Hey there guys ^^
I just wanted to thank everyone for even thinking of reading this fic and when I saw the follows and favs I was extremely happy :D
so THANK YOU SO MUCH m(_ _)m
also, this chapter has not been beta-ed so I'm really sorry for any errors you find in your way!
Please enjoy *grins*
Natsu was standing in front of the counter in the kitchen slicing the tomatoes that would be mixed in the salad. He was forced to cook supper tonight because of the unexpected guest that stood next to him surprised by what he was seeing. Gray couldn't believe his eyes- in front of him a table was dressed with a very fancy meal. He was observing Natsu all the time while the latter was cooking. It stunned him how Natsu was comfortable around the kitchen- he seemed very confident in his movements and actions. Although the way the pink head steered in the kitchen was surprising in itself, the smile that was held by said boy was what made Gray stand astonished from the sight. It was the type of smile a young boy would hold on the day of Christmas after opening his presents to discover that it was the toys he has been asking for during a long time over the past year.
Natsu finished preparing the salad and turned to place the last item on the large table by the window of the dining room. It was laid for eight people with plates, cups, cutlery, bread and the food that was prepared by the fire mage. When he placed the salad somewhere in the middle of the table, he yelled for the others that diner was ready.
Gray heard foot-steps coming from the magnificent stairs that led to the second floor before hearing a young female voice, "Oh my god! Natsu-nii are you the one who cooked tonight?"
Natsu scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly at Wendy, "Yeah…Laxus forced me to…"
She was about to reply to her brother when she saw the raven head standing next to him. Her movements were halted mid-way on the stairs and her eyes got wider and wider by the second.
"G-Gray-s-san?" She directed her gaze to Natsu while pointing her finger at Gray, "N-Natsu-nii what is he doing here?"
Natsu sighed, "Wendy, it's not polite to point your finger at others. Well…at least not to those older than you."
"A-ah! S-Sorry, I just…it's just…," she replaced her hand to her side.
"I know, come sit down for now, we'll explain later. Actually, I'll give Laxus the honor of explaining, since it will be a pain in the ass…"
"Oh, okay," said Wendy. "I thought you let Gray-san in without telling Laxus-san about it."
"My life is very dear to me so I wouldn't dare, and you can drop the sans in front him," replied Natsu while pointing his thumb at Gray.
This got Wendy's attention even more and surprise etched itself on her features, "No way! You don't mean…?"
"Yup! It means exactly what it means."
"No way!"
"Yes way!" said Natsu sarcastically, "Now sit down."
Wendy complied with his command and sat at the corner of the right side of the table. Soon after, the other occupants of the mansion showed up and gave the raven head a scowl showing their mistrust when they saw him-with the exception of Sting who was oblivious to what was going on. Gray started to feel uneasy- he didn't know what to do or say, so he decided to keep his distance from the dining table. Realizing this, Natsu joined him and pulled him to the kitchen.
"They don't bite you know? Well they won't if you don't piss them off…" said Natsu.
"I am aware of that, it's just…how should I put it, it's just kind of awkward…You saw how Wendy reacted and she knows me, imagine how the others would show their stupor!" exclaimed Gray.
"I don't blame you actually, but trust me alright? If anything happens I'll be there to save the day yeah?"
Gray gave an aggravated sigh and smiled, "Ok but make it so I sit between you and Wendy, imagine how uncomfortable it will be if I sat next to the others…"
Natsu grinned, "Deal!"
"I mean it, you and Wendy, not Laxus! You and Wendy ok?" said Gray with persistence.
Natsu gave him a confused look before saying, "Why? Is something bothering you about Laxus?"
"He made me come here is there anything more to say?"
Natsu had to admit that the events that occurred a few hours ago made him extenuated. The first thing he was planning to do when he got home was to sleep as soon as he reached his room, but Laxus's reaction towards Gray's revelation made his plans evaporate into thin air. When the raven head revealed that he was a devil-slayer, Natsu thought he was hearing wrong- it happens and it wouldn't be the first time, just like that one time where Cobra told him that his art homework was very original and he misunderstood it for very orange. Anyways, he tended to mishear some words and he thought that this time it was the same and so, the first thing he said after hearing the truth was "Can you please repeat that? I think I heard something else…"
Gray gladly complied and said, "I, Gray Fullbuster, am a devil-slayer."
Gray gave an amused look to his friend when he saw the different sets of emotions that were expressed on his face. The unexpected news made Natsu feel astonishment, which lasted a few seconds before transforming into shock and then followed by a hint of curiosity. Wrinkles of surprise appeared on his forehead, his eyes widened and his mouth opened but no word seemed to come out of it- causing his lips to move like a fish mouth. On the other hand, Laxus made it look like he hasn't heard anything big. His arms were folded across his chest and his face was holding a blank expression. The only thing that showed his surprise to Gray's nature was the words he got out after managing to get out of the shock phase.
"Bloody hell! That's some secret you've got there! I never thought it'd be this! I thought you'd tell us something stupid such as your love interest or how you enjoy masturbating before going to sleep or maybe the amount of time you spend in a bar at night behind your parents' back or anything amounting to that level of information!" Laxus inhaled before going on, "But man, I never thought you'd come out as a devil-slayer! Seems like we ended up with a fair bargain, ain't that right Natsu?" He turned his head towards said boy and raised an eyebrow when he saw him still frozen from the shock of the bombshell that the ice mage threw at them. Laxus stood up and hit the palm of his hands on his younger brother's cheeks causing Gray to cringe from the sound that echoed because of the hard slap.
"What the fuck Laxus? That freakin' hurt!" Yelled Natsu. He caressed his, now, bruised cheeks and glared at his older brother.
"It's your fault, I was talking to you and you didn't answer so I thought that I would help you come back to earth by slapping you or something," said Laxus half-heartedly.
"You're the worst! I thought older brothers are supposed to be very caring to their younger siblings but you and that shitty Cobra are nothing like that," Natsu rubbed his soar cheeks before continuing, "you could've shook me, now my cheeks are gonna turn red. I'll look like a clown!"
Laxus waved his right hand as if to dismiss Natsu's words, "Yes, yes. Now stop crying like a child and let's go back to the subject at hand." When he turned to face Gray he didn't find him. He looked right, then left and then right again but to no avail. It was when he heard a weird sound coming from underneath him that he found the raven head on the floor. Gray had his legs bent, his back leaning forward and his head lowered on his knees-he was holding his hands on his mouth to prevent his laughter from coming out.
"Mind telling us what is so amusing in this holy mess?"
Gray was startled and he stood up from his position while stretching his aching muscles, "N-Nothing! It's just Natsu…His reaction was very hilarious, I should've taken a picture, it's not every day that you see this hyper bundle of joy get frozen still from shock!"
"Hate to agree with you but you're right! This is a very rare occurrence, I should've left him like that, maybe then we would've had peace for once at home." Laxus had his chin poised on the palm of his hand.
"He's hyperactive even at home?"
"That doesn't even describe the destruction that Natsu and the others cause every night! Not to mention the week-ends…Those are the worst! They're at home the whole day! Imagine how much destruction that will end up resulting to!"
"Damn! Sounds like fun!"
"Fun my ass, see if I'll ever pay to repair the machinery in the house ever again and then come and tell me fun!" replied Laxus while glaring at the horizon.
"You bastards still realize that I'm still here right?" said Natsu irritated.
Gray chuckled, "I'm well aware of that Natsu. It's just that I've never heard of your life out of school so kinda got me interested…"
Natsu gave him a half-hearted glare, "Yeah? Well I don't see you talk about yourself either!"
"Gray Fullbuster, 19 years old, started school a year late. I have a brother whose age is the same and named Lyon Vastia. And, well, we're both adopted by Ur Milkovich who has a daughter whose age is, again, the same and goes under the name of Ultear Milkovich. We live in a small house somewhere out of town. There, you know the basic about me, now your turn."
Natsu did not expect that so he was a bit taken aback but he still answered, "U-Uh… Natsu Dragneel, 18 years old, as I told you before, I have a younger sister who is Wendy and five brothers. Um…we go to different schools as you can see and we also live in a house somewhere in that forest we meet in front of to head to school. As for parents, well, we don't have any, Laxus is the closest to a father figure we've had so far and that's just creepy so we think of him just as the eldest brother and that's pretty much all I can tell you now…"
"Well that's the most information about you that I've had since the 10 years I've known you in!" a grin formed on Gray's lips.
Natsu was not anticipating this kind of reaction from his rival…actually no…from the person who told him he loved him. He felt abashed-he was unable to give a reasonable answer to the statement Gray gave him-he stood there with a light dust of pink forming on the area below his eyes. To hide the embarrassment he felt, he tried to hide his face with his arm while clutching the other on his pants.
Laxus was amused by Natsu's reaction and perfectly hid the chuckle that was trying to come out of his mouth. He closed his eyes and had a warm smile on his face. The words that he formed next made the teenagers look at him, one with excitement clear on his face while the other couldn't believe what he heard.
"Why don't you come over and meet the other members of our family?"
"Are you serious Laxus? Won't the others complain? There is no way Cobra's gonna let it go!" shock clear in Natsu's voice.
On the other hand, Gray was really happy. Natsu swore he could see his eyes twinkle from the effervescency, "I'm in! I'm so in! Well to be honest I don't care about meeting the others more than I want to see where you live! This is going to be so cool! I can't wait! I hope you're not joking right now because you hooked me up already and I won't live it down until I get to see Natsu's room. He saw mine and he's been over countless times with Erza, now my turn! I wanna see!"
The bulky blond man could not hold in his laughter anymore, "There you go Natsu, you go back home with Gray. Besides, you were pale earlier so as a precaution I'd rather have someone escort you home in case something happens so up you go," he made a swift wave with his hand indicating for the boys to start heading to the dragon-slayer's mansion, "I'll come home after I'm done with the correction of you stupid brats' exams."
Natsu was still standing there like an idiot not knowing what to make of this unexpected situation. "Um…Laxus…"
"Oh and Natsu, he's your guest so cooking is your task tonight." With that, the physics teacher left to complete the task he left to-what he liked to call-his minions.
The pink head sighed. "That idiot…I ain't getting involved if a problem occurs from this at home…"
"I won't go if you don't want me to…" said Gray, disappointment clear in his voice.
"Nah! It's fine, to be honest, I'm very happy to have a guest over and it's my friend to boost. I'm sure Wendy would be delighted as well. Sting is an idiot so who cares, Rogue trusts Laxus's decisions and the other two bastards are none of my business. They can complain for all I care." He took a deep breath and pumped his fist in the air, "Now let's go! Destination home!"
Gray laughed at his friend's shenanigan and followed him to their destination.
This leads to the present time where Gray is having a conversation with Natsu in the kitchen.
"Yeah… I tried remembering what happened at school under that amazing tree in the schoolyard but I still can't seem to grasp why not sit next to Laxus?" said Natsu confused.
"I don't know, he may have seemed docile about all this," Gray spread his arms to emphasize his point, "but it seems to me that if anything would happen and your brothers would decide that me being here is the worst idea ever, Laxus will be their fists' prime target and I wouldn't want to be in the line of fire during that time…"
"What makes you say that Wendy and I wouldn't be targeted by their anger as well? Last I checked they were ruthless and heartless creatures that would beat anyone they don't like!"
"Come on Natsu, who would want to harm Wendy in any way? Have you seen how cute she is? She's like a cute little kitten, there's no way they'll harm a hair of hers in any way!"
"Oookaaay…And me? What's my role in all this?" Natsu was clearly lost.
"Oh! You're just the shield that'll protect me if anything happens," the raven head gave his friend a bright smile and made it seem like what he said was the most innocent and harmless thing ever.
"You ice bastard! Do I have to remind you that you're the one who confessed his undying love to me this morning? Is this how you treat your love interests? Man you're the lowest!" said Natsu while glaring at his interlocutor.
Gray chuckled and patted the fire mage's head, "I said I love you but I did not say that I would change my way of interacting with you because of it. I'll keep acting as usual maybe a bit nicer who kno~ws…Besides, all's fair in love and war." Gray winked at Natsu and chuckled when the latter punched him lightly on his chest.
"Let's go back before they wonder what happened to us…Or more like me…"
"Yeah sure flame brain let's go."
Diner wasn't as awkward as Gray thought it would be- Natsu's family was trying to be patient about his presence. If he was asked, Gray would even say that it was the most enjoyable thing he has ever done in months, after all Natsu's siblings are very exceptional. They were a loud bunch even if they were busy stuffing themselves with food that was incredibly delicious. He still had a hard time processing the fact that the pink head is the one who prepared the variety of meals that were devoured by the table's occupants. To make it more unbelievable for him, it was all made from scratch-he would know he saw him prepare diner. It tasted even better than his mother's cooking and that's saying a lot since she works as a chef in one of the many restaurants she owns!
Back to the topic, Gray was having fun even though he did not utter a single word during the whole diner. He was observing the other teenagers sitting around the dining table. The young boy named Rogue was self-deprecating which was amusing at some point, Sting was a funny character as for Laxus-not surprisingly-was as sharp as a tack and did not take crap from any of his younger siblings. He was acting like the boss and Gray assumed he really was. Last but not least, Gajeel was seated directly across from him so it was hard for the ice mage to avoid seeing him, especially with his appearance. Gray wondered how he managed to tolerate being pierced almost all over his body-it seemed like a painful idea. To be fair, he was not the only one staring since Gray caught Gajeel looking at him a lot, and he couldn't figure out if it was because he was angry or uncomfortable. It was understandable after all, Gray was the first guest they have ever had in years if not the only one.
Once they were done with diner, Natsu made every single living human present in the mansion help clear the dishes-complaints were all ignored. He had Wendy's help with cleaning them and Gray kept him company but did not contribute in washing the dishes in any way. When that task was done, Natsu shooed Wendy to the living room where the others were and made Gray hold a stack of plates, forks and a container of vanilla ice cream. He motioned him to follow after taking the apple pie out of the closed oven. Gray helped the fire mage serve it and settled down with his plate on the sofa next to the pink head.
"Wow! This taste's amazing, Natsu. Where did you buy it from? I gotta make my mom taste it!" said Gray fascinated by how delicious the pie was.
Natsu shook his head and pointed at himself while holding his fork between his teeth and grinning at the other.
"You?" Gray sounded shocked and Natsu nodded, "Not only do you cook but you bake as well? And don't tell me this is from scratch too…" this time the raven head sounded more intrigued than shocked, "I would have never thought you of all people to have any culinary skills! And not any skills to boost, you're amazing at it!"
"He's the best isn't he?" chirped Wendy.
Natsu's face was blending with his hair because of how pink his face turned from the embarrassment he felt-this is the first time he was complimented this much. His face turned back to its original color when he heard someone speak.
"It's literally the only thing he's good at, anything else and he's sucky at it!" Sting chimed in. At that, Natsu scowled and stood before trapping the young blond boy in a head lock causing the other to be out of breath.
"I'm not great am I? Why don't you tell me that when I stop making you lunch every day. And to make you feel even worse, I'll make sure that Rogue's lunch will be extravagant and you won't be allowed to touch it you brat."
"Ah! I'm sorry Natsu-nii it was a joke, a joke! Please forgive me! Don't stop making me lunch I'm begging you pleaaaase!" His face turned blue, "And can you please let go, I'm dying…"
Natsu huffed while releasing his hold on his younger brother's throat and settled back next to Gray who laughed lightly at the scene.
"That's fun and all but can someone start explaining why there's an intruder in our house?" a gruff voice said.
Natsu's eyes found the voice's owner and growled at him, "Way to go metal-face, you ruined the jovial mood."
Gajeel glared at him but sensing an ominous aura coming from the person sitting next him he stiffened. "If you start a fight here and now I'll make sure that my fist will be the last thing you see before passing out to the other side," hissed Laxus.
"S-Sir yes sir…" Gajeel crossed his arms to make it seem like Laxus's voice did not affect him but the sweat that was profusely coming out of him made it seem otherwise.
When Laxus was sure that everyone was calm enough to listen to him and that none of them-Gajeel-was going to go on a rampage, he started telling them everything that happened during the day. They were listening intently to him and did not cut him off at all, well, except for Sting who was giving stupid comments here and there.
"…And that's how Gray Fullbuster is present among us right now…" he finished telling them what he had to say and got up from his seat, "Now that you know don't you dare bother me or Natsu about it, by the way, he's technically in the same boat as us since he's a devil-slayer. With that I bid you farewell I'm going to sleep. I don't have a day off like the lot of you, I still have many corrections to do and I intend to catch as much z's as possible. Oh and Gray, you can stay over if you want but do call your family." Laxus yawned and waved them good night before leaving to his room.
The others were still sitting there with widened eyes and open mouths not believing that their older brother was so easily accepting of the situation. Though that was mostly Gajeel and Cobra's reaction, Wendy was having a wide grin on her lips and her eyes seemed like they were shining with stars all over them. She was really happy to have someone-out of the family- who she could act normally with and not be so secretive around. She stood and bounced to her room while giggling, leaving behind an amused Natsu and a confused Gray.
Gray pointed to where Wendy left and raised an eyebrow at Natsu who shook his head while smiling, "Don't bother. You'll only get a headache from thinking about it."
Snores were heard and everyone still present in the living room turned to the sound to find the younger boys leaning on each other and sleeping. It was past their bed-time after all, Cobra held the boys in an arm each and went to tuck them into bed, "I'll take them to their room," he stared at the ice mage, "I'll accept you but dare you show any sign of betrayal and I'll personally make sure your soul has left your body." Gray gulped at that and Cobra walked off.
"I'll trust Laxus and Natsu's judgments on you, but just like Cobra said, make sure you zip it about us. You don't seem like a bad guy so don't do anything that'll make me change this opinion on you. Oh and you're sleeping in Natsu's room. Good night." He nodded once and followed the others to his room.
"Your family's great, sound like the over-protective type but otherwise they're cool."
"They are, aren't they? I wouldn't change them for anything in the world," the words came out fondly out of Natsu's mouth. He sighed, got up and stretched his muscles. "Come on, let's go. We should get some sleep, I don't know about you but today was an extremely exhausting one and I can hear my bed calling for me."
Gray chuckled under his breath and said, "You're right, that's the best idea I've heard today." He rubbed his muscles at the crook of his neck and followed after Natsu to his bedroom. "By the way, tomorrow's week-end so don't you dare wake me before noon got that?"
Natsu grinned, "Lazy-ass."
"It's better than being a flame brain." There was no heat in his voice when he said it.
"Popsicle breath," replied Natsu in the same tone.
"Flame breath"
"Ice princess"
"Squinty eyes"
"Droopy eyes"
"Ash for brain"
"Stripper," Natsu pointed at Gray's chest which caused said boy to look down at his body.
"What? How?" The raven head looked frantically around for his clothes and found them hanging, behind him, on the rail of the stairs. He went to fetch them and put them back on before joining Natsu at the top of the stairs who was leaning on the rails of the second floor.
"I don't understand why this always happens, it's not like I want to walk nude in front of everyone!"
"Don't ask me and on purpose or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're a perverted icicle."
"At least I'm a sexy one don't you think?"
Natsu stared at Gray who was staring back at him with a wide smile on his face, "Sure you are, that may be why I haven't out-right declined your proposal of dating." The pink head grinned at his friend.
The ice mage stood at the top of the stairs dumbfounded. When he was able to make out the implication that was hidden behind those words his lips curved upwards and the sound of laughter came out of his mouth which was joined later on by the fire mage's own, followed by a united yell telling them to shut up and go to sleep.
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