'we're bros so i let u borrow my car to get laid, nOT TO LET IT BURST INTO FLAMES MY BABY' au. Idea came from a prompt blog on tumblr and I had an urge to write some brotp
Gray Fullbuster liked to think he had a lot going for him. He was a decent student, not that he was acing his mechanical engineering papers but he wasn't exactly living by the 'Cs get Degrees' motto most of his friends adopted. He had an incredible girlfriend, their relationship didn't start particularly well but Juvia had since become one of the greatest things in his life. His friends were bat shit crazy but he wouldn't change them for the world: he also would never tell them that, he wasn't so good at expressing his feelings. But there was one thing in his life he loved more than all of that, his car. It had long since been dubbed Gremlin for the number of times there was some mechanical issue with it, he swore things broke on that car that he didn't even know cars had. But, through it all Gremlin was his baby. He'd spent a damn side less on the car than he would have raising a child and in turn she had given him freedom, independence and some really good mechanic friends.
"Yo," Natsu saluted from the driveway, the very empty driveway.
"What have you done?" Gray groaned. After weeks of begging, Gray had agreed to let Natsu borrow Gremlin for a night only on the promise the car would be returned as soon as Natsu's blood alcohol limit was low enough. Of course it was very special circumstances, Natsu was going to the party his crush was going to be at. Lucy was lovely and as much as Gray, and even Juvia, tried to tell Natsu she wouldn't care about wealth or popularity Natsu just wouldn't listen. He had convinced himself in order to impress her he needed a car, and the only person he knew who had once was…ding ding ding, Gray.
"Is Juvia home?" Natsu asked, he really didn't want to say what he had to say without Juvia there to hold Gray back.
"She has lectures. What have you done Natsu?" Gray demanded, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at his best friend.
"Oh man." Natsu groaned, "OK Lucy told me to, something about band aids I don't really get it but, first of all I want to tell you, this was not my fault. I have no idea how it happened and I am sorry."
"Spit it out."
"Gremlin caught fire."
"Say that again a little louder, I don't think I caught that because if you said that Gremlin caught fire then I would have to punch you." Gray said. As he took two steps forward, Natsu took two back with his hands raised in surrender. This was sign enough that Gray had heard right, in any other instance Natsu would be in his face ready for a brawl.
"I really don't want to," Natsu muttered.
"What the fuck Natsu!?" Gray snapped, he threw his hands up and spun in place a couple of times taking deep 'calming' breaths. "I leant you my car so you could get laid not to let it burst into flames, my baby. You murdered my child! How could this happen?"
"I don't know! Things just, burst into flames around me sometimes." Natsu shrugged, glad he hadn't yet got a fist in his face…yet. "I wasn't even near her though I swear! I was inside, I was drinking, I was talking with Luce which was awesome by the way she's so cool I…OK yeah not the time. Suddenly some guy comes in talking about a car on fire in the parking lot, I go out there and it's Gremlin."
Gray was frozen in place as the truth finally sunk in. It felt like losing one of his friends. All he could think about was all of the memories, the road trips, the parties, the long make-out sessions with Juvia. He thought about the weeks of work he'd put into her, how much she'd taught him about engines and machinery and how it all worked. Gremlin was a massive part of his life, and now she was gone.
"Is she salvageable?" He asked finally.
"I don't know man you know I'm not good with cars," Natsu admitted. "Maybe? I can ask Gajeel to take a look and I'll pay if she can be fixed. The fire fighters there said something about jacked up wiring and I think the engine caught fire."
"That's pretty much a death sentence," Gray muttered. He turned and walked back to the front door of his flat and perched on the steps. Natsu took this as a sign he wasn't about to be pummelled and took the space next to him.
"I'm really sorry man," Natsu said after a moment of silence for Gremlin.
"She was a fantastic car," Gray sighed, "there won't be another like her."
"Remember when you first got her, she was a piece of junk. Hey don't look at me like that it's true. But you saw something in her and you fixed her up, got a new coat of paint, you and Gajeel were inseparable for a few months working on the engine. Finally you got her perfect, and she really was incredible, so the first thing we did was we went on a road trip. You, Gajeel, me and Erza drove to one of the National Parks."
"And the hut was full we had to sleep in the car," Gray interrupted, laughing slightly at the memory of the four of them crammed up in the small space. "You snore like a demon you know?"
"Pfft, I snore like a dragon."
"And then we went hiking the next day, I just wanted to drive on and find somewhere we could actually sleep but Erza was adamant we had to climb that god forsaken hill to see some lake."
"That's where you met Juvia!" Natsu exclaimed, the details coming back to him. "It was raining for a lot of the way up but then we got to the top and it just cleared. What did she say?"
"'You took my rain away' or something, I had no idea what she was talking about." Gray smiled thinking about his strange first encounter with his girlfriend. "She ended up joining us for the rest of the trip, she invited herself but Erza said it'd be rude to turn her away. Fuck, that was the best weekend of my life."
The pair leaned back on the upper step and looked at the empty spot in the driveway, both lost in memories about the remarkable car. Five years of adventures took place largely because of Gremlin. Natsu couldn't express to Gray how guilty he felt, this was really as emotional as the two ever got. Apologising again would just be weird.
"So, we good?" Natsu asked, holding out his fist.
"That depends, you got a light?" Gray said, fist-bumping him anyway. Couldn't leave a bro hanging, it was against the code.
"Bro…you are my light."
"Bro," Gray grabbed his chest, rolling his eyes at the same time. It was a stupid internet joke they'd found but for some reason it became their way of telling each other everything was all cool without getting sappy about it.
"You know," Gray continued, resting back on his elbows again, "you're lucky Juvia has some fashion thing tonight and I'll probably have to have photos taken with her or I would totally be beating your ass right now."
"Like hell numb nuts, I'd be totalling you."
"Like you totalled my car?"
"You're not going to let this go are you?"
"Never."