Chapter 2: The So Called "Job"
I freeze as Natsu charges towards me, and he crashes into me, causing the doors to open, and I fall onto the concrete, grunting, and he taunts, "Bring it, you demented exhibitionist!" "Fine, you annoying little brat!" I jump up, kicking him in the process, but he blocks it, retaliating with a punch to the face, but suddenly Erza takes us by the neck, then smashes our heads together, causing myself to make a sound of pain, and we fall to the floor, groaning as Erza snaps, "Stop fighting you two! You're making chaos when I'm trying to eat my cake!" Oh god, her cake. "Sorry, Erza..." Natsu sheepishly gets up, scratching his head, and Erza says, "As a punishment, you two will be sent on a job together!" My jaw drops, and Natsu and I lock gazes in horror. What have I gotten myself into... I'm so gonna lose it on this job. "Here is the flier!" She holds out a piece of paper, and Natsu and I stand there, looking at it like it's our demise. "Take it, or else you have to fight me!" She threatens, so Natsu quickly takes it, looking at the ground in utter shock, and I sigh, saying, "We have to do it now?" "Yes, it's just a little one, you guys can do it easily," she walks away, but I sense that there's something behind this. Okay... Well I'm going to die. "Come on, you weak pinky head," I mutter, trying to act nonchalant, but inside alarms are going off EVERYWHERE. "Ugh, fine you lead, squinty eyes," Natsu answers, looking up at me, and I turn around, walking out of the building, Natsu following me.
Natsu's POV
This is going to be a disaster! "What do we need to do?" I ask, biting my lip, and Gray answers, "Here, it says to open the envelope attached to the back of it." I quicken my pace so I'm walking on the side of him, and he stops moving, tearing off the envelope from the flier, ripping it open, and I see a note with a ticket attached to it. "What does the note say?" I ask curiously, and Gray reads it out loud, "Go to Colossus Boulevard, and there you will find the house with the number that matches the ticket. Once you get to the house, leave the ticket at the doorstep. That will be where you guys are staying. Survive together for a day and we'll give you 10000 jewel... If you do not follow the job's direction, be prepared for a punishment from your friends, Erza and Mirajane, good luck. From Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane..."
Oh god, kill me now. "This is... This is a set-up!" Gray yells in anger, and I nod hopelessly, covering my face with my hands. This is worse than anything I've ever done before, I swear... "Look, let's try to get along just for today, otherwise I'm going to die," Gray says, starting to walk, and I nod silently. Gray is totally going to figure out that I like him, and then he's going to think I'm out of my mind and he'll give me strange looks for the rest of my life. This is great.
As we turn to the left in awkward silence, I say, "So, we're stuck together with nothing to do?" He nods, replying, "Yep, and it's all your fault." "How is it my fault?! You were the one who hit me!" I glare at him, and he shoots back, "You got on my nerves! Who wouldn't hit an irritating, persistent blabbering thing like you?!" "I was just curious, you friggin' ice chatterbox!" I shout, and Gray sighs, looking ahead in annoyance. Why did he even have to comment about it being my fault?! This guy... I bite my lip. Maybe it was my fault... I dunno, I guess I was being really annoying to him. Ugh, I want to be friends with him, but before we hated each other, so if I try to become friends with him the rest of the world will think I'm out of my mind. Besides, he probably still hates me, so I have no chance whatsoever.
"Okay, here's Colossus Boulevard," Gray finally says after walking for a few minutes, and we see the endless road of houses as we turn onto the road. "What number does the ticket have?" I ask him, and he answers, "Number 4983." "Here, I'll look at the houses on the left, you can look at the houses on the right," I tell him and he nods in agreement, causing me to blink a few times, and he asks, "What?" "N-nothing..." I say, drifting off into my thoughts. He actually listened to me... This is cra- I remember that Gray told me that we would get along just for this so we could get over it, so I shake the thoughts out of my head, concentrating on reading the numbers on the houses. 4951, 4953... As we're walking along the road I hear Gray suddenly say, "Found it!" I jump, and he laughs, causing my face to redden, scowling, but crack a small grin. I watch him drop the ticket on the porch, and I open the door in excitement to reveal a big room with a wooden table with 2 chairs, carpets covering parts of the hardwood floor, a kitchen with pots and pans hanging from a pole attached to the ceiling, then I see another door, excitedly running towards it, opening up the door, revealing a couch with a TV, and I see that there's a door to a bathroom, but stop in horror as I see that there's... 1 bed. "W-what the hell!" I shout in alarm, my face reddening and Gray quickly runs to me, asking, "What?" I point to the bed and he makes a strangled sound, standing there in shock, then mutters, "I hate you, Lucy."
Gray's POV
Well, this has gotten a million times worse. "So uh... You'll sleep on the couch?" Natsu asks, and I snap, "No, you're going to sleep on the couch!"
"I don't wanna!"
"You better!"
"I won't!"
"I'm not sleeping with you!"
"Yeah, so sleep on the couch!"
"The thing's too dang small for me!"
"I'm the same height as you, idiot! W-wait..."
We stare at each other in horror, and Natsu says grunting, "Fine, I'm sleeping on the floor..." I look at the floor, and comment, "Uh... I think millions of people walked on this floor, Natsu-" I clamp a hand over my mouth and he stares at me like I'm crazy. Shit, I screwed that up. "Forget I said that, are you really going to sleep on the floor? Why don't you sleep on the bed?" He's still staring at me but says, "You're already sleeping there." I don't know why, but I feel compelled to let him sleep on the bed. "I could sleep on the floor," I scowl, looking away, and he gives me another strange look, but continues, "No way, sleep on the bed." "Why? Don't you like sleeping in a bed?" I ask him, and he sighs, saying, "Look, would it hurt if we slept together? We can stay on seperate sides-" "N-no!" I shout, blushing, and he says, "You're such a scaredy-cat, Gray." H-he called me by my real name... "F-fine, we'll sleep in the bed, jeez," I give up, sitting down on the couch, but inside I feel like I'm going to faint. I'm probably going to die in embarrassment overnight.