Chapter Text
Gray was sleeping, sleeping peacefully in his bed, in the middle of the night, like he was supposed to. Dragon slayers apparently do not understand that.
It was dark out, but it was illuminated by the light of the moon and stars, which were particularly bright that night. He was content to stay under his blanket dressed only in his underwear (Or he hoped he was still in his underwear; he had once or twice kicked them off in the middle of sleep) his body relaxed, and his breathing was easy. Gray’s bed wasn’t particularly warm, but it was just the right temperature for the ice wizard, and it was warmer than the rest of the room on the chilly autumn night.
He was awoken by the sound of footsteps in his home, strange for he lived alone. He opened his eyes and hoped it wasn’t Juvia. Though she hadn’t gone as far as to break into his house before, he wouldn’t put it past her. He heard more footsteps and frowned. That couldn’t be Juvia, they were too loud, and Juvia would have been quieter. Even as he thought this, he knew who it was even half asleep.
“Natsu,” His words were quiet, a bit slurred, sounding as if he hadn’t said his name in years, new and unfamiliar.
The footsteps stopped, and Gray strained to hear the dragon slayer’s breath in the hallway right outside his door. There was no answer, just the two boys listening to the other’s breaths as one was caught in the act of breaking into the other’s residence. Gray wondered why he was here, the only house he could think of that Natsu would break into was Lucy’s. Maybe she had kicked him out, though he couldn’t imagine her doing so late on a cold chilly night like tonight. She was too kind, even when her temper went off.
He could hear footsteps again, before the twisting of the door handle. Followed by a click before the door slowly creaked open, as if Natsu was still worried about concealing his presence. The door opened only slightly, enough for the fire wizard to stick his head in. He looked wide-eyed at Gray but didn’t say anything, only staring at the ice wizard.
“Well? Are you gonna tell me what you're doing here?” Gray yawned turning over onto his back as he spoke. His body felt numb with sleep still, and his voice was doing the same. That was fine with him, he didn’t need Natsu to wake him up, not when he was happy to just go back to sleep and ignore the dragon slayer. However, it would be easier for Gray to sleep if he knew why Natsu was in his house, to begin with.
Natsu didn’t answer, looking away from Gray and around the room, which he hadn’t been in before. Gray saw his nose twitch before he slid in, and the door clicked shut as he pushed himself up against it, closing it as he continued to look anywhere but Gray. Gray was about to fall asleep again. Whatever the dragon slayer was doing in his house couldn’t be that important, but Natsu rarely fell silent. So he resisted the urge to turn his back to him and fall back asleep.
“Natsu, talk to me, what’s going on?” He heaved himself up propping himself up on his forearms. Natsu grumbled something under his breath, but he couldn’t hear him, it was barely anything understandable anyway. “A bit clearer please,”
“I-I didn’t want…” Natsu grumbled this time the words catching Gray’s ear. The rest of his words were almost silent, lost in the night air.
“Didn’t want what?” Gray groaned. He wasn’t going to sleep after all, he thought looking over to Natsu to see him pouting one foot tapping lightly the way it did when he was agitated. He watched as Natsu continue to grumble and pout, foot tapping away on the floor. He crossed his arms, hands gripping his vest so tightly that they began to shake.
“Come over here,” Gray motioned with his head for Natsu to get closer to the bed. The fire wizard only blinked at him. “I can’t hear you when you’re over there so come over here and tell me. I want to get back to sleep ya know,” Natsu grumbled again before he shook his head.
“Natsu, come on I don’t have all night,” He shook his head, making Gray groan again. He laid back down, arms resting over his eyes. Natsu continued to grumble to himself as Gray tried to ignore him. There was nothing more he could do if Natsu wouldn’t cooperate, nothing that wouldn’t require getting up and out of bed.
He heard the shuffling of feet a few minutes later when he began to lull back to sleep, waking him back up again so that he was back on the cusp of sleep. He took a deep breath before he lifted his arms, sleep becoming more distant as Natsu stopped next to the bed.
“I didn’t want…to….to…t-to go-go back,” Natsu stuttered hands still death grip on his vest. He stretched his arms out and patted the edge of the bed. Natsu understood and sat down, back to Gray, foot still tapping and still grumbling under his breath to himself.
“What are you not going back to?” Gray muttered looking at the back of Natsu’s head. Natsu shook his head, not answering. “Listen if you break into my house you gotta give me answers, man,” Natsu shook his head again, and Gray didn’t push, he just wanted to go back to sleep at this point. He did wonder what got the dragon slayer like this, but if he wouldn’t talk, he wouldn’t talk.
“Good night Natsu,” Gray said next, patting Natsu’s arm and turning away, “If you’re not going to talk to me, I’m going back to sleep,” He pulled the blanket up higher and tried to fall back asleep.
He felt Natsu shift beside him climbing up onto the bed with him, his back now against the headboard. He tried to even out his breathing, relaxing his body again so that he was as comfortable as before he had noticed Natsu’s presence. It shouldn’t have been that difficult, but Natsu’s breathing was ragged, and he could hear the sound of fabric crumbling as his grip kept getting tighter.
He sighed and turned back around to Natsu, grabbing onto his arms and pulling them away from his vest as he let out a startled cry. What was with him tonight? He pulled his arms to his chest away from anything the dragon slayer could grab except for Gray’s skin.
“I don’t know what’s wrong, but would you please calm down and let me sleep if you're going to stay here,”
“I-I can go,” Gray looked up at his with a raise of an eyebrow. He may have stopped the death grip he had had, but his hands were still shaking and so was the rest of him now.
“No, not like this,” Gray reached up and brushed the hair that was obscuring his eyes so that he could look at him better, Natsu’s breath caught. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but you can’t leave, not like this,”
“Come ‘ere,” He muttered pulling Natsu down to lay next to him still holding onto his wrists. “Breathe Natsu, seriously how could you forget to breathe?” He sucked in a breath, eyes locked with Gray’s, looking stunned. Now that he was closer, Gray could see the redness around his eyes, how puffy they looked. He reached his hand out and touched his cheek, making him flinch and try to back away.
“You weren’t supposed to see that,” He whispered even as Gray grabbed him, pulling him closer to get a good look. “L-let me go,”
“You were crying, why were you crying?”
“Let me go, Gray,”
“No, tell me what’s wrong,” Gray pulled the dragon slayer closer to him, so close they could have been touching if not for the extra layer of the blanket between them. Gray ran his thumb over Natsu’s cheek mind running through everything he knew could get Natsu to cry. No one could be hurt, Natsu wouldn’t be acting like this, he would be angry, louder, not quiet, and his scarf was wrapped around his neck snuggly. He had seen Natsu cry about that, but it wasn’t possible now, not when he was wearing it.
“I-it was n-nothing, it’s s-stupid,” Natsu hiccupped, his body still shaking. Gray wished he had some way to warm him up, but being an ice wizard, he didn’t have anything of the sort just lying around.
“I’ve seen you cry about a scarf, I’m sure nothing can be stupider than that, and even then, you had a pretty damn good reason” Gray ran his free hand up Natsu’s arm. Which made him shiver even more than his body was already shaking, so maybe that wasn’t a good way to try and warm him up. He was sure that he was probably colder than the fire wizard anyway.
Natsu bit his lip, Gray watching him carefully to make sure it didn’t start to bleed.
“I had a nightmare, and I don’t want to go back to sleep,” Natsu blurted out a second later before he buried his head in Gray’s pillow. Gray let him pull his arms back, the dragon slayer folding in on himself as his breathing became shallower.
He didn’t say anything, hoping that Natsu would calm himself down. Wishing his tired brain could think of an answer beyond that, but all it could think of was that he looked so fragile at that moment, so pale and cold.
He took his blanket jostling Natsu, who grabbed Gray’s pillow eyes going wide before Gray draped it over him. Then his eyes softened, but he still looked confused.
“You looked cold,” Gray told him before he closed his eyes. “Don’t leave, you can stay here,” He said next, “I’m going to sleep, but you don’t have to, just relax. Whatever you dreamed about can’t hurt you, I’m right here,”
“You promise?” Natsu asked in a small voice. Gray nodded turning back onto his back.
“I promise,” He muttered, “Now let me sleep,”
“Okay,”
~~~~~~
His bed was warmer than usual when Gray woke up again. While it was still dark, the moon and stars were out. Something tickled at his neck, and hot air hit his shoulder now and then. He recognized it as breathing, but it was too fast and too shallow for whoever’s breath it was to be okay.
He opened his eyes, tilting his head to see what was happening, pink hair was what tickled his neck, Natsu was the one who breathed on his skin. He was leaning into Gray, eyes wild just like his breath, body shaking still.
That wouldn’t do at all.
Gray stretched his arm out, startling the dragon slayer, who tried to put back, but Gray pulled him to him, arm wrapping around the fire wizard. Natsu didn’t speak, breathing still heavy, and Gray’s hand petted the wild hair as he pulled him to rest his head on his bare chest his body pressed into Gray’s side. He leaned his cheek into Natsu’s hair, finding it soft, maybe even softer than the pillow beneath his head. He was warm, Natsu radiating heat softly like a light, and he wasn’t worried about getting burned for it was a gentle warmth.
“Shush, it’s alright, did you have another nightmare?” Gray whispered his voice finally waking up before the rest of him. His body had moved on autopilot when he realized it was Natsu in such distress.
“No, but I can’t stop thinking about it,” Natsu whispered back, his voice fearful and his head was pushed up till Natsu’s face touched the skin of Gray’s neck. “Make it stop,”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Make it stop,”
“Natsu,” Gray whispered into his hair, “I can’t make it stop if I don’t know what I’m stopping, tell me what to do and I will do it,” His fingers touched Natsu’s temple, and he gently ran them down the dragon slayer’s face, down to his throat, down his body. “I’m right here, Natsu, you can talk to me,”
Natsu didn’t answer, his breathing seeming more forced. His body temperature increased, but even as he heated up, he shivered at the touch.
“Natsu?” Did he do something wrong? Why was the dragon slayer heating up, was that a good or a bad thing?
“I like it, don’t stop,” He whispered again. This time in a voice Gray could barely hear, but he felt Natsu’s lips move against his skin. “I like it,”
Now Gray was the one heating up, mainly his face. What was he doing? Why was his body acting in such a way? This was Natsu, the boy he had fought with since the day the two had met, why was he doing this?
Gray already knew the answer, he just didn’t want to admit it.
“Gray,” Natsu breathed when Gray’s fingers stopped trailing their way down Natsu’s body. He started to move them back up again, slowly just as he did before. A deep rumble vibrated the dragon slayer’s chest, and Gray felt Natsu’s lips curl up before he pressed them firmly to his throat.
“Natsu,” Gray could only answer, breathless at the situation he found himself in now. The deep rumble came from the dragon’s chest again, and Natsu pressed himself up against Gray even more. Why had the ice wizard brought him so close?
He was enjoying it.
His fingers reached Natsu’s cheek, and he began to trail them down again, making Natsu shiver again. He twisted his body so that Gray could better reach his chest and Gray trailed his fingers down over his stomach. This time the sound Natsu made was the same as a cat’s purr, and it persisted as the dragon slayer shivered yet again when Gray began to trail back up his chest.
Natsu didn’t move his head, lips still planted firmly on Gray’s neck as he purred, and purred, and purred. Gray could only remember to keep breathing as he watched his fingers trail up and down Natsu’s body, the perfect, perfect body of the fire wizard. He was enjoying it so much he would purr too if he could if he knew how.
“Sleepy,” Natsu mumbled. Gray feverishly aware of it as lips moved against his skin. “Sleepy,”
“Yeah, it’s late, Natsu, how about we both get some sleep,” Gray managed to get out, throat constricting as Natsu mumbled again, lips moving lazily. Natsu didn’t do anything for a moment before he turned, flinging his arm over Gray, and half of his body was on top of him. Gray was forced to stop his fingers from tracing Natsu before he started again, this time his hand sliding up and down Natsu’s back.
Natsu nuzzled deeper into Gray’s neck. Gray took the arm that wasn’t busy gliding along Natsu’s body and pulled the blanket up higher over them before he wrapped the arm around Natsu’s waist. He was enjoying himself way more than he thought he should. Then he thought he would.
“Thank you,” Natsu muttered.
“For what?” Gray hummed his face halfway in Natsu’s hair.
“This,” Natsu answered taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly he felt him smile. “You’re safe, that’s why I’m here,”
“Safe?”
“Mm-hmm, others safe too,” Natsu yawned, “But you’re the safest, I like you,” Gray’s face heated up, but before he could say anything the dragon slayer continued speaking. “Gray?”
“Yeah,” It came out as more as a whimper than an answer.
“Good night,”
“Uh-yeah, Good Night Natsu,” Then before Gray’s sleepy brain could stop him, he kissed the top of Natsu’s head. The blood in Gray’s body flooded his face, no one had ever been as red as he felt he was now, but Natsu didn’t answer, breathing finally easy. He was asleep, no one but Gray knew the kiss had happened.
That was no excuse for kissing him again, but the way his lips felt on his skin, it was like dipping his mouth in pure sunshine and flame. It was Natsu, so he kissed him again, and again, before finally, he rested his head back on the pillow, tightened both arms around the dragon slayer, and tried to fall back asleep.
With the weight of the fire wizard on top of him, his body snug against his, it wasn’t very hard too.