Gratsu Weekend 2020
Prompt: Storm
Pairing(s): Gray x Natsu, Gray & Lyon
October 7, 2020
Gray exited the grocery store surprised to see it had already turned dark in the short time he'd been inside. A pelting, cold rain had also begun to fall, making the chilly fall afternoon feel even colder. His arms were laden with paper bags containing their food for the week.
Since Lyon refused to accept any money for rent or even his legal services outside of the occasional filing fee, Gray tried to find other ways to pay him back. So every week, he made a trip to the grocery store with Aki, his two-year-old son. Lyon grumbled about it at first, but after the first few weeks, he'd recognized his protests were futile. Although Gray had a nagging suspicion that it had more to do with his friend realizing it was one of the few times he would willingly set foot outside of the apartment on his own.
This was Gray's first time going alone, and it had been difficult. Without Aki to distract him with his chatter, he'd felt the familiar anxiety rise within him. The weight of eyes that may or may not have been focused on him made him hurry down the aisles throwing items in his cart. The sound of people whispering near the checkouts stressed him out, especially when he recognized his face on the cover of one of the magazines. It was from an interview and photoshoot he'd done months earlier for a men's magazine. Long before he'd decided to grab Aki and make his escape. He was happy there wasn't much of a line, desperate to get out quickly, and already considering the possibility of looking into a delivery service now that Aki had begun to attend daycare a few days a week.
He honestly loathed the idea, but his therapist had insisted that he needed to do it for Aki's sake as well as his own. The codependency they were developing from Gray's over-protectiveness would only hinder them moving forward. But even that short separation caused him almost incapacitating levels of anxiety. Thoughts of Siegrain showing up and taking Aki away plagued him. The first day he'd sat in the parking lot the entire time Aki was inside the community center.
He'd gotten a little bit better since then, but not much, and now that his errand was over, all he wanted was to get to that community center and bring his son home. He hastily opened the trunk of his car and dropped the bags inside, slamming it shut and rushing to the driver's door, wanting to get out of the rain before he got any wetter.
Gray slid in and closed the door. Leaning his head back on his seat's headrest, he closed his eyes briefly, trying to let the past forty-five minutes fade away. It took him a few minutes to register that there had been no beeps when he'd opened the door. Come to think of it, the radio hadn't come on either. Opening his eyes again, he glanced at the displays on his car, noticing with increasing dread that they were all off.
He checked to make sure his key was in his pocket before pushing on the start button, but no matter how many times he pressed it, the outcome remained the same. His car was dead. He tried to stay calm, searching his pockets for his phone and not finding it. That alone set him off for a good five minutes. What if something had happened to Aki? They wouldn't be able to reach him.
Calm down, both Rogue and Lyon are listed as emergency contacts. If something had happened and the daycare staff couldn't reach you, they would have called one of them. Lyon and Rogue know where you are, they would have come to get you.
Gray repeated the words to himself, trying to do as his therapist had asked. He reminded himself that there were measures in place to handle just this type of situation, but no matter how rational it sounded, it did nothing to quiet his panic. Instead, he kept pressing the button over and over until he finally just went back out in the rain, slamming the car door as hard as he could in his frustration.
Staring at the car and not knowing what else to do, he began to take his frustrations out on it. He kicked and punched it furiously.
"START GODDAMMIT!"
"Have you tried using the key?" A slightly amused voice came from behind him, and Gray stood stock still.
No, it couldn't be. Could it?
He turned around, and sure enough, there stood Natsu Dragneel, that ever-present and annoying grin plastered on his face. Out of all people, it just had to be him.
"Oh, good idea, I'll try that right aw- Of course, I tried the key, you idiot!" Gray snapped, coiled up from stress and worry. "This glorified tin can just won't fucking start. I think the battery is dead, but I can't call Triple-A because I somehow forgot my phone, and I have to pick up Aki from daycare in 10 minutes!"
As if some higher power had decided that this was not his day, it started to rain heavier. It was coming down in buckets now, and Gray raised his head and his hands up towards the sky, "Sure! Why not?!"
"You can borrow my phone if you want," Natsu offered with a shrug, putting up an umbrella. "See if someone else is available to pick Aki up for you. In the meantime, let me take a look at your car."
"Why on Earth would I ever let you anywhere near my car?!" Gray spat, his tone much sharper than he meant for it to be, but he was really agitated and seeing the source of his constant confusion near him at a time like this was more than he could deal with at the moment.
He'd never admitted it to anyone, but Natsu had been the reason he'd started going to therapy. Well, not the man himself but the feelings he had evoked in him during that disastrous intervention they'd had for him in August.
Feelings he'd been trying to avoid for a long time, about his relationship with Siegrain and about himself. And now he could add his confusion about his growing attraction to Natsu to the list. That night he'd felt something for Natsu that he wasn't quite ready to accept yet. So he'd made a point of staying away from him, only coming into contact at Dad's Club Meetings.
Natsu sighed, running his fingers through pink locks that had darkened with the rain, "Why do you always have to make everything so difficult? You're a dad, I'm a dad, I get it. You're freaking out because you don't want Aki to be alone or scared. I'd feel the same way, and that's why you're going to swallow your stupid pride and let me help you."
He handed Gray his umbrella and his phone, which was a low-end smartphone, nothing like his own. It reminded him that Natsu had probably been on his way to work when he stopped and made him feel terrible for his less than grateful response.
"Thank you, " he amended before calling his brother, thankful Rogue was in Natsu's contacts since he couldn't remember the number on a good day.
As the phone rang, he watched Natsu get in the driver's seat and try to start the car, checking if he could turn on the radio or the lights. When nothing happened, he pulled the handle that opened the hood of the car so he could take a look underneath.
"Natsu?" Rogue's voice came on the other line, and Gray breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, it's me, Gray," he corrected, "Listen I need-"
"Gray? What are you doing with Natsu's phone? Is Natsu alright?!" Rogue interrupted, his voice filled with concern.
"What? Yeah, he's fine."
"Are you alright? Why are you calling on his phone?"
"I forgot mine. I'm at the grocery store, my car won't start, and he found me here. Do you think you could pick Aki up for me? I'm stuck," Gray swept a lock of wet hair out of his face, still a bit on edge as he looked across the parking lot. If there was one positive thing to say about the weather, it was that it made people hurry to their cars, not paying him any attention.
"Oh! Yeah, sure. Thankfully Sting didn't take the car today, so I can drive there, it's really coming down."
"Yeah...no shit…"
The happy shrieks of the twins could be heard in the background, along with at least three different sound-producing toys. Then the sounds became less audible as Rogue moved away from them a little, muttering something about grandparents and noisy gifts. "It's a good thing Natsu is there if you're having issues with your car," he mused.
"Why?"
"Uhm, cause he's an auto mechanic."
"Oh," Gray felt like an even bigger idiot for being difficult, "I thought he was a bartender."
"He's that too, but he used to work as a mechanic in Edolas." Rogue explained, "Shit, I gotta go. If I want to make it to the community center in time I should get the twins ready now. See you later, call me if I need to pick you up or anything. And Gray?"
"Yeah?"
"Be nice, he's helping you out," Rogue reminded him, hanging up before Gray could reply.
Gray sighed, knowing his brother was right. Now that he knew Aki would be taken care of by someone he trusted, he let himself relax. He turned back to his car to see that although the hood of his car was still open, Natsu was nowhere to be found. Gray finally located him, hurrying back with a large toolbox.
"Where did you get that?" Gray asked curiously.
"My car," Natsu explained as he balanced the toolbox on the radiator, and this was where Gray realized that while he was standing under an umbrella, Natsu was utterly drenched. His usually spiky hair was matted down, while his white button-down shirt stuck to his chest, revealing the taut muscles underneath. Gray quickly looked away, not wanting to be caught staring, but the image remained in his brain, and he couldn't deny the attraction he felt.
Still, he thought he should do something as the rain continued to come down, some of it turning to ice in the chilly October afternoon. He peered at what Natsu was looking at, but it was all just a dark mess to him.
"You might as well just sit in the car, no sense in both of us getting wet."
"That doesn't exactly seem fair," Gray protested, but Natsu only waved him off.
"No offense, but you'll only get in the way."
Natsu removed a lantern from his toolbox, turning it on and somehow hanging it from the underside of the hood. He rolled up his sleeves, drying his hands on a small towel and donning a pair of work gloves before grabbing some gadget Gray didn't recognize and attaching it to the battery.
"I'm going to check the battery's charge with this multimeter, so we can get a better idea of who the likely culprit is," Natsu informed him although it felt more like he was talking to himself.
His nose scrunched up cutely as he aimed the lantern at the tool and squinted his eyes, trying to make out the result in the poor lighting, "Well, the good news is your battery seems to be charged. Is this the first time this has happened?"
"Yeah, I bought it a few months ago, but I don't really use it much," Gray admitted, the car mostly sat in Lyon's garage, it wasn't even registered in his name.
It was just one of the many security measures Lyon insisted on to try to keep him and Aki hidden from his soon to be ex-husband for as long as possible.
Natsu nodded in acknowledgment, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere, and after waiting for a few minutes for him to say anything else, Gray decided to take his advice and go sit in the car. At this point, all he was doing was hovering. Not to mention getting distracted by thoughts he really shouldn't be having about a clearly straight man who was not only recently widowed but also happened to be the father of one of the few kids Aki seemed to really like.
Gray had to admit Natsu seemed very comfortable working on his car, but it was more than that. Thanks to the illumination of the lantern, Gray had been able to see the expression on Natsu's face. It was content in a way that he'd had never seen from him before.
He looked like he was actually enjoying himself, making Gray wonder why Natsu would choose to work two jobs as a bartender rather than finding what had to be a higher paying job doing something he clearly enjoyed.
It also reinforced how little he actually knew about the man. He took Natsu's phone out of his pants pocket, the temptation to look through it overwhelming. However, the car radio suddenly came to life, making him startle enough that he almost dropped the device. The radio was soon followed by the soft glow of the instrument lights.
A light tapping on his window alerted him to Natsu's presence at the driver's door. The poor guy looked wetter than before if that was even possible. Gray pushed the window button, and it immediately began to lower.
"Oh good, the electric systems are back! "Natsu remarked brightly at the window's descent, and the satisfaction in his voice was hard to miss, "Try starting the car now."
Gray pushed the ignition button, and the car came to life, prompting him to exclaim, "You're a genius! What was wrong?"
"Your battery connectors were corroded, I cleaned them up," Natsu explained, "You should be good for a while, but you might want to get it checked out in case it's a symptom of something else. You don't want to get stuck somewhere with Aki."
"Yeah, okay," Gray agreed, "Oh God, you're drenched, get in the car!"
Natsu looked down at himself and laughed even though he was shivering a little, "Nah, it's fine. No sense in getting your car wet, you'll never get the smell out. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm as wet as I'm going to get. Can I have my phone back? I need to call in to let them know I'll be late."
"Yeah, here," Gray shoved the phone at Natsu, feeling guilty for almost being caught invading his privacy.
He watched Natsu make his phone call, and he closed the window back up to give him some privacy, but he was still able to listen, "Hey Jellal, I'm gonna be late."
"No, everything's fine. I just bumped into a friend who was having car trouble, and now I'm kind of drenched."
"That full? Oh crap, I forgot all about the Happy Hour, I'm sorry. I'll just- uhm, I'll suck it up. Yeah, I'll be there soon. Bye."
Gray patted down his shirt, checking to see how wet it was. When he found it mostly dry, he unbuttoned it and quickly took it off and offered it. "Here, take mine."
He also took out his wallet and pulled out four one thousand jewel notes to give to Natsu for fixing his car.
"Put that away, I'm not going to charge a friend in trouble," Natsu's eyes flashed, and Gray had the feeling that he'd managed to insult him.
"Fine, but at least take the shirt, you're gonna catch your death, and Aki will never forgive me if he can't play with Atlas because I made you get sick," he reasoned, trying to salvage the situation as best he could. "Besides you've stained yours, you can't show up to work like that. I'll get it cleaned for you."
Natsu looked down at his white shirt and cursed when he saw the state it was in, "Yeah okay, won't you be uncomfortable with no shirt, though?"
"Nah, I'm used to it, my last job sort of required it," Gray hedged, not wanting to disclose too much, he felt like he could trust Natsu, but he was too used to keeping things close to the vest.
Natsu burst out laughing, "Don't tell me you were a stripper?"
Gray frowned, trying to contain his annoyance at the implication, "No, nothing like that."
"I was just kidding," Natsu amended with a smile, "Well, let me grab my stuff, and then I'll change. Do you think I can leave my toolbox with you? If I go back to my car again, I'm going to be really late."
"Yeah, sure," Gray tried to ignore the giddy feeling in his stomach at the thought that he would see him again soon.
While Natsu collected his belongings, Gray put the shirt in the car so it wouldn't get any wetter than it already was, and then he ran back inside the grocery store and purchased a large coffee from their cafe. He received a few strange looks at his shirtless state, but no one said anything to him.
Natsu was just closing the hood of the car when Gray came out with the hot drink. He hurried over to his car to help cover Natsu with the umbrella while he changed. Not yet aware of his presence Natsu picked up the toolbox and walked back to the driver's side, setting it down next to him. He searched through its contents removing a small towel. He unbuttoned his soaked and dirty shirt quickly and used the towel to dry himself off as much as possible, seemingly uncaring of anyone watching. Gray stood hypnotized, his eyes following Natsu's every move until he realized what he was doing.
He soon averted his eyes, knowing if Natsu looked up, he'd see just how flustered he was making him. The ground. Yeah, the ground was good. The expanding circles caused by raindrops landing in the puddles provided a temporary distraction. At the same time, he sheltered Natsu from the rain with the umbrella, following him as he grabbed the shirt Gray had left for him on the driver's seat.
"Much better, thanks, Gray!" Natsu exclaimed cheerfully.
Gray had thought it was safe to look back up again, now that Natsu was wearing his shirt, but he hadn't been prepared for the blinding smile that was on his face, or how hot Natsu would look wearing his shirt and both things hit him like a freight train.
"Yeah...no problem," he mumbled, holding out the cup of coffee. "Uhm...for you. I didn't know how you drink your coffee, so-" he reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a handful of packets of creamer and sugar. When he gave them to Natsu, their hands touched, and Gray really shouldn't have felt the way he did about that. Why was this happening to him now? He didn't have the emotional bandwidth to even deal with the idea of being interested in anyone yet, let alone this potential disaster that stood in front of him.
"Can you pop the trunk so I can put the toolbox in there?"
"Just give it to me, I'll put it on the passenger seat, I've got groceries in the trunk, and I don't want Aki getting into it in the backseat."
Natsu grunted his agreement, handing the toolbox over before teasing, "I sure hope you didn't buy ice cream."
"It's October, Natsu," Gray reminded him, "It wouldn't melt anyway."
Natsu's eyes twinkled with mirth, "You really need to lighten up, dude. I know, that was a joke."
"Oh," Gray replied awkwardly, "Right."
"Anyway, I gotta go, don't want to get on Jellal's bad side," Natsu grabbed his umbrella from Gray, waiting until he got back in the car. "Drive safe, it's really coming down," he cautioned, giving a friendly wave before heading off towards Crime Sorciere.
Gray watched him walk away before realizing he hadn't even thanked him. "Natsu!"
Natsu turned around mid-step and waited to see what Gray wanted.
"Thank you."
Natsu nodded his head in acknowledgment, rewarding him with one last smile and a wave before turning around and continuing his walk to work.
Gray remained in the parking lot until he could no longer see him, and then he drove to Rogue's house to pick up his son.
0-0
"How hard do you think it is to get a GED?" Gray asked Lyon later that night.
"Huh? Why would you care about that? You graduated high school ages ago." Lyon put the legal book he'd been studying on his desk, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes before peering at Gray with interest.
"Well, I found out from Sting that Natsu can't work as a mechanic in Magnolia cause he never finished high school," Gray explained, squirming under Lyon's gaze.
"I knew this was going to happen," Lyon massaged his forehead, "You can't afford to do this right now, Gray."
"Do what? I just asked a simple question," Gray groused.
"Right, how long have I known you?" Lyon snickered at him.
"Nevermind, I'll look it up online," Gray grumbled, typing in the search term and pointedly ignoring the question.
"Gray," Lyon said in a softer voice, "What is this about?"
"He helped me out today, I just want to repay the favor, that's all."
"Do you remember that girl your sophomore year at Lamia, what was her name?"
"Oh God, do not bring her up!"
Lyon started to laugh, "You had such a raging hard-on for her you taught yourself Astronomy, to get her through her class and you into her pants. This reminds me of that."
"Weren't you the one who wanted me to make new friends?"
"Friends yes, crushes on handsome straight guys while in the middle of a divorce, no."
Gray wanted to protest, but he knew it was a losing battle, Lyon knew him too well for him to get away with a lie, "It's not like that, I mean yes I might feel something for him, but I have no intention of doing anything about it. It's just, the guy's killing himself working two jobs and taking care of his kids, and if he took this test and passed it, his life would improve."
"Besides, I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like we're similar in some ways. We're both stuck at a certain point in our lives. But unlike me, all Natsu has to do to get back to doing what he enjoys is pass a test. Well, four tests apparently," he corrected after looking at the screen." I want to help him get there, as a friend."
Lyon snapped his fingers suddenly, "Karen Lilica, that was her name."
"Thank you for buying him a deluxe study guide, you're too kind," Gray retorted as he entered Lyon's credit card information on the online form and completing the order.
Lyon snorted good-naturedly, not upset in the slightest, "Natsu's a good guy. If this really does help him, I'm happy to do whatever I can. Just please watch yourself, I don't want to see either of you get hurt."
"I told you, this is strictly platonic," Gray complained, even though he knew it was not only pointless but also a bit of a stretch.
"I'm pretty sure your dick has no clue what that means," Lyon noted before putting his glasses back on and returning to his book, somehow managing to dodge the pillow Gray threw at him.
0-0
Three Days later
Natsu heard a knock on his front door and hurried to look through the peephole.
Gray?
Gray Fullbuster was indeed standing outside his door, holding his toolbox in one hand and two large coffees in a cardboard holder from Magnolia Bean in the other. Aki stood next to him, holding a tote bag.
Natsu had no idea why his sort of friend was standing outside his door, but he'd been feeling kind of down after dropping Hana at school that morning, so he welcomed the company. He opened the door, beaming when Aki offered him one of his rare smiles before handing him the tote bag.
"Atlas?" Aki asked, hiding his hands behind his back and looking down at the floor.
"Come in, I'll go get him," Natsu beckoned them inside, closing the door behind them. Before he ever had a chance to locate his son Atlas had already made his presence known, jumping up and down and clapping happily as he recognized his friend.
Natsu and Gray wore matching dopey expressions as they watched Atlas drag Aki over to the playroom.
"Here let me take that," Realizing that Gray was still holding the coffee and the toolbox, Natsu quickly grabbed the cardboard holder and motioned for Gray to put the toolbox down by the entrance.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"
He could have sworn that Gray looked nervous, which was unusual, given that generally he just seemed kind of grumpy.
"Look inside the bag," Gray ordered, his voice sounding gruff.
Natsu led Gray to the breakfast nook that was right off the kitchen, setting the holder down carefully on the round table. "Are you hungry? There are some muffins my sister made," he offered politely.
"Just look in the bag," Gray repeated, and this time Natsu was sure of it. Whatever was in the bag was making his friend nervous.
"Alriiight, "he drawled. He peered inside the bag to find his shirt, which had been dry cleaned. Natsu smirked, thinking the service might have cost more than the shirt itself. Inside the bag, there was also a book.
GED Study Guide 2020 All Subjects: All Subjects Test Prep & Practice Test Questions"What's this?" Natsu looked down at the book in his hands, not knowing how he was supposed to react.
"Look, Sting told me about why you can't get a job as a mechanic," Gray confessed, "All you have to do is pass this stupid test, and you can go back to it."
Natsu stared at Gray in dismay, "It's not that simple, I wasn't even good at school when I was in it."
"You're not going to do it alone, I'm going to help you," Gray assured him, "I once got a girl through Astronomy, without knowing a thing about it beforehand, you're in great hands!"
"I don't know," Natsu hedged, remembering how hard studying had always been for him. Half the time, the information wouldn't stick in his head, not to mention he had a hard time sitting still.
"Natsu, you can do this, trust me," Gray's intensity was a little intimidating, but Natsu was beginning to get fired up by the idea. It would be nice to have a regular day job again.
"Look, the test is broken up into four subjects, and you can take each one separately. We can focus on one subject at a time, and even if you don't pass the first time, you can keep retaking it until you do. You can do this!" Gray repeated, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him slightly.
"Okay, calm down there," Natsu removed Gray's arms from his shoulders, frowning at the change in the other man's expression. Did he look hurt?
He shook the thought away, that was ridiculous. He looked down at the book again, touched that Gray had obviously put so much effort into this.
"I just cleaned your battery connectors. You didn't have to go to all this trouble."
"Do you enjoy being a bartender?"
"It's okay," Natsu shrugged, he didn't really enjoy getting hit on constantly, but the tips were good.
"Wouldn't you rather be working on cars? I saw the way you looked when you worked on my car man. You were happy. I've never seen you look like that when you tend bar. You literally have nothing to lose, unless it's because I'm the one helping you?"
Natsu laughed, "Guilt, really?"
Gray shrugged, "Figured it was worth a try."
Natsu sighed, "I really hope neither one of us ends up regretting this."
"It'll be great, and the kids can play while we work. What's your schedule like?"
They sat at the table, sipping their coffee and exchanging schedules. Once they had agreed on what days to meet Gray became serious.
"Alright, let's get started!" He took the book from Natsu's hands, and determined, laid it out on the table. "Didn't you say something about muffins?"
"You want to start now?" Natsu's eyes widened in surprise. This was not how he'd imagined his day would go, he needed time to process everything they'd just discussed. He was slightly nervous about the idea of picking up his studies after so many years, but if all went well, he'd be able to find a job doing something that he loved. He wouldn't have to deal with late-night shifts anymore, and he'd have more time and energy to spend with his kids.
"Yes, now, you idiot," Gray sighed, "What subject do you want to start with? There's Math, Science, Social Studies and Reasoning Through Language Arts."
"They all sound impossible," Natsu muttered under his breath before replying, "Just pick one, I doubt it will make much difference."
"Math it is!," Gray answered in what passed as cheerful for him, "You might need it for Science so we might as well get it done first."
Natsu glanced into the playroom to see Atlas playing with Aki, both boys looking happy in their own little world, and wished his life were still that simple. With a sigh, he got up to grab the muffins from the kitchen, trying to muster up some enthusiasm for the torture he knew lay ahead of him.