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.