Gratsu Week 2018

It's Over

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima.

Day 6 Prompt: Secrets

Chapter 1: It's Over

Natsu's breath came in pants as he rode out the endorphin-induced high of his climax. He nudged the naked man that had collapsed on top of him and shifted uncomfortably as he waited for him to move onto the bed. He felt the familiar sadness overwhelm him as Gray lay next to him on the large bed. Natsu's heart ached with the knowledge that this was all it would ever be.

Gray's raven hair was disheveled and his breathing ragged, but his navy blue eyes looked content. He smiled at Natsu as he began to trail his fingers down the dragon slayer's bare chest, tracing his muscles lazily.

"That was great!" Gray exclaimed as he leaned in to kiss Natsu. He was confused when Natsu did not return it. He felt an unfamiliar pang in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it.

"Ready to go again?" He asked as his fingers continued to touch Natsu's body in ways that he knew would arouse the dragon slayer.

Gray grinned as he reached down with his hand, ready to tease his lover into further play, but Natsu stopped him and got up off the bed. He grabbed the sheets and used them to clean himself up.

"I can't do this anymore," Natsu uttered. He realized with panic he'd said the words out loud, but he also felt the rightness of them. Even though he had been postponing this moment for the last week, he couldn't put it off any longer. Every time they parted ways after one of their nights together and pretended there was nothing between them, the emptiness in his soul grew to the point he was ashamed of himself. He really couldn't do this any longer. He could already feel the beginnings of resentment towards Gray brewing inside of him. He began the process of finding his clothes. They had been thrown every which way in their urgency to possess each other. Natsu put them on as quickly as he was able.

"What are you talking about? Can't do what anymore?" Gray asked him confused. "I thought we were having fun. Are you still upset because I don't want to tell the guild about us?"

Natsu did his best to appear unaffected. "I didn't expect you to tell anyone about us because that would imply that there was an us."

"Natsu, we've talked about this. I don't do relationships. It has nothing to do with it being you, I didn't tell anyone when I was fucking Cana either."

Natsu flinched at that. He'd assumed that had happened, but until that moment he hadn't known for sure. He let the information slip away from him, it wasn't important anymore. Gray was not his, after all, he belonged to no one, and that was just the way he liked it. After today Gray would be telling someone else how he didn't tell the guild when he was fucking Cana or Natsu, and it would no longer have anything to do with him. He'd be just that, another person Gray had used and moved on from.

Those thoughts hurt. Natsu had known how Gray was about these things, how could he not, they'd been friends for a long time. He'd let the attraction that he'd long felt for the ice mage blind him to the truth. It had been his choice to engage in what was fated to be nothing more than a physical relationship, but that didn't soften the blow now that he was choosing to end it.

Somewhere along the line, his attraction had deepened into love, and while he might not be smart in the way that Lucy and Levy were, he was smart enough to realize that if he left now, there was still a chance that they might be able to remain friends. Life could continue as before.

"I know, Gray." Natsu said evenly, "I thought I could do this, but I was wrong. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a replacement."

He looked down at the ice mage laying naked on the bed they'd shared on and off for the last three months, Gray's face a mixture of confusion and sadness, or at least that's what Natsu told himself. He wanted their time together to mean something, but he knew for Gray it never had. "It was fun. I'll see you around, Droopy Eyes."