"Ugh…" Natsu groaned softly as he shifted around slightly. He didn't even remember passing out last night, but when he woke up, he didn't know how he got to his bed. Confusion washed over him as he sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his eyes. As he looked toward the clock on his nightstand, he noticed it was just past three in the morning. This was no surprise. He always woke up at ungodly hours and usually couldn't get himself back to sleep. Natsu figured it was best not to force himself to sleep. If he did, he would probably wake up with a massive headache.

"Damn… I owe Levy an apology…" He muttered to himself as he went to grab his phone that was resting on his nightstand beside the clock. The message light was blinking. Maybe Levy messaged him to tell him what happened. He remembered a little of the conversation, and even remembered he had gotten the answer he was looking for but he also remembered having a panic attack. Shaking his head slightly, he unlocked his phone, seeing he had two unread messages; one from Levy and one from...Gray. He decided to open the one from Levy first.

[Levy: Natsu, you ended up passing out while we were there so Gajeel helped me get you into bed. I had a feeling you would end up passing out on us due to not sleeping very much so don't worry about it. Just take care of yourself and remember, Gajeel and I will always be here for you. I know you'll make the right decision when the time comes. See you soon!]

Reading the message brought relief to Natsu. She wasn't upset with him about passing out, but then again she was rarely upset with him anyways. She worried more than anything, which made Natsu worry as well. Deciding that he could reply to her message later, he moved to read the message from Gray, realizing that it was from much earlier, before Levy had even come over. He remembered agreeing to have a similar day with Gray like the one they had today. Thinking about that only made him blush, along with what Levy had told him. He needed to find out if Gray felt that spark as well, but at the same time he was too scared to ask. He didn't know if he wanted the answer or not, but he did know that he needed to read the message.

[Gray: I really look forward to it. I had a nice time with you today and I really hope you had fun too. Maybe we can see about doing something either tomorrow or Sunday?]

Ah...so he wanted to hang out sooner than Natsu expected, not that it was a bad thing. Natsu actually felt himself growing rather excited to possibly be hanging out with Gray sooner than later. At the same time, he was still very nervous about it. He didn't know how he would react around Gray now that he was aware of what that spark meant. Panic was starting to set in again. Now he was in a battle with himself, unable to decide if he wanted to see Gray again so soon or not. Unfortunately for him, it seemed his fingers moved on their own. Before he knew it, he already had a response typed out and had pressed send. Crap, what the hell did he just type!?

[N: Tomorrow or Sunday would be great. Tomorrow I plan on looking for a job though, but you're more than welcome to accompany me. It would be nice to have someone to chat with.]

Relief washed over Natsu once more. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was. He was worried about typing something extremely embarrassing or something, but luckily it was more casual and hopefully not too desperate sounding. As he flopped back against his pillows, he focused his gaze on the ceiling. He had gotten so much information in one day and when he tried to go over it in his head, it only caused a headache to form. To his surprise, he felt his phone vibrate beside him. Who the hell was awake at this time and texting him back? Sitting up once more, Natsu picked up his phone and opened the message.

"What the hell? He's up!?" Natsu asked himself with a surprised expression on his face. "...Hopefully I didn't wake him up with that message…" If he had, he would have felt terrible.

[Gray: I will gladly accompany you tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it...also what are you doing up this late?]

Embarrassment washed over Natsu once again. From the way it sounded, he had woken Gray up, which made him feel bad almost instantly. Then again, maybe he was already awake. Maybe he couldn't sleep as well. Still, it seemed a little too convenient. Before Natsu could even respond to the message, his stomach made a sound, showing that he was actually hungry. Eh, food was probably a good idea. He could respond after he got something to eat. Finally Natsu forced himself to get to his feet so he could make his way to the kitchen. He honestly hoped he had something or else he'd have to wander to a nearby twenty-four hour shop to get something and he wasn't really wanting to go in the dark.

Once in the kitchen, Natsu started to rummage through his cabinets and his refrigerator. Luckily he was able to find something. He ended up making a small portion of rice and some grilled vegetables, then he made his way to his living room and settled down on the couch. With his food and a drink placed on the coffee table, he pulled his phone out so he could reply to Gray before he started to eat.

[N: I passed out on Levy earlier and just woke up. Now I can't go back to sleep. I'm sorry if I woke you up…]

After pressing send, Natsu grabbed the remote and turned on some random cartoon channel and then started to eat the small portion of food he made while he waited for Gray to text him back. However, he wouldn't be surprised if the other didn't text him back. It was pretty late after all. If he was unable to sleep after eating, he planned on either cleaning or playing some kind of game on his gaming system. A small part of him wanted Gray to text him back though, but he wouldn't get his hopes up for it. To his surprise, instead of a text message his phone ended up ringing.

"Huh?" He asked as he glanced toward the caller ID. "...Gray." He didn't hesitate like he thought he would. The pink haired omega instantly picked up the phone and accepted the call before pressing the phone to his ear. "Hey...you're still up?"

"You could say that…" Gray chuckled softly from the other end of the phone. "I kind of got tired of texting, plus this gave me an excuse to hear your voice, and also you didn't wake me up. Don't worry about that."

"Then what the hell were you doing up?" Natsu asked as he shoved a bite of food into his mouth. Maybe it had just been a coincidence, but that still bothered him. He didn't know of anyone who would be up this late for no reason Maybe Gray had insomnia like he did, or maybe he just got up to get a drink or something and Natsu kept him from going back to sleep.

"Well, I have an assignment due on Monday and I haven't even started it yet. It's the last assignment of the semester before any testing starts so It's pretty important." Gray hated to admit that he was indeed one to procrastinate his work and now he was going to suffer the consequences of not sleeping much over the next couple of days.

"And exactly how long have you had this assignment? Is it that paper from English class we got last month?" Natsu asked in a curious tone. If that was the one, he had done it right when they got it and already turned it in. He couldn't bring himself to wait until the last minute to do his assignments. They had to be done almost instantly otherwise he would freak out about it.

"Yeah, that's the one. Did you already finish it?" Gray asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer to that.

"I finished it a week after we got it. Did you forget about it or something or did you just not want to do it?" Natsu couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that would be something he would have to keep an eye on if he was going to keep hanging out with Gray. He would have to make sure the raven didn't pull anything like this again.

"A little bit of both if I have to be honest. It was a big assignment I didn't want to deal with at the time and then I ended up forgetting about it until after I got home today. I don't know what made me remember, but honestly I'm glad I did. It would have ended badly if I didn't finish it." Gray laughed very softly. It seemed he was rather amused by this, but it was actually very serious.

"If you need help on it, I can come and help you tomorrow after I'm done looking for a job. We'll already be together anyways so it isn't a big deal if I come and help you out." Natsu couldn't believe he had actually offered such a thing. That meant he would be going to Gray's dorm room...oh he felt his nerves growing already.

"Actually, that would be great if you don't mind. I could honestly use the help…" Gray sounded as if he hated to admit that, but that didn't bother Natsu too much. What bothered him was the fact that he offered to go back to Gray's dorm with him.

"Then that's what we'll do. I'd be more than happy to help you with it." Natsu smiled to himself as he slowly finished his small bowel of food. "Meet me at the coffee shop where Levy works around nine, okay? We can job hunt for a couple hours and then head back to finish up that assignment. How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect… I'm really looking forward to it." Gray finally let out a yawn. It seemed that he was growing fairly tired. Natsu didn't feel right keeping him up any longer, though he knew he would probably be up for the rest of the day now.

"Get some sleep. I'll see you in a few hours." Natsu smiled slightly as he stretched himself out on the couch. He'd probably get cleaning done and fold his laundry or something. It was probably better to do one of the two instead of playing some kind of game.

"Thanks again, Natsu. I'll see you soon."

They both said good night and finally hung up. Silence filled Natsu's living room once again, minus the low volume of the TV. Soon, he would be hanging out with Gray again. He couldn't tell if he was excited or just nervous but either way he was definitely looking forward to it. Maybe he'd even find the courage to ask the raven if he felt the spark as well, but that was a long shot. He didn't want the answer too soon, so maybe it was best to wait for now. They needed to become closer friends before anything else, but still Natsu couldn't help but hope.

'Gray...did you feel it too?'

Hey guys! I did not mean for an update to take this long, but I finally got chapter ten done! Mahhh I've been trying for like a week and I'm so relieved that it's done! Thank you guys so very much for your patience! I'm hoping the next update won't take nearly as long as this one did, but it will just depend on how I feel! Anyways, again thank you for being so patient! Hopefully the next update will be done soon! Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next update!

~~MaskedNinja