Chapter 6

"Natsu, I'm not a fucking baby. You don't need to stare at me as I wash. I promise I won't pass out on your precious shower floor." Laxus called out from the shower, sounding tired but irrate. Natsu jumped as he realized he had been caught staring and quickly looked aside, hoping his blush wouldn't be noticed. 'Why the hell was I watching him anyway? It's not like he's attractive to me or anything... Is he?' He tried to discreetly sneak another peak at Laxus' nude form, taking in the sight before him cautiously.

The strong muscles of his legs flexed and he found himself mesmerized by the movement. His gaze continued up along the firm rear that graced his backside, then traveled along the taught planes of his stomach and chest. When he made it up to Laxus' head he realized the blonde was now staring back at him.

"Checking me out or something, flame-brain?" Laxus asked, amusement shining in his tired midnight blue eyes. "No! I was just making sure you didn't have any other wounds, light bulb." Natsu muttered in retort, looking away again and feeling embarrassed by his own stupidity. 'I should have never looked at him, he probably thinks I'm some kind of weird perv or something now. I don't even know WHY I was looking at his body... maybe I do think he's... attractive. I definitely shouldn't be trying to figure this out now though. Not while he's injured.'

Laxus noted the teen's awkward inner debate but wasn't exactly sure what it was about.'I was just joking around when I made that comment, but maybe he actually was? He doesn't exactly seem like he's hit puberty yet though he should have years ago. Agh whatever, not like I care about his sex life. I need to get some rest and heal this damn shoulder' he thought as he quickly rinsed off the suds covered his body and turned off the shower. "Hand me a damn towel will ya?" He asked gruffly.

Natsu quickly got off of the toilet lid where he had been sitting and handed Laxus the towel before picking up the man's clothing and setting in on the toilet. "I'm gonna go get changed for bed, holler if you fall or something." He said casually, walking into his bedroom and stripping down to his boxers. He normally slept nude but figured it might seem kinda awkward to do that when sharing his room so he deftly threw on some shorts before waiting patiently for Laxus to exit the bathroom.

Meanwhile the lightning mage toweled off and slipped back into his boxers but decided against wearing his pants, he didn't want to wear sweaty, gross leather pants to sleep. He slowly made his way into the bedroom and was surprised when the Salamander assisted him to the side of the bed so he could sit down. "Do you uh need anything before we get to sleep? You should ask now because I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to get you water or anything." Natsu asked quietly, waiting for the other man's response.

"Yeah actually water would be nice. Just one glass though, don't wanna inconvenience you or anything." He replied, smirking as he touched on a nerve according to the teen's face. Natsu huffed before tromping down the stairs to fetch his guest a drink and returned, handing the glass to him and hopping into the hammock he had set up while Laxus was dressing earlier. He settled in comfortably and said good night to the older mage before promptly falling asleep.

Try as he might, Laxus found he was having a hard time falling asleep now that he was laying down. Sure he was still exhausted beyond all belief, but for some reason his brain just wouldn't shut up. He kept mulling over the different reasons the fire dragon slayer could have had for staring at him like he had while he was showering, and they were all basically that he was interested in what he saw.

'It's not like I haven't dated guys before, I'm not that partial to the whole gender thing. But I've never been with anyone from my own guild before. Well with the exception of that one drunk night with Cana but that hardly counts, most every guy from our guild has slept with her at least once. And my relationships with guys were all pretty short lived, they couldn't really handle my anger problems or arrogance. Then there's the issue of Natsu being like 4 years younger than me, that's almost like cradle robbing for crying out loud! He's also pretty damn naive or asexual or whatever. Tonight's the only time I've ever seen him look at someone else's body like that.' Laxus gazed over at the sleeping teen, almost chuckling as he noticed that he slept with his mouth open in a slight 'o' formation.

'Yeah, he's adorable alright. I should just let this go for now, if anything happens between the two of us then so be it but I don't think now is the right time to bring it up. I'll let him figure stuff out first. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually tolerate him and he'll grow on me. Only time will tell I guess.'His eyes began to droop shut, body and mind finally on the same page as the day's excitement claimed the last of his energy and he fell into a peaceful sleep...

-Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter, had a bit of a hard time with it.

Please review!-