Dance Fighting

Closet Challenge

Natsu woke up in the ryokan on his futon, dressed in pajamas and surprisingly clean. He even lifted his shirt to look at his body, which had been a sticky white mess the night before, when any thoughts of washing up were forgotten in a desperate need for sleep. Now he was squeaky clean. The pajamas were also a shock, considering he had fallen asleep naked. He glanced over to where Gray slept on the other side of the room, sprawled out on his bed, totally naked with only the blanket hiding the naughty bits.

Had Gray cleaned him, dressed him, and tucked him into bed? The cleanup seemed plausible. They were probably both messy after a night like that. Putting him into bed was odd, but it was not that far to drag him from where they had passed out to where the futon was placed.

But dressing him? He didn't think Gray could easily dress himself, let alone someone else!

Since when was the stripper so gentle with his relationships?

Natsu silently cursed himself. Relationships? This wasn't a relationship. To put this...this thing between them—whatever it was—into that sort of category was...well, it was simply too good to be true.

So what was it?

Natsu did not have an answer just yet, and thinking about it made him uncomfortable. Although he now knew that Gray had relationships with men in the past—or at least a brief fling with Loke—it still felt like they were together purely to antagonize one another. These feelings that had been building up inside him were surely one-sided. There was no way Gray was in love with him. The ice bastard would never want a truly romantic relationship with his rival. Natsu knew that for Gray, this was just a new form of challenging each other, as well as a way to let off steam. It was fighting...that just so happened to involve sex.

But a relationship? That was too much to hope for.

Gray was sexy; Natsu had thought that for some time now. He possessively felt like Gray should be his. Their fights showed how much he admired the man. How often did he challenge Laxus, or Elfman, or Bickslow? But Gray...Natsu challenged him at every opportunity, because he saw an equal in the ice mage.

He had been the one to initiate things last night by reminding Gray of their last time together. Yet it had been Gray who kissed him first. So what did Gray think of this...thing that couldn't possibly be a relationship?

Natsu was unsure, and he had no idea how to ask something that embarrassing. Just thinking about it made his cheeks turn hot. He only knew that this small act of kindness affected the way he felt about Gray. The pure lust he felt the first time had changed last night. Gray had been tender, wild, kinky, and attentive, all in a single lovemaking session. Natsu thought about how gentle he had been caring for his hurt anus, applying medicine, and kissing it...although he still thought that was weird and disgusting.

The ice bastard had a tender side after all, and it was affecting the way Natsu saw his rival.

Could they possibly have a relationship? Was that even something Natsu wanted?

As he watched Gray breathing heavily in sleep, Natsu truly had no answer. Part of him just wanted to beat Gray by proving himself to be better...however long that took! Another part of him was sick of dismissing all of this as a mere challenge of sexual prowess. He wanted to hold Gray and sit together in a tender moment of silence. That was not their type of relationship, though.

So what was it? What could they do? What could they not do? What exactly did Natsu want? What did Gray want? Where was this fight going?

"It hurts my head," Natsu mumbled with a pout. He was not used to questioning things this much.