At first a road trip sounded like a good idea to Team Natsu, that is until Natsu gives Lucy, Erza, and Gray a terrifying reminder about how dramatic he, and his motion sickness can get.
This is the backstory on why Gray has childproof locks on his car doors (he locks Lyon and Loke in the car lol) requested by the wonderful MsVulgarities thank you for being so invested in my fics! This story is a bit of a prequel to my Lyoke fic but you can read either without the other.
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"Lemme outta here." Natsu's hand smacked weakly against the back of Gray's seat, "I'm gonna hurl."
"Quit being so dramatic, flame brain. You'll be fine." Even so Gray glanced in the rearview mirror to check on him, Natsu was doubled over in the backseat. He moaning miserably as Lucy, trying to be helpful, rubbed circles into his back.
It only made Natsu moan louder. "I think... uhh... I'm g-gonna die..."
Gray rolled his eyes, looking back towards the road. He wasn't gonna let Natsu's whining distract him, the last thing he wanted was for them to get in a wreck on the highway.
"Poor guy." Erza sympathized from the shotgun seat. There were Ray Bans over her eyes and bare feet up on the dash, a bag of beaver nuggets in her lap.
"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "Getting car sick is the worst thing on a road trip."
"Why did I even come on a road trip? I'm a fucking dumbass." Natsu gritted out, then careened over, banging his head against the car door. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
Before Gray could agree, saying 'yeah, you are'. Lucy cut in, pulling Natsu away from the door and preventing him from causing himself further brain damage. "You're here because you wanna go to Universal and see the Jurassic World attractions, remember?"
"Dinosaurs..." He mumbled, head lolling to the side and Gray snorted, priorities. Natsu hated roller coasters, but one mention of anything involving reptilian creatures and he was there.
Erza twisted back in her seat, holding out her plastic bag. "Want a beaver nugget?"
The pink haired man looked up from his previously hunched over position, eyes lidded and face a shade of green. He looks like a Martian, Gray thought, more amused with the situation then he was letting on.
Natsu whimpered, actually whimpered, as he saw the snack. "As much as I love nuggets... if I ate anything right now I'd probably throw it back up."
"You better not." Gray snapped, turning back in his seat to glare daggers at the car sick patient. If Natsu blew chunks in his new car... Gray would kill him. Kill him, then harvest his organs, and sell them on the black market as a way to pay for the damage. Wow, hello serial killer thoughts. Gray had been watching way too much "Criminal Minds".
"Urghh... are we there yet?" Natsu whined, impatient and harried.
Erza checked her watch, far too used to this Natsu's childish behavior to be fazed. "We will be there in three more hours."
"THREE HOURS?!!"
"Yup." Erza confirmed, nodding. "You better suck it up till then."
"Fuck this!" Natsu yelled and Gray heard a click and Lucy shriek, "Natsu Dragneel what are you doing? Close that door this instant!"
Gray turned his head around just in time to watch Natsu jump out the car. "Son of a bitch!" He barked, slamming on the breaks, and watching through the window as Natsu hit the gravel rolling.
The car came to a screeching halt and Gray was slamming the door open, "NATSU!!"
Natsu stood up, dusting off his knees, he turned to at the sound of his name and blinked, as he saw the very angry man charging towards him. He raised his hand in greeting. "Oh, hi Gray."
'Hi Gray, my ass.' He internally fumed, grinding his teeth. Gray grabbed Natsu by the collar, dragging him forwards, ready to haul him back into the car, ...and if Gray accidentally strangled Natsu on the way, then so be it.
Natsu twisted out of Gray's grip, and shoved him away. "No way am I going back into that death machine."
Gray's eye twitched dangerously, fists clenched at his sides, his vision swimming with red. Then a loud honking filled his ears and he turned to see a truck coming towards them. Bright lights flashing in his eyes.
Time seemed to slow down, as his eyes moved over to Natsu, who's hands had gone up to clamp over his sensitive ears, too slow to react to the threat. Gray's legs seemed to move on their own, striding towards Natsu, the girls' screams and the still honking horn ringing in his ears.
He leaped, tackling Natsu off the road. They hit the grassy hill, and time sped back up. Gray's head slammed against Natsu's chest, brain rattling in his skull as they tumbled down the hill, bruises and bump already starting to swell. They rolled faster and faster, and Gray dug his fingers into Natsu's shirt, eyes squeezed shut and limbs tense, braced for the final impact.
They hit a surface, and fell through with a splash. Water filled Gray's nose and mouth, and his eyes snapped open, wildly searching through the murk. Then a hand grabbed his arm, yanking him up.
Gray broke back through the surface, gasping, spittle and pond water coming out in hacking coughs.
A hand squeezed his shoulder, the same hand that had brought Gray back up. "You good?" Natsu asked, dark eyes concerned, and usual spiky pink locks drooping, weighed down by water they had absorbed.
Gray didn't waste time being thankful, whirling on Natsu, "What the hell were you thinking flame brain? You could have gotten yourself killed!"
"Uhh..." Natsu looked left to right, trying to come up with some excuse that wouldn't get him a punch to the face. Good luck with that.
"That truck almost hit you." Gray grabbed Natsu by the shoulders, shaking him. "It would've hit you and you would be in the hospital, or worse! You could have died and-" Gray's voice caught in his throat, and he looked down at the murky water, not being able to face Natsu any more. '...and I would have lost another person I loved.' Gray squeezed his eyes shut and his nails dug into Natsu's skin. 'I can't lose someone else,' Gray choked on his own thoughts, shaking his head, a shower of droplets flinging from his hair and trickling down his face.
Natsu's hands wrapped around Gray's forearms, gently squeezing and pulling his panicking friend back into reality.
"You just scared me, okay?" Gray shoved him away, head bent and face shaded, still refusing to look at Natsu.
His bare chest heaved up and down. The adrenaline just now starting to recede. The honking horn. The bright lights in his eyes. Natsu standing in the middle of the road. Gray turned around, marching away, his pace painfully sluggish against the high water.
"Oh my god! Natsu! Gray! Are you okay?" Lucy's head appeared over the slope, Erza a step behind her, Ray Bans now pushed up on top of her red hair.
"Yeah, we're good." Natsu called out and Gray bit down against his retort about how they were definitely not good.
"That's a relief." Lucy sighed, a hand over her heart, the perfect image of a mother hen.
Erza wasn't as easily deterred, she crossed her arms, glowering down at the boys. "You two gave us quite a scare."
"Believe me, it was scary from our perspective too." Gray muttered, trudging up the river bank.
"The police are on their way. So it looks like our trip is gonna be put on hold, maybe even cancelled entirely." Erza stated, annoyed. They'd all been looking forwards to having fun at the theme park.
Lucy ran a hand through her blonde hair, messing up her ponytail even further. "So much for my plan to send Levy pics of Harry Potter World."
Oh no. Lucy wouldn't be able to geek out with Levy about wizard shit over the phone. It wasn't like Gray and Natsu had almost died or anything. Gray looked over his shoulder, ready to make some jab at Natsu for ruining the fun for everyone. Then he stopped, mouth half open as he stared.
Natsu had just came out the pond, dripping wet shirt clinging to his chest, water making it go see through so that Gray could see each and every angle that made up Natsu's top half, his sculpted abdomen, his heavy set pectorals, and his broad shoulders on full display. Natsu's scarf was wound around his hands, half way in the motion of wringing it out.
Gray started breathing hard for a whole different reason. He silently set up thanks and curses at whatever god had decided that Natsu had been wearing a white shirt today. God bless white shirts and water on hot men. God bless.
Natsu finished wringing his scarf out, slinging it over his shoulder, the weighed down cloth hitting his back with a wet slap. Gray barely suppressed a groan, shuddering in his leather boots. Hopefully his very gay shudder would be mistaken for a shiver. Both men were drenched to the bone in water, the air's kiss only making it feel even colder.
Gray was snapped out of his thirsting by the high pitched sound of sirens. Great.
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Gray sat in the back of an ambulance with Natsu, a thick scratchy blanket over their shoulders, watching the EMT's take all kind of tests to make sure they hadn't hurt anything unknown to the eye.
Natsu had scratched up his calf and the pond water could have infected the cuts, also the EMT's looked like they thought Gray had a concussion, his speech was slurred and he tended to space out every once and awhile.
Little did they know that Natsu Dragneel in a wet white shirt was the true cause, and okay, maybe he might have also banged his head up a bit.
Off to the side, the police were questioning the girls. Lucy had drawn back into the shadows of Erza's side, letting the red head take the lead. Lucy was twisting a lock of blonde hair around her finger, evidence of her nerves, she did had a bit of a problem with authority figures.
The night air was cool, but Gray wasn't all that affected by the chill, having used to be a resident of Canada, but he could fake a bad cold if it would buy him enough time to slip away before the police came to him with questions. Or even worse.., Gray shivered, a new kind of terror coursing through his veins, a pissed off Erza Scarlet.
"You cold, ice princess?" Natsu asked, face split in a grin.
Gray glared pointedly at him, letting Natsu know full well that he was not back in Gray's good graces yet. If Natsu got the meaning in the crabby man's eyes, he didn't let it show as he leaned into Gray's personal space. "Because if you are cold...I could warm you up, body heat and all that."
Manipulating bastard. Gray's lip curled at the way his body thrummed in response to what- he hoped- Natsu was implying. You could never know with that one.
"Fine." Gray growled. "Be my space heater and we'll see about forgiveness."
Natsu just smiled.
Gray let himself be shuffled into Natsu's arms, glowering the whole way. He stared at the road, now illuminated by the flashing light of the ambulance and squad cars.
As soon as he got home, Gray was installing childproof locks on his doors. His car was gonna be dumbass proof, or more accurately... Natsu proof.
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A/N: Gray is fed up with his dumb ass friends being dumbasses and putting themselves in danger (Gray's the real mom friend here lol)
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