Gray stormed out of the Guild with his pack slung over his shoulder, his clothes for the journey somehow, miraculously, still on.
I swear, that Natsu… Just you wait and see, you pink-haired bastard! He thought to himself as he recounted the events that had occurred that earlier morning.
Natsu had started off being obnoxious as usual, nothing new there. But then, right when they were about to duke it out, Natsu apologized! Natsu! Saying sorry! And to Gray!
That asshole wants to one-up me, how I don't know, but why did he not fight me then? Maybe he's sick…
Gray's anger was soon replaced with some concern, because after all, Natsu was his nakama.
Maybe I should check up on him. He thought. We had planned to go on this quest together anyways. We can fight when I get back to the guild.
Self-assured and looking forward to their no-doubt epic battle of fists, ice, and fire, he hurried back to the place they and many others called home.
"HEY NATSU!" Gray yelled. "Why don't you come out and fight me like a man! You chickened out earlier, so now it's payback time!"
He strutted around the packed tables with his clothes hazardously discarded in a corner with his travel bag.
Natsu shyly stepped out from the pillars in the back of the main room.
Okay, Gray thought. This is getting really weird. Since when does Natsu do anything quietly or shyly? Maybe he really is sick or something. So idiots really can catch colds…
"Hey Gray." Natsu said nervously, averting his eyes from Gray. "What's up?"
"Fight me!" Gray bellowed, throwing a punch at the same time.
Natsu stood unmoving as Gray's fist connected with his face, bracing himself for the impact that never fully came.
"Sorry." Gray mumbled, turning away.
Both of them were blushing now, with no particular reason for why they were, or why their hearts were both beating so fast.
"Gray," Natsu said before he fully walked away. "Can I still come with you on that quest we were talking about?"
"Sure, if you can keep up, you… dummy" Gray finished lamely.
As both of them walked out of the guild, side by side, with Gray the most self-conscious he'd ever been, and Natsu the quietest he'd ever been, Mira and Lucy gazed out at them from the bar.
"I knew it!" gloated Mira, when they were out of earshot. "I totally called it!"
"Damn you Mira…" cursed Lucy, who slapped down the remainder of her rent money on the bar. "Now I'm broke again…"