A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a little shorter than the others. I just really liked the ending.

Chapter Three

Natsu woke bright and early to see Gray doing chin-ups in his closet.

"What the hell, Gray?!" he exclaimed, getting up and rushing over to the closet. "You're ankle is broken. You shouldn't be up and moving around!"

"It's been two days," Gray complained as Natsu hooked one arm around him, towing him back towards the bed. "I'm practically one hundred percent better!"

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "Wendy assigned you six weeks of bed-rest, and you think you're fully healed after two days? You really are a stubborn bastard."

Gray shrugged as Natsu set him down on the bed. "What can I say; I'm not one for sitting still."

"As you've said," Natsu sighed, heading back to the couch where he had been sleeping. "But still; you need to take care of yourself."

"Geez," Gray said, resting his arms behind his head and raising an eyebrow. "We've known each other for three days and you're already worrying about me? I'm touched."

"Shut up," Natsu said, embarrassed. "I'm just being a decent human being."

Gray said nothing, simply smirking and closing his eyes. Natsu sighed and flipped onto his side, resting his head on his arm. It was early - maybe about six or seven in the morning - and Natsu was swimming in perpetual boredom. Of course, he didn't mind taking care of Gray. He kind of enjoyed it, actually. But still. For someone who killed Zs everyday, Natsu wasn't used to not being on high alert twenty-four-seven. But, then again, Gray wasn't, either.

Natsu sighed and flipped onto his back, struggling to get comfortable. He tried to clear his mind in order to get back to sleep, but it always seemed to drift back to Gray for some reason. Natsu couldn't seem to get that boy out of his head. Perhaps he was just worried. Over the last three days they'd formed a somewhat solid friendship, which consisted of them yelling insults and threats at each other much of the day. But still, it was sort of like being friends. They behaved enough like how Natsu used to with his friends in high school, albeit a bit more violent.

"Hey," Gray said after a while, "what was your life like, back before the whole 'zombie apocalypse' thing?"

Natsu sighed and stared up at the ceiling, his hands resting on his chest. "I was a mega-nerd."

"Wait, seriously?" Gray asked, sounding surprised.

Natsu chuckled. "Yeah. Straight A student, bookworm, total Netflix addict."

"Wow," Gray said appreciatively. "I never would've pegged you as a nerd."

"Oh?" Natsu said, propping himself up on one elbow to glance at Gray. "What did you peg me as?"

"A total gym rat," Gray sighed. "Obviously I was way off."

Natsu snickered. "Wow, I'm flattered, Ice Princess."

"Shut up. Surely you had assumptions about me."

Natsu shrugged. "Well, I pegged you as an asshole, if that counts."

Gray opened one eye to glare at him, grabbing a pillow and tossing it at his head. Natsu caught it with ease and grinned, placing it behind his head. "So what were you, Ice Princes, if not an asshole?"

"Hm," Gray said thoughtfully. "I guess I was... a jock. I played soccer. My grades were average. I dunno."

"Well, maybe the apocalypse was a step up for both of us."

Gray laughed. "Yeah. For all us psychos who have a knack for killing, the apocalypse was a life promotion."

Natsu snickered. "Got that right. Who knew playing Call Of Duty would prepare me for the zombie apocalypse?"

They sat in companionable silence for a while. It was nearing nine o'clock, but Natsu was exhausted. His sleep had been fitful, and bad dreams had taken up what little rest he'd gotten. They were all about his dad, of course. Igneel was the only family Natsu had, besides his uncle, Atlas. Natsu's dad had died within the first month of the apocalypse. His uncle he wasn't sure about, considering he lived three states away.

Natsu sighed and rolled onto his side, opening his eyes to glance over at Gray. His raven locks were slightly curled from tossing around in his sleep. His skin was pale, as usual, and his eyelashes were long and dark, a strong contrast to his skin. As always, he slept without a shirt. Whenever Gray wasn't outside of his room, he was shirtless. Noticing these things... Natsu wasn't used to it.

Sure, he'd had flings in high school, but nothing like what he was feeling now. But Natsu had never really been attracted to boys before... He wasn't sure why he was now all of a sudden. Well, he never really did feel like he was in love before. It was kind of like he was just going out with girls because that's what you were supposed to do in high school. It had been a confusing time, and with the apocalypse, perhaps, came clarity.

Sighing and tugging a hand through his hair, Natsu sat up and stared at the ground for a while, collecting himself. When he felt orientated, he stood and reached for his clean, folded clothes resting on the armrest of the couch. He tugged off his shirt first, replacing it with the clean one, and then the black jeans.

When he was finished, Natsu stretched and went to the bathroom, drizzling a little water on a cloth to wipe his face. When he stepped out, Gray was sitting up in bed, pulling on a navy blue t-shirt. He gave Natsu a small wave and a smirk, settling back against his pillows and glancing out the window. "A lot of Zs out today," he said.

Natsu stood and walked over to the window, looking out past the electric fence. "Yeah," he agreed, narrowing his eyes at all the zombies roaming about, bumping up against the fence and shocking themselves. "I wonder why."

Gray shrugged. "Maybe some idiot was making a ton of noise nearby."

"Yeah," Natsu said offhandedly, heading over to the bed. "You ready to go down for breakfast?"

Gray nodded, and scooted his legs over the side. Natsu handed him his crutch and helped him stand, and they started towards the stairs.

"If you need anything, just call for me!" Lyon called after Gray and Natsu as they headed back towards Gray's room, his tone falsely cheerful.

Natsu raised his eyebrows once they were inside. "I don't think he likes me very much."

"What makes you say that?" Gray asked, plopping down on his bed with a sigh.

"Did you see how he looked at me?"

"That's just Lyon being Lyon. He's always distrustful of strangers at first. You just have to get to know him."

Natsu frowned and sat down heavily on the couch. "Sure. Right."

Gray propped his crutch up against the wall and lay back on the bed, resting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "Trust me. I know him better than anyone else."

"How?"

"He's my brother."

Natsu was silent for a while. "Oh. Well."

"I know. We don't look much alike," Gray said, laughing.

They rested in a comfortable silence for a while, until Natsu asked, "How many more days do you think you need to heal up?"

Gray thought about it for a moment. "Two."

Natsu nodded, satisfied. "Good, because I'm bored to death."

Gray rolled his eyes. "You can go on a job on your own, ya know."

"True," Natsu said thoughtfully. "But I just don't feel like going alone. I know I usually go solo, but I figured it might be nice to have someone to watch my back, ya know?"

Gray shrugged. "Yeah. Good point." He sighed and settled back against his headboard. "Tell you what; you put up with two more days of boredom, and I'll grab us a job, and talk to gramps about getting you a spot here. What do you say?"

"Sounds good," Natsu said, grinning. He still couldn't believe that a chance encounter with another young zombie hunter could bring him all this fortune... And all these feelings. Was he really that lucky? Natsu tucked his legs up and rested his chin in his hand, staring out the window. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen, although what it was, he couldn't say.

Maybe he was just imagining it, that feeling of suspense hanging in the air. What big thing could really happen in the middle of the apocalypse, anyway?