A Little Help

Gray x Natsu


The dark mage held a knife against the skin of his throat, pressing it in just hard enough to draw small droplets of blood. Natsu struggled against his bonds, trying to free himself to no avail. The bastard had overpowered both Gray and the dragon slayer. Natsu had stayed conscious just long enough to see an image he would never forget. Gray was gone.

He woke up tied to a chair, thick ropes cutting into his skin. None of it made sense to him as he tried to burn away his bonds. It was no use. In this room, all of his magic was useless, but on the same hand, so was the magic of the dark mage.
As his captor turned away from him, Natsu saw an opening and took it. He kicked his leg forward with all his strength, severing the restraint tying his leg to the chair. The force behind it snapped the leg of the chair, causing him to fall forward onto his face, his hands useless behind his back.
"You'll regret that one." The dark Mage whispered darkly in Natsu's ear. The vile man was so close he could smell the mage's breath. The familiar scent sent pain through his heart. Was it peppermint? "Are you okay?"
"What?" Natsu asked, snapping his head to the side. He blinked his eyes furiously, quickly realizing he was on the ice mage's couch. It was just a bad dream. Gray was right in front of him, sitting on the edge of the couch.
"Are you okay?" Gray asked, placing his cool hand on Natsu's shoulder. "I heard you yell from the other room."
"Yeah." He mumbled, sitting up. "Just a bad dream"
"Probably from the pain medication." Gray decided. "You always have weird dreams when you take that stuff."

"You're the one who is making me take it." He frowned, crossing his arms. "I would be fine without it. I've handled much worse without it."
"Yeah, but it will also help with the swelling." Gray reminded, running his hand down his shoulder. "It's not like they've got you on something super strong. You've always had weird dreams when they put you on stuff."
"Not like this." Natsu said solemnly, looking away. The thought of losing Gray was beyond what he could handle.
"If it's really that bad you can just come sleep with me tonight, okay?" Gray said softly, catching the dragon slayer's eyes.
"Really? You want me to sleep in bed with you?" Natsu asked, his mood instantly improving.
"Yeah. Come on, let's go flame brain" he said, standing up.
"What happened to taking things slow?" Natsu teased, cocking an eyebrow at the ice mage. Gray had insisted he stay over until his ankle was better. Despite his accelerated healing rate, Gray had made excuses for him to stay longer and longer. Still, they had yet to do more in the evenings than cuddle on the couch.
"I invited you to sleep, not fuck. Besides, I felt awful making you sleep on the couch." He extended his hand towards the dragon slayer.
"Okay." Natsu decided, dropping the issue for the time being. He grabbed the ice mage's hand and pulled himself up, noticing how little his ankle seemed to hurt as he put weight on it. Maybe the pain medication wasn't too bad of an idea after all.

"Scoot over." Gray urged, looking at the pink haired man sprawled out on top of the bed spread. The sight of Natsu in his bed wasn't half bad, even if he did intentionally take up most of the bed.

"I'm moving." Natsu groaned, rolling onto his side away from the ice mage.

Gray slid in behind him, not bothering to cover up with a furnace in bed next to him. He ran his finger tips along the edge of Natsu's shoulder, tracing the outline of his muscular figure. The dragon slayer seemed to melt under his touch, the tension in his body fading away. He placed a tender kiss on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Natsu rolled over to face him, a rather serious look on his face. As their eyes met, his expression softened, a hint of a smile forming on his lips. "I am now."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No," The response was automatic, defensive. He moved closer and buried his head in the ice mage's chest, inhaling deeply. "Can we just stay like this for now?"

"Yeah." Gray replied, draping his arm over him. "I don't know what happened in your dream, but everything is okay. Alright?"

"Okay." He mumbled in response, tilting his head up to look at Gray.

Gray placed a kiss on his forehead, pulling him tighter as they drifted off to sleep.