Chapter 2: Peace Before the Storm

Gray crossed the room to his returned Dragon Slayer. He refused to run, though he couldn't help smiling at seeing his two favorite people so effervescently happy. Ikka was snuggling as close to Natsu as she had with Gray earlier. All her people were home. Gray had a similar sentiment.

He and Natsu might not let eagerness show (not in front of the guild, at least), but Natsu still wrapped Gray in a fierce embrace. Gray felt the Salamander's arms like bands of steel around him, and gripped him back just as tightly. A delightful line of heat burned against Gray's bare chest where Natsu's vest was open for skin-on-skin contact.

Home.

The Dragon Slayer didn't stop there. To Gray's utter surprise, Natsu kissed him: smashed his mouth against Gray's and chewed his lip. Right there in front of the entire guild.

They never did this here, in front of the kids. Gray wasn't into public affection (after thirty years together, he still got embarrassed) and Natsu wanted to maintain the respect of his charges. But as scalding lips moved against Gray's, a breath of steam emerged between them before Gray could reign in his sigh.

It ended too quickly, but as Gray's mind cleared, he went on high alert. Natsu was still holding him hard enough to press the breath from his lungs and he'd just kissed him rather passionately in front of everyone without a second thought. Too out of character.

Something was wrong.

Little wrinkles of worry hovered around Natsu's face. Seeing the closed look in Natsu's eyes, Gray didn't ask questions. But as they separated, he kept a hand loosely at Natsu's waist, a reminder: I'm here.

"Haven't seen you two kids make out like that in a while," Lucy teased, coming over and giving Gray a hug. "And here I thought passion died out of marriage after the first few years."

"There's a reason we sound-proofed our bedroom," Natsu smirked, causing Gray to blush and punch his shoulder. Natsu rubbed the injured spot in pretend annoyance, pouting at Gray.

"Obachan, this is nothing," Ikka told Lucy. "They're all over each other at home."

"We are not," Gray protested, his face heating up because it was true.

"Are to," Ikka said. "It'd be weird if you weren't: you're married."

Gray blushed further, while Natsu snickered.

The wild-haired young girl turned and pulled on Natsu's free hand. "Please, Touchan, come to the workshop. You of all people need to see what I brought back. You'll love it—or possibly hate it."

"Brought back?" Lucy asked, tilting her head.

"I completed my second S-class quest! Accompanied, of course. But I brought back the most unique set of horns ever."

"Ah, that explains the blood," Lucy said, nodding her head toward the door.

Ikka pulled her cutest, most repentant smile and looked at Natsu. "Sorry. I may have spilled a bit on my way through town."

"It happens." Natsu waved an airy hand. "I'd be ashamed to call you my daughter if you didn't mark up Magnolia at least once."

"When you wreck the town more times than your fathers have, it'll be time to talk," Lucy said.

Ikka laughed.

"So who took you, Ikka-chan?" Natsu asked.

"Erza-san went with me. She's taking me on another this week, too."

"How exciting," Lucy said, but her eyes held pain behind them. Gray only noticed because he was looking for it. He glanced back at the bar and saw that the redhead in question had vanished.

"Come on! Let's see the horns." Now it was Natsu dragging them toward the back of the guild. He called, "If anyone starts dying, I'm in the workshop!"

The four of them trotted out back, Lucy looking curious.

They reached the guild's large workshop, a separate building they'd erected after Ikka and Romeo each managed to destroy the main hall on separate occasions. While belonging to everyone in Fairy Tail, it was generally full at least halfway with Ikka's things.

She had tools upon tools lining the walls, many she'd made herself, which anyone could use. One entire table was full of not-quite-right inventions she was trying to perfect, taken apart so she could see the inside and figure out what she imagined wrong when she used her Make magic.

Right now, the monster head took up most of the room, horns stretching from corner to corner.

"The whole head," Natsu said, voice overflowing with pride. "You efficient little automaton."

"The horns are a mineral," Ikka explained, waving the three adults closer. She looked about ready to burst. "Feel it!"

Lucy stretched out a hand and frowned. Natsu left the reach of Gray's touch in order to place his hand on it.

He leapt back, eyes wide.

Natsu placed two hands on it. Then sniffed it. Then his hands burst into flame. Nothing happened: the horn remained unchanged.

"Fire resistant?" he asked in amazement.

"Resistant to all kinds of heat!" Ikka bounced over. "Go into the Dragon Force and see if it does anything!"

Natsu gave her a skeptical look, but the workshop was proofed against fire—that had been the first thing they did to it, naturally.

"You won't hurt it," Ikka assured him. "Although if you do, I want another one."

Smiling at that, Natsu let his body burst into a ball of red fire.

Scales emerged around his eyes and down his cheeks, the definition of muscle in his arms growing starker. His fang-like canines were longer, and Gray knew the Salamander's pupils were narrow slits, a look he only got in the Dragon Force—or when fucking his mate into oblivious heaven. Gray was the only person who knew about that.

Natsu tentatively put one hand on the horn.

Nothing. As he held his hand there, the black mineral didn't melt, didn't char, didn't smoke. There was no scent of anything burning.

Natsu was surprised enough that his fire winked out, scales falling away.

"This is…amazing, Ikka. I don't know what to say."

"Yeah," she agreed. The reverence in her voice sounded worshipful. "I don't know what I want to build with it, but if it resists even your fire, it could be a powerful weapon."

"And a dangerous one." Natsu stared up at the gory head for a long minute. A bit of worry crept into his eyes. "I'd like to keep this locked up, gearhead-chan. I don't trust anyone outside the guild working on it."

Ikka nodded, face solemn for once. "I know. When anyone asked me what it was, I said it was a trophy to prove what I did. Nobody outside you three and Erza know about the horns.

Natsu put an arm around her.

"I'm really impressed. With the quest—all of it."

"Thank you, Tousan."

Her cheeks turned pink. Natsu's praise was by no means infrequent, but it was always earned. He didn't notice her reaction, as he was readjusting the scarf around her neck. It'd been years since he put it on her, and Gray wasn't certain she'd taken it off once in all that time.

Natsu went to lightly punch her and Ikka darted back, his knuckles barely grazing her. Suddenly they were both grinning.

"So does this successful mission mean your reflexes have improved, Ikka-chan?" Natsu asked.

Ikka slunk into a crouch and beckoned.

A layered structure appeared before her as Natsu sent a gout of flames her way. They wouldn't harm her—his magic couldn't. Something parental and instinctual, he'd told Gray once. But it was still hot enough to make her sweat.

Her defensive wall rebuffed the flames in an arc, curling them back toward their originator. Laughing, Natsu dodged his own hit and sent a fist into the structure, causing it to crumble.

Behind it, Ikka had raised three trebuchets from the dust, all of which shot off at once. Her father ducked and whipped long tongues of fire in her direction.

"They always do this, don't they?" Lucy asked, taking a stand beside Gray.

"Oh yes. It's the best spectator sport," Gray said, a twinkle in his eye. "Plus it tires him out so I have an easier win later."

"Speaking of wins later…" Lucy gave him a quick up-and-down, raising her eyebrows. "Getting ahead of ourselves?"

Gray looked down. "Gods dammit."

Lucy burst into tinkling laughter.

"Just typical," he sighed, surveying the surrounding area for his clothes. At the very least his boxers. Because of course, his body was reacting happily to the sight of Natsu fighting: muscles tensing, feet moving with grace, the handsome face lit with fire and joy…

"You do know you're the weirdest family in Fairy Tail," Lucy laughed, tears in her eyes.

"I believe Natsu claims that title with pride," Gray said. "On the plus side, this particular habit of mine made it easy to explain the male side of sexuality to Ikka."

Lucy snorted in surprise. "Dear gods. What did you do; show and tell?"

"Don't be a pervert," Gray frowned at her. "She'd seen everything already at that point."

Lucy's laughter redoubled, until she bent over with her hands on her knees. Gray was having a hard time keeping a serious face.

"We went over everything from contraception to physiological reactions to relationships," he said. "We made sure she got a complete education. And Natsu was the one who couldn't stop blushing, in case you were wondering."

"I did know that, actually." Lucy chuckled. "Ikka asked me one time why anyone would be embarrassed about bodies and sex. I said they wouldn't because there's nothing to be ashamed of, and that's when she told me he couldn't talk about it without turning red."

"What did you say?"

"I told her Natsu is special and not to gauge too much on his reactions."

Gray laughed.

"It's true in a lot of things," Lucy added. "His behavior toward girls, his propensity for fighting…"

"Well, he was raised by a dragon. And he was able to talk normally with girls by the time you arrived at Fairy Tail."

"If you call this normal." Lucy grinned and turned back to the fight still playing out before them. Ikka had Natsu on the defensive—at first because he had let her, and now because she was pressing the advantage.

Gray noticed a dark pile in the grass just beyond the wide workshop doors and went to retrieve his pants.

He'd tried so hard to keep his clothes on after they got Ikka, but he was in his mid-thirties at that point and the habit was as ingrained as it could get. But they'd found to Gray's relief that Ikka was too young to think it awkward if one of her daddies walked around in the nude, so the habit had remained unchallenged.

By the time Ikka grew up, it was the daily norm. Nowadays she looked askance at people who inquired after Gray's 'weird stripping thing.' It was who he was: what his magic was.

She even seemed to like the fact that he was always shirtless. As a toddler, she'd constantly press her small face against his skin and stay that way for hours, breathing hot breaths on his chest.

She'd needed the ever-present contact back then. Holding her wasn't enough. She would tuck her head into his or Natsu's neck while her little nails dug into arms or any other bare skin she could reach, seeking the heat of humanity and holding on for dear life.

So terrified they would leave her. So terrified of being alone again.

Gray pulled his pants on and returned to find his spouse and child flopped on the floor of the workshop.

"Tired already?" he teased, kicking Natsu's foot.

"I just came back from a hard mission, I'll have you know. Lucy can attest."

"I don't doubt it." Gray gave him a quick look: we're talking later.

"Can we go home now?" Ikka asked.

"Already?" Gray said, surprised. "No experiments to do this evening?"

"I miss home."

At the sound of her soft voice, Natsu blinked rapidly and pulled the wild girl into an awkward floor hug. Her fear of losing her family always hit him hard.

"We're right here," the Salamander whispered.

Gray watched them. If Natsu was this emotional, it was probably best to go home before anything went up in flames by accident. Gray was growing more and more anxious to learn what dark thing had happened on his quest.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Gray asked Lucy.

"Don't worry about me." She winked at him. "I asked Levy and Gajeel if I could crash."

Ikka stood up and went to hug her. "It's good to have you back, Obachan."

"Thank you. I look forward to hearing all about your mission at some point."

Lucy gave them another round of hugs before heading off in the direction of the guildhall. Natsu began trying to heft the beast head onto a shoulder: its current position prevented the workshop doors from being closed. Natsu eventually lifted it up and took a few heavy steps.

"Need some help, old man?" Gray laughed.

"I'd like to see you get this far," Natsu said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Gray snorted, stretching to put his muscles on display. "I bet you would, fire face."

"I've got it," Ikka said, shaking her head at her parents. "It is my monster."

Ikka put her hands together and her magic brought a vehicular shape bubbling up from the ground. Gray felt a swell of pride at her flawless form, her feet spreading unconsciously into a wider stance. She was so perfect.

Natsu coughed in his ear.

"You're getting sentimental," he said, looping an arm over Gray's shoulders.

"Says the man who was tearing up a moment ago."

"Obviously several days is too long for us to be gone," Natsu said, voice loud enough for Ikka to hear. She looked up quickly, worry creasing her face.

Dear gods, if she got emotional, it was all over.

"Missing you two is good for me," Gray said firmly, kissing Natsu in demonstration, happy to be without public audience this time. "It makes it all the more special when I get to drag your tired butts home."

Smiling, Ikka squeezed unabashedly between them, forcing their arms to include her. With a flick of her hands, her wheeled contraption completed its journey across the workshop and turned into a stationary table.

When they closed the wide doors, Gray made a seal of ice, focusing a few moments to make it extra cold. Natsu was right: the horns were a dangerous weapon. A weapon that could kill a Fire Dragon Slayer.

Natsu waited until he was done and then drew a protective spell Gray had only seen him use a few times. If anyone could get into the workshop, Gray would be extremely surprised. Natsu was taking no chances.

"I'm hungry," Ikka noted as they set out three in a row toward home.

"Me too," Natsu said. "Wanna see who can eat more?"

It was an old game, Natsu versus Ikka and Gray. Alone, the non-dragons had no hope of winning, so Natsu let them team up together.

"I'd put my money on me and Ikka this time," Gray said. "She did just come back from defeating a monster practically by herself."

Natsu wiggled his eyebrows. "We'll see."

For dinner they made Ikka's favorites: miso soup and chirashi sushi. It was easy enough to make but the three of them still created a mess of the kitchen as they kept bumping into each other on purpose. Gray made Natsu flash-heat the soup so they could eat before Natsu or Ikka started chewing on the walls in their impatience.

Like father, like daughter.

Daughter was even more alike to father this time, as she ate almost as much as Natsu, allowing her and Gray to claim their fourth victory of all time.

While Gray took pity and cleaned up the dishes, his two mages curled up on the sofa discussing Ikka's monster and all the ways she could've defeated it. Natsu was of the opinion that her flood method was the flashiest, and thus best, way she could've gone about it. Gray watched them as Ikka yawned and put her head on Natsu's shoulder.

Whenever Ikka wasn't looking at him, Natsu's forehead would begin to develop wrinkles of worry again.

Eventually, Ikka declared she was "not going to bed to sleep—I'm not that tired—I'm just going to go read up on the horns." But she yawned while she said it, making Natsu laugh.

Sending him a mock-glare, Ikka closed her bedroom door.

Before Gray could join him on the sofa, Natsu had bounded up and wrapped his arms around Gray from behind.

"Missed me?" Gray teased.

"Yes."

Gray frowned and asked the forbidden question. "Are you alright?"

"Yemph," Natsu said into his shoulder.

Gray sighed and twisted around in the embrace. Natsu face was pinched but he wasn't meeting Gray's eyes, instead running a hand through Gray's hair.

"You're getting as gray as your name," Natsu joked, but his smile was unable to rid itself of sadness.

Gray kissed him. "You've made that joke," Gray kissed him again, "about a thousand times."

"So?"

"Am I to understand I'll have to put up with this for another few decades?" Gray snorted, and noticed that Natsu smiled sincerely at that. "At some point it's going to turn white, you know. Then you'll have to come up with a new punch line."

Natsu's grin could've lit the sun. "I look forward to it."

Gray leaned in and kissed him again, more insistent.

"If we're making jokes about age," Gray said, "there are a few things I could say about you…"

"Alright, that's enough, icicle," Natsu interrupted. "I've been missing you for six days. Kiss me already."

"What do you think I'm doing?"

Natsu interrupted by taking Gray's face in his hands and finally kissing him back, hot and firm. As their tongues intertwined, Gray inhaled the roiling warmth that had defined love for him for over thirty years.

Natsu started fighting him for tongue space, making Gray laugh around the kiss. He shoved the Salamander lightly, causing Natsu to shove back. But Gray tripped him so he fell onto the couch, Gray on top of him, and before they knew it, they were in a wrestling match, lips still locked, scrambling for purchase.

They thunked off the couch onto the floor, ending with Natsu on top but Gray's legs pinning his down, and each of them holding one of the other's hands. Natsu broke away from the kiss laughing.

"I love you."

He seemed to have momentarily forgotten his stress.

Gray pulled him closer. Natsu let him, collapsing onto the ice mage's chest.

"I suppose we shouldn't do this sort of thing in the living room," Gray commented, bucking his hips up suggestively. "We've scarred Ikka enough for her lifetime."

Chuckling, Natsu's eyes fluttered closed, contented but tense again already. Gray sighed.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.

"It's…not good." Natsu shifted his chin so he could look Gray in the eye. "I kind of hoped to avoid the subject until tomorrow."

Gray stared at him. Those words only made Gray more worried. Things weren't going to get anywhere spicy while they were both this anxious.

"I have an idea," he said, pushing them up into a sitting position. "Come on a walk with me."

Natsu blinked at him. "Okay." Then his eyes narrowed. "What's on this walk?"

"Just come with me," Gray said, pulling him up.