Hello, everyone!
I'm back with the second chapter :D
I hope you enjoy reading this as well~
Disclaimer: My deepest gratitude to Mashima Hiro for bringing this wonderful Fairy Tail alive.
Natsu lied down on Lucy's lap as he tried so hard not to throw up. Thankfully, the Celestial wizard always knew what to do. She softly massaged his scalp while chatting with Erza. Wendy herself was lying on Erza's lap, her condition was slightly better than Natsu.
Lucy's warm hand lulled Natsu to sleep. That was how he survived in vehicles whenever they were out on missions, especially for the past few months. Natsu realized that ever since he came back after his one-year lone training, he needed Lucy's presence around him more than ever. Everything seemed so much better when he was with Lucy.
"There will be a slight delay." Gray said as he came back to his seat beside Wendy who was also lying down from the bathroom. "We have to stop for quite a while at the next stop while they're fixing some machinery issues."
"Very well. We can let Wendy and Natsu take a breather as well." Erza agreed.
"Natsu." Lucy shook his body gently. "We're almost there."
Natsu took a breath and Lucy's vanilla scent filled his nostrils as he cracked his eyes open. A small smile made its way to his lips as he raised a finger to touch Lucy's long hair. He liked her long hair better, it was easier for him to touch the soft locks. "Hey."
Lucy smiled back. "We're resting for a moment."
Natsu lifted his body up, right on time as the train started to slow down. He pestered his face on the window, looking at the closing in station. "Oh, how I missed the ground!"
Wendy also looked at the outside with glints in her eyes.
The train came to a full stop and the train conductor announced that they would be stopping for about three hours. Due to the delay, they would reach the next town by sunset.
"I'll find a good place where the signal is strong and give our client a heads-up about our situation." Erza said as they stepped down from the train. "Don't wander off too far. Lucy, Wendy, take care of those two morons."
"Will do, Erza." Lucy laughed.
"Should we find something to eat, then?" Gray asked. "What do you wanna eat, Lucy?"
"Meat!" Natsu answered instead. "And some fire!"
"Why don't you just eat the coals if you want some fire." Gray snorted.
"Are you trying to start something?!"
"Huh? Maybe I am! Why?"
"Why you, Gray—"
"Alright, alright, knock it off." Lucy sighed. "Let's just find something to eat. I'm hungry."
"I'm going to stay here for a bit." Wendy said. "I'll catch up with you when Erza-san comes back."
Natsu took Lucy's hand into his hold and grinned. "Great! Then let's find something to eat, Lucy!"
"Bye, Wendy!" Lucy waved at the petite young girl.
"Happy, don't eat too much fish!" Carla reminded.
"Aye, sir!"
Wendy stared at Lucy's back in silence. She… Should be okay, right?
"Lucy, do you want some crepes?" Gray offered, seconds after he sniffed something sweet in the air. "Ooh, I smelled milk and cheese."
Lucy also sniffed the sweet smell. "Hmm… This smells really nice."
"Maybe some crepes on our way back to the station?" Happy suggested. "For now, I want to eat big!"
Lucy chuckled lightly. "Alright, let's get some decent meal. Besides, you and Natsu wouldn't be full from just eating crepes, right, Gray?"
Gray snickered back. "You know us too well."
The three of them—plus Happy—continued their walk, while glancing left and right to find the most suitable restaurant. Happy made himself comfortable on top of Lucy's head and dozed to sleep. All he cared about was that he could eat as many fish as possible, so he didn't give much thought about where they should eat. Natsu and Lucy casually walked as their fingers were tightly intertwined, while Gray occasionally patted Lucy's head affectionately.
After 30 minutes of walking around and cracking debates between Natsu and Gray, they finally settled themselves in a restaurant. Both Natsu and Gray ordered various meat dishes while Happy ordered three servings of raw fish. Lucy herself just settled for a serving of fruit salad and cream pasta.
"This reminds me when we're doing that mission of Daybreak book." Happy said while munching down his fish.
"Your first mission as a team, eh?" Gray said as he gobbled up a huge chunk of meat. His mouth became as ballooned as a pufferfish. "Too bad I wasn't there."
"You'll be just a drag if you were." Natsu replied with his mouth as ballooned as Gray's. It was surprising how he could still say things coherently with that kind of mouth.
Gray scoffed. "For sure, I will be more useful than you, flame brain."
Natsu glared. "I bet you will be so taken aback by Virgo's appearance back then, ice pervert!"
"Alright guys, don't start." Lucy sighed slightly. "Just munch your meals, okay?"
Gray and Natsu obliged, although they were eating with crackling thunders shooting out from their eyes as they glared at each other.
Just then, a male waiter suddenly came up to their table. He smiled at them before planting his eyes on Lucy. "Is there anything else I can get you, miss?"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Happy muttered as he munched his fish.
"Huh?"
Just then, the waiter suddenly heard a low growl and he jumped out of surprise. He looked to his side and was stunned to see two different glares at him. One was as icy as an ice, the other was as blazing as a fire.
"Uh…"
"Back off, lad." Gray warned.
"Get your ass somewhere else!" Natsu growled.
Lucy rolled her eyes. There it was again, their sometimes-unreasonable-and-totally-over-the-top protectiveness of her.
"We're good, thank you." Lucy smiled at the waiter.
"I—uh, sure…" The waiter stepped away in fear. "Just… Just call me if you need anything, okay?"
"Will—"
"WILL NOT." Natsu's and Gray's harmonious reply cut off Lucy's, making the waiter hurriedly went back to his station.
"You two, knock it off." Lucy glared at them. "You're scaring him."
Both Natsu and Gray gawked at her and protested. "He's making eyes on you!"
"Wow, you two are really harmonious in times like this." Lucy couldn't help but chuckled.
"Erza would have done the same if she were here, Lucy." Happy commented. "And probably sent some swords at that waiter."
"I can totally burn his ass." Natsu offered.
"And I can freeze his eyes." Gray added.
"We're not doing any of that." Lucy sighed. "Let's just—"
"HAH! You're only able to freeze his eyes?" Natsu cut, starting a brawl with Gray.
"So what? Burning his ass doesn't make him lose his eyes!" Gray retorted back.
"Are you looking for a fight?!"
"Sure, let's fight!"
"Guys, stop that!" Lucy groaned in exasperation. "Can't we just eat, for god's sake?!"
Both Natsu and Gray gritted their teeth at each other but still listened to Lucy nonetheless. The next second, however, they entered their own eating competition. Lucy could only sigh and laughed at their antics.
They took another stroll around the town as they ate crepes. Lucy was sharing with Happy, while Natsu and Gray got their own. Natsu's fingers were tightly intertwined with Lucy's, while Gray sometimes absentmindedly rubbed her head softly. If Erza and Wendy were here, then the red-haired female mage would also rub Lucy's head gently occasionally while the youngest member would hold her hand tight.
This was how Team Natsu treated each other after their one-year separation. Lucy would sometimes pat Wendy's head too, while Gray and Natsu would occasionally ruffle the petite dragon slayer's hair. But the only one who got to hold Lucy's hand was Natsu—minus Erza and Wendy of course, and other girls. Gray once accidentally grabbed Lucy's wrist to take her into sightseeing and Natsu sent glares at him with a low growl. At first Gray just scoffed at his response and didn't care about it, but Natsu's patience snapped at the next second. He ended up landing a fist—quite hard too—at his cheek and Gray finally decided not to repeat his actions.
Some possessive bastard his best friend—don't tell Natsu that—was.
Not that Gray couldn't understand it. He, along with the rest of their team members and the guild, was aware about how the dragon slayer felt for the Celestial mage. Even much earlier than those two themselves.
Lucy was beautiful and cute. Like, really cute. Her big brown eyes were breathtaking, and her bright smile was enchanting. Combine that with her strong and incredible magic, along with her deadly smartness and her sometimes deadly glare. She was one hell of a complete pack. Gray even had a small crush on her during her early days of joining the guild, which thankfully turned into a protective siblinghood love instead. The idea of fighting with Natsu over their affection for the blonde didn't sit quite right with him. He didn't want to risk his friendship-slash-rivalry relationship with Natsu just because of a girl.
And picturing Lucy as his little sister figure was so much more tempting too. So, Gray's small crush on her quickly ended and now he is the older brother figure for Lucy. The older sister figure of course belonged to Erza. Lucy was a good listener—very good at it too. She was so compassionate and empathetic, it was so easy to pour out their problems to her—and Erza confided a lot in her. In return, Erza was quite protective of her too. Lucy was one of the guild members who had deadly curves. Erza was also one of them, but her curves were hidden beneath her armor while Lucy's wasn't. Gods-know-how-many swords she had thrown already at the guys who dared to leer over Lucy's figure.
"Oh, what is that?" Lucy's eyes caught something. "A souvenir stand! Wait, I want to see!"
Lucy quickly let her hand go and ran towards the stand, making Natsu sighed a bit at the loss of the contact. Gray rolled his eyes at his response, wondering whether that idiot dragon slayer knew just how much love-stricken he was towards Lucy or not. But the two of them quickly followed Lucy, noticing that the town was full of people. Lucy could be a bit clumsy sometimes and they really didn't want guys to take their chances with her.
Wearing skimpy clothes or not, Lucy's curvaceous body was totally quite a sin.
"Good day to you, beautiful lady." The stand's old lady greeted.
"Good day to you too, ma'am." Lucy smiled back. "Can I take a look?"
"Please do." The old lady happily gestured.
Lucy's brown eyes skimmed the various accessories displayed, lighting up every time she found the one she liked. She quickly made her choices and paid for her purchase.
"You're done?" Gray raised an eyebrow as he eyed Lucy's hand which was handing some jewels to the old lady.
"Yep." Lucy answered.
"What did you buy, Lucy?" Happy asked curiously.
Lucy giggled and crouched down to level her eyes with the blue cat. She then wrapped something around Happy's neck—a blue ribbon which she bought earlier. "A gift."
Happys' eyes lit up at his new ribbon, nuzzling his chubby cheek onto the soft fabric. "Thank you, Lucy! I like it very much!"
Lucy chuckled and stood up. She then handed something for both Gray and Natsu. "For you two."
"Oh wow." Gray muttered in amazement as he eyed the ice crystal-shaped pendant in his hand and then hooked it together with his cross-shaped necklace. "Thanks, Lucy."
Natsu flashed out his toothy grin as he slipped the new flame-motived wristband into his wrist. "Thanks, Luce."
"Did you buy something for Carla too?" Happy asked.
"Of course." Lucy smiled. "I bought something for everyone, and for Levy-chan."
"Speaking of everyone, I think we should head back to the station now." Gray looked up to the sky. "The train's probably ready to go and Erza would be pissed off if we're late."
"Sure, let's go." Lucy said and casually intertwined her fingers with Natsu's again. The dragon slayer's face lit up even brighter at the feeling of Lucy's hand in his once more.
Lucy bought Erza a pair of sword-shaped earrings which she wore immediately, a new red ribbon for Carla's tail, and a feather-shaped hair ornament for Wendy. She bought a book-shaped keychain for Levy which she kept safely in her pocket so she wouldn't lose it. Her team members were very pleased with her small gift and they boarded the train soon after.
The six-hours travel finally ended and Team Natsu decided to find an inn to crash into tonight. It was quite late when they arrived at the town, so they decided to meet with the client the next morning instead. To save money, they rented out a huge room—it was another change for them after their one-year separation. Gray and Natsu got a bed together—of course the two of them could never get used to that—while Erza and Lucy would sleep together. The Exceeds would sleep with Wendy.
"Alright boys, don't fight." Erza warned as she turned off the light. "It's not like this is the first time you two sleep together, anyway."
"This happens every freaking time we're going for a mission!" Natsu and Gray complained.
"And you two complain every freaking time this happens." Erza retorted. "Just go to sleep. We're all tired with the travel."
"You guys are lucky, you know?" Natsu scoffed. "I and Wendy had to suffer during—"
"Ssh, not too loud, Natsu!" Erza hissed. "Wendy and the Exceeds have fallen asleep and Lucy too."
That shut Natsu's mouth. His ears perked up, listening to his team members' soft breathings. In particular, Lucy's. Yep, they were all asleep already.
"Let's just go to sleep." Gray yawned and slipped into the bed. "Scoot over there a bit, moron."
Not willing to argue with Gray in fear of waking up his team members, Natsu begrudgingly scooted over a bit to give more space to Gray. He suddenly missed being in Lucy's apartment, because in the moment when Lucy didn't convince him and Happy to go home, he got to sleep together in her bed and cuddled for the rest of the night.
The best feeling ever.
Natsu sighed and decided to close his eyes. He was tired from the travel and his motion sickness, after all. He just wished that Lucy was snuggling to him right now, instead of snuggling to Erza.
One of the many reasons why Natsu loved Lucy so much was because she loved to cuddle and to snuggle, as much as he did.
Man, thinking about it made him missed her presence around him so much even though they were just a few steps across each other. Natsu shook his head and close his eyes tighter, forcing his brain to just stop thinking and go to sleep. It worked, he was half-asleep when he felt the bed he was sharing with Gray shifted a bit.
Natsu sleepily opened an eye and turned his body around a bit, his sharp sight caught Gray's figure who was gently opening the window. He then lifted his body up and landed softly on the roof. Natsu opened his eyes fully, wondering whether his best friend-slash-rival had trouble sleeping. He snorted a bit and turned around to sleep, but he realized that he wasn't sleepy anymore.
Natsu inwardly groaned and closed his eyes again to force himself to sleep. Unfortunately, his sleepiness had really gone away. He contemplated for a few moments, before deciding to follow in Gray's footsteps. He landed on the roof softly too and saw Gray's back was facing him as he looked up to the sky. He was still fully clothed—to Natsu's surprise—and his gaze seemed lost.
Natsu made his way to Gray and sat beside him.
"Did I wake you?" Gray asked, his eyes were still plastering on the moon.
"Nah." Natsu said. "What are you doing here? Can't sleep?"
"Sort of."
Natsu didn't say anything, neither did Gray. The two stayed in a comfortable silence. They fought the most among the members of the guild, but they no doubt had the closest friendship as well. If anyone asked who was the member that reminded them the most as a brother, they would answer each other's name without any slightest hesitation.
They usually communicated through fists and banters, but there were also moments where they communicated with proper words and silence too.
Gray played with his new pendant idly and let out a soft sigh. "I wonder what she's doing…"
It was a soft mumble but of course Natsu's sensitive ears could hear it. Moreover, he was sitting beside the ice wizard and the night was quiet. Natsu chuckled a bit upon hearing Gray's question. "Most likely the same as you, wondering what you're doing."
Gray's cheeks blushed a bit. Of course Natsu knew immediately that he was referring to a certain water mage who went by the name of Juvia Lockser. Just like Natsu's feelings to Lucy wasn't a secret to him, Natsu knew about his growing affection towards Juvia as well.
Both of them went into silence again, neither didn't know what to say and felt like no words were needed.
Gray cleared his throat a bit after a while, finally bringing his stare from the moon to Natsu. "When are you telling Lucy?"
Natsu was a bit surprised at Gray's sudden voice. "About what?"
"Duh." Gray rolled his eyes.
Natsu's cheeks blushed a bit and he ducked into his scarf. "…I don't know."
"You should ask Gajeel how to ask a girl out." Gray scoffed.
Natsu rolled his eyes. "I don't need that metal-head's advice."
"What's keeping you both, anyway?" Gray asked curiously. "You two are aware of each other's feelings, but how come neither one of you said anything?"
Natsu's gaze shifted away. "It's complicated."
"Not as complicated as Erza and Jellal's relationship, I'm sure." Gray retorted.
Natsu chuckled a bit. "Well… I guess… I'm having the same problem as you."
Gray's eyes softened a bit upon hearing Natsu's mutter.
There was a reason why Gray didn't ask Juvia to be his at the moment. It was because he felt like he wasn't good enough for her yet. She was the one who loved him first and she was the one who didn't give up on her feelings. He had rebuffed her so many times before, and yet her persistence started to melt his ice. When he thought she was dead during their battle against Invel Yura, Gray finally regretted his decision in ignoring her feelings for a long time.
When she showed up alive during his battle against Natsu's E.N.D form, the regret was still there lying beneath his relief. Gray felt like his feelings for her wasn't good enough, he himself wasn't good enough for her yet. He still needed time to strengthen his feelings for her, he still needed time to be the better version of himself for her. He wanted to be the best man possible for Juvia before he asked her hand to be his.
Knowing Natsu was in the same shoes as him made Gray felt empathetic. He patted Natsu's shoulder. "You're the best for Lucy, you know."
Natsu scoffed. "I said the same thing to you when you were mulling over your feelings for the first time."
"Don't start on that." Gray softly groaned. "I don't need you to relish me of that embarrassing moment when I opened up to you."
Natsu chuckled. "Can you believe that the two of us are thinking about our feelings right now? None of this were a part of my mind back when I was a little kid."
Gray chuckled too. "The beauty of growing up, I guess."
Natsu fell into another silence for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh. "To be honest, I know I am not the best man for her at the moment. I'm not strong enough for her and I keep feeling like I don't deserve her for now… I… I don't know man, but I just feel like this isn't the right time. And having a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship with her feels… wrong? Like it's not the correct term to describe what is between us…"
"Talk about having the same problem." Gray also let out a small sigh. "But this feeling is also making me anxious, you know. Like… Sometimes I am afraid I will be too late by the time I'm sure that I am good enough for Juvia. Man, how sucks it will be if that happens."
"Juvia won't mind waiting for you." Natsu reassured.
"Neither does Lucy." Gray replied.
The two of them grinned at each other before breaking into a small laughter, feeling so much better after opening up to each other. Gray stood up and stifled a yawn, sleepiness started to come to him now that he feels better. "Let's go to sleep."
"Yeah." Natsu also stood up. "Thanks for listening, Gray."
"Same goes to you." Gray nodded.
The two of them then bumped their fists, grinning as they inwardly swore to protect this friendship-slash-rivalry-slash-brotherhood relationship.
Done !
I love Gray and Natsu's friendship so much ! For me, they are the best buddies among the others. There's just something special about their relationship, something that even Happy doesn't have.
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