Thanks, mdelpin and SilverWhiteDragon, for your reviews. It's always fun to see what other people think of what I wrote and hear thoughts and predictions of where the story will go. So thank you.

Now, I hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter 14: A Long Way There

Gray, Natsu and Happy arrived at the train station only to be pushed into a train by two girls. They barely managed to sit down, before the train started. It just so happened that Gray and Natsu sat next to each other, the girls and Happy across them, and as the dragon slayer's motion sickness took effect, he collapsed on the ice-make wizard's lap. The raven-haired boy was about to move his hand into his boyfriend's hair, trying to give him at least some kind of support, when he heard giggling from the seat across. Instead of threading his fingers through the soft, pink hair, he had to fight to keep the color of his cheeks from changing. Maybe Natsu put his head on the raven-haired boy's lap on purpose, but he could always say it was just his motion sickness. There was no way for Gray to explain threading his fingers through the boy's hair.

The girls looked at the giggling cat. They noticed what he was looking, and looked over. Thankfully, the fight the ice-make wizard was having in his body, with the blood rushing to his cheeks, twisted his face into something that could be considered a displeased expression, so the girls didn't find anything odd. He could feel the fire mage on his lap laughing, disguising it as retching, probably knowing full well the battle his boyfriend was having. It made the raven-haired boy want to stand up and proclaim to everyone who could hear that the boy next to him was his boyfriend. They were hiding their relationship from everyone, because the pink-haired boy didn't want to tell anyone yet. And he was teasing him like this in front of their teammates! Gray laughed.

"What?", the girls asked at the same time.

"Nothing.", he said, still laughing at how his boyfriend was teasing him, and his boyfriend still used retching to hide his laughs. Happy must've seen through his friend's act, and started to giggle with them.

"What's wrong with you two?", Erza asked. The girls didn't notice anything and they both looked confused by a sudden, and, at least to them, unwarranted laughter.

"Nothing,", the ice-make wizard and the blue Exceed said together, the fire mage still hiding behind his sickness.

"Sure…", Lucy said. She turned to the blue Exceed next to her. "I'm glad you're better, Happy.", she finished.

"Aye.", the cat said half-heartedly, looking guilty? sad? but trying to hide it. Did the dragon slayer and the Exceed really work through everything? They looked like they did, they said that they did, but looking at Happy, he still looked like he was afraid of something.

Getting his laughter under control, Gray asked. "How long do we have to ride the train?"

"Did you even look where the job is?", the red-haired girl asked looking ready to scold him for his irresponsible behavior.

"Not, really.", he answered. "Natsu was the one that chose the job."

"Well, we're going to Bosco, to some small village in a forest.", she said.

"Bosco? That's the country whose guilds were wiped out during the invasion.", the raven-haired boy remembered.

"Yes, and that's why they sent their job to us. It's not on the other side from the border where we'll enter Bosco, but it's not close to the border either. The village has a problem with monsters in the forest around them. They've been attacking anyone who tries to enter the village, leaving people mostly uninjured, but stealing anything they could get their hands on. People are afraid of leaving the village. We must kill all the monsters before everyone in that village dies of hunger. Anyway, we'll have to walk from the closest town, and it should take us eighteen hours to reach that town.", Erza finished.

"You mean I'll have to suffer eighteen hours of this?", the pink-haired boy said weakly from Gray's lap.

The red-haired woman clearly misunderstood what he meant as she offered. "You can always sit next to me. I could even knock you out, if you don't want to suffer through your motion sickness."

"N-n-no, I'm fine.", he answered, probably glad she offered to knock him out so it would seem as if he was refusing that offer, when the truth was that he wanted to be close to his boyfriend.

Luckily, the girls were as oblivious as, Gray was now almost certain, Fairy Tail made its members.

Soon enough, Natsu was asleep in the ice-make wizard's lap. When the girls noticed this, they shared a look before Erza spoke. "How is he taking all of this?", the red-haired mage asked Gray.

The raven-haired wizard sighed. He didn't really like to talk about his boyfriend, not like this, because it felt like he was talking behind his back, but their teammates were worried. "Better than anyone else would. I blamed myself for a long time because I couldn't save my parents. That was more than a decade ago, and I still feel guilty. To Natsu, it's like his parents died only a month and a half ago. Considering that isn't even scratching the surface of everything he has to deal with, I'm just glad he can still laugh.", the ice-make wizard said truthfully. The story the boy sleeping on his lap told him yesterday came to his mind. He hoped the dragon slayer didn't think of this as a dream, or even worse a nightmare, anymore. And more than that, he was glad his boyfriend still had a will to live, even after everything he had been through. If everyone just knew everything the fire mage has been through, they wouldn't make stupid comments like the one Laxus did yesterday. They would probably be surprised the boy hasn't changed.

"I see.", Erza said thoughtfully. "Maybe he should have waited some more before he told everyone the truth.", she continued after thinking some time.

"He spent those three weeks after the invasion looking for a way he could use his magic without using the Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. During the trial job, he said he didn't want to return to the guild and lie to the people there. Maybe he should have waited, but I think that that would have done more harm in the end.", the ice-make wizard said, looking at the people sitting across from him.

"How much Magic Power does he even have?", Lucy asked hesitantly.

"I don't know if Gramps told you everything Natsu said to him, but there are some things he didn't tell him. He didn't want to scare everyone more than they'd already be. The truth is, he doesn't even know how much Magic Power he has. He said he uses what he feels he could use, but every day he wakes up, he feels he can use more and more." Seeing the look of horror on the girls' faces, he added. "I told you, told the whole guild. There's no one else strong enough to deal with what he's dealing with."

"And you said that blaming himself for the death of his parents is only scratching the surface of everything he has to deal with?", the celestial wizard asked in disbelieve.

As the raven-haired boy nodded his head, he saw that the blue Exceed knew at least something more, probably being told this morning. "But he'll be alright.", Gray said confidently.

"Aye, sir! He has you.", the blue cat said, the true meaning of that sentence shared only between them. "And he has all of us!", Happy finished so as not to draw attention to his previous remark.

"You're right.", the celestial wizard said, smiling at the Exceed. "We'll help him." Happy didn't look at the blond girl, focusing intently on his friend's sleeping face. The girl followed his gaze, smiling at the boy's peaceful expression.

They didn't talk much for some time after that. The ice-make wizard felt like he already said as much as he could, and, not wanting to betray the trust Natsu placed in him, he refused to reveal anything else as they continued their journey. Soon the girls fell asleep and the only ones awake were Gray and Happy. One of his hands soon wandered into his boyfriend's soft hair, to the giggles of the cat. His other hand went to the dragon slayer's chest where he felt the rapid rise and fall of it, and a slight shaking. Natsu was having a nightmare, the ice-make wizard knew. He tried to hold him as tightly as he could, trying to show the fire mage that he wasn't alone.

It didn't go unnoticed by the cat, as he asked, "What wrong?", indicating the arms wrapped protectively around his friend.

"He's having a nightmare.", the raven-haired boy answered quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping girls.

"He still has them?", the Exceed asked sadly.

"What do you mean still?", Gray asked worriedly.

Happy looked ready to cry as he talked. "After the invasion, Natsu woke up almost every night screaming. He tried to hide it, said he fell of the bed, stumbled and feel as he went to the bathroom, things like that, but I knew he was lying. After I went out of his room, and he thought I was sleeping, he would sneak out of the house. He would return in the morning, either saying he was on a walk, or with stuff claiming he only went to the store. It was clear that he didn't sleep from when he woke up from the nightmare. He slept no more than a few hours every night in those three weeks. I'm glad he knows now that those nightmares are nothing more than bad dreams.", the cat finished, looking into the ice-make wizard's eyes, a small smile on his face, but tears still in his eyes.

The raven-haired boy couldn't believe what he just heard. He was a pretty light sleeper, so if the pink-haired boy woke up screaming any of the days they were together, he would have known about it. He remembered that first night. It's no wonder the fire mage was asleep so fast if he slept so little in three weeks. He was lying on a bed close to the dragon slayer's, when he heard him mumbling. The boy woke up and asked if he was talking, probably thinking he was screaming, like the cat said he used to do. After Gray answered he hadn't, the boy just turned to the other side, and went back to sleep. That happened a few more times during their job, but Natsu never woke up screaming. He was glad his boyfriend could at least get the sleep he needed.

"I'm glad too.", the ice-make wizard said.

"What are you glad for?", a voice came from his lap, no sign of motion sickness.

"Oh? Was your motion sickness an act all along too?", the raven-haired boy asked mockingly.

"No.", the fire mage said, no reaching coming from him. "But it seems your legs help much more than the princess's pills did.", he said, his face turning green, Happy giggling at his friend's words. He waited for his stomach to calm a little, before he continued. "Maybe I shouldn't have remembered that."

"Sorry we woke you up.", Gray said.

"No, it wasn't you. It was just a bad dream. And it's not like I was sleeping because I was tired. So, how long was I asleep anyway? Are we close?", the dragon slayer asked hopefully. Even if he wasn't as motion sick as he usually was, even if he didn't feel motion sick at all, Natsu was still a person that couldn't stay in one place for too long.

The ice-make wizard chuckled lightly before he answered. "You were asleep for only an hour or two. We still have a long way to go."

The pink-haired boy groaned at the information he just received. "Then please,", Salamander said, "entertain me."

"Does my baby want me to tell him a story so he can go back to sleep?", the raven-haired boy asked. It was supposed to come out mockingly, but Gray thought it sounded rather romantic. Happy's giggles and his boyfriend smiling on his legs confirmed it. It was a good thing the girls were asleep, because the cat's giggles, the expression on the ice-make wizard's face and the fact that Natsu wasn't complaining would be more than enough to figure out what was going on.

"Although that sounds like fun, I don't think I could sleep right now.", the fire mage answered, a smile still on his face. "Was Erza still terrified? I couldn't really watch her before, what with the motion sickness and all.", he asked after a short pause.

"You mean, what with using motion sickness to hide your laughs, bastard.", Gray answered, making them laugh. It was really nice to laugh about stupid stuff like that. "You know, I think Fairy Tail really does make people oblivious. Hey Happy, did you notice anything between Natsu and me, before he told you?"

"No.", the cat answered, turning his happy expression a little sadder. "I haven't spent a lot of time with you lately, so that could be it since I did notice someone else acting like that towards someone."

This information got the boys interested. "Who?", they asked at the same time.

"I can't say.", the Exceed said, but the ice-make wizard thought the cat turned his head to Lucy a little. Could he have notice Lucy's feelings for someone. Who was it? Was it someone in Fairy Tail? Someone in another guild? The raven-haired boy would have pressed for an answer, but with what happened to Happy yesterday, and the fact that he said he couldn't say, Gray decided not to press him.

"How long has it been?", the dragon slayer suddenly asked.

"It's been three minutes, Natsu. You're not going to ask every few minutes, will you?", the ice-make wizard asked his boyfriend.

"I don't know. Is there something that could take my mind off it?"

"You could go back to sleep.", Gray said. Seeing that the idea wasn't really what the pink-haired boy wanted to hear, he reminded him of another choice. "Erza offered to knock you out. We could always wake her up and I'm sure her offer will still stand."

"Maybe I'll go with the first choice. I don't know why I wanted to get rid of my motion sickness. There's nothing to do on a ride but sleep, and I can do that even when I'm sick." The fire mage closed his eyes, before he remembered something and asked. "What about that story?"

"Do you really want one of the girls to wake up to me telling you a story?", the ice-make wizard asked, not really knowing a story to tell.

"It doesn't have to be a story. Just talk. I like hearing your voice. I like knowing your next to me.", the pink-haired boy said, smiling, probably glad he could say a thing like that aloud, to the boy next to him. The raven-haired boy saw that the blue Exceed was trying really hard to contain his laughter to quiet giggles.

"Sure. Then how about hearing how I learned Ice-Make Magic?", Gray offered, and as his boyfriend nodded his head, he began. "The first thing I had to train was my body. We would…"

It was an hour before he finished his story, and by that time, he was the only one of their group awake. One hand in his boyfriend's hair, the other on his chest, he was glad the dragon slayer had a dreamless sleep. In the end, it didn't take long for even him to succumb to sleep.

Happy woke up. There was no way to know how much time has passed, and looking around he saw that everyone was sleeping.

This was the first time the cat could really think about what's going on. And as he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out. He always thought that a boy and a girl would be in love, maybe get married one day, have children… That's why he did what he did, after all.

Yet here were two boys, one of them his best friend, a closest thing he had to a father, and they claimed they were in love. Not only were they both boys, they were rivals, they used to insult each other, used to fight all the time, so how could this happen? Make no mistake, he knew, beyond any doubt, that they were in love, he just never heard people of the same sex be in this kind of a relationship.

What he found even more surprising, was how they acted. He couldn't be sure if one or both boys heard of two persons of the same sex be in a romantic relationship, but they didn't seem bothered by it in the least. They loved each other so much that they just didn't care what other people would think of it. Happy couldn't help but giggle at that thought. Gray was respecting Natsu's wish to keep it a secret, but they weren't keeping it a secret because they were ashamed. No, Natsu kept it a secret because he didn't want Gray to get caught up in his problems.

The blue Exceed looked at the boys he had been thinking about. Maybe he couldn't figure out how or why this works, maybe he never would, but as he looked at them, there was only one thought in his mind: They belong together. It wasn't because that's what the boys wanted, what his best friend wanted, that he thought that. It was because even while they slept Gray had his arms wrapped protectively around Natsu, a small smile on his face, and the usually strong Salamander looked like he wanted to be protected by this boy, even if he was strong enough to protect himself. They looked ready to share any burden the other had, yet they were willing to suffer alone just to protect the other.

He saw more love in how the boys slept than he ever saw anywhere else. It was enough to make him cry, cry from happiness, cry because he was glad his friend found someone like that, cry because he knew he would hurt them. But Natsu promised he would never stop loving him, and he knew that the love the boys felt for each other will never stop either.

Happy went back to sleep, knowing they will be all right. After seeing what he saw, there was only one person he was worried about.

Natsu woke up as someone shook him. He opened his eyes to see Gray above him. The fire mage felt like he could wake like this every morning. Then he noticed it wasn't morning. It was night, and they were on a train. The vehicle wasn't moving, and he felt three pairs of eyes on him. He immediately stood up and, afraid his face showed something it shouldn't, grabbed his backpack and ran out. The dragon slayer knew they arrived, because the girls and Happy were standing, Lucy having her backpack on. As he ran out, he could hear Happy giggling. He got out and collapsed on the floor feigning exhaustion, but feeling rested and contented.

Half a minute passed before his teammates exited the train. The Exceed came to him, his blue face visible only to the pink-haired boy, and asked. "Are you okay, Natsu?" It sounded like the cat was worried, but the mischievous smirk on his face said another story.

"Ground…", he groaned out, unable to hide anything from the girls, unlike his friend.

"We'll get a room in this town and head for the village in the morning. It'll be hard to see anything in the night anyway.", the red-haired wizard said. "Come on, Natsu. I could put you in my luggage cart if you can't walk."

"Not another vehicle!", the fire mage said, getting on his feet and following his teammates. It felt nice to hear Erza say that. Even if there was still fear in her eyes, she was acting like nothing changed. And he got the feeling that she wasn't as terrified as she was when he saw her yesterday.

They reached the nearest hotel, and entered.

"Good evening!", the man in the reception said. "Or is it morning?", he asked himself. "Good morning!", he then exclaimed. "No, that doesn't sound right.", he muttered to himself again. "Ah, I know. Welcome! What can I do for you?", he finally asked.

"We'd like two rooms with two beds each, please.", Erza said, ignoring the man's weird talk.

"Of course. Anything for our guests. Let's see here…", the man said as he checked for the available rooms. "Oh. I'm so sorry, but it seems we don't have any two bed rooms available. We only have single bed rooms. Would you be okay with that?", he asked, looking shocked that he was unable to get what a customer asked.

Before the requip mage answered, she glanced worriedly behind herself, looking at Natsu and Gray. Only the fire mage noticed, since the others were looking all around, and so he answered. "It's fine.", he said in a voice that said he wasn't happy with it, but it was acceptable. The dragon slayer was glad he could act so well, otherwise the secret he and Gray shared would long ago be discovered. "It's just for a few hours. We'll manage somehow.", he finished.

"Then we'll take two rooms.", the red-haired girl said looking at the man.

"Excellent!", he exclaimed.

Soon, the rooms were payed for, and they were in them. At the questioning look Happy got from Natsu as he entered a room with them (the blue pervert usually preferred to be in a room with girls.), the cat answered that he needed to keep an eye on the boys, so they wouldn't do anything inappropriate. The pink-haired boy didn't want to explain that they spent two days alone, and nothing like that happened. Neither of them was probably even ready for something like that, and at this moment it was more than enough for them just to feel each other's presence. Maybe one day they would enjoy things like that (if they managed to figure out how something like that even worked with two guys), but that day was still a long way away.

"At least it's not one of the girls.", the fire mage answered, before collapsing on a bed.

Gray soon came and lied down, facing his boyfriend. Natsu offered a hand, which the ice-make wizard took, intertwining their fingers. This much was enough for them for now, just knowing they had one another. Happy obviously took his duty seriously, seeing as he came, and lied in between them, using his body to stop anything inappropriate.

"Good night, Happy", both boys said at the same time, looking at the cat between them, below their clasped hands, both of them thinking the same thing.

"Good night, Natsu."

"Good night, Gray."

They said at the same time, looking at each other, each wanting his boyfriend's name to be the last thing he said before sleeping.

The bed slightly shook as the Exceed giggled at how cute the boys were together. "Good night Gray and Natsu.", he said quietly.