Flowers
Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail
Summary: Gray tries to be a bit more romantic toward Natsu. Prequel to Poetry.
Flowers (Rated T)
"This is so stupid," Gray mumbled under his breath. He was currently on his hands and knees, searching through the flora in the woods of Magnolia. "What on earth am I supposed to be looking for?"
Picking flowers! Whose stupid idea was this, anyway? Oh, yeah. That's right. It was his. When Gray discovered that Natsu despised extravagant gifts and preferred the more thoughtful kind, he'd opted to pick flowers for the fire mage.
But there was only one little problem with that. He didn't know what he was looking for!
Gray growled as he eyed a green…something.
"That's a weed," Happy said from behind him, startling the ice mage.
"But it has a flower," Gray argued. "And where did you come from?"
Happy sighed. "Just because it has a flower doesn't mean it's not a weed," he said before wandering off.
Gray watched as the Exceed walked away, stating how he wanted a fish. The ice mage's eyes glanced over the land once more. He sighed. This was going to take forever.
"Yes!" Gray proclaimed, holding up his—questionable—bouquet like a trophy. "Finally, finally I can show Natsu—what are you looking at?" he shouted at the children who'd stopped playing to stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the ice mage.
The kids just shrugged their shoulders as they recovered themselves and went back to playing.
Glaring daggers at the children, Gray made his way back to his apartment so that he could find Natsu, only to be intercepted by Lucy.
"What do you want?" Gray groaned as he shoved his bouquet into the confines of his coat. He couldn't have anyone from Fairy Tail seeing him all sappy and whatnot.
"Erza wants us to go on a mission tomorrow. Be at Magnolia Station by nine."
Gray just nodded and ran past her.
"It's about time," Gray muttered breathlessly. It took him fifteen minutes—fifteen minutes—to get to his apartment. Guild mates just kept popping up out of nowhere telling him stuff he could care less about. What the heck were they? Ninjas?
Making for his bedroom door, he opened it and peeked inside. "Natsu?"
"Yeah, Gray?" Natsu answered. He stepped out of the bathroom in fresh clothes, toweling his hair dry. "I just finished taking a shower. It was so nice. Go ahead and clean up before dinner."
"Um," Gray began, "here."
Natsu almost sprang back when he felt something thrust into his hands from his lover's coat. He looked at the bundle in his hands and felt tears spring to his eyes when he realized what it was.
Oh, no! Was Natsu crying? His gift wasn't that bad, was it? Gray started growing anxious. "Natsu, I can expl—!"
"They're great!" Natsu exclaimed, interrupting him. "Thank you, Gray." He leaned up and placed a light kiss on Gray's lips. "I'll be right back. I'm going to put these in a vase."
Gray just stood there in shock. He'd just given Natsu a crumpled bouquet that looked half dead and he loved it? If he'd known that these little, sappy things made Natsu happy, he'd have done them a lot sooner.
I wonder if he'd like it if I wrote him a poem or a song, Gray thought to himself, a serious look crossing his features.
Natsu noticed. It looked like Gray was learning; he was finally grasping the art of romance.
End