Chapter 14: Stupid Confusing Boy

Erza was forced to drug Natsu that night.

It started out because he couldn't sleep. He'd spent the afternoon and evening in his own head, where it was boring and depressing. When night fell, he stared up at the dark ceiling thinking the same endless thoughts in a circle.

He remembered the whole fight with Gray and the details swirled around his brain, this punch, those flames—replaying over and over like a broken movie-lacrima.

Natsu also remembered his dream. Or hallucination, whatever it had been: the fevered, fuzzy thoughts which, now that he had a clear head, could obviously not have been real. But he'd either been too out of it to notice the unreality, or had wanted too badly for it to be true.

Stupid Gray. Confusing Dream.

And so Natsu couldn't sleep. But he couldn't keep gritting his teeth and letting his brain run in wild circles, either.

Erza had decided to sleep in the infirmary that night, as she knew him well enough to suspect he wouldn't stay in one place without supervision. Waiting until her breathing softened into a slow rhythm, Natsu began to push himself up.

He almost cried out.

He had not anticipated the sharp pains lancing through his ribs, the pressure on his lungs, or how the throbbing pain he'd felt all day turned into sheer agony. There was a hole in him, that was for sure.

But the Salamander kept pushing until, sweating and panting, he was sitting up in bed.

His heart pounded against his injuries. He wrapped his arms around himself: everything hurt, everywhere. He hadn't expected it to be this bad. But now that he was here, he might as well go the rest of the way. Besides, the worst was over.

He slowly swung his legs onto the floor.

No sooner had his feet touched down than Erza sat straight up.

"Natsu! What the hell are you doing?"

Before he could attempt to flee (it would've been a snail's pace anyway), she punched him in the stomach.

Falling backward onto the bed, the Dragon Slayer let out a long hiss and covered his chest with his hands. He bit down, tasting blood and not really caring: anything, anything to distract from the shocks shivering through him.

"Erzaaaa," he breathed. "Gods, shit, get me ice, numb it, make it go away, something, fuck..."

Towering over him, Erza grabbed a glass of water by the bed and started adding something to it. Anger painted her every feature, made starker and more terrifying by the dark shadows and scant light.

"Drink," she growled, and had to practically pour it down his throat.

"It's not helping," he hissed as Erza roughly manhandled him back into a prone position on the bed. He let out a high-pitched scream and was thankful nobody else was there to hear it.

"Give it a few minutes to kick in," Erza said. "And for every one of those minutes, remember that this pain can get a hell of a lot worse. Don't you dare move again."

"I...won't..."

The burning fire inside him was pushing out the pain little by little, but he was experiencing something else too: drowsiness hooked him and pulled his eyelids down. Everything was heavy and he couldn't move—

Lucy thought Gray looked happier as they rode the train home from their successful mission. He was calm—not quite his usual laidback self, but at least a lot closer. He now noticed when people spoke his name and could even carry on a conversation.

The only time on the job he acted weird, actually, was when she called on Loki's help. Instead of disappearing after the three of them disbanded the kidnappers, Loki had turned to the dark-haired boy with a little smirk.

"Nice moves," he'd said. "And with the burn on your shoulder. I'm impressed."

"It's mostly healed," Gray said, shrugging and not looking at him. "Ice helps with that."

"Does it really?" Lucy interjected in surprise.

"Mm. It does for me, anyway. On other people, it might just stop the bleeding."

You were burned badly enough to bleed?!

"Probably depends on the person," Loki said amiably. "On someone hot like Natsu, I imagine ice does more harm than good."

Gray was silent. Lucy narrowed her eyes. Was Loki trying to piss Gray off, or did he just not know yet?

"Look out," Gray growled.

He put his hands together and a lance of ice shot at the celestial spirit. Loki jumped out of the way, but the weapon zoomed past where he'd stood to hit one of the kidnappers in the chest. The woman, who had just raised a magic-enshrouded fist at Lucy, fell unconscious.

"You're supposed to protect your key-holder, Loki," Gray said.

Loki looked bashfully at Lucy. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." She blinked. It wasn't like Gray to reprimand people, and it wasn't like Loki to let people reprimand him.

But that was the only time Gray seemed off. Loki disappeared soon after and Gray returned to something resembling a taut calm.

When they reached Magnolia, Lucy went straight to Fairy Tail, dragging Gray with her by the force of her enthusiasm. He followed her through the hall, walked sluggishly into the infirmary behind her.

Gray and Natsu stared at each other.

"Hey, ice brain," Natsu said.

"Hey."

As Lucy told them—or at least, told Erza—about the job, Gray leaned against the wall by Natsu's bed. The ice mage was stripped to the waist, as usual, and Natsu could see the edges of a large scab wrapping around Gray's far shoulder.

For some reason, Natsu had a hard time looking Gray in the eye, focusing on his abs instead—which was not helpful. Gray surveyed him without blinking. Neither of them was listening to Lucy's account.

Natsu was tied down to the bed today. A rope crossed his shoulders, keeping him from rising. That had actually been his request. He kept trying to sit up automatically, and even without Erza's rough treatment, it hurt a lot. He just wasn't used to having to lie flat for hours.

"Bored of this place yet?" Gray asked.

"Yes." Natsu sighed and rolled his eyes. "Erza is the worst company."

"Natsu! I am offended you would say that," Erza interjected. Both girls were glaring at him. Oops.

"I've been saying it all day," he retorted.

"I am not the worst company."

"She keeps hitting me," he told the room at large, eyes flitting up and catching Gray's gaze for a moment. Gray was still watching him without emotion.

"You keep trying to get up!" Erza exclaimed.

Natsu twisted his head away pointedly and looked at Gray.

"So? What happened on the job? How many people did you get to fight?"

At that, Gray's face quirked into a half-smile, and Natsu grinned.

"Five," Gray said. "Six if you count the one I had to knock out again because Loki didn't do the job right."

"You were awfully hard on him for that," Lucy said.

Gray shrugged without a hint of penitence. For a second, the pink wrapping around his shoulder became more visible. Natsu frowned at it.

"What—?" Natsu began, trying to sit up.

Pain and rope shoved him back down. Holding his breath, he gripped the sheets as the familiar agony rippled through him. He tried to keep his expression still. Gray could not see him weak like this.

Erza had her hands on her hips. "Natsu Dragneel, if you try that again, I'm tightening the rope until it hurts."

"Don't do that," Natsu said, managing (he felt) to keep his voice sounding ordinary. "I just forgot this once. Won't happen again."

He let out a long exhale, avoiding his rival's eyes as he did so. I'm not in pain; don't say anything...

"Erza, is hurting him further really going to help?" Lucy asked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure pain is the only language Natsu understands."

As the two got in an argument about the proper treatment of invalids, Natsu looked up. Gray was still staring at him.

"What's on your shoulder?" Natsu asked quietly.

Gray, of course, looked at the wrong shoulder.

"Uh, lint?" he said with a shrug, brushing off something invisible.

Natsu sighed. "Your other shoulder, icicle."

"Oh." Gray glanced down. "Nothing."

Natsu gave him The Look: the raised eyebrow that said, don't treat me like an idiot.

"Popsicle, I understand why you're not crowing about the fact that I burned you, but it's still disconcerting not having you trying to flay me."

Gray shrugged yet again. Natsu was getting really tired of that gesture. All the fight was gone from his best friend.

It made Natsu angry. Gray had no right. This wasn't how their rivalry was supposed to be: dead and trampled.

" Natsu," Gray murmured.

Then he stopped. Gray glanced over at the girls: their argument had gotten strangely impassioned, Natsu felt. They didn't seem to notice anyone else existed.

With Happy out getting fish, that meant the two boys were effectively alone.

"I'm sorry," Gray said.

Natsu's eyes just about popped out of his head. Not only at the words, but at the soft tone Gray said them in.

"What?" Natsu stammered.

"Geez, Natsu." Gray rubbed a hand across his eyes. He looked like a drooping plant. "I said I'm sorry."

Natsu stared at Gray with his mouth open. Gray stared at the floor.

"Baka, what for?" Natsu hissed. Don't you get anything, cold freak?

It was Gray's turn to give Natsu The Look. Gray's black eyes arrested the Dragon Slayer with the glint of dangerous self-hatred hiding in them. Natsu felt his stomach tighten in fear, but he wasn't quite sure why.

Gray pulled away from the wall.

"I've got to go," Gray said. "I hope you heal quickly."

He didn't even wait for a reply before striding to the open doorway.

"Gray!" Natsu called after him. Then, because the girls had turned, "Droopy-eyes!"

The boy in question paused on the threshold, looking at Natsu through his bangs.

"Come back tomorrow," Natsu said. "I'm not done with you, snow queen. Someone has to keep me entertained, or I'm going to go insane and burn this place down."

He had hoped for a retort. Hoped to finally get a little fire back. Instead…Gray smiled. The first genuine one since he and Lucy arrived.

Natsu's inner heat kicked into high gear, heart racing.

"See you tomorrow, then," the ice mage said, before walking out.

Stupid, confusing boy, Natsu thought, trying desperately not to blush.