Unbetaed.
Notes/Warnings: AU – High School
N - Note
You're an asshole.
Gray reread the note and blinked. And then he read it again and realized that he could almost feel the stare on the side of his face. He turned slightly to the side and glared at the person who had sent the note. Natsu, that dumbass.
Quickly scratching the insulting line Gray replied.
What did I do? And you're the asshole.
He handed the little paper to their friend Lucy who seemed annoyed to be passing the notes and not focused on the lesson.
Gray glared a little more at Natsu, for good measure. Saw the pink-haired dumbass open the folded paper, read the sentence and his brows furrow. He seemed to be oddly insulted as he quickly – and sloppily, his handwriting was pretty bad – wrote down a reply.
An annoyed grumble coming from Lucy told Gray that his reply was on the way and, sure enough, the little paper landed on his notebook.
You dare to pretend not to know? You were supposed to go to the meeting! Because of you it was a flop. How can we be ready for the festival if you don't appear?
'Ah! He's talking about that…' Gray thought as he was about to start replying, only to feel the hard stare of the teacher. You better not fall in the bad graces of the Math teacher, she could be really terrible. Gray looked down to the notebook and then up again at the board, scribbling a bunch of equations before deciding that he would confront Natsu after class.
#
As soon as class ended, Gray left the room, not waiting for the others but heading in the same way nonetheless; towards their meeting place.
Erza was already there sitting on the bench, she was flipping through a book, not paying Gray any mind.
Gray didn't mind. He just leaned against the wall of the building, shoved his hands in his pockets and waited.
He better prepare himself for the confrontation, as it might not be too pretty…
Finally Natsu and Lucy arrived. Natsu was munching on a sandwich and Lucy was typing on her phone really fast – as per usual.
"A'ght. 'ow y'eed t-" Natsu was speaking while chewing and it was as messy as it was disgraceful. Everybody grimaced a little at the spectacle before Lucy gave a small slap to the back of his messy hair.
"Chew and then speak, please." She demanded, throwing a glance at Erza who had put down the book on the bench and had a serious look in her face.
Natsu grumbled something unintelligible and nodded, chewing the rest of the food before attempting to speak again. When he was done, he cleared his throat. And glared at Gray.
"Alright. Now you need to tell us why the fuck did you miss our meeting yesterday. It was super important!" He all but bellowed.
Gray let out a sigh as he massaged his temple. He glared back at Natsu, not caring that Lucy and Erza were looking expectantly at him too.
"You want to know?" He ground out, standing right in front of Natsu, his posture aggressive. "I didn't go yesterday because my mother went to the hospital. She fainted and collapsed at work and I spent all the time there, waiting for news from her! And I didn't answer the phone because it died and I didn't have a way to charge it. Then again, I had other things on my mind." He hissed the last words.
Natsu was so startled by the revelation that he jumped back, face stricken.
"Oh no, Gray!" Lucy said, one hand raising to cover her mouth.
"And how's she?" Erza, always practical, asked. She'd joined them and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I… don't know." Gray sighed. "Ultear made us come to class before we were given any news. I just… I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair, harried.
"What can we do?" Natsu asked, his fury all but forgotten in face of his friend's suffering.
"Nothing, I guess…" Gray huffed, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.
"I know. We'll go with you to the hospital." Lucy said.
"After class!" Natsu said decidedly.
"But behaving." Erza said, looking meaningfully at Natsu. The pink-haired youth shrank slightly. And then nodded.
"Thanks, guys." Gray finally said, a tiny smile curling on his lips.
And that was when the bell rang and they had to return to class, plans being exchanged and Gray felt slightly better.
His friends were awesome.