Chapter Text
It was one day just like any other. Natsu had arrived at the guild accompanied by Happy. The sun had just risen and so the blue cat was still mostly sleeping on the dragonslayer's shoulder. The guild was mostly empty except for a few mages who were still mostly asleep on their breakfasts and Mirajane who was manning the bar. Natsu reached his usual table and set Happy on it. Happy showed no signs of waking up. Natsu turned around and headed to Mira. He was hungry.
After getting a few plates of food, Natsu returned to where Happy was still sleeping soundly on the table top. The Exceed perked up as soon as he smelled breakfast.
"Hey buddy, you want some food?"
"Aye sir!"
The two quickly inhaled the meal in front of them. As they ate, Natsu watched their guild mates start to trickle in, but none of them were the person he was looking for. The dragonslayer tapped his foot impatiently while he waited. Finally, after the guild was mostly full of people eating their breakfasts and getting ready to head out on their jobs, Natsu spotted Gray walking through the entrance. Natsu grinned as he watched the ice mage still rubbing his eyes sleepily while he headed straight to Mira to get a cup of coffee.
'He looks so cute in the morning,' Natsu thought to himself. He jumped up from where he was sitting with Happy and bounded over to the bar with renewed vigor.
"Good morning!" he exclaimed as he clapped Gray on the back, throwing the ice mage slightly off-balance. Gray didn't say anything, too out of it for the moment, and instead just leveled a glare at Natsu.
'Cute.' Natsu thought to himself once again. Outwardly he grinned cheekily at Gray. "It's about time you got here, sleepy-head."
"Flame brain, could you not be so spazzy this early in the morning?" Gray grumbled as he held the mug tightly and took a few gulps of the scalding liquid. Natsu always wondered how Gray, an ice mage, could take the too-hot coffee. Didn't he burn his tongue? Though, of course for Natsu it was very mild. With a mental shrug, Natsu grabbed Gray's free arm and started dragging the ice mage to the table where their friends had already started to gather.
"Come on. It's getting late already. You're a night owl so you're always this grumbly this late in the morning." Natsu said, chiding him in a playful tone.
"Late? It's way too early." Gray replied as he let himself be dragged towards their friends.
Natsu just rolled his eyes but couldn't keep the smile from his face. "Early for you is practically afternoon for everyone else. You and Cana need to stop staying up so late together." Natsu laughed loudly at the utterly unimpressed stare Gray gave him while he continued to pull the ice mage across the hall, still not letting go of his arm even when they reached their destination.
"Oh hi, guys! Good morning!" Wendy greeted with a smile.
“Morning," Lucy mumbled, eyelids heavy and looking just as tired as Gray.
Erza smiled, "Hello boys. Gray, nice to see you out of bed before noon."
Gray muttered something unintelligible under his breath before taking another big drink of coffee. Erza just smirked.
"So what's the plan for today?" Natsu asked. "Something exciting I hope!"
"Sadly, no." Erza said, though she had a barely concealed smile. "We only have to go to the Lycaros library to hand out a tome." At that, Lucy seemed to awake from her stupor. "But the Master said that we could go to the hot springs nearby."
"He said that it was well-deserved because we didn't blast half of Soliphides town to the next country." Wendy chimed in, playfully toying with her hair. "He seemed pleased."
"For not having headaches, for once." Lucy mumbled, but Natsu could still pick it up.
"So... the first part is going to be boring but then we can have fun?" Natsu summarized, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Sheesh, no need to be that excited." Gray sat heavily in one of the chairs and grabbed a small piece of bread that was still on one of the plates. "You're too hyper."
"Don't be such a spoilsport." Natsu replied, though his voice lacked the biting tone. He did punch Gray in the arm, though. He enjoyed the contact, as brief as it might be.
Natsu plopped down in the place next to him. Apparently Gray was still not awake enough to fight back properly, because the only acknowledgement of the hit was him jabbing Natsu in the ribs with his elbow. The fire mage couldn't even be irritated at the sharp feeling because he was too busy enjoying the way Gray didn't move back afterwards and instead choose to stay close enough to just barely lean against Natsu's side. Natsu actively fought the blush that was trying rise to his face.
"Honestly I'm surprised going to a hot spring sounds fun to you," Gray said, pulling Natsu from his flustered thoughts, "It seems like it involves a lot of stillness for someone whose ideal pass-time is wiping out a town." Lucy laughed and Natsu stuck his tongue out. Gray just rolled his eyes. "You're such a child, flame brain," he said but was smiling all the same.
"Takes one to know one, Ice Princess."
"Better watch your mouth or I'll kick your ass."
"Oh please, you're hardly even awake yet. I'd like to see you try!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! Let's go, you stupid stripping---"
"Boys!" Erza snapped, "Are you two going to manage to cooperate today or am I going to have to beat some sense into you?"
"We'll behave!" Both mages said instantly, spines straightening as they looked into Erza's general direction. The red head's tone of voice was enough to calm the two mages into a momentary truce. They both knew how unpleasant it was to start the day with their asses being kicked by Erza. Also, Natsu thought, he was rather enjoying the contact with Gray. They had separated but the feeling of nearness was still there. It comforted Natsu on some deeply hidden level.
"If everybody's ready," Lucy said in her too chipper tone, pushing herself into a standing position, "we can start going! The library awaits!" She finished dramatically, hand pointing towards the door. After those words everyone at the table started laughing.
"Seriously, Lucy. We only need to talk about books to catch your attention." Natsu said with a snort.
"Books and other things..." Gray said in a low tone that only Natsu caught. The glance he threw at the fire mage nearly had the blush returning full-force.
As predicted, the mission was uneventful, but the day-long trip to the practically ancient library had left everyone feeling tired and covered in dust. It would have been funny, but after a while the sneezing from the dragonslayers had gotten annoying. Natsu was looking suspiciously at Gray who had suggested pushing Natsu into the fountain - it was a motive of pride for the town but it didn't look all that nice to Natsu to be thrown into the multi-coloured water, especially since it had some invejifish (the greedy fish) guarding the bottom of the fountain where the coins were thrown into. Word said that they bit really hard. Natsu didn't feel like trying to be bitten. So, a small game of elbowing the other and sneezing like there was no tomorrow began for Natsu. Lucy laughed at the elbowing and pinching the two mages were trading, making Natsu glare at her and sneeze in her direction. Gray laughed at the disgusted noise the celestial mage made when she was covered in some unidentifiable particles. Natsu counted that as a win.
After a little while, the team arrived at the hot springs. The lady at the counter was very nice, giving them all the information necessary, sorting the mages through the rooms and telling them to enjoy the hot springs and the time for dinner. Natsu and Gray ended up in the same room.
Natsu was both excited and fearful because he was going to be in close proximity with Gray and, well, what if the other learned his secret? He was fine with them just being best friends and rivals and just continuing to have their fights. He didn't want things to change.
Without thinking about that, they headed to the tiled room that led to the spring outside.
The two mages disrobed and quick and efficiently washed off all the dust and cobwebs that were attached to them since they left the library. To Natsu it felt oddly good to see the greyish dirt being washed away - and if he took a sneak peek at Gray to admire how that pale skin was getting all clean, well, it was nobody's business. Neither mage said a word while they cleaned themselves, there was a peaceful silence between them that Natsu didn't feel inclined to break. It was...comfortable. At last, they were ready to head to the hot springs.
The boys, now in only their towels, walked quietly to the steaming pool of water, poking match long forgotten.
"Uh, you go ahead first," Natsu nodded towards the spring once they had reached the edge. He tried not to cringe at the nervous quiver in his words. Gray eyed him curiously but finally he nodded and removed his towel before stepping into the water. Natsu tried not to stare, but he couldn't help it. It's not like he hadn't seen Gray naked before. In fact, he'd probably seen him without clothes on almost as much as he had seen him with them. But this felt different. It was personal and intimate, a moment between just the two of them. And Natsu felt his insides heat up before he even set foot in the spring from the way the steam rolled off his friend's pale skin and the water dripped down the muscles of his chest and arms. Natsu cleared his throat awkwardly before removing his own towel and getting in. Even in his nervousness he didn't miss the way Gray watched him for a second too long before averting his eyes to the side. He wasn't sure if the suddenly bright red color of the ice mage's cheeks was from the hot water or something else entirely.
As Natsu lowered himself, he let out a pleased noise as the hot water embraced his tired body. Natsu sat down beside Gray, the comfortable silence still hanging between them, only being broken by the watery noises and the sounds coming from the other hot springs - each room had a smaller, private spring, and Natsu was both grateful and unnerved by that. And Gray...the ice mage didn't help. He was red-cheeked but now Natsu could only think that it was because of the water. But he had a nagging suspicion as to what had happened earlier, as unlikely as it might be.
"This is really what we needed." Natsu said finally, stretching under the water and letting out another pleased noise. Gray made an unintelligible noise. "What?"
"It was good, indeed." Gray replied, strangely avoiding looking at Natsu.
"Oi, Gray. Are you feeling alright?" Natsu scooted closer to Gray. "I know that these springs aren't too good for you, you can't handle the heat all that well and- Hey!" he yelped.
"Serves y-you right. I can handleee thhhhe ssssprings fiine." Gray replied in a half-drunken tone.
"Oookay, you're done here." Natsu said seriously. He placed a hand on Gray's forehead and, of course, it was too hot.
"You're so dumb, ice brain. Don't you know that ice in a hot spring melts?" Natsu grumbled as he picked Gray up, a difficult feat as the water was hindering him slightly. "Seriously, you're too much."
"I-I can haandle thisss fiine." Gray breathed into Natsu's collarbone. "'’m fiiiine." He repeated as Natsu had him held bridal-style and was striding towards the board of the spring. He placed the ice mage on the colder stone, hopping from the waters to sit by his friend. He blushed as he looked at Gray and quickly grabbed some towels to cover his and Gray's modesty. He, unfortunately, couldn't blame the hot spring for the redness in his cheeks...