lately. Maybe he had done something wrong. But all Gray said was, "No, I'm fine."

Natsu stared at Gray with such intensity then, like the boy had gone mad, because he knew that he was lying through his teeth. And then, the dragon slayer said in a soft tone that contradicted the way he felt inside, burning with questions and the need to help his friend, "I can tell you're not okay, Gray. Why can't you just… Why won't you just tell me what's the matter? Is it…is it something I did? Because if it is, I swear, I didn't mean for anything bad to happen to you or-or anything. I don't-"

"It's not you," Gray said, then after a short pause added, "It isn't something you did."

Natsu wasn't sure exactly what his reiteration was supposed to mean, but it felt better to know that it wasn't something he had done. But if it wasn't, then why did Gray act like that when he'd touched him?

"Can you please just…just leave me alone?" Gray asked again, but even Natsu could tell that leaving him alone right now wasn't the best idea, and he was his friend. Isn't this what friends were for?

Natsu didn't say anything, just sat down beside Gray on the crate in the pouring rain. If Gray was going to be stubborn, then so was he, even if Lucy had warned against it. It was when Natsu started shivering – because it was cold out and he was literally soaked, mind you – that Gray spoke up, "Don't be an idiot, just go back and get inside."

"You're the one being an idiot! Why won't you come back to the guild hall with me?" he exploded, and then asked in a much softer tone, "And why won't you tell me what's bothering you? Aren't we friends?"

"If you wanna have a heart-to-heart so badly, go find Lucy," Gray said, avoiding his gaze by glaring at the ground.

Natsu growled in agitation. Why was Gray so infuriatingly dumb? "I don't want to have a heart-to-heart, you stupid ice block! I just… Are you okay?"

"I already told you I'm fine!" Gray shouted angrily, but when he turned to scowl at Natsu, the dragon slayer could still see that haunting sadness in his eyes.

"And I know you're not! I mean, what's wrong? Why do you look so sad?" Natsu's temper fizzled out halfway through his yelling. He wasn't good with words, or with comforting people, but he'd be damned if he wasn't at least going to try. His shivering was all but forgotten in the face of far more important things.

Gray was silent for a very long time, simply watching the rain droplets as they splattered on the ground. Natsu thought to place a reassuring hand on Gray's shoulder – wasn't that what people did to offer comfort? – but he thought better of it when he remembered the ice mage's reaction to him grabbing his wrist. He didn't want to see Gray react to anyone's touch that way, let alone his.

"I…I had this dream a little while ago. It was really…weird…" Gray hesitated a moment before continuing, "I was married to… I was married, and I had this little daughter. I can't remember what she looked like, or her name, but I just know that she was the sweetest thing, and we were like…it was like we were a happy little family. Then I woke up and they...that scenario didn't exist any more." Gray frowned before looking up from the ground and meeting Natsu's eyes. "Does it make sense, to miss something that you've only ever dreamed about having?"

"You're upset because you want a kid?" Natsu asked incredulously. Was this really what had been upsetting Gray all this time?

Gray winced at his tone, and Natsu wished he could take back what he'd said. Instead, he said nothing as Gray spoke, "Not exactly. It's more…it's more the situation, the atmosphere, and…and who was in it...who was there."

"You mean the little girl?"

Gray's lips twisted into some morose version of a smile. "Something like that."

There was another long pause before, "Do you think we'll ever have kids?"

There was something about the way Gray said the question, like his entire future depended on Natsu's answer, that made the pink-haired boy hesitate. Why did it feel like one little question would decide the fate of the entire universe? How could one question be so important?

Then he said, "I'm sure one day we'll both meet girls we like and…ya know…have kids."

Gray nodded stiffly, "…yeah."

And Natsu just stared at him, because in that moment, something just clicked. He got something, and he never got anything, but he did then. He finally got why Gray had been acting so strange, why he had been acting so mysterious and had been trying to distance himself from Natsu. He finally understood why that question had felt like it held the weight of the world within its few words.

"Gray…" What did you say to someone when something like this happened? How was he just supposed to bring it up, to talk about it?

"What?"

"You could have…you could have just told me, you dumbass." Was what Natsu settled on.

"It's not that simple. You don't…you don't understand."

Natsu looked at him then, and he tried to smile, but he wasn't sure if it came out right. This was just so much to take in, and there were so many overwhelming emotions to feel. He wasn't quite sure how to react. "I understand perfectly that you're a dumbass."

Gray scowled, looking annoyed, but he spoke sadly, "I'm not a dumbass, you just don't…ugh, you don't get it, flame brain."

"I get more than you think I do. And I still think you're a dumbass. Why didn't you just tell me you like me instead of making me worry that I did something wrong and making me sit out here in the rain to get answers from you?" Natsu asked, and he was pretty sure that he actually did manage to smile at Gray then.

"What? I-you-I… What?"

Natsu's grin faded than. What if he'd been wrong? "I didn't get it wrong, did I? Because I thought that I'd finally-"

"No, I-I just… It doesn't…weird you out?" Gray asked dubiously.

Natsu rolled his eyes then, though he was relieved. "This is why you're a dumbass."

Gray's face scrunched up then, like he was confused, like Natsu couldn't possibly like him back. Like he'd said before, what a dumbass.

Natsu reached out his hand to grab Gray's own and intertwined their fingers. It was silly, really, how something so simple could make someone so happy. But Gray's bemused features shifted to those of such utter relief and just happiness that Natsu never wanted to let go of his hand for fear that the expression would disappear and Gray would turn back into that sad, moping version of himself that made it hard for Natsu to breath.

"You don't think it's weird?" Gray asked again, though the wide smile never left his face. "I mean, we're both guys."

Natsu just pressed his forehead to Gray's, and while it was the strangest thing he'd ever done, it was also the nicest he'd ever felt. "Yeah, and Happy's a talking cat that can fly. You're point?"

Gray laughed breathily. "Fair enough."

They just stared into each other's eyes then, as cheesy as it sounds, and Natsu was thinking just how much he didn't mind sitting in the rain if he could do it like this when Gray spoke up, saying, "I'm gonna kiss you now, okay?"

Natsu chuckled. "Okay."

And the other mage pressed his lips to the dragon slayer's, and Natsu was pretty sure he'd never felt happier than he did just then, sitting in the pouring rain, at night, in some back-alley street. It's not what many would call "perfect", but in that moment, that was the only word Natsu could think of to describe it, the only word that he felt could even come close. That moment, when he was soaking wet and cold and was possibly even losing feeling in his toes – not his fingers, because Gray's hands were warm, despite the type of magic he used – that moment, was absolutely, positively, without a single doubt in his mind, perfect.

So, what did you guys think? I mean, it's not all that bad, but it's not (teeheehee) PERFECT. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I had to! Anyway, tell me what you thought. I might do a second part that I have ideas for, but idk because what I have so far for it is kind of crap. Tell me what you guys want.