Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns Fairy Tail! :)
Warnings: Language, Violence, Potential OOC-ness
Natsu groaned as he grabbed a nearby pillow and yanked it over his head forcefully in order to hide from the intruding sun. Growing up he was always a fan of the sunrise and sometimes made a point of waking at five in the morning in order to catch the canvas of colours. However, he didn't stay up until five in the morning most nights thinking about a certain raven haired man. He huffed under his breath and tossed the pillow across the room when he realized that it just wasn't going to cut it.
He lazily pushed himself up and ran his fingers through his unruly pink hair. He could already tell that today was going to be a very rough day. He never functioned well when he was moving around with limited amounts of sleep; that's why his residency put such a strain on his and Lucy's relationship. He sighed under his breath as he tumbled under his bed and started to rummage through his suitcase; he really should start looking at houses so that he could get out of the grungy hotel that he currently found himself in.
Unsuspectedly, Gray and his house shot through his mind; it was large enough for four people…NO! He couldn't think like that; there was absolutely no way in hell Gray would let him move into his house…especially after what happened last night. What happened the night before was the exact reason why he didn't sleep that night. The expression that was on Gray's face will probably always haunt him; the look of complete and utter betrayal.
He had seen many people cause that look to appear on Gray's face; Lyon being the biggest offender of them all. Back then, he had promised that he would make sure no one would do that to the raven again and now he had broken his own oath and not only once, but twice. Gray was such an important part of his life and he was just willing to let him go…he was willing to let go of the person who was with him when Igneel disappeared and who was there when Lisanna died or when he got tangled up with Daphne…Gray was always there, but he let him go and why?
Because he couldn't see passed the mask of his supposed girlfriend.
Natsu buttoned the front of his pants and sat on the edge of his bed. He buried his face in his hands and closed his eyes. He knew that it would be next to impossible to get Gray's trust back, but he wouldn't rest until he got it. The more he thought about Gray, Lucy and ten years ago, the more he realized that he was a complete and utter fool. He has loved Gray all his life, but ignored it because he was afraid and Lucy was what was normal…he thought Gray would be okay, but in reality he was suffering.
He sighed again and slowly pushed himself off the bed his stomach rumbling loudly. He gathered his jacket and wallet as he made his way to the lobby. After he ate, he was going to go visit Gray again and pray that today was going to go a little bit better; it had to. He just hoped Gray wouldn't get too annoyed and get a restraining order against him or something; which would be something the raven had every right to do. He was so deep in thought that he hadn't even realized he made it to the ground floor. He walked out the front doors, hailed a cab and instructed it to drive him to the most popular restaurant in town.
Natsu yawned loudly as the cab pulled up to the curb in front of the infamous Blue Pegasus Restaurant. He couldn't help but smile at the classy building that stood before him; he remembered the day it opened as if it was yesterday… after all, Magnolia was never the same after the Trimens came into town. The pinkette chuckled under his breath as he opened the glass doors and walked into the lavish reception area. A familiar blonde with bright green eyes was standing at the host booth with a star bright smile planted on his face.
"Hiya Eve!" Natsu called as he approached the booth, "Long time no see huh?"
"Natsu Dragneel," The blonde nodded his head, "Returned to Magnolia I see; will the beautiful Lucy be joining you today?"
The pinkette fought back a frown and tried to keep the smile planted firmly on his face. He was about to respond when an arm draped over his shoulders. Natsu's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned to face the stranger who decided to use him as an armrest only for anger to quickly consume him at the sight of strawberry blonde hair and blue tinted glasses.
"You…"
"Hey there Eve," Loke smiled charmingly at the blonde, "We would like a seat for the two of us."
Natsu growled deep in his throat,
"There's no way in hell that I'm going to sit anywhere with you."
The slighter teen pushed Loke away from him so hard that the blonde's back collided with a nearby wall and caused all the air to rush out of his chest. Natsu glared down at Loke and stood over him as if he were possessed by a demon. The pinkette spat at the blonde kneeling on the floor before turning on his heel and prepared to follow Eve into the main restaurant.
"Oh come now Natsu," Loke coughed slightly; drawing his attention back to the blonde, "That's not any way to treat a friend."
"No it's not," The pinkette agreed through clenched teeth, "But it's okay if I do it to you seeing as you're nothing but dirt."
Natsu was about to leave once more when the next words out of the cheating bastard's mouth reached his ears,
"So basically you look at me like Gray looks at you?"
The pinkette cursed loudly before diving at the blonde and grabbing at the collar of his green jacket. With all his strength, Natsu shoved Loke against the wall again and pressed so close to him that their noses were practically touching. He lifted the arrogant blonde by the lapels of his jacket and threw him across the host desk and into a table of nearby people.
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about you prick!"
Loke smirked as he wiped his fingers across the blood that was draining from his lip,
"Seriously, Natsu, after everything that you've done to him I'd be surprised that he was even considerate enough to think of you as dirt."
Natsu dove at him and punched him across the face causing the blonde to fly into another table. The people occupying squealed loudly as they jumped out of the way and watched as their food went scattering on the ground. The pinkette was faintly aware of Hibiki and the other Trimens shouting at him to stop but he was too far gone now. He raised his hand and was about to pile drive his fist into Loke's perfect face when a strong hand wrapped around his forearm and started to pull him away from the blonde. Natsu struggled against the grip on his arm and almost escaped when the same firm arm quickly shifted to wrap around his waist.
"Don't interfere, you bastard!" He hissed as he continued to struggle.
"Calm down you pink haired idiot," A gruff voice demanded, "You honestly never grew up."
The pinkette stiffened at the familiar jibe and turned his head to see that the person who was holding him back was none other than his past school rival (other than Gray of course) Gajeel Redfox holding him tightly. In the back of his mind, he questioned how the older raven managed to get the job with the Trimens or even managed to obtain a job in the first place; but he wasn't able to linger on it too much because his anger was quickly clouding his judgement. Natsu quickly elbowed Gajeel in the gut which in turn forced the raven to release him.
"I said don't interfere," He hissed threateningly, "This has nothing to do with you."
"Oh really," Gajeel smirked broadly, "What do you think Titania would do if she saw what you were doing right now?"
Natsu's eye twitched slightly before shouting in exasperation,
"She would probably murder me…but at least I'd get the satisfaction of beating the shit out of him."
"Well then… who am I to stop you?"
The pinkette stared at the older teen with his mouth hanging open before the familiar predatory smirk of the Salamander slowly wormed its way onto his tanned face. He was about to launch an attack on Loke only to have the blonde finally retaliate and football tackle the pinkette and send them both flying to the floor. Natsu quickly raised his hands in front of his face as Loke's knuckles began to rain down on him. He growled loudly as he quickly brought his knee up so that it jammed into Loke's diaphragm and sent the blonde sprawling off him.
"You have no reason to attack me," Natsu stated as he jumped onto Loke's waist and punched him across the face, "If anything you should be lying down and taking it."
The blonde smirked cockily as he grabbed onto Natsu's tanned wrists and flipping their positions,
"Then you're more stupid than I thought Natsu; there's only one reason why I would feel the reason to return to Magnolia and you know exactly what that reason is."
Natsu's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition,
"Lucy."
The blonde smirked darkly before leaning close to Natsu's face so that the next thing he said couldn't be heard by the people standing around them. The pinkette was about to push the blonde off of him once more when Loke finally decided to speak.
"She may be with me and in my bed," He hissed, "But she's still obsessed with making sure Gray can't have you."
Natsu glared at the glasses wearing man before wrenching his wrists out of Loke's grip and slugging him across the face once more. He was about to jump on the man again when the sound of police sirens reached his ears. He cursed under his breath when the main doors opened to reveal none other than Jellal Fernandes with a smirk planted on his face. The pinkette slumped on the floor and glared at the lucky blonde; if only Jellal was a second later.
"Natsu, you're not even in Magnolia for a day and you're already causing trouble?" He teased.
The pinkette huffed and crossed his arms over his chest,
"I didn't start it this time."
Jellal shifted his gaze over to Loke who was getting checked over by the paramedics,
"I'm willing to bet that you didn't, but you should've ignored him; he can press charges on you, you know."
The younger man scoffed under his breath,
"He wouldn't do that."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
Natsu glanced away from the blunette,
"Because he wanted to piss me off and he succeeded; he got what he came here for."
The blunette huffed under his breath and ran his fingers through his hair. Natsu glanced up when he heard the doors to the restaurant open again. He surprised to see a familiar woman with long raven hair and two children holding one of her hands. Her eyes managed to land on them and her brown eyes narrowed dangerously as she stomped towards them.
"Jellal Fernandes, there better be a good explanation for this!"
Jellal smiled at the approaching figure,
"Ultear, nice to see you on a Sunday morning."
The raven glared at the man and pressed her finger to his chest,
"Don't start with me Fernandes; this is the first time I've had the kids in two weeks!"
Natsu flinched as the angry woman shouted at Jellal; he forgot that Ultear was in the same business as Jellal was. He glanced over at the two boys standing at Ultear's feet and waved at them with a small smile on his face. Haru giggled and waved at Natsu before running towards him and hugging him tightly. He ruffled the three year old's hair and hugged him back,
"Hey there Haru, sorry for ruining your morning with your mom."
The small raven smiled toothily,
"It okay Naswu! Mama's just mad 'cause she's missing her morning pogams!"
"That's good," He smiled broadly and shifted his gaze to Dallin, "Hi Dal, how are you?"
The blunette blinked owlishly for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. Natsu sighed sadly before a small smile spread across his lips once more. Haru already liked him and that was a given, but Dallin has been iffy around him since the first time they met. Maybe, just maybe, if he was able to get Dallin to warm up to him and trust him, it would help Gray trust him more too…Operation Get Gray Back could officially be set in motion!
"I should've known that it would be you."
Natsu flinched at the voice,
"Ultear I can explain…"
"You can explain why you ruined my weekend with my boys after I take you to the station."
Well shit…
FTFTFTFT
Gray couldn't stop his mouth from dropping open as he watched the brawl on the TV. Although part of him wasn't surprised that Natsu had let his temper get the best of him again, he was extremely baffled as to why Loke had returned to Magnolia. His blonde haired friend disappeared mere months after Natsu and Lucy had left and he had his suspicions as to why that happened. Many of their other friends believed that he had gotten sick because he slept around with a different girl every night and others thought that his past with Karen was finally catching up with him. But Gray, he knew that it was a different story; after all, he was the only one who actually tried to get to know the real Loke…and the only one who listened when he hit on Lucy Heartfilia.
He had to admit, when Loke first started flirting with Lucy he thought that he was either trying to get a quick lay or get under Natsu's skin, but that changed when he recognized the longing that Loke held in his gaze; it was look he knew that he directed at Natsu. He was willing to bet that Loke left Magnolia in order to follow Natsu and Lucy to Edolas and try to win her affections. Gray's mind wandered to the night before when Natsu mentioned that he and Lucy had broken up; he was willing to bet on his entire life savings that Loke had a hand in that outcome.
"Gray, are you even listening to me?!"
The raven shook his head slightly before looking over at his older brother,
"Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a moment there…what did you say?"
He held his breath for a moment as Lyon's onyx eyes seemed to narrow at him. He really hated when the silverette tried to psychoanalyze him; just because he went to school and received a minor in psychology doesn't mean that he had the right to treat him like a psych patient all the time. After a moment of tense silence, Lyon rolled his eyes and pointed towards the TV once more.
"I was saying that the fight was over," He stated, "Jellal and the task force showed up."
Gray blinked at his older brother briefly before turning his gaze to the screen once more and there stood Jellal and a cacophony of paramedics. An unsettling feeling settled into his stomach as he watched the scene; wasn't Jellal supposed to be on holidays? He was about to ask Lyon when he was cut off by the ringing of his cellphone; the 'Jaws' theme song blaring loudly in the room. He cursed under his breath as he saw Ultear's name blinking across his phone screen; he could tell that this was going to be a bad day.
"I'd answer that if I were you," Lyon winced, "You know how she can get."
The younger man sighed loudly before pressing the green icon on the phone,
"Good morning Ultear."
The other line was silent for a moment before an irritated voice answered,
"There's nothing good about this morning Gray."
He pinched the bridge of his nose,
"I saw the news this morning…did you get called in?"
"Unfortunately," She hissed, "Do you think you could come get the boys?"
Gray could detect the anger and sadness in her voice; he couldn't help but feel guilty about the fact that Ultear's time with their sons was cut short…again. Even though it was her idea that he got the boys the majority of the time, he knew that she wanted to spend more time with them. She knew that stuff like this would get in the way of the boys frequently and she didn't want to neglect them; therefore, they were put under the custody of him. However, if the social worker who was coming later this week deemed him too ill to take care of his children properly they would have to go live with her anyway.
"Yeah…" He told her, "Where can I get them?"
She sighed,
"I had to bring them with me to Blue Pegasus because we were heading to breakfast when I got the call; would you be able to pick them up there?"
"That's fine," He smiled, "I'll be right over…Ultear?"
"What?"
Gray chewed on his bottom lip for a moment,
"Do you work nights this week?"
The line went silent and he was sure that she had hung up on him. He was about to end the call himself when her quiet voice echoed through the phone,
"I should be home by five every evening; there's no big cases as of yet. Why are you asking?"
He ran his fingers through his hair and he was aware of Lyon looking over at him with wide eyes. He ignored his brother's inquiring gaze and focused on the task at hand; this was the least he could do for Ultear and if something came up, he could always watch over them at her place.
"Okay," He leaned back on his couch, "Spring break just ended on Friday so the boys will be at school until three every day; Dal is ten now so he should be able to pick up Haru after school and watch him until you get back from work at five. Why don't you just take the boys for the week? I think they'd really like that; they miss you, you know."
"Gray…" She whispered, "Are you sure?"
He chuckled,
"Of course I'm sure; if you do get called out or have to stay late Lyon or myself can come watch them for a couple hours. You deserve to see your sons Ultear; it's been too long since you were able to spend time with them."
"Okay." He could almost sense her smile from the other side of the phone, "Do you want me to pick up more clothes and their school stuff?"
"No, no," Gray smiled broadly, "I'll get them all packed and such when I bring them home for a couple hours; you can come get them whenever you're done dealing with the flame head and the pervert."
"Okay," She repeated, "I'll see you later then; Jellal is staying with the boys waiting for you."
"Yes ma'am!" He teased, "See you in a couple hours Ul."
As he hung up the phone just as her annoyed voice came through the speakers,
"Do NOT call me Ul!"
He laughed as he hung up the phone and threw it on his coffee table. He stared up at the ceiling; it was going to be strange without the boys around him all week. He was pulled out of his musings when he felt his brother staring at him so intently that he was pretty sure that if Lyon had laser vision there would be twin holes burned into the side of his head.
"What do you want Lyon?"
The silverette seemed to stare at him for a few seconds before laughing softly,
"It's amazing how well you get along with your ex; you know that right?"
Gray rolled his eyes before glancing over at his brother,
"You know that it was a mutual split…"
The older man punched him in the shoulder playfully and ruffled his hair. Gray growled at him and pushed his hand away. Lyon merely laughed and poked his cheek; quickly jumping off the couch as Gray dove at him. The silverette smirked as he made his way towards the door.
"We both know why the split was mutual," He raised an eyebrow, "She knew that your heart would always belong to him Gray, so don't deny it."
The raven frowned and glanced away from him,
"Whatever."
He heard Lyon laugh…
He heard the lock click as it was unlocked…
He heard the doorknob squeak as it was turned…
And just when he was expecting to hear the door slam shut, he heard…
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Gray knew that today was going to be a bad day.
TBC
Hey minna! Here's a new chapter for you guys! I'm sorry if the fight scene between Loke and Natsu sucks; I really, really suck at writing fight scenes…:'( And I hope that the characters weren't terribly OOC in this; I have a feeling Loke, Ultear and Gray all were and that makes me sad lol. I haven't forgotten my other stories either, I promise! I started the fifth chapter of Broken so that should be out soon! :) Waiting for your reviews!
-sktrgrl
PS. Okay read the new chapter of Fairy Tail and I'm super surprised! I did not expect Wendy to cut off her hair; for some reason that impacted me like no tomorrow! (Maybe I'm just weird like that! :P) And yay, Rogue and Sting came to save the day! (never thought I would say that!) And Mashima actually made me have sympathy for Minerva…I didn't think that was possible! XD
Answers to your reviews!
There are twelve of you lovely reviewers! :) you guys are honestly awesome! I'm gonna be honest with you guys; I was lame and decided to read all the reviews on my previous stories and I gotta say the majority of you have been with me from the very beginning, starting with 'Save Me, Help Me, Free Me' and I gotta say that some of your reviews cracked me up! Thanks to those who followed me and favourited as well!
BeautifulWonderland256: Thanks for thinking my story is awesome! :) especially since I think your stories are freaking amazing (they're honestly my crack XD)I'm gonna be honest, I hate Lucy's guts in the anime/manga…I don't know why…I just do! So I had to make a story where I could bash her all I wanted :P
DreamscomeTRUEEE: Yup, with them both in town shit is bound to hit the fan! And I can promise you that next chapter Lyon might go more than a little crazy ;) Because I'm pretty sure you can guess who was at the door! :P Hope you liked the chapter!
LindyLinn: I know right…and more stuff is going to happen! :) Stuff is starting to go crazy and it's going to be explosive! I hope you liked the chapter!
AsDarknessSpreads: No! I'm happy you pointed it out lol! I'll be honest with you, I don't have a beta and more than half the time I'm too lazy to reread my chapters so grammar errors are bound to happen a lot :P I gotta admit that Gray looked uber sexy on the chapter cover page… I might have drooled just a little bit O.o' :P
G. Night: I know…way to get on Erza's bad side Lucy; pfft, she's not gonna make it :P I just had to put Loke in there; he was begging me to put him there to antagonize Natsu!
Yaoifornow: Lol, you make me laugh whenever you comment! XD So much anger and hatred towards Lucy and Loke; it doesn't seem healthy but I approve! :) And I know! I just love playing with the bros' relationship; it's so much fun!
Mgluvsbl25: Sadly, Gray's illness can't be cured… it can only be managed. Of course I could do whatever I wanted, but I want to try and stay as true to the illness as I can :'( sorry! But thank you for your support and love! It means a lot to me!
Strife134: Lol I know right! She should be happy with what she had! We know Gray wanted Natsu to be happy and even though Gray loved Natsu he was willing to let him be with Lucy so she should really shove it… honestly. It's okay… maybe Erza can set her straight ;) A little violence wouldn't hurt anyone…
Scarlet Huntress: Here's the new update! Gah! Thank you for the compliments and hopefully this answered some of your questions! :D I'm so happy you're back!
Guest: Is that a good thing or bad thing? Lol… like is it an 'OMG I can't believe that happened!' or an 'this could never happen' :P either view is welcome mind you! thanks for the comment and here's the next chapter!
Guest: Awwww thank you! :) I'm really trying my best with this story so I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Loke wasn't exactly cornered per say… but he can't say he didn't deserve that ass kicking!
Nemmey: Loke's fine… I made sure Natsu wouldn't kill him! We don't want our favourite flame head getting convicted of murder do we ;) hope you like the new chapter!