Ten

Gray though Natsu's attachment to his scarf was ridiculous.It's just a scarf! No matter how important it was to him, touching it did not mean that Natsu had the right to break his nose! "Stupid fuckin' pinky. Punching me just 'cause a dumb pice of cloth… I'll get him back…"

Gray didn't ever get him back. He couldn't, not when Natsu came to him after and apologized.

"I didn't mean to get so angry…" His eyes were aimed at the ground, and he refused to look up at Gray. He kept one hand buried in the fabric of his scarf as he stood there. No one else was around, and it sounded genuine. "It's just… It's all I have left…"

Gray raised an eyebrow, "All you have…?"

"When Igneel vanished, this is all he left me with," Natsu mumbled. He dug his toes into the dirt at his feet, focusing his eyes there, like he was trying not to think too hard.

"Oh," Gray quickly puffed his chest up a bit, "It's fine. It's not like you even hurt me!" Porlyusica had fixed his nose no problem anyways.

Natsu didn't say anything. He just nodded and walked away, head still to the ground, and for some reason, Gray felt guilty.

Natsu knew he shouldn't have punched Gray, but he had just reacted. He felt the scarf being pulled off, so he didn't bother with thinking. He just turned and hit the nearest person, which happened to be Gray. It's not like he knows how precious this is to me…

Twelve

"Why do you still wear that thing. It can't possibly still smell like 'em," Gray mumbled. Erza had drug them on a mission, then made them share a room, and while it was already annoying, the question just made it more so.

Natsu swallowed the urge to shove him off the bed, "Why's is matter? I can wear what I want!"

Gray shook his head, "Don't get so damn defensive. I'm just curious."

"Because I can do what I want," Natsu replied flatly. Instead of waiting for a response, he took the blankets and wrapped himself up in them. Gray's not gonna use them anyways.

It was almost one in the morning when Gray heard Natsu's soft voice from beside him, "Because it's precious to me… just like dad is…" Not long after that, the slayer finally dropped into a deep sleep, his small snores echoing throughout the room.

Oh…

Fourteen

Gray didn't remember exactly how it happened, but he knew that Natsu was now in the infirmary. He vaguely recalls Porlyusica saying something to him about "shock," and he wonders if she was talking about him or Natsu. It didn't matter.

He waited until the sun set and everyone left them alone to sleep before he slipped out the window. His scarf is still there… I can't leave it there…

The rain outside was cold, but it's not like that's ever bothered Gray before. He dug his hand through the mud where the fight had happened. It was just a spar… Erza didn't have to do any of that.

Gray had read Polryusica's report on it before he left. Erza had tried to keep them from sparing, but when she hit them both upside the head, she hit too hard. Natsu had ended up with a concussion and stitches from where her gauntlet cut his face. It wasn't too bad, and he'd be fine in no time, but all Gray could see was him crumpling from the force of it. Natsu's knees had buckled and he'd hit the ground in seconds.

That combined with the blood had forcefully reminded Gray of Isvan.

He spent three hours digging through the mud, and eventually finding it stuck around a tree root. He took it home, washed it, then snuck back in the window with it.

It was back around Natsu's neck before the sun rose, and if anyone noticed, then they didn't say anything.

Gray didn't account for the fact that it would smell like him though, and Natsu most definitely noticed.

Sixteen

Gray was bleeding. That's all Natsu could think about at the moment, so he forced himself to repeat things slowly. He needed to pull himself out of his head. We were on a mission. Dark guild. We won. They weren't very strong. We missed one. Gray was stabbed. Roughly three inch wound. Only an inch in a half deep. Left thigh. He took off his scarf without thinking, and grabbed what looked like a sturdy stick from the ground.

"What are you... doing?" There was pain in Gray's voice, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Natsu pushed him back so that he was laying down again, and tied his scarf around Gray's thigh. "Making a tourniquet."

Gray lurched upwards as Natsu started to tighten it, "Of fuck- don't-" Natsu just shoved him back down and kept going. It didn't take him long to finish, and the bleeding had slowed considerably. "Natsu… your scarf…"

"It's fine. Let's get you to Wendy," He gently scooped gray up, one arm beneath his back and the other under his legs so that he was carrying him princess style. "Don't move too much."

Gray was slipping in and out of consciousness, and Natsu picked up the pace. "You're gonna get blood on it…"

Natsu shook his head, "It's okay… It's not the first time. You can always wash it later, Elsa."

"M'not a princess."

"Well, you're being carried like one," Natsu knew that Gray knew he didn't blame him for it, and they both knew that the banter was what was keeping him awake.

Eighteen

Natsu usually didn't fall asleep in the guild, but he did today. His scarf was folded beneath him like a pillow, but it was just a thin scarf.

"That can't be comfortable," Gray muttered.

Natsu cracked an eye open, but he was clearly exhausted, "'s comfortable enough… 'm tired." He shifted so that the scarf was bundled beneath him more.

Gray rolled his eyes, "Dumbass." he yanked Natsu into his lap, so that the dragon slayer was using his thigh as a pillow.

"Huh-wha-"

"Just go back to sleep," Gray mumbled, and Natsu nodded before dozing again.

Neither one of them paid attention to the fact that Natsu left his scarf on the table.

Nineteen

Natsu didn't care who was watching. His arms were wrapped around Gray tightly. Both of them had barely survived what had happened, and Natsu didn't want to let him go. Gray didn't care either, if the fact that he returned the hug was any indication. He was half in Gray's lap with how tight they'd clung onto one another, and Gray's head was buried in his neck. "What did I say about you self sacrifice bullshit…"

"I didn't… I'm still right here… I just…" Gray pulled him closer. "I thought that if I threatened it they'd back off…"

"Don't… Don't even threaten it…" Natsu laid his forehead on Gray's shoulder, "...I can't lose you too…"

"Okay… okay…" They stayed like that for a while, and no one really bothered them. They knew better than to question the two of them, though. Their relationship wasn't understandable to anyone on the outside. "Natsu?"

Natsu's grip hadn't lessened in the slightest, but his panic was mostly gone, "Hm?"

Gray pulled away a bit, just to double check himself before he spoke "Where's your scarf?"

"Don't worry about it, Gray…"

Gray worried about it a lot. Natsu had gone back to the hotel without it, which means he willingly left it behind. He headed back to the sight as soon as the others were asleep.

He had it at the beginning of the fight, then he didn't by the end… when did- oh… When he shoved me out of the way…

Gray headed for the area they'd been in before, and to his horror, all that was there was a pile of shredded white cloth and busted scales. "You left it because there wasn't anything to bring back…" Gray picked up the pieces without a second thought. He already had a plan.

Twenty

Natsu was at Gray's house, sprawled across his lap while Gray was on the couch. "Why'd you call me over again?"

Gray was reading a book he'd borrowed from Lucy, and his free hand was buried in Natsu's hair. "Because I have something for you." They'd grown a lot closer in recent years, but neither one of them cared to put a name to it.

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "Why? It's not my birthday or anything?"

Gray didn't say anything. Instead he placed a white, braided bracelet on Natsu's chest. It didn't take long for Natsu to realize that the "cloth" was actually the same tiny interwoven scales from Igneel's scarf. "...Gray…"

"I went back for it. When you left it," Gray mumbled. He kept his eyes glued to the book though.

Natsu didn't like that. He pushed the book down and out of the way as he sat up. They were nose to nose now. "You didn't have to."

"I did. It's important to you," Gray argued.

Natsu rolled his eyes, and placed the bracelet in between the pages in the book, marking it for Gray. He sat the book to the side and crawled the rest of the way into Gray's lap, "Yes, but it was okay… I was more worried about you."

Gray grabbed both of his hands gently, "It came from Igneel, and you always said it was precious. So I-"

"You replaced it as my most precious thing years ago, dummy," Natsu mumbled.

Gray looked a little more than shocked,"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Natsu leaned forward and kissed Gray's cheek gently. "Good grief you're oblivious"

Gray stared at him for a moment before jerking him forward and kissing him on the lips, "If you're gonna kiss me, do it right?"

Natsu laughed softly, "Is that a question or a request?"

"Request. Definitely a request," Gray pulled him closer again.

"Good, because I'd love to kiss you properly."