I'M SO TIRED AND I HATE THIS BUT HERE YOU GO
Prompt: Vacation
"Where do you guys want to go for the summer?"
Natsu looked up from his bowl of ice cream, his mouth smeared with creamy paste and chocolate chips, and stared.
"What?" Gray finally snapped, after he realized that the dragonslayer wasn't going to let him go without an answer. "Somethin' wrong, fire freak?"
"Yeah, your face, ice idiot," Natsu shot back, grinning ferociously. It was worth mentioning that the dragonslayer's I'll-smash-your-brains-out face, combined with mint and vanilla ice cream, sprinkles, and chocolate slathered all over his face, made a picture both horrifying and hilarious.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Gray leapt to his feet, eyes blazing - er, freezing - with fury. "Oh, you're so asking for it. You wanna go? Huh? DO YA?"
"PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON, GLACIER BOY," Natsu bellowed back, jumping up. "AND YEAH, I WANNA GO. BRING IT ON!"
(In the background, Levy buried her nose deeper into her book and Lucy slapped her forehead in exasperation.)
It took two simultaneous chops to the side from Erza to stop the two of them from starting another brawl.
"I'm sorry," Natsu said weakly from where he was sprawled on the ground.
"I'm sorry," Gray said in a strangled voice as he tried to put himself back together.
The requip mage looked positively murderous. She'd changed into a tank top and jean shorts, and was trying to fan herself with the Weekly Sorcerer. Leaning back in her seat, she took a sip from her strawberry smoothie, and crossed her legs.
"It's too hot to fight," she nearly barked, slamming her drink down so hard Lucy jumped. "Don't you two dare start arguing, do you hear?"
"Y-Yes, sir! Uh, ma'am! Whatever you say! Yes! Absolutely!" the two boys babbled, scrambling for their seats. Gray tried to wash away his discomfort by spooning mint frozen yoghurt into his mouth, but choked suddenly at the sight of a violently pumping red bottle.
"Don't put Tabasco sauce in your ice cream, are you stupid?" he hissed, eyes bugging out. Erza caught his spoon before it rolled onto the floor and stuck it firmly back into his frozen yoghurt.
Natsu shrugged languidly, licking red off his fingers, and swirled his spoon around again and again and again and again -
"Never mind," Lucy interrupted hastily. "What was that you said about a vacation?"
Gray tried to recover by scooping more of his frozen yoghurt into a large ball and shoving it into his mouth. It was way too hot today; even he was beginning to feel sweat beading at his temples. Wiping distractedly at his forehead, he crammed another mouthful in and hoped that Mira would get the air con fixed soon.
"We should take a break once in a while," he suggested, pointing his spoon vaguely in everyone's direction. Beside him, Juvia let out a squeal of excitement.
"Where?" she said, eyes alight with excitement. Involuntarily, she took hold of his arm, face beaming with curiosity. "Who's coming?"
Gray flinched slightly as he stared down at the blue-haired girl. Too bright.
"Uhh, anyone who wants to come," he said quickly, his eyes darting away from her innocent, happy face. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he slid the handful of travel brochures to the middle of the table. "Erza, Lucy, Levy, the Strauss siblings, Max, Jet, Droy, Laki, maybe even the Raijinshuu if they want - "
"Can I come, too?" Wendy asked from the other side of the table, her doe-like brown eyes shimmering with eagerness. Carla had arranged her hair into low twin tails, and her sundress, though it was white, was surprisingly less blinding than Juvia's smile. Gray frowned. Maybe he should go see an eye doctor, or something. Despite his better judgement, he turned to look at Juvia, and when he did, he nearly fell off his chair.
OUCH.
"Sure, I guess," he replied, thankful for the diversion. Had Juvia always been this… sparkly? Maybe it was a new trend for girls to put glitter cream or whatever on themselves. "And Carla and Happy, too."
"Are we goin' somewhere?" Gajeel sat down with a thump, slamming his plate of iron down and taking a chomp out of the biggest piece. "It better not be the glaciers, snowflake."
"We haven't decided yet," Lucy and Levy chorused. Natsu only garbled something, grinning, and squirted a little more hot sauce into his ice cream.
"This is way too cold," Gray managed to make out through the mouthful of gunk in the weirdo's mouth hindering his speech. "Why don't they sell hot ice cream, huh?"
"Because that's dumb," Gray and Gajeel snapped simultaneously. Gray rolled his shoulders uncomfortably when Juvia's eyes turned back to him; this time of year was way hotter than last summer. She tipped her head quizzically at him and something in his stomach lurched.
Yeah, must be some freak of nature. Global warming, or something.
His heart was literally burning up as Erza and Lucy peered at the travel brochures, raising their eyebrows in approval. What was wrong with the weather? He'd managed to last half an hour without stripping (for the sake of his own health; Erza had given him a blank stare that scared him even more than her usual glower did), but now, his fingers were starting to tingle. Okay, so he'd lost his navy blue tank top a while ago. But that didn't mean his shorts were about to come off any time soon, right?
Besides, he had a much more problematic thing at hand. His whole friggin' chest was hurting. Maybe it was that sunscreen. He shouldn't have trusted Loke to find a proper brand.
"I wanna go here," Levy said, tapping the picture of a beautiful town in the mountains. "It says they have rare books in the local library! I'd like to see those."
Ba-dump.
Gray's eyes bulged and he grabbed at his chest. "What the - "
"You're the only one, Shrimp," Gajeel grunted, jabbing at the picture of a workshop with the end of his knife. "This one has several parks and a waterfall nearby. I'm thinkin' I can do some training there."
Ba-DUMP.
Whoa. This was serious. Gray choked, and something began to spiral rapidly in his stomach. Like he was a dragonslayer on a vehicle going around in loops and circles and doing figure eights in the sky -
"Do you ever stop training?" Lucy said in exasperation, and nudged Natsu. "Hey, look, a dojo! Wow, and they have pretty cheap lodgings, too."
Ba-DUMP.
He needed air. He needed to breathe. He couldn't freaking breathe -
In. Out. In. OUT. It was too hot. TOO HOT. His blood had started to boil in his veins, and he could almost start to feel his fingers shake. Gray felt a jolt of panic run down his spine. What was this? Some sickness? Maybe hyperthermia? Or was he having a stroke?
Water. He needed to submerge himself in lots of water. Ice cold water in a bathtub. Preferably with a few floating ice cubes. He needed to cool down, and he needed to -
"How about the sea?" Juvia suggested. "It's very popular this time of year, but maybe we make a reservation. Juvia likes visiting the sea."
"Yes, yes, good idea, let's go to the sea," Gray gasped in relief. The sea… water… cold… air… Yes. That was a good idea.
"Uhh… Gray, are you okay?" Lucy gave him a strange look. "You look like you're having a fever."
"What?" Juvia immediately put her hands on his cheeks to test his temperature, mouth popping open with worry. Immediately, his heart sped up - boom, boom, boom, BOOM - and heat shot up to his cheeks. What on earth was going on? he wondered frantically. What could he do to stop this?
"Yeah, you look weird," commented Natsu, wiping his mouth with the napkin Lucy offered him wordlessly. "Eat a poisonous mushroom, or somethin'? Sounds like somethin' stupid you'd do."
"Nah," Gajeel said before Gray could retort. He grinned at the ice mage, and the smug look in his eyes grew into something… knowing. And slightly jeering too, but then again, Gajeel was always a jerk when it came to stuff like this.
Wait, stuff like this? Gray's brow creased. Had this ever happened before?
As if sensing his thoughts, the dragonslayer bared his teeth in self-satisfaction.
"He's just completely - "
Levy slapped his mouth shut with her book - which was gigantic and a leather-bound hardcover. Gajeel hissed in pain, scrambling to his feet and rubbing at his sore lip.
"Shrimp, what the he - " he began furiously, but Levy just gave him a look.
"Read the atmosphere, for once," she whispered equally furiously.
Read what atmosphere? Gray's eyes went back to Juvia, and he realized a little too late that she was still holding his face. Crimson infused his face and he suddenly got the feeling that his head was being filled with too much steam. Was there an atmosphere to be read? Since when? How come he hadn't noticed?
"I approve," Erza said, slamming down her fist and nodding firmly. "The beach is a lovely place at this time of year."
"Yeah, we can show off the new tops we bought a few days ago!" Lucy said, grinning at Levy and Juvia.
"I think it's a good idea, too," Mirajane piped in, passing her brother a huge mug of chilled root beer. "We'll see if Lisanna can come." Something sly glinted in her eyes as Elfman chugged down some root beer, and she smirked behind her hand. "In fact, I'll make sure the Raijinshuu can come, as well. Evergreen will be very happy, of course. She loves the beach."
Root beer splashed all over the ground as Elfman struggled to swallow properly.
Amidst the laughs and teasing voices around him, Gray buried his head in his arms, suddenly exhausted, and took a deep breath. He should probably visit the doctor before they left for the sea, he told himself wearily. Then he'd find out what made the world so pretty and shiny and colourful -
Juvia's curls bounced as she rocked back and forth on her seat. Her cheeks flushed with anticipation, she peeked shyly at Gray.
CRASH, went his heart.
Oh, he thought dismally in glum realization, then, oh, crap, I'm so dead.
"Juvia thinks this trip will be the best trip ever!" She announced, and her face glowed -
Gray gave up. He couldn't do it. Nope. He was done. This was it. He was retiring from life, officially. He wasn't gonna do this anymore. Gray is done. Gray is finished. Gray OUT.
His heart skipped like a schoolgirl's as THAT SMILE appeared again, and sunshine and rainbows and all happy sappy stuff shimmered disgustingly beautifully in his mind.
He nodded, confirming it with something akin to dread and resignation.
I'm doomed.