The Truth in their Stars

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Happy Holigays 2019

For: Weissgrayblu

Natsu and Gray - Age 11

"Catch me if you can!" Natsu yelled. With their chores finally done, it was time to play. He took off into the forest as quickly as he could, sparing only a second to gauge how far away Gray was.

With a grin, he raced ahead, his boots crunching in the snow, amused at the determined expression on his friend's face. As soon as he was deep enough into the forest, he climbed the nearest tree quickly, waiting to pounce on his unsuspecting friend. He could hear Gray's steps getting closer and tried to stifle his laughs, even as he panted from his exertions.

When a few minutes had passed, and Gray was no closer to reaching his hiding spot, Natsu looked around only to be knocked off his perch by the force of a well-aimed snowball, landing face down in a large snowdrift.

His ears reddened as Gray's laughter assailed him, "Next time you want to ambush me, maybe remember that all the leaves have already fallen off the trees, moron."

Natsu had to admit that had been kind of dumb on his part, so he laughed along, carefully collecting snow underneath him and shaping it into a snowball that he threw at his friend in one fluid motion as he turned over onto his back. The snow hit its target beautifully, covering Gray's smug expression in snow.

"I suppose we should call that a tie," Gray commented as he calmly wiped the snow off his face. He offered his hand to Natsu and helped pull him back up to a standing position. "What do you want to do today?"

"Let's go exploring!" Natsu immediately replied as he did every other time, eyes lighting up with excitement as his mouth widened into a fanged grin that caused a faint stirring in Gray's chest.

"Okay!" Gray agreed, ignoring the strange feeling and once again chasing after Natsu. Together they ran through the trees, occasionally stopping to wrestle and roll in the snow until they were both shivering with cold.

Natsu and Gray age 18

Over the following years, the stirring in Gray's chest flourished into a spark, which soon ignited into a full-fledged flame. Every moment spent with Natsu was equal parts enjoyment and torture, especially since Natsu had never given any indication he felt the same way.

Even if he did, Gray would never be able to act on it. They lived in a small traditional village. There had never been two men romantically involved in the entire history of Isvan. Marriages were determined by a ceremony. The village elder would study the stars and consult the gods for every male in the village when they turned five, informing them of who they were fated to marry. The results were accepted blindly. As far as Gray knew, no one had ever gone against the elder's findings.

His own ceremony had gone badly, although he'd never been able to get the details from his parents. All he knew was that whatever the elder had prophesied for him had gotten her kicked out of the village.

Gray had never been too concerned that he was the only one that didn't know the name of his supposed true love. He amused himself with the fantasy that maybe she had named Natsu, and it had caused an uproar.

He'd never thought the ceremony made much sense. He might have lived in Isvan his entire life, but he was well aware that they were but a small part of a much larger world. With so many people in existence, how was it possible the stars would only ever point to people in their own village?