Life After Near Death

The First to Know

"Sometimes we just need to tell someone what is really going on inside. Sometimes that's all it takes to begin our healing."
― S. C. Lourie

Although Gray's mind was made up, he still waited. He felt it was not fair to have pushed Natsu away before, only to embrace him the very next day. He wanted to show that he really had thought about it. It just took less time to figure things out than he figured.

He did not wait long, though. After cleaning up, he decided that he needed to get out of Magnolia. He walked to the train station and purchased a ticket for the next morning. Then he went home, made something to eat, and stayed in for the day. He tried not to think about this too much. If he thought about it, he might convince himself otherwise. He went to bed early, but he laid in bed staring up at the ceiling, wishing the summer sun would set sooner. Instead, the light lingered, a purple glow oozed through his curtains, and some nearby tavern blasted music. He closed his eyes to the gloaming and let the music send him to sleep.

In his dream was the dragon prince again, but now they were in a bare room. There was a long table between them, the kind seen in classic depictions of royalty at dinner. A candelabra burned in front of the half-dragon, lighting up his pink hair. A bucket of ice with an unopened bottle of champagne sat in front of Gray. They gazed at each other from opposite ends of the massive table. It felt like they spent half the night staring at one another in silence. A clock ticked somewhere, and as the hours passed the ticking got louder, heavier, more ominous.

"Well," Natsu finally spoke. His voice shocked Gray out of the pounding tick-tock noise. The narrow green eyes turned toward the bottle of champagne, then back up at him. "Aren't you going to open it?"

Gray looked at the ice bucket. Open it. Champagne to celebrate. He had not opened the bottle yet. It sat there, sweating, waiting for the party, toasting to happiness in the future. Waiting. It was just the two of them now, no icy castle or summery sunflower fields, but now it felt like they were further apart than ever.

Staring in hesitation, Gray woke up to find it already morning.

Lyon and Jura were in the midst of discussing the results of Toby's last mission—he was "almost as bad as Natsu" according to Lyon—when Gray raced through the doors of Lamia Scale.

"Lyon! I need to talk with you," he bellowed out, almost crashing into two other guild members.

The elder Ice-Make wizard looked first to the Wizard Saint. Jura tucked his hands into his sleeves and gave a passive nod. His face said that matters could wait, family always came first, and he knew this young man was the closest thing to family that Lyon had. All members of Lamia Scale were in silent debt to Gray; they all knew it was his positive influence that brought a strong wizard like Lyon to their guild.

The two foster brothers stepped out into the summer heat. The sun blazed, and here they did not have the breeze off the bay like in Magnolia. Instantly and in synchronism, they both tossed their shirts off.

"This must be serious," Lyon observed, walking slowly along a stone path behind the guild. "You're out of breath."

"I'm in love," Gray blurted out.

Lyon stared at him and blinked in surprise. Gray, in love? "With Juvia?"

"Um ... no. With ... well, with..." It was harder to admit than he thought. "I ... I need a second opinion. I told you about my ... um ... dilemma with ... issues."

Lyon chuckled at his awkwardness. "You mean about having feelings for a man. I was wondering how that was progressing."

"Uh ... y-yeah, that." Gray glanced around suspiciously, but they were in a garden behind Lamia Scale's guild. The arbor they strolled through was secluded with a stretched vine-covered pergola giving them privacy. It was so quiet, only birdsong and rustling leaves, they would be able to hear anyone approaching. "I thought about it a lot, and I might be ... no," he whispered, and he said again with firm decisiveness. "I'm in love." As soon as he declared it, he laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's crazy to say it out loud."