A Fairy Tail Gratsu.

Narrators POV:

        Natsu stepped back so fast, it was almost like he hadn't moved in the first place. Gray just stood there, mouth open, frozen with evident shock. The Dragon Slayer wasn't sure if Gray even remembered confessing to him during mating season, but hopefully that swift kiss would be enough to jog his memory. The poor Pyro just couldn't say it out loud, and yet he wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs in front of everyone. Instead, he could barely mumble the words.

"...I love you Gray..." of course, the icicle's eyes bugged out as he could have sworn he just heard Natsu confess. The ice wizard couldn't believe it. Sure, he'd confessed to Ash For Brains back when he was in rut, but Gray hardly expected the idiot to remember. Had he remembered, or was he confessing and fearing rejection? Or was this all part of some huge hallucination?

        Gray didn't answer. He just couldn't register that his crush had just kissed him. was confessing to him. Was he dreaming again? Natsu could see the confusion on the ice wizard's face, but didn't quite understand it. Figuring droopy eyes at least knew how he felt now, the pink haired teen kept quiet, waiting for an answer, a reaction. Anything but the confused silence facing him now. Slowly, the droopy eyes turned to stare at his, surprise evident, but also something else. Something Natsu wasn't all that familiar with.

        It was... was.... oh to heck with it all who cared? All Gray cared about right now was that Natsu had kissed him and confessed. This was the part he was supposed to respond, and he knew exactly how he was going to respond. The real question was how Natsu would react...

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        A few days later, rumours were flying around the guild. Natsu had been seen kissing Gray! Of course, said wizards had both vanished, along with Happy and Lucy, on a job, so Mira couldn't actually ask them about it, though Erza was giving Mira smug looks as if to say 'ha ha, that ruins your nalu ship!' Every now and again. Of course, Cana had started up a betting pool on whether the two boys had actually kissed or not, which even Wendy had bet on. (The little sky dragon had heard from Mavis that the rumour was true, of course, Mavis wasn't ever going to admit that's she'd maybe peeked on the boys the other night during their 'kiss-fight-kiss match' as Zeref called it.)

Of course, that wasn't the juiciest gossip. The biggest Piece of gossip was about First Master Mavis. Or rather, the other ghost in the guild that apparently only Natsu, Gray and Erza could see. The one that had terrified Erza and the one the First Master only ever referred to as her boyfriend. (Not Even Master Makarov could figure out who the other 'ghost' was, and Erza wasn't telling!)And of course, there was other news flying around. the guild members were all curious about Lisanna's secret boyfriend (she had hickeys all over her neck), and then there was the contents of Mira's photograph. (it was actually of two of the thunder legion kissing each other, though she wouldn't even tell her sister who.)...

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Lucy huffed grumpily. Sure, she enjoyed the hot springs where she'd been left, but Happy's company was starting to irk her just a little. The boys had upped and left in the middle of the night, leaving her and happy behind. When she'd got up the next morning, Happy had told her that they were to wait for the 'two lovebirds' (this made Lucy chuckle. She'd bet her rent money no living guild member save possibly Erza knew about Gray and Natsu yet.) and that their stay had already been paid for in advanced. A whole two weeks! Lucy hadn't realised the boys had that much money hanging around...

... Natsu was currently several hundred feet in the air, drifting on the air currents with Gray clinging to his neck. They'd left Lucy back in one of the nicer villages, with Happy, having paid for two weeks stay in that ryokan for them both, including food and anything else they might want. Gray was just happy to be with the idiot Pyro, though he wasn't exactly sure about being so high up on the back of a demon. And not just any demon, but the most wanted monster in Fiore.

They were headed towards a dormant volcano, the place where Natsu had been raised. Ash-for-Brains wanted to show him something, but they couldn't take Lucy because Happy didn't know the way, and Natsu was adamant that he couldn't carry two people long enough to get there safely. This of course, did nothing to ease Gray's fears. The flight to the mountain was smooth and didn't take long at all, and Gray thought to himself that it didn't seem so hard, when Natsu called out to him in his gravelly demon's voice.

"Hold tight. It's gonna get rough. I'm wrapping my tail around you as well, but hold tight." Gray really didn't like the sound of that, especially as the flame Brain was flying directly towards the mountainside. As the neared the jagged rocks, Gray slammed his eyes shut and braced himself for a messy end. When the inevitable crash didn't happen, Gray slowly opened his eyes, to see an amazing sight. A deep river of Lava flowed below them, and when he looked up, he cried out. The roof of the cave - or was it a tunnel? - was so close he could touch it. The tunnel(?) was only just wide enough for Natsu's wingspan, and the ice Wizard realised he could feel the nearly unbearable heat of the lava washing over him.

"Natsu? What the hell?" Gray yelled, as a stalactite nearly knocked him off the Demon's back, the only thing saving him being Natsu's tail smacking the rock away, shattering it with ease. Natsu didn't say a word, he wanted to see Gray's face when he saw just where Natsu had grown up. The Dragon Slayer knew from past experience that the old entrance Igneel used to use was caved in, so using the old air vents happened to be the only way to get there now. He was just glad he'd run off a lot down the smaller cave paths now. He knew them all well.

Natsu knew they were only halfway there when the air began to smell bad. Gray wouldn't notice, humans never did until it was too late. He knew he should turn back, if only for Gray's sake, but the demon knew the main caves were all protected by a seal that kept the bad air out, so he only had to get Gray there and he'd be safe. Natsu's demon form actually preferred the rotten air, being a fire demon and all, but Gray....

"Gray, see my scarf? Pull it free, wrap it around your face, use it as a mask. Put a bubble of ice round your head to filter the air too. Humans can't breath the air up ahead, but I can. Don't worry. Where we're going, the air is always fresh. We just have to get there." Natsu warned, letting a patch of his scales fade to reveal a hollow ring around his neck, his scarf resting in said hollow. Gray opened his mouth to argue, but then a little voice in the back of his head told him this was Natsu's natural habitat, and the Dragon Slayer -or was it demon now?- knew best how much a human could take. He was sure Igneel would have taught him that. Or maybe Zeref did.

Wrapping the scarf around his mouth and nose, Gray created a bubble of air encased in ice around his head, holding onto Natsu's scaly tail as he used a one handed spell. Sure, one handed spells were unbalanced and weak, but he wasn't exactly bold enough to let go with both hands. Sure, he trusted Natsu, but trusting Natsu to not let him fall whilst flying over a river of molten rock? Yeah, no. Not the best trust exercise to start the day with. Also, even with that warm scaly tail clinging onto him like a constrictor snake seatbelt, he didn't feel all that comfortable bing in a dark cave surrounded by lava, spiky rocks and the unknown. But... this was Natsu, whatever form he was is. He trusted the dragon slayer... or was it demon now?