1.

The day hadn't started too well for Natsu. He had slept in!

And he'd agreed to meet Lucy early in the morning at the guild because she wanted his help for something but he woke up too late. And then it was as if everything were piling in to make his day awful.

He hadn't gotten to have breakfast, Lucy's anger easily making him stay away from the guild, so his stomach was rumbling and scaring the people he passed by on the street.

Then he and Happy had started an argument that ended – for the time being – with the two going on their separate ways, Natsu stomping his way out.

He thought about getting food but remembered that his pouch had been left at Lucy's and the Celestial mage this time around might actually kill him with her bare hands.

His mood was terrible by the time noon approached. And his stomach was even worse!

And it wasn't fair that his feet (and nose) had led him to the market – the food section, specifically. Natsu couldn't pay for the food and that just made it look more appetizing. His stomach seemed to agree with that as it rumbled louder.

Dejectedly, he walked by the food stalls, the small restaurants that had been set up to try the new kinds of foods.

And then, he saw him.

His possible salvation.

Gray was sitting with his back to Natsu and he had a series of dishes laid out in front of him.

Yep, that was Natsu's chance!

"Nice finding you here!" he placed a hand on Gray's shoulder and grinned down at the ice mage guilelessly.

Gray frowned.

"What do you want?" he turned back to the bowl of rice he had in his hand. But, Natsu noticed, didn't shrug to dislodge his hand.

"Can I join you? Pleeeeeeaaaaasseeeeee?" he whined and his stomach grumbled in accordance. And the noise was such that it seemed to convince Gray.

"Fine. C'mon, sit." He gestured to the other side of the table. Natsu promptly plopped on his seat and grabbed the eating utensils. "But, you will pay me your share." Gray declared, too used to Natsu's way by now.

"I will, just – let me eat now, okay?" Natsu said as he started stuffing food into his mouth.

"Seriously, you need to learn some manners. Lucy's right…" Gray said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Too hungry. No time." Was the distracted reply.

The reaction he got was a snort.

2.

"It'll be easy." Natsu said all of a sudden. The others looked at him as if he'd sprouted another head. The looks of confusion and suspicion weren't deterrents for the fire mage though. He smiled brightly. "We can do it, I know it."

"Natsu, it's great that you have such a good impression of our abilities but in this case we need to tread carefully." Erza cautioned, exchanging a glance with Gray.

"But we can do this mission, no problem. Where's the problem?" Now it was Natsu's turn to be confused.

"We don't know yet everything in regards to the mission. Did you forget that it could be a trap?" Lucy began. "Also, we need to study some things, reconnaissance stuff and all?" she added with a grimace. "I just don't think that we should jump headfirst into this one. Don't have a good feeling about it."

"Heh, feelings. With the three of us," and with that Natsu clapped his hand on Gray's back and shot another bright smile at Erza, "and your skills, we're sure to be able to finish this mission soon."

"Hey!" Gray grumbled, glaring at the fire mage. "You need the jewels, don't you?" he scratched his cheek, waiting for Natsu's answer.

The pointed look didn't go unnoticed by anyone from the team.

"Fine," Natsu said at long last, caving in to his friends. "Yes, I need them. The Master took half of the money…"

"That was because you destroyed half of that town." Erza retorted.

"Hey, I didn't mean to destroy it. Just… that happened, okay?" Natsu said with a pout, deflating.

"You really need to stop doing that, silly." Lucy said as she shook her head and shot him a fond look.

At that Natsu's pout grew and he crossed his arms, ignoring his friends.

"Fine, you big baby. We'll go on that mission. Okay?" Gray's amused voice cut through Natsu's mutterings, making the fire mage look up, smile back in place and energy seemingly coming off him.

"Okay."

3.

Blood was running down Natsu's arm but he didn't notice it.

His glare was set in one person. The reason for the whole mess.

His blood was rushing inside his body, there was a pounding in his head that seemingly deafened him to everything and everyone.

And he was just so furious.

How could he?

How could Gray?

How did Gray dare doing that?

And being so fucking selfish?

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" he all but yelled, unmindful of their precarious situation. If their enemies heard them, so be it. He could kick their asses. But first, oh, first he had Gray to deal with.

And the asshole was looking at him with that stupid, impassive face.

"What? Don't you have anything to say now?" he continued.

"I don't have anything to say to you. And even less when you're like that." Was the cold answer.

"You're a right bastard, you know that?"

Gray kept staring at him, that dead-fish expression not changing one bit.

"What if I am? It's not like you have anything to do with it. Or with me."

And, okay, that hit Natsu strangely hard. He didn't know why it felt like he'd been punched out of nowhere – but that he did, he did.

So he didn't let himself think.

His whole body just reacted.

Before he knew it, his fist was connecting with Gray's jaw, making the other sprawl down on the ground, glaring daggers at Natsu.

Who stood the same way, frozen. Uncomprehending what had just happened.

"Look who's the bastard now." Gray ground through clenched teeth as he stood up, one hand gingerly holding his jaw. "For your information, you don't have to know everything. There are things that aren't in your scope, little boy…" Venom was dripping from Gray's words.

Natsu straightened up. He was on the verge of losing it – and he knew it.

"You don't know what you're saying. And I don't admit that you say that." Natsu's answer was more of a growl than discernible words but Gray seemed to understand all the same. A sharp smile appeared on his lips.

"What? Little boy?" was the snide reply.

A growl left Natsu's throat and he saw red.

He threw himself at Gray.

4.

The ground was moving!

What had been solid ground under their feet just seconds ago had started moving, they were slipping.

Natsu looked around, there were some trees with low branches and that had vegetation stuck to them. Maybe they had a chance.

But no.

Gray was too far away, getting further away with every breath Natsu took in.

He had to get to him. The stupid ice brain wouldn't get rid of him that easily!

There wasn't much time though.

Natsu caught Gray's eye, a strange wordless conversation seemingly going through them. He knew what they had to do – and knew that Gray knew too.

He threw himself forward, stretching his left arm, extending it as much as he could. And Gray was doing the same, he knew it.

Their hands clasped together.

Holding too tight, nails digging into flesh.

But they were there.

Together.

And they could get out of this situation.

And before they fell down the abyss.

They went by one of the trees and Natsu's free hand held onto one vine. Fortunately it was one of the older, thicker ones.

The vine stretched and gave a jerk, holding taut.

They had stopped, for the moment.

Natsu took a big gulp of air. They weren't yet safe but they hadn't fallen so that was a plus.

Natsu felt Gray struggling to get closer to him. Voices also seemed to reach him, but they were coming from too far away and Natsu really couldn't spare any of his attention as he was the one holding them in that static place.

"Hold on for a little more." Gray's voice reached him, close, not distracting. He knew that the girls were probably finding a way to get them out of there.

They would make it.

5.

The sun was starting to touch the horizon when they got back to the guild. They were tired.

Thankfully they had gotten clean and fed before their journey back – even though that had been long, long hours ago.

Natsu's stomach was complaining, with him feeling much better after having left the train.

Tiredness didn't take the urge to feeling that the familiar and comforting ambiance of the guild overall gave. Home was home, after all.

Dinner was had with much aplomb, the usual rowdiness not tiring to the mages. The guild did give them all a second breath – it was strange sometimes…

Of course that the tiredness of the day at some point had to reach even the strongest of mages.

Natsu felt the beginnings of sleepiness clinging to him and caught Gray escaping through the front doors.

He went after him, to investigate.

Natsu found Gray outside, leaning against the rough stone of the walls, looking up at the night sky. He looked pensive.

"What're you doing here?" Natsu asked in his usual unsubtle way, making Gray start.

"What are you doing here, flame breath? Weren't you supposed to be asleep?" Gray asked with his usual tone. It grated on Natsu's nerves but he also recognized the banter for it was, instantly.

"Me? Sleep? Nah. But it was getting quite stuffy and hot inside so I decided to come outside to get some air, ice brain." Natsu replied with a shrug.

Gray's arched eyebrow showed Natsu what Gray thought of his flimsy excuse. Because it was actually beyond extremely flimsy.

"I see…" the ice mage finally said, noncommittally.

"Good." Natsu nodded awkwardly.

And so they stood like that, looking up at the sky and with a very awkward silence between them.

"So…" Gray started after a while. "I wanted to thank you for that during the mission, I guess." He mumbled the end of the sentence, looking to the opposite side Natsu was in. The ice mage shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Of course." Natsu said in a strange tone of voice. He was also doing a very conscious effort to not look at the other. "Anytime."

"Don't say that, you dumbass." Gray said suddenly, slapping Natsu in the upside of his head. "You may not have anything in that hollow head of yours but, you better lay off the crazy antics. Erza will kill you if you continue acting dumb. And if she doesn't, I will."

"Pffft, so you also had the pleasure of having a sermon, in version light, huh?" Natsu said before laughing.

"I don't have to sit through sermons. Unlike some people…" Gray retorted in mock-haughtiness.

"Really…" Natsu made a half-gasp, half snort in an attempt to clear his voice. But he threw a hand out, in a small arc. And when his hand reached it, he held. "I seem to remember a certain someone sitting beside me as the Master was yelling at us for being so unpreoccupied with property and such…" Natsu tapped his chin distractedly with his free hand.

"Hmmpf! It wasn't my fault. I don't know why I had to sit with you, of all people…" Gray continued in his playful tone. Then he paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Also, hm… what's the meaning of this?" he asked as he raised their interlaced hands. He threw a pointed look at Natsu.

The fire mage blushed.

"I… huh… I dunno. When did that happen?" Natsu said, strangely. He now noticed how he didn't feel like letting go. But, he caught himself. He shouldn't be doing this, should he?

With a dejected sigh he let go of Gray's hand and started walking towards the guild's entrance.

+1.

Before Natsu could give more than two steps away, Gray held onto the fire mage's wrist. Effectively stopping him.

He didn't quite feel like letting the other go away.

That was a realization he just had.

Natsu looked at him, uncomprehendingly and with the heavy cloud of sadness still hanging over him. And Gray was floored. He wanted to slap himself.

Unthinkingly he tugged on Natsu's wrist so that the other stumbled back to him.

Natsu looked up, sharply, at Gray. A mix of feelings fluttering on his face.

The pair seemed to realize how close they were, just a hairsbreadth away from their lips touching.

"Took you this long too?" Gray could feel Natsu's whispered words. He kept himself from leaning forward – it was a struggle – and couldn't help but answer.

"Looks like we're both pretty dumb, huh?" Was out the ice mage's lips before he realized.

A sudden bang made them jump and push away from the other.

Both blushing profusely.

A/N: Please go take a look at the new community on tumblr (called FTLGBTales) that has been created to unite this corner of fandom. It's full of awesome people, great writers and the purpose is to bring positive vibes and fun to our fandom!