Gratsu one-shots/drabbles

July Seventh

Prompt: "Do you want me to leave?"

The warm summer sun shone down on a lone figure's back, warming but never burning. Natsu Dragneel hadn't bothered to go into Magnolia that day, instead choosing to stay at home. His guild mates new better than to come here today. They knew better than to bother him on July seventh.

"The day Igneel disappeared." The somber thought tore through the slayer's heart and made him wan to cry.

In all honesty, they didn't bother him that entire week.

The pink haired mage was sitting cross-legged in front of the wall, staring intently at nothing as the memories of his missing father plagued him. They played in his mind like a move, and just like every year, he watched. He re-memorized the detail as he brought them up, silently praying that he'd never forget them.

At some point during the day, he'd moved. An old sketch book sat delicately in his lap, pristine white pages becoming blacker as he smeared the charcoal across them. He didn't know how long he'd sat there, but by the time he'd finished, there were several drawings of Igneel in both dragon and human form with detail that Redus would be jealous of.

Natsu scooped them all up and stacked them neatly. He moved an old floorboard, and slipped them underneath.

"I need to buy a binder for them."

The next year he did the same thing.

And the same again.

Until the year he didn't.

Natsu had always hated this time of year. He hated the anger that came with his father's disappearance. He hated the sadness that ripped through him like a hot knife.

"It's almost been six years now..."

The thought startled the dragon slayer, and for a moment, he wondered if he would ever find Igneel. He pulled up a picture of his father in his mind, panicking when it took much longer than it should have. He immediately reached for one of his hidden sketchbooks and began to draw.

"I won't let myself forget." Natsu became frantic, lines smearing in his haste. "I can't forget. Please don't let me forget."

Black eyes welled up when the charcoal grasped between his fingers repetitively refused to recreate the images from his memories, now blurry from time. The tears smeared the charcoal down the page, turning the beautiful drawing into a nightmarish recreation. He jumped up from his spot on the floor and threw the sketchbook across the room.

Natsu swayed where he stood, the sudden movement dizzying him, and after a moment, he collapsed to the floor atop his beloved drawings, a single thought running through his head.

"When was the last time I ate?"

It was a few hours later that Natsu finally woke up. The dragon slayer nearly jumped into a fighting stance the second he laid eyes on the unfamiliar surroundings, but he stopped when the smell of pine and peppermint assaulted his nose.

"Gray?"

The ice mage was sleeping in an old wooden chair beside the bed Natsu had been placed in. His soft snores echoed throughout the room, breaking what would have otherwise been silence.

After realizing he was in safe hands, Natsu drifted back to sleep.

Sunlight streamed in through the window and landed softly on Natsu's face. He rolled over and grumbled, which seemed to startle Gray.