Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

When We Take Different Paths - Week 2 - MLM/Slash

Pairing: Natsu x Gray

Prompt: I Don't Care What People Think!

Burst Your Bubble

"Juvia, would like to know if Gray-Sama would like to have lunch with her today." Juvia asked Gray the second he came through the Guild's door. She wore her usual hopeful expression as she waited for his answer.

Gray blinked, his eyes still getting used to the sudden change in light. He thought about his options. If he told her yes, she would take it as a sign that he returned her increasingly aggressive affection. If he said no, she would begin to cry and possibly flood the guild hall again, causing everyone to be upset with him.

He chose the path of least resistance and answered, "I'm not hungry today, Juvia." He walked past her and looked for his team, hoping against hope that they had a job to go on. At least during jobs he had some peace. Even though Juvia often followed to keep an eye on him, she would never dare try anything with Natsu in the room and Erza nearby.

He spotted Lucy sitting at their table and hurried to take a seat across from his team mate. Juvia followed him and sat next to him as he attempted to talk to Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy. Need to go on a job to get rent?" He asked her, giving her a pleading look that screamed Help Me!

"Nope, rent is all set for this month. I was actually thinking of going shopping later." Lucy smiled cheerfully as she made an unspoken invitation.

He heard a hiss of Love Rival! coming from his left side and he guessed he couldn't blame Lucy for not wanting to get directly involved. Outside of Erza, Juvia had let all of his female friends know that Gray was hers and hers alone.

If he hadn't been so over the whole situation he might have found that amusing but a year of having no privacy, having to watch everything he ate or drank for any signs of tampering, being followed everywhere and accosted with random gifts and love offerings had taken the humor out of the situation real quick.

No matter how many times or ways he told Juvia he wasn't interested in her, it never seemed to get through to her. In fact, more often than not it spurred her on to ever more grandiose gestures as if she was determined to find the right combination of factors that would prove to him how much he really did love her.

But he didn't, he couldn't. Even if he was into women, which he decidedly was not, this type of affection was not something he wanted. It was not love by any standard definition, it was obsession.

He couldn't help but think that if Juvia really did care for him, she would listen. She would notice how uncomfortable she made him when she invaded his personal space or went off about her fantasies about him in his presence. How absolutely horrified he was in the knowledge that somewhere in Fairy Hills there was a shrine dedicated to him. She would understand how unhappy he was at how she treated his friends, who were his only family. In short, she would see him .

But no, instead he had somehow become a prize, an object that Juvia had convinced herself she had to have to be happy. Nothing more. And he hated it.

It had gotten so bad that he had taken to staying in random places just to be able to wake up without the water mage insinuating herself into his bed. It was a nightmare and he wanted it to stop. But he didn't know how to go about it.

Everything he had tried thus far had failed miserably. The other day Natsu had caught her following Gray into the men's restroom. Thankfully he had stopped her. Gray had noticed Natsu paying more attention to him after he had holed up at his house for a week.

He felt relief when Juvia suddenly scurried off and looked up to see Erza had joined them. He smiled at her gratefully.

"You know Gray, you should stop playing hard to get with her. Just take her out already." Erza said through a bite of strawberry cheesecake she had just gotten from Mirajane.

"What makes you think I'm playing hard to get?" Gray snapped, feeling as if Erza had just betrayed him. He'd thought she of all people had understood his situation.

"Well, why don't you just tell her how you feel then?" Erza suggested. She'd narrowed her eyes at his outburst but seemed to decide to let it go.

"Gee Erza, why didn't I think of that?" Gray said sarcastically. "I have told her, countless times." He ground his fists in frustration, "She does NOT listen to a word I say. The second she hears the word no she switches to one of her fantasies. And all of you act like you're all in on some big joke and you just keep encouraging her."

Erza and Lucy looked at each other and then at him. He could see the beginnings of guilt in their eyes as they looked at him but it wasn't enough to mute his anger.

"Have you once thought about me when you do that? What about what I want, huh? I don't even like women , for Mavis sakes! And after this whole mess, I doubt I ever will." Gray hissed, leaving an open mouthed Erza and Lucy as he quickly stood up and stormed out of the guild. On his way out he passed by an equally open mouthed Natsu who, although he had just arrived, had managed to hear the tail end of his outburst with his enhanced dragon senses.

o-o

Gray heard knocking on his door and immediately tensed up. Should he pretend he wasn't home? Sometimes that worked.

Who was he kidding? It never really stopped Juvia from coming in if she was determined to find him.

"Open up already, Ice Prick." Natsu yelled through the door, "I know you're in there. I can smell you."

Right, Natsu's enhanced senses, how he wished he had those. He felt like he had been under constant attack since he had left the guild two days ago. He shouldn't have been surprised that Juvia had heard his confession, she was always lurking somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, his unexpected declaration had only doubled her efforts to change his mind about her.

At first she had come by saying she just wanted to talk and when he wouldn't open the door she had left. He had breathed a sigh of relief thinking he was done with her for the day. Two hours later she had returned with a batch of her Juvi-buns, when he had refused those she had left the buns as well as a doll of herself on his front porch. She continued to show up every few hours with new presents or words to sway him but he had refused them all. The pile of items continued to grow throughout the day, much to his displeasure.

The last straw had come when he had woken up in the middle of the night to find her once again in his bed wearing an outfit that left nothing to the imagination. He had kicked her out even as she tried to kiss him and convince him that if he gave her a chance she could make him like women, or more to the point, her.

He had managed to barricade himself inside his apartment by sealing all of his windows from the inside with a thick coat of ice and closing all the curtains so that Juvia could not see inside, but the front door proved to be a problem. When his landlady had seen the large coating of ice on it she had threatened to evict him if he didn't remove it immediately. So he had, and that was the only weak spot, so he had been guarding it since the last time he had kicked her out, about thirty-six hours ago.

He shuffled to the door, unconsciously stripping as he welcomed the comfort that was Natsu. The one person he could depend on to side with him in this mess. He opened the door and quickly looked outside to make sure Juvia was not lurking nearby. He noticed the shrine of objects had become taller and shuddered.

'You look like shit." Natsu voiced with concern once he had entered. He took in his friend's frazzled state. "When was the last time you slept, and what the hell is that mountain of crap outside?"

Natsu took in the drawn curtains and opened them to let in some light into the dark apartment. He looked at the iced sealed windows and the chair that lined up with the door. "What happened here, man?"

"Juvia, it's all Juvia." Gray ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "She won't fucking leave me alone. I think I managed to make it worse on myself."

"Ok, all of this," Natsu waved around the apartment, "Is making me worry about you. This is not like you. When you have a problem you usually deal with it directly. You've let her trap you in your own apartment. This is not acceptable, I don't even feel right giving you crap about it."

"I've tried talking to her, I honestly can't think of any other way to tell her I'm not interested without being a jerk." Gray groaned with frustration.

"Well, there's your problem right there. You're sending her mixed messages." Natsu pointed out.

"What in the hell are you talking about, Flame-Brain? I tell her no, every day."

"Yeah, Princess. You do." Natsu agreed, "Every day, you tell her no nicely, in a way that shows that you care enough to not hurt her feelings. Mixed messages."

Gray's eyes opened wide in understanding."What am I supposed to do? I mean I wouldn't mind being friends with her. When she's not being insane she's not so bad."

"Dude, she's used to guys like Gajeel and the Element Four dicks, of course she would see you as some kind of Prince. Hell, Laxus probably seems like he has a personality in comparison."

"I hadn't thought about it that way."

"So here's what we're going to do." Natsu said while grabbing Gray's clothes off the floor. "You're going to take a shower, because you reek. Then we're going to get you out of here for a while and we're going to figure stuff out."

"Wait a minute, " Gray looked at Natsu suspiciously. "Did Erza put you up to this?

"Nope, I volunteered. We're all worried about you." Natsu said, "You haven't been back to the guild since, uh, you know."

"Oh,right." Gray replied uncomfortably. He could have hit himself, he'd been so focused on dealing with Juvia that he had forgotten that he had outed himself to his team. "Look about that..."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Gray." Natsu said seriously, "I know we fight all the time, but that's just for fun. Honestly you shouldn't care what people think. You should just be yourself."

"I don't care what people think." Gray looked at Natsu, letting his defenses down for a brief moment, "I care about what you think." Gray waited anxiously for his friend's response.

"I think that you're the same guy I've known since I joined the guild." Natsu shrugged, "Nothing's changed that, and you liking guys? Well... maybe I don't mind so much." He looked down at the floor and for the first time noticed that there was dirt in front of the door.

"Why is there dirt all over?" Natsu looked confused as he looked around to see what else he might have missed.

Gray chuckled. He wasn't exactly sure what Natsu had meant by his response but at least he knew he still had his best friend. "I figured if I couldn't stop her from coming in, I could at least make it uncomfortable for her."

Natsu looked at him and dissolved into hearty laughs. "Oh, man that is so passive aggressive, that's so you."

"How do you even know what that is?" Gray grumbled, "You've been using rather big words since you got here."

"Take enough jobs with Lucy and you learn some stuff." Natsu answered proudly, "She likes to talk about a lot different things, some of it can be kind of interesting. Just don't tell her I said that."

Gray felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought of Natsu taking jobs with Lucy but set it aside, Natsu was here with him now. No need to dwell on a relationship he wasn't even sure existed.

"Anyway, I wasn't joking, you stink. Go take a shower and if Juvia shows up, I'll set her on fire." Natsu joked, or at least Gray hoped so. He quickly got ready but could not find Natsu anywhere inside his apartment.

He opened the door and watched as Natsu moved the remainder of Juvia's offerings onto a rock covered area of his yard. To his surprise Natsu had tied a piece of cloth around a stick and handed it over to him.

"What is this for?"

"What do you think?" Natsu grinned at him as he lit the cloth with a flame from one of his fingers. "No more mixed messages, remember?"

Gray had to admit he liked the sound of that, and doing it with Natsu's fire? Well that was just a bonus. He paused for a minute, the need to not hurt Juvia still nagging at him, but Natsu was right. He needed to move forward and that was never going to happen until he truly made his feelings understood. And he did want to move forward. Natsu's reaction to him being gay gave him hope that maybe the Fire Dragon Slayer felt something for him too.

He touched the flames to the ridiculous Juvi-buns and Juvia doll and threw the stick into the middle of the pile. He stepped back and stood next to Natsu, both of them watching the fire rage on as it consumed all of the items that symbolized Juvia's supposed feelings for Gray. The flames channeled all the rage he felt for feeling trapped in this situation for so long.

He felt a hand grasp his and squeeze gently before letting go, and his heart, empty for so long began to fill with hope.

o-o

"I'm not so sure about this anymore, Natsu." Gray hedged as he watched Natsu clean up the dirt that he had placed in front of his door earlier.

The Fire Dragon Slayer held the bar of soap they had purchased after having lunch at a Ramen shop. Natsu had insisted they buy the one made with pepper and now Gray felt a little guilty.

"It won't hurt her, it will just teach her a lesson." Natsu reminded him, his grin uncontrollable at the thought of pulling a prank of this magnitude."She really shouldn't be sneaking into your house like that. Don't forget the oil."

"You do realize how hypocritical that sounds coming from you?" Gray had taken some cooking oil from the kitchen and started to coat the floor leading to his bedroom with it.

"What?" Natsu looked at him in confusion until he realized what Gray was referring to. "Oh, you mean Lucy? If she didn't want me there, she would lock her window. And if her window was locked, I would never force my way in. That's not the way friends act with each other."

"Huh, maybe you should have held off on the oil until after I melted the soap." Natsu shrugged, "Oh, well!" Natsu said cheerfully as he threw the soap at the door and followed it with a burst of flame to melt the soap and get it all over the floor in front of the door.

"Fuck, open a window!" Natsu howled in pain and began to rub at his eyes

"What happened?" Gray called out from his bedroom.

"It burns!" Natsu yelled.

"You moron!" Gray rushed over to grab Natsu and maneuver him to the kitchen sink so he could try to rinse his eyes, while managing to avoid the worst of the oil that he had drizzled over the floor. He picked him up and laid him on top of the kitchen counter placing his head in the sink.

"Damn, your eyes are really red!" Gray said worriedly as he turned on the water faucet. "You forgot about the pepper in the soap didn't you?"

"Well no, I didn't exactly forget." Natsu said as his eyes continued to tear up. "I just didn't think this would happen. Ow, watch what you're doing, asshole. That hurts!"

"Stop being such a damn baby and let me rinse your eyes!" Gray yelled in frustration as Natsu once again covered his eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake, this is ridiculous."

He grabbed Natsu's hands away from his face and held them up above his body.

Ice Make Restraints

In a second he felt his ice cover Natsu's hands and freeze them to the wall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Natsu roared his displeasure at being restrained.

"This." Gray said as was finally able to gently rinse Natsu's eyes with water. "Now look to the side and come back so we can do that again."

Natsu grumbled at first but did as he was told. He quieted down.

"Better?" Gray smirked knowingly.

"Shut up." Natsu said but there was not much heat behind it . "Release me."

"I don't know, I kind of like you like this." Gray grinned. When Natsu began to struggle he immediately dispelled the ice. "Relax, I was just messing with you."

"Well, don't." Natsu looked away but Gray thought he might have seen more red than just around his eyes. Enough to make him feel bold. They'd had a really good time at the Ramen shop, and coming up with this ridiculous plan. It had felt intimate, almost like a date.

"Can I ask you something?" Gray looked for a towel that Natsu could use to dry his face.

"What?"

"Earlier you said that you didn't mind me being gay, why is that?"

Natsu shrugged his shoulders and looked Gray in the eyes. "Because then maybe you wouldn't think less of me when you found out I was the same."

"You are?" Gray asked, not daring to believe that Natsu wasn't messing with him.

Natsu nodded, even as he smiled shyly. "For a long time, I'd kind of hoped that you were too."

"So helping me with Juvia?"

"I may have had ulterior motives." Natsu grinned sheepishly.

Gray looked at the man in front of him, pink hair still damp, green eyes shining in the light. He felt his own face becoming flushed as he asked the question he'd been wondering about all day and hoped that the answer was what he wanted to hear. "Do you like me?"

"Well, yeah." Natsu said, "I thought I made that obvious. I just didn't want to do anything about it until this whole Juvia thing was resolved."

Gray felt motivation pour through him. Natsu liked him back, and all he had to do to get what he wanted was get rid of Juvia's obsession with him once and for all. He could do this.

"Okay." Gray said. "We'll do this and once it's over, can I take you out on a date?"

"Yeah okay, I'd like that." Natsu's voice got huskier as he answered. They'd inadvertently begun to move closer to each other, the tension between them undeniable, it always had been.

Gray reached out first, his hand caressing Natsu's cheek with his thumb. Natsu looked up at him, a question in his eyes. Gray nodded and soon their lips met. Eyes closed, hands touching faces, exploring spaces they had only hit before, then moving on to hair. Fingers pulled a little, testing boundaries as the kiss became less awkward and more needy.

"Gwassammaa?"

They pulled apart to try to make sense of the noise they had heard. That's when they saw Juvia, and she was quite the sight.

Bubbles came out of what seemed like her face, but it was hard to tell because the soap was making it hard for her to keep her face together, although the rest of her body seemed to have come through it okay.. At the same time she looked uncomfortable, and Gray imagined that must have something to do with the pepper oil in the soap.

She tried to speak once again but nothing she said was intelligible, all they could do was look with fascination at the bubbles that came out of her mouth, like some deranged bubble machine.

Juvia got frustrated when her words could not be heard so she rushed at them trying to express her displeasure at what she had just seen. As she moved towards them, Gray suddenly remembered the oil. He tried to stop her, waving her off but it only made her more determined to get to him.

She fell and slid across the floor, more bubbles escaping her as she tried to squeal.

Natsu went over to Juvia and offered her his hand to pull her up. She glared at him but let him help.

She gurgled something that sounded sort of like Love Rival, the bubbles coming out in a frenzy and Gray could tell that Natsu was trying his hardest not to laugh.

He walked over to Juvia and led her outside.

"I know you can't talk right now, so I want you to listen."

Juvia began to protest and he stopped her.

"Listen." He said more forcefully. "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you've already heard what I am. There is no us, there never will be an us. I would really appreciate, no, I demand that you respect that. No more gifts, no more Juvi-buns, no more throwing yourself at me. I am done. "

"I'm sure there's someone out there for you, but it's not me." Gray gestured between them. "Right now, we're friends and I'd like to keep it that way but I'm starting something with Natsu and I need you to understand something. If I hear of you coming after him, I will not hesitate to come after you with everything I have."

Juvia was waving her arms all over the place, trying to stop him but he was having none of it.

"I can see by the look on your face, that you don't really like the taste that's in your mouth right now." Gray continued, "Remember it Juvia, cause it will be waiting for you anytime you try to sneak into my place again. Are we clear?"

Juvia nodded miserably,

"I mean it Juvia, I am done. Now please go."

Juvia ran off leaving a trail of bubbles behind her as she cried.

"Wow." Natsu said, admiringly as he tried not to laugh. "I don't mean to burst your bubble? I didn't think you had it in you."

Gray scoffed, "I guess I just needed the right motivation."

"Seriously, are you ok?" Natsu looked at him with concern.

"Yeah, her not being able to talk actually made it a lot easier. Do you think it will wear off soon?"

Natsu shrugged his shoulders, not really concerned. "Considering what she put you through I hope it lasts for a while. So, where are you taking me?"

Gray looked at him with a smile, "We could just stay in..."

"Hell no, it stinks of oil and soap in there. I'm not coming back until you clean up. Really, who lives like that?" Natsu grinned mischievously.

"Jerk"

"But you love me."

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself, Flame-Breath."

They could be heard bickering as they walked off towards the center of town, holding hands and headed on the first of many dates.

A/N: To MiyuTanemura and Zane_Takeshi for humoring me and helping me come up with this, which began as a simple question what does detergent to to water?

I switched to soap cause I didn't want Juvia to be hurt in the prank. Natsu probably got hurt more. ;)