Disclaimer, Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
"How the hell do you find x?"
Gray promptly rolled his eyes at his obnoxious loudmouth friend. Natsu laid spread out on his stomach across the floor. His fingers were tangled in his locks, somewhere between tugging his vibrant hair and tearing it from his scalp. He had his razor sharp teeth ground together in impatience. The raven calmly bowed his head down and continued working, much to the other's frustration. "If you hadn't fallen asleep during class you would know that."
"If I hadn't stayed up all night doing homework I wouldn't have to sleep in class." The hothead scraped an eraser across his paper. "Why am I in advanced classes anyway? It's not like I'm going to be a mathematician or anything."
"Not like you're smart enough to be." Gray ducked as a pencil was aimed at his head. He sighed and brushed his lengthy bangs from his eyes. "Because your dad's a freaking doctor, ergo you have to be just as successful."
"Doing what? Be a doctor too? It's not like anyone will want me personally to operate on them."
"I sure as hell wouldn't." The raven moved to the side as yet more school supplies was thrown at him. "What are you going to do next year when we start high school and grades actually matter?"
Natsu gave him a nonchalant shrug. "Dunno. Hide from Erza when she comes after me, probably."
He slamming of a door against a wall abruptly ended their conversation. A very pissed Lyon stormed through the entryway, kicking his sports bag he used for baseball across the floor. The older snowy haired teen didn't spare so much as a wave before heading up the stairs. Natsu kept his eyes glued to the teen's back.
"I swear he's twice as moody these days."
"How hard is it to be on varsity sports?"
"For high school? I don't know you'll have to ask Lyon." The raven bent his head back down towards his work. His pencil scrapped across the papers dully. He stopped midway in a sentence, noting the pinkette to be abnormally quiet. He glanced up in curiosity. "You're not thinking again, are you?"
"If I make a fall sport will you go out for track in the spring?"
"Track?" Gray furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I wasn't exactly one for running when we were kids, you know."
"But you've gotten faster these past few years." The rosette countered.
"Doesn't mean I'll even be considered." The raven let a frown come into existence. "Besides, I'm not even on the team in middle school."
"But you never tried out." Natsu pursued his argument, trying to use his persuasion skills he'd required over the years. He had long ago learned he had a talent for cajoling people into doing him favors. "Plus everyone is going to be new next year. No one's going to know you're inexperienced. If you start training now you could be ready by-"
"What's with the sudden interest in my athletic ability?"
"No reason." Natsu turned his head away. He could feel those blue orbs still on him for a moment before returning to the work they were supposed to be doing.
Because I'm your damn friend.
The rosette glared at nothing in particular. He swore sometimes the ice cube (which came from the name blocked head he used to call him) could be so indifferent. He knew just well why he asked. Hell, everyone knew why. Like the cold bastard didn't remember the…
"You better be first choice on that damn team."
A perked up pinkette gave him a toothy grin.
…
A fine-toothed comb slid through silky black hair, the strands swiftly falling in locks once passed. A study lamp sitting on an unused desk cast a ring of light in the otherwise dark room. Snores that sounded like they belonged more to a bear than to his older brother penetrated the thin walls. No one was left awake in the home, his mom having retired an hour or two ago. The alarm on his bedside table read a late hour in the night.
The dark haired boy fished a partially still clean shirt from a pile on the floor and pulled it on. He laced up a pair of dirty sneakers as a pale light flashed from outside his window. He walked over a pulled the pane up, letting in a blast of chilly air. The light had been turned back off not to reveal anybody lurking around. A figure he could barely make out on the ground shifted about before finally leaning a ladder that they had used on multiple occasions towards the second story window. Safety was of little value to them when the equivalent of a prison guard could hear the opening of the front door.
Pale hands clasped the first rung and the dark haired teen shimmied expertly down. The two figures walked wordlessly away from the house. Not until their feet landed on the hard pavement of the street did the flashlight flickered back on. The vibrant sakura tresses of the raven's companion could be easily seen now.
"Took you long enough."
Gray narrowed his eyes at the other. "You're one to talk. I was waiting on you to get there."
"Whatever." Natsu turned his gaze to his pocket and fumbled with something inside. A white rectangular card was pulled out and handed to the raven. Gray could just make out the forged print. A bold 17 was printed across one line.
"Who the hell did you have make this?"
The pinkette shrugged. "I know I guy."
"If we get caught I'm blaming the whole thing on you."
"Please, kids sneak into R rated movies all the time, and this late at night no one cares."
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Scared already? I can hold you during the movie if it's too much for you."
"Shut up."
"Of course knowing you you'll probably crawl right into my lap."
"I said shut it."
…
A group of crude looking boys were posted at a street corner. One leaned against a grey lamppost, not that the light did much to illuminate their menacing faces. One held a pair of pulsing red eyes, while one next to him had slicked back greasy hair and iron piercings studded across his face. The last had an earring dangling from his left lobe and two crossing scars ran above his opposite eyebrow.
A sneer curled the last boy's lips. "Nice of you to show up."
"It's not like we're late." The rosette replied nonchalantly. The two new arrivals joined to group, making the five of them resemble some sort of gang. The only impugn being that Magnolia was for one too small for a gang, and two, none of the males reached a threatening height, not to mention they looked youthful in every way. A fellow red head classmate of theirs had called them a cluster of ruffians and nothing more.
Gray fell behind the pinkette, along with the other two ravens in the group. The hot head he called a friend had always retained the quality he was named for. If there was nothing to argue about, he'll find something, especially if he could argue with the pretentious blond they had met some time ago.
The teen with the metal studs throughout his skin felt his nose twitch in disgust. The reason on why he had become acquainted with the pair he knew when he was younger was long forgotten. His eyes traveled from the arguing idiots to the quiet duo. One set wasn't plenty, two was just a hassle. The other two black haired boys exceptionally. He swore those two were…something different.
…
Gray flinched as a knife dove into the soft stomach of the protagonist.
Horror movies were no real novelty to him. They were all the same, teens, sociopaths, and slashing. It wasn't the surfeit amount of fake blood or the revealing of internal organs that bothered him. It was banal techniques used by directors trying to get an easy gag. That is, it was the sudden popping out of nowhere that got him. Didn't most movies have music in the background when someone's about to kick the bucket? How the hell did he end up seeing the one movie in existence where you never see it coming? He will never understand people who like surprises. There was nothing to enjoy in having unexpected news dropped on you like a bombshell. He had enough nuclear warfare by this time in his life he could easily share it with someone else.
Natsu sat in the seat beside him, his chin resting in his palm. His bored eyes watched the screen, occasionally rolling when another cheesy detail was thrown in. He wondered briefly if the rosette even wanted to come here tonight, or if he was just showing off in front of the others, not that there was anything to gain if it was the latter. He narrowed his eyes at the adolescent. He'll strangle the hot head one day for all the things he's put him through. It might not seem like much but suffering through a shitty movie was right up there with the time he accidently set their dinner on fire.
A scream drew his eyes back to the presentation. The motion picture's ladies' man lay sprawled out with crimson dripping from the corner of his mouth. His mouth twitched in irritation. He knew another ladies' man himself that hadn't been able to get him out of this as he had a date. In his mind's eye he switched the dead man's hair to a carrot color. Maybe he should pay the flirt back…
Natsu snickered besides him as a machete impaled an actress through and through. Even in the dark theater he could see the raven sending him a quizzical look. The tanned teen gave him a smirk that was tottering on a leer. "You have to admit, the amount of ketchup they use in this thing is comical."
"It's almost as bad as having to see you in the morning."
A high pitched scream that rivaled that of Lucy's breached the air. Gray felt himself involuntarily jump at the abrupt start. He felt his face immediately heat up in humiliation. He surreptitiously glanced at the others down the row from him (he was lucky enough to be on the end, and out of plain sight of this chasten). He let out a relived sigh at realizing no one had noticed his little moment.
A warm hand snaked under the arm of the chair next to him. Fingers inconspicuously intertwined with his in a reassuring fashion. The small amount of contact made the raven's cheeks heat up afresh and he sunk back in his chair. It was mortifying; he by no means needed his hand held like some girl. He glared at the pinkette next to him who gave no sign that he had even initiated the touch; he just sat, calmly looking ahead.
He turned away and let his convoluted bangs hide his face. The rough calluses and heat never left his palm.
…
"How long are you going to lie there?"
Muffled, incomplete sentences were the bland response. A raven head was buried in a mound of pillows, eyes still closed. The covers had been half way kicked off during the night, the other half were twisted around his legs. His exhausted body was conformed to the mattress, making it just that much harder to get up.
"You know you can't sleep all day, you have to get up eventually."
The nagging voice of his neurotic brother washed over him like waves at the beach. He held an irritated sigh followed by feet pounding out of the room. The raven let the last of his sleeping brain wake up before swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He might be able to fend off his brother, but he was defenseless against a mother trying to leave for work.
His back creaked as he stretched. He pressed his palms into his eyes. He knew he shouldn't have stayed out that late, especially on a school night. He contemplated if he should pretend to be sick, just stay home for the day. If his mother didn't always get so paranoid every time he only had the flu he would have. He'll just have to suffer the day sleep deprived.
He stumbled down the stairs, one hand on the railing to steady himself most of the way. The smell of breakfast was his solitary motivation to keep going. His rapaciously stomach sounded like the wild animal he called a friend by the time he made it to the table.
A pitcher of orange juice had already been placed on the table along with a set of empty glasses. Gray numbly pulled one towards him and filled it with the sweet, quenching liquid, the substance splashing as it hit the bottom of the crystal. A white, plastic bottle was placed beside all this. Small, black print ink was written across the side in perfect block lettering. The raven gave the container a silent stare down before surrendering. His hand closed around the cylinder, causing the contents to rattle. He proficiently unscrewed the childproof top. A few days' worth of his medication was revealed at the bottom. He mused over how long he could pretend he still had ample supplies after he ran out. He wasn't a fan of taking the metallic tasting tablets, nor was he one for having to continuing the process. He done it before, and if it wasn't that his mom usually knew when he wasn't on them he would continue to.
He munched the iron tasting capsule. He quickly swallowed the juice next to him, swishing it around his mouth to clear it of the foul flavor.
His brother entered the dining room, already dressed for the day. Gray gave him a nark look as he sat down across from them. Oddly enough, the silver haired teen was nicely dressed with a tie around his neck. He was a high scholar and yet he couldn't go one day without acting like an ostentatious maven. "Can't you go survive a day without being a haughty snob?"
The older teen kept a stoic expression. "It's called being solemn. Maybe if you didn't go to sleep at two in the morning you could experience firsthand what it feels like."
Gray sent a quick glance to the kitchen to make sure their mother was still out of earshot before narrowing his eyes into slits at his sibling. "How'd you know?" The silverette didn't answer, his mouth in a fine line. The raven ground his teeth at remembering a fact about the other's alarm clock, how he always set it at a certain time other than the usually time for waking up for school. The younger teen slammed his hands down on the table and pushed his self up, still glaring icy daggers. "Stop checking on me in the middle of the night. I'm not six." The older didn't reply, making him all the more irritated.
I don't think I've ever been this academically overworked. Which is why I'm so unproductive when it comes to writing now. Lucky for me next week is a break (yay!), so hopefully I'll be able to write over the holiday.
Now out little Natsu and Gray u are slowly growing up. I wanted to give Gray a happy part to his life (you know, before I destroy it), so he got a few years. Too bad I'm not nice, nor is he that lucky. Oh, how the angst will build up soon.
