Gratsu Bingo 2019

Prompt: Alarm

Chapter 13

Natsu woke up to find he'd tangled his limbs with Gray's as they slept, just as they had as children. This time, however, he didn't have to be afraid of the other's reaction. They were both exactly where they wanted to be.

Natsu's smile was full of affection. Even though it had taken them years, they'd finally come full circle. He watched over Gray as he slept, loving how his nose wrinkled as he dreamed. It was so peaceful and cute, and Natsu knew he could spend hours watching Gray like this and never grow tired of it.

He slid some hair away from Gray's face, and the ice mage stirred. His eyes twitched behind his eyelids, and soon, they blinked awake.

"Morning," Gray said, sounding groggy, his eyes still heavy with sleep.

He studied how their bodies were connected, but instead of pulling away, he snuggled closer and closed his eyes again.

"Morning, Droopy Eyes," Natsu greeted fondly, "Shouldn't we be getting up?"

Even though he'd rather do anything but go to work, he remembered Gray mentioning Erza had demanded he go.

"Uh-uh, I want to enjoy this, Erza's going to be pissed at us no matter what. We might as well at least deserve it." Gray squinched his eyes stubbornly.

"I can't argue with that," Natsu grinned as he turned his body to face his boyfriend.

The movement caused Gray to open his eyes. He gazed at Natsu's face, eyes slowly moving down until they came to rest on his boyfriend's luscious lips. Natsu licked them, and Gray wasted no time leaning in for a kiss. They spent the next ten minutes experimenting and finding what they liked best.

It enthralled Natsu, this warmth that coursed through his body. It burned, but it was so enjoyable. Much different from any heat he'd ever experienced through his magic.

An unexpected although still familiar scent wafted into his nose, and he stiffened, prompting Gray to stop what he was doing and glance at him in confusion.

"So. You two dumbasses got your act together," a sardonic voice came from the entrance of Natsu's room. "About damn time."

Gray groaned as he recognized his older brother, but made no move to cover himself. "Lyon, what are you doing here?"

"Erza sent me to get you when you didn't show up for your shift," Lyon informed his brother, "She's not happy with either of you."

"Well, thanks for the warning. You can go now," Gray attempted to get rid of his brother so he could go back to the newly discovered thrill of making out with Natsu.

"No can do little brother. She asked me to escort you back, and I'd rather not piss her off."

"Yep, Lyon's already whipped, and he's not even dating her,""Gray grinned at Natsu, who chuckled.

"Oh please, she's got all of you whipped," Gajeel entered Natsu's room as well, carrying a bag of food from the local bakery, "Here you go, losers. Don't get used to it," he said in his usual gruff manner.

"And here I thought you didn't care," Natsu winked at the dragon slayer.

"I don't," Gajeel muttered, "I was up early and remembered you had nothing to eat yesterday. Just... don't scare Wendy like that again."

"I won't," Natsu promised as he got up and gave the burly slayer a hug which was returned, although somewhat grudgingly.

"Now hurry, Red wants to have a strategy meeting."

"Can you keep this to yourselves for now?" Natsu asked Lyon and Gajeel, "We haven't discussed how public we want to be yet."

Both guards agreed, even though Lyon scowled at Natsu. Gajeel, however, pointed out it wouldn't be a problem since he didn't care, anyway.

Natsu and Gray got ready, and Gray did his best to ignore Lyon's snickers at seeing him wearing Sting's clothes.

They headed out, letting Lyon and Gajeel take the lead while they wolfed down their food and thought about what lay ahead.

0-0

Natsu had turned quiet as soon as they'd reached the field, not looking forward to the interrogation he was sure was in his future. Something else had been bothering him, and he didn't quite know what he should do about it. He was still thinking about it when he and Gray entered Erza's office.

"Natsu," Erza greeted him, giving him a once over, "I trust you're feeling better?"

Natsu ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm all better now, Wendy healed the last of it."

"Can you go get the others?" Erza directed the request at Gray, who left in search of the other guards.

Erza waited until he was out of earshot before asking the one question that had kept her up most of the previous night. "Was it a dragon attack?"

Natsu nodded, "A Silver Dragon attacked me, it caught me by surprise on my way home."

Erza gaped at him in horror, remembering how serious his injuries had been, while also thinking about what could have happened if Natsu hadn't encountered the dragon first.

"How are you holding up?" Erza asked, not being able to hide her concern despite how irritated she still was at him. "Wendy mentioned you had some sort of incident last night?"

"I had a pretty awful nightmare," Natsu admitted and then muttered, "At least I hope that's what it was."

Erza's eyes narrowed at his words, but she decided to wait until the others arrived. From what Wendy had told her, it had sounded like Natsu hadn't given them any details.

She cursed under her breath but asked no more questions. Pacing around her office to get some nervous energy out, she tried to determine what the dragon attack implied for the safety of the village.

One by one, all the guards arrived and took a seat. Lyon closed the door behind Gray, who was the last to enter, taking his place next to Natsu. Sting and Wendy had already begun their shift and would have to be updated later.

"Can you now tell us what you've been doing?" Erza asked Natsu, hoping he would agree.

That silver dragon had been desperate or aggressive enough to ignore his claim. Others might soon follow. For the safety of Talos, Natsu would have to put all his cards on the table, save one.

"I've been going out every night looking for evidence of any dragons in the area. I've only encountered a few, and I scared them away," Natsu avoided Gray's eyes knowing the ice mage would freak out right about then, but Natsu couldn't afford to keep them in the dark any longer.

"Dragons work off scent, and they won't encroach on another dragon's territory. So every night I mark the territory that Atlas had claimed as his, hoping it would scare others away. I've expanded on it since the refugees arrived." He added with no small amount of pride.

"I was returning home when a silver dragon attacked me from behind. It paralyzed me with a spell before attacking with its ice, but I injured him and got away." Natsu explained, "It shouldn't return, but others might."

"Paralyzed you with a spell?" Rogue asked, and Natsu could see the tension in his friend's shoulders.

Even though all the dragon slayers had learned and practiced with their dragons, like Natsu, they'd never been in a proper fight with a dragon. He could only hope that their initial reaction was better than his had been. Rogue's shadows would likely work to his advantage. He peeked at Gajeel and, to his surprise, found the Iron Dragon Slayer looked calm. If anything, his features looked more determined than ever.

"I don't understand any of this," Erza complained, "How are you even able to mark like a dragon?"

"Atlas taught me a spell that let me do the marking," Natsu improvised, "It only works for fire dragons or their slayers. That's why no one else could help me."

"That's changed, though. Happy went out on patrol with me last night, and he's willing to continue helping. I just have to teach him what's needed."

"Who's Happy?" Erza asked in confusion.

"Happy is the red dragon Sting, Lyon and I attacked a couple of years ago," Gray informed her.

"He's also the one who brought Natsu to us after he was injured," Rogue added, keeping his eyes on Natsu as he seemed to think about something.

"I was lucky he found me," Natsu said, "There's no way I would have been able to make it back home on my own."

Natsu could feel Gray's distress at his words through their bond and cursed himself for sharing that.

"So we have one dragon on our side. Are there any others?" Erza asked, eyeing the dragon slayers hopefully.

The three dragon slayers all shook their heads. As far as they knew, all the other dragons had already left to fight.

"There's one more thing, and I hesitate to mention it, but I feel like I need to," Natsu had thought about this all the way down. Once he'd calmed down, he'd realized there was something about that dream that troubled him.

It had felt like Atlas had been trying to communicate with him. Natsu wasn't sure if that was likely, but he knew Atlas had a lot of magic at his disposal, so it was at the very least possible. And it had felt so real.

"My dream was about the war. There was a dragon slayer, a renegade one, and he was going after our parents. Atlas was protecting Metalicana, Grandine, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum who appeared to be injured. But the dragon slayer was going after Igneel. Atlas was trying to get to him when I woke up."

Natsu couldn't look at any of the dragon slayers. He already knew what he would see.

"It was just a dream, Natsu," Rogue reminded him, "It wasn't real."

Natsu could hear the cautious hope in his friend's voice, and he hoped with all his might that Rogue was right. That he was just overreacting to a very vivid dream, but in his heart, he knew differently. He wanted nothing more than to take off and find them, but he'd made a promise to his father, and he intended to keep it.

"You mentioned renegade dragon slayers last night too," Gray said, sounding confused, "What are they?"

"Igneel told me about them before he left. Renegade is the name given to dragon slayers that betray the dragons after receiving their magic. They kill all dragons, regardless of what side they're on, and they use their blood to make themselves more powerful."

"Irene had identified several, and Igneel and the others went to take them out once and for all."

Erza gasped at the mention of her mother.

"Why didn't you tell us any of this before?" Gajeel glared at him, his red eyes glowing in anger.

"I didn't want to worry you."

Natsu had often thought about telling them, but he'd decided it wouldn't help anything. Worse, they might worry that it could happen to them as well. Atlas and Igneel had assured him that wasn't likely, so he'd tried to protect his friends as best he could.

"Did you see my mother in your dream?" Erza demanded, watching Natsu's face to ensure he wasn't keeping anything from her.

"I'm sorry, Erza. I didn't," Natsu said, "That means nothing though. She could have been somewhere else, and I could also be wrong about all this."

Erza took a moment to digest the information, "It's official then. We need to prepare for the worst."

"I'm sorry, Lyon," Erza announced, "We'll have to call off the festival."

She smiled at the ice mage, and wanting to soften the blow she added, "Perhaps soon, we can plan for a victory one."

She remained quiet for a few minutes, staring at all of them thoughtfully before barking orders out.

"Lyon and Gray, I want you to go to the refugee camps and let them know we're looking for recruits. If they don't have magic, I want you to train them in hand to hand combat. If they do, send them to Sting to train. I'll talk to him as soon as he returns. I'm counting on the three of you to whip our new recruits into shape."

Both ice mages nodded in agreement. It had been a while since they'd worked together. Gray looked at Natsu wistfully, all hopes of stolen moments shattered, but he understood what he and Lyon would do was important.

"I'll have Wendy and the healer train some others. It will be crucial to have more healers on hand."

"Natsu, you're off regular rotation. You will focus on your patrols exclusively," Erza barked, "I want you to teach this Happy whatever he needs to know, and I want someone to go with you as a backup. No more surprise attacks."

"Gajeel, I want you to go with N-" Erza never got a chance to finish her order.

"Rogue, I'll take Rogue." Natsu interrupted Erza before she could assign Gajeel the job of being his backup.

Natsu didn't relish the idea of having anyone with him but considering what they would discover he had to pick the most level-headed of the male dragon slayers and that was Rogue. Natsu was a little concerned about his entanglement with Sting, but he hoped that if he explained the situation, Rogue would agree not to share his secret.

Rogue raised an eyebrow at him. Natsu knew it would seem an unusual choice for him to make for something like this. Although they were friends, he and Rogue weren't as close.

Erza seemed surprised as well, but shrugged it off. "That's fine. Gajeel, you and I will analyze the town's defenses and improve them in any way we can. We'll also come up with an evacuation plan, just in case."

Gajeel nodded, but his eyes never left Natsu, who refused to meet his gaze. The meeting adjourned, and everyone left Erza's office.

Natsu and Rogue were headed home when Natsu felt Gray tug his arm. He sent Rogue ahead, telling him he'd catch up with him in a few minutes.

"Don't do anything stupid," Gray looked worried, and Natsu hated that he was the reason for it.

"Hey, relax. I've done this every day for a long time now." He smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring, "I always come back."

"Promise me."

"You know I can't do that," Natsu reasoned, "I can promise you this. If it's within my power to do so, I will always come back to you. Besides, there are a lot of firsts in our future, I wouldn't want to miss any of them."

Natsu winked and smirked at the blush that Gray wasn't able to hide.

"I was thinking about hand-holding, you Pervy Popsicle," Natsu teased, "What were you thinking about?"

"S-same," Gray replied, but he didn't sound very convincing.

"You're a horrible liar, Snowflake," Natsu pressed his forehead to Gray's, "Meet me at the field later. We can hold hands and watch the sunset. Does that sound good?"

When Gray nodded, Natsu gave him a quick kiss and ran off to catch up with Rogue. He had to figure out the best way to tell Rogue his secret and convince him not to tell anyone, especially Sting.

O-o

"So how big of an area are we talking about?" Rogue asked as they neared the cave. So far, they had stayed away from any weighted topics, but Natsu knew well that he wouldn't be able to do that for much longer.

He didn't think Rogue would run away from him, but it still frightened him to have anyone know what he was.

"Hundreds of miles," Natsu replied.

"But how? How are you able to travel those distances in one night?" Rogue was shocked. "What kind of spell did Atlas teach you?"

"Look, Rogue, before I show you anything, I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone about this. Not even Sting."

"Natsu, you're asking me to keep something from my mate. I'd never ask you to keep anything from Gray," Rogue watched Natsu's reaction closely and when one wasn't forthcoming pressed, "He is your mate, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is," Natsu agreed, "But this is something that he can't know, at least not yet."

"I wouldn't be asking you if it weren't important," Natsu could see Rogue was curious, but he didn't want to do or say anything more until he could extract a promise.

"I'll consider it. That's the best answer I can give you."

Natsu gazed at Rogue with frustration. Maybe he'd made a mistake in picking him. Gajeel might have been the better choice, after all.

"HAPPY?" Natsu yelled out, smiling as he heard the young dragon come flying out of his bedroom and land in the main room.

"Naaatsuuuu!" Happy greeted the dragon slayer cheerfully.

"This is Rogue," Natsu introduced the Shadow Dragon Slayer to the whelp, "He will come on patrols with us."

"Pleased to meet you, son of Skiadrum," Happy attempted to bow, but he was too excited at the prospect of going out again to manage it properly.

Rogue chuckled at the dragon's eagerness, liking him right away. "The pleasure is all mine." He bowed to the dragon. "You may call me Rogue."

Natsu led them to the rear entrance of the cave and climbed on Happy. He motioned for Rogue to climb on behind him and hold on. "We'll just fly around and keep an eye out to start with. I want to see what it looks like in the daytime."

Happy took off, and Natsu explained to the two of them in great detail the things that he kept an eye out for. He was enjoying riding Happy. It had been a while since he'd ridden any dragon.

Natsu preferred flying, but as a child, he'd loved riding Igneel, and when riding Atlas, there was always a snack, much to his uncle's dismay.

He felt a sharp pain across his chest at the thought of his family. Were his father and uncle okay? Had it all just been a very realistic dream prompted by his attack?

Natsu had no way of knowing.

They were almost at the edge of his territory when Rogue spoke. He had been quiet for most of the ride, allowing for Natsu's nerves to settle.

"Do you think Skiadrum's in trouble?" Rogue asked, his grip on Natsu's waist tightening.

Natsu could still see Igneel and feel the terror Atlas had experienced as the renegade dragon slayer had transformed and come straight at his brother. Remembered the battered bodies of the other four dragons he knew as family. He shuddered and tried to clear his mind of the image.

"I don't know what to think anymore, all I know is it felt real," Natsu replied.

"They've been gone for so long, sometimes I think they're never coming back." Rogue said in his matter-of-fact tone, "I'm worried, Natsu. We've never fought an enemy dragon. What if we're not strong enough and everyone dies because of it?"

"You can't do any worse than I did," Natsu assured him, "When that dragon paralyzed me, I panicked. Just froze and waited for it to finish me off. Then I heard Igneel's voice urging me to keep my head." Natsu frowned, still disappointed in himself.

"Even when he's not here, he's still saving my ass."

"I guess none of us will know how we'll react until it happens. But I think you'll do better than you think," Natsu encouraged his friend, "We are our parents' children after all, and they trained us for this. When the time comes, I think we'll be fine."

Rogue stared at him for a bit and then gave him a small nod, accepting Natsu's words. "Is it time for you to mark yet?"

Right. Natsu took a deep breath and braced himself for what was coming. "Happy can you set us down for a moment?"

Happy found an open field to land on and touched down gently. Natsu climbed down and stretched his limbs a bit before calling out to his magic. He turned towards Rogue and before he could chicken out; he transformed into his dragon form.

Natsu faced Rogue, wings stretched out behind him, letting his friend see him for who he was.

Rogue climbed down from Happy and stared at him open-mouthed, taking in the red scales that covered most of his body, and the lighter colored skin that highlighted the tight muscles of his chest and underbelly. He turned around, showing the black spikes that ran down his back to the tip of his tail.

Natsu had seen himself reflected in the water many times as he flew over it. He knew that he looked like a smaller version of Igneel, down to the horn on his snout. The only actual difference was his eyes. Where Igneel's were yellow, Natsu's remained a bright green. He waited for some sort of response, somehow sensing that if he spoke, it might be too much for Rogue to handle.

"Natsu?" Rogue blurted out finally, "Is that really you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Natsu replied, his voice sounding deeper in this much more massive body.

"You look like Igneel!" Rogue exclaimed. To Natsu's surprise, Rogue came over and explored his face with his fingers before backing away, face red with mortification.

"Rogue?"

"I'm sorry, I guess I miss the dragons more than I thought," Rogue looked sheepish, but he went back to evaluating Natsu's transformation, "So Atlas taught you a spell that turns you into a dragon, allowing you to mark his territory?"

Rogue was still watching him, awaiting his response, and Natsu felt the weight of that gaze as he tried to decide how to answer. He had given no thought to his earlier words in Erza's office, but he now realized they could be interpreted in a way that explained his transformation.

This was the moment to come clean and tell the truth. To tell someone what he was and hope they would accept him, but he wasn't ready. The promise he'd made to Igneel all those years ago still weighed on him, and he was just too scared of Rogue reacting as Gray had when they'd been young.

"Yes?" Natsu responded, taking the easy way out even though it made him feel disappointed in himself.

It didn't matter that he could now control his transformations. That he had the enormous body of an adolescent dragon, or that he could take on multiple foes on his own. Inside, he was still that same child who had been rejected by the one he loved most.

Even though Natsu had stated it as a question, Rogue accepted it as fact, the variation in his dragon voice hiding the uncertainty in his answer.

"I can understand why you wouldn't want Gray to know. That would be very traumatic for him."

Rogue remained quiet for what felt like an age before adding, "As for Sting, there's no way he could keep this to himself if he knew, not to mention he'd ask for rides incessantly."

Natsu snorted, this development would definitely excite Sting. He was only one level below Natsu regarding his love for anything dragon-related. He'd nag him endlessly to teach him the "spell."

"Alright, you have my promise," Rogue said, "I will keep this between us. For now."

"Thank you," Natsu bowed his head in gratitude. "We should get started."

Rogue climbed back atop Happy, and both dragons took off in the air, Natsu explaining to Happy how to secrete the substance in his saliva so that he could mark as well. Rogue tried to hide his disgust as he did nothing but watch Natsu spit at things for the next four hours while keeping an eye out for any danger.

o-o

Gray and Lyon walked toward a refugee camp. Lyon had been giving Gray sidelong glances all morning but had said nothing, and it was driving Gray crazy.

"If you have something to say, just say it," Gray snapped, not being able to take much more of the silence.

"It's nothing, I'm just wondering why Natsu would want to keep your relationship a secret," Lyon looked straight ahead.

"He never said he did. We just haven't discussed anything yet. He's just being careful," Gray reasoned, "We've only been together a day."

"I suppose. I mean, I like Natsu well enough. It's just the dragon slayers are," Lyon searched for a word that explained what he was trying to say but came up empty, "different from us. I don't want to see you get hurt." He put his hands in his pockets.

Gray laughed even though the concern touched him, "Are you trying to be the protective older brother?"

"I'm doing no such thing," Lyon scowled, "I just know you've waited for this for a long time."

Gray had indeed been waiting for this moment for a very long time, and although he knew well that they still had a lot to work through, he refused to let that tarnish how he felt. Just thinking about the way Natsu's lips had pressed against his was enough to put a smile on his face. He wanted to do it again.

"Everything's going to be fine, Lyon," Gray assured his brother, "Now let's focus on our task."

They'd stopped at the first camp on their list as they talked, and now they were looking at it in surprise. Even though it was a sunny day just about everywhere else, there was a rain cloud hovering above the camp, enveloping the tented space in rain showers.

"Get out! We don't want you here anymore, it hasn't stopped raining since you arrived!"

Gray and Lyon shared a look and ran into the camp to find the source. They followed the yelling, which was getting more and more abusive, and now they could also hear pitiful sobbing.

"But Juvia has nowhere else to go. All the other camps have already sent her away. Please!"

Gray tried to find who this Juvia was that they were fighting over, but all he could see was a young blue-haired girl crying while a much older man was throwing what seemed to be her possessions at her with others goading him on.

"What is the meaning of this?" Gray demanded in outrage. He positioned himself in front of the crying girl, getting himself drenched in the process.

Muttering could be heard among the refugees, spreading as they got a good look at Gray and Lyon, "Look at their uniforms, they're from the Village Guard."

The man who had been yelling at the girl stepped forward, "The Village Guard, thank goodness! You should arrest this girl."

"Oh?" Lyon replied, his already squinty eyes narrowing further in interest, "On what charges?"

"I don't know! She's making it rain," The man explained." It never ends. Everything we own is soaked through so we can never get warm. And now people are getting sick. We took her in from another camp, but they didn't tell us this would happen."

"I think we can help you with that," Lyon smiled, remaining polite although Gray could tell he was angry at their treatment of the girl. "The war is getting closer to our borders, and we have been sent here to recruit both magic users and fighters willing to fight for the town that has so graciously offered you a place to stay. We will train you, of course, and pay you for your trouble."

While Lyon talked to the others, Gray turned around to get a good look at the girl. He offered her a friendly smile, trying to calm her down from the tears that seemed to have no end in sight. She studied him with big blue eyes.

"Why did you stand up for Juvia?" The blue-haired girl asked through her tears. "No one has ever defended Juvia before."

"Are you Juvia?" Gray asked, keeping his tone of voice soothing.

Juvia nodded, and Gray offered her his hand. When she took it, he pulled her to her feet. He called on his magic and created a large ice umbrella to keep them from getting pelted further by the rain. She looked at his creation with surprise; her face turning crimson as she peered down at their joined hands. Gray noticed and let go quickly, not wanting to give her the wrong idea.

"I don't like bullies," Gray shrugged his actions off as routine. "My name is Gray, I'm one of the Village Guards. We're looking for magic users like you to join us," he explained.

"You want Juvia to join you?" Juvia's face had once again become flushed, and Gray looked around for Lyon to help get him out of the somewhat uncomfortable situation, but his brother was still busy talking to the others.

"We'd like you to join the Guard, yes," He placed special emphasis on the word we, but it didn't seem to make any difference. "We could help you learn to control your magic so that this doesn't happen." Gray pointed to the rain that surrounded them.

"Juvia would like that," Juvia attempted to smile, but it was clear she wasn't used to it, so while it was sweet, it also looked awkward.

Gray tried to ignore the admiring looks Juvia gave him as he helped her grab her soggy possessions. He'd offered her to stay at the barracks, knowing Erza would likely not mind.

The rain had stopped now that the rain woman appeared to calm down some and Gray dispelled the umbrella. He wasn't sure how to handle the situation, so he remained silent until Lyon returned with a few men and women, all of whom looked at Juvia with distaste.

They went to one more camp before heading back to headquarters to train.

o-o

Gray hurried towards the field. The sky had already deepened, and he didn't want to be late. He was looking forward to seeing Natsu again, especially after having to spend most of the day with Juvia fawning over him. Sting's amused expression at his predicament when he'd dropped her off for training hadn't helped improve his mood any.

He felt an urgent need to reassure himself that Natsu was his to love and touch, and last night hadn't all been some sort of dream.

He'd expected Natsu to be there already. What he hadn't expected was to find a large blanket laid out on the ground covered with copious amounts of food and drink. A bouquet of red roses lay over a floor cushion, and torches staked all around the area, emitting a soft light as Natsu ignited them with his flames. To his surprise, Natsu looked nervous as he lit them all.

"You got me flowers?" Gray blurted out, feeling amused but also touched by the gesture. Natsu startled and turned around, hand still alight. Gray's eyes widened as he saw what Natsu was wearing and felt underdressed. He hadn't had time to change out of his uniform.

"What are you even wearing?" Gray had never seen Natsu in anything but his guard gear, or his usual open black vest and white pants. He was wearing dark slacks with a belt and a light grey long-sleeved button-down shirt which complimented his pink hair. His scarf was wrapped around his neck as usual, and Gray couldn't help but think that Natsu looked incredible.

"I made the mistake of asking Erza what to do on a date after we finished patrol," Natsu sighed, his expression revealing the trials he'd endured.

"She wouldn't stop talking about it. Then she dragged me all over the village to get stuff. Once we were done, she tells me she's never even been on a date before. This was just what she'd always dreamed of. She never even gave me a chance to explain it wasn't for a girl," Natsu whined, even as he rolled his eyes at Erza's antics. "Then she and Anna took me shopping for clothes."

"I'll let Lyon know, in case he ever gets the nerve to ask her out," Gray laughed.

It wasn't hard to imagine Erza getting carried away, pulling Natsu behind her and taking him to all her favorite places. It was probably a good thing, too. She'd seemed pretty upset earlier. He was curious as to what she'd think if she knew Natsu's date was with him.

"Anyway, I hope you like it," Natsu smiled, his features softened by the dancing flames of the torches. Gray's heart soared as all the stress of the day evaporated. He walked over to Natsu and hugged him.

"It looks amazing, and I was starving, so this is awesome! Did Erza say anything about feeding me?" Gray teased, pointing to some table grapes, just to get a rise out of the dragon slayer.

"What?! Hell no, you can feed your own damn self! " Natsu protested, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Gray shrugged and laughed, grabbing a bunch of grapes from a bowl on the blanket. He pulled one off the vine and threw it in the air before catching it in his mouth. "Too bad, that could have been fun," Gray winked as he handed Natsu some grapes.

"Shall we?" Gray pointed to the floor cushions, "The sun is about to set."

"Oh, yeah!" Natsu agreed, although he still seemed flustered, like a kid playing at dress-up, which in all honesty he sort of was. Natsu offered Gray his hand. Gray brushed his fingers deliberately on Natsu's palm, relishing the touch before lacing their fingers together and giving a firm squeeze. Natsu squeezed back, and they walked toward the cushions together.

They sat next to each other, hands still laced together. Gray picked up the bouquet of roses and examined it, smelling the flowers before setting them aside. Looking up at the sky, he watched as it exploded in hues of pink and orange as the sun went down behind the mountains.

He soon lost interest. While the sunset was indeed beautiful, it wasn't often he could watch Natsu to his heart's content.

Natsu glanced over at Gray and flashed him one of his dazzling smiles before turning his gaze back to the sky.

"I haven't done this in such a long time," Natsu commented as he turned his attention back to Gray, "Just sat and enjoyed something for the beauty of it."

He noticed Gray was still gazing at him and added, "You know, the night sky always reminded me of your eyes. When I was younger, I would sit outside the cave's entrance and look up at it, just to remind myself that you were still out there. It always made me feel less lonely."

Gray found that inexplicably touching, especially since he had thought a lot about Natsu over the years too, "I'm not sure why you would have wanted to remember me at all, after what I did."

"Are we back to that again?" Natsu grabbed some rolls and warmed them in his hand before passing one to Gray.

"You said you were sorry, even back then," Natsu reminded him, "What happened to you was terrible, and I was too young to understand it."

He looked down at his hands, shredding the roll he was still holding as he talked, "When I called you back from your nightmare, I didn't know what I was doing, I just followed my instincts. It worked, but I somehow tapped into your feelings."

Natsu stared at the mess he had made, looking up to gauge Gray's reaction. "I felt everything you did, and it was too much. I'd never experienced such pain, and when you told me what had caused it. It went against everything I knew."

"Natsu, I—."

Natsu waved away Gray's response. "Let me finish, Ice Block."

He stared deep into Gray's eyes, wanting him to accept his words as truth, "I was never angry with you for what happened. My feelings for you were already strong, even back then. I was young and stupid, though, so I said all the wrong things and pushed you away. It was the exact opposite of what I'd wanted, but I was scared and didn't know how to fix it. I ran away from you, and I regretted it ever since."

"So yeah, I thought about you a lot. All those years we were apart," Natsu admitted, "but we're here now, and you need to stop feeling guilty about it."

"That part of our lives is over. This one," he moved his eyes down to Gray's lips and leaned forward to capture them with his, eliciting a small pleased sound from Gray before he moved back, "This one is just beginning. Now, let's eat. There are way too many things on this blanket."

They ate most of the food Natsu had brought, feeding each other, although not in a way that anyone would ever consider being romantic.

"Somehow, I don't think this is what Erza had in mind," Natsu got out in between bursts of laughter.

They were both covered in bits of food that had not quite made it anywhere near their mouths.

"Probably not, but who cares?" Gray smirked, "She can go on her own date."

Natsu snorted at that. He put an arm around Gray, resting his head on his broad shoulder as they sat enjoying the night air and each other.

"How long do you think we have until the war gets here?" Gray sounded anxious, and after a long day spent doing nothing but thinking about that very thing, Natsu had no desire to get into it.

"There's no sense in worrying about it. Let's just make the best of the time we have," Natsu said. "Besides, this is our first date, and I think we've had enough serious talk for one night."

"You were doing something pleasant with your mouth this morning, something like this...," Natsu tackled Gray onto the now cleared blanket, playfully showing what he meant.

Gray let Natsu toy with him for a few minutes before turning the tables and pinning Natsu underneath him.

"No, I think it went more like this," Gray grinned as he nibbled on Natsu's lips, using his teeth to give them a gentle bite before dipping his tongue into Natsu's mouth when he opened it in surprise. Natsu groaned, his body responding to Gray's attention.

Gray continued to play, removing Natsu's scarf from around his neck and tossing it on the blanket, his teeth grazing on the sensitive area. He moved away, delighting in the way Natsu grumbled at his absence.

He moved his hands down to Natsu's chest, his fingers attempting to unbutton the shirt that was in his way as he continued to distract Natsu with kisses. Once he'd unbuttoned the shirt, Gray's hands wandered, touching the rugged chest and feeling the hard muscle underneath.

He tweaked one of Natsu's nipples between his fingers, loving the feel of Natsu writhing in pleasure beneath him before exploring the other with his mouth.

Gray couldn't get enough. The smell of whatever cologne Erza had forced on Natsu was driving him crazy, and he wanted to touch and taste everything. Natsu tried to reverse their positions, but Gray fought him off, not wanting to relinquish control just yet. His pants tightened around him as he thought of Natsu returning the favor, and a low moan escaped him.

Gray moved his hands down past Natsu's abs all the way down to his belt, intoxicated by the reactions he was getting. He was caught by surprise when Natsu grabbed his hands firmly, stopping their movement.

"Can you slow down?" Natsu's breaths were coming in deliciously ragged pants.

Gray pulled his hands away and moved off Natsu, feeling a bit hurt by the rebuff. "I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"I know, and it's good," Natsu blushed, "You make me feel good, but this is all new to me, and you're going too fast for me."

And while that was true, it wasn't the whole truth. Natsu hadn't been able to shake the feeling that his dream had been real and Atlas was going to come for him at any moment. It made him wary.

He knew if something happened to him it would hurt Gray, and he wanted to cause him the least amount of pain he could. He also knew that while Gray was trying, dragons were still a big issue for them.

Natsu had no intention of making a mating claim on him until he felt it was right to do so. Mates, especially new ones, needed to be near each other and if he ended up having to leave or Gray found out his secret and changed his mind, it could devastate both of them.

"It's new to me too," Gray said, not wanting to admit that Natsu was right.

"We have all the time in the world," Natsu told him matter-of-factly, "We're going to be together for the rest of our lives."

"Rest of our lives? Aren't you getting ahead of yourself a little?"

"Well yeah, that's what our bond means," Natsu revealed, "We're soulmates."

Gray found Natsu's confidence disconcerting. He wasn't sure what it meant to be soulmates, but if it kept Natsu with him, then he was okay with it.

They cuddled up and spent the night together in their field, too tired to make their way back to their homes.

A/N: Grammarly fought me tooth and nail while I was editing, so this chapter feels like an accomplishment considering it's rather lengthy.

A lot of things happened in this chapter and some of you who might be familiar with my other long multi-chapter stories are probably starting to realize right about now that if I'm writing this much fluffiness in Ch 13 of a planned 30 chap fic that means you're probably not going to like me soon. I can tell you that it won't have anything to do with Juvia, so there's no need to hate on her.

Ironically, the story as it was originally planned doesn't even start for another 4 or 5 chapters, I just got so enamored of the backstory that it kind of took on a life of its own. I don't want to give anything away, but just remember this story is meant to be a fairy tale.

As for the sexiness towards the end, I amped it up a bit for my friend Flame-Belt. Hope you enjoy it,

love!