010. Passing Hands
Natsu, Gray – After the events of Chariot, Gray feels that Natsu could use a little pick-me-up. Literally.
Standing over the Dragon Slayer's crumpled form on the dusty ground of the arena, Gray let out a sigh of exasperation. "Seriously, you're so lame, Natsu."
"Nnngh…"
"Trying to act all cool with that speech of yours, and look at you now. Even Gajeel managed to get up on his own."
"S-Shut… up…"
The scattered claps still ringing from the stands were a pleasant turnaround from the boos of the previous day, even if they were certainly much quieter than the uproarious welcome that other guilds, especially Sabertooth, had received.
A faint surge of pride welled up in Gray as he looked down at Natsu, pushing down the remnants of shame that lurked when he recalled his own abysmal performance. If there was anyone who could earn such respect so quickly, of course it had to be this pink-haired idiot right here, who currently looked as if he were trying not to spew his guts out.
"Come on, let's go. Can't have you getting trampled on when the battle portion starts." Kneeling down, Gray pulled one of Natsu's arms over his shoulders, staggering a little when he stood back up. "Man, what do you eat? You're heavy."
"Leggo'f me… Can walk on… own… urp."
"Sure, and I can fly like Happy."
They made their way slowly out of the arena, with Gray half-dragging a semi-conscious Natsu more than anything. In between waves of nausea and coherence, Natsu vaguely wondered if Gray had been replaced by one of those weird clones from the Hidden game. Because Gray was being downright nice. And they simply didn't do nice, not when it came to each other.
Mostly, anyway.
"…-yesterday."
"Eh?" Natsu glanced up, then had to refrain from hurling again from the movement. Gray stared straight ahead impassively. "Uugh… You say… something?"
"Nope. If you throw up on me, I'll really drag you the rest of the way."
Thank you. For yesterday.
"I was wondering what you went down there for, Gray. Natsu! Are you alright?"
"Just the usual stupid motion sickness. You got called up to fight yesterday, so you probably won't today. How about you take the flame brain up to the old hag's office, Lucy?"
"Eh?! Me?"
A/N: I want to see more of Natsu and Gray's friendship… It was nice to see Natsu defending Gray after Hidden on the first day, so I think this could have happened after Chariot, sort of like Gray paying Natsu back.
It's been ten chapters so far, and thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! Just a reminder that I do take requests and prompts, whether it's for pairings or not. Should I put this in the summary?