Life After Near Death

Out of the Closet

"Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight."
― Harvey Milk

There was already a stir in the guild that morning. Mest arrived with one of the oddest requests yet: all Dragon Slayers had to travel with him, and he could not explain why. Gajeel, Laxus, and Wendy were personally glad that they would be traveling with Mest and not transportation, but it was still odd. Why only Dragon Slayers, and why all four of them?

Little did anyone know, their day was about to get even weirder.

The doors blasted open with a signature heat that they all knew.

"Salamander finally made it," Gajeel grumbled without looking up.

Natsu ran in and looked around, glad to see the guild almost packed. He had dragged Gray in by the wrist, and they both looked winded. Gray's legs were still not at full strength, and Natsu's heart pounded harder than it normally did for a jog to the guild. The sprint into town had pushed both of them to their physical limit.

Wendy smiled up at him. "Natsu-san, have you heard about the mission?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said distractedly. "Before that ... hey, everyone!"

Gray glared at him. "You're not going to blurt it out, are you?"

Natsu looked back at him. "What did you have planned?"

Gray froze, stumped. He had nothing at all planned. He figured they would eventually tell their friends and let rumors take care of the rest. A grand announcement like this was over the top. Of course, that was Natsu's style with anything in life.

"So then, I get to pick how we do it," Natsu decided.

Gray blurted out. "We should wait for Erza to get here."

"She knows."

"Still..."

Natsu turned back to the watching guild members. "Everyone! Gray's my mate, so hands off."

You could have heard a cricket in the silence that followed. Everyone stared in mute shock. Gray covered his eyes in embarrassment, but Natsu grinned as if satisfied with shocking them all. This was more like it! Erza's reaction had been way too boring, and he wanted an uproar.

Just then, Lucy and Erza finally arrived.

Lucy pouted at the blank looks all around. "Looks like we missed the big announcement."

Mira suddenly clasped her hands in a loud clap, snapping everyone out of the moment. "Congratulations, Natsu and Gray. May you have happiness."

"Is this a prank?" Max asked warily.

"Nope," Cana said, going back to drinking beer. "Betting on when they'd hook up has been going on for weeks. I really thought they were fucking ages ago."

Wendy looked dizzy. "M-m-m-m-m-mate? Gr-Gr-Gray-san ... a-and Natsu-san ... m-m-mate?"

Gajeel scoffed. "This is a sick joke."

Natsu's flames leaped. "Your face is a sick joke."

Levy began to quietly edge away from Gajeel, but he noticed it right away. "Where are you going, shrimp? You're not gonna congratulate that idiot, are you?"

"W-well, maybe," she admitted, "but actually, I need to check with Mira because I can't remember what day I bet on."

"Bet?" he shouted. "No one told me there were bets for when that pink-headed idiot would finally admit he's a faggot."