Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns the magical world that is Fairy Tail! (My eternal place of happiness!) Plus a guest star/setting from the magnificent Bisco Hatori-sensei!

Warnings: Language, Friendly Violence, Fluff, Potential OOC-ness, Shounen-ai/Yaoi

"You can't be serious."

Natsu slumped on 'Team Natsu's' table in the middle of the guild as Lucy and Wendy stood in front of Gray, Happy and himself with a request held tightly in their hands. When he had heard the girls were selecting the request for them this week, he thought that they'd lean towards fighting rogue bandits in the mountains or taking down a dark guild…but of course, Lucy had to ruin that hope for them.

"Don't complain so much guys; you picked the last three missions!" The celestial mage stated incredulously with her hands on her hips.

"I didn't hear you complaining about it when you had enough jewels to pay your rent." Gray muttered petulantly as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"That's not the point! I just think that we're up for a change of pace!" Lucy waved off his response with a big smile on her face.

"A change of pace, huh?" Happy chuckled into his paw, "Are you sure you aren't just a scaredy-cat Lucy?"

The blonde scowled at the Exceed and pulled on one of his cheeks,

"I really don't want to hear that coming from you cat!"

"Wah!" Happy whined, "Natsu save me from the demon Lucy! She's going to rip my cheek off!"

"Oh be quiet," She huffed, "You're such a faker!"

"Aren't we getting a little off topic?" Gray interrupted with a scowl, "We were talking about the fact that we weren't going on this mission."

Natsu nodded his head rapidly,

"I have to agree with the stripper this time around; this mission is LAME! I'm in the mood to beat the snot out of some bandits."

"Or dark mages," The raven added with a smirk.

"Or both!" The fire and ice mage said in unison.

Natsu turned towards his rival/best friend and held up his fist only for the ice mage to raise his in return. It wasn't often that they agreed on something and it wasn't often they fist-bumped, but there were some instances where it was warranted. And this time, the fist-bump was very much warranted; especially with the mission that Lucy wanted them to suffer through. The dragon slayer turned towards the celestial mage and sky dragon once more to see that Lucy's face was red with frustration and her hands were bunched into fists at her sides.

"Of all the times that you two had to agree on something, it had to be today?!"

"Hell yeah," Gray crossed his arms over his bare chest, "Bros band together when it counts you know."

"What he said," Natsu laughed, "Sorry Lucy, it's three against one; we're not doing the mission."

Lucy frowned,

"Doesn't Wendy have a say?! I'm pretty sure that makes it three against two and if Happy counts, so does Carla which makes the tally even!"

Natsu scoffed,

"Yeah right, Wendy would have much more fun fighting bandits or dark mages; right Wendy?"

The sky dragon slayer fidgeted under Natsu's gaze as she looked at the floor,

"Actually Natsu-san, I much rather do this mission…"

"What?!" The pinkette roared, "Lucy must have brainwashed you or something Wendy! Don't you want to get stronger?"

"Uh, of course!" Wendy nodded her head enthusiastically, "But, Lucy-san is right; this mission would be a nice break from all the fighting that we have been doing lately…"

"See!" Lucy smiled triumphantly as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, "Wendy gets it!"

The fire dragon slayer glared at the table,

"I still think that you brainwashed her…"

He hissed in pain as Lucy smacked him across the back of the head. He rubbed the now sore spot rhythmically as he shared a glance with his rival. Damn, Lucy could hit him almost as hard Erza could; those two really needed to stop spending so much time together, Erza was making her violent. Natsu was pulled out of his thoughts by Gray standing up from the bench.

"Well, if you're serious about taking this request then I'm backing out," Gray shoved his hands in his pockets and went to walk away, "I'm not taking a mission that's a complete waste of time."

"Aw!" Lucy whined, "C'mon Gray! It wouldn't be the same if you didn't come!"

"I really could care less," Gray shook his head, "I'm sorry Lucy not even the threat of Erza is going to make me go on this one."

"Oh really?"

Natsu felt a familiar tingle sweep down his spine as the sound of clanking armoured footsteps reached his ears. The pinkette turned towards Gray slowly and noticed the small drops of sweat that started to drip down the ice mage's back. For all the bravado that he had just moments before, it sure disappeared fast enough. He jumped when an armoured hand clamped down on his shoulder and he felt Gray do the same beside him.

"Now boys," Erza's commandeering voice flowed over them, "Are you causing trouble over here?"

"No!" Gray shook his head frantically, "Lucy was just showing us the mission she picked out for us, right Natsu?"

Natsu swallowed thickly,

"Aye!"

"Oh?" Erza released their shoulders and walked over to where Wendy and Lucy were standing, "What request is that?"

Lucy smiled brightly at the requip mage as she all but shoved the paper into her hands. Natsu frowned as he heard the hum escape Erza's lips and caught the satisfied smirk that Lucy had just shot in their direction. Despite the fact that he was a quivering mess of anxiety, he knew that this was not going to end well for either him or Gray.

"This seems like a good mission," The red head nodded approvingly, "I think it's about time that we slowed down and took an easy one for a change; good choice Lucy."

"Not to mention that the jewel will be more than enough to cover my rent!" The blonde squealed excitedly, "And the lack of destruction won't be so bad either."

"It would definitely make the Master happy!" Wendy agreed readily.

"Yes, it seems that this mission would be the perfect fit for us."

Gray rolled his eyes,

"The three of you would be more than enough for a mission like this; I think I'm going to stay home."

"Yeah," Natsu smirked, "Hey Happy, how do you feel about going on a fishing trip?"

"Aye sir!" The Exceed flew up into the air excitedly, "You can never go wrong with fish!"

Natsu lifted himself off the bench and went to head towards the front doors with Happy, Gray not too far behind them, when he was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing onto his ear tightly. The dragon slayer cursed loudly, fire shooting out of his mouth, as Erza started to pull both him and Gray back to the table by their ears.

"Ow!" Gray shouted from the other side of their childhood friend, "What the hell was that for Erza?!"

"Careful ice princess," Natsu winced as his ear was tugged, "We don't want to make her angry…"

"Shut up flame head!" Gray hissed, "I wasn't talking to you!"

"Now you are!" He hissed back, "Do you want to go stripper?!"

"Bring it on squinty eyes!"

"BOYS!"

The fire and ice mage stiffened simultaneously at the angered voice of their discipliner. Natsu gulped as Erza towered over him; her dark, menacing aura extinguishing any fire power he had in him. The requip mage had her hands on her hips and her brown eyes glinted with a promise of pain that was come to pass.

"Sorry Erza…" Gray squeaked nervously.

"Aye!" Natsu nodded furiously in agreement.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Lucy had pressed her fingers to her temples,

"Honestly Natsu, why do you think acting like Happy #2 will make a difference?"

He opened his mouth to growl out a retort only for Erza's steadfast glare to stop him in his tracks. The last thing he needed was for him to give more reason to the red head to beat him up; sure he could be reckless, but he wasn't stupid…he wanted to live another day damnit!

"Natsu and Gray," Erza began sternly, "I'm not going to allow either of you to back out of this mission, is that clear?"

"But Erza…" Gray muttered before he was interrupted by the red headed menace.

"No buts about it Gray Fullbuster," She growled, "We are a team after all, it wouldn't be right if we took on a mission without either of you."

Happy raised his paw from his post in the air,

"And the team is called 'Team Natsu' it would only make sense for Natsu to go!"

The pinkette scowled at the Exceed,

"That's not what you were saying a few seconds ago, you traitor!"

"Then it's decided!" Lucy clapped her hands together excitedly, "I'll bring the request over to Mira and tell her that we're taking it; let's go Wendy!"

The sky dragon slayer nodded her head enthusiastically as Lucy grabbed onto her hand and dragged her towards the bar to talk to Mira. Natsu slumped back onto his spot on the bench and folded his arms across his chest in defeat. He felt Gray settle down beside him and he knew that if he looked at his rival, the ice mage would have the same expression on his face. He watched as Erza nodded at them in approval before wandering off to join the other girls.

"C'mon guys," Happy chirped from above him, "Who knows, maybe the mission will be more fun than you think!"

"Oh yeah," Gray muttered darkly, "So much fun."

Natsu sighed loudly and rested his hands behind his head,

"You never know, it might be better than we think…"

The ice mage's deep blue eyes leveled on him flatly,

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"Yeah…I know it." Natsu agreed without a fight.

One thing that Natsu always looked forward to each day (other than picking a fight with Gray of course) was going out on a mission with his friends. However, he knew that when he got up tomorrow he was going to feel very different about the matter. For the difference lied in the contents of the mission that Lucy and Wendy had so cleverly selected that day…

"Why did they have to pick working at a Host Club of all things?!"

FTFTFTFT

Natsu buried his nose into his scarf as he glared from his spot in the back of the preparation room. The Host Club that they were working at wasn't due to open for another twenty minutes, but he couldn't wish more for the entire mission to be over and done with. When they made it to the village of Ouran, Natsu knew right away that he didn't like it one little bit…everything was so pink…and flowery…and expensive! If anything it explained why the reward on the request was so high; they were tasked with serving a bunch of rich snobs. It was going to be a long mission, he could feel it in his bones.

"Natsu!" Erza's authoritative voice called out, "Stop pouting back there and start preparing for our guests!"

The dragon slayer scowled,

"Do we really have to do this…while wearing these stupid get-ups?!"

The armoured mage flipped her hair over her shoulder,

"Of course we do; it's part of the job after all."

Natsu glared down at his bluish-purple suit jacket, white button-up shirt and black slacks with loathing; the damn outfit was too damn constricting. He practically had to get on his hands and knees to beg both Erza and the Vice-President of this so-called club to let him wear his scarf around his neck instead of the damn tie that came with the clothing. He almost set the glasses wearing bastard on fire for even thinking about making him take off his scarf.

"Natsu," Lucy walked out of the change room and adjusted the collar of the yellow dress she was wearing, "It's just for one day, can't you just deal with it?"

"Whatever…" He pouted petulantly; though he'd deny that fact for the rest of time.

He pushed himself away from his position on the wall and walked over to the ornate table on the far side of the room which had all the cups and silverware that would be needed for their 'guests'; god, this was going to be a long day. He lifted a plate full of cups and started to make his way towards one of the coffee tables in the center of the room only for the tip of his foot to catch the corner of a carpet and sent him flying. He landed face first onto the carpet and cursed at the burn that stretched from his temple to his jaw line; stupid rug burn!

He rubbed his face as he looked up at the now falling cups and felt all the blood drain from his face. On instinct, Natsu dove for each of the cups and managed to catch every single one of them before they managed to touch the ground and shatter. Even if he believed that he could take the Vice-President of the Host Club on in a fight, there was still the fact that the glasses wearing psycho had a bit of an Erza streak in him and frankly, that was terrifying in itself.

"Be careful Natsu!" Lucy shrieked from the other side of the room, "You can't break any of their things; it would cost our entire reward and then some to even think about replacing it!"

"Lucy's right Natsu," Erza scolded him, "You shouldn't be so clumsy."

"Oh yeah?" He complained in annoyance, "Then why don't either of you worry about setting up the room?!"

"Because," Lucy shrugged indifferently as she held up a pin cushion and motioned towards Wendy, "We have to work on making changes to Wendy and Carla's dresses; they don't fit them properly at all."

"Well that's because one of them is a cat," Natsu rolled his eyes, "Happy was able to get dressed without a problem."

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped as he flew around the room excitedly, "C'mon Carla, maybe we can find a bow tie for you too!~"

"I think not," Carla's cheeks turned bright red, "I may be a cat, but I am a girl! I have to look presentable unlike a tomcat like yourself."

"But Carla!" Happy whined as he slumped to the floor in defeat.

"Don't worry about them Happy; they're just being annoying," Natsu looked away from the girls, "Speaking of annoying, where the hell is the ice bastard?! Don't tell me he skipped out on us when we weren't looking!"

"Like hell I did you pyro!" An irritated voice called from the dressing rooms, "I'm just having trouble with this damn suit…"

"Trouble eh?" Natsu smirked mischievously, "Trouble keeping it on, you exhibitionist?!"

Gray poked his head out from behind the curtain and glared at him,

"Shut the hell up fire breath! It doesn't concern you in the slightest!"

"Maybe not," The vice-president voiced from the corner of the room; his hand scribbling furiously in his little black book, "But it does concern me Mr. Fullbuster, I suggest you keep your clothes on if you wish to receive the reward in full."

"Yeah, yeah," Gray rolled his eyes as he went back into the change room, "I heard you the first time you cynical bastard."

"Good," The vice-president snapped his book closed and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "As long as we're clear."

"Oi Glasses," Natsu called out to the vice-president, "This is a Host Club right? Where are the usual hosts?"

The vice-president scowled,

"First of all you simpleton, I have a name and it's Kyoya Ootori and second of all, the Host Club King thought it was pertinent that he share his influenza with the entirety of club excluding myself and Haruhi, who was lucky enough to be on vacation with her father. Due to this, you now find yourself and your friends picking up his slack."

"Okay?" Natsu raised an eyebrow at his formal speech, "I didn't understand most of that…hang on, if your 'king' got all the hosts sick, why are you fine?"

Kyoya smirked and the chandelier's light glinted off his glasses,

"That's easy, only idiots catch colds."

Natsu's eye twitch in annoyance at the condescending tone of the raven haired male; he wanted nothing more than to teach the prissy boy a lesson. He frowned to himself thoughtfully; wasn't it supposed to be that idiots couldn't catch colds? He thought he heard that somewhere before; though he couldn't place it. Natsu was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of a curtain sliding open. He turned towards the changing rooms in order to make fun of his rival, who had finally exited, only to have his words die on his lips.

He was pretty sure that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't bring himself to care; for some reason he couldn't take his eyes off Gray. While the purple suit seemed to clash with Natsu's entire personality and features, it was as if the clothing was made for the ice mage. The purple of the suit brought out his deep blue eyes and accented his pale skin and dark hair. Natsu narrowed his eyes as the raven fidgeted with the tie around his neck; had it always been so long?

Natsu's cheeks started to burn as he realized what had just gone through his head; clearly something was wrong with him. There was absolutely no way he was admiring Gray's features like that. Nope, no way in hell; he had to be delusional. He hummed to himself as he remembered that he didn't have a chance to eat his third helping of breakfast that morning; that had to be the reason why he was thinking so strangely.

"Wow Gray!" Lucy shouted excitedly, "That really looks great on you!"

The ice mage rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment,

"Uh, I don't know about that…"

"No," Wendy smiled brightly at him as she smoothed out her now hemmed skirt, "Lucy-san is right; that colour is very beautiful on you Gray-san."

Natsu forced a boisterous laugh; he had to make sure that the girls didn't notice his slip up,

"Beautiful? I don't think that's the right word to describe the ice bastard Wendy; he looks like he has something shoved up his ass if you ask me."

Gray glared at his rival,

"Oh shut up Natsu! If I were you I wouldn't be talking; I look way better than you ever could."

"Ha," The dragon slayer smirked, "I'd like to see you try snowflake."

"There's no point in me trying fire breath," The raven looked at him through his lashes, "I'll let the ladies answer that for you."

Natsu fought back the scowl that threatened to commandeer his face at Gray's implication. The ice mage could be such a cocky asshole sometimes; why did he insist on pissing him off? He huffed through his nose and folded his arms across his chest again; turning his gaze away. However, in doing so he was now facing Happy who had a strange smile on his face. The expression on his friend's face caused a weird chill to sweep down his spine.

"What are you smiling about?" He demanded in annoyance.

"Noooothing~" The Exceed sung teasingly, "You're just being funny…and strange~"

"Oh be quiet." He frowned bitterly, "I'm not acting strange."

Happy laughed and shook his head,

"If you say so…"

"I know so!" He shouted defensively, "I'm telling you, there's nothing going on!"

"Natsu," Erza said sternly, "Now's not the time to be shouting and Happy don't egg him on; the last thing we need his for him to destroy something."

Natsu looked away from the S-Class mage and pouted,

"You destroy just as much things as I do…"

The great Titania's eyebrow twitched in irritation,

"What did you just say?"

"N-Nothing!" Natsu took that opportunity to move as far away as he could from his disciplinarian; he really wanted to get through this lame mission in one piece.

The sound of a book snapping shut drew his attention to the vice-president of the club. His sharp brown eyes seemed to look over the fairies keenly before nodding his head in approval. He pushed his index finger against the bridge of his glasses and smiled darkly. Natsu found himself gulping as the teen's dark aura, which was almost as dark and intimidating as Erza's, caused him to quake in fear; who knew the glasses wearing bastard could be so damn terrifying?! He was sure that Erza herself was even uncomfortable right about now.

"It's about time for the doors to open," He announced with a smirk, "Remember to follow the rules that I set for each of you or else I'll dock your reward; make enough mistakes and you might very well be in debt to me."

Natsu jumped slightly when he felt Gray elbow him in the side; the bastard must have wandered over to him while he was distracted by the vice-president,

"Man, that guy is freaky; he gives me a bad feeling."

"Me too," The pinkette nodded, "But not in a 'take over the world' kind of way…"

"He's giving the 'Erza is about to smite us' vibe." The ice mage nodded thoughtfully as he fiddled with his tie again, "Guess that means we better do what he says."

"Pretty much." Natsu smirked at his rival, "Want to make a bet?"

Gray released his tie and smirked at him in return,

"What kind of bet?"

"Whoever has the least guests at the end of the mission has to do whatever the one who has the most guests says for an entire week."

"You're on!" Gray laughed, "You're so going down flame brain!"

"We'll see about that popsicle pants!"

They bumped fists with each other in order to finalize their bet and Gray wandered off to talk to Lucy and Erza who had called him over to them; he wouldn't be surprised if they were threatening him with bodily harm if he even thinks about taking off his clothing. It serves the stripper right though; after nearly twelve years, you'd think that he'd have that habit under control by now.

That aside, at least the two of them had thought up a way to make this mission somewhat bearable. Now all he had to do was beat the ice bastard and then he'd have a slave for a week; he'd be able to torture his rival all week without Gray even being able to complain. Natsu knew he had this in the bag no problem. After all he was fun-loving, funny and could make people smile; he was sure that Gray only knew how to brood, there was no way Gray was going to win.

Hell would have to freeze over first, he was sure of it.

FTFTFTFT

This was a lot harder than he thought it would be.

And coming from Natsu Dragneel that sure as hell meant something; he never thought girls could be so difficult…or annoying. He felt his eyebrow twitch slightly as the group of girls he was 'hosting' squealed at him; apparently they were fans of Fairy Tail. Natsu sweatdropped as he realized that this was what a room full of Juvias would be like. The girl sitting in front of him held her cup of tea in her hand gracefully as she took a light sip from it.

"So Natsu," She simpered, "What can you tell us about being in a magical guild? It must be really dangerous…"

"Nah," He rested his arms behind his head, "It's a lot of fun though and with a guild like Fairy Tail, the members become your second family…"

"Aw," A girl with blonde hair placed her hand on her cheek wistfully, "That sounds so beautiful~"

"Takara's right," Another girl with red hair whispered, "I wish that I could have bonds like that…"

Natsu opened his mouth to respond the red head only to have girly giggles interrupt him. He turned his head to glare at the table across from them. Gray was lounging in his chair and smiling at the girls he was hosting. He fought back a frown as he took in the raven's smile; it was very rare that people got to see that side of him and the fact that complete strangers were allowed to pissed him off.

He looked over his rival and realized that in the past hour, the ice mage had only stripped off the purplish-blue overcoat. His white dress shirt sleeves were bunched up to his elbows and his black tie hung loosely on his neck; exposing more alabaster skin. Natsu felt the palms of his hands itch; how had those girls made Gray so comfortable with them?!

"Uhm Natsu?"

The dragon slayer jumped in surprise as he turned to face his guests; he had completely forgotten that they were there…oops…

"Sorry about that," Natsu smiled at them and rubbed the back of his head, "I thought I saw a bee in the room…"

"A-A bee?!" The blonde haired girl (Taco-something?) squealed.

"Ah no!" He shook his head frantically, "I only imagined it, it was nothing; even if there was a bee, I'm sure that I'd be able to protect you from it!"

"How sweet!" Tea cup-girl blushed, "You're so brave!"

Natsu blinked at the girls dumbly; where they really that scared of a bee? The worst thing a bee could ever do was sting them…he shook his head slightly and took a deep breath. That wasn't the point; the point is he has to stay focused on Gray. NO! He had to stay focused on the girls in front of him so that he could beat the ice princess in their bet. Jeez, how had he managed to mess his inner monologue up?!

"It's nothing really," He laughed and waved them off, "It's all part of the job."

"Someone's getting cocky…"

"Happy!" Natsu shouted as the cat laughed into his paw and floated above the chaise they were seated on, "That was mean!"

"Is that a talking cat?" The red head asked excitedly; her eyes sparkling like stars.

"Aye sir!" The Exceed tilted his head to the side and smiled brightly.

"Aw, you're so adorable!" The blonde girl leaned over the table and snatched Happy from out of the air and squeezed him to her chest.

"Ah Natsu!" He called breathlessly, "Help me!"

"That's what you get for picking on me; you're on your own this time."

"So mean~" Happy whined as tea cup-girl started pulling on his cheek.

The dragon slayer laughed at his friend's unfortunate circumstance and got up from the chaise. He told the girls that he was going to grab them some more tea, but it was obvious that they weren't even thinking about him anymore. He shrugged his shoulders indifferently and made his way to the coffee, tea and snacks; no one would question him if he had a few snacks, he deserved a break anyways.

When he reached the table, he leaned against the table ledge and picked up a mini sandwich from the platter. He sniffed it experimentally and his stomach immediately rumbled; the snack was gone within the next second…and not just the one snack either…more like the whole platter, but no one would miss them. He watched his friends as they interacted with the guests that they had to entertain.

Wendy and Carla were working together; they actually worked as the perfect tag team for something like this. The vice-president allowed (for the one time only) the middle school students in the affiliated school to come to the Host Club so that Wendy could be more relaxed with people her age. Despite the fact that her male guests were the same age as her, the sky dragon slayer was still her shy and awkward self, but that was where Carla came in. Where Wendy was shy, Carla was outspoken and where Wendy was awkward, Carla was proper.

Even though Carla was a cat, the boys were pretty impressed with her and even Wendy for that matter. He'd have to be sure to keep an eye on them so he could beat the snot out of any other idiots who tried anything; he'd also have to remember to remind Romeo to get a move on.

He smiled to himself as he reached for another snack; his eyes wandering to Lucy who was surrounded by a group of boys. She seemed to be doing alright and he knew that she could handle herself. Well, there was that and he knew that the perverted lion would be there if she needed him. He chuckled to himself; to him it was obvious why Lucy had such bad luck with dating, but not everyone was lucky enough to have his nose.

As he shoved another dainty into his mouth he found Erza and it was good to see that the guys she was with weren't bleeding and/or unconscious. He stared the guys surrounding the red haired mage and sighed; they were practically drooling all over her. But, he couldn't blame them when she was leaning over the table like that with her breasts in their face; Erza was a true force to be reckoned with…what those two didn't know was that she was waiting on someone else…

The power of his nose was truly a great thing.

He scoffed to himself as he licked chocolate off his fingers. The members of the guild always teased him to being oblivious about love, but honestly he had to be the most intelligent person on the subject. All because he could tell who was attracted to who by the way they smelt; if only they knew how much he knew.

Natsu found himself scowling as his eyes landed on the ice mage once more. He cringed as a girl that he was hosting placed a hand on Gray's knee and the raven did nothing about it. Okay, sure Gray occasionally let Juvia hang off him, but really there was nothing he could do about that; he could push that girl away if he wanted to, Gray didn't even know her. Why in the hell was the frost breath acting so damn strange?!

He reached for another snack only for his hand never to reach the plate. He grasped at empty air for a moment before he turned his head to see black tendrils looping around his wrist. He stared at the tendrils dumbfounded until he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He shifted his gaze to see Kyoya leaning against the wall; his pen scribbling into his notebook.

"Oi," Natsu pulled on his arm, "What's the meaning of this?!"

Kyoya sighed and the black tendrils retracted,

"No more sweets for you Mr. Dragneel; I swear you're worse than Honey-senpai."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," The vice-president paused in his writing, "I suggest you get back to hosting; that's what you're here for after all."

"I will," Natsu crossed his arms, "I'm just taking a break."

"That's funny," Kyoya snapped his book shut, "Didn't you make a bet with Mr. Fullbuster?"

"How'd you…"

"This is my domain Mr. Dragneel," He huffed exasperatedly, "You two were also only two meters from me and neither of you are that quiet."

"Or you're just a creepy bastard."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow at him,

"My knowledge of your silly bet is not of importance, but if you're curious you should know that Mr. Fullbuster is beating you."

"What?!"

"In all honesty if he wasn't a part of your guild I'd ask him to join us as a host," He tapped his finger against his temple, "He'd be a great asset; he's a hit with the female and male guests, his talent is quite unprecedented."

Natsu's mouth opened and closed uselessly before he whipped his head around towards Gray to realize that he was now surrounded by male guests. His eye twitched in annoyance as one of the guests brushed his fingers over the back of Gray's hand; and the ice mage let him do it. Girls were one thing, but boys too?! There was no way he was going to take this one lying down; what the hell was Gray's problem?! He took a step forward to march towards the ice mage and settle this once and for all when it seemed like he was washed with cold water.

Forget Gray, what the hell was with him today?!

Honestly, maybe he ate too much sweets or something; yeah, that made a lot more sense. He moved away from the snack table to go back to his section so that he could beat Gray in the bet. That's what he had to focus on…maybe his weird thoughts would go away after he beat him. He was almost completely turned away when one of the male guests in front of Gray had the balls to touch Gray's cheek.

Without another word to Kyoya, Natsu ran across the room with fire on his heels and dove at the man who had dared touch Gray. The guest yelled as he was flipped over the back of the chair with Natsu landing on top of him with a flaming fist pulled back ready to strike. He growled under his breath threateningly causing the guest to shrink away in fear; Natsu smirked. The boy was staring into the face of a dragon.

He caught a whiff of mint as Gray grabbed the back of Natsu's jacket and tried to pull him off the guest, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"He dared…"

"Natsu Dragneel!" Erza yelled furiously as she stomped towards him, "Let him go this instant!"

Against his better nature, Natsu ignored the furious red head and pulled the boy underneath him forward so that their noses were practically touching. He glared at the boy as he began to shake his shoulders; the boy's black hair falling into his face from the movement.

"You," Natsu hissed, "What made you think you could touch what was mine."

"Uh…" The boy stuttered nervously.

"ANSWER ME!"

Natsu was so angry he didn't realize how hot he was making the room until the temperature drastically dropped. The grip that was once on the back of his purple jacket had disappeared forcing him to turn and look at Gray whose deep blue eyes were shadowed by his raven bangs. The dragon slayer released the teen that was under him when he noticed Gray's hands, his weapons, twitch with mist weaving intricately through his fingertips.

"Yours…" Gray spat dangerously, "Who in the hell gave you the idea that I was yours?!"

"Gray, Natsu," Lucy pushed herself to the front of the group that formed around the three in the centre; Erza and Wendy by her side, "You guys just need to calm down…"

Natsu clenched his fists at his sides as flames started to swallow his forearms,

"From the same place where you got the idea that it was okay for you to be so casual with everyone!"

"Casual?!" Gray roared as he put his hand to his palm, "I was doing my job!"

Natsu was about to retort when a sword went flying through the space between them and embedded in the wall on the other side of the room. A collective shiver went through the room as the temperature of the room stabilized. Natsu stared fearfully at Erza as her razor sharp brown eyes dug into his very soul.

"Boys!" Erza requipped a sword into her hand and pointed at the two of them threateningly, "If you start fighting in this room, I'll punish you both severely!"

"Honestly," Carla huffed as she shook her head in exasperation, "Boys are so savage."

"Now," The Queen of the Fairies glared at them sternly, "Both of you are going to go outside and talk this over calmly like the best friends you are; is that clear?!"

"Yes ma'am!" Gray squeaked as he looped an arm around the dragon slayer's neck.

"Aye!" Natsu shouted nervously as he mirrored the ice mage.

Under the watchful eyes of Titania Erza, the duo made their way towards the double doors that was their escape out of the room. As he was leaving, Natsu noticed that Kyoya still retained his position next to the snack table with his book held loosely in his arm. Only this time, there was girl with reddish brown hair standing next to him with a pink bow in her hair; he was pretty sure he saw sparkles in her eyes, but that could've been from the lights. However, do to his hearing he was able to catch onto their conversation before they were completely out of the room.

"I never thought I'd meet a person who was oblivious enough to make Tamaki look observant." Kyoya muttered, "Let alone two."

"Yeah well, I did tell you that Fairy Tail was a rather different guild," The girl giggled mischievously, "If it's all the same to you, I ship them."

Whatever that meant, he hoped that Mira and her never met and became friends.

FTFTFTFT

Silence.

Natsu and Gray had been standing in complete silence ever since they had all but run through the halls and down to the courtyard next to the water fountain. Upon reaching the fountain, Gray had sat down on the cement ledge and crossed his arms over his chest. Natsu stood in front of the ice mage and tried to look anywhere but at him. He wished that they could just fight and get it over with, like old times, but they couldn't even think about it; Natsu could sense that Erza was watching them like a hawk and he knew that Gray could feel it too.

"So," Gray's monotonous voice came from behind him, "Are you going to tell me what the hell that was about?"

Natsu frowned,

"It was nothing; don't worry about it."

The ice mage glared at the fire mage darkly,

"Natsu stop being a flame brained idiot; what made you think you could go all dragon and shit on non-magic users?"

The dragon slayer ground his teeth and refused to answer. How could he answer when he didn't even understand what happened himself? He felt his magic sing through his veins again, but he suppressed it; this was not something they could fight over, no matter how much easier that outcome would be.

"I know you're reckless squinty eyes," Gray continued when he didn't say anything, "But it's not like you to do that to an innocent person…"

Natsu growled in frustration,

"It's your fault ice princess, so don't pin this all on me."

"And what did I do?" He demanded, "I was doing the job and winning our bet; what, did you throw a fit because you didn't want to be my servant for a week; if that's the reason that's pretty low."

"That wasn't it at all," Natsu growled, "I take our deals seriously ice bastard, even you should know that."

"Then what the hell was that in there!" Gray shouted in frustration as he jumped to his feet, "What made you think you could just stand there and declare that I belong to you?!"

The dragon slayer scowled,

"I don't know, alright?!"

Natsu watched as all the hot air seemed to go out of Gray's sails. The anger that had appeared on his rival/best friend's face seemed to give way to confusion at the pinkette's statement. He closed his eyes and sighed; at least they seemed to be on the same page now. After a few more moments of tense silence, Natsu reopened his eyes and his honey green orbs locked on the ice mage.

"It's your fault though," He mumbled, "You've been acting strange all day; letting strangers touch you and smiling as if you were the happiest person in the world being there. The glasses wearing bastard even mentioned that he would've asked you to join the Host Club because you were so good at it…it made me so angry!"

"I…" Gray tried, but Natsu started to speak over him.

"I've known you for over ten years ice princess and you've only smiled like that around me a handful of times and the only time I ever get to think about touching you is when we're fighting." Natsu rambled, "Over ten years of knowing each other and yet you let those shade-y bastards touch you and talk to you as if they've known you for just as long…

"It just pissed me off alright?!" He finished with a loud huff and a red blush covering his cheeks.

Natsu curled his fingers into his palms as he felt his hands sweat; of course it was Gray of all people that had the ability to make him uncomfortable and make him act funny. Maybe Happy was right, he was being a little strange today…maybe just a little.

"Oi fire breath," Natsu glanced towards his rival to see the corner of his mouth twitching, "Are you jealous?"

The dragon slayer felt his cheeks burn even more as he sputtered,

"NO! Of course not you stupid stripper! Why would I be jealous of a dumbass like you?!"

Gray smacked the back of his head causing Natsu to curse,

"That's not what I meant and you call me the dumbass."

The pinkette rubbed the back of his head as he glared at the ice mage. However, the longer he looked at his rival, the more that he noticed that he wasn't the only one suffering from an uncomfortable blush. Natsu furrowed his brow for a moment as a thought struck him, but it couldn't be…could it…

"Ice block," Natsu's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Were you trying to make me jealous?"

"No," Gray forced out and avoided his gaze, "Why would I do that? You really are a dumbass."

The angry fire that had been coursing through his body cooled as he stared at the reddened face of his rival and best friend. Natsu smirked to himself as he walked to the ice mage who had turned his attention onto the spouts of water coming out of the water fountain. He stopped walking when he side by side with Gray; their shoulders brushing as they both refused to look at each other.

"So you like me huh?" Natsu teased lightly.

"Maybe…" Gray muttered with a snort, "But you like me too remember?"

He hummed in amusement as the back of his hand brushed against Gray's,

"I never actually said that."

The ice mage raised an incredulous eyebrow,

"You're kidding right? You attacked someone because he touched my face."

"But you made it so he would touch you; that's cheating."

"You still tackled him." Gray argued back, "Therefore you told me you liked me first."

Natsu scowled,

"No because you didn't know why I tackled the asshole either or did you forget because you have ice for brains?"

"Actually ash for brains, I caught you staring at me before the guests even came in; that's why I tried egging you on in the first place."

Natsu was about to retort when he chuckled under his breath as he realized what they were doing. Gray smiled as he seemed to come to the same conclusion as his rival. The raven ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

"So we say we like each other and then we fight; I'd say that's pretty standard for us."

"Seems like it," Natsu agreed, "But we shouldn't really be surprised…"

"No I guess not," Gray smiled at him, "The guild probably will though."

"You got that right!"

The dragon slayer slid his arm around Gray's waist as they continued to stare at the water fountain. He half expected the ice princess to through his arm off, but was pleasantly surprised when the ice mage let him be. They stood in silence for a few moments until Natsu thought of one problem that they might have when they got back…

"I dibs out on telling Juvia though; that's all you man."

Gray's shoulders slumped as if a dark cloud of depression formed over him,

"Ah damnit, I forgot about her."

Natsu pressed his nose into the ice mage's hair and inhaled,

"Don't worry I'll be there…laughing."

Gray elbowed him in the stomach with a soft smile gracing his features,

"Screw you."

It was at that moment that Natsu knew that even though they were together, or at least they were going to try, that they were never going to change. They were still going to fight more than they got along. They were still going to go on missions together. They were still going to get the snot beat out of them by Erza from time to time. But the best part of them being together was that Natsu was going to be able to see that smile a lot more often.

THE END

Hey Minna! Here's the second prompt from EternalFlame401 and it's hella late, but hopefully all you readers can forgive me! I'm working on all the prompts simultaneously so I'm hoping to get them posted more often. I feel bad for not being able to post as frequently as I wanted to, but I've been going through a lot in my life lately (lots of soul searching, re-contemplating my relationship with my bf, figuring out what I want in life and work probs as well). So I'm so sorry for not being able to keep up for you guys!

As for this prompt, I don't know how I feel about it yet lol XD EternalFlame401 I hope you and the other readers can find something that you like about it; I struggled a lot with this one. I struggled with the OOC-ness of characters and with making Natsu jealous when he and Gray weren't even together yet (basically I should have made this an established relationship fic lol) :P Gah! I'm waiting on your reviews!

-sktrgrl

Also, a huge thanks to those who favourited/followed/reviewed this fic! All of you are awesome and keep me going :) And I want to let the two guests who gave me prompts recently that I am working on them! XD Hopefully you can see them soon!