A/N- Thank you for the reviews and encouragement. This is obviously not beta read. I'm so new to all of this I'm learning as I go. Also I have to be honest I have been making the story up as I go which has me completely anxious each time I write but I think I have a plan now. If I ever write another my lesson is learned and I will at least map it all out before I start posting. Thank you for the suggestions and pointing out anything unclear I do appreciate it.
Zeref used one of the tools Mavis had given him to add intricate details to his project. His painted black fingernails were covered in dried clay bits. He had been in the art building every day since his first venture to it. Mavis crouched beside the table he was working at watching him painstakingly form the scales for the dragon he had molded out of clay. She beamed with pride as she watched his careful precision. Mavis stood from her crouching position.
"Zeref no one would believe you started working with clay less than 2 weeks ago. You are very naturally talented." He smiled but didn't look up from his work. She noticed the blush on him. He seemed to still pink up anytime she spoke directly to him. A trait she found endearing and attractive. He sat the tool down and lowered his head to inspect his work. He grabbed the end of the table with both hands to steady himself. Mavis lowered herself yet again to be level with him. She placed her hand on the table also and giggled to herself and she slide it over so her hand over lapped his.
He jolted at the unexpected contact and turned to her in surprise. Zeref never knew how to react to her. He bit his bottom lip as she giggled. Neither teen made an attempt to stand both crouching eye level to the table. Zeref turned back to his work in progress simply staring at it unsure what to do.
Moments like this were as amazing as they were destructive to the anxiety ridden teen. She must like him why else would she purposely touch his hand. Should he tell her how beautiful he thinks she is, because she is the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. What if she hadn't meant to touch him? How awkward would that be? Should he stand up and act like nothing happened? Would that hurt her feeling or embarrassed her? Would she laugh at him? What if she's just being friendly and he read too much into the situation? Shit! How long has he been thinking of different scenarios? Now it's really awkward no matter what he does. Too much time has passed to make any action he takes normal. So he's going to just squat here and do nothing like an idiot. Zeref leaned forward hitting his forehead on the table in frustration realizing a moment too late that Mavis still had her gaze locked on him.
"Zeref why did you hit your head on the table?" She cocked her head to the side.
Zeref gave a defeated sigh, "After carefully preparing 52 different plans of action well maybe not 52 but a lot I went with none of them and instead went with winging it. Apparently winging it wasn't a great plan of action."
She shook her head, "Zeref of all the plans which one did you want to happen the most not taking the outcome into consideration. Take the what if and after affects out of the equation."
He swallowed, "Um….the plan where I tell you I think you are beautiful." He wouldn't look her in the eyes anymore and she could feel him start to shake. She curled her fingers around his hand so she had it gripped. She turned in her squat posture and moved under the table sitting on her butt. As she moved she gently pulled Zeref with her so that he ended up sitting beside her. He hung his head low letting his fringe fall and cover his face. Mavis loosened her grip on his hand so she could lace her fingers through his. She gave a content sigh as she scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
Mavis closed her eyes, "Let's just sit like this for a while. Is that ok with you." She felt him nod in response and smiled.
Leo frowned at the circle of chairs. It was pointless to be here. His birthday was in a few days what was one meeting going to change. He begrudgingly moved forward to take one of the inward facing seats. He was annoyed at the requirement for him to attend one of these meetings. He actually had been annoyed with pretty much everything lately. He didn't even try with the ladies anymore. His smooth words and cunning charm had been replaced with blunt and sometime lewd comments like im horny and you're doable wanna fuck. He'd gotten smacked for that one. Probably lucky she didn't go to a counselor and get him in big trouble. Leo the Lion was now Leo the smuck and he didn't feel much like putting effort into anything anymore. Time was running out and the closer it got the more dissociated he became with everything.
He watched as a few more kids filed in and took seats. He raised an eyebrow as Gajeel walked past him only to take a seat in the corner away from the circle. The pierced man opened a spiral notebook and pulled a pen from the metal spiral spine. Leo could get up and ask what Gajeel was doing here and why he sat away from the others but he decided he didn't care enough to go find out.
Leo spaced out through the opening of the meeting not really hearing the others read the steps and traditions out loud. He was staring up at the ceiling when he felt someone nudge him. He looked over at the boy disinterestedly.
"Your turn dude."
"Hmmm. My turn for what?" He heard the chuckle from the other attendees.
"You gotta introduce yourself dude."
Leo groaned and sat up slowly only speaking after he had taking the time to stretch his back and arms. "I'm Leo I'm an alcoholic and yada yada yada." He waved his arm in dismissal when he finished raising another chuckle from the group. He noticed a girl with long brown hair staring at him. He winked at her. Instead of blushing or giving him a disgusted look like most girls would do she simply smirked back. Now he had something that caught his interest. He leaned forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees giving her his most predatory gaze he could muster. He wasn't listening to anything else going on focusing his attention solely on the girl.
She pointed at him and mouthed "Do you wanna go?"
"Right now?" he silently questioned back. She nodded. He smirked, maybe he still had it after all.
The girl stood and he stood too ready to follow her to the nearest exit. Only she didn't go anywhere. Instead she spoke to the group.
"Ok guys our friend Leo has volunteered to go first so let's be respectful and listen as he shares."
Shock took over his face. "Wait I did what?" He looked around the girl with the brown hair folded her arms over her chest smiling like shed won some prize he could hear Gajeel snickering in the background.
"I asked you if you wanted to go and you said yes you did right now."
Leo looked distressed, "But i.. That's not what I meant, what I thought we were talking about."
"What else would we be talking about?" She said it innocently but he could tell by the look on her face she knew what was happening the whole time.
"Nothing."
"Ok well then it's settled Leo will be our 1st share." The girl smiled and sat down.
Leo fumbled with straightening the miss buttoned buttons on his shirt and scratched the back of his neck nervously. Finally he looked up, "I'm Leo and I guess I drink a lot so I'm here." He paused, "I'm really not sure what I'm suppose to share here." He stood awkwardly.
"You can share on anything you'd like Leo. What you were like when you drank, why you drank, when you realized you had a problem." The girl saw the obvious cringe on that suggestion. " Or you can simply share how you're getting by, how did your day go. Anything good or bad happen. Leo you share what you feel comfortable sharing."
He looked around at all the faces. All the stories probably different yet the same. Not one of these people would judge him supposedly they had all been there. Leo was sure though that they had never been where he was. He could tell them how much worse he actually was then they were. He could tell them how he made his mom cry countless times, how he'd cost his dad hundreds of thousands with attorney and hospital bills. He could tell them how he killed his own girlfriend. He wanted to tell them, he wanted to not carry that weight alone. He didn't though.
"Well I guess is like to start off by saying the crowd here looks stiff maybe y'all need a drink." No one laughed at his joke. "Ok harsh in here today. I apologize none of you guys need a drink obviously that's why we're here. Although I wouldn't say no to a Xanax if anyone is sharing."
"Ok Leo you've made your point you can sit down now." The brown haired girl stood to introduce someone else to share.
Leo plopped back down in his chair and zoned the rest if the meeting out.
Leo hadn't realized he had dozed off till he felt the sharp smack to the side of his head. He rubbed the sore spot and squinted up at his attacker.
"You are an idiot." The pierced bunk mate sat down beside him.
"Tell me something I don't know." The orange haired teen laughed. Gajeel didn't seem nearly as amused with Leo as Leo was with himself. "So what are you doing here? I thought maybe we shared the same vice but you didn't seem to participate."
"How would you know you weren't paying attention the entire time?" Gajeel blew some stray hair out if his face. "Taking notes. I have to write some stupid paper about alcoholism and how it affects the family of the alcoholic. Tattoo face thought it would be insightful to set in on a meeting." Gajeel growled as the same strand of hair fell in his face again.
"Tattoo face?" Leo laughed, "He seems all tough and freaky until his girlfriend's around then he's a little pussy cat."
"Yep that guy. You know you could actually try to participate in one of these meetings. What would it hurt?"
Leo eyed the pierced boy for a moment, "I could but it's not like there's much time left anyway."
"What's that mean shaggy?"
Leo gazed at Gajeel before waving his hand in dismissal, "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
Leo rose waving as he walked away, "Yeah, absolutely nothing."
Gajeel just let it go. He didn't have time to be playing shrink with anyone else. He was already helping Lyon. Tattoo face told him it was his way of deflection so he didn't have to deal with his own shit. He told Gajeel something like clean up your own yard 1st or you can't really help anyone or some shit. Speaking of cleaning he had to get going he was suppose to be cleaning out one of the old shacks or something.
Natsu looked in the small cardboard box, "Where did you get these?"
"Nice huh? I found them while cleaning out one of the sheds tattoo face asked me to clean." Gajeel beamed down at the box like It was a new baby clearly proud of his find.
Natsu was clearly just as enamored with the box as well, starting to bounce up and down with excitement, "So cool! Can we do some? I wanna do some!"
Gajeel grinned as he pulled one of the small cylinder like objects from the box. He played with the fuse on the end before replying, " Well we sure as hell can save 'em for a rainy day. Go get the the others and meet me behind the cabin."
Leo was almost as excited as Natsu while Zeref stood back with fingers in both ears. Gajeel grinned like a maniac as he lit the string of firecrackers. Lucy was there too leaning on Natsu she scolded the boys but still smiled at the immature excitement.
Natsu looked up right before the firecrackers went off seeing Gray and Lyon coming around the corner of the cabin. Natsu was smiling wide until the 1st loud pop that's when the fun stopped for him. With that 1st noise he watched Gray's cool smile fall into a face of pure panic. He watched as the normally beautifully pale boy turned sickly white. Then with the crack and pop of more fire crackers on the string came the worst part, Natsu will never forget Gray screaming and clutching his head before he turned and ran in the other direction as fast as he could.
It was a mess of confusion Leo went after Gray while Gajeel tried to stomp out the rest of the firecrackers before they could go off. The look Lyon had on his face was pure contempt. "What the fuck?" Gajeel questioned as he unceremoniously stomped the fireworks out.
Lyon seethed, "You all are idiots! He saw his family killed by people with guns. PTSD dumbasses POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER! What did you think was going to happen? You should've warned him you had firecrackers."
Gajeel growled and stalked up to the other boy. He couldn't stand to be yelled at, "How the fuck were we supposed to know? Not like he talks about his past." He was nose to nose with Lyon who wasn't going to back down either until Leo turned back around from his chase screaming at them to help him.
Lyon's fist clenched but he backed down, "Fuck you all." The silver haired boy then took off to find his foster brother.
Natsu stood for a moment the guilt settling in his stomach. He turned to Lucy, "He told me how his family died, sometimes when we can't sleep we talk. I got tired of him waking up crying and not knowing why so I finally made him tell me. I should've thought about it, I should've known. I'm such an idiot Lucy. This is my fault. It's like all the info just gets throw in a pile even the important stuff. A normal person would of thought about that wouldn't they?"
Lucy placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder instead of the comforting 'it's not your fault' came much more needed words "Then I guess we need to go find him and make sure he's ok. Suck it up Natsu we are what we are, right now your friend needs you. Gajeel and Zeref you go find Gramps, Nurse Elfman or tattoo face, let them know Gray had an attack Natsu and I will help Leo and Lyon try to find him."
No one questioned they simply nodded and took off to complete their goal. Natsu's heart beat fast as he took off with Lucy to try to find his distressed friend.
Laxus hadn't been sure if he should give the book to Freed or not given the new goals his father had set before him. He had held onto it for a few days then against his better judgment he decided the give the still green haired man the book. That paint had been from another planet or something because Freed was washing his hair 5 times a day, 2 more times than usual and it was still bright green. Laxus liked it though and he was now extremely glad he did give the man the book because said green haired man was currently straddling his hips with his tongue down the blonde's throat. Laxus couldn't help but smile against the kiss as Freed mumbled something about being glad he kept mouthwash with him in his bunk. As the blonde's hands traveled up and down Freed back he felt a familiar buzz in his pocket. He tried to ignore it but growled when Freed took notice and sat back.
"Shouldn't you get that? What if it's important?"
Laxus grinned devilishly, "I promise there is no backed up toilet, clogged pipe, or creaky stair more important than what's happening right now."
Both Freed's hands were splayed on the other man's chest. He smiled as he lowered himself down to continue the make out session only to be stopped by another round of buzzing.
"Laxus answer it." Freed said as he pulled himself off of the big man.
The large man growled again and swung his feet off the bed standing up to pull the phone from his pocket.
He answered it gruffly, "What." Freed watched the conversation with interest but couldn't hear what was said on the other side. "Huh?...ok...What?!...How did they get those?...Ya..ok….ok...I'm heading out now."
Laxus shoved the phone in his pocket. "Come on. The whole camps on alert Grays missing. Apparently he took off running after some PTSD attack and no one can find him. I have to go help look, you wanna come?"
Freed stood immediately, "Of course I do!" Laxus could see the sincerity and worry in Freed's eyes. Freed cared about Grays well being even though they hadn't know each other that long. This man was a genuinely good person. Laxus didn't deserve his trust or his amazing kisses. Laxus was going to end up screwing him over and turning everything to shit just like he always does. With a heavy sigh Laxus lead Freed out of the cabin to search for the missing cabin mate.