Update: Last chapter, Gray's crush was heard by Natsha and Lyon in the store. My mistake...I should have read through it more.
As soon as practice ended, the group of friends gathered together, as well as Lyon. The boy stood to the side, near Natsha, while the other huddled together. All of them were walkers except for the Snowflake.
Elfman didn't see the tension between the two groups, so he just started a conversation with the white hair without any hesitation. Whatever they were talking about, no one else cared. And it looked like Lyon didn't care much for Elfman anyways, so he did most of the talking.
Sting strolled next to Natsha, leaving Gray and Lisanna behind them. For some reason, the blonde decided to stay after school with them. Maybe because he wanted to tease Lyon some more; or maybe because he thought Rogue was staying late as well.
No one questioned him. They didn't want their ears blown off.
Every time that Gray has saw Lisanna, she has been happy, and this was no different. She kept darting her head around, looking at the lawns that was filled with flowers and fallen leaves.
"Natsha," Sting whispered, "You were at Flavor Flare, weren't you?"
She narrowed her eyes, "Yeah…how did you know? Spy? Ninja?"
"Heh," he gave a faint chuckle, "Please tell me you took a picture of Lyon."
Her shoulders slumped a little. Lyon glanced over there with a look of worry. "Shit... I didn't. Man that would have been a good picture too."
Gray was watching this from the back. Even though the two tried to whisper, both of them were loud and everyone fell silent to listen in. He saw how Lyon looked away as if he had an idea. And how Natsha loudly sighed and folded her arms behind her. Beside him, Lisanna looked lost. Her interest in the football field faded away quickly.
Elfman, feeling as though it was time to continue talking, opened his mouth but Lyon suddenly turned away from the group. "See you, Natsha." With that, he left them and headed to where his car was parked.
"That was quick," Elfman heavily sighed. "I actually thought he was walking all the way."
"Good," the raven haired said under his breath, which Lisanna quickly caught. Natsha froze for a second, looking at his back. Gray stopped before he bumped into her. "Is something wrong?"
"He said goodbye only to me…" She blinked, slightly confused, "I think he forget about you guys…"
They all looked at her with their eyes saying, are you really that dense?
Elfman, who was dense as well, only shrugged his shoulders. "I think so, too. He didn't even answer my questions." And gave a huge sigh.
"Whatever, yall," Sting sighed as they stepped onto the corner; probably a little peeved that there's no prove of what he saw on his 'date' with Gray. "Laterz!" And with that, he crossed the street, heading to his house. The group turned and headed farther down. Soon, Lisanna and Elfman departed.
Without much of a fuss, Natsha crossed the street and stopped in front of her mailbox. Igneel's car was still in the driveway, but the engine was running. She lifted the lid of the mailbox and grabbed the stuffed envelope from inside.
'To Natsha Dlrive.'
Her eyebrows peaked in wonderment, wondering who the hell would send her mail. Her thoughts were disturbed when she heard a groan from down the street that echoed through the neighborhood. She adjusted her eyes and saw Gray standing at his doorstep, pounding on the door, but no luck.
Ur already left for work.
"Gray?!" She called down the street.
He glanced behind his shoulder at her and shrugged, leaving his yard and heading to Natsha's. "I left my keys." He stood on the sidewalk.
"You can come ins-" She was about to offer, but Gray was already dialing a number in his cell phone.
"Come on, Loke…" he uttered through the speaker, but the dial tone answered instead. "Shit." He waited for the beep, "A werewolf's attacking my house! Oh shit, he didn't answer, guess I'm dead now, well, at least I gotten to listen to his dial tone before I died." With that, he closed his phone.
"Dude's usually glued to his phone, I guess he's hanging out with Lucy." Like always.
She pulled the door opened, "Just get your ass in here before I regret it."
He blinked, confused, until the girl shot him a glare and he soon followed behind. When was the last time he entered this house?
Natsha always came to his house whenever she felt like it, but he never did the same. Especially when he started noticing when he was in middle school; not much changed though. There were more pictures on the walls, not in photo frames; they were just tatted there with her huge smile and Igneel's smirk. The wooden table was pressed against the wall with a cushioned chair beside it. A beanbag on the other side, with a torn hole on the side that was sewed up with string and tape, leaning against the wall.
Her home looked more homey than Gray's, which was always cleaned and straight because there was not much activities taking place.
Igneel stood behind the counter, looking up when he heard the other set of footsteps. He was getting ready for work, his tie was in a knot and his shirt was unfastened.
"You still a virg-?" Was the first thing that Igneel said, not even an hello or welcome. Igneel was always a gentleman, of course, well maybe not.
The boy didn't know if he should answer, and if so, with a joke? The first thing that popped to his mind was taunting Natsha's virginly, but doing so in front of her father was a grand mistake. Instead, his head felt itchy and he scratched it, looking away from Igneel's place behind the counter and down the hallway. Three doors. The first on the left was Natsha's room, then the one on the right was the bathroom, and Igneel's was in the back.
Even though it's been a while, he knew the layout like the back of his hand.
"Oi," Natsha called out, laying a piece of mail on the table, catching Igneel's attention.
Igneel readjusted his tie, looking in the pan's reflection, and nodded as he grabbed his suitcase. "I'm late. You know the rules, no one stays after eight."
"Ur's not there," she commented.
"It's alright, I can just call Lok-"
Igneel stopped in his tracks. "You can stay over. Just keep it in your pants." Though he sounded calm, on the inside he was wreck. Should I miss work or not, was the thought that ran through his head. So many things could happen if he wasn't here to watch over them, pus, he may get a chance to rest in.
Work.
There are files to fill and orders to be completed. Macao won't do shit if left alone, especially when he has to watch after his newborn. Maybe Grandine will take over, but he doesn't like having to depend on her; she always has tries to hold it against him.
"Shit…" he uttered under his breath but Gray still caught it. Why did he have care so much about his work? With one swift movement, he turned around and faced Gray. His hands were in the air. "It's been a while since you've been here, but since then, I've gotten cameras installed. Sorry I didn't tell you, Natsha. But, they are monitoring the house, every angle, so I will catch ANYTHING."
Which was complete bullshit, but when Igneel saw Gray tensed up, he knew it worked on him. That's was all that he needed, the boy be too nervous to pull anything on his innocent, yet devilish, daughter.
"And Natsha." Her head bobbed up at the sound of her name. "Treat the guest kindly. Blankets are in the closet, use my pillows, and fall asleep in different beds."
He didn't have time for this.
Igneel could feel the little hand ticking away as he gave out his rules. He licked his lips, glanced at them a final time, with trust in his eyes, and left the house.
"Finally!" She yawned, "I was about to fall asleep."
Outside the door, Igneel's voice could be heard. "I heard that!" And turns out he can hear them as well.
The sound of the running engine soon vanished into the distance, leaving Gray alone with Natsha.
He was alone with Natsha.
The thought finally dawned on him and he was filled with regret. If he had guts, he would have left then, but Natsha stared at him, blankly.
"What?"
"You're red," she commented, poking up to her cheeks. "Hmm…probably a fever. Aren't you allergic this time of the year?"
"Uh…" He checked his face with the palm of his hand. Yes, indeed, he was burning up. Why did Igneel have to fill his mind with such perverted thoughts?
The girl stepped closer to him, maybe to feel his forehead as well, but Gray stepped back.
Cameras.
Cameras everywhere.
Knowing Igneel, Gray knew that the man would probably be watching them every second and this situation seemed like a big no-no. Just from one look of Natsha's rejected face, he felt bad for that. Trying to get off the subject, he glanced at the TV, hoping to end this awkward tension in the room. "I heard there was a movie on today."
Her eyes lighten up as she crashed her body on the couch, taking the letter with her. She turned on the TV and threw the remote at Gray, who barely caught it before it hit his shoulder. He sat on the chair and flicked through the channels, but now his attention was on that letter in her hands.
She ripped the top of it opened and tumbled with the letter inside. As soon as she opened the letter, she had a smile on her face and narrowed eyes. It slowly became wider and wider as she scanned to the end. With a great intake of breath, she jumped out of her seat and cheered, "BOOYAH!"
"What?!"
"I got accepted!"
"Huh? What? To Where?"
"Dragneel University! Here I come, Baby!" The hand with the letter shot through the air and she jumped up.
"Wait! Really?!" He couldn't help but grinning as well. Dragneel University has always been Natsha's dream college, ever since they were young, because she loved the name, the location, and there weren't many requirements to get accepted. To others, this was their last choice for college.
"Yeah-huh!" She nodded furiously. She fumbled her phone out of her pockert and starting dialing a number. Gray couldn't hear the person on the other line, but what he did hear was this, "I got accepted! Dorm included! I can start moving in two weeks before school. Oh, and there's a roommate as well."
He didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, which was abruptly ended when her phone buzzed in her hand. "Bye Lisanna," she ended the call and checked whatever popped up.
There were other things on his mind. Such as, she was going to be living with someone else, away from Igneel, and only Rogue would be there if anything happens. Sting would always be close as well, but Gray never trust that dude. And here he was, just trying to get accepted into Fullbuster University where he would go alone. He knew that Loke was going to a nearby college, but it's not the same one. He gave up all dreams of going to Dragneel with Natsha.
He was still waiting for his acceptance letter as well.
"Pfft!" Natsha interrupted his thoughts with a loud roar of laughter. She held her phone closely as she laughed her ass off about whatever was shown on the screen. When she glanced up and saw Gray staring, she flipped it around to show him.
It was a picture sent by Lyon, in his Ronald McDonald's costume. And Gray was pretty sure that the fish behind him died from the sight.
Why did Gray have a feeling that Lyon went home and dressed up just so Natsha could have a picture of him?
And it didn't help when Natsha made that picture Lyon's contract picture. "Heh, now I just need a good one of you."
"What do you mean?" he demanded, "Every picture of me is a good one."
"You're right! I should use your yearbook one!" She taunted.
The picture she was specially talking about was when Gray was wearing Class of X789, but the 'Cl' was covered by his jacket. And so, for the rest of the summer, Gray was groped several times.
It was not a good summer.
He quickly tried to deny that. "I thought you lost your yearbook."
"It just so happens that I cleaned my room couple weeks ago," she smirked in defense. Her eyes darted to her door as if saying 'I can get a hold of it any moment now, just to make fun of you.'
While, in Gray's mind, he was only thinking 'if it's right in there, I can grab it and burn it before the witch catches me.'
Their stares made contact, and both of them jumped up, racing to the door. Natsha held the handle, while Gray kept trying to grab at it and turn it. Her elbow shot from underneath and right into his rib, making him back up, his back hitting against bathroom's doorknob, and he groaned.
Within this moment, she was able to slide inside of her room. She stood there, with victory all over her face, but then she realize.
She didn't know where she moved it.
"Shit."
Gray, adjusting after his 'fatal' injury, walked inside and glanced around. "I can actually see the floor. Its floorboard…Amazing."
"Shut it, Milkovich." She stood there with her back facing him.
"I'm guessing you lost it?" He snickered under his breath.
"No…" she wiggled something out of her pocket; her back was blocking his view, and pressed a button. With a jerk, she turned around and a flash went off, blinding the poor boy. "Cheese!"
He blinked, trying to regain his sight, and just stared at her.
"This should last a while," she smirked, showing him his new profile picture. Dread covered his face swiftly.
"This is way better than the yearbook," she paused, "Nevermind, both of them are gold!"
"You are lucky there's cameras around, or I would kill you right here!"
"Igneel lied," she chuckled.
His eye twitched, and then he mentally slapped himself for believing that lie. "You just gave me the clearance to kill you."
"You can't even kill a fly."
"Wanna test that out?"
Their bodies were pressed against each other, not in lust, but in childish rage. Soon, the two were rolling on the ground, each trying to get control over the other by locking them in place with their bodies.
Just like the good old times where Gray didn't need to worry about his every single action.
Soon, the mood calmed down and the two were in front of the TV. The girl already got the guest blanket and pillows, placing them on the side table. It didn't take long until Gray was nodding off. It took Natsha a while to even notice, and when she did, she only chuckled and covered him up with the rest of the blanket, before returning to her beanbag and finishing the show.
She fell asleep as well.
These are the fluff chapters, so don't be expecting much more any time soon.
Krazypeople: I had a huge chunk and all gone XD At least it wasn't anything important, like next chapter.
AsDarknessSpreads: Non-consented contact...or Sting in general. Sting, he's a loudmouth like always, and cocky, but at least friendly.
darkhuntressxir: Good thing that Natsha didn't hear, tho. And I'm pretty sure everyone thinks about that.
Pridam: He's just a bit detached otherwise.
EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: Natsu is just finding all of the members so fast. And...now we got those two appearing...just wow. Yup, she's still recovering from that experience.