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Life After Near Death	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 14426 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
"… when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure."
― Jane Austen

Chapter 17

Beach Fantasies

A week later, the group arrived at a beach resort in southern Fiore, where the sun was hot and the ocean was cool. Lucy stretched her arms above her head with satisfaction, and her bikini top looked ready to burst open as her chest popped out.
"Beaches are the best!" she exclaimed.
"We're here for a serious reason," Erza warned all of them, holding up a studious finger as she lectured them. "Gray is still in convalescence, and as his teammates, our duty is to bring him up to speed. Running on sand has been proven to be a good and rigorous exercise without much physical negativity, and swimming will help to strengthen his leg as well. Our focus must be on helping Gray during his recovery."
Natsu laughed at her. "Then why do you have a floaty tube around you?" He pointed at the blowup seahorse that wrapped around the Titania's shapely waist.
"I must take charge in coaching him. The coach cannot tire out before the pupil," she insisted stubbornly, but she added with blunt honesty, "Plus, it was cute and on sale."
Gray smacked his hand to his forehead. "She's my physical therapy coach?"
"Look!" Wendy pointed. Happy and Carla had drifted away from the group and discovered a cluster of rocks that made tide pools.
"There's a starfish," Carla pointed with her little white paw.
"Fiiiiiish," Happy drooled. "We could eat right here." He began to lean closer to the water, daydreaming of all the different types of fish they could taste.
Carla yanked him back. "Watch it, you dumb male cat! You'll fall into the rocks."
"There's a restaurant in our hotel that serves fresh sushi," Erza told them. "Happy, don't eat anything weird. Gray, prepare yourself. My training will not be easy, and I won't go light on you."
He groaned, already imagining how training under Erza would be like. "I thought you said the focus must be on me recovering, not half-killing me."
"I won't be that harsh today."
He rolled his eyes. "Only today?"
"I challenge you and Natsu to swim to that island." Erza pointed to a small island four hundred meters from the shore. "Natsu, you have to watch him."
"Why him?" Gray began to shout.
"I will," Natsu said seriously, his words covering over Gray's protest.
Gray turned sharply at the Dragon Slayer and gawked at him. Normally, Natsu would moan and whine, "Why should I have to watch out for this stripping pervert?" Instead, he looked determined to help. It really was not like Natsu at all.
"Very well," Erza nodded. "Go!"
Natsu smirked over to Gray. "Beat you there."
"Like hell!"
They dived into the ocean at the same time. Gray swam as hard as he could, but he could see for himself, Natsu was not competing at full strength. The Dragon Slayer kept glancing back, and more than once Gray saw his eyes drop sadly. Then Natsu's pace would slow down until Gray almost, but not quite, caught up. He was not at all going all out like he normally would in a competition. Instead, Natsu was just there to make sure Gray could make it the full distance.
'Screw that!' Gray stroked harder, straining his shoulder muscles.
"Not your arms, idiot." Natsu slowed down again until he swam right beside Gray. "You need to use your legs more."
"Then I'd never beat you," he sneered.
"Gray, I'm serious. Use your legs."
"I'm not gonna lose…"
Natsu stopped swimming, grabbed Gray in the water, and forcefully flipped him onto his back with a splash of sea water. As Gray looked up in shock at the blue sky, he saw a ruffle of white. Natsu yanked his scarf around Gray's body and used it to tie his arms to the side of his torso.
"What the hell?" Gray raged.
"No using your arms. Float and just use your legs."
"Untie me," Gray demanded, struggling against the knotted scarf. How was Natsu able to tie it so tightly?
"I won't release you until we reach the island. If you're gonna be stubborn and stupid and not train properly, then I'll use extreme methods. I'm serious, do this properly," Natsu demanded with a raised voice and determination in his face.
Gray quit fighting and glared at him. "Who the hell died and made you in charge?"
Natsu's eyes narrowed slightly. "You did, for about five minutes on that battlefield."
That silenced Gray's protests and sent a shiver through his muscles as memories of feeling his life slipping away now haunted him. Had his near-death experience really transformed Natsu this much? How had he not noticed? Then again, Natsu had changed in many ways since that day.
With a low growl, Gray began to kick with just his legs. Now he really felt the fatigue in his left leg.
"You're doing good."
"Shut up! Don't coach me, you idiot flame-brain."
Natsu smiled at that cantankerous attitude and remained by Gray's side. He saw fatigue after only a couple of minutes, but by then they were close enough to the island. He yanked free his scarf and tied it back around his head.
"Let's climb up and rest for a moment before heading back."
"Screw that," Gray snapped. "I don't need a rest after just that much."
"Gray, you're panting," Natsu pointed out.
"I'm fine!" Gray turned right around and began to swim back toward the shore.
Natsu sighed and followed him, but this time he stayed behind Gray, watching how he swam. He obviously favored the right leg. Sometimes it seemed like Gray realized he was doing that, and suddenly his left leg would give strong kicks, only to taper off again. Natsu realized he would have to warn Erza that swimming was not an effective training for Gray at this stage of his recovery.
They were almost near the coast when Gray screamed and suddenly sank under the waves. Natsu cried out to him and immediately dived down. In the watery blueness of the sea, Natsu saw Gray with one hand holding his left foot while the other strained to reach the surface. Natsu swam over, grabbed Gray around the waist, and yanked him back up to the air. Both gasped for breaths and wiped saltwater from their eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"Cramp in my foot," Gray hissed, still using one hand to hold his foot. "Crap! Hurts, hurts, hurts!"
"You're overdoing it." Natsu lifted him up and carried him in his arms.
Gray shouted in protest. "Hey! I got my leg back so you wouldn't have to do crap like this."
"Shut up, ice princess. If you try to swim with a foot cramp, you could drown."
Finally, they made it to the shallows, where Natsu managed to place his feet down and stand on the grainy seabed.
"Is he okay?" Erza yelled from the shore.
"Just a muscle cramp. I'll work it out." Natsu then saw something. "Happy! Don't eat that!"
Erza ran off to yank a sea urchin out of Happy's paws before he tried to bite into the poisonous creature. Natsu kept carrying Gray up the inclining shore.
"I can walk on the sand," Gray muttered in protest.
"Your foot hurts and the tendon is probably drawn up. You shouldn't put pressure on it. If you tear a tendon, that's worse than breaking a bone. Just shut up and try to take care of yourself. Healing you was hard enough."
"How was it hard? I just sat there. It wasn't hard at all."
"That's good," Natsu whispered with hollow eyes as he remembered those days of intense agony.
He took Gray up the beach and to a towel shaded by a massive umbrella. He laid Gray down, sat at his feet, and yanked up the bad foot.
"What the hell…?"
Natsu's thumbs dug in and began to kneed out the tendon that had tightened up.
"Massage is part of therapy, too," Natsu said, focused on the foot.
Gray leaned back with a soft moan. "Where the hell did you learn how to give massages?"
"From Rei-chan."
"Huh? Wait, the stripper?"
Natsu glared at him. "She's more than just a stripper."
"But she's not your girlfriend, right?"
"Not really," he shrugged laconically.
"So what's the deal with that arrangement? Is she married?"
"No!" Natsu shouted.
"I don't get how you two even hooked up. I mean, I heard that Loke took you to the strip club, but … did you two just meet and things clicked?"
"You … could say that," Natsu said cautiously. "Rei-chan…"
"What's with chan? You never use chan or kun or anything like that."
"It's her stage name. She's insistent on the chan. Anyway, she's not the person I love."
Gray's eyes widen. "She's not? But you're screwing her, right?"
"We're not having sex." He remembered what Rei-chan had told him about making Gray jealous. "She dances for me. She has a really sexy dance she does as she strips."
"She strips for you?" Gray shouted in outrage.
"Well, duh! That's her job," Natsu pointed out. "I'm used to you just tossing your clothes off all the time, and it's annoying. How she does it, it's like an art form. Also, she's training me."
"Yeah," the ice wizard mumbled. "When I met her, she said something about being an instructor."
"Yep! She's teaching me how to be a really good kisser."
"Good … kisser?" Gray could hardly help but look at Natsu's lips.
"Well, I hadn't kissed many people, just Lisanna way back when we were kids, and Happy that one time by accident, and so she said she'd teach me to kiss like a pro."
"How does a pro kiss?"
Natsu gave him an arrogant smile. "Wanna find out?"
Gray drew back with a sneer. "Hell no!"
"She said I've learned to kiss really good," Natsu bragged with a devious chuckle. "I can give kisses that make even a professional like her weak in the knees. I bet an amateur like you would melt like ice cream in summer." He puckered up and began to lean in while making a kissy "mmmwa" sound.
Gray shoved him back. "Stop screwing around, asshole!"
Natsu just laughed. He knew he would get rejected, but Rei-chan had taught him that small teases like that, even if met with rejection, would make the person think even more about it.
"So you two … you don't do anything but kiss?" Gray asked, feeling utterly uncomfortable as his mind refused to stop wandering. What was the difference between how normal town girls kissed and how a professional in the ways of love kissed?
Natsu blushed awkwardly. "Okay, maybe more than just kissing."
"Like … what? Making out? Touching? Has she touched you … down there?"
Natsu blushed and looked away.
Gray gulped hard. "Has she … y'know … sucked you off?"
"I don't like talking about it, okay?" he snapped.
Now he really did feel guilty. It had never meant anything serious, but they had still done things in order to teach Natsu. The only way to know how to do a blow job was to first know what it felt like. It had felt incredible, too. He had laid back with his eyes closed and spent the whole time imagining it was Gray. After feeling what it was like and a session with Rei-chan studiously explaining each oral technique while Natsu practiced on a rubber phallus, Natsu wanted to do something like that. He wanted to make Gray feel that good, taste him, get him to moan and scream his name; however, as he looked at the man in front of him, Natsu knew that wish was not going to happen right away.
After an awkward silence, Gray averted his eyes. He could not imagine it, but his brain rebelliously still tried. It came up with conceptual images of how Natsu must look, naked with someone sucking on him, his haunches taut as he used his hips to give small thrusts, how those hot hands would run through the person's hair, probably pulling recklessly, likely getting forceful as he built up, more and more, until…
'Stop it!'
Why was he even trying to imagine how Natsu must look while receiving a blow job? He shook his head firmly.
"So why a strip club?" he asked to steer away from his perverted imagination.
Natsu held his hands up in innocence. "It was totally all Loke's idea."
"Why would he take you there? I heard you had some kind of a breakup, but I didn't think you were dating anyone. Hell, I didn't think you realized the differences between boys and girls."
"Of course I do, idiot," he snapped. "How often you show off your thingy and Lucy shows off her boobs, it's a little obvious."
"Point," Gray had to concede. "So this girl who broke up with you, was that why you were drowning yourself in booze for so long?"
Natsu rubbed over Gray's foot arch and focused hazily on his toes. "Something like that." Gray had such long toes. Natsu wanted to play with them, suck on them, reverently kiss them…
"She must mean a lot to you."
Natsu's green eyes turned up and stared hard at Gray. "Everything in the world," he whispered ardently.
Gray watched, but those narrow eyes seemed to pierce right into him like the claws of a dragon. Gray gulped hard. His heart was racing, and he had no idea why. They were talking about Natsu's girlfriends, after all. Or not-girlfriends. Hell if he knew what to consider them!
Although, for a moment a while back, Gray once wondered if Natsu's lost sweetheart was maybe himself.
That was ridiculous!
Still…
"You obviously still love her," Gray said suspiciously. "So why are you with that dancer girl?"
"I told you, she's teaching me how to kiss."
"Shouldn't you learn how to do that with someone you actually love?"
"Not if I want to figure out how to kiss before I kiss that person so I can give a really amazing first kiss."
"Then practice with someone you know, not some random prostitute!" Gray scolded in anger.
"Like who?" Natsu snapped. "Lucy wouldn't kiss me. Do you think Erza would? Or Mira? Would you?" he shouted, but he looked just a little pained as he said it.
'Would you? Please? Please, Gray. I want it to be you!'
Gray hesitated when Natsu said that. His gaze looked too intense, so Gray forced his eyes away. "I just don't see how you can be with her if you're in love with someone else."
"That person doesn't love me back," Natsu whispered sadly, disappointed that Gray would not even look at him now. "What else should I do? Be like Juvia? Act like a stalker?"
"At least she's honest about her feelings. You're … unreadable!" He felt angry and was not even sure why. Natsu always pissed him off, but for some reason, this was worse. "Does this girl even know you like her? You said she turned you down. Did you confess outright, or were you totally vague about it? You realize, if you don't tell a person directly, sometimes they just can't figure it out!"
'I can't figure you out, Natsu. Is it me? Is it really a girl? Why the hell are you staring at me with those sad eyes? If it's me, tell me directly. I can turn you down, we can get it over this, and maybe we both can move past such an awkward, unknowing, confusing predicament.'
Natsu sadly shook his head. "It's not that simple."
"Sure it is! You go up to a person and say 'I like you, will you go out with me?' Easy!"
"The person I like told me their feelings before I could confess," Natsu muttered. "I know where I stand, and it's as a brother, not as a lover. I'm fine with that," he said passively. "If I got forceful, it might destroy everything. If I can just be close, that's enough. In the meantime, I can learn from Rei-chan. The next time I fall in love, maybe I can do things right."
"Next time?" Gray shouted. "Have you given up? That's not like you."
"You can't force a person to like you," Natsu shrugged. "Igneel taught me that back when I was just a kid."
"You could still … try!"
Natsu tilted his head. "That sure isn't working for Juvia. What makes you think it'd work for me?"
"You're just giving up! Plus now you're off with some other stripper."
"Other stripper?" Natsu realized Gray had said that before. 'You couldn't stay with this stripper, so you had to run back to your other stripper.' Could it really be that Gray was jealous?
Gray did not seem to notice what he had said. "What if the person you like ends up liking you back? What if that person finds out you're with a strip dancer and getting blow jobs from her, and that gets them mad? Don't you think this is too reckless? It could really upset a person, knowing the one they care about is hiring a whore."
"For the last time, Rei-chan is not a whore," Natsu yelled.
"Do you pay her?"
"It depends. If she's teaching me…"
"When she sucks you off, do you pay for it?"
"What?" he shouted, feeling stabbed by the accusation in Gray's tone.
"If you pay a lady to give you a blow job, that's prostitution."
"No!"
"She may give it a fancy name like sex therapy, but all you're doing is handing her Jewels so she'll handle your family jewels."
"It's not like that at all," Natsu screamed furiously. "I'm not … s-she's not…"
Natsu let go of Gray's foot and suddenly grabbed his chest in pain. He bent over, struggling to breathe. A burning pressure spread from his heart, up his shoulder and neck, down his arm, and tingled in his face.
"Natsu?" Gray asked quietly. "Hey! What's happening?"
Erza looked over and saw Natsu clutching his chest. She raced away from Lucy and Wendy and skidded down beside him. "Natsu!" she shouted urgently.
"I'm fine," he rasped out.
She glared at the ice wizard. "Gray, you're supposed to be training, not arguing. Your punishment is to jog to the lighthouse and back."
"What'd I do?" he shouted.
"You're slacking off. Now go!"
He growled, but he did not dare argue with Erza. He obediently got up and began to jog away.
"Natsu?" Erza asked quietly. "Do you need a doctor?"
"No. It just fluttered weird." He rubbed out his chest and up to his shoulder, following a line of pain that was beginning to recede.
"I'm seriously worried about your heart."
"I'll be fine," he said stubbornly. "I just got riled up."
"Because of what Gray was saying?" She pouted with slight embarrassment. "Sorry, but we could hear everything you two were talking about."
Natsu turned away with a blush. "Is it bad of me?"
"No one can judge you but yourself, Natsu."
"I just … I wanted to know. About kissing and … and stuff. I wanted to be ready in case … in case I could … be with the person I like," he whispered, feeling awkward to talk about this with Erza of all people.
"Your reasons aren't unique. However, if you're questioning your morals, perhaps you need to rethink things."
"I am already," he muttered, and his gaze drifted to where Gray was jogging over the sand. "I just hope it isn't too late."
She patted his shoulder. "Stay in the shade and rest."
"I'm fine!" he snapped.
"I really will send you home and make you go see Porlyusica if you grab your chest in pain again."
Natsu cringed, not particularly wanting to see the ancient healer who always complained about his smell.
"I told you, I'm worried about your heart. It stopped, Natsu. You could have died. You need to recover, just as much as Gray does, but your recovery means not overdoing things or getting riled up until your heart races. Rest, okay? I'll take charge of Gray's therapy and training."
Natsu sighed and leaned back under the shady umbrella while Erza went away to shout at Gray about slacking off on his running. Natsu decided that if he was going to sit around anyway, he should at least eat. He searched the picnic basket and pulled out a bottled drink, a sandwich, and a banana. He devoured the sandwich in no time, washed it down with the sweet drink, and then worked on the banana.
Down the beach a ways, Gray had to rest after the run and rub out his legs, using a bit of ice on his hands to cool off the aching muscles. Regaining the strength he once had would take a long time. He wiped away some sweat and looked around for the picnic basket, thinking a drink would be good.
He saw Natsu sitting on the beach towel, staring off at the waves, with a banana in his mouth.
"She said I've learned to kiss really good. I can give kisses that make even a professional like her weak in the knees. I bet an amateur like you would melt like ice cream in summer."
How good did Natsu kiss? What else had that lady taught him?
Gray's eyes narrowed. Natsu had admitted that this went beyond just kissing. Just how much did she teach him? How good was he? Gray did not have a reputation like Loke, but he had to admit, he could please the ladies when he wanted to. If Natsu got better than him … if Natsu ended up more popular … if Natsu set the hearts of all the ladies in Magnolia aflame…
Damn, they would never hear the end of his bragging!
Yet as Gray watched Natsu's lips wrap around the banana, it was a different type of kissing that flitted across his mind. If the lady had given Natsu professional-quality blow jobs, could it be he knew how to give back?
"Ridiculous!" Gray sneered. "How could he learn that with a woman?"
And why was he even curious about that sort of thing?
He forcefully pulled his gaze away from the Dragon Slayer. Forget the cold drink! He would cool off with another swim. He leaped into the waves, but in mid-flight his swimming trunks somehow flew off.
"Gray! Your clothes again!" Lucy shouted, but Gray splashed into the sea and began to swim off. "Sheesh, how does he even do this?"
Wendy went over to pick up the trunks before they washed away. She did not want to leave them on the shore where they could get swept off by a wave, so carefully holding them with two fingers and away from her body—they were boy's swimming trunks, after all—she brought the swimsuit over to Natsu.
"Make sure Gray puts this back on."
"Sure," he nodded, and he grabbed the trunks, which Wendy was glad to release, wiping her hand on her swimsuit. Natsu had to chuckle. Wendy still sometimes acted like boys had cooties.
Natsu held the swim trunks, but he paused. He looked to Erza and Lucy, who seemed to be busy watching creatures in the tide pools. Wendy had her back to him as she walked to where Happy and Carla were building sandcastles. Gray was swimming out to sea. No one else was around. Quickly, Natsu brought the trunks up to his nose and sniffed them.
Gray's smell was strong, with all the sweating from his workout. Also, it was not just sweat. There was a rank muskiness to the shorts. Natsu's eyes fluttered closed, and his heart began to race.
He imagined that smell strong against his face, and a taste like this smell in his mouth. Like with the banana, Gray would fill his mouth. He would taste what this smell was like, taste Gray, suck on him, licking with his tongue and stroking him with his lips.
He imagined this happening in the beach showers, a low wall that just barely covered them, opened at the bottom for the water to drain out. If someone walked by, they would see Gray's flushed face, and if they really looked, they would see knees on the ground in front of Gray. He imagined the timid sounds Gray would make, embarrassed that someone might see them, ashamed every time a soft moan slipped out, his hips tensing, wishing Natsu would hurry, but Natsu would take his time, torturing the ice wizard for making him suffer with these desires for so long. Gray would love it, and hate it, and be angry, and be completely overwhelmed with lust. He would…
"Idiot! What are you dreaming about?"
Natsu jolted. He had collapsed backwards at some point, the trunks dropped to his side, and fell asleep. He did not remember when that even happened. His chest was hurting, though. Had the trouble with his heart caused him to pass out? Maybe he really should see a doctor.
"Sheesh," Gray scoffed, looking away with a blush. "I guess you're a teenager after all."
"Huh?" Natsu sleepily raised to his elbows, only to feel the stiffness in his swimming trunks. Looking down, he had an arousal tenting straight up. "Ack!" He covered his groin in shame.
"It's fine. It happens," Gray mumbled. He grabbed up his swimming trunks and pulled them back on. "You were probably thinking about that girl you really like, since we were talking about her."
"Y-yeah, something like that," Natsu muttered.
"Or was it your stripper girlfriend?"
"It wasn't her!" he snapped. "I've never had dreams like that about Rei-chan. And how many times do I have to tell you, she's not my girlfriend."
"She's your whore."
"I really will punch you!" Natsu shouted. "She's … an instructor."
"In sex."
"In kissing!"
"She's giving you blow jobs."
"So? Jealous?" Natsu shouted. He realized too late, maybe he should not have said that. Rei-chan said that he should try to make Gray jealous, and confronting him about it like this might backfire.
"Hey, I've had some great blow jobs in the past. It's nothing to be jealous about."
Natsu cringed away. Of course, Gray was still more experienced than him.
"Oh yeah? Well, maybe I should tell her to go ahead and have sex with me, just to be equal with you," Natsu snapped, really mad now. "She's been wanting it for a while now. I almost feel bad for telling her no all the time."
Gray looked enraged. "Don't do something like that just out of competition, you idiot!"
"Why not?"
Gray choked as he tried to think of an excuse.
"What was your reason for your first time getting laid? I remember when it happened. Hell, you bragged about it to the whole guild. You kept telling me, 'Beat you to it.' That's competition, right there!"
"I didn't sleep with her just to beat you, though. She was a girlfriend, we had been dating for a few months, it was something we both wanted. That's a good reason for sex."
"And the girls up north? Those two ladies at the party? What reason did you have with them, huh?"
"Are you still on about that?" Gray screamed.
"Are you afraid I'll be a better lover than you?"
"Not a chance!"
Natsu stood up and glared into Gray's face. In seething anger, he whispered, "Then maybe I should go ahead and let her." He turned sharply and stomped away.
"Hey!" Gray yelled. "The girls left to go shopping. Happy went with them. We're supposed to put the picnic away."
"You're the one training. You do it!" Natsu shouted back. "Asshole," he added, just loud enough for Gray to hear.
Natsu's eyes were burning. Why did this trip turn out like this? Why had he said those things? Of course he didn't want sex with Rei-chan! Mating was supposed to be with a mate, and Rei-chan … she wasn't even a girlfriend! He just wanted Gray to get angry. He wanted to get back at him.
And he was sad that his fantasies were even farther from coming true than before.
He took off running and made it back to the hotel. He stripped out of his clothes and jumped into the shower, pretending the water dripping down his face was all from the shower head and not from his eyes.
"Idiot," he sobbed. "It's you I want. Idiot!"
He was still half erect from the erotic dream. That was all it would ever be: dreams and fantasies. Natsu almost wondered if maybe Gray would have fallen for him if he had never gotten healed. More than anything, he had wanted to give Gray his legs back, but now he wondered if it was at the cost of any chance at a future with Gray by his side.
"Idiot," he whispered.
He was the real idiot. He wanted Gray to get mad, and maybe if he got mad enough, he would shout something. 'Don't have sex with her, because I want to be your first.' Confessions like that only happened in really bad shoujo manga. Or maybe he should say, yaoi manga. He had never read one of those sorts before, though.
Natsu closed his eyes and reached down. He could still imagine the smell of those swimming trunks and the dream brought about by the aroma. Now he imagined that it was Gray sucking on him. He turned the water a little colder and hummed at the tingle. Gray's skin was so cold. Like with the foot rub, he never truly felt warm.
Would his mouth be hot? Somehow, Natsu thought it would be. Cold hands, but a hot tongue.
"Mmmnh, feels … good," he moaned deeply. "Gray. I wanna feel that mouth of yours on me. I wanna feel you taste me."
His wrist set up a rapid rhythm. He had to make this quick before Gray arrived. Luckily, the ice wizard still walked slowly. He had a few minutes.
"Gray," he whispered. "Idiot. Why can't you realize that it's you whom I like? How dense can you be? Or do you know and you just don't want me? I want you, though. I want you so much! I want your mouth, your hands, your ass. Nngh! All of you. I wanna claim all of you. Want you … so … unnngh… so much!"

Gray trudged through the hotel halls in annoyance. Half a year ago, carrying a basket, towel, and umbrella from the beach to the hotel would have been no problem. Now, his legs were aching, and his arms were losing grip as he kept almost falling to the side, his balance off because of the difference in gaits between his right foot and his left.

He kept muttering under his breath, "Stupid flame-brain. Damn idiotic horny dragon. Stupid ash-for-brains pervert."
He entered the hotel room ready to shout for Natsu to help him put things away, but a sound instantly silenced him.
"Ohh … nngh."
Gray dropped the supplies in shock and stared at the bathroom door, where he heard the shower running. "What … the…?"
"Ahh … mmmnnnh, ugh!"
His face began to turn red. "Is Natsu … doing that?"
Of course he was, and considering how erect he had been on the beach while asleep, it should not be a surprise. Gray knew the right thing to do was turn right around and step out for five minutes. Instead, he tiptoed over to the closed bathroom door. As he got closer, he heard the sound of slapping flesh.
"Oh God … oh God!" Natsu's moans got louder and hotter. His breath came out uncontrollably, spilling out words and whimpers. "Good. So good. Like that."
Gray gulped thickly. This was the first time he had heard Natsu masturbate. Maybe it was the first time he ever heard another man doing this. It was normal for guys, he knew that. Heaven knows how often he jerked off in the shower! Still, he stood by the door, enthralled to listen in, feeling a familiar tingle in his own groin.
The slapping sound suddenly stopped. Gray jolted, and his heart throbbed so hard in his chest, it felt like it might break his ribs. Natsu's sense of smell was second to none. Did he smell Gray out here? However, after some weary panting, the schlick schlick schlick sound started again.
"I … I … nnnngh … I … can't," he groaned. "Guh- … aaaaah … -ray!"
Rei? Was it Rei-chan he fantasized about, after saying he did not think that way about her? Was it just a random grunting moan? He tried to listen closer, but he never heard Natsu say a specific name.
"Mmmmnngh, more … ah … ahhh!"
Was it that other girl? Was it even a girl? Maybe it wasn't even a fantasy, and he was just vocal when he jerked off.
"Oh gaaaaawd, that's so good!"
Very vocal! Gray shuddered at how hot Natsu sounded.
'No! He doesn't sound hot. He's annoying and noisy and perverted.'
"Ugh … hah-hah … I'm … ooooooh!"
Gray reached down to find himself aroused, and the hardening length began to pulse to the tempo he heard. 'Don't harden, no!'
The touch of his hand sent a pleasurable rippling through him. Although the swimming trunks were dry, he felt a tiny bit of moisture seeping through right on the tip of his arousal. Gray closed his eyes tightly and stroked himself, his face flushed in shame as he covered his mouth with the back of his clenched hand to not let any moans escape.
"Oh, so good!" Natsu shuddered sensually. "Fu- … ugh! Unnh!"
Gray reached down inside of his trunks and felt the arousal with his bare hand. His teeth gritted as he stroked down hard. The rosy tip of his cockhead peeked out through his fingers, leaking as the foreskin slid back.
"Oh … mmmmmnh, shit!"
Gray's mind blanked out. Right or wrong, he didn't care! He leaned against the door and pumped himself into his hand as he listened to the heavy breaths and the raining shower water. It felt so perverted, using his teammate's moans to get off. If Lucy, Wendy, or Erza came back from shopping just then…
"Almost … almost…"
Part of him liked that nervous thrill. He had always privately liked the idea of someone else possibly watching, just a little of the exhibitionist kink that Natsu so often accused him of having. Doing this here, with Natsu on the other side of the door, and standing right there in the hotel room where someone entering would see him right away … it was erotically dangerous.
"Ah … nnngh … gaaaah!"
"Natsu," Gray whispered. "Noisy bastard."
Gray's breath deepened and started to feel hotter as Natsu's echoing moans filled his ears. The wetness of pre-cum slicked down his shaft. He could imagine hot, rough hands on him…
Suddenly, he realized that Natsu's moans had stopped. Gray panicked and raced away from the door. He ran to a sink to wash his messy hand, but then he realized the moisture on his swimming trunks was a much bigger—and highly noticeable—darkening spot streaking the fabric.
"Crap, no," he cringed. Natsu would smell arousal like that. Gray had seen the pervert smell sexy scents on lady's panties before, so he would definitely smell pre-cum. He yanked his trunks off, wiped himself dry, shoved them into the bottom of his suitcase, and pulled a navy blue hotel robe around himself.
Two minutes later, Natsu came out of the bathroom toweling his hair. When he saw Gray sitting in the main room, he froze in horror.
Gray tried to look over nonchalantly, but a gulp caught in his throat at the image before him; Natsu's lanky pink hair dripped on his shoulders, beads of water still spangled his toned chest, and his lower body was wrapped in only a small towel being held lightly by one hand. Gray did not really want to, but he could not help but have his eyes drift down to the limp bulge hidden by that towel.
"How long have you been here?" Natsu asked, trying to appear cool to hide the nervousness inside.
Gray looked away, showing a bored and frowning face to cover his own emotions. "Not long. Just got here. It got pretty lame outside so I decided to come back." His eyes shifted back over to Natsu. "And you? It's surprising to see you taking a shower. You tend to forget that sort of thing."
"I had sea water all over me."
"Yeah, I still need one. So, how long have you been in there?"
Natsu looked away, brow furrowed, and shrugged his shoulders. "Just a quick one. I really needed it."
There was an unusual tension in the air. Neither one was talking—or fighting! There was none of the usual name-calling, while each panicked in his own mind.
'SHIT!' Natsu cried out in his head. 'I didn't expect him to be here! Calm down. Hopefully, he didn't hear anything since he just arrived. Damn, why did he have to surprise me like that? Just hold it together.'
'Damn!' Gray sneered, holding back his physical discomfort. 'I'm still hard. Thank God the robe is loose. If he notices, he'll know I've been eavesdropping. How embarrassing would that be! I need to get out of here, but I told him I just arrived. Gotta get away. Damn, my cock hurts!'
"Well?" Gray suddenly snapped, which made Natsu jump out of his panicking mind. "Are you going to stand there all night? Go wear something! It's an eyesore to see you half naked."
Natsu shouted back, "Oh yeah? Well, you strip all the time, you bastard! That's what I feel like telling you every time you take off your pants! At least, I'm concealing mine!" he shouted, pointing to his crotch.
Okay, he had a good point there.
Natsu did not even wait for a counterattack. He walked to the closet to look for his clothes. He let his towel fall and finished scrubbing the head towel through his hair. Gray stared at the toned back and how perfect Natsu's butt looked, freshly clean and gleaming, taut with muscles but pale since that part of his body was always covered.
"Man, the girls totally took over the closet," Natsu whispered under his breath. "Why do girls even need to wear so many clothes? Damn, where did they put mine? Did they leave them in the suitcase?" He bent over to search for something to wear.
Gray felt another shivering pulse from his cock down to his toes at seeing Natsu's ass sticking out, and he remembered those hot moans. If—and this was a very big "IF," he told himself, but just for the sake of assumption—if Natsu was gay, and if it was Gray who he actually liked, would Gray want to touch that ass? Or would he want Natsu's hot hands to touch him? How would Natsu react if Gray slipped a little of his ice right up that firm, hot ass? How loud would he moan then?
'Oh my God, why am I even thinking about that? He's a guy, and my teammate, and … and he's NATSU! And I'm not gay. I've never thought about guys that way. Why the hell am I even imagining it?'
He quickly walked to the bathroom and loudly declared, "I'm taking a shower."
Natsu, busy lazily searching for his pants, muttered, "Why do I care, idiot?"
The bathroom door slammed, and Natsu glanced at it with caution. When finally he heard the shower turn on, he collapsed to the ground and covered his flushed face.
"Don't think about him. Don't! Dammit, it should be out of my system now. Don't think about him being in there. You can't jump in there with him. You can't give the excuse we had as kids, that you're just going to scrub his back. Just don't!"
Weary and emotionally pummeled, Natsu's whole body collapsed sideways and landed on top of Gray's suitcase.
"I've gotta stop this. He doesn't want me, and I just have to accept that. Dammit," he muttered in frustration.
Suddenly, Natsu sniffed. His nose pressed toward Gray's suitcase and inhaled again. He was about to yank it open to find that strange and incredibly delicious aroma, but he stopped his hands in midair.
"No! Stop it! You can't just go prying into his stuff. But seriously, what did he pack in there?" Natsu brought his face to the suitcase and breathed in slowly, deeply, savoring the scent. "Whatever it is, it smells seriously good."

If a person could rampage in a shower, Gray was doing precisely that. He felt horny, but knowing why he felt this way just made him angry. It was Natsu of all people!

'Shit, shit, shit! What am I thinking? I am totally not interested in guys! I shouldn't feel this way just because that damned flaming idiot was jerking off. It's wrong! Dammit!'
He cranked the water as hot as he could stand it. If for normal people, taking cold showers eased their arousal, for Gray Fullbuster the opposite was true, and the searing pain of a scalding shower burned away any pleasure his body might think it wanted to feel. He stood as the hot water steamed and made his skin redden like a lobster.
'Just as I'm getting over being injured, now I'm sick in the head! Maybe that's all it is. It's fatigue and too much sun. Or maybe Erza hit me on the head too hard and knocked something loose. Maybe I just need a night with a girl. Yeah, that must be it. I need to find a girlfriend when we get back to Magnolia. Maybe I'll call that waitress. I haven't had a good romp since that therapeutic spa trip back in January, and those two girls didn't even get me off. That's got to be it. Months unable to jerk off, then more months only able to on my own and with pain. Now that I'm better, my libido is freaking out and wants to fuck anything with a hole. I'm just desperate, so desperate I'd fantasize about absolutely anything. Hell, if I'm not careful, I might make a big mistake and fantasize about Erza, and then she'd slit my throat in the middle of the night. Just crazy hormones and desperate for a fuck. That's gotta be it. That's all this is. Why else would an idiot like Natsu make me feel … so … hot?'
He told himself this, but the hot water was not doing its job like it normally did. He was still erect, and as he gazed down, he remembered the sight of seeing Natsu eating a banana. Just how hot was that fiery mouth?
'No! Stop it! That's sick.'
Still, his hand went down.
'Think of someone else. Anyone else. Think about Lucy. I bet an heiress like her has delicate hands. Or Juvia. Yeah, she's annoying, but I bet she's really moist. Mmmm, yeah, and she would love to suck me off, with those big eyes of hers gazing up and asking if it's okay.'
He stroked himself while thinking about Juvia's face.
'Shit, I have seriously never jerked off to thinking about Juvia, but … well, she's kind of cute when she's not annoyingly obsessive … which is most of the time, but when she's serious, she's really hot. Maybe I should … no! If you sleep with a member of Fairy Tail, it has to be out of love, not just because you know they'd be willing. Otherwise, that's just crappy. Although … Cana's propositioned me to "scratch her itch" many times. She just wants meaningless sex, and if we both agree that's all it is … no, that's still shitty. But there's that pretty girl in Blue Pegasus. Hell, lots of pretty girls in Blue Pegasus!'
He tried to imagine women moaning, sucking him, their hands on him, their breasts bouncing … but slowly it all dissolved into Natsu. His moans had sounded so deep and strong, like they rumbled up from his soul. He knew the strength in those hands, and their heat, and that mouth … with how often flames shot through that mouth, would it be soft? Moist? Hot? So hot!
'Stop … stop thinking about him!'
Gray couldn't, though. He kept trying to picture a girl instead, but the hair always went back to pink. He tried to imagine another pink-haired girl: Meredy, Virgo, Aries … okay, sheep-girls were too weird. Maybe the girl who was all over Lyon years ago. Sherry? She was rather good-looking. She was engaged now, though. Fantasizing about someone's future bride was really crappy. Chelia was way too young. Meredy, though. Meredy grew to become quite a lady. Gray had wanted to tell her so the last time he saw her, but he was a hundred percent positive that Ultear would have skewered him. Still, it was harmless to use her as a fantasy while fapping. Those pretty eyes, that cute smile, the wavy pink hair…
It was no use. The narrow, fierce eyes were suddenly in his mind, glaring with a deviousness to them, as if Natsu knew precisely how he had wormed his way into Gray's mind.
"Dammit," he hissed as his body drew up and his hand went faster. His teeth clenched. The tingle in his scrotum buzzed like he was going to die of electrical shock, or fry to death in scalding flames.
Then those ardent words returned.
"She must mean a lot to you."
"Everything in the world."
Natsu had stared so piercingly at Gray as he said those words.
If it was him…
If Natsu wanted him…
That hot mouth, strong hands, those moans, that predatory gaze…
"No!"
Gray felt himself race right past the point of no return. Even if he stopped now…
Oh hell no, he wasn't going to stop! He no longer cared if it was that stupid Dragon Slayer's face. His wrist kept going in a blur as his mouth dropped open in heavy, sensual gasping.
He needed it. He wanted it. Even if it was Natsu haunting his fantasy, he could no longer stop.
For just a few seconds, he let the fantasy blossom. Suddenly, it was like Natsu was there, in the shower with him, on his knees, his mouth sucking Gray's cock, those same moans echoing as Natsu let the arousal pound the back of his throat. Those hot hands were all over him, grabbing, clawing, claiming! Then those predatory eyes gazed up, and it was not Natsu kneeling submissively and being force to take a dick into his mouth. It was a hungry animal, carnivorous and devious, starving for his prey, and Gray was about to feed him.
Gray covered his agape mouth just as the first powerful wave pulsed through him.
So good! Who cared how or who or why when it felt so damn good!
A second pulse, and his shoulders hunched forward, quivering as it felt like his soul would gush out of his body. Only the hand gagging his mouth held back a sharp moaning cry of intense pleasure.
A final pulse, shivering and burning and tingling. The world went silent, muffled by the rush of blood in his ears. There was only this feeling, this tingle, like a spark was jolting straight back from his balls to his prostate. Then all sank into warmth.
"Gray…"
Why would he hear that gentle voice at a time like this? Why those narrow green eyes?
"I will do anything—anything—to help you."
A tear dripped out. Why was it Natsu?
That erotic dream months ago returned to mind.
"I'm going to make you fall in love with me."
"You could banish me if you really wanted to. But … I don't think you want me to go, not really. I think you already like it."
"No," Gray seethed. "Like hell I'd let this get to me. Stupid dreams. Stupid idiot."
He heard in his mind Natsu's timid voice. "It'd definitely be … strange, right?"
Gray's fists clenched and shuddered. "It'd be strange … weird … wrong."
He told himself that, but as he looked down, he saw the stringy white splatters of semen swirling around the drain. Gray closed his eyes and let his head conk against the shower wall as the truth disturbed him to his core:
He had fantasized about Natsu while masturbating.
"… Fuck …"
Next Chapter: "Feel Nothing"
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Life After Near Death