Drink
Sunlight was valiantly streaming through the cloudy sky, spotting the floor with its grey light.
Gray was sitting on the floor, back resting against the wall, a cigarette in one hand, a glass filled with amber drink on the other. He was looking down at the wooden floor, morosely.
"What are you doing?"
Gray looked up just in time to see Natsu plopping down on the sofa, all the while looking curiously at him. Gray blinked slowly at him.
"Me? What are you doing?" He asked.
"Looking out for your sorry ass, of course." Natsu replied instantly, sprawling contently on the sofa. "Looks like if I don't do it, no-one does."
"You're one to speak… stubborn beyond belief!" Gray's response was instant.
"Well, that's why I know you'll come to try to kick my ass, of course." The grin Natsu flashed was so his usual that something momentarily constricted Gray's lungs. "But you can't do that if you keep trying to find the bottom of those bottles." Natsu waved lazily towards the general state of the room.
"You don't have a say in that." Gray grumbled stubbornly as he drank the contents of the glass in his hand in one go.
"Oh, yes I do, ice brain. What the fuck are you playing at?" Natsu sat up straight, almost as if ready to pounce.
"Shut up! I…" Gray's sudden reaction at the other's state of alert had him placing the glass on the floor. The cigarette being thrown carelessly towards the ashtray. "I know what I'm doing." He grumbled while staring down at his hands before continuing, "and you-"
"Gray? Who are you talking to?" Erza was walking into the room, creating a path among the mess on the floor. Lucy peeked from behind her, worry marring her features.
"Natsu, of course."
There was a pregnant pause while Erza and Lucy exchanged a worried look. Then Lucy walked to kneel beside Gray. She held onto his right hand, tightly.
"Gray, you know that's not possible." She started cajolingly.
"Of course it is. He's right there." Gray pointed towards the sofa where it looked like even Natsu was staring at him pityingly.
"Here, drink this." Erza re-entered the room holding a glass of water. She knelt on Gray's other side and placed the glass in his hand. Then she helped him drink all of it. "You need to get hydrated. And see about resting," her words made sense yet they were illogical to Gray.
"I'm not tired." He countered. If his last word came out slightly slurred it wasn't his fault.
"You're hurting, Gray. You need some time."
"We will all miss him."
Both girls curled their arms around Gray in a tight group hug.
"You're wrong." Gray's slurring became more pronounced. His eyes were starting to feel heavy. There was wetness on his cheek. Gray looked up at Natsu, who was still sitting in the same place and smiling sadly. "Tell them they're wrong!" He demanded.
Natsu shook his head, the sadness in his face making Gray crumble.
He didn't fight the fogginess in his eyes.
He didn't fight the heaviness of his eyelids.
He welcomed the darkness.
Hoped it was just a bad dream.
Hoped it wasn't true.