A/N: A bit shorter this time, but I just kinda felt like writing something.
Hangover
He was going to do this.
Man, this was annoying as balls.
But he swore to himself he'd do it.
Didn't mean it'd be easy though.
And as Natsu pondered over such things in his mind, he looked positively ecstatic with how his body was reacting to the tobacco it hadn't been subjected to. He was hunched over his kitchen's table, body almost writhing in what outwardly resembled pain. A very loud and overly dramatic groan escaped him as he stretched his arms outwardly, as if trying to grasp at something for dear life. His forehead was resting against the wooden surface, yet the motions of 'I'm just sitting here, repeatedly smashing my forehead against this table right here' told a different story.
An answer to this? A grey cloud of smoke in his face. Gajeel grinned to himself as he watched Natsu suffer, all while making it much worse with the way he was just casually smoking in his teammate's kitchen, "There's a fucking balcony for that, you asshole." The fiery haired Dragneel croaked out, his throat literally feeling dry because of missing something that actually would've made it dry.
"Naw, I'm good." FTU's Point Guard answered in amusement as he sipped on his coffee and inhaled his poison, crimson eyes watching his teammate, "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't make things more challenging for you?"
Natsu gave a very dry yet sharp laugh as a response, "You're a goddamn cunt, you know that?"
"Takes one to know one."
"Seriously though, G. At least open a window." Erik said as he entered the room, giving Gajeel the stink-eye. Whilst the way Natsu was suffering did amuse him, he clearly thought that it was not worth making their kitchen have the odor of a damn ashtray over it, "The shit you smoke is godawful too."
"Fuck you." The dark haired male responded with a growl, yet still went to open the window. Meanwhile, Erik fell into a chair next to Natsu, a deep breath escaping him as he was relatively tired of all the training they had been going through lately. Both Jellal and Laxus have been on a proverbial killing spree in regards to training schedules and routines, and he swore Fiore's national team probably didn't practice this much. If they didn't burn out with fatigue before their next official match, their GPAs would get fucked harder than yet another Kardashian who got her sextape released.
What a surprise.
"So, what are you doing here exactly?" The red haired Small Forward inquired, looking to Gajeel for an answer.
"He's dropping off Levi's notes for native lit. I haven't read jackshit since we've been practicing twenty-four-goddamn-seven, and I kinda don't want to fail that again." Natsu interjected, face still very firmly enjoying the cool surface of their kitchen table.
Gajeel scoffed at this, "As if you would've read that even if we didn't have practice." He said, yet Natsu didn't even bother a reply, which amused their Captain even more, "But yeah, she asked me to give this to him, so now I'm just killing time before our next round of practice."
All three players shared a collective groan that sounded borderline pained.
"Speaking of that pipsqueak, you two dating or someshit?" Erik asked, sounding somewhat curious.
In some other, romantically horrendous animu universe Gajeel's reaction would've probably been something between choking on his coffee and doing a galactic-level double take. Sadly, not sadly at all, this shit is not hoisted in the horrific multiverse of Mary Sue-like NaLu stories, so there's only one reality where Gajeel's response was a simple shrug.
"Naw, man." He answered honestly, meeting eyes with his teammate, "Like, she helps me out with class shit, I make sure no douche hits on her and stuff like that, y'know? Figure it's a pretty sweet deal."
"…what, you her Groot now? I'm Gajeel. Wraaaaaaaah." Natsu said, turning his head to the side slightly so he could regard the dark haired male.
"No, dumbass." Gajeel answered with an exhale of smoke, punishing the pinket for the horribad reference, "She, quote unquote, wants to be able to fully focus on her studies without being distracted… or something like that. I swear, she's like the vegan of studying."
"Ayyy." Natsu barked out, laughing.
"Word." Erik added with a snicker, yet he wasn't quite satisfied just yet, "But, uhh… do you, y'know, like her?"
"That sentence right there sounded so drama-teen-like that I swear it just made these shitty withdrawals worse." Dragneel added, growling later when a plastic cup hit his head courtesy of his roommate.
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with pinky here." Gajeel said through a short laugh.
"Right?!" Natsu added.
"Just answer the damn question."
Gajeel hummed, taking a quick drag of his smoke and then finishing the combo off with a sip of coffee, basking in the utterly entrancing taste, "I dunno. I mean, yeah, sure, she's cute, I guess, but I honestly never really thought about it before."
"Yeah, it's kinda difficult to imagine an idiot like you with Nerdvi."
"I don't want to be called an idiot by you, of all people." The Point Guard said before bonking Natsu on the head.
Well, they do say opposites attract, Erik thought amusedly, resting his chin in his open palm, "And what's up with you, Natsu? You quit smoking cause Lucy told you to?"
"Those two are a thing?" Gajeel questioned, blinking at Erik with some form of surprise.
"Not exactly, but it's getting there. I mean, they-"
A loud groan that came from Natsu made the redhead quiet down, "It's… I don't fucking know, man. Don't ask me shit like that."
"Oh sweet baby Jesus I can already smell the drama." Gajeel added, rubbing his temples and shaking his head.
"Dude, you either like her or you don't. It's not that difficult."
Natsu sighed, "When I figure it out – you'll know. Until then? Leave it alone, alright?" He said, sounding annoyed, "Look, between quitting smoking, studying, the increase in practice and game rhythm, and a goddamn Everest of other shit, my brain feels like it's being fucked sideways by some kind of mutant-alien race of cacti dildos and can't think straight. So stop acting like sixteen and pregnant bridesmaids and just lemme go at this at my own pace."
A relatively long pause followed this before Gajeel took a sip of his coffee, "Where the fuck did you come up with the whole "mutant-alien race of cacti dildos" thing?"
"Saw some weeb browsing Tumblr on the train ride home."
"That actually explains everything."
