Work Text:
A Family With You
Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima
Gray walked beside Natsu as they made their way back from an unexpectedly successful mission. No town had been destroyed, Natsu had listened to their plan and for once actually followed it perfectly. They’d received the full reward for their work. As Lucy and Erza walked ahead of them, happily discussing how they were going to spend the jewels they’d earned Gray couldn’t help but worry about his boyfriend.
Natsu just hadn't been himself since Happy had passed away, and Gray had to admit there was a Happy shaped hole in his heart as well. The Exceed had been a large part of both their lives from the moment he'd hatched when they were young. He'd been a constant companion to Natsu, helping him get over such things as Lisanna's loss, and finding out that not only was he Zeref's younger brother but also the most powerful demon ever created, E.N.D.
Happy had always had a smile at the ready or a prank, and only he was capable of getting Natsu into even more trouble than Gray ever could. But he’d also been a great friend, a good listener who never judged, even though they’d all learned to suffer through his “You looooooooooooooooove him” taunts. They all missed him.
But of course, none of them had shared as strong of a bond with him as Natsu had and for someone who had already lost so much in his life this most recent loss was almost enough to send him over the edge.
Gray sidled over to his boyfriend and grabbed his hand as they walked, something he didn’t often do. Even though they’d been together for years now, and there were probably few people left in Magnolia who weren’t aware of the fact that the Salamander and the Ice Prince of Fairy Tail were an item, Gray still didn’t like to bring attention to their relationship. It was something he cherished, and he preferred to only expose that side of himself to his lover in the privacy of their home.
Natsu looked over at Gray and gave him a small smile before going back to staring straight ahead.
Not one to give up easily, Gray decided to step it up a notch.
“How about we go away somewhere when we get back, just the two of us?” Gray asked, squeezing Natsu’s hand, “We could go to Akane Beach or anywhere you want.”
He peered at Natsu's reaction, hoping to see a flicker of excitement in the otherwise distant mage. Given how destructive they both were, they rarely had extra jewels to do something as extravagant as going away on vacation.
Gray could almost picture it, the two of them frolicking on the beach during the day, and making love at night. In his daydream, they had a private bungalow of some sort where they could give voice to their passion without anyone hearing them. Who knew, if things went well he might even get his act together and finally propose like he'd been meaning to.
When Gray finally came out of his daydream, he realized Natsu was openly staring at him, a slight smile peeking at the corner of his lips.
"That might be nice," Natsu agreed, and although his enthusiasm was nowhere near what Gray had hoped for, when Natsu squeezed his hand back, Gray was satisfied. They walked hand in hand until they reached the outskirts of Magnolia.
Xxx
They'd talked about their vacation a few times, but something always seemed to come up to keep them from going. Bit by bit Natsu seemed to be getting back to normal, his appetite was returning, and his infectious grin had made an appearance a few times.
But it wasn’t until the day that Gray suggested they go for a hike in the woods that he finally saw glimpses of the old Natsu. They had, of course, turned it into a competition because anything else was boring.
They'd raced through town from their apartment, but once they'd left the more populated areas behind them, no holds barred rules applied. The use of magic was acceptable as long as the terrain was not harmed, as was tripping and anything else they could think of to give themselves an advantage.
Gray hadn’t realized the ground around them was loose and when he tripped Natsu, the fire mage wasn’t able to grab hold of anything before the ground gave way underneath him, he began sliding down a steep ravine, shouting expletives at his boyfriend the whole way down.
Gray went after him, worried Natsu might have broken something when he heard a cry that he assumed to be of pain. He found Natsu sprawled at the bottom, looking intently at something in the distance.
As soon as he saw Gray, Natsu got up excitedly and grabbed him by the hand, all thoughts of their hike forgotten as he dragged Gray with him towards the object he’d detected.
“Where are we going?” Gray asked, not being able to make out anything but leaves.
"It's just up ahead," Natsu remained cryptic, but he sped up, and Gray let himself be pulled along, happy to see Natsu taking an interest in something.
When Natsu finally stopped, it was unexpected, and Gray nearly crashed into him.
“Careful,” Natsu hissed, “You’ll break it!”
That's when Gray finally saw what had captured Natsu's attention, and his heart sank. It was an egg, a relatively large one at that. It reminded Gray a bit of the one that Natsu had found all those years ago and had cared for with Lisanna until it hatched and Happy had entered their lives.
Why did it have to be another egg?
Gray had already thought of getting Natsu a pet, a cat or a dog that Natsu could love but it wasn't a good idea to replace one pet with another, and while Happy had been much more than a pet to them the idea was still the same. Natsu had to finish grieving for Happy before considering adopting another creature. Gray could only imagine whatever was in that egg would not be a typical pet. When did Natsu do anything normal?
Gray glared at the egg like it held the key to their imminent destruction. They had no idea what was inside it. He remembered Kemokemo and his destructive tendencies and shuddered. Eggs and Natsu were not a great combination.
But…. he couldn’t deny that Natsu already looked happier than he had in months. And, oh gods no, the puppy eyes were already aimed his way. Not fair!
“Can we keep it?”
“You have no idea what’s in there, the mother might have gone to catch food or something. If we touch it she’ll never come back,” Gray tried to put on a strong front, but he knew he was beaten as soon as he saw the flash of pain cross Natsu’s face. What kind of monster was he to deny his boyfriend the one thing that might make him happy again?
Natsu considered Gray’s point briefly, his nose sniffing the air around them. “There aren’t any other smells here besides ours and the trees. If the mother left it was a long time ago, she’s not coming back.”
Once again, those pleading eyes were aimed at him, and Gray caved like they both knew he would.
"Fine," he grumbled, and Natsu leaped into his arms, a massive smile on his face. The force of his jump propelled them both to the ground, and Gray took advantage of the moment to wrap his arms around his boyfriend and hold him against him, absorbing the joy Natsu was exuding. Maybe he'd been wrong, maybe Natsu was ready to move on.
Gray chuckled as Natsu peppered his jaw with kisses before taking off his topcoat. Gray gazed at him with longing, his hands already moving to touch the well-loved body only to find them slapped away as Natsu got off him.
He walked over to the egg and knelt next to it, picking it up gently and placing it in his coat, wrapping the fabric around it before cradling it in his arms.
Gray groaned in disbelief, what the hell had he done? The thing wasn't even hatched yet, and it was already a cockblock. He remembered their planned vacation and sighed, yeah, that wasn't happening any time soon. Still, that smile, it was just too cute. Natsu was happy, and that was all that mattered to him at the moment.
Xxx
“I think it’s a dragon!” Natsu exclaimed excitedly.
“We’ve been over this, dragons are extinct, the last ones lived inside you,” Gray reminded him. They had this conversation every day.
"Yeah, but Levy found a book, and it said that dragon eggs could go into stasis for a long time!"
“If it makes you happy to think so go ahead, I just don’t want you to be disappointed when it turns out to be a skunk or something.”
Natsu laughed, “Skunks are mammals stupid, they’re born not hatched.”
Gray blushed as he realized his mistake, “Whatever, it’s not a dragon.”
Natsu had become utterly obsessed with the egg. He took it everywhere, even covered it in blankets at night. Gray had put his foot down at having it share their bed, reminding Natsu that they were both restless sleepers and might accidentally hurt it. Thankfully Natsu had seen the wisdom in his words and had been satisfied with making a little bed for it in their room instead.
The following day Gray came home to find Natsu covering the egg in his flames.
“What are you doing?! You’re going to cook it!” Gray yelled, rushing to get the egg away from his idiotic boyfriend only to have Natsu wave him off.
“No, look, it likes it,” Natsu insisted and damn if he wasn’t right. The egg seemed to respond to the heat, wobbling until it reached Natsu, making the Fire Dragon Slayer laugh and hug it against his chest gently.
Truth be told Gray was beginning to get jealous of the egg, Natsu spent all his time obsessing over it and in Gray's opinion not enough time on him. He was getting tired of it, but at the same time, he was glad to see that whatever was inside the egg was alive.
He hadn't known what he would do if it didn't hatch. He did have the presence of mind to worry about the fact that the creature was drawn to fire.
But then Natsu began to sing the egg a lullaby, one Gray had never heard before, and he couldn't help but gaze at them fondly. He felt a warmth spread across his chest, putting thoughts in his head of their future.
Now that the egg had started interacting, Gray found he was just as fascinated with it as Natsu. The dragon slayer had somehow convinced Wendy and Gajeel that the egg contained a dragon inside it and now both of them were over at their house, sitting in a circle on the floor with Natsu, all of them staring at the egg in awe.
It surprised no one when Sting and Rogue appeared out of nowhere and made themselves at home. There was almost no room for Gray to sit in his own home and he swore that if Laxus and Cobra showed up, he was just going to move in with Erza. He couldn't handle all seven dragon slayers at once. No one could.
Thankfully that didn't happen, what did happen was quite amazing though. They heard a little crack, and a small tear appeared on the surface of the egg. The creature was ready to hatch. Natsu began purring, and the other dragon slayers joined in. They were ecstatic when the creature purred in reply.
The egg began to vibrate as the little creature inside it tried to break free. Gray went to try to help it only to be stopped in his tracks as five pairs of eyes fixed on him, and the dragon slayers all growled at him as one. He stepped back quickly, startled by their response.
“What are you doing?” Natsu asked him, looking, dare he say, disappointed in him.
“I was trying to help it,” Gray replied, thinking his actions pretty obvious.
“You can’t do that Ice Princess, it’s the dragon’s first test. He has to make his way out on his own.” Natsu explained in a voice that sounded like he was speaking to a slow child. It irritated the crap out of Gray, and it sure as hell didn’t help that the other dragon slayers seemed to agree with him.
“For the last time Natsu, that’s not a dragon,” Gray replied with exasperation, rolling his eyes as five pairs of eyes once again gave him a once over and seemed to find him wanting.
“Shhhh” Was the only reply as they all turned their eyes to the miracle that was happening on their floor.
Gray managed to wedge himself in between Natsu and Wendy, grabbing Natsu's hand in his as they waited anxiously. The little guy hadn't moved in the last thirty minutes, and Gray hated to admit it, but he was worried. The dragon slayers began purring again, and the creature replied in kind. Relieved that it seemed to be okay, the other dragon slayers went to buy some food, but Natsu and Gray decided to stay and watch over their egg.
Twenty minutes after the dragon slayers had left, the egg started to shake, the movements bigger than they had been earlier.
Natsu smiled proudly, “It was taking a nap, I think it should be any moment now.”
Gray draped his arm over Natsu’s shoulders, pulling him closer to him as they both watched the little guy struggle with bated breath. Natsu continued to purr to it, sometimes switching to the lullaby and Gray knew then without a doubt this is what he wanted someday. A family with this idiot, his idiot.
Finally, they were able to begin to see parts of the creature. It was red in color, and it was covered in scales. Its eyes were closed, but it was sniffing the air, it's head moving towards the two of them. He finally climbed out of the remains of his egg. His small wings unfurling behind him.
“I told you,“ Natsu couldn’t help but gloat when he took in the disbelief on Gray’s face as he gazed wide-eyed at the creature that sat in front of them licking himself.
Holy fuck! There was a red baby dragon sitting in their living room. How in the hell had a dragon egg survived all these years? All of a sudden, he remembered how the egg had been drawn to Natsu's fire and began to panic.
"Natsu, we can't keep a dragon as a pet," Gray pointed out, trying to sound reasonable.
“Why the hell not?” The temperature in the room increased as Natsu made his anger known.
"What do you mean, why not? He's going to burn our house down!"
"He'll do no such thing, Ice Block. Besides you said we could keep him, you can't just take it back!" Natsu's voice became louder, and it was making the dragon nervous, smoke began to trickle out of its nostrils.
“That’s when I thought it was a skunk or something.” Gray tried to keep his voice down, not wanting to upset the dragon further.
“I already told you skunks are born. Ugh you always do this! Why can’t you just let go for once?”
To Gray's surprise, the dragon made his way into his lap, away from Natsu. It curled up in its wings and in a few minutes was fast asleep. Gray looked at Natsu with pleading eyes, but Natsu would only smirk at his predicament. Next thing he knew, Gray found himself petting the infant in his lap, marveling over how smooth its scales were.
“Fine, we can keep him for now, but he’s soon going to be too big for this house.”
“I know, we can think of something then,” Natsu assured him.
“He needs a name,” Gray muttered.
“Igneel Junior!” Natsu announced.
“I’m not calling him Igneel Junior,” Gray protested.
“Fine, then how about just Junior?”
Gray rolled his eyes but accepted the name. The dragon slayers returned, upset they’d missed all the excitement but fascinated by the baby dragon sleeping in Gray’s lap.
It turned out raising a dragon was about as bad as Gray had anticipated, quite often he came home to find Natsu trying to ingest enormous amounts of fire and trying to pass it off as his own. Gray had decided early on to pretend to believe him, he didn’t have the heart to remind Natsu that he was an elemental Slayer as well and knew that wasn’t possible.
Natsu had taught Junior to talk, and he would call them Papa and Dad. They would take Junior with them on jobs and not surprisingly they had an easier time of things. Being able to ride a dragon made all their transportation easier, and it had the added benefit of not making Natsu motion sick. It turned out that very few bandits or monsters wanted to go against a dragon, even a young one. And Junior was very charming, he quickly became a favorite with all the guild members but especially with all the dragon slayers who had accepted him as part of their own.
Two years had passed since Junior had come into their lives and although Gray had yet to ask Natsu to marry him or take that vacation they’d become a family in everything but name.
Xxx
After a particularly difficult mission, they had come upon a small girl on their way back to Magnolia. She looked to be about three or four years old. She was covered in dirt, and her clothes were tattered, but she didn't seem to be afraid of them.
Natsu and Gray checked her over, deciding to take her back to the guild to see Wendy before figuring out what to do with her. The little girl was fascinated by Junior, she would extend her arm to touch him and then quickly pull it back when he tried to get closer. By the time they had gotten to Magnolia, Junior had managed to get her to sit on his back as he walked beside them, while Natsu had her talking and laughing softly.
Gray left Natsu and Junior with the little girl and went to report to Laxus what had happened. From the moment Gray entered the infirmary, he could feel the combined effect of two pairs of large puppy eyes directed at him and he pretended not to hear Laxus snorting at his predicament. It was ridiculous and unfair, Natsu was bad enough, but come on, a dragon shouldn't even be capable of that!
Fuck! He tried to fight it, but one look at his boyfriend and their dragon son, who had shoved his head in through the infirmary window, and their obvious desire to have this little girl join their family, had Gray’s heart melting.
“Fiiiiiine,” Gray groused, although they all knew it was an act.
It looked like he'd finally gotten the family with Natsu he'd always wanted. It was loud and unusual, but he wouldn't want it any other way. He guessed at this rate he'd have to get around to making an honest man out of his boyfriend. Gray chuckled, wondering what new adventures their honeymoon would bring.