A Fairy Tail Gratsu.

Gray's POV:

        Just standing in his house makes me feel less uncomfortable. There's something about this tiny house with it's strong cherry-wood smoke and faint wet cat smell that was almost comforting. I should hate it here, but I guess time's changed us both. I mean, I used to hate his guts, really hate his guts. Our fights and brawls were always fuelled by my anger, now I think about it. I usually started it by winding him up, but then, he did like picking fights. But I guess as we grew up, I began seeing the damned Pyro differently.

Our fights turned into a way for me to hide what I was starting to feel for him. Damnit, but how can I change from actively hating him to him being my first crush.... maybe even my first love? I don't think I even knew what I was feeling, not until I saw how he acted when I was... was..... it still hurts to think about it. He's not like some of the others. Just this morning Cana had asked me to.... if I was..... but...

"Oi, icicle. Nobody can hear us now, so spill it. I won't laugh. Whatever Cana or Bickslow said, I'd bet my scarf on it being of the dirty kind." Can he read me that well, or was it because he knew Cana and Bickslow? I take a calming breath. My emotions needed to be locked away. I wasn't that snivelling little brat who can't do a thing anymore, Hell, I was a demon slayer.......... with a crush on the one demon I had vowed to destroy...... a little voice reminded me.

"Can I..... do you want me to start.... from the beginning?" Damned stuttering. The Pyro just shook his head slightly.

"Can you? Say the whole thing? Without the flashbacks?" How the hell did he know about my flashbacks? And how the hell can he be so mature about it? I shake my head. I honestly don't think I can say it all without without... no. I don't want to remember it all!

     "Gray? Hey. Calm down." I hadn't realised it, but I somehow ended up kneeling on the floor clutching my head. Ash for Brains had crouched down next to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me from behind as his flames sparked about him softly. Those tiny flames were warm, not painful, and comforting. When had he learnt that? Was it one of Igneel's tricks?

"Just say what you can. Don't force it. If you can't say it, just don't." He warns me, helping me up off the floor and motioning for me to come and sit on the bench by what I assumed was a table, but it was so charred and wood rotted I guess it could have been anything. He smiles his warm, gentle smile that makes every girl in the guild melt when they saw it, Only this time he wasn't smiling at Lucy or Wendy or Asuka, he was smiling at me. I take a shuddering breath and smile back, sitting next to him. I open my mouth to speak, but he beats me to it.

"Can I tell you something Gray?" That's not his normal tone of voice. I glance at his face from the corner of my eye, to see a rather solemn look on his usually childishly cheerful face. He doesn't wait for me to answer, but carries on. "Do you remember when we were fifteen, I went missing for two weeks?" Missing? Hadn't he just gone searching for Igneel after a job? He did wander off a lot after jobs. Hell, he still did, though he always came back within a week now. I shook my head, how was I supposed to know which time he was on about?

"After that job Erza forced us to go on together. The one where that dark wizard turned your clothes into solid platinum? Happy didn't come with me." Oh. That one. Come to think of it, Natsu had acted a bit strange on that job. And what happened to those clothes anyway? "I wandered off. Left you to head back to the guild on your own. Gramps didn't want me going on a mission anyway, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember now. Erza got into so much trouble for forcing us to go on that job behind his back. Why?" I ask, seeing the serious look the Pyro was giving me. He sighs and hides his face in his scarf.

"I was in heat, it hurt, and I couldn't use my magic properly. I figure I must have been using curses accidentally, even back then, because I shouldn't have been able to use magic at all. I wandered off because it hurt so much and I didn't want anyone to figure out why I was so weak. I guess I was afraid someone might... you know. Hurt me. So I stayed away until my heat went away. Oh... yeah, I still have those platinum clothes of yours buried where I hid the king's crown." I snorted back laughter. After the whole eclipse gate thing, the news was plastered all over the kingdom about the stolen crown. Happy had seen Natsu take it, but then a 'sparkly big bowl with red bits' could mean anything when Happy said it. Damned cat was no good at describing things. I just assumed Natsu'd stolen it without realising what it was. He did hoard odd things after all.

"Why're you telling me this? And you're saying you actually have the king's crown? Where?" Natsu chuckled. He gets up and walks over to a rather nice looking chest. It looked almost like it had been designed from a beer barrel.

"The chest was a gift from Cana, about a year after I joined fairy tail. It's where I keep the maps Zeref made me." I blink. Zeref made maps for Natsu? Why would he do that? The idiot rummages through the chest and pulls out a scroll of really old looking parchment, waving it triumphantly. What is he up to?

"Here. Look. This is a map of Igneel's volcano. It's kinda dormant now, but I'd like to show you it at some point. See this set of tunnels here?" He points to a collection of ink blotches and lines that vaguely resemble caves and passages. "That's where I put anything I don't want Erza and the others to find. I gotta show you some time..." seriously, why is he telling me this?

      "Let's just forget about earlier ok? I can kinda smell the fear still hanging around you, so I'm not gonna pry. K? Oi, popsicle, answer me!" He demands softly, when I don't answer right away. Have I ever mentioned how creepy and unnerving it is to see his unblinking green eyes staring at you?