Chapter 4: The Exhausting Day
As we walk out of the building, I ask, "Can we have lunch soon? I'm starting to get hungry..." My stomach grumbles, and Gray replies, "I guess, it's probably lunch time anyway." I immediately start walking in the direction of my favorite place to eat, the All You Can Eat Buffet. It has everything I love to eat, especially spicy chicken legs, I love those. "Yeah, you always eat those," Gray comments suddenly causing myself to ask in surprise, "Was I talking out loud?" "Yeah," Gray replies. Uh oh, what if I accidentally say that I like him out loud?! If he heard that, I'm probably going to die in embarrassment. We walk in awkward silence, looking around, observing the sight, our shoes making noises on the concrete boulevard. People walk by us, some adults with their kids, the sun shining up in the sky. "Hey... Uh, why aren't we fighting right now? Aren't you annoyed that I'm here?" I ask suddenly, breaking the silence, and Gray replies, "No... Wait, yeah!" I blink a few times in confusion, asking, "What?" "Remember, I'm just acting nice to you because we're stuck together," Gray answers quickly, and I say, "Fine, do what you wanna do." I look at the sky, disappointed. I wanna be friends with him, but I have to remember that he probably hates me after what I've done. I sort of feel bad for him now that I was the one who got us in this job, he probably thinks I'm an idiot who breathes fire. I bite my lip, looking straight ahead, seeing the buffet coming into view. "Here's the buffet," I comment, running towards it, Gray following me, and I push open the doors to see the massive room with the giant oval table piled with plates of foods of all sorts. I see the usual person at the front desk, Sadie, and wave to her, grinning. "Hi Natsu! Hi Gray," she blinks in confusion and he explains, scowling, "I'm stuck with him on a mission." I look away, pretending to be annoyed, and she answers, "Well, good luck! Coming here is a great idea, it fills your belly and gives you energy for whatever's planned for the day," she smiles, walking out of the booth and out onto the entrance, and we follow her to a booth on the side of the wall.
"What would you guys like to drink?" She asks, and I say, "Hot water." "Ice water," Gray says, and she nods, walking away to get our drinks, and he asks me, "Why do you get hot water? It just burns you, and whenever it touches my mouth it hurts." "Ice water gives me a brain freeze," I reply, standing up, and Gray says, "It doesn't give me a brain freeze." "That's because you're an ice mage," I huff, speed walking towards the towers of plates at the corner of the room, and he replies, "You're a fire dragon slayer, of course you're immune to anything hot." I snatch a plate from the table, then speed around the round, oval table, grabbing what I love, which is pretty much everything. After a few minutes of getting everything onto my plate, I speed towards our booth, eyeing my food hungrily, and sit down, looking up. Should I wait for Gray? I see Sadie walking towards me, carrying on one hand a ceramic cup with steam coming out of it and the other a clear glass tumbler filled with ice and water. "Thanks!" I grin as she sets the beverages down, and she blinks in confusion. "Why aren't you eating yet, Natsu?" She asks me in puzzlement and I reply, "I'm waiting for squinty eyes to get here." "That's nice of you," she says, still a bit confused, but says, "Well have fun with your friend, and enjoy the food!" Friend... I look out the window, biting my lip. Sure, call us that for now, but tomorrow, I have no idea what's going to happen. I snap out of it as I realize that Gray's approaching with about the same amount of food, looking at me, causing myself to blush, scowling, and he sets his food down on the wooden polished table, plopping onto the padded seat. "Why haven't you eaten yet?" He asks me in surprise, ripping out the chopsticks in the package, and I reply, looking away, "I was waiting for you." "Uh, the flame brain I know doesn't wait for his enemy," he sarcastically says, digging into his food, and I snap, "Shut it, just eat." I stuff gyoza into my mouth, chewing on the hot potsticker in satisfaction, savoring the taste. Once I gulp the food down, I gnaw off a part of the spicy chicken drumstick, feeling the hot seasoning go down my throat, causing myself to grin, gulping down the chicken.
"Do you like it here?" I ask him, stuffing a california roll in my mouth, then stuffing another, and Gray replies, "It's fine." "The food's so good as usual!" I grin, chomping up some ramen, and he nods, picking up tempura with his chopsticks smoothly. As he stuffs it in his mouth, I ask, "How do you use those stick things? You make it look so easy." After he gulps it down, he replies, "I dunno, I use them for stuff like this a lot, over time you get the hang of it. I don't think you should use them if you're going to stuff your plate in your mouth though," he laughs, taking a drink of his ice water, causing myself to protest, "Hey, I'm just really hungry!" Gray smirks, getting up. "I'm going for dessert now," he explains, walking towards the line of yummy looking desserts, so I say quickly, "Wait up!" I get up, running towards him excitedly, and we grab a plate, heading straight towards the sweets.
Half an hour later...
I rub my tummy, grinning widely, and Gray says painfully, "I ate too much again..." "Why does everyone get full? I don't get it, how do you get full?" I ask in confusion, getting up, and he replies, "You're stomach is an endless pit, you food monster." I scratch my head, laughing, and we walk out the door, leaving money at the table. "So, what now?" I ask, relying on Gray to think of ideas. "Uh, I dunno," he replies, then asks, "You have any ideas?" "The park? I can't really think of anything much, we're always out on jobs," I say, sitting down on the nearby bench. "Ugh, why did Erza even send us on this pointless, stupid mission," he sits down next to me, sighing, and I say, "Well, I think it's been pretty fun so fa-" I stop, realizing that Gray was looking at me like I was from another person, so I shrink in the shadows, saying, "Forget I said that..." "Uh, you're liking it so far? I guess I am a bit too, but that's because you're finally not acting so much of a fiery idiot you are," he gets up, hands in his pockets. Great, he thinks I'm a fiery idiot still, but I sort of am though... I stand up, looking around blankly, staring at the busy street in front of us, and he says, "Let's just walk somewhere." I make a surprised sound as he takes my hand, causing myself to flush, and he lets go as I start walking with him. Gray's never been this gentle before, like usually when he takes my hand he whips me out the window. "So, uh, where are we going?" I ask him, looking to the left to see the river that's between the two streets, and Gray says, "You tell me." "So we're walking around having no clue where we're going? That's... cool?" I ask cluelessly, and he snaps, "Look, I don't know what to do, so let's just walk." I shut up, looking away, realizing I was being my annoying self again. Well, I pissed him off again, that's wonderful.
Should I apologize? I dunno, I'm sort of scared to, like what will he think of me if I apologized to him? He'd probably think I'm crazy, but then again I think he already thinks I'm crazy. "Have you thought of anything to do yet?" He asks suddenly causing myself to snap out of my thoughts, and I say slowly, "No... But we could lay in the grass." "Okay," he turns to the park to the left of us, running out onto the hill of grass, and collapses onto the ground in the distance. I plop down next to him, laying my arms out, my vest exposing my chest. "So, how long are we going to do this?" I ask, staring out at the blue sky with the occasional cloud floating by, and he says, "However long you want to stay here." I go onto my side, staring at Gray who's watching the clouds move in the sky blankly. This is getting awkward really fast... Should I challenge him to a fight or prank him or something like that? I realize that Gray's staring at me back in confusion, his onyx eyes staring into mine, causing myself to flush, turning on my other side. "You think this is fun?" He asks me, not knowing what else to say, and I reply, "I don't know, do you?" I sneak a glance at him, and see that he shrugs, still staring at me. "Are you ticklish?" He suddenly asks out of the blue, causing myself to quickly shoot back, "No!" "Come on, I know you are," he smirks, and I bite my lip, but squeak as he pushes his finger into my side, causing myself to laugh, curling up into a ball, and he grins, saying, "You are! Where else?" "I-i'm not telling you!" I blush, poking his side, causing himself to choke out a laugh, and he tickles me back, causing myself to say, laughing, "S-stop!" "No, it's too funny when you're like this!"
This goes on for a long time until we collapse in exhaustion, breathing hard, and I say tiredly, "I hate you..." "I hate you too!" He ruffles my pink hair deviously, causing myself to blush a deep red, and I say, shooing his arm away, "S-stop!" He laughs, taking his arm away, and I ruffle his hair ruthlessly, smiling as he says, annoyed, "Seriously!" I laugh, staring out onto the sky, realizing the sun was setting, so I ask, "Wow, is the sun setting already?" "Yeah, I guess," Gray gets up, and I ask again, "So, what are we going to do now?" I watch him as he tilts his head, trying to think of an idea, and he says, "Let's go shooping." "Shopping?!" I shout in surprise, and he nods, explaining, "I'm going to make dinner." My jaw drops, and he says sarcastically, "Yes, I actually can cook, be my guest."