A/N: See end of chapter for French translations
Eventually, Natsu falls asleep with his forehead pressed to the seat in front of him. Gray hesitates – he can't imagine it's comfortable, so he tugs on Natsu's shoulder to get him to lean back in his seat. Instead, Natsu mumbles something incoherent and tips sideways, head dropping to Gray's shoulder.
Heat creeps into Gray's cheeks as he realizes that his arm is now wrapped around Natsu, and he's stuck like this unless he wants to push Natsu away and risk waking him up. Which he won't do, because he's not an asshole.
Gray ends up half-watching 'Road to El Dorado,' and half trying very hard not to focus on the way Natsu's breathing against him. At some point, Natsu shifts so his face is pressed against Gray's shoulder and grumbles in his sleep when the armrest digs into his stomach. Gray moves it up and Natsu curls up against him, tossing an arm across his stomach and making a happy, sleepy sound.
Gray's just making sure Natsu's comfortable, so he doesn't throw up. That's all.
Gray manages to doze off for a couple hours, and eventually wakes up when the captain announces their landing. Natsu, who is almost in Gray's lap at this point, sleeps through the entire descent with a small smile on his lips. Gray feels bad waking him up from whatever dream he's having.
"We're here," he says softly, nudging Natsu out of his sleep as they taxi down the runway. Natsu grumbles, then sits up slowly and yawns. He looks confused for a second, then his eyes widen, and he quickly looks away from Gray, rubbing at the lines on his cheek from Gray's sweater.
"Sorry," he says.
"It's okay," Gray says. "You feeling better?"
Natsu nods. "Yeah," he says. "Can't believe I was out for the whole flight. You're pretty comf—" He stops, looking down at his hands. "Uh, pretty nice. For—to let me sleep. On you."
"Oh," Gray says, mind stuck on the fact that Natsu was about to say 'comfortable.' "That's… it's fine."
Natsu stretches as best he can in the tiny seat, and when his shirt rides up, it exposes a tattoo on his stomach. Gray can't quite make it out, but it follows the curve of Natsu's hipbone down to his—
"It's a rabbit," Natsu says, and Gray blinks when he realizes he's staring. Natsu shuffles in his seat to give Gray a better view of the tattoo – it's heavily stylized and drawn in bright red and black. "This one's an otter," Natsu adds, gesturing to his other hip.
"Um," Gray says, because he suddenly can't figure out how his tongue works. "Why, uh… why those? Animals?"
Natsu grins at him, tugging his shirt back down. "They're trickster spirits from Mi'kmaq folklore," he explains. "My grampa used to tell me stories about them all the time – I got them when he passed away."
"Oh," Gray says. Part of him wants to run his fingers over the dark ink, and he's not sure why. "That's, um… good. Not—I don't mean good that he passed, shit. No, I'm, uh, I'm sorry about that. I just meant the—that's that cool reason to get them?"
Gray can feel heat creeping into his cheeks and is incredibly glad that he's good at hiding when he's blushing.
"Thanks," Natsu says, and Gray can hear the amusement in his voice. "I'll have to show you the rest of them later."
An image of Natsu pulling his shirt off to show Gray the tattoo that curls up his neck and down to his fingers makes Gray's cheeks burn hotter. "Um," he says. "Good. Yes. That's…"
Thankfully he's cut off by the captain announcing their arrival at the gate, and his embarrassment is quickly replaced by awe.
They're in Paris.
Paris is enormous.
The airport is loud and bright, and Natsu stares around them at the chaos with a feeling of wonder. Elation overrides the fog of confusion from his nap – as well as the time change – and Gray has to grab his arm several times to keep him from walking into things while he's looking around.
Everything is perfect until they walk into the Métro station, and they immediately get separated.
Shit. A flash of panic runs through Natsu when he looks behind him and Gray isn't there – just a crowd of busy people he doesn't recognize. He calls Gray's name, but he can barely hear himself over the roar of the crowd and the announcements of departures and arrivals.
Heat creeps up the back of Natsu's neck as he looks around frantically, trying to find Gray's dark dreadlocks in the crowd. Gray had put a jacket on when they'd picked up their luggage, but Natsu can't remember what color it is. Someone shouts behind Natsu and he jumps, fingers tightening around his backpack straps as he's pushed forward by another scowling figure.
It's too much. The lights seem brighter than before, and suddenly there's more people, surging off the train as it pulls to a screeching stop. Everything smells like cigarette smoke and Natsu starts to feel dizzy, trying to suck in a breath as his heart slams against his chest.
"There you are."
A hand closes around Natsu's wrist and he's about to pull away when he realizes it's Gray. Relief washes over him as he takes a shaky breath, trying to ignore all the people crowding around them.
"Hey, are you okay?" Gray slips his fingers between Natsu's and pulls him close, reaching out uncertainly with his other hand and squeezing Natsu's arm. Natsu wants to say yes, but his heart is still pounding, so he just shakes his head and keeps himself as close to Gray as possible.
"C'mon," Gray says gently, tugging on Natsu's hand. "This one's us."
Gray doesn't let go of Natsu's hand, even once they're standing on the train. Natsu doesn't miss how he shifts so he's between Natsu and everyone else, and Natsu presses himself up against the window so he can see where they're going. Gray squeezes his hand, and Natsu focuses on the feel of Gray's fingers instead of the sound of a thousand people around them.
They get lost three times before finally making it to their hotel, and when they finally find it and walk inside, Natsu lets out a huge sigh of relief. He lets go of Gray's hand and sets his backpack on the floor, then leans against the check-in counter to keep his balance.
"We'll be in the room soon," Gray says, and the gentle cadence of his voice keeps Natsu grounded. Embarrassment creeps into his cheeks. He should have known better and taken an Ativan before getting off the plane, but he'd been too excited and still up on the high of his inconvenient crush on Gray.
"Sorry," he says, rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's okay," Gray says. He touches Natsu's arm, leaving his hand there awkwardly for a second before nodding and turning to the woman at the counter.
Natsu closes his eyes and takes several deep breaths. The relief of being away from the crowds and in a near-empty building expands in his chest, and with each exhale, he lets go of a bit more of the anxiety. He's okay. He's safe.
Gray and the woman at the check-in desk talk in the background as Natsu pulls out his phone to check the time. 8:37 p.m. Natsu's pretty sure that's around four in the morning back home. Even after the nap on the plane, he's exhausted, and his neck is still sore from the awkward way he'd leaned on Gray. Not that he's complaining, because waking up with Gray's arm wrapped around him and his face pressed into the crook of Gray's neck had been both embarrassing and incredibly comfortable.
"Tu n'as pas d'autre chambres?"
Gray's question pulls Natsu out of his daydream and he frowns, looking over at the computer screen. The woman has the reservation pulled up and is pointing to the words Aucun Changement printed in large letters at the top of the screen.
"No change," she says, shaking her head.
Gray sighs, looking over at Natsu. "I, uh… they can't change the room," he explains, cheeks flushing pink. "It's, um… well, I booked it with my ex, so—"
"Seulement un lit, hein?" Natsu guesses. Gray's eyes widen in surprise and Natsu grins at him. "Pas de problème," Natsu adds. "T'es chanceux, je ne ronfle pas."
Gray stares at Natsu for a few seconds before slowly nodding and turning back to the woman. "D'accord," he says, reaching out for the keys. The woman looks between the two of them and for a second, Natsu thinks she might say something. But she shrugs, then reaches under the desk and pulls out two keycards, handing one to each of them.
"Cinquième étage," she says, pointing down the hallway at the elevator. "Bienvenue à Paris!"
As soon as they walk into the hotel room, Natsu drops his suitcase on the floor and flops face-first onto the bed. He mumbles something unintelligible into the duvet, then hums happily as he kicks off his shoes and shimmies up toward the pillows. Gray stares at Natsu's ass for a few seconds before realizing what he's doing and looking away.
He's never thought about dating a guy before, but Natsu's starting to make it look pretty damn appealing. Or maybe it's just Natsu. Either way, something's going on, and Gray's not sure how to feel about it.
"Are you okay?" he asks as he sets his suitcase on the side table. He can see the lights of the Eiffel Tower out the window, but he ignores them and sits down on the edge of the bed instead. Seeing Natsu's panic on the Métro had been unsettling.
"Mm." Natsu rolls over, rubbing his face and peeking up at Gray. His cheeks are still a bit red, but that could just be from the cold. "Sorry."
"No, I didn't mean for you to apologize," Gray reassures him. "You just seemed pretty freaked out."
Natsu makes a face. "I just get kinda overwhelmed sometimes? By crowds and stuff. I usually take something for the anxiety, but I wasn't expecting that many people. Which is stupid, 'cause it's, y'know, Paris."
"I'm not a huge fan of crowds either," Gray admits, pulling his legs up onto the bed and tucking them under him. "We'll just have to make sure we go to places when they're not busy." It takes a second for him to realize what he's said, and he immediately feel his cheeks getting hot. "That's—if you wanna go to things. With me, I mean. You don't have to, we can just – I mean, I don't know what you wanna do, but you don't have to feel obligated to—"
"Gray." Natsu reaches over and pokes his thigh. "You're babbling." He gives Gray a grin that shows off the tips of his pointy incisors. "Of course I wanna do stuff with you. That's why we came here."
"…oh."
A silence falls between them, but it isn't awkward like Gray was expecting.
"Sorry about earlier," he says eventually. "I, uh, didn't realize you spoke French." The shock of hearing Natsu speak perfect French with a slight, unfamiliar accent had done funny things to Gray's stomach, but he's fairly certain he's over it now.
Natsu pushes himself up and tugs off his sweater. His shirt rides up again, showing off the tattoos on his hips and one up his ribs, and the funny feeling in Gray's stomach immediately resurfaces.
"Yeah, I'm Métis," Natsu says after he's untangled his arms. "I speak a bit of Mi'kmaq too, with my grandma, but she's getting pretty old, so she doesn't remember much."
"What about your parents?" Gray asks. He shifts to the side as Natsu tosses his hoodie over the edge of the bed, and when Natsu resettles, their knees touch.
"My n'mi – grandma – raised me," Natsu replies, neatly dodging the question. Gray's tempted to ask but doesn't want to pry. "What about you? Is your family French?"
"One of my moms is Québecois," Gray replies. "My other mom immigrated from Lebanon a couple years before I was born."
"Sweet! Do you speak Arabic, too?"
Gray nods.
He's surprised by how easy it is to fall into casual small talk about their lives. Gray learns that Natsu has an estranged older brother, and a little sister that he helped to raise. He's taking the Indigenous Social Work program at McGill University in Montréal, he loves RuPaul's Drag Race, he has a cat named Happy, and he has seventeen tattoos.
Gray doesn't contribute much to the conversation, just listens and watches as Natsu tells his stories. Natsu never stops moving – his gestures are as wide as his smile, and he gives small touches as he talks. Sometimes he nudges Gray's knee, other times he taps the back of Gray's arm or rests his hand on Gray's thigh to emphasize a point. Each time the touch feels electric, and Gray finds himself shifting closer so that Natsu will do it more often.
As the sun sets and the room fills with a golden glow, Natsu flops back onto the pillows, and eventually Gray joins him, trying to keep his cheeks from burning when Natsu's ankle ends up resting over his. When they both finally fall asleep – still fully dressed – the warmth of Natsu's fingers on his arm makes Gray feel more comfortable than he has in a long, long time.
A/N:The Métis in Canada (/meɪˈtiː/; Canadian French: [meˈt͡sɪs]; European French: [meˈtis]; Michif: [mɪˈtʃɪf]) are specific cultural communities who trace their descent to First Nations and European settlers, primarily the French, in the early decades of colonisation. [Wikipedia definition was better than my summary ^_^]
French Translations
Tu n'as pas d'autre chambres? - You don't have any other rooms?
Seulement un lit, hein? - Only one bed, huh?
Pas de problème - No problem
T'es chanceux, je ne ronfle pas - You're lucky, I don't snore
D'accord - Okay
Cinquième étage - Fifth floor
Bienvenue à Paris - Welcome to Paris
