Frost

2

Natsu reached Gray's apartment with Happy close behind. As dedicated as he was to finding his friend, he didn't know what kind of evidence he would find. Since Erza and Jellal haven't found anything in Gray's apartment, what could Natsu possibly find?

The door was still unlocked from when Erza and Jellal went looking for him. Natsu pushes the door open, and he and Happy made their way inside the small apartment. Inside, there was a small kitchen on the left side of the door, and on the other side of the room was the living area. Two doors on the right side of the wall told Natsu that it was the bedroom and the bathroom. Gray never expected guests, so there was no point in having more than one bedroom.

The temperature must have been below zero, for Natsu and Happy both started to shiver when they took a step inside the apartment. The dragon slayer immediately turned on some lights while the exceed went to find a thermostat. Soon, the heaters were on, and the place began to get warmer. Yeah, Natsu could've heated the room up himself, but he didn't want to burn down any evidence of Gray that Jellal and Erza might've missed.

"How did Gray vanish, anyways? You were with him last, weren't you?" Happy asked while looking in the kitchen. Natsu was in Gray's bedroom, but it was like Happy's voice was right next to him.

"It's not like I did anything to him! And besides, that's why we're here!" Natsu exclaimed. The two began to search around the apartment. They looked under things, beside things, on top of things, but there was no evidence showing Gray left. Surprisingly, all of his clothes were still in the closet.

Natsu and Happy relaxed on the couch. It's been an hour, and the partners were starving. Happy decided to fly his way to the refrigerator.

"Ew, gross!" Happy shouted. Natsu didn't want to question anything. With Gray being gone for an entire week, there was no one to do his grocery shopping. Both Happy and Natsu decided it would be kind to clean out Gray's fridge. It would be terrible to come home to a foul smell, especially if it was coming from a place where he stored his food.

"I can't believe we haven't found anything," the excess sighed. Natsu closed his eyes for a moment before dumbing a half full yet chunky carton if milk into the sink. He then tossed the carton into a trash bag. The two cleaned out the refrigerator in peace.

"I really don't understand why he didn't take some of his clothes. That pervert, he strips so much that he needed his entire closet," Natsu mumbled. Happy snickered, but he noticed that Natsu stopped doing what he was doing.

"Gee, Natsu! If you think too hard you'll hurt your brain! What's wrong?" Happy grabbed Natsu's head and knocked on his forehead. Natsu winced and rubbed his head before backing away from his exceed companion.

"What I just said made no sense," Natsu realized before looking back in the refrigerator. It was empty, but it smelled bad. He searched for a cleaning spray under Gray's sink.

"So?" Happy questioned while sitting on the counter. Natsu wiped down the refrigerator shoelaces with the spray, and he gagged at the strong smell. Once he finished, Natsu pulled his head out of the now cleaned fridge and closed the door, staring at the partially full trash bag.

"If Gray was going somewhere, he would've taken his entire closet."

"Yeah, and?"

"All his clothes are still there, so that must mean he's still somewhere close!" Natsu ran to Gray's bedroom before finishing his sentence. He opened Gray's closet doors and looked at each and everyone of Gray's current outfits. Most of the outfits were some that Gray has worn before, while there were also a few new outfits. Natsu started sniffing them, and he could kind of smell Gray's laundry detergent. They were clean. Gray hadn't switched out anything, unless someone had recently done his laundry.

Happy came in a few moments later and relaxed on Gray's bed. Before the exceed could say anything, Natsu grabbed Happy and ran to Gray's front door. Noticing his keys hanging on a nail, Natsu grabbed them, closed Gray's door, and locked it. He then put the keys safely in his scarf and ran.

"Where are we going!?" Happy screeched. Natsu was running awfully fast, but he might have a small lead. Depending on the size, it might help enough for Natsu to find Gray.

"The guild hall! I gotta ask Juvia a few questions!"

•••

"Juvia!" Natsu shouted, gathering everyone's attention in the guild hall. Thankfully, said mage was sitting in Natsu's sight, and the dragon slayer ran over towards her. Her stoic expression changed, and her eyes filled with confusion.

"W-what's going on?"

"You know a lot about Gray, don't you?" Some members from Sabertooth looked in Natsu's direction. Cobra, or Eric, from Crime Sorcière covered his ears and asked someone from Fairy Tail to tell Natsu that he needed to quiet down. No one did, so Eric made his way to the second floor bathroom.

"Yeah, I guess," Juvia squeaked. Natsu's face was so close to hers that she felt so paranoid. She was nervous, but decided it was best to answer whatever Natsu had to ask. It was the only way to make him back off.

"Do you know when he does his laundry?" Natsu backed off a bit, except he hopped onto the table and crouched down to Juvia's eye level.

"What kind of question is that?" Gajeel asked. He was sitting two seats away from Juvia, but Natsu ignored him. Juvia modded slowly.

"I thought you were trying to find him, Natsu, not figure out when he does his laundry!" It was Erza this time. Natsu actually put his focus to the scarlet haired woman. Normally, he would coward down under her voice, but he was trying to find Gray, and he promised himself that he would search for him no matter the cost.

"I am trying to find him! And I'm the only one who's putting the effort into it! Now, what day does Gray do his laundry!" Natsu was looking at Juvia now. The girl had gulped and opened her mouth, but someone wrapped their arms around Natsu before she could say anything.

Natsu gasped at the sudden reaction, and he dropped Happy onto the table. The excess was perfectly fine, but Natsu's boost of adrenaline after he found the evidence was insane.

It was Elfman who grabbed Natsu. He lifted him off the table and tried his best to carry him outside. Lisanna was yelling at her older brother to but her childhood friend down. Instead of listening to her, Elfman carried a struggling Natsu towards the door. Instead, he earned a kick in the groin. He immediately released Natsu, and everyone was confused with the sudden chaos.

Fights began to break out throughout the guild hall, and Juvia sat in the middle of it all. She watched as a few people dove onto Natsu, who immediately lit himself on fire. Erza pulled out her sword, Lucy and Wendy coward into a corner, and even Gajeel decided it would be nice to get himself involved.

Juvia has enough. She stood on top of a table and flooded the entire guild hall with water. It was enough to grab everyone's attention.

"That's enough!" the water mage shouted. Everyone was dripping wet, but Juvia didn't care. She stomped her foot down on the table and looked around.

"Look at all of you! This is ridiculous! You can't beat up on Natsu because he wanted to find out what day Gray does his laundry! He might just have a lead that has something to do with his clothes!" A few people nodded, and Juvia continued. "But Natsu's right. We all are sitting on our butts like the evidence is going to come to us, while Natsu committed himself to this investigation this morning. He already found some evidence, and he's willing to look for more! Anyways, I think he does his laundry on Saturdays!" Juvia shouted across the guild hall, and Natsu heard her loud and clear. He pushed everyone that was laying on top of him off and gave Juvia a thumbs up before making his way to the bar. He immediately ordered a water, and Mirajane poured it for him. Grabbing the water, Natsu grabbed Happy, Juvia, Erza, Lucy, and Jellal, and he took them all to the guild basement.

Only moments later did Eric come out of the restroom.

"Man, did you guys get beat up."