Gray's Home
Gray walked into Fairy Tail, looking around with a content sigh.
He had just gotten back from a week long school trip with the arts department. It hadn't been as fun as he thought it was, and the cost he had to pay made him regret signing up to go on the trip. But now he was back in Magnolia and at Fairy Tail. Looking around the reception area and, despite it not having much but the essentials, and a few pictures drawn by the kids, a small smile formed on his lips, he missed this place.
Walking over to a door behind the receptionist desk marked "Makarov's Office", Gray knocked lightly. After a few minutes the door opened and Gray greeted his boss with a grin. "I'm back."
Makarov smiled brightly in response, "Welcome back, Gray." He walked out of the way, allowing Gray entrance into his office. Gray bowed his head slightly and set his backpack down by the door before entering, hearing Makarov shut the door behind him before walking over to the desk and leaping upon it as if he was younger than he actually is.
"You shouldn't do that old man. You know you're eighty-eight right?" Gray smirked slightly, the teasing tone in his voice unmistakable. Gray knew that despite Makarov's age, he was as fit as and had the energy of a man over half his age.
Makarov let out a hearty chuckle in response, sitting cross legged on his desk while Gray sat across from him in a seat. "So how was the trip?" after asking, Gray let out a small sigh.
"Boring." He said simply, "It rained half the time and the other half was spent sitting around listening to some guy lecturing us about stuff we've already learned before the trip," Gray sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly. Makarov let out a small chuckle before reaching up and patting Gray on the head.
Gray let a small smile slip. "The kids missed you, ya know? Natsu kept complaining about how Bisca just "wasn't as fun to wrestle with as Gray is"." Makarov spoke, a small laugh escaping as he finished talking.
Gray chuckled, "Of course he'd say something like that." Standing up, Gray stretched, "Are the kids here yet or is it still too early?" he asked, his arms slumping down to his side.
"Natsu and Lucy aren't here yet, but Erza is." Makarov responded, a sad and small smile forming on his lips. Gray's own smile grew a bit smaller, understanding why his boss would smile like that.
Erza lived at a rather poor orphanage, and despite how smart and nice Erza was, people would rather adopt the more younger children. And just a month ago, her best friend, Jellal Fernandes, had been relocated to a different orphanage in hopes he might have a better chance elsewhere. Ever since he got relocated and since no one else at the orphanage was really her friend, Erza had been going to the daycare earlier and earlier until she started arriving just minutes after Makarov.
Gray walked over to the door, waving a hand slightly, "Well I should go see her then." he said, opening the door and closing it behind him as he left the office. Picking up his backpack, he walked over to another door to the right of the room, this one you just had to push lightly to open.
He walked into the daycare, holding back a small chuckle as he noticed Erza sitting on the bed, reading a book rather than playing with any of the number of toys they had in the room.
"Yo, Erza" he spoke up, walking over to after tossing his back to an empty corner that has long since been designated as 'bag corner'.
Erza looked up from her book, a bit surprised when she sees Gray approaching her, "I didn't think you'd be back so soon," she said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Gray sat down by her, spreading his legs apart slightly and resting his elbows on either knee, looking to see what she's reading.
"They ended earlier because everyone was starting to get miserable and it started to rain more and more." he chuckled. Erza nodded and stretched, letting out a half yawn before quickly covering her mouth. Gray glanced at her, raising an eye brow.
"Did you stay up late again?"
A pause.
After a bit of hesitation, Erza spoke up, "Jellal finally sent me a letter...I couldn't rest until I wrote him back." She responded, trying to sound a bit more mature, despite knowing her excuse was a little silly. To her surprise, Gray ruffled her hair rather than telling her something along the lines of "You should've just waited until today".
"I'll let you off this time." he spoke, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, shutting his eyes for a few moments. After a few moments however, his eyes flew open as a certain pink haired little boy winded him after jumping onto him.
"You're back!" Natsu grinned, excitedly, eliciting a short chuckle from the dark haired man he had just jumped on.
Gray picked up and set Natsu on the ground, ruffling his hair. "Hey flame brain." he snorted. Natsu pouted at the nick name. You almost burn the building down once when trying to eat fire and you get that nickname for life.
Natsu opened his mouth to respond, shutting it quickly as his ears twitch. Gray raised an eyebrow at the action, knowing full well that Natsu's hearing is a bit stronger than any average human. After a few seconds, a large grin grew on Natsu's face. "Lucy's here!" He tried to tug at Gray's shirt, soon noticing that Gray didn't have a shirt on. He reached up, trying to flick the older man, who dodged easily. Natsu got down and turned to greet Lucy, only to see her trying not to giggle in the doorway. "Say something if you're here!" he pouted.
"But I didn't want to interrupt~" she teased, walking over to and climbing onto the couch, sitting on the other side of Erza who's been quietly watching, amused. "Welcome back, Gray!" She said cheerfully, looking up at her favorite baby sitter. Gray smiled back in response.
Gray got up, picking up and setting Natsu down on the couch by the two girls. "Alright, first things first, have you all eaten yet?" Lucy was the only one who didn't shake her head. "Come on then you two. Let's get you some breakfast and then we'll all play a game." Gray led the two into the small kitchen, making sure Lucy had something to do while her friends ate.
After the kids ate, the four of them all played until it was time to go home.