Once the ship got within a certain distance of shore, Fati and Erza dropped the anchor again. They couldn't bring the ship all the way to land or it would collide into the sand bank. Fati said they would leave the ship where it was and finish their journey on a little rowboat that was fastened to the side of the hull—called a ship's boat. Out of the two ship's boats that had been brought with them, only one was safe enough to ride. The other had been severely damaged in the previous day's fight.

Everyone brought up any extra items they had brought from the belowdecks. It wasn't much, just some food and toiletries. All of it fit in a little bag that Erza carried. They congregated around the remaining rowboat.

Lucy expected the unfastening of the ship's boat to be an exhaustive process. Surprisingly, it wasn't. Fati ordered everyone inside the boat. It was only four people and an exceed: Fati, Lucy, Erza, the strange man whom Erza had been regularly knocking unconscious, and Happy, so they had a little bit of extra breathing room. It felt strange to sit in a boat that was dangling above the air. Once they were settled, Fati ordered everyone to hold tightly onto the boat and hold down any loose items. She pulled on a little latch just over the edge of the boat and the rowboat dropped suddenly. Lucy and Happy screamed a little, but the fall really wasn't that far. They smacked against the water and a fine mist of sea water hit everyone's faces. The boat rocked and bobbed much faster and harder than the ship.

A previously slack rope stretched taut as the rowboat dropped, holding them close to the ship. Fati, unaffected by the drop, quickly untied the rope from the ship's boat. She pulled six oars from the bottom of the boat and handed off a pair to each able person. They fitted each oar into a little metal ring on the top of the wood and began to row. They were asynchronous at first. Lucy's oar smacked into Erza's under the water and tilted the back end of the boat into the ship's hull. Fati began stamping her foot against the rowboat to give them a beat to follow. It helped tremendously. They began to inch forward, towards the shore.

Rowing a boat is incredibly strenuous work. While all three of the girls were extremely physically fit, they all knew their arms would hurt in the morning.

It took approximately half an hour to row to shore. The tip of the boat collided with the beach and dug into the wet sand. Everybody dropped their oars and relaxed their arms.

Fati stood first. The force of her standing up forced the boat from the sand and sent it back a few feet backwards. Erza and Lucy quickly paddled the water with their hands until the boat hit the sand again. They twisted the boat until it was parallel with the sand line. Erza and Lucy held the sand as best they could to prevent the rowboat from drifting.

Fati took a large step and unsteadily brought herself onto land. Erza was next, pulling the limp body of the strange man behind her. She dropped the man and helped Lucy out of the boat. Happy flew out and landed on Lucy's head.

"Guys!" a voice yelled happily.

Happy gasped. "Natsu!" he yelled. He flew directly into Natsu's chest. Natsu laughed loudly and wrapped his arms around him. Gray stood next to Natsu, watching them happily.

"Happy!" Natsu shouted, "Why were you gone so long?"

"When I went out to the ship, there was a crazy storm!" Happy rambled loudly into Natsu's chest, "I saw Lucy and Erza but then the rain got really bad and I couldn't see anymore and then Loke saved me and brought me below deck and told me to stay there! I heard a ton of noises but I stayed down with Fati and Loke."

"Woah, woah, slow down!" Natsu looked at everyone's faces. "What… What the hell happened out there?

Lucy walked up and pressed her head against Natsu's chest as well. Natsu adjusted himself, holding Happy in one arm and slinging the other arm around Lucy, effectively making a three-person hug.

"A lot happened," Lucy sighed.

"It's too long of a story to discuss here," Erza said. "Let's return to the hotel."

Gray then noticed something. "Who the fuck is that?" Gray pointed at the unconscious man. Natsu gasped audibly as he too noticed the man.

"I already told you, it is too long of a story. You will know soon."

Natsu and Gray gave each other a serious look. Whatever happened sounded bad. "Alright," Natsu said, letting Lucy go and placing Happy on his shoulder. He grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her behind him.

"Wait," Fati said quickly. Everyone else stopped walking forward and looked at her. "I need to put the ship's boat away, let the mayor know we're back, and deliver the man to be investigated. Spend the rest of the day at the hotel and rest."

Erza walked up and hugged Fati. "Thank you for everything," she said quietly. She pat Fati's arms reassuringly.

Fati waved to the group and returned to the ship's boat. She grabbed at it and began to drag it onto the sand. They wanted to help her, but she seemed to be making good progress on her own, so they just left.

The group moved as quickly as they could across the sand. The girls desperately wanted to rest and the boys desperately wanted to hear what happened. They hit the pavement and sped up even more.

The hotel wasn't too far. They walked up the stairs, through the hallways, and stopped in front of Natsu and Gray's room.

"Come into our room," Gray said, fiddling with the door handle. Everyone followed him into the room. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy sat on the bed, Erza sat on the chair, and Gray settled himself on the floor.

"So…" Natsu began, "what happened?"

Lucy moved across the bed on her knees until she reached Natsu. She climbed onto his lap and relaxed her head against his collar. Natsu responded by wrapping her up into his arms. Happy slid from Natsu's shoulder and crept into the space between Natsu and Lucy's abdomens, where it was warm. After being close friends for years and finding themselves in the same bed so often, Natsu and Lucy had become very comfortable cuddling and touching each other. Gray and Erza were used to their antics, and Happy benefitted from the warm pillow they created, so nobody blinked an eye at the sudden motion.

"Well, to start from the beginning…" Lucy said, adjusting her head so everyone could hear her. "We woke up, joined with Fati, then knocked on your guys' door. We heard some noises but you guys didn't come out."

"Oh damn, really?" Gray jumped.

"Yes, Gray… and why was that?" Erza asked seriously.

Gray chuckled to himself. "Natsu was bothered by the sounds of the storm the night before, so I covered the entire room with a good foot or two of ice. We couldn't hear shit."

"But we could hear you!" Lucy said.

"I was only trying to stop sound from coming in, not going out."

"How does that work?"

"I dunno, magic?"

Lucy laughed at that. "Well, anyway, we gave up and went to the boat by ourselves. It was pretty uneventful until we got to the location we were gonna stop at. As we were dropping the fake fishing nets a really bad storm started to hit. Suddenly, Happy dropped onto the ship."

"I sent him out to find you guys after we realized you had left," Gray clarified.

"We figured as much. The wind made it hard to hear him but we got the idea," Lucy paused after realizing something. "Oh! So that's what 'ice room' meant!"

"He mentioned it?" Natsu laughed.

"Yes! I had no clue what he was talking about!"

Happy whined from within his human blanket. "That storm was awful."

Everyone laughed. Natsu took one hand from Lucy and brought it down to pet Happy's head. "Sorry, buddy," he chuckled, rubbing behind his ears.

Happy knitted his brow together. "Buy me fish and maybe I'll forgive you."

"We'll see about that," Natsu replied.

Erza continued with their story. "The storm continued to get worse. After losing sound, we lost visibility. We weren't able to make it back to the cabin. Lucy and myself found each other and settled against the bow to wait out the storm."

Happy piped up again. "Loke found me against the railing and pulled me into the cabin."

"Why was Loke there?" Gray asked.

"I called him out to help us prepare the ship for bait," Lucy answered quickly.

"After some time," Erza continued, "the storm began to do something strange. The clouds would gather themselves together into a great ball, stopping the rain momentarily, before exploding over the sky once more…"

Gray and Natsu's expressions changed rapidly.

"...It did this a few times. Lucy and I were thrown about the ship. One of the times that the clouds gathered, we saw Fati crawling towards us. The clouds gathered for a final time and took the form of a great beast." Erza adjusted herself in her seat. "The beast began to attack the ship. After it ripped off a part of the railing, I slashed its face. Lucy summoned Aquarius. I jumped onto its back and found a man controlling it. That was the very man we had carried onto shore. We fought and I ended up knocking him out. The beast dissipated, and the others carried me onto the boat once more."

Both boys looked incredibly shocked. Natsu clenched onto Lucy's shoulders. "Good lord!" he said, shocked. "No wonder you guys are so exhausted."

"What does this mean?" Gray mused aloud.

"I'm not sure," Erza muttered. "However, we've taken out the threat. We weren't asked to figure out why there was a threat in the first place."

"That's true," Natsu agreed. "I wish I could've fought it myself! That sounded fun."

Lucy sighed in his arms. Of course he'd think that! Natsu felt the sigh and laughed gently.

"Speaking of, Natsu…" Erza added, "what did you and Gray do while we were out?"

Natsu faltered. He watched Gray stiffen uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye. "A-Ah, well…" The boys made brief eye contact, trying their damndest to communicate telepathically. Gray nodded almost imperceptibly, giving Natsu free reign on what he wanted to divulge.

"We explored the city a bit," Natsu answered finally.

Lucy hummed. "What'd you see?"

"There was a flower garden outside the hotel, and a shopping center with an antique shop owned by a sweet old woman, and a cheap sandwich place… and that was about it."

"That's cool!" Lucy said. "Gray, what did you see?"

Gray looked confused. "The same stuff as Natsu."

"Wait… you guys explored the city together?"

"Yeah?" the boys said together.

"And nothing was destroyed?"

"No."

Erza crossed her arms, her gauntlets clinking against her chestplate. "Saving each other on the mission before this, refraining from destruction… some may believe you two are maturing."

"What? No!" Natsu denied her claims adamantly. "We weren't—well, we just didn't fight for a bit!"

"That's maturity, Natsu."

"She's kinda right," Lucy agreed.

"There's nothing wrong with maturing a bit," Gray added.

Natsu was sure this had a second meaning, but Natsu was not smart enough to figure out what it was. He waved off their comments. "In any case, it was fun."

"So you admit you had fun with him?" Erza pressed.

"I—"

"I'm joking, Natsu."

Natsu turned bright pink. He tried to hide his face in Lucy's hair, but she wouldn't let him. She pulled back suddenly and laughed.

"I've never seen someone blush this strongly in real life!" She held his face and turned it to everyone else in the room. "Look!"

At this point, his blush had turned from a pink dusting to a full on red tint.

"Christ, Natsu, it seriously looks like someone pinched your cheeks!" Gray teased. "That cannot be natural!"

Natsu tried to hide his face in his hands. Lucy tried pulling them away, but Natsu fell on his back, into the mattress. Lucy laughed and followed him down, trying more to pull the hands from his face. She wasn't actually pulling very hard, they were just messing around. Happy fell from Lucy's lap and sat on the footboard.

Natsu laughed, muffled from his hands. "You're not gonna get me!" He giggled, flipping onto his side to hide from her.

"Alright, I'm not letting this continue," Gray said, standing. He put one knee on the edge of the bed next to Natsu. Natsu was now properly flanked, Lucy on his backside and Gray on his front.

Gray pushed on Natsu's shoulders until he was flat on his back. Natsu struggled, so Gray just pushed down harder. "Lucy, get his feet!"

Lucy jumped to grab Natsu's ankles. He started kicking, so Lucy laid her arms flat across his shins. The second he stopped kicking she clenched his ankles and held them down. Natsu shrieked but kept his hands held tight to his face.

"Get in here, Erza!"

Erza complied. She walked up to the bed and did the only thing there was left to do. She grabbed Natsu's forearms and pulled. They did not budge. Erza did not have as much restraint as Lucy, so she pulled harder. In addition to having less restraint, Erza was also much stronger than Lucy. She managed to pry the hands from Natsu's and reveal his still-embarrassed face.

Gray struggled to keep in his laughter. "You're such an idiot."

"Shut up! You're the idiot!" Natsu struggled more but couldn't break a three-person pin. "You saw my face, let me go already!"

Lucy and Erza complied in good humor. Gray, however, kept his hands on Natsu's shoulders for a moment longer than the others. He gave them a quick squeeze before finally letting him go. Natsu would have blushed at the motion if his face wasn't already extremely red. He sat up quickly.

"Alright, so… what do we do now?" Natsu said, trying to shake off Gray's action.

"Personally, I'm tired," Lucy yawned. "Can I sleep in this room? I wanna be with Natsu and Happy."

"I quite like this bed," Gray said immediately.

"The bed in the other room is the same."

"I like this bed," he repeated.

Natsu looked between his friend and his new boyfriend. Usually, he would want to help Lucy recover from a stressful day, but… it sounded like Gray really wanted to be with him, and that probably meant something good. Natsu thought he was allowed to be a little selfish.

"He sounds serious, Lucy." Something occurred to him. "Actually, since Happy is small enough to fit in your bed…" Natsu faced Happy. "Would you be okay sleeping in Lucy's bed tonight?"

Happy nodded. "I don't mind."

"Perfect. Everyone gets what they want."

Lucy was not getting exactly what she wanted, but she could make do. "Alright," she agreed. She leaned forward and gave Natsu one final hug. "I'll see you in the morning."

Natsu returned the hug happily. "See you later."

Lucy scooped up Happy in her arms. They and Erza waved and left the room. Natsu could hear their footsteps outside, only a few steps before stopping at the next door. Gray tried to say something, but Natsu motioned for him to stay quiet. Gray couldn't hear that the girls weren't in their room yet. Natsu listened once more. A dull click, a door squealing, then the door closing again.

He sighed. Natsu pecked Gray's cheekbone and whispered to him, "You're being so conspicuous."

"Big word for you."

"Shush."

"I'm not being conspicuous, you're just worried."

"Really?"

"I mean it." Gray slid a gentle hand onto the back of Natsu's head. "I'm gonna be honest with you, watching you cuddle Lucy made me jealous out of my mind."

Natsu pouted a little. He didn't like that.

Gray saw the change in Natsu's face. "I don't mean I want you to stop being close with her! That's not what I meant. It just… made me want to cuddle you, too. Watching her be happy while cuddling reminded me of how happy I had felt."

"Oh!" That was much cuter. Natsu smiled as the mood suddenly changed. "You can feel like that right now."

"I would love to." Gray bent down to kiss Natsu, but stopped suddenly. "Ah, shit." He pushed away and stood up from the bed. "Lemme change into sleep clothes first. Oh, and brush my teeth. Bedtime routine and all."

"I should do that too, huh."

"Yeah, probably."

Natsu stood from the bed as well. They each dug into their respective suitcases and took out ratted clothes. Natsu threw on a stretched t-shirt and shorts. Gray kept it simple with just his boxers and an old shirt. They both knew the shirt would be gone by morning.

They took turns in the bathroom, brushing their teeth, pissing, and removing any extra jewelry. They reconvened in the middle of the room.

"Ready?" they asked each other. They each nodded and shared a simple kiss.

"Just to be clear, Natsu, we're only cuddling, right? I don't want to overstep."

"Yeah."

"Alright." Gray led Natsu towards the bed once more. They pulled the covers over themselves and faced each other.

"Uh… big spoon or little spoon?" Gray asked.

"I wanna try being big spoon. You're taller than me, so it might not work, but I wanna try."

Gray flipped so his back was facing Natsu. Natsu wrapped his arms around Gray's midsection and scooched in. His face pressed right into Gray's shoulder. Natsu tried to inch his body upwards, but the top of his head skimmed the metal headboard.

"Move down a little," Natsu whispered.

Gray did. He bent his knees a little and brought his pillow down to continue holding up his head. Natsu returned to his original position and found that he now fit perfectly against Gray's back.

"Is that comfortable for you?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, it's fine."

Natsu pecked the side of Gray's head. "Goodnight, Gray."

"Goodnight, Natsu."

They settled onto each other. Gray could feel Natsu's breath against his neck. He thought he would hate the feeling, but Natsu's warmth made it more comforting than annoying. He saw Natsu's hands in front of him, felt his arms wrapped all the way around him, and felt his head resting gently above his shoulder. Being little spoon felt unexpectedly good. He settled himself into the mattress and closed his eyes, his last thoughts of the day being how warm and protected he was.