Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref

WARNINGS: Slight AU, reincarnation, shounan ai (boy/boy pairing); you have been warned so don't like, don't read

Dreaming of Dragons

By V. Shalyr

10.

"So what is this thing exactly?"

"It's a TV. I think I told you about it once when we were planning. Here, you press that to turn it on, and those other buttons let you change the channel and the sound volume."

"And you said people watch shows on this?"

"That's right. Some shows are created by getting a group of actors to perform a story, and it gets recorded and then replayed on TV for people around the world to watch. Then there are cartoons, which are basically drawings that move, and then things like news programs, which are real and tell people what's going on in the world right now."

"Huh, I guess that could be sort of useful."

"It can be, as long as you don't turn into a couch potato."

"A what?"

"A couch potato. That's someone who just watches TV all day and doesn't do anything else, like they've grown roots on the couch."

"You mean like a potato that's sat around for too long."

"Exactly."

Tomi turned his face into the pillow to muffle a laugh. That was a pretty bizarre conversation going on out there in the living room.

"He sounds happy."

At the sound of his wife's voice, Tomi rolled back around so he could look at her.

"He does, doesn't he? I don't think I've heard him talk so much or so freely to anyone in his entire life."

"So... it's okay then?"

The words came out hesitant and uncertain, and Tomi's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean? Do you dislike him?"

"What? Oh no, that's not what I was thinking about." Riana worried at her lower lip. "It's just... do you think Natsu wants to take him back to his own world?"

The writer considered her question seriously. It wasn't the first time it had crossed his mind either.

"I think," he said slowly, "that he might want to, but it will depend on what the two of them decide together."

Riana thought about this for a moment then nodded and sighed. "It's their decision, isn't it? Not ours."

"No, not ours," he agreed gently. "But that doesn't mean we can't give them our two cents. We are his parents, after all. It's our job to give both of them what advice we can."

Riana laughed, but it was a tired and not entirely happy sound. "I know, but what kind of advice can we give? This is magic we're talking about, wizards and other worlds. When we got trapped in that other dimension or world or whatever it was, I was helpless. They were the ones looking after me."

"Zeref's growing up, and it sems to me that his friend has been through far more than we can imagine. Beyond that, there is a lot more between the two of them than we can possibly comprehend. But that doesn't mean our opinions can't be helpful. Besides, we did decide that we were going to try and be as supportive as we can about all this."

"I suppose you're right." Riana let out a soft sigh and then suddenly frowned. "Why do you sound so certain about all of this?"

"Ah, you know those stories he's been writing? I reread them while you two were unconscious. It turns out that they're... not fiction. You can tell a lot about a writer's thoughts and feelings from what he or she writes. That's why I never write when I'm bored. A reader would know I was bored even if I didn't include anything explicit in my words to indicate that I was uninterested."

"I see. I do remember you telling me something similar—back when we met while you were working on that cruise story."

The two of them fell silent, taking a moment to reminisce. They had been so young then and so carefree in the way only youth could truly manage.

"Zeref's younger than we were," she said finally, "but he—they—both of them... seem a lot older. You can tell that they've thought carefully about all this and that they're still thinking about it—about what problems they might have, what they want to do, and how to make things work. It makes me wonder about... well, about a lot of things that I get the feeling they're not telling us, but at the same time, I don't think I want to know."

She fell silent once more, and on the other side of the door, there was a laugh that she almost didn't recognize. How long had it been since she'd heard Zeref really laugh? Why did it have to be so hard as a parent to decide when and how much to stick your nose into your children's lives and problems, especially once they started growing up?

"There's no point now trying to figure out what we could have or should have done or noticed," Tomi said as though having read her mind. "There's nothing we can do about that now, and we've already decided to change. All things considered, I think everything's turned out pretty well."

.

The four of them enjoyed their brief stay at the national park, and when Natsu asked if he could stay with them for a couple more days, Tomi and Riana agreed without hesitation. The wizard excused himself to make the necessary arrangements back home, and the three humans watched the dragon circle high over the forest before vanishing without a trace.

"Now that's a sight I'll never forget," Tomi said, shaking his head in disbelief. "So he was the dragon in your stories after all. Literally. Who would have guessed?"

Zeref's eyes fell from the now clear sky to his parents, and he asked hesitantly, "Is... all of this okay?"

There was so much more to that question than he was saying. Was it okay that he had never given up on magic and had spent half his life exploring another world? Was it okay that he wanted to know more about those other worlds, and that he may, in the future, wish to travel to them? Was it okay that Natsu was real and that he loved him and Zeref loved him back?

He was not asking for their approval, not exactly. Whether or not his parents approved would not change who he was or how he felt. He was asking for their acceptance because they were his parents and he loved them, and because their disapproval would hurt him.

The two adults exchanged looks then Riana said, "It's going to take some getting used to, but like I said before, as long as you're happy... Besides, Natsu seems like a decent young man, and I'm sure he'll take care of you."

"Of course, if you do go anywhere dangerous, we'll expect you to be extremely careful and bring yourself home in one piece," Tomi added. "We don't want to hear that you got eaten by a monster or something along those lines. I assume you're cautious enough with all this magic business at home since you haven't injured yourself yet or set the apartment on fire or anything."

Zeref didn't hug them—he generally didn't—but he gave them a bright, genuine smile that assured them that they had made the right choices—said the things that he had needed them to say.

The car ride back into the city was quiet, but in a comfortable rather than awkward sort of way. Long drives in the evening tended to put Zeref to sleep, but today, he had too much on his mind to doze off. He couldn't wait for Natsu to come back, although he felt a pang at the thought of not being able to visit the dream world together for awhile. He would miss the peaceful times they spent together there, but at the same time, it made him happy that the dragon could and would be a bigger part of his life from now on.

He was no longer just dreaming, and the significance of this realization made his heart race.

He almost forgot that he still had to go to school tomorrow.

.

It was not unusual for Zeref to appear as though he wasn't paying attention in class. He was, though, at least in part, and since he always turned in his assignments on time and answered any questions asked him with no trouble, the teachers left him to his own thoughts.

On this particular afternoon, he sat at his desk by the window staring out at the sky. It was math, his last period for the day, and the teacher had set them to solving practice problems during the last fifteen minutes of class. From two rows behind him, two pairs of green eyes watched as he paused now and then to write something down in his notebook before spacing out again.

"Something's different about him today," the owner of one of those pairs of eyes remarked to the boy seated to her right.

"Yeah?" the boy replied skeptically. "How can you tell? He seems pretty much the same as always to me."

"It's obvious." She gestured towards their dark-haired classmate with her pencil. "Normally, he would have finished these problems already and shut his notebook. He likes to pack all his things early so he can leave the moment the bell rings."

"Right. Obvious." Her companion shook his head. "So he's doing his work more slowly today. What's the big deal?"

"I think," she said slowly, "he's excited about something."

"Uh, are you sure you're not imagining things? Zeref's never excited about anything. Hell, I don't think he's ever even been really happy about anything, forget excited."

"That's not true," his companion retorted without hesitation. "You know when he looks like he's thinking about something else? Something other than class and magic, I mean. You can tell whatever he's thinking about makes him happy because he almost smiles."

"Almost smiles? You can't expect me to notice someone almost smile. And anyway, where are you going with all this? Does any of this matter?"

"What are you saying? He's our friend. Don't you want to know why he's acting different?"

The boy ran a hand through his messy blond hair and frowned.

"He has been really nice to us and all, teaching us about magic and stuff, but you know as well as I do that he's a really private person. I don't think he'd appreciate us sticking our noses into his business. I know you're just looking after your friends, Mavis, but some people like keeping to themselves."

"I know that," Mavis said then sighed wistfully. "But he's never been this excited before. Aren't you curious, Yuri? We've technically known him for awhile now and been in the same classes as him for years, but we still don't really know anything about him. Not about what he wants to do in the future or how he likes to spend his free time. Things that friends should know about."

Yuri had to admit that she had a point. He was, in fact, very curious, and growing increasingly so the more she talked about it. All the same, he really hoped he didn't regret this. That was the problem with Mavis and all her crazy ideas. She had a knack for making them sound like good ones, and while he had to admit that most of them did turn out in the end to be good ideas, some of them did not. And the ones that did not tended to be disastrous.

That was how the two of them found themselves following Zeref after school. Thankfully, their other three friends all had other activities scheduled or else it would have been five. Even so, Yuri felt incredibly conspicuous as they snuck from behind trash cans and ducked into alleyways or shop fronts.

"You know this could be considered stalking," he felt compelled to tell her as they crouched hurriedly beside a parked car out of their target's line of sight.

"But we're not doing anything bad," she replied, sounding perfectly reasonable. Then they were off again, their less than perfectly legitimate activity taking them towards downtown.

"Doesn't he live in the other direction?" Yuri asked, giving in. This was, after all, kind of exciting.

"I think so, but the public library is downtown."

"That's true. I'm sure I saw him there before—when I was looking for books for that report in history."

They were wrong, however, and instead of turning left down Page Street towards the library, Zeref turned right. He passed a bookstore, several coffee shops and diners, and a convenience store, then turned right again into one of the city's more notable parks. There were plenty of other people there today: families out picnicking, people walking their dogs, and groups of friends playing games out on the grass. Zeref lingered by one of the three huge water fountains for which the park was famous, glancing this way and that as though looking for someone.

"Is he expecting someone?" Yuri wondered aloud. Strange. He'd been under the impression that Zeref didn't associate much with anyone outside of their magic club and his own family.

Mavis shushed him and he fell silent.

They didn't have to wait long, which was good because hiding amidst these bushes was starting to get scratchy and uncomfortable.

Zeref straightened suddenly, his gaze focused on a young man making his way through the park towards him. He was lean and well-muscled with a head of wild hair and a tattoo on his left shoulder. The sight of that tattoo made both observers feel a little strange, like they'd seen it somewhere before except that they knew they hadn't. Then the stranger reached their sort-of friend and slung an arm around his shoulders. They noted with interest that Zeref didn't flinch away from the contact. When he was with the five of them, he always kept some distance between them and himself. It seemed to be an unconscious habit—most of the time anyway, although there had been a few instances where their presence seemed to make him actually uncomfortable. They had written it down as just one of those things about him that made him a little weird. So then what made this newcomer so different?

"I wish we knew what they were saying," Mavis murmured.

It was a moot point though. They were too far away, the entire area was far too noisy, and neither of them were that great at reading lips. It wasn't exactly a skill they had ever needed.

And then the stranger leaned down for a moment and—and—

The two watchers stared wide-eyed.

"Did you see that?" Yuri asked, not quite believing the evidence of his own eyes.

"That stranger just kissed him," she said, completely forgetting to whisper in her own surprise. "I wonder who he is. I don't think I've ever seen him before. He feels as though he's a decent person though, so I don't think we have to worry."

Yuri put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, I think we know why he was excited to get out of school today now. We should go."

She considered for a moment then conceded.

"You're right." Then she smiled and added, "I'm glad Zeref has someone that he can be so open with. We should give them some privacy."

Besides, both of them could swear that the stranger had glanced in their direction. How he could know they were there, they had no idea, but they didn't want to push their luck.

.

Natsu pulled away from the kiss and asked, "Hey, did you know that there are two people following you?"

Zeref blinked and looked around. There were always a great many people at this park, however, and he had no idea who he should be looking for.

"There are?"

"You can't see them very well from here, but they're hiding in the bushes behind one of the benches. A boy and a girl, both blond. Your classmates, I'm guessing?"

"Oh." The dark-haired boy relaxed. "You're probably right. I wonder why they came all this way."

It seemed he wasn't nearly as paranoid in this life as he had been in his previous one, probably because he hadn't spent hundreds of years being hunted. That was good, Natsu thought. No one needed that sort of baggage.

"I've never given anyone a city tour before," Zeref said, already forgetting about his stalkers. "But I've picked out a few places I thought it might be good for you to know if you'll be visiting more. Before we go though, I thought we should both put these on."

Natsu took the silver pin he offered to him with his free hand, his other arm still around his companion. It was shaped like a miniature shield only about the size of a thumbnail, and when he tilted it so that the sunlight gleamed off its polished surface, he could see the image of a scroll being signed by a quill pen etched upon it.

"What's it for?"

"It's a charm to stop people from listening in on other people's conversations," Zeref explained, attaching the matching pin to the collar of his school jacket. "We can talk about things like magic, but all anyone close to us will hear is normal, everyday things. Like what the whether is like and where we might want to eat dinner."

"That's awesome. And you made it?"

Zeref blushed and looked away. Natsu found the reaction rather adorable and more than a bit amusing since Zeref never used to get embarrassed about anything, especially not praise. What was it he used to say? That he was far too old for silly emotions like embarrassment.

"Awhile ago. I was thinking about Mother's patients and the need at times for confidentiality. Of course, I never told her about it and she'll probably never use it, but..."

He trailed off and shrugged. Useful, practical things. That's what he liked to do with his magic.

"I think it's great," Natsu said firmly. "And I bet you had fun making it."

"I did, and I think it turned out really well."

Zeref smiled, and Natsu wondered what his friends would think if—when—they met him. This Zeref was capable of being so... well, so happy. Every time Natsu saw him smile like this or heard him laugh, it eased the weight he had been carrying around with him all this time a little bit more. The Dragon Slayer wondered if he could take any credit for how Zeref had turned out in this life and decided that he probably could.

"So what else have you made?" he asked, removing his arm from Zeref's shoulders so he could pin the silver shield to his vest.

"Well, there was that barrier you saw me use when that monster attacked Mother and me. I designed that spell to repel bullets. Um, that's a kind of projectile weapon that people use these days. Then there's this charm that lets a person breathe underwater for a short period of time, and this other one that stops people from getting burnt when they walk through a fire. It only lasts for about ten minutes, but I thought it would be helpful for firefighters." He sighed. "I'm not sure any of them would want to try it though. I'd probably have to demonstrate that it works and that it's not a trick."

Natsu mulled this over.

"Uh, mind telling me how you know it works?"

"I tested it."

"...So you put a spell on yourself that was supposed to make you fireproof and then what, stuck your hand in a fire to see if it worked?"

"Um, yes. Basically."

"...I'd really rather you didn't do things like that."

"I tried it on a piece of paper first."

"That's not really the point here. I hope you know it only lasts ten minutes because of the piece of paper."

"Um, more or less."

Natsu didn't like this answer, but he had the feeling he would like the straightforward answer even less. This wasn't the time to debate this though, so he reluctantly let the matter drop and just made a mental note to keep a closer eye on the things Zeref took it into his head to do in the future.

"Right, so where to? We'd better get going or we won't be able to make it back in time to eat dinner with your parents. They were very insistent about it."

"I thought we'd start by visiting a convenience store. You can find them pretty much everywhere in a city, and they sell a bit of everything—you know, to make things more convenient for everyone." Zeref hesitated and asked more quietly, "Are they still following us?"

"Huh? Oh, your classmates? Nah, they left."

"That's good. I was afraid they'd notice you weren't from here. They don't seem it, but they're both quite perceptive."

"Would that cause problems?"

"I... I don't know." Zeref frowned. "I've never really told them much about me. It's... not that I don't trust them exactly..."

He stopped, unable to find the right words for feelings he had never been able to explain to himself in the first place.

"Never mind," Natsu said, placing a hand on the small of his back and giving him a gentle push in the direction they had been about to walk before. "Let's go."

.

The apartment was certainly more lively with another person around. Riana never really thought about how quiet Zeref was until he wasn't being quiet anymore. She could hear him in the kitchen now, teaching Natsu how to operate the microwave and some of the other kitchen appliances.

Riana shook her head and turned up the television a little. She wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but she had to admit that her husband was right. Their conversations were really rather funny, if for no other reason than because of how bizarre they got at times.

Speaking of her husband, Tomi should have been back with takeout by now. The restaurant she'd placed the order with was only a few blocks away. What was keeping him?

On the television, a news report was on. Riana hadn't been paying much attention up to that point, but then the image of the hospital she worked at appeared on screen and she leaned forward, listening intently.

"A strange epidemic seems to be spreading through the city. The first case was reported at 10:00 AM this morning when a woman living by Oria Park called the hospital to say that her husband lost consciousness while heading out for a copy of the day's paper. Since then, several people have reported being unable to wake a family member or friend, and the number of cases keeps increasing."

The image on the screen shifted to a hospital ward where several men and women lay apparently asleep. Riana frowned and reached for her cell phone. It looked like she would be working overtime again.

TBC...

.