Gratsu Weekend 2019

Day 4: Hope

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Natsu was incredibly thirsty, that was the first thing that registered in his somewhat confused mind. He couldn't exactly feel anything, but he could also tell that he was hurt. Not just from the memory of what had happened, but from the way that his body was resisting any attempt at movement, letting him understand that if he did try to move, he might come to regret it.

The last thing he remembered was the brief feeling of happiness as Gray kissed him on the forehead right before his uncle came into the room. His brow furrowed in worry, knowing how rough his uncle could be. Was Gray okay?

He could hear beeping noises, and the unpleasant smell of disinfectant filled his nose. He opened his eyes slowly to see he was in a dimly lit room that was filled with machines. Blinking a few times to get his eyes going again he took in his surroundings. Wendy was fast asleep, her head cradled on Silver Fullbuster's chest, his arm wrapped protectively around her.

Natsu decided to try moving his lips to smile at Gray's father who was smiling at him from his place on the small sofa in his room. He needed to ask him about Gray, he figured Silver would not look that calm if Gray were injured, but Natsu needed to know because Gray was important to him, much more than he'd ever let on to anyone outside of Wendy.

"Gray?" He posed the question with a scratchy voice, the need to make sure that his crush was safe taking precedence over knowing what had happened. In retrospect, he should have asked for water first but he had priorities, and he'd already ascertained that Wendy was okay.

His innocent question had unexpected results.

"Don't you Gray me, you inconsiderate bastard! Do you even know what you put me through?"

Natsu heard Gray's voice coming from his right side and turned his head slowly to see his very agitated friend glaring at him and from his experience gearing up for a rant.

"What are you--" Natsu valiantly tried to head him off.

"Shut up! I'm talking," Gray scolded crankily, "Six years Natsu. That's how long I've been forced to watch that son of a bitch beat you within an inch of your life. I fucking love you, you asshole. Do you have any idea how much it hurt me to see that?"

"And then, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, you almost fucking die on me and you had the nerve to lay there smiling at me like it's no big deal?" Gray continued spouting his feelings to anyone who would listen, days of sleep deprivation and stress clearly being too much for him to handle.

"Did Gray just say he loves me?" Natsu looked over at Silver in disbelief, talking over Gray as he continued to rant, seemingly oblivious to the fact no one was listening to him.

Silver nodded, looking mildly surprised but not shocked, "He hasn't slept since you've been in here, his brain will catch up eventually."

And apparently it did because all of a sudden there was silence, and when Natsu looked back over Gray had covered his mouth with his hand, his entire face flushed a rather interesting shade of red that made Natsu feel as if he could get through anything. He got up from his chair and walked out of the room without saying another word leaving three pairs of eyes staring after him.

"Should I go after him?" Natsu asked Silver.

"Outside of the fact that you're not allowed out of bed at the moment, he'll be alright. Probably needs to absorb what he just did. You know he's not great with feelings," Silver looked back at the door a smirk tugging at his lips. Wendy had begun to stir in his arms no doubt awoken by Gray's outburst.

"Is Natsu finally awake?" She asked groggily and sat up.

Silver got up from the sofa and pushed the Nurse call button on the wall. He informed the nurse that Natsu had awoken and headed out of the room. "I'll leave you two to chat for a minute, and I'll go ahead and check on Gray," he assured Natsu with a smile.

"You, don't try to get up," Silver narrowed his eyes at Natsu, and the turned to level his eyes at Wendy, "And you, don't hug him too hard."

Natsu tried to concentrate on whatever Wendy was trying to tell him, but all he could hear was Gray saying I fucking love you, you asshole over and over. A smile played on his lips, it wasn't anything like how he'd hoped or expected to find out about Gray's feelings for him but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

"Have you listened to a word I've said?" Wendy pouted crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Mhmm," Natsu answered, and when she rolled her eyes at him he finally remembered his thirst, "Can you get me some water?"

Wendy hmphed at him but did as he asked. He was sipping his water when the door opened, and a nurse and doctor came in. He could hear people arguing outside the room and knew he couldn't avoid reality for much longer.

O-o

Natsu woke up with a desperate need to throw up, he tried to sit up quickly to find something to do it in but that only made the sensation worse.

"Fuck," He commented as his sudden movement introduced him to a myriad of aches big and small.

"Don't move, dumbass," Gray handed him a plastic container, and he accepted it gratefully, "The doctor said the anesthesia would make you feel sick when it wore off." He moved Natsu's hair away from his face as he vomited. When he was done, Gray took the container without comment and headed to the bathroom returning with a glass of water.

Natsu drank the water gratefully, taking small sips. He looked around the hospital room, "Where's Wendy?"

"She's at your house grabbing some of your stuff, the police had to go with her since her room is a crime scene," Gray explained, "My dad's with her."

Natsu nodded and looked Gray over, he still looked tired, but he'd lost some of the edginess from before, "You look better."

"Yeah, Dad made me go to sleep while you were in surgery," Gray scratched his head in embarrassment and grinned sheepishly, "I'm sorry I went off on you, I was pretty out of it."

Natsu laughed weakly, "Nah, it's fine. I'm sure I deserved it. I don't really remember much of what happened, I kinda passed out." He felt strange, like something was missing and when he tried to figure out what that could be, he began to blush furiously.

"Natsu?"

Natsu sighed, "I know this is stupid but can you get on the bed with me?"

Gray peered at him, confusion written all over his face, but he shrugged, taking off his shoes and climbing on the narrow hospital bed, being careful of all the cables and bandages. "Is this better?"

Natsu nodded looking away from him as he explained, "It didn't feel over yet."

"What?"

"It never felt over until I got to you, no matter how bad it was, once I was with you, I knew I was safe," Natsu stumbled over the words, embarrassed at how childish he sounded.

He felt Gray settle himself next to him and say, "It's over Natsu, he'll never lay a hand on either of you again."

"Yeah, but what I was afraid of all this time is gonna happen anyway," Natsu said sadly, thinking of what the Social Services lady had told him, "We're wards of the state now, and we might get separated and then who knows what awful place they might put us in."

Natsu wanted to cry, he felt like such a failure. He'd put up with his uncle's bullshit for so long to keep Wendy with him and with less than two years to go, he'd failed miserably.

"What are you talking about?" Gray moved impossibly closer, and to Natsu's surprise his smell somehow helped ease his upset stomach, "You're not going anywhere, didn't anyone tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"My dad's petitioned for temporary custody of both of you. The judge approved it last night," Gray thwapped Natsu gently on the head, "As soon as you're better you're going to be moving in with us. We'll have to go to court to get permanent custody, but my dad said his lawyer didn't think there would be any opposition."

Natsu thought over Gray's words, it had been years since he'd been able to think of the future with anything but fear and dread. He dared to hope that maybe, just this once, things were finally going to go well for him and Wendy.

"Listen, about what I said yesterday I just want you to know it's okay if you don't feel the same way, I won't be weird about it or anything," Gray mumbled, his voice getting lower as he continued talking.

Natsu finally turned his head to look at Gray and his heart positively melted at how sad Gray looked. "And you say I'm a dumbass," He snorted, wincing at the pain using those muscles caused him.

Gray gazed at him in confusion.

"Do you have any idea how far my house is from yours?" Natsu asked.

"Not really, I never thought about it, it felt long the other night but I was kind of panicked so, " Gray continued babbling, and Natsu didn't stop him, enjoying watching the expressions that flitted across his face as he talked.

"It's just a little over three-quarters of a mile," Natsu informed him, "Think about that for a moment, every time I was injured I chose to walk three-quarters of a mile to get to you. Why would I do that, cause I enjoyed your snoring?"

"I don't snore," Gray protested.

"How many people have you slept with?"

Gray's face once again turned that lovely shade of red Natsu had glimpsed when Gray had inadvertently confessed his feelings. "N-none," He managed to stutter out.

"You snore, deal with it," Natsu remarked matter-of-factly, selfishly pleased at the answer. He searched for Gray's hand and squeezed it tightly, "I've been in love with you for a long time, Gray. I chose to walk those three-quarters of a mile because you made everything better. You were the only happiness I ever claimed for myself."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Honestly, no," Natsu hurried to explain when he saw how dejected Gray looked. "I was such a mess, and I thought you deserved better, someone that had something to offer you that was more than broken pieces."

"I've never cared about that, Natsu," Gray insisted, "When we first met, I was the broken one. You were the one who put me back together, remember?"

"You weren't broken, just lost," Natsu nuzzled his head against Gray's, "Best decision I ever made." Natsu smiled remembering their first meeting, "I love you, Gray."

"I love you too," Gray laughed as he looked at their joined hands, "Holding hands feels very anti-climactic."

"Well yeah, but it kind of hurts to breathe and I just threw up so it'll have to do," Natsu groaned to make his point, "For now."

Natsu grinned impishly, "But I won't be in the hospital forever, and now I have incredible motivation to get better."

Gray snorted, and fake punched him on the shoulder.

Natsu laughed, he was happy, but he was also tired, and as he was falling asleep he snuggled up to Gray. He knew what was coming next wouldn't be easy, there were a lot of things he still had to deal with, but he couldn't help but feel excited for this new, unexpected turn his life had taken.

A/N: This is the last entry in this series, I hope you liked my experiment. I might return to it at a later time and add more to it.