Melting Gray [Gratsu]

42

Chapter Forty-Two

☆ Natsu Dragneel ☆

"You know, quite honestly, I'm not sure why the stuff we learn in school is even important."

I fake-gasped in horror, being purposely dramatic for the sake of comedic appeal. "What? You mean to tell me you think knowing the exact year in which the fall of Ancient Greece occurred isn't important for our future? Gray! You mock every history teacher ever!"

Gray laughed, and it made me automatically smile. "For real though. In our future, we won't need to have all these dates and names memorized. We won't need to calculate the area of a triangle. Why isn't school teaching us the important things, like how to pay taxes, keep good credits, and how to manage a household? Things like that are what's going to count in our lives. Not things like Algebra and European History."

"You should go bring this up with the superintendent at the next school board meeting," I joked. "But until then, you really do need to catch up on the notes. AP exams are coming soon."

"Ugh," Gray's head fell to his textbook. "Why do exams exist." He raised his head up again, and looked at me intensely. I raised my eyebrows, confused, and a ghost of a smile appeared on his features. "You have something on your face."

My fingers immediately flew up to my cheek, wiping away whatever he was referring to. "Did I get it?"

"Uh, no." Gray smiled wider. "Here, I got it." He leaned in, suddenly kissing me. I was so surprised for a split second, I jumped in my chair. Gray pulled away, unable to contain his laughter.

"You- oh my God, you're priceless!" He got out between gasps of bubbly laughter. I furrowed my eyebrows together and blushed, not amused. Gray smirked and put his thumb on my chin. "You're so adorably gullible. I love you."

I blushed harder, feeling like my heart was going to melt. "I love you too." Every word I said with so much feeling, the phrase was so overused nowadays it didn't hold as much meaning as it should, but when I said it to Gray, it was like everything fit perfectly into place in this fucked-up world.

We stared at each other dreamily for a few seconds, minutes, however long it was - when I was Gray every second was an infinity. We returned to working, with him taking digital notes on his computer to make the process move faster and me working on my own homework, which was writing my own report for the Stat study we did this week. We worked quietly in the welcoming silence, holding hands because Gray was conveniently left handed and sitting to the left of me. Every once in a while, he would squeeze my hand.

After a few times of him doing this, I decided to ask. "Why do you keep squeezing my hand?"

Gray didn't give me an answer immediately, because he paused to think for a second. "Why do I keep squeezing your hand? Because every few seconds my mind wanders back to you, so I'm just letting you know that I'm thinking about how hopelessly in love I am with you."

Smiling but not managing to squeak out a reply I squeezed his hand back.

"What was that for?" Gray asked.

"Just letting you know that I'm thinking about how tremendously happy you make me each day.

Gray blushed and kissed me again. The soft feeling of his lips against mind sent fluttery tingles through every corner of my body, making me feel hazy. My other hand found a way to his cheek and I gave the hand holding his a tight squeeze. He grinned against my mouth and sighed contently, squeezing back.

When we pulled away, breathless, flushed, and happy, I took in every feature of his countenance; every inch of his face, every pale freckle that dusted atop his nose, every perfect imperfection. I watched him in awe, shamelessly drinking in every part of this moment, when we were interrupted by Mika, who had just came in through the garage door.