Chapter Fourteen: Apologies & Forgiveness
Previously...
"I'm thinking of switching into the medical division," Gray broke the silence with a comment that made the rosette turn his head in surprise; mild anger flushed his body as thoughts of not seeing the raven flooded his mind.
Lowering his face, he frowned: "So then I won't be seeing you again..."
"Huh? What're you talking about? We're still roommate, aren't we?"
"For now but soon you're gonna want to move closer to the hospital wing..."
Scoffing, "What the hell are you talking about? I-" but before he could finish a tan fist smashed down on the wooden rail in front of them; Natsu's fist, still clenched, rested against the wood.
"...forget it..." The rosette mumbled -Gray could hear the unspoken hurt behind those two words- before turning on his heels and walking back into the house.
It was strange. A week had passed and nothing. Every night the raven found himself alone in their shared bedroom regardless of how late he stayed up and when he woke up, Natsu's bed appeared slept in but no rosette. It was obvious that Natsu was coming in late while he was sleeping and leaving before the raven even had a chance to wake up.
A heavy sigh filled in the air of the room; what was the raven going to do? Was there anything he could do? The duo hadn't spoken since the rosette walked away that day and it seemed like everyone in the house knew about it. There wasn't any teasing from Lucy or Loki about them. He never thought he'd actually miss the pointless harassment. How had that gotten started in the first place...
It was Gray's second day, and honestly he felt awkward around so many new faces; it also didn't help that he was still pretty cautious around Natsu. The guy had knocked him out yesterday, after all! Onyx eyes constantly glanced at the rosette for any hint that the other might lash out at him again unfortunately this caught the playful gaze of a blonde dressed in a white coat, short denim shorts and a pink tank top (as well as bring up a topic that would always be brought up): "Ya know~ I didn't think you swung that way too, Gray"
"What?" The raven jolted from his current observation of the rosette, who stood beside him either oblivious to the blonde's comment or openly ignoring her completely.
"It is Gray, right? I mean, that's what Levy told me..."
Brown eyes stared waiting for an answer, which after a moment's debate of who the hell Levy was he responded: "Uh... Y-Yeah,"
Light pink flooded her cheeks as a gentle squeal that she covered in mere seconds with her hands, "I knew it~ And you're sharing a room with Natsu too... The scenes I can imagin-Ow!"
A tan hand smacking the side of her head silenced her as she held the spot tenderly before glaring over at the culprit: Natsu stood annoyed with his hand raised but the silence between them didn't last long. The blonde clenched her fist before pushing her face closer to the rosette's: "Why'd you do that?!"
"Because you're an idiot, Luce"
"It's Lucy and who ya callin' an idiot?" She swung her fist and even Gray could tell she meant to cause no harm to Natsu, who caught it playful before teasing her.
A cool breeze shook Gray from his memories and reminded him that he was standing outside at the place where the two would do their morning spar; the wooden rail had been fixed more than anyone thought possible. Most of the house's occupants had given up on lecturing either of them about destroying the rail...
"WHO DESTROYED THE PORCH?!" A redhead stormed inside the dining room, once lively had gone dead-silent the moment she entered; onyx eyes were beyond shocked that Natsu had even grown unnaturally quiet but Gray didn't want to leave the girl's question unanswered.
Raising himself from his seat, earning the wide stares from those around him, the raven cleared his throat and replied: "Sorry, it's my fault... me and Natsu were-" a sharp jab in his stomach interrupted him.
Glancing down he saw cobalt eyes wide with fear and that was the moment, he learned first-hand not to confess to the redhead about destroying the house.
He absentmindedly rubbed the side of his face, just thinking about the memory of meeting Erza brought the pain from the punch back to the nerves on his face. Both of them were forced to not only fix the part of the railing they broke but also whatever else that either Erza or Mirajane could name that needed fixing. The only reason they were able to stop the two demonic girls was because the rosette faked his injury acting up...
The two walked up the stairs after Gray's first lesson with shooting was over, the rosette was giving the other advice so he could improve but nothing that the raven found real specific.
"Come on... can't you give me anything-wait, are you okay?" Worry replaced irritation as onyx eyes caught the stiff movement beside him; despite the obvious answer, Natsu dismissed the other with a wave before climbing up the stairs ahead of them.
Gray followed, watching his roommate's movements; he saw how the rosette favored his injured side but with the lack of lighting there was no way to tell if it had opened up. They finished their trek up the staircase and the short distance to their bedroom and flipping on the switch, onyx eyes were blinded for a moment but once his eyes adjusted he just barely caught sight of spots of blood that were covered by a t-shirt.
"Wait-" He began as he reached out, pale fingers slipping under the shirt gently feeling the injury and when a sharp inhale brushed past his ear he glared up at the rosette: "You opened your gunshot... you really are a stubborn idiot..." He groaned as he removed his fingers and motioned for Natsu to remove his shirt, which the other did with a sigh.
Getting to work, Gray wasted no time in removing the old bandaging with new fresh gauze and bandaging; this was the first time, Natsu ever saw anyone work so efficiently - the raven had removed the old, cleaned the area and wrapped a new one in record time.
"Wow, you work fast..." The rosette muttered unexpectedly, getting an embarrassed warmth flooding both male's faces before receiving a soft 'thanks' afterwards.
He made the right choice, right? Telling Gramps that he wanted to be in the medical field with Yukino was the right thing to do, right? He could help so many who were risking their lives to right the wrongs of so many corrupt people out there. He could help Natsu. He would stay as his roommate and he would help him. He wanted to repay the debt - Natsu had saved him when he was ready to drink himself into an oblivion, Natsu had shown him his secret place, Natsu had been the one to take the bullet when it should have been Gray. The rosette should have been the one to go with Levy to find Gajeel not Gray.
Another cool breeze blew past him and a shiver ran up his spine; heading inside, he saw rosy locks leaving the kitchen. Numbed by the cool air, the raven followed without another thought - Natsu was heading upstairs by the time Gray exited the kitchen. Following quietly but quickly, he had to skid to a stop when the rosette suddenly stopped at the top of the stairs. His back to the raven and Gray was sure he was busted but cobalt eyes never turned to face him instead they stared on.
Taking a few steps closer, onyx eyes peered over to see Levy and Gajeel standing in the lounge; biting his tongue, the raven didn't want to make their presence known but when Natsu suddenly swung around and the first time in a week they were face-to-face. Swinging back around Natsu made a dash for their room but the raven was not far behind so when he tried to shut the door, Gray had wedged his foot in the opening keeping the door from completely shutting.
"Natsu, let me in... neither of us wants to ruin whatever is going on over there..." The raven pushed his weight against the door as he hissed and when the weight on the other side didn't seem to be forcing the door shut, Gray removed his own weight and pushed the door open.
The rosette moved out of the way; Gray had known it to be a slightly cheap trick -Natsu cared for Levy like a little sister- but he needed to talk with the other. Shutting the door softly, onyx eyes swept over to the rosette who had his back to him again; "Goddammit, Natsu!" Before he knew it, his pale hand had stretched out and grabbed the back of the rosette's shirt, effectively pulling it back and sending the other tumbling backwards.
Cobalt eyes barely had a chance to shoot the raven a murderous glare before onyx eyes froze over the boiling anger inside him; Gray, with all the crap his roommate had put him through filling his mind, tightened his hand into a fist before throwing the first punch successfully hitting Natsu square in the jaw.
"Try actually looking at me! All week long, you've ignore me..." He growled as the rosette recovered from the hit and got into his own fighting stance, ready for an opening.
"Look, when I said-" Gray began but when when a tan fist flew right at him, he tapped the fist with his arm successfully redirecting the hit by a little.
Retracting his fist, "I said don't worry about it," Natsu spat out, throwing another punch but curved the angle of it a little so it came from below and headed up.
Bending out of its reach, "No, hear me out..." the raven muttered, focused more on dodging his roommate's hit but when he was met by silence he continued: "Natsu... when I said that I was thinking of switching into the-"
A tan fist came at him and with his focus switched onto explaining himself, he staggered back until the edge of his bed met the back of his leg; "don't say it," Natsu growled.
"...switching... uh... fields," He narrowly dodged the rosette's next set of hits but Gray continued: "It was only a thought... nothing more. I hadn't actually made any decision..."
"Wait... you hadn't?" Natsu's guard dropped as did his fist a little and the raven did the same.
Scratching the back of his head, "Actually to be honest, I was slightly relieved that you showed up back then when you did despite your injury," sighing, "I was going to ask you if you ever found the person who made your life hell,"
When it seemed like nothing more was going to be said, the raven plopped back onto his bed with his eyes closed but when he felt the mattress shift he cracked open one eye to see the rosette sitting as well. Stretching his legs out in front of him, Natsu muttered: "I didn't... in my case, my dad disappeared when I was seven and it wasn't until I was close to being sixteen," falling back so he was lying on his back, "that I was able to find information on him..."
"What happened?"
"He died... and according to his D.O.D, I was only eight..."
"I'm sorry"
Sitting back up, Natsu hunched over asking in a low voice: "So where did you ask to be placed? I'm sure you already gave your answer to Gramps, right?"
"I did..."
"..."
"I chose to be one of the organization's doctors..."
"I see..."
"...but I convinced him to let me take a few assassination missions on every now and then,"
They stood, alone in the lounge; with a little help from Yukino, Lucy and Loki, Levy found herself face-to-face somewhat with the object of her affection. And her regret. Gajeel had his body slightly turned, a headband keeping his hair out of his face, bandaged from head-to-toe; it felt obvious to the petite info broker that he probably wasn't over their last fight.
Regardless, she would do it: "Gajeel... I'm sorry for saying such horrible things... for bringing up your past mistakes... I knew then that you had changed and I've regretted it every day since then..." She began, taking hesitate steps towards him occasionally before stopping far enough away that she could reach out and grab him.
When silence was her only response, she continued on: "I-I'm s-sorry... I-I wa-was t-to an-angry-y to say," sniffling, "co-come ho-home sa-safely..." tears streamed down her face as her biggest regret filled the air between them but when she was met by silence again she spoke: "even if you don't forgive me-"
"I never said I wouldn't forgive you, short-stack" Gajeel's words were soft, almost inaudible but they were loud enough to stop Levy's tears almost entirely; brown eyes met saddened coal ones and her tears almost started back up again...
"...even after all this time, you still won't call me by my name" Levy huffed as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, a small smile playing her lips at the familiarity of the topic.
Vein throbbed slightly in his forehead, "Oi, I wasn't done yet, short-stack!" He growled under his breath earning the petite info broker's attention before he added in a low voice: "Thank you for never giving up on me, Levy"
New tears formed at the corners of wide brown eyes but before her body could be overtaken by waves of multiple emotions: relief, happiness, affection, sadness making her petite body tremble - she felt a firm surface pressed snugly against her. Tears pausing in their downward trip before Levy realized what had just transpired and turning into that firmness.
"Thank you for finally coming home..." She whispered into his chest earning a light squeeze from him response; he was back and she beyond glad for just that.
It's amazing what can tie you down to a certain fate;
A fight between close friends
A few coins in a simple transaction
A sideways glance between strangers
Anything can lead your life into what you're fated to be.
Csilla: This chapter (especially the gray x natsu part) ended up entirely differently than I had planned ;w; -hands out tissues- I DID NOT MEAN FOR IT TO BE SO EMOTIONAL D:
This is it for Illusions~ Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, or will read this in the future! I loved reading each review. I loved seeing notifications of new followers, favoriters, and reviewers - they gave me the strength to work through my writer's block :D
&8tracks also helped (mainly my "&then there's regret" fanmix)
*lingo: D.O.D - date of death