A/N: Hey! I had to change my OC's names, because they were similar to some friends' names, who didn't want to be in the story. So now the character "Elsie" is "Maya" and "Kris" is "Phoenix" Sorry for any confusion or mistakes! Hope you enjoy!
"Natsu, would you please stop whistling?! It's so annoying!" Maya whines for the fifth time since they started out, four hours ago. There's always noise with them trampling their way through the forest, but the piercing sound of that high-pitched whistle is driving her insane! It wouldn't be so bad if it was just him, and he would stop. But no, Phoenix just has to start whistling as soon as he stops, and when Phoenix stops, he starts up again! 'I don't know how Gray's put up with this shit for so long. It has to be at least one reason why they used to hate each other.' Then she smiles at the thought of beating the shit out of Phoenix again, and shakes her head. 'No, I can't think of her. I need to pretend to be happy with Gray, otherwise the plan won't work at all.' She reaches toward Gray's danging arm, and twists her fingers into his. Natsu sees this, with him and Phoenix walking behind them, and stops Phoenix's whistling with a loud, smacking kiss, right on her lips. Gray pauses for a moment, and Maya looks over to see his face going red at the sound of the kiss. 'I need to distract him with something, make sure he doesn't lose his own game...' Maya ponders for a moment, then leans over to whisper something in Gray's ear. His face lights up with a smile, and he leans down to kiss her cheek and whisper back, making her giggle. Natsu sees the whole thing and starts walking faster, trying to break them apart a bit, and his face catches fire from the blood pooling in his cheeks.
"Why're you guys slowing down? If we keep going at this pace we'll NEVER get to the client!" Gray shoots shaved ice at Natsu's face, effectively putting out the flames and shutting him up, for now at least.
"Calm down Natsu, we're almost there anyways. No need to get your underwear bunched up." Maya teases, then looks beside her and sees Gray strip down to show slightly bunched black boxers. She bursts out laughing, and adds, "L-like that, you don't need to end up like that." Between her giggles. Gray grumbles something incoherent and straightens his underwear, while the other three share a laughing fit at his discomfort and embarrassment. There's finally a break in the trees, and the four teenagers walk out into a clearing with a small log cabin in the center. Natsu stops abruptly, smelling the air around him.
"What are you doing?" Phoenix asks with a confused, somewhat worried expression on her face. Gray chuckles a bit, then leans out of the way as Natsu runs past them all, yelling his motivation to them as he reaches the door.
"FOOD!" And they all laugh along with Gray, thinking 'Of course Natsu could smell the food from all the way out here.' collectively as they jog up to the door, which Natsu is banging on, hoping to be treated to some food by their client. The door creaks open slowly, revealing nothing but an empty, dark room. Natsu rushes in, with Gray close behind him and the girls following slowly after them. The lights flicker on, startling the girls and Gray even more, while Natsu simply rushes to the now-lit table covered in different foods like he owns the place. An old woman opens a door on the other side of the room, carrying two more chairs for the table, so that there are exactly enough for all of them to sit together and eat.
"Good, right on time!" She says cheerfully, almost singing her words. Everyone but Natsu stood near the door awkwardly as the woman placed the chairs at the heads of the rectangular table and motions for them to come in.
"I should probably introduce myself to you all, shouldn't I? Well I'm Tabitha Succock. You all can call me Tabby, or if you're more comfortable you can call me Ms. Succock, although no one ever does. I can't imagine why." She rambles this all off with a confused look on her face, and when she'd finished, both of the boys start to chuckle. After a while of staring at Tabby's confused face, Natsu bursts into full-out laughter, almost falling off his chair, and choking on the chicken he had stuffed in his mouth before she introduced herself. He composes himself after a few minutes and continues to stuff his face, while Gray gets serious and asks about the job.
"So what kind of monsters do we have to deal with, Ms. Succock?" Gray smiles and looks over to Natsu, waiting. Natsu starts chuckling again, and then laughs so hard that the water Phoenx made him gulp down comes spraying out of his nose, and completely soaking both Phoenix and Maya. The girls yelp at the cold spray and duck under the table for cover. Tabby rushes into the other room, coming back a moment later with two sets of clothes for the girls.
"I knew something like this would happen, with those two here together. Here, you can change in the bedroom." She hands the clothes to them and sits back down, watching them as they make their way into the bedroom and shut the door.
"I should probably tell you something. Gray, you might have already noticed, but I'm sure Natsu hasn't. Well, I'm just a smidge psychic. I saw you two fighting each other half-assed all the time and knew you'd be able to help me with my little infestation no problem, if you actually try enough. You see, I have a bit of a gremlin problem in my underground garden area. Last time I was down there I counted about 50 in the tunnels and more in the actual garden. If you count more than 100 that you kill, I'll double the reward, alright? But make sure you search all the tunnels thoroughly, they get creative when hiding."
The boys sit there in silence, shocked at how much the small old woman spoke in just a few seconds, and how much she already knows about them. 'It seems like she knows how I feel... How is this possible? I thought psychics could only see actions, not thoughts and feelings...' Gray's thoughts wander, trying to figure out how she could possibly know that he doesn't hate Natsu enough to fight him for real. Then he figures it out 'She noticed that we hardly ever use magic when we fight... That must be it.' He feels a little better, knowing that she can't read his mind, although he's still uneasy about her knowing his feelings.
"Well, that sounds like fun! It might not be too safe for the girls though... And are we gonna stay down there or what?" Natsu seems unmoved by the situation, although Gray knows he's uneasy about something as well. 'If he's worrying about the same thing I am, this could end up being even more fun than before.' He smirks and looks over at Natsu, trying to read his face as Tabby replies.
"Well of course the girls can't help with the job, they'd just get in the way of you two! They aren't mages after all. They can stay with me, and you two can sleep here as well. I've thought everything through. As long as you don't destroy my home or gardens, you're welcome to stay." She smiles cheerfully, then continues, "Please finish up your food, I'll go tell the girls what's happening. They're taking quite a while to change..." She trails off as she gets up and turns to the door, knocks and opens it. Once she has it closed again, Natsu turns to Gray.
"So you wanna make this a contest? Whoever kills the most gremlins on the first day gets the other as a servant for a day, and they have to do whatever the winner says no matter what. Okay?" He looks excited, knowing he has a good chance at winning as long as there are no fire-resistant gremlins. Gray glares at him, then smirks again.
"You're on, Ash-Brain." They both smile, thinking 'I have the perfect thing for you to do when I win.' The girls came back wearing matching blue dresses and cherry red cheeks, making the guys wonder what really took them so long. They shrug it off, too tired at the moment from walking and eating so much, and they all say goodnight, going to their respective guest beds for the night. The next day they would compete, not knowing that they'd both win either way.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry it took me so long to update, my laptop completely crapped out on me so I couldn't write anything. (Wrote this on an ipad, it's much more difficult for me :/ .)
Let me know if there are any mistakes or things you think would make the story better, any constructive criticism is appreciated.
Thank you! Xxoo Hannah
ps: I'm going to take a break from writing until I can get a new laptop, so I'm putting Freezing Flames and my other story (All Switched Up) on hold until then. Sorry! :(