"A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity."
― Germaine Greer

After leaving Rei-chan's office, Gray took a stroll through Magnolia. He loved that the weather was finally cooling off. Orange, red, and yellow burst through the trees, a wind made the fallen leaves skip across the cobbled roads, and around him people were wearing coats, gawking at him for not wear a shirt at all—

Wait, where did his shirt go? Dammit! And after he had been so careful not to strip in front of Rei-chan! Oh well, he would just buy another one later.

He arrived at the guild to find it relatively quiet. The Harvest Festival and Fantasia parade were just a week away, so people were off working on their parade floats or helping with the preparations around town. Gray began to walk to the mission board, but Natsu was already there glancing at the fliers with one sheet crunched in his hand. He turned suddenly as Gray neared and burst out a summery grin.

"Hey, ice princess! I was thinking we should do a mission, just the two of us."

Gray paused. Did Rei-chan...? No. No way. It had to be pure coincidence. Still, it was eerie. His curiosity was tempered only by realizing the awkwardness that would ensue if he confessed that he had gone to a stripper for love advice.

"A mission, huh?" Gray said, trying to sound casual. "Got any good ones?"

"Well, there's this one," he said, handing over the flier.

Gray glanced over it. The pay was average, the job itself sounded only mildly challenging, but Gray realized it was not really close to Magnolia. Although by train they could be at the location in hours, Gray knew Natsu avoided transportation if at all possible. It would take them two days to walk there.

Two days there, two days to talk to the client and do the mission, two days back. They could definitely make it in time for Fantasia.

"Looks good," he decided. "How about we skip the train and walk there?"

"Yeah! That's what I was thinking," Natsu said exuberantly. "And I was thinking, maybe ... maybe we could ... well..."

"We could bring a tent and go camping," Gray blurted out.

Natsu froze and looked at him in astonishment. That was exactly what he was about to say. "Wow, I think we've been dating for so long, we can finish each other's sentences." His face flushed as he laughed. "Camping. That's what I was thinking, too. It'd be really fun, just the two of us. We only really need one tent and ... and we could share it and ... and ... it'd be nice, sleeping side by side," he whispered, remembering how sweet it was to fall asleep holding Gray's hand and feeling his body right next to him.

Gray reached forward and stroked his fingers over Natsu's arm. "Yeah, it would be," he said softly. "Happy won't mind?"

"Actually, he's been suggesting something like this for weeks. Happy is a real sucker for romantic stuff."

Gray laughed, wondering just how much Happy was urging Natsu on. It was nice to know the Exceed who was like Natsu's own son was rooting for them.

Natsu smiled to himself as he thought about it. He had dropped the meat off at home and rushed to the guild to find a mission for the two of them. To think that Gray was wanting the same thing!

It must be fate.

"We could share a sleeping bag too, if you want," Natsu whispered bashfully.

He wanted Gray to be pressed against him all night, with blankets wrapping them together like a fire-and-ice burrito. Who held whom, he didn't care, just so long as he could feel those cold toes playing on his feet and have Gray's body right against him.

"That ... that sounds ... really nice," Gray stuttered as he fought the desire to grab Natsu right here in the middle of the guild and kiss him.

Sharing a sleeping bag! That was more than just sleeping in the same space. They would be pressed together, arms wrapped around each other, legs tangling, breaths mingling. Something good was sure to happen.

How much did he want, though?

He thought about what Rei-chan said. Maybe you need to make a moment that's just for you, a moment of your choosing. Decide ahead of time that you won't pull away.

He decided right there, he would let this camping trip be that moment. If Natsu wanted to take their relationship to the next level, he would allow it. He would not yank away and let his hesitations get between them.

"I want this to be special," Gray muttered.

Natsu looked up in surprise, and a pink blush spread across his face. "Yeah, me too."

He saw those yearning, wintry eyes staring directly at his lips. Gray's face showed that he wished they were not in public. Cold fingers grazed over Natsu's arm, caressing, tickling a little, wanting to feel more but struggling to stay socially appropriate. Natsu covered Gray's hand with his own, feeling the callused knuckles, pressing the chilly fingers tighter around him, and stroking up to his wrist. His eyes looked ravenous, and Gray wanted to be devoured.

"Gray," Mira called out.

They both jolted and pulled away, realizing belatedly that they had been standing very close to one another.

The white-haired bartender smiled amiably. "I need a cookbook with a recipe for kenchinjiru. Can you fetch it from the library?"

"Uh, sure," he said, wondering why she called upon him and not Lucy, Levy, Freed, or one of the others who frequented the guild library more often.

Then Natsu tapped his elbow and said in a low voice, "I'll help you look."

Gray silently caught his breath, and he glanced back quickly to Mira. She was smiling a little too pleasantly. That nosy woman must have seen their longing looks and was setting this up. He didn't know whether to be suspicious or thankful.

Gray left, and Natsu followed a few steps behind. Gray's heart was already pounding when he turned into the quiet library. Levy was inside seated at a desk, focused on a book with her reading glasses on and headphones playing an audiobook lacrima so she could read one book while listening to another. Gray seriously had no clue how she managed to do that.

Natsu walked in next and saw they were not completely alone. "Hey," he said to Levy, but she did not look up. The headphones deafened her, and her focus was solely on her project. "Gajeel wants to bang you," he tried again, but Levy still had not realized anyone even entered. "Yep, she can't hear a thing," Natsu chuckled. Then he looked up to Gray with a smirk. "Let's go find that book."

He walked toward the towering bookshelves, and Gray stared at his ass as he strode off. Finally, he followed, looking again at Levy, but she was focused at a level Gray could never achieve while studying.

As soon as they were in the shadows of old books, Gray grabbed Natsu, spun him around, and kissed him voraciously. They both let out soft grunts as the passion they had been bottling down finally exploded, making them crave one another without heed to where they were.

Natsu wrapped his arms around Gray, gliding across his bare back and clutching at the taut muscles. Before, he had always been mildly annoyed when Gray walked around shirtless; now it was torture. He always wanted to touch this body. Keeping his hands off of Gray was a constant struggle, so now he indulged.

Gray grabbed Natsu's face, kissed him deeply, and tasted that gross green drink Mira sometimes made. Normally, Gray avoided kissing in public. He had been called an exhibitionist most of his life, so he did not want to add to those accusation. However, with Natsu, he could no longer control himself. This was not the first time they made out in public, and Gray always felt a thrill at doing it. Maybe he was an exhibitionist after all.

With an avaricious growl, Gray pressed Natsu up against a bookshelf and practically attacked him with his mouth. Natsu returned by biting Gray's lip so hard, a drop of blood swelled out. He licked at the blood, tasted it, and grinned predatorily.

Natsu had been thinking so much about the Ice-Make wizard, about what he wanted, ways to seduce him, worries about how far they should go, constantly thinking about him until he could hardly focus on anything else. His dreams were filled with black hair and prurient pleasure. Sometimes his dreams were nothing more than scenes of being on a date, but often at least one dream was wilder, carnal, making him wake up in a sweat ... or worse.

After thinking about Gray so constantly, it was impossible not to want him now that he was here.

Gray loved those hot hands sliding all over his skin and how Natsu tended to claw a bit whenever Gray brushed up against his groin. He wanted more! He wanted to hear Natsu enjoying it. Gray pressed him tighter against the bookshelf and gave a slow, rocking thrust of his hips.

"Ahhn!" Natsu moaned, throwing his head back in pleasure. When Gray frotted against him like that, he almost lost control. It was so good, not just smelling Gray's arousal, but feeling it, having his cock stroked by Gray's own prick. He lost all will to do anything besides standing there and taking pleasure in his ice prince.

Gray quickly dipped down and licked the exposed throat right above the scarf. Then his nose burrowed down to where Natsu's neck was hidden by the white fabric. Down where no one could see, he latched on and sucked hard.

Natsu trembled and struggled to hold back a shivering moan. His hands instantly dropped down to Gray's ass and grabbed him there, where he could claw at the jeans and not worry about marking up his flesh. His whole body shook as he thought about it.

Gray was marking him as his mate!

"Gray," he moaned.

He wanted more. He wanted everything. To take him. To be taken. To pleasure Gray. To be pleasured by him. Here, right here, amidst these books filled with the knowledge of mankind, books with words he did not know, just like how he did not know the words to say to his lover. He wished he was as smart as the people who wrote these books so he could say with words all the things he felt in his heart.

Gray pulled back and smirked at the blood-speckled oval on Natsu's neck. He was normally not the covetous sort who wanted to mark his partner, but with Natsu ... why was it so different? Why did he want to know that Natsu would be feeling that aching mark for the next couple of days?

He cupped the hot, flushed cheeks in his hands and smiled down at Natsu. "I can't wait to sleep under the stars with you," he whispered in a husky voice.

Natsu's eyes widened in amazement. "You really wanna?"

Gray gave him a soft kiss. "Definitely. I swear it's like you can read my mind. I came here to find a mission for us so we could go camping together."

Natsu grinned playfully. "Beat ya to it!"

Gray chuckled and kissed his forehead. "You win this time, bastard."

They knew they should probably stop there, but neither moved away. Gray stayed in front of Natsu, gazing at him with so many things he wanted to express yet did not know how to say it. Natsu still had his hands on Gray's ass, not willing to let him go yet.

"Gray?" he whispered, staring at the soft lips. "I want more."

Feeling light and hazy, Gray leaned in again. This time, their kiss lingered, lips barely moved, and their hands ventured slowly as they traced the contours of one another's bodies. This sort of kiss also made Gray's heart race, and he felt Natsu's body heating up. It was gentle, sweet, filled with love rather than lust.

Natsu loved when Gray's fingers combed through his hair, then stroked down and cupped his face. It was such an affectionate gesture, filled with not just passion, but adoration.

They finally pulled back and gazed tenderly at one another. Natsu's eyes teared up, knowing what he felt, but not knowing the words that went along with it. Both could only gaze in silence as their eyes said everything. Declarations of love were all made without a single word being spoken. They rarely needed words.

Then Natsu hugged Gray and leaned his ear against his chest. His eyes closed as he heard the strong heartbeat. That heart had stopped once, and Natsu had jolted it back to life. Now his eyes teared up as he squeezed Gray, so happy he was alive, so relieved that Gray survived all of those dangerous surgeries, that he had not thrown himself into the river when things were bad, that he had regained the use of his leg, and here he was, standing, smiling, his heart thumping rapidly with love.

"I'm ... so happy," he whispered, overwhelmed and hiding his face down into Gray's chest.

Gray held him with ardent devotion. "Me too," he whispered. He kissed the top of Natsu's hair. "I'm glad you didn't give up on me."

Natsu squeezed tighter and sniffled. "Never! I'm staying with you, even if it annoys you."

Gray chuckled and ruffled his hair. Then he glanced around at the shelves. At least they had ended up in the right section of the library. "What recipe were we supposed to find?"

Natsu blinked in confusion. "Recipe?"

"Mira sent us back here to find a recipe book. Weren't you paying attention?"

"No," he said honestly. "She was asking you, so I wasn't listening."

"Sheesh! I'll just grab something." He began to reach for a random cookbook.

Natsu suddenly grabbed Gray's wrist, holding him still. He smiled mischievously and pulled Gray's ass closer to him. "It can wait a little longer."

Gray chuckled, but he could not say no. Their faces drew close again, their lips met, and they kissed quietly, slowly, losing themselves in the pleasure of one another's company.

Natsu smiled through his kisses, so glad to have Gray with him like this.

Was this their happily ever after?

He sure hoped so.