Fairy Tail Next Generation
by: Stella Formidante
Episode 1: A Not-so-fine Day
Summary: Is it just him or Natsu feels that Gray is tired of him?
A/N: So here's the story's sequel of our favorite resident destruction duo of Fairy Tail! Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima-san.
A very bright morning... One way to describe the atmosphere that emanated in the land of Magnolia. At a certain house, our resident fire mage was happily cooking breakfast for his family. As girly as it may sound, the humming that came from the pinkette made the mood calm and just plain good. It was barely dawn and Natsu seemed to have been used to this routine. After seven years of being married to none other than the ice mage of Fairy Tail, Natsu sure did a very good job at being a housewife. And this earned a non-stop teasing from Gray which Natsu learned to get along with.
Natsu settled with pancakes and milk for him and the kids, while a cup of brewed coffee for his husband. The plates were neatly placed on the table, as if they were in a restaurant. As to what the reason Natsu learned this, no one knew.
An hour passed by and Natsu heard yawning and stretching from upstairs. The pinkette greeted his family ever so cheerfully.
"Good morning Champs! Where's your Tou-chan?" Natsu asked the kids.
"Good morning Kaa-san! Tou-chan's still asleep..." Grace was the first to greet Natsu with a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah. Wanna wake him up, Grace?" Nate smirked at the 'evil' plan he had in mind which made Natsu smile to them as a sign of approval.
"I'm all fired up, Nii-san!" Grace made a pose that looked like she's releasing a lot of power.
"Okay. You can wake him up, but don't blame me if he doesn't give you Jewels for your allowance this day." Natsu patted the head of his kids, chuckling at them fondly.
"Aww, Kaa-san! Don't be such a spoilsport! You do enjoy waking him up, too!" Nate protested and Natsu just hummed in approval.
"Yeah. Okay, I admit that. But don't tell me I didn't warn you..." Natsu said and the kids ran off upstairs to wake Gray up. The pinkette sat in his chair at the dining table and later on he heard two shouts of "Tou-chan! The house is burning!", which jolted the ice mage upright and woke up hurriedly to get a pail of water but to his dismay, there were only Nate and Grace standing beside the bed. Natsu just laughed softly at this antic. His Gray was so easy to wake up.
Gray got down grumpily to have breakfast. He was met with a sweet kiss from Natsu and loud laughter from the kids.
"Someone's not in the mood today..." Natsu chuckled before saying. The ice mage just snorted at him.
"Shut up. You supported the kids at this... Partially your fault." Gray said with a harmless scowl.
"I did warn them about it. They didn't listen... Not my fault if you're hard to wake up." Natsu grinned brightly which softened Gray's facade. But suddenly, he shifted face and sat down lazily. He needed to look tired this time. Wait... Was he up to something?
"Yeah, yeah." Gray brushed it off. "My coffee, Natsu..."
The pinkette frowned for a while at this. Gray wouldn't call him by the name when it's something light. But Natsu just brushed it off and complied by giving his husband the cup of brewed coffee that Gray have come to love.
"Here you go." Natsu placed the cup beside Gray's plate.
"Thanks." Gray said briefly and sipped at the coffee.
"Hey Ice Block, we're running out of food stock. Care to join shopping with me?" Natsu beamed happily at this, Nate and Grace just ate their food. Of course, Natsu taught them to never butt in adult talks, especially if they don't have nothing to do with it.
"I'm feeling sleepy today..." Gray faked a yawn. "You can go by yourself, right?"
"Hmm. This is the first time you rejected the offer. Anything up, Frosty?" Natsu was now having doubts about this turn of events.
"Nah. Just plain sleepy. I'll be fine after a long sleep." Gray answered almost tonelessly. Nate and Grace were eyeing him thoroughly.
"If you're sure about it..." Natsu ate the last of his pancakes and milk. "Nate, Grace... get ready. Your class starts at seven. Don't be late or Asuka-sensei will punish you."
Upon hearing this, the two quickly munched on their food and drank their glass of milk. Afterwards, they went to bath and prepared all their things.
Natsu held one last glance at Gray's side before standing up and gathering the dishes and cleaning them up. Gray just stood up and left for the bathroom.
"What did I do this time?" Natsu asked himself in a whispery voice. Then continued cleaning the dishes.
When the kids were prepared, Natsu led them on the doorstep while bringing the grocery bag which Mira gave him.
"Just wait here, okay? I'll just say goodbye to your Tou-chan." Natsu said and a unison of "Hmm!" was heard from the kids.
Natsu opened the door to their room, seeing Gray sprawled on the bed. Natsu placed a kiss on the ice mage's forehead and whispered something.
"Get well soon, Gray." and so he walked outside the room and went to his task for today.
Being sure that there were no one in the house except him, Gray quickly got up and grabbed the communication lacrima and contacted certain people.
"Hey pervert, what's up?" Loke was the one who answered first. It appears in the background that he's still in Lucy's apartment.
"Moron. How's the plan going?" Gray asked and Lyon's face appeared at the lacrima.
"Oi, Gray! If this plan didn't work out just right I'll kick your ass as many times as I can! Juvia-chan seemed sad about my change of face today." Lyon's rant was met with Gray's snort.
"No worries, bro. It'll be just fine." Gray assured him.
"Ice Princess, are you damn sure about this? Levy doesn't seem to mind me, but it won't be long when she started asking me about it." enter Gajeel.
"Beats me." Gray replied.
"Gray-nii, I hate being like this to Wendy!" Romeo whined. Gray just chuckled.
"You're overthinking. It'll be fine, promise."
"Tell me again why I'm included in this stupid plan." Laxus said with a bit of resent in his tone.
"It wasn't a stupid plan, you Big Spark!" Gray protested and Laxus just tsked.
"Gray-san, Rogue's pretty busy these days with the guild's paperworks. It appears he's the one having a change of face." Sting explained.
"That'll do. Thanks Sting." Gray smiled. At least there's progress with the plan.
"I swear to let Erza kill you if this fails, Gray Fullbuster. You have a lot of explaining to do when this is done." Jellal seemed very against the plan.
"Yeah yeah. I'll take it all. So, when do we start practicing?" Gray asked and he got a unison of "Today." in different voice levels.
'I'm sorry Natsu, but this is for you.' Gray thought hopefully as he got up and prepared to meet the other boys.
At the guild, Natsu was sitting on a chair while reminding Nate and Grace of the rules they need to follow when in Asuka's class. He was met with a groan from Nate and a vigorous nod from Grace. After that, he let the kids go and met with the other girls.
"Oh Natsu, you're going shopping right?" Lucy asked first, who also held a basket.
"Yeah. I can see you are, too." Natsu replied and was met with a hum from the blonde.
"So, I thought Gray always comes shopping with you? What happened?" Lucy asked.
"Well... That stupid Ice Block said something about being sleepy and tired so he refused to come. I hope he's okay by the time I got home." Natsu's worried tone sent a sad smile at Lucy.
"Oh Natsu, he's just tired. Don't make that face! C'mon, I'll join you. I'm sure Levy and Wendy are available. I might include Juvia as well." Lucy suggested and Natsu's once sad face brightened up.
"Thanks Luce! Let's go!" and off they went to Magnolia Central Market.
The boys met at the stadium near the guild. The building was a bit creaky, but the pillars were strong enough to support the whole building. Fortunately, no people were at the stadium.
"So, what do you like, guys? We'll just sing or dance as well?" Gray offered and he was met with blank stares.
"I'll sing!" Gajeel was the first to say. He was met with protests, however.
"Cancer told me you were a great dancer, Hentai-sama!" Loke said with a teasing tone which irked Gray.
"Shut up, you Gingerhead! And it's not like I can dance very well. That was just to win against him!" and denial was still the best option.
"Okay, as you say so Hentai-sama..." Loke pressed his luck.
"Fuck you." Gray spat and was halted by Romeo.
"I'll dance, too! Natsu-nii taught me a few moves way back." the ravenette offered. All nodded at this. They didn't mind Natsu teaching dance lessons because he has become great with it.
"So if it's like that, we'll just have to divide the force. Some will sing and some will dance. Perfect." Gray said with a snap of fingers.
"Yosh! Let's start!" Sting said and everyone shouted in response. After all, it's to make their mates happy.
After shopping, Natsu and the girls ate at Fancy Fiore. Natsu ordered the usual Fireball Ice Cream. Lucy bought a ginger bread and a healthy fruit juice. Wendy had vegetable sandwich. Levy went with pasta and Juvia just ordered a cold water with slices of lemon in it.
"Uhmm Juvia... Are you sure about what you ordered?" Lucy was the one who asked.
"Oui! Natsu said it would help release toxins from the body." Juvia answered.
"Ooh. So Natsu started it." Levy hummed while the pinkette blushed.
"Yep! I discovered that when Gray bought some lemons. He said I need to try eating some citrus fruits once in a while because I need to drain out the wastes I have when eating too much." Natsu explained and he was met with odd stares from Lucy and Levy. Wendy just chuckled and Juvia smiled sweetly.
"Are you sure you're not a girl, Natsu?" Lucy asked. "The way you said it sounded just like some fitness guru."
Natsu blushed at that. "Why would you think of that?"
"Uhh nevermind. You're just a diva." Lucy replied.
"I am not a diva, Luce!" and Natsu blushed more.
"Juvia agrees with love-rival this time!" Juvia beamed and Lucy sweatdropped at the unchanging title given to her.
"I am not your love-rival, Juvia! Gray's on Natsu now!" and she continued to whine about it.
"Only a true love-rival would say that, love-rival!" Juvia returned and Natsu, Levy and Wendy just laughed.
For this moment, Natsu forgot his dilemma with Gray.
And it was nighttime. The Fullbuster family was having dinner. Natsu cooked a special fire chicken for Grace and him while the usual carrot soup for Gray and Nate. The pinkette also mixed sliced lemons with some orange slices in a pitcher full of cold water.
"How's the class, Champs?" Natsu asked, making the dinner less awkward.
"I scored higher in the quiz earlier, Kaa-san! And Nii-san was busy flirting with July." Grace reported and the ravenette boy blushed deeply in protest.
"I'm not flirting with July, Grace! He's just offering me food!"
"Tone it down, you guys. Tou-chan doesn't like loud sounds when eating." Natsu said and Gray's heart began throbbing wildly at how cute his 'wife' was when he said that.
"Sorry, Tou-chan. Nii-san just can't say that he likes July-chan." and another blush from Nate.
"That's fine with me. Go ahead and eat up." Gray said plainly and Natsu's worries came back all at once. He thought this would end!
The dinner went silent after that. Later on, Nate and Grace were fast asleep and the couple was still fixing the bed. Neither one of them said a word.
"It's quite hot in here, don't you think?" Natsu started but Gray never said a word.
"Hmm." was the reply when Gray finally laid down. At this, Natsu would expect that Gray would pat the other side of the mattress to invite him but there was none of it tonight.
"Whew. Today was freaking tiring. Goodnight Ice Block." Natsu laid down as well, disappointed that the invitation part went missing.
"Yeah. Goodnight, Flame Brain." Gray managed to say with a very timid tone.
And little did they know, the next days would be like this. And little did Natsu know, he would be more irked at Gray's behaviour. And... more.
*Insert Ending Song: Landscape by SOLIDEMO*
Happy: Natsuuuuuuu!
Natsu: Darn it! Darn it!
Happy: Don't hurt yourself!
Natsu: Leave me alone!
Happy: A-aye!
Next: "A Heart that Almost Gave Up"
Narrator: Think first before you do such things.
Tsuzuku...