Note: Please don't forget to use your suspension of disbelief.
Much obliged. *bows*
The Shop
Magnolia-City was in full swing.
The suns were shining bright on the sky and making the temperature rise. The market was, as usual, a busy place, with all kinds of smells, colours, noises and a lot of shouting going on.
Gray was feeling tired. His last mission had been tiring and now he'd listened to his partner and was being dragged somewhere by said partner. Lucy didn't seem to be minimally tired, she was talking excitedly about one thing or the other – Gray was too tired to follow her excited chatter.
Gray noticed absently that they were in the restaurant area, the pungent odours being all that much more noticeable, and that the crowd seemed to have thinned down a bit. There was less noise too. Gray finally started paying attention to where he was being dragged.
"Come on. Don't be so stubborn. I know that you will love this place. Besides, I arranged a meeting with Erza and Levy there. And we're late already!" The blonde agent said in a slightly threatening tone. The glare that accompanied it made Gray want to roll his eyes.
"And why am I being dragged here? I didn't arrange a meeting." Gray hunched his shoulders slightly.
He got a slap in the back of his head for his answer.
"The food is really great." Lucy said, heading to the door. "Come on. Now." The last word was said in a threatening tone. And that was when Gray gave up.
"Fine." He hissed. "Let's go see that food. I just want to get the food and then go back to the barracks. Today's mission killed me."
"It didn't kill you but you're trying me to…" Lucy grumbled, her right hand twitching slightly, a sign that she wanted to grab her keys.
Things would get messy if she grabbed the keys so Gray pushed the sliding wooden door open – a passing thought of 'should this be here?' going through his mind – before he was met with the warmth and scent from… a long time ago. It was very familiar and momentarily took Gray back, back to a different time.
"Hey Lucy!" a voice emerged from inside.
There was a sudden wave of noises and a grumble followed by a greeting.
"Wel…co…me…" The cheerful tone of Gray's interlocutor stuttered into a silence. And then Gray took in who that person was.
"You?" he said, surprised.
"What are you doing here?" the other all but shouted.
"Natsu, shut up and welcome the new clients in." Came a gruff voice from behind the counter.
"Fine, fine." He said. "Welcome to our shop, how can I help you?" The last bit was said between clenched teeth.
"I'll go meet the girls now," Lucy suddenly interjected. "See you later." She turned around with a wave over her shoulder and walked away. Leaving Gray standing by the entrance and facing the other.
"I would like a seat at the counter, thanks." Gray muttered and was lead to his seat. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked, curiosity brimming in his eyes.
Natsu – the Natsu who had been his rival at the space academy! – blushed a little under the scrutiny but didn't say a word, he hurried to the back of the restaurant, ignoring Gray.
"He's still this rude…" Gray said under his breath before one of the workers came in to take his order. Gray inwardly shrugged, glancing at the menu before going to the natural (and oh so missed) choice, ramen.
When the steaming bowl was placed in front of him by a begrudging Natsu, Gray hurried and caught the other's wrist before he could escape once again. That got him a weird noise in response. Gray took a deep breath, the scent coming from the food making him go a little homesick. With his free hand he dug in, still holding onto Natsu's wrist.
"Come on, asshole. Let me go. You know that I can't cause a fight here or my boss will kick my ass." Natsu hissed, glaring at Gray, trying to pull his hand free.
Gray slurped away, the noodles being perfectly cooked and the broth so tasty that he was thinking about ordering another bowl.
"What are you doing here?" Gray asked again.
"Fine. Let go. And I'll tell you about it in my break, now. Let. Go." He said between clenched teeth.
"Fine." Gray finally relented, releasing his wrist. "I'll be waiting here, then." Gray said with a nod and an assessing look.
He saw Natsu glaring before turning and hurrying away again.
Gray grabbed his visophone and tapped on it, going to the list of agents from the Service, to check Natsu's status. He scrolled down Natsu's page and ended up looking, wide-eyed, at the last word.
Status: Suspended
'What?' Gray looked flabbergasted at the screen. 'That guy was a menace sometimes but what may he have done to deserve a suspension?'
A hand landed on his shoulder. Gray looked up.
"Hey, I just got a call from Mira. I need to get back to Central. Are you coming now?" Lucy asked.
"Ah, no. I have something to do here." Gray answered as he turned towards the girls, fingers tapping distractedly at the screen and closing the page.
"I thought so…" Lucy said with a teasing wink.
"What do you…?" Gray started saying but then letting out a sigh. "Hey girls." He greeted Erza and Levy and was greeted in return. "I'll meet you later. 'kay?"
"No problem." Lucy nodded. "I'll see you later then."
And the girls left.
Gray grabbed his card and went to pay. The ramen didn't cost as many credits as he thought it would, it was of pretty good quality after all, and he managed to catch Natsu's eye and so they were off.
Natsu caught Gray by the arm and they left for the busy streets of Magnolia-City.
After walking in silence through the bustling streets, skirting around the various merchants and tricksters, they ended on a smallish belvedere and sat. Silence hanging heavily between them.
"Out with it." Gray said, finally.
"Sheesh. You're still a huge pain." Natsu huffed as he slouched in his seat.
"Of course. But I'm curious. How did you end up suspended? Last time I heard it, you were doing it perfectly fine in the Dragon squadron." Gray leaned forward, expectantly.
"Heh. So you heard of me, huh?" Natsu asked with a grin, the sudden flash of heat coming from him. Gray relaxed slightly after, it was finally normal behavior.
"How would I not? Flame breaths such as yours bombing missions isn't hard to miss." Gray said without bite but his words were taken badly. Natsu's suddenly stiff posture said that glaringly.
"Ah, it's like that." Natsu said, lips twisting downwards.
"Wait. No. I mean…" Gray tried to pull back his words.
"No, no. Fine. During the last mission I kind of went a bit too much and the damage was too big so I got suspended. The old man gave me a job at that shop so that I could earn some credits while I wait. And now my break's over. So bye, ice brain. Don't appear in front of me ever again." Natsu all but shouted, turned on his heel and stormed off.
It was Gray's turn to slouch in his seat.
"Shit." He muttered as he ran a hand down his face. "That went smoothly…" came out before a sigh.
He started heading towards the Central, running over the conversation.
'At least now I know where he works, for the moment. Besides, that ramen was damn amazing. Now that I found it, I'll have to get back.'
A/N: Small drabble I'd been thinking about writing for a while. There are some things that came from some feels I got while reading Valérian and Laureline a while ago. So... yeah... this was the result. ^^'
Hope it was a good read.
Unbetaed.
Feedback would be nice.