Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail
*Rated M for Mature
Summary: It's the day before Spring Break, and Natsu can't wait for some fun in the sun! But his dreams come crashing down when a school project not only winds up making him stay at the home of his worst enemy, but also his biggest crush-Gray Fullbuster! Modern/AU/High School
Chapter 21 – Thursday (Warnings: Suggestive Content)
Natsu sighed contentedly as he cuddled closer to the warm body next to him. Wait. Body? Hadn't he only been sleeping next to Wendy and Gray last night? He'd clearly remembered Gray moving to his other side.
Eyes shooting open, the pinkette took in his surroundings. Wendy rested peacefully next to him, but Gray was nowhere to be seen.
Where the fuck was he?
Grumbling to himself—but not so much that he would wake up Wendy—he carefully rose from the bed, stumbling around in the early morning light in search of his missing boyfriend. When he finally made it to the door, he quietly stepped out into the hall. All was quiet. And it still seemed like the power was still out.
Natsu rubbed his arms together and trudged down the stairs. "Gray?" he called. "Where the fuck—AAH! Don't sneak up on me like that, you fucking bastard!"
The pinkette smacked Gray on the shoulder just for good measure. Smirking at his Pinky's obvious embarrassment, he ruffled the pinkette's hair some in apology.
"Sorry, Pinky. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Where were you?" Natsu asked, trying to change the subject. He didn't like the smirk he was receiving.
"I came down here to make a phone call. It seems the storm knocked out most of the power in Magnolia. School is cancelled until further notice, so it looks like we have the house to ourselves with no power," he grumbled heatedly.
Natsu pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't have to make it sound like the end of the world. Do you have a backup generator or anything?"
"No."
"Kerosene?"
"No."
"Candles?"
"No."
"Do you have anything?" Natsu snapped, peeved due to Gray's unpreparedness.
Gray balked. "Um, we have a fireplace in the living room," he offered.
"Is there any wood to burn in the damn thing? Matches or lighters included?" Natsu inquired coldly.
"Yes," Graymanaged to…squeak out. He wasn't used to angry, domestic Natsu.
"Okay," replied the pinkette, who seemed to be appeased for the time being. "Where is everything?"
"There's a door off to the side of the living room. If you open that, you'll see the wood that's been stacked there and everything else you might need should be in there as well," Gray rambled.
"Good. I'll get started on that, and you can wake everyone else up. Make sure Wendy dresses warmly. She can borrow something of mine. Sweats should fit her. Then bring everyone down to the living room."
"What for?"
Ooh! Natsu's death glare was back!
"If you hadn't noticed," the pinkette began as if he were speaking to a child, "this place is freezing. I'm going to start a fire in the fireplace so that everyone can warm up. I'll also be gathering what I can from the kitchen in order to make everyone a decent meal since the power is out. Got it?"
"Yep," Gray answered briefly, wanting to get out of Natsu's way as soon as possible. "Love you." And with that, he scampered off to do as he was instructed.
Natsu chuckled amusedly by Gray's behavior. Messing with him like this was fun. He wanted to tease him as much as he did. He had that right, didn't he? Smiling, the pinkette set off to the living room, where he hoped they would all be spending some quality time together.
Waking up two nearly comatose people had not been on Gray's to-do list. It was almost impossible to wake them up. But when he did, Gray had really wanted to knock them back out with whatever he could get his hands on. Who knew those two could be so uncooperative?
Gray had just about had it with their complaining. Whining about wanting to sleep some more was not something he was accustomed to dealing with.
Now that he thought about it, he felt really sorry for the maid who woke Lyon up every morning. He could literally feel her pain. Gray didn't know that waking up Lyon included being swung at with a fist. He was worse than Natsu.
Oh, no. Natsu. Gray was actually surprised that the pinkette hadn't checked on them yet.
"Look," began Gray, losing his patience, "just come on and we'll go downstairs to the living room. Natsu's making a fire in the fireplace and he said he was going to cook—"
Two bodies whizzed past him. Lyon and Wendy were out the door before you could say, 'Fairy Tail Academy.'
Gray stood there, dumbfounded as he mulled over what he'd said. What did he say that would make them bolt downstairs like lightning?
Not being able to figure it out, Gray left the room and went downstairs and into the living room. When he got there, Lyon and Wendy were sitting near Natsu, eagerly watching what he was doing.
Gray had to admit, his Pinky looked quite stunning in the firelight. Natsu's hair shimmered like cherry blossoms and his skin just seemed to glow.
"Would you like to join us or are you just going to stand there like a statue all day?" Natsu joked.
Startled out of his reverie, Gray strode toward the three of them and sat down before the fire. "What the hell are you making?"
Natsu rolled his eyes at Gray's blatant approach. "This," the pinkette said, handing a mug to Gray, "is hot chocolate. Since the power is out—and we don't know for how long—I took out most of the perishables that would go first, like the milk. Now drink it before it gets cold."
"But…I don't like hot chocolate," Gray muttered, staring at his mug that should have been holding coffee.
"Well, you do today. Besides, you might like mine," replied Natsu, giving him a wink. When Gray didn't make any move to drink it, he said adorably, "If you love me, you'll take a sip."
"If you love me, you won't make me," Gray retaliated childishly, glaring at the hot chocolate. He wanted a caffeine high, not a sugar high.
"Gray," Natsu sighed, exasperated. "Fine. Then just do whatever the hell you want."
Gray's head shot up. His Pinky wasn't going to fight him on this? Why? Usually he could get him worked up over the smallest of things.
Gray looked back down at the hot chocolate. Well, his Pinky had made it—had made it for him. He might as well try it. Lifting the mug to his lips, Gray took a small sip.
His insides melted.
"Where the fuck did you learn to make hot chocolate?" Gray rasped out.
Natsu tried not to show the delight that crept onto his face, but failed miserably. "I taught myself. Why?"
"It's good," Gray said.
The adoring look of admiration was starting to creep the pinkette out a little bit. It was like Gray was going to jump him or something. Not that he wouldn't mind, but—
He better not jump me in front of them! Natsu screamed inside his head, his happy expression turning to one of utter shock. The food!
"Gray, would you like something to eat? I made sandwiches and am heating up some soup near the fire as we speak," Natsu said, hoping to avert whatever thoughts had crossed Gray's mind.
There was food, too? If it was anything like his Pinky's hot chocolate, Gray thought he would fall in love with him even more. Just as long as he didn't make a fool of himself while eating. What he really wanted to do was for him and Natsu to feed each other, but Lyon and Wendy were there, so that was out of the picture.
"That sounds really good," Gray replied earnestly.
Natsu then passed out some sandwiches he'd made. After he was finished, he moved onto serving them soup.
"This is really good, Natsu," said Lyon.
"Yep! It sure is!" added Wendy.
"You're a wonderful cook, Pinky," complimented Gray.
"This is hardly a three course meal. It's just soup and sandwiches," stated the pinkette, although inside, he was bubbling.
"I didn't know you could cook this well without modern conveniences. Perhaps you really should do the cooking around here more often. At least, that is, if you want to," Gray finished hurriedly.
Natsu seemed to think about that request for a moment before answering. "As long as the three of you eat what I cook, I agree. Just make me a list of things you don't like, and I'll make sure to make compromises when I make meals."
Everyone nodded in agreement and sequestered themselves more comfortably on the floor, content in each other's company and the food.
"I am so glad the power is back on!" Natsu said tiredly as he collapsed on the couch.
"I'm glad those two monsters are in bed now," commented Gray, collapsing right next to him. "We should eliminate all sugar from their diet."
Natsu laughed lightly, swatting Gray's hand playfully. "Maybe. But you have to admit, we did have fun today."
"Yes. I suppose we did," reminisced Gray. "However, we need to find a balance between family time and us time."
"What? You want certain days of the week where we're alone?" asked Natsu as he snuggled up to Gray.
"Exactly. I don't want to share you all the time. All Fridays and Saturdays—all twenty-four hours—are our days."
"Hm. That means tomorrow will be our day." Natsu turned so that his face was in the crook of Gray's neck. Kissing the exposed flesh gently, he said, "Lyon has classes all day tomorrow, Wendy will be shopping with Lucy, and we could also let Wendy sleep over at Lucy's, too. Plus, Lyon's staying over with some college friends for the weekend after classes are over."
"But we still have school."
"No, we don't."
"And how did you manage to pull that off?"
"Silver and my uncle died recently, so the school allowed us to take the rest of the week off," explained Natsu.
"Oh. So what did you want to do?"
"We'll go to school."
"What? But you just said—"
"I know what I said," Natsu giggled. "We won't be going to school to go to class. We'll be going to school so that I can take you to the Art Room and show you some of the current pieces I've been working on."
Gray pulled Natsu into his lap, kissing him soundly on the mouth. "I really like that idea," he replied thoughtfully. "And what would you like to do after?"
"Well, we'll have the place to ourselves. I think we can get creative," Natsu hinted.
"You mean—"
"We're not having sex until my cast is gone," the pinkette deadpanned, virtually extinguishing all hope in Gray's eyes. "But we can have an extremely hot make-out session."
"How about we start now?" Gray growled as he suddenly pinned Natsu to the couch and eyed him hungrily.
But before they could make a move, a loud crash from upstairs made them shoot upright.
"Sorry!" Lyon and Wendy called from above.
"Seriously! How can a grown-ass man and a preteen cause so much ruckus?" Natsu snapped, leaping from the couch and storming upstairs. "When it's summer, I'm signing Lyon up for summer classes. And Wendy is going to do some kind of summer camp."
Wow. And Gray thought he was the sexually frustrated one. It appeared his Pinky wanted it as much as him, even if he made it seem like he didn't.
"Get your butts in bed right now! You're both going to school tomorrow!" roared Natsu from above. A few moments later, the pinkette's voice returned. "Don't you 'but I'm an adult' me! Bed! Now!"
Another few moments later, Natsu came down the stairs looking fearsome.
"Is everything okay? Do you want me to deal with Lyon?" Gray offered.
"No, I got it. I told them that if they didn't go to bed that you'd be doing the cooking for the next week. They shut up and went to sleep in a matter of seconds."
Gray was now fuming. "Are you insulting my cooking ability?"
"Hey, I can't insult what I haven't tried, and there's a lot of you I haven't tried yet," Natsu hinted suggestively as he sauntered back toward the living room.
Gray made to grab him, but the pinkette evaded his reach. "Come back here."
"You have to catch me first!" Natsu laughed as he ran away, Gray hot on his tail.
A loud thump sounded in the living room accompanied by the sound of laughter—from two people. Everything was going well after all.
End Chapter