Magic

Chapter 5

The group stood in an intimidating circle around their captive. He was awake, but he wasn't talking. His face was unrecognizable after Natsu and Erza tried to convince him to speak. Lucy continuously threw in her objections, not wanting to be involved in harming someone so shamelessly. But Erza would just smile, a not so friendly smile, and assure Lucy her conscience wasn't in danger.

Gray was standing behind Lucy, keeping quiet, and trying not to watch as Natsu used his muscles whenever he swung a punch, or did anything for that matter. Whenever someone asked for his opinion, he just shrugged and suggested they hit the man some more, which was why the man was so swollen to begin with.

"Okay," Erza said, backing away from the man tied to the chair. He smiled, or tried to, smugly. "There is no haystack anywhere near here, and, he won't tell us where it is. Either he's still being stubborn, or our employer's spy wasn't telling the truth."

"I don't know why he said this guy was so scary," Natsu mumbled, poking the man's cheek. "I mean, he was so easy to capture that it's almost impossible that he knows any magic at all."

"If he doesn't know any magic," Lucy threw in, "then why did we tie him up? We'd be able to stop him if he tried anything, right?"

"He knows magic, he just isn't using it." Erza bent at the waist, placing her face just inches from the man. "Why is that? Are you stalling for something?"

"Let's open his mouth and force him to make a noise," Natsu said, bending down next Erza. "Pull on his tongue or something."

Gray closed his eyes. Why did Natsu have to say something like that? His temper was rising, along with another body part. He clenched his fists, and pushed passed Lucy. He needed to get out of there, and the only way that was going to happen was when their hostage was going to talk.

He grabbed the man's shoulders, and picked him up. The others stared at him as he carried the man to the nearest room, and slammed the door shut.

Erza and Lucy looked at Natsu, expecting him to understand what was going on, but Natsu shrugged.

"I guess he's going to do something that's probably too intense for us?" Natsu guessed.

"What could be too intense for you or Erza?" Lucy asked. "It must be terrible."

Erza stared at the door, her eyebrows furrowed. Maybe Lucy was right, but what could so terrible that even Erza couldn't handle? They stood in silence, hoping they could at least hear something, screaming, shouting, sound effects, anything.

A few minutes later, Gray stepped out, looking calm and collected.

"The needle isn't here," he said, making his way to the front door. "His boss left right before we got here. He's headed for the next town over where a rich collector is going to buy it."

The team stared after him as he continued walking. They glanced in the room, but only saw the man tied to the chair, but his wise were wide and he was shivering. When he finally seemed to register that he was being looked at, the man flinched.

"He's crazy!" he shouted. "That guy is nuts! How can you hang out with someone like that?"

Natsu laughed as he followed Gray out the door, Erza and Lucy looked at each other, confused. They hadn't heard anything, but apparently Gray had done something so terrible that the man had been absolutely terrified. He was terrified enough to simply tell Gray everything they needed to know.

"What did he do to you?" Erza asked the man.

The man shook his head. "You don't wanna know, girlie. I tell you, he's insane. Get rid of him before he turns on you all."

Lucy pulled Erza's arm, pulling her out the house to follow the boys.

"What the hell did Gray do?" Erza asked as they ran to catch up with the boys, who had started running themselves.

They found themselves back on the train an hour later, Lucy and Erza staring at Gray, who slouched in his seat and had his eyes closed. Natsu was limp on the seat next to him.

"What did you do?" Erza asked again.

"None of your business," Gray mumbled again.

"What did you do?"

"None of your business."

"Tell me."

"None of your business."

"It is my business."

"Not really, no."

Lucy tugged at Erza's arm, and Erza quieted.

"Aren't you a little bit curious?" she asked Lucy, who shrugged.

"Let's go get a snack," she suggested. Erza sighed and stood, and the girls walked out.

Gray let out a heavy sigh. He was tired of the girls hassling him so much since they left that house. Like he'd tell them in front of Natsu. Hell, like he'd tell them at all! Honestly, all he did was talk to the man. It wasn't a very friendly conversation, a few death threats, an almost broken finger, maybe a little threat of doing things that he would only want to do with Natsu…

That man was absolutely terrified of the thought of having sex with another man. Good thing, too; Gray didn't want to have to do anything to the man, touch-wise - especially since he wanted his first man-man experience to be with Natsu.

No, when did he decided to have an experience? He was just speaking hypothetically, yeah, that's it. If he were to have any man-man relations, it'd be best if he did it with someone he could fully trust! That's it. He would only do it with Natsu because he trusted Natsu so much.

Speaking of which…Gray looked down at his inebriated friend. Natsu was in his usual motion sickness state, laying limp, his eyes blank, and a slight drool sliding down his cheek, pooling onto the seat cushion. Looking around, Gray was sure he was alone.

"Natsu? If you can hear me, moan, or wave a finger, or something."

Natsu remained silent. Gray sighed. Even in that mostly dead state, Natsu was still attractive. Even though the rest of him looked pale and clammy, his hair, splayed around his head in a feathery mess, looked soft and inviting. Inviting how, Gray didn't really know, but he knew he wanted to touch it.

Looking around again, he made sure they were absolutely alone. Looking back down at Natsu, Gray held out his hand, and gently pushed Natsu's pink hair off the boy's forehead. Gray felt a shiver run down his spine. It felt amazing, just that tiny touch, he just had to do it again. He placed his palm on Natsu's head, and ran it over the soft locks. He did it again, and a third time. The fourth time, he used his fingers to gently brush Natsu's hair. The hair tickled his fingers, and he couldn't help a soft smile form on his lips.

Natsu looked a little more relaxed while Gray petted and brushed him. His inebriated expression didn't look so terrible anymore. His facial features had softened a bit. That bit of drool was still an eyesore, however. Gray took Natsu's scarf, for lack of a better tool, and gently wiped the drool off his mouth. Butterflies fluttered around in Gray's stomach, and he couldn't take his eyes off Natsu for a second.

Honestly, Natsu didn't look so terrible anymore. He looked like he was sleeping, but with blank eyes open. Without another thought, or argument, Gray leaned over, and gently placed his lips against Natsu's. Despite Natsu looking so sickly, his lips were soft, and warm. Gray couldn't take his eyes off Natsu's own as the rose haired boy gently lowered his eye lids.

Gray smiled, not a single doubt in his mind. Whether Natsu realized he was being kissed or not, Gray didn't care. He placed his hand Natsu's hair and started stroking again, and with each passing second, Natsu's eyes slowly closed, as if he was finally relaxed enough to sleep through the train trauma.

"Gray? What are you doing?"

Gray jumped up, letting out a small noise that couldn't quite be called a shriek, but that's what it was more or less. He placed the back of his hand against his mouth, embarrassed to be face to face with Happy. The little blue cat looked between the two while Gray tried to come up with a believable excuse.

"He's sleeping," Happy noted. "What did you do to help him?"

"Uhm, CPR?" Gray stuttered. Happy smiled at Gray, who just shrugged and smiled back before quickly looking out the window, his cheeks bright red. He placed his chin in his hand, his lips forming a small smile.