I Take Pride In What I Am

First Time He Kissed a Boy (Gray x Natsu)

Prompt: First Time He Kissed a Boy"

Pairing: Gray x Natsu

The first thing Gray saw when he entered the guild hall was Natsu arm wrestling Elfman, a carefree smile on his face, their table surrounded by other members of their ragtag family. Bets were written on a board, and Cana was collecting jewels, while Gajeel seemed to be awaiting his turn, yelling encouragement to Elfman while trying to psych Natsu out. Happy's cheerful support could be heard loudest of all.

Things had seemingly gone back to normal. If nothing had happened the previous day, Gray would have made his way over, shouting encouragement at Natsu while warning him not to make their team look bad.

And Natsu would have smiled at him and told him he was all fired up, and it was in the bag, or something cocky like that while Gray let the heat from that smile warm his otherwise cold body. But yesterday had happened, and Natsu was avoiding him. Gray didn't want to make things more awkward between them than they already were, so with a heavy heart, he made his way over to the bar to join Loke and Lucy.

"Why don't you kiss him, Elfman?" Gajeel harassed Natsu with a resounding gihi. "He'll just run home like a scared little girl."

"A real man doesn't resort to trickery," Elfman responded, his voice strained as he attempted to overpower Natsu without resorting to one of his beast arm takeovers.

Natsu, however, was not amused. To the dismay of everyone who had bet against him, he promptly defeated Elfman, getting up from his chair with enough force to topple it on its side. Overcome by rage, he headed straight for Gajeel, "You think that's funny, asshole?"

Natsu shoved Gajeel as hard as he could, making the large dragon slayer careen into one of the guild's walls. As soon as Gajeel righted himself, he came at Natsu, both fists at the ready.

"What the hell's your problem, afraid you liked it?" Gajeel taunted, thrilled to have gotten under the Salamander's skin.

That was too much for Natsu, Gray could see the outrage in the eyes he knew so well, how could he not when he'd been reading them since childhood. But he saw something else too, and it startled him. Natsu looked unsure, and that was very unusual.

Natsu managed to exercise restraint, stopping himself from punching Gajeel as he so clearly wanted to do, opting to mutter, "You're not worth it." before exiting the guild with Happy, the door slamming behind them.

Gajeel shouted at Natsu through the door, "Just like a little girl."

Gray was pissed. Great, there went his idea of letting things go back to normal before approaching Natsu. He got up from his bar stool and charged towards Gajeel, "What the hell did you do that for?"

Gajeel sneered at him, "What, now you're going to fight your little boyfriend's battles for him?"

Gray didn't bother to respond with words. Instead, he punched Gajeel in the stomach, causing him to double over. Gajeel straightened up, glaring at Gray while turning his body into iron and approaching him menacingly. "I was just playing with him, it's not my fault he's so sensitive. But if you wanna have a go, I'm ready."

"Dammit Gajeel, this is already hard enough without your bullshit," Gray growled, "Just back the hell off."

"You will both stop this foolishness this instant," Erza scolded, placing herself between the two mages.

"I ain't one of the two fairies, I'm not scared of you," Gajeel snapped.

"Would you like to have a go?" Erza's smile was amused, but there was no doubt as to the seriousness of her challenge. Erza never volunteered to fight in the guild, she was usually the one to put a stop to it.