Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima
Day 2: Swap
The Scarf That United Us
Erza was tired of watching her two idiotic friends fight constantly. It did not matter what time of day, or what season of the year, no day went by without the two of them battling it out. With or without magic. The slightest comment would be taken as an insult, and off they would go, fists pounding into flesh, elemental magic blasts causing everyone to quickly get out of the way or risk being frozen or burned. No matter how many times she knocked their heads together to stop them, they were back at it as soon as she turned around.
Since Natsu had joined the guild, he and Gray had caused so much destruction that the Master had taken to deducting a percentage of their pay to create a fund to cover the repairs. Neither one complained, after Natsu had burned the guild down once during one of their fights, they knew it was more than fair.
While they fought, they were exhilarated, adrenaline flowed through their bodies, and there was nothing more important than to beat the ever living crap out of each other. It was their solution to every problem. Natsu was upset that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't find Igneel? He'd look for Gray and make him pay. Gray had a nightmare where he felt powerless after watching Deliora destroy everything he cared about? Natsu was the perfect punching dummy to make him feel powerful again.
Some of the older members of the guild were concerned that Natsu and Gray's relationship was becoming toxic. Makarov chose to stand in the sidelines and watch them. He knew there was no real animosity between the two, they were two growing boys with a lot of energy and passion, and they both knew they could take whatever the other could dish out. More often than not, they would go back to sitting next to each other after they were done.
As time passed both Erza and Makarov began to notice a change in the pattern of Natsu and Gray's fights. They had become more violent and aggressive with each other. Their insults rang truer, their fists hit harder, and at the end of the fight, one of them would invariably slam the guild doors on his way out. Something was wrong, but no one had any idea of what had happened. They began taking solo jobs to stay away from the other, but any time they were in the same room they were immediately at each other's throats.
Makarov decided to take matters into his own hands and get to the bottom of the situation. The next time Natsu and Gray were in the guild, he cornered them and led them into his office before they could get into a fight. He waited until they sat down.
"Alright, boys. I've tried to let you handle this by yourselves, but I think it's time you tell me what's going on." Makarov said as he watched the two boys squirm in their seats.
"Nothing's going on, Gramps," Gray responded first, his tone tight.
"How many times do I have to apologize?" Natsu countered angrily. "It was just a stupid bracelet, I'll buy you another one, Ice Block."
Gray sat in the chair, wanting the hurt to go away. But it wouldn't. He took a deep breath, he was absolutely not having it out with the Flame Brain in front of the old man. Just when he thought he was going to be okay....
"It was not just a stupid bracelet, you moron." Gray yelled, "It was my father's. I took it from his body when I found it. So how? How are you going to get me another one? My father's dead, you asshole."
Natsu paled as he fingered his scarf nervously. He hadn't known that. How was he supposed to know that? Gray never shared anything about himself. He'd always worn the bracelet, but Natsu had never thought about where it had come from. Gray's bracelet meant as much to him as Igneel's scarf did to Natsu, and he had destroyed it. Melted it until its links were unrecognizable. What had he done? It had been an accident, but he had really hurt his friend, and he didn't know how to make it better.
Makarov watched silently, waiting to see what Natsu would do. He knew that both boys were very kind-hearted despite the way they acted. He was curious how they would resolve this situation.
"I--I don't know what to say," Natsu said, looking as if he was ready to cry. Gray was his best friend, even if he wasn't sure the ice mage saw him the same way. He'd thought the ice block was overreacting, but now he knew the truth. Natsu had hurt him badly, and he needed to make it better. " I never meant to melt it, I can't control the heat of my flames all that well yet. Macao's been trying to teach me how to get better at it."
Gray tried to rein in the desire he felt to punch the younger boy. He could see for the first time that Natsu was genuinely sorry for what he had done. Even if taking out his misery on Natsu made him feel better in the moment, he knew he would feel bad about it afterward.
Natsu looked down at his scarf, the one thing he held dearest, and quickly unwrapped it from its permanent position around his neck. He felt naked, and a deep sense of loss assailed him, but he ignored it as he offered it to Gray.
"What?" Gray asked him confused. "What do you want me to do with it?" Natsu never took his precious scarf off. It was the only thing he had left to remind him of Igneel.
Makarov smiled gently as he saw Natsu try to give his friend his most prized possession. He was curious what Natsu was thinking,
"T-take it," Natsu said quickly, not wanting to lose his nerve. "I'll swap you my scarf for your bracelet. Just until I can fix it."
"I can't take your scarf, Natsu," Gray said simply. "I know how much it means to you."
"Take it," Natsu yelled. "Igneel would not be happy with me if he knew what I did. I will make this better, so don't get too attached to it, you hear?"
Gray looked at Makarov, at a loss as to what to do, and the old man nodded at him to take the offered scarf. He grabbed it uncertainly and wrapped it around his neck. Natsu held out his hand expectantly.
"What do you want?"
"Give me the bracelet." Natsu answered and before Gray could protest that he didn't have it he said ."Don't bother denying it, I can smell it in your pocket."
Gray shrugged and grabbed the misshapen remains of the bracelet from his pants pocket. He handed them over to the Fire Dragon Slayer.
Natsu smiled and yelled his signature, "I'm all fired up. I'll have this fixed before you know it." before he ran out of the room screaming for Reedus.
"You know Gray, if he had hurt you so badly you should have told him. You have a tendency to keep things in. Natsu doesn't understand that, he lets everything out." Makarov scolded.
"I can't believe he gave me Igneel's scarf," Gray muttered, fingering the well-loved fabric. He had to admit it had a nice soothing smell, although to him it just smelled of Natsu, the dragon smell so faint only a dragon slayer could pick it out.
"I'm expecting you to take good care of it, no retaliation," Makarov growled. "Are we clear? This is not something that was easy for him."
Gray nodded and realized with dismay that he had to somehow keep this piece of clothing on, he could not imagine what would happen if he lost it. He got up, and after waving goodbye to Makarov, he went back downstairs. He saw Natsu engaged in a rather animated conversation with Reedus but thought nothing of it. Twenty minutes later Natsu left the guild with a piece of paper in his hand.
Gray got odd looks as people saw him wearing Natsu's scarf, but everyone knew they had come from Makarov's office and assumed it was part of some punishment. He sat down, and Erza immediately joined him, a piece of cake at the ready.
"What's that about?" Erza asked as she put a piece of cake in her mouth.
"Natsu traded me his scarf for my bracelet," Gray responded.
"Why would he do that?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself." Gray shrugged still confused as to what would have possessed Natsu to part with his precious scarf.
Weeks passed, and Natsu became more and more dejected. He was no closer to finding anyone who could remake the melted metal into Gray's father's bracelet, even though he had done nothing but search. He had thought that having Reedus draw a picture of the bracelet would have made it a breeze, but none of the jewelers that he talked to had the tools needed to do what he wanted. They would refer him to different towns.
He'd take jobs based on their location, as he still needed to make money to cover his expenses, and eventually pay for the bracelet. Natsu wanted to make sure it was fireproof so that he could never melt it again, and that would be pricey as well. In a way, it was kind of like following leads in his search for Igneel, he always returned empty-handed.
Their brawls went back to normal now that Gray was no longer angry at Natsu and that helped a little, but every time he saw Gray wearing his scarf he was filled with longing. Nats missed having his father's smell near him all the time. He had begun having nightmares again, and now he had nothing to comfort him. One night, after a particularly bad one, he couldn't take it anymore. He got up from his bed and ran all the way to Gray's house, knocking desperately on the door when he got there. When Gray opened the door, he found Natsu in tears.
"What's wrong?" Gray asked with concern. It was late at night, and he had never seen Natsu like this, not even when he had first arrived at the guild a year ago.
"Please, can I just....." Natsu said looking at Gray, willing him to understand what he needed.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Gray asked sleepily as he let his friend into his small apartment. Natsu just nodded.
"Come on," Gray said and led him to his bedroom. He got the scarf from his nightstand and handed it to Natsu. Natsu hugged it against him as he inhaled Igneel's scent, embedded into the very essence of the fabric.
"Thanks," Natsu said, and as he continued to hold the scarf against him, his eyes began to close.
Gray rolled his eyes and placed Natsu on his bed. He turned off the light and climbed in next to him covering them with his blankets. Gray fell asleep listening to Natsu's even breathing. In the morning he found that he had wrapped himself around the younger boy and blushed. Gray had to admit, it felt nice to have him there.
He disentangled himself and watched Natsu sleep, as he thought about the situation. He had to find a way to get Natsu to take the scarf back, whatever he was trying to do, was not working. Gray could see that the loss of his scarf was taking its toll on him. Natsu finally woke up and the first thing he did was look at the scarf that he was still hugging. He let out a sigh of happiness that melted Gray's heart.
"You can have it back, you know." Gray told him."It's ok. I know you tried, and that's enough."
"No. I promised I was going to make it right and I will." Natsu said stubbornly. "Do you doubt me?"
"No, Natsu." Gray sighed, he could already tell this would escalate if he pushed. "Of course not."
Natsu sniffed his scarf one more time before silently handing it back to Gray. "Thanks for letting me stay last night."
"You can come back if you need to," Gray told him as he let Natsu out of his apartment.
Gray would like to say that he came to regret that statement, but he would be lying. At first, Natsu would stay over once a week. Then it was twice, these days he was there more often than not. While Natsu smelled Igneel, Gray would breathe in Natsu. It was odd how much he liked this unusual arrangement. Gray never said anything about it because he didn't want to spook Natsu away. Even though they quite often woke up tangled in each other's arms, nothing was ever said about it. Natsu always left in the morning. This went on for years, until the day when everything changed forever.
The guild Phantom Lord had attacked them and after much fighting Fairy Tail had come out victorious. To their surprise, Makarov had invited two of their members, Gajeel Redfox, and Juvia Lockser to join Fairy Tail.
Gray had beaten Juvia, one of Phantom Lord's strongest mages in battle. In the process, he had managed to earn her undying love, something she made sure to declare daily. Gray could not bring himself to even think about her though, his mind now full of the Fire Dragon Slayer that lay claim to his bed, albeit platonically.
Gajeel would mostly keep to himself or go on jobs. That's why Gray was shocked when Natsu came into the guild excitedly, and all but dragged Gajeel out with him. Gray noticed Natsu was holding a tattered piece of paper in his hand. Gajeel looked as stunned as Gray by the attention but decided to follow his fellow dragon slayer regardless.
They were gone for hours, and all Gray could do was try to avoid Juvia's advances as much as possible. He played with the scarf and fretted over whether Natsu was interested in the Dragon Slayer or not.
When the dragon slayers returned hours later, Natsu looked entirely too pleased with himself, while Gajeel looked bored. Gray didn't know what to make of it at all. Natsu came charging up to him and grabbed his arm and began pulling him away.
"What are you doing?" Gray complained. "You're going to pull my arm off."
"I have something to show you!" the Fire Dragon Slayer was so excited he looked like he would burst any second. "Come on!" He let go of Gray's arm and dashed off leaving the ice mage no choice but to follow.
Gray chased Natsu to the riverbank they had avoided since the incident and wondered what this could be about. When he arrived, Natsu motioned for him to sit down next to him. He took out the ratty piece of paper.
"The day I swapped you my scarf for your bracelet, I had Reedus draw that for me," Natsu explained.
Gray unfolded the paper and saw a drawing of his bracelet made with as much detail as Reedus was capable of.
"I took that to every jeweler I could find and had no luck. I tried for years and got nowhere, but when I saw Gajeel, I thought he might be able to help me, and he was." Natsu said excitedly.
He took a box out of his pocket and handed it to Gray looking nervous as he did so. Gray took the box and opened it. His father's bracelet was laying on a bed of cotton. He grabbed it and put it on, immediately comforted by its weight. It had been a few years, but he could still tell it was exactly the same.
"I melted the original metal, and Gajeel was able to reshape it from the picture." Natsu smiled. "When I told him that I wanted it to be fireproof he suggested we take it to his friend Totomaru. He did it as a favor to Gajeel, that guy hates my guts." Natsu grinned.
"I did it, Gray!" Natsu exclaimed."It took me years, but I did it."
Gray stripped off the scarf and placed it fondly around Natsu's neck. The Fire Dragon Slayer purred contentedly.
"Did you just purr?" Gray looked at the fire mage surprised.
"No," Natsu said quickly. "Dragons don't purr."
"Well, you said you'd do it, and you did." Gray said "Thank you. I guess now that you have your scarf back I'm going to miss you at night."
"Who says I'm going to go anywhere?" Natsu scoffed.
"I thought you were only there for the scarf?" Gray said dumbly.
"Sure, at first." Natsu chuckled. "Did you really think that was the only reason? And here, I thought I was supposed to be the oblivious one."
"You want to be there?" Gray asked surprised.
Natsu leaned his face closer to the ice mage's and pressed his lips against Gray's awkwardly. "Does that answer your question?"
Gray nodded, a little dazed by the unexpected kiss. He smiled happily. "I wanted you to be there too!"
He admired his bracelet in wonder. Who the hell would have thought that Natsu melting
it would have led to this? They sat quietly taking in the view, both looking forward to the night and the new adventures it now held.