He Will Be Loved

Want To Make You Feel Beautiful

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.