Chapter 11
They were soon joined by Gajeel, Erza, and the guard healer. Erza gasped, covering her mouth when she saw the burns on Natsu's back, knowing Wendy had already attempted to heal them. The healer examined Natsu's injuries and showed Wendy how to dress the burns properly until they healed.
Gray moved Natsu to his bedroom so he could be more comfortable and so Wendy could examine him more privately.
Wendy's next healing attempt had much more satisfying results. The swelling went down, and Wendy examined what looked to be puncture wounds while Gray held Natsu up.
She healed those before redressing the burns under the healer's supervision, determined to keep them as clean as possible. Natsu continued to sleep, his natural regeneration also working away at his injuries, albeit slower than usual.
Once the healers had finished, Gray settled in the room to wait for Natsu to wake up. It felt like he was always waiting for Natsu these days. To come to work, to wake up, to ask for help, and to realize his feelings for him.
It was exhausting.
The second he'd entered the room, the whelp had scurried away, leaving Gray to stare after him with grudging curiosity.
Where did he find Natsu? Did he see anything?
Gray wished he could ask. He still didn't like the dragon, but he'd brought Natsu to them, so he couldn't hate him either. He remembered what Erza had said about the red dragons and tried to think about it objectively, but he could feel the familiar rage trying to rise to the surface.
"How's he doing?"
Erza had entered the ample room, walking over to where Natsu was resting to get a better look.
"About the same," Gray said, "He stopped moaning as much, I guess that means he's more comfortable."
"You know it's funny, I've known these guys for so many years, and this is the first time I've been here."
She looked around the room with interest, taking in the sparse furniture. There was a large wooden wardrobe up against the wall and a dresser with a mirror hanging over it. All beautiful in workmanship, but unlike anything she'd seen at any of the village stores.
Natsu didn't seem to have any personal objects outside of the scarf that he always wore. Although she saw what appeared to be a hamper full of dirty clothes tucked away in a dark recess of the room.
"It shouldn't surprise me, I know, but it's so hot in here. I'm surprised you're this comfortable."
"I'm not, I just don't want to leave until I know he's alright." Gray had been sweating profusely since he'd entered the cave.
At first, he'd tried to use his magic to keep himself comfortable, but he'd soon realized it was pointless. The amounts of energy he would have had to spend were humongous, and he'd have run out eventually anyway, so he'd just borne it as best he could.
Erza nodded in understanding. "Considering how badly the two of you started off, I'm glad to see your friendship has improved."
She looked down at Natsu sleeping peacefully; her face showing nothing but fondness.
"He's such a pain in the ass, but he gets under your skin, doesn't he?"
Gray snorted, thinking that summed up their friendship as well.
"Well then, let's let him rest." Erza moved to leave the room but stopped when she realized Gray wasn't following. She turned to him, the fondness shifting to irritation.
"We have many things to discuss as a group. Natsu will be fine for a few minutes." Erza pointed out. "Sting and Rogue have just arrived. We need to discuss what we think might have happened and how we're going to address it."
"You don't need me for that, Erza," Gray knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he couldn't be bothered to care about anything else.
Not until Natsu opened his eyes and smiled at him. Gray needed to know he was alright, and that made him reckless.
"I'm not asking," Erza's tone left no room for argument, "We need to take this seriously. Something attacked Natsu, and if it's still in the area, it could head to Talos next. We need to come up with a strategy. Now come on, there's no time to waste."
Gray remained where he was, feeling torn between his two loyalties. Something inside him was protesting loudly at the mere thought of leaving Natsu's side when he was this vulnerable. The desire to protect his reckless partner had always been strong, but when he'd seen the extent of his injuries it had transformed into a strong need.
All Gray could think about was how he could have lost him last night and never even known it until it was too late. That was not acceptable. His hands clenched into fists as he tried to control his anger at Erza for trying to force him away from Natsu.
"You're not the only one who's worried here, Gray." Erza reminded him, trying her best to keep her temper under control. "We're all worried as well."
Gray endeavored to come up with any excuse she would accept, but knew there was none. After taking one last look at Natsu, he grudgingly got up to follow Erza out to join the others.
He looked around the large room with interest, having been too focused on Natsu when he'd first entered the cave to pay any attention. Like Natsu's room, it was sparsely furnished with open spaces interspersed in between three large sofas set together in a U shape. Gray could only imagine this was so the dragons could easily move around while keeping the humans comfortable. How the hell had they gotten furniture all the way up here?
Sting and Rogue had brought food back with them, and Gray's stomach growled as the smell wafted towards him. He had eaten nothing all day, and he was starving. He sat down with the others, devouring the food they passed to him, much to everyone's amusement.
"Where's Lyon? " Gray asked Erza in between bites. He was the only one of their regular group that wasn't present.
"Someone had to remain in charge," Erza shrugged. They continued eating, discussing the events of that early morning and what it could mean for the future of their village.
0-0
Natsu blinked his eyes open. It was dark, but he could recognize the familiar smell of his room. It seemed he'd gotten back safely. He'd have to thank the whelp when he saw him again. His pain was much more manageable, which told him Wendy had tried to heal him.
She was much more helpful than Atlas, who derived great enjoyment in waiting until he was awake to heal him. Natsu missed the sadistic bastard so much. His absence, much like his father's was a constant ache in his heart.
Time to see how bad this is.
He braced himself, sitting up slowly and wincing at the stiffness he felt all over his body. He wasn't sure how he was going to manage patrol tonight, but no matter how uncomfortable he might be, there was no other choice. That a silver dragon had encroached on his territory so brazenly wasn't a good sign. Now more than ever, it was imperative that he continue his efforts.
Natsu sniffed the air, quickly recognizing Erza and Gray's scents.
Shit!
He must have been in worse shape than he'd thought for them to be in the cave. Natsu felt terrible about worrying his friends and he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to Erza's lecture, but for the first time he was actually more worried about Gray's.
Natsu had a vague memory of hearing Gray in his head and as good as that felt it worried him a bit. Come to think of it, how had Gray even known something was wrong? That thought ate at him the most. It added weight to the idea that he was calling Gray to him somehow.
He sighed, wishing he had a better idea of how all of this mating stuff worked. His father had promised to help him figure all out when he returned, but with no clue when that would be, Natsu would just have to continue fumbling on his own.
Asking Sting or Rogue, the only people he knew who were mated was out of the question, as that would mean admitting to them that Gray was his mate. Something he wasn't ready to do yet. Even though he was sure the other male dragon slayers already had their suspicions, that was not the same as declaring it and having to deal with their well-intentioned meddling.
Natsu attempted to get up as slowly as possible, but it didn't matter. He still doubled over as a wave of pain exploded across his back.
Fuck!
He stumbled, his arm flailing to steady himself against the nearby wall. He held on until the pain ebbed, clenching his teeth to keep from screaming out.
"Natsu feels better?"
An unexpected voice from the shadows startled him. The pain must have dulled his senses because he should have caught on to the dragon's presence right away.
"Oh hey, you're here." Natsu summoned the energy to smile at his new friend. "I wanted to thank you for bringing me home."
"I was glad to help." The whelp bowed his head.
Natsu went to call the dragon by his name when he remembered that the little guy had never given it to him. "What should I call you?"
"I don't have a name, I've always been alone."
Natsu could hear the same loneliness he often felt reflected in the dragon's voice. It made him even more outraged that this gentle creature had been so viciously attacked by his friends.
"You need to have a name," Natsu argued, "How about I give you one?"
The whelp's eyes widened in surprise, "I would be honored."
Natsu considered it for a while. He thought about how the whelp made him feel and instantly knew what to call him. "How about Happy?"
"Happy?" The dragon tilted his head to the side.
"Yeah, I was just thinking a few minutes ago about how much I missed my father and Atlas. Seeing another red dragon makes me feel happy."
The dragon seemed to think about it for a bit and then nodded enthusiastically, making Natsu smile at his cuteness.
"So Happy, how would you like to live here with me?" Natsu noticed the young dragon give an apprehensive glance towards the main room.
"Don't worry, they won't hurt you. If they do, they'll have to answer to the Son of Igneel, or even worse... Wendy." Natsu winked, and the dragon bowed his head in acceptance.
"You can always hide in here if you need to. This is our room now."
Those words seem to relax the dragon.
"Do you know what time it is?"
"It's dark," Happy replied.
Crap!
He'd need to get going. The others would come to check on him soon. If he didn't hurry, he'd get caught up in their interrogation.
Natsu exited his room quietly, heading towards the cave exit as quickly as his injuries allowed with Happy following close behind. He hoped the pain would be less in his dragon form, but he kind of doubted it.
0-0
Gray listened to the dragon slayers and Erza argue. They had been talking in circles for the last hour. As he'd suspected, there was not much they could do without knowing exactly what had attacked Natsu.
None of them could come up with what could have caused Natsu's injuries, and it was unsettling. They had lived in Talos their entire lives and had never come across anything like it. Either Natsu had stumbled across some new monster they weren't familiar with, or a dragon had attacked him. Those were the only two scenarios that seemed to make sense.
Gray was getting restless, he had nothing to add to the conversation, and he'd been getting a bad feeling that made him need to go check on Natsu. When Wendy got up to do another healing pass, Gray followed, ignoring Erza's irritated glance.
To his surprise, Wendy blocked the entrance to Natsu's room and refused to let him enter.
"We should come back later," Wendy murmured, staring at the ground to avoid Gray's questioning glance.
"Wendy?" Gray regarded the youngest dragon slayer with suspicion, "What are you doing?"
Wendy tried to come up with an acceptable excuse to keep Gray out of the empty room. "Uhm, Natsu's naked. We shouldn't bother him now."
"You're a terrible liar, kiddo," Gray gently chided her. "We've both seen him naked more times than we can count. What's really going on?"
Wendy's shoulders slumped in resignation. "He's not in there, " she whispered.
"What do you mean he's not in there?!" Gray raised his voice, drawing the others' attention. Wendy moved out of the way knowing there was no sense in keeping anyone out any longer.
He entered the room immediately while the others followed suit, all wanting to verify Wendy's words.
"I'm going to kill him!" Gray roared. He lashed out at Erza, "I knew I should have stayed here with him. Now, look what happened. The dumbass is off somewhere doing something stupid while injured."
Sting and Rogue went off to explore all the places Natsu could be in the cave, but soon returned empty-handed.
"He's not here," Rogue reported what they all already knew.
"How was I supposed to know he'd go right back out again?" Erza snapped as she felt the weight of Gray's glare.
Five pairs of eyes looked at her with equal amounts of disbelief.
"Okay, fine," Erza admitted, "Yes, I should have realized he'd do something that stupid."
"Should we go out and look for him?" Sting asked while looking around at the other slayers for confirmation.
"There's no point," Gajeel replied, "Rogue and I have tried to track him in the past. There's no trail to follow."
"How is that even possible?" Sting wondered out loud.
"I don't know, but Natsu has the best senses out of all of us. Maybe he figured out a way to disguise his scent." Rogue puzzled.
"You're giving Salamander way too much credit," Gajeel pointed out, "I think it more likely Atlas taught him a spell or something."
The other dragon slayers nodded in agreement. Both Atlas and Igneel were very skilled, even capable of creating new magic like the spell that had given them theirs.
"You guys should go home. We'll deal with Salamander when he gets back," Gajeel tried to usher them out of Natsu's room."Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Once we know what happened, we can make plans."
"I'm not going anywhere," Gray insisted, refusing to budge, "He owes me some answers, and I'm not letting him weasel out of it again."
He could see the dragon slayers having what appeared to be a conversation between them, even though Gray couldn't hear any of it. He'd seen them do this before. It was annoying, but par for the course when you spent your time around people with enhanced senses.
Sting and Rogue shrugged their shoulders in disinterest, seemingly giving their approval. Gajeel and Wendy's discussion, however, was much more heated. Gray waited until Gajeel walked off in a huff and Wendy came over to him.
"You can stay, but you'll need to stay in Natsu's room," Wendy informed him of their decision. "Everywhere else is off limits."
Erza turned towards Gray, "You can tell Natsu that if he can go out with this injury, he can come to work tomorrow too. I'd like to have a chat with him in the morning."
Wendy returned after walking Erza out of the cave.
"I know Gajeel can seem unfriendly sometimes, but he isn't really. Our dragons are our parents, and we're all very protective of them. He just doesn't want to hand you any information that might help you hurt them later."
"It's alright, I understand."
Gray couldn't precisely blame him for feeling that way. He'd certainly expressed his opinions often enough.
"Thank you for letting me stay."
Wendy showed him where their facilities were and walked him back to Natsu's room before bidding him good night.
Gray stared at the spot where he had left Natsu resting before Erza had forced him to attend that pointless meeting and was once again furious.
What was the moron thinking, going out like that?
He was in no shape to put up any type of fight if something attacked him. Was he trying to get himself killed? What could he be doing that was so important he'd risk his life over it?
Gray waited for hours for Natsu to return, but his eyelids eventually became too heavy. He'd been up since Natsu's call had woken him, and the heat of the cave had not helped matters much.
He lay down on Natsu's bed, which was an enormous circular cushion that served as a mattress covered in smaller pillows and blankets. It was both bigger than Gray's own bed and much cozier than he'd expected. He dozed off almost instantly.
0-0
When Natsu and Happy returned, they found Gray asleep in their room. Natsu pointed Happy to a perch where he could sleep if he was still afraid of Gray, and the dragon flew up to it swiftly.
All Natsu had wanted to do a moment ago was collapse on his bed and get some rest. He was in incredible agony, which he knew he deserved for going out as he did. He'd never expected to find anyone in his room, least of all Gray.
Yet here he was, and the sight of his mate resting on his bed, something they hadn't shared since they were eight years old, astounded Natsu.
"Are you going to stare at me some more, or are you coming to bed?" Gray asked, his voice dripping with sleep.
"I — why are you here?" Natsu couldn't help but ask.
"Why do you think? I was worried about your stupid ass," Gray muttered, "Bed now, talk tomorrow on the way to work."
"Work? But I'm injured!" Natsu whined. He was in so much pain the idea of even getting up again was exhausting, let alone having to go to work.
"Should've thought of that before you took off," Gray grumbled in a way that Natsu thought was very cute. This entire time Gray had kept his eyes shut while speaking.
"How did you know I was staring?" Natsu asked as he undressed down to his boxers and climbed into his bed. He kept his voice hushed so as not to wake any of the others, and lay on his side behind Gray as any other position would have been too painful.
"What else would you have been doing standing there?" Gray mumbled, already almost back asleep.
They heard a rustle in the room and looked to see Wendy coming in, dressed in her pajamas.
"Wendy? What are you doing up?" Natsu asked with concern.
"I waited up for you to return so I could heal you some more." Wendy explained, "I figured you'd be in a lot of pain."
"You're the best!," Natsu exclaimed gratefully, laying on his stomach to give her access to his aching back.
"You made them worse," Wendy scolded as she examined the burns he'd reopened across his back, "You shouldn't have gone out on your own."
"I didn't," Natsu explained, "Happy went with me."
"Who?" Wendy looked at him in confusion as she continued to use her magic to heal him.
"Happy, he's the baby dragon we rescued," Natsu told her with a smile, "He's going to live with us now."
Natsu pointed up, and Wendy beamed when she saw the young dragon perching up there.
"Of course he is," Gray groaned into his pillow, "Are you telling me you adopted a dragon?"
"He's all alone, and you have to be nicer to him," Natsu said sternly, "He's frightened of you."
"I don't have to do anything," Gray replied tiredly, "I'm too sleepy to argue now. We have a lot to discuss tomorrow, and I'm not letting you get out of it this time."
Natsu didn't like the sound of that, but he was grateful Gray wouldn't force a serious conversation now.
"All right," Natsu agreed.
Thanks to Wendy's healing magic, he already felt a lot better than when he'd arrived. Natsu desperately wanted to sleep, he'd pushed himself too hard. He could worry about the rest tomorrow. Natsu thanked Wendy when she finished, wishing her good night and placing himself behind Gray once again.
"This brings back memories, huh?" Gray mumbled when Natsu settled into the bed.
"You know, when you first told me you lived in a cave, I didn't believe you."
Natsu smiled to himself, remembering how much he'd enjoyed sharing a bedroll with Gray. It had been the first intimate physical contact he'd had with another human. He felt himself drift off, the comforting smell of his mate lulling him to sleep.
"Makes me wonder what other things you told me were true, Dragon Boy," Gray chuckled as if he'd told a great joke. "Good night."
"Night, Ice Block," Natsu replied, keeping his voice even, although his heart raced at those words. It wasn't something he wanted Gray to be thinking about.
Gray shifted his body closer to Natsu, and he wrapped his arm around Gray's middle loosely, his stomach fluttering when his mate didn't protest.
Natsu couldn't ignore the anxiety Gray's last words had given him. Still, Gray hadn't made a fuss about Happy. That was more than Natsu had expected. He surrendered to an uneasy sleep.
A/N: Next chapter things will come full circle! Next update will be on July 20...
Once again, Gratsu Week 2019 has announced and if you would like to take part in this year's event you can find more information on their Tumblr blog gratsu-week.
@fuckyeahgratsu has also announced our summer event: Gratsu Bingo, you might have already seen some entries pop up! You can find more information and a link to a downloadable game board on our Tumblr blog.