A/N: There were two songs that I loved listening to while writing this chapter: first, a classic love ballad by Richard Marx, "Now and Forever." "Whenever I'm weary from the battles that raged in my head, you make sense of madness when my sanity hangs by a thread. I lose my way, but still you seem to understand. Now and forever, I will be your man."

However, what really inspired me while writing this, and I named this chapter after the song, was Rihanna's "Stay."

Chapter 12

Stay

Gray pressed his finger back inside, and Natsu hissed in pleasure. Slowly, oh so rapturously slowly, Gray slid in and out, feeling the tightness gradually loosening.

"It's … a bit weird," Natsu admitted.

"It'll get better. Tell me when to add a second."

"No. Now. Just do it."

Gray looked down with worry. "Are you sure?"

"Don't ask again, bastard!" Natsu blushed and looked aside. "Even if it hurts, that's fine. I want you."

Gray nodded, and he rolled over to the nightstand.

Natsu lifted up slightly and watched in confusion. "What…?"

Gray opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of lube. As he gazed at it, he smiled faintly. "I'll confess, I was hopeful when I bought it."

Natsu chuckled. "What, no olive oil this time?"

"I can baste you another day." Gray drizzled out some lube onto his erection and spread it around Natsu's hole with his fingers. "I want this to be good for you."

"It will be," Natsu said with assurance.

Gray gulped hard as he set the bottle down and held himself. He looked at the waiting entrance, and worries surged up. It was now or never. "Are you really sure?" he whispered.

Natsu consented with fervent eyes. "Please."

Gray nodded with determination. Slowly, he nudged in, pressing hard, holding his cock so it would not slip. Natsu made a pained moan, but he growled out, "More!" Sweating already, throat dry from panting, Gray pressed harder, feeling the body under him slowly open up, so tight it was almost painful.

"Relax. Loosen up," he whispered.

"I'm … nngh … trying," Natsu sneered.

Gray stroked back his lanky pink hair. He whispered words, until he hardly knew what he was saying: "You're amazing. So hot. So wonderful. I love you. I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!"

He could not thank Natsu enough, thank him for waiting, for staying loyal, for never betraying his emotions, even when Gray had betrayed his own. He kissed Natsu's face over and over, thanking him in every way he could.

Finally, Natsu wrapped his arms around Gray, scratching his nails up the back side of his neck and into the hairline, sending a shiver through Gray's body. The command was silent, but those eyes spoke loudly. Slowly, Gray pressed in more. Natsu cringed, but he nodded, wanting more, more, more!

Gray thrust slowly, and then he pulled back. Natsu shuddered out a moan, and Gray's breath hitched at the sound. He felt the body under him loosen up until the gliding became effortless.

"Oh God, it's…" Gray cut off his words.

"Is it better?" Natsu asked. "Better than her?"

"Don't ever make me compare you two," Gray warned. "But … it's tighter." He thrust in again, and Natsu let out a strained cry. "Warmer," Gray purred, and his hips flexed slowly, savoring the feel of that heat sheathing his arousal.

"G-Gray!" Natsu cried out as his body trembled.

"Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm … oh God, that feels good."

"I told you, you'd like bottoming." Gray chuckled as he stroked the pink hair back off of Natsu's sweaty forehead. "Cry out. Let me know you like it. Don't hold back, or I'll just make it harder on you."

Natsu's teary eyes peeked open. "I want it hard. I want everything you've got."

Gray kissed Natsu's brow. "Not this time."

Natsu looked hurt by the denial. "Why not?" he asked sadly.

"It's your first time. If I gave you everything right at the beginning, there'd be nothing new the second time." He thrust in right then. "And the third time." He rammed in harder, and Natsu cried out. "And again, and again!"

Natsu's body blazed as Gray thrust in a steady rhythm, breathing hard, his cold hands caressing Natsu's thighs and holding his legs up.

How long had it been since he took someone like this? Months. More than six months, since it was before the mission that concluded with that fateful night. Gray was not able to do this before, not with the guilt of betraying Juvia. Now, all impediments were fading away. He wanted Natsu, needed him, and he knew without any doubts that he wanted to share this with the Dragon Slayer, to give pleasure to someone else, to be inside this body, with all of its fiery heat. As he made love to Natsu, there were no more regrets.

Natsu felt embarrassed having Gray look down at him with those frosty eyes and beguiled smile.

"Stop that," he grumbled.

"Oh?" With wry amusement, Gray stopped and leaned back. "Do you want me to stop?" He pulled almost all the way out.

"No! Don't stop that. Stop looking at me that way."

Gray could hardly help but chuckle. "What if I turn off the light?"

Natsu thought about it. His eyes were good, even in the dark, but Gray would not be able to see as well. He could make faces, and Gray would not see them. Feeling flustered, Natsu nodded. Gray stretched over and flicked off the lamp. The room went darker. There was still some fading red sunlight outside, but the curtains cast shadows over the bed.

"Better?" Gray asked.

"Yeah," Natsu whispered. He suddenly felt like an idiot, asking for the lights to be turned off.

"Good. You're even sexier this way." Gray caressed Natsu's neck and some red marks already pocking his skin. "Besides, in the dark like this, I can watch you glow."

"Glow?" Natsu asked.

Instead of answering his question, Gray rammed in hard, and Natsu gasped in shock. The pounding from early continued, but this time Gray's hand reached down and stroked Natsu. Those cold fingers tingled on his burning arousal.

"Nnnngh … Gray … ahhhh!"

Gray watched as the glow began. He had noticed it last time, too. When Natsu got truly excited, he lost control of his flames. It was never enough to set things on fire, but especially now with the lights off, he saw lambent flames flicker over the Dragon Slayer's skin. Sometimes the fire was in Natsu's mouth, a small but heated breath, gone in a flash. Sometimes it licked across his hands, and as he grasped tightly onto Gray, the ice mage felt the heat penetrating his skin. He knew when something truly pleased Natsu, because those tiny flames went out of control and the overall heat of Natsu's body soared.

"Natsu," he warned, "I won't last long."

"That's fine," the Dragon Slayer panted. "Just, you better not stop until I come, too."

Gray chuckled, leaned over, and licked up Natsu's neck. "Then I better make this quick."

He bit into Natsu's shoulder, and the Dragon Slayer howled. Gray's hips thrust harder, and his hand stroked Natsu frantically. As Gray drew closer to his climax, his teeth bit harder and harder, clamping down as his grunts went wild, erratic, and turned into drawn out groans.

"Natsuuu!"

Natsu wanted to hold back, last longer, beat Gray in a battle of endurance. However, as he felt pressure filling him inside and the throbs pulsing through the penis that had him spread so wide, he lost all control. His fingers clawed into Gray's back as all the lust he had been saving up for six months spilled out into Gray's fingers. He shuddered deep in his soul: being claimed, being wanted, being loved this deeply.

Gray kept his eyes partly opened even through the most intense moment. The fiery glow around Natsu raged out of control, wrapping around both of them, burning and making Gray hurt. It was a pain he could endure, though. To see Natsu lost in this bliss, he would put up with anything. Then as their hearts settled and the passion cooled, the heated glow faded, leaving behind a spent and tired Dragon Slayer.

"Natsu?" he whispered hoarsely, stroking the rough beard hairs on the flushed and sweaty cheeks. Gray leaned over, kissed those hot lips, and felt the fiery breath panting out in satisfied weariness.

As he calmed down, Natsu's tired eyes peaked open. Eyes like a stormy sky gazed down at him. Softly, he sighed, "Gray…"

"Are you all right?"

Too tired to speak, Natsu just nodded.

Gray pulled out and collapsed beside Natsu, gazing up at the ceiling. For six months, he had laid in this bed, looked up at those wooden beams, and thought about the day when Natsu could be in bed with him again. He felt Natsu roll over and lie on top of his chest. Gray hugged him, pulled him in, and squeezed as he finally had his dreams come true.

"Stay forever," Natsu whispered.

Gray kissed the top of his head. "If that's what you want."

"Please," he whispered.

Gray took Natsu's chin and lifted those green eyes, a gaze filled with ambivalent hope. "Okay. Forever."

Natsu grinned with bursting happiness.

"Are you still hungry?"

"Hungry? Oh. Well, I'm kinda tired now. I could probably go for one last romp later tonight, but I doubt you'll get more than three out of me in one day, not after how hard that mission was and walking all day."

"I mean dinner, idiot."

"O-oh." Natsu blushed at the confusion. "Yeah, I'm that sort of hungry, too."

Gray knuckled him on the head, making Natsu pull away with an annoyed pout. "Horny dragon! Let's wash up. Then you can help me in the kitchen."

"Will you wear an apron?"

"Only if you do, too."

"Deal!"

They showered, dressed, and went to the kitchen. Gray put on the apron, like Natsu wanted. Instead of really helping him cook, Natsu mostly just clung to Gray's back, not wanting to be apart from him for even a moment. The only times he let go were when Gray specifically asked him to do something. He would fetch a spice, grab a dish, put something in the trash, and immediately he was back behind Gray, his arms wrapped around, resting his cheek on the cold back.

"You're like a monkey," Gray teased.

"I missed you," Natsu insisted, not letting go. Gray decided, he did not really mind.

They sat out the dinner plates and began to eat. Under the table, Natsu's foot kept rubbing up Gray's ankle. He stared at Gray all through the meal. Then, all of a sudden, just as they were scraping up the last of the food from their plates, Natsu's eyes dropped with guilt.

"Hey, I wanted to apologize for something."

Gray looked up in shock. "Apologize?"

"Maybe it's awkward to mention it now, but … five years ago, your wedding to Juvia. Gildarts and I missed it."

Gray looked away sullenly. "You both apologized back then, idiot."

"No, we lied. We said the mission was hard and we were delayed. That wasn't the truth. We had finished the mission a week before the wedding, but … I didn't want to go. Gildarts could tell, maybe he even guessed why. He agreed to skip out."

Gray's mouth dropped. "But, you two came back all beaten up."

"Ah! Well, we had to pass the time somehow, so we kept challenging each other every day. The old man didn't hold back, either. He said that since he was going to be missing wedding cake, he'd beat the crap out of me."

Gray laughed, realizing that sort of excuse made way more sense than Natsu and Gildarts having a hard time finishing a mission. "It doesn't matter anymore anyway. Just so long as you don't miss any more of my weddings."

Natsu's mouth dropped in sadness. "You … you think you might remarry someday?"

"Dunno," Gray shrugged. He stood and walked past Natsu, who was staring ahead blankly in miserable shock. Suddenly, Gray grabbed Natsu's chin and yanked his head up. Those steel-blue eyes sparkled like ice in the sun as they shined at the Fire Dragon Slayer. "I really do hope so," he whispered sensually, and he gave Natsu a firm kiss.

Natsu was left dazed, and Gray smirked at the dumbfounded face as he walked off. Finally, Natsu realized what Gray meant and blushed fiercely.

"Bastard! Don't tease me like that!"

"You're the one who lied to me about missing my wedding."

"You said it doesn't matter anymore."

"You still lied to me."

"Then don't lie to me." Natsu bolted up, ran after Gray, grabbed his arm, and yanked him around. "Do you really want to remarry?" he asked seriously.

Gray was shocked by the urgency in Natsu's eyes. He pouted, and emphasized, "Some-day."

"Fine! Then someday—" Natsu's voice faded with sudden hesitancy. "Someday … we'll see," he mumbled bashfully, and he turned away just as his cheeks began to turn pink.

Gray laughed softly at his reaction. He knew it really was way too soon to think about something like marriage. Still, he was glad that Natsu seemed at least willing to make that a part of their potential future. Gray just wanted to test this new relationship out to make sure they would have no regrets.

He walked into the kitchen, but he got distracted by the sight out the window. It was autumn, almost time for Fantasia. The leaves were turning to burnished shades of yellow, red, and orange, yet the sky was perfectly clear. There was no more rain, no more crying. Their regrets were behind them. The path to their future shined like the brilliant autumn sun blazing in the clear sky.

The End