Frost

47

"I forgive you," was the first thing Gray said after sitting next to Natsu in complete silence for five minutes, and if he were being honest, it completely shocked the fire dragon slayer. The two weren't even looking at each other—Gray sat up tall, and his hands were clinging onto his jeans, while Natsu was leaning down on the bench with his arms crossed and his scarf wrapped loosely around the lower half of his face. It was awkward, and the fire dragon slayer wanted to get up and leave. He wasn't in the mood to feel Gray's wrath about all the bad things he has done. When the words came out of the ice mage's mouth, however, Natsu's word stopped. After all this, Gray actually forgave him?

Natsu slowly turned his head towards his friend, who was looking in the complete opposite direction. "You . . . What?" he questioned aloud, and he jumped when Gray's head turned back towards him. "I-I said I forgive you. Is that so hard to understand?"

So hard to understand? Was it really that easy for Gray to forgive Natsu? After all, the fire dragon slayer took time from Gray's life. The ice mage spent nearly six months with little to no contact with anyone. If Natsu didn't get so drunk, or maybe if he had gone home a little earlier that night, Gray probably wouldn't have been invisible, and their lives would possibly be different right now. Maybe that promised fight would have settled things between the two of them. They could have taken plenty of S-Class quests during the time period the ice mage was gone. But of course Natsu has to screw it up and make everyone feel miserable about Gray's absence from the guild.

It got so out of hand that Makarov even thought there was a spy in the building. Turns out it was just Gray the entire time. There was so much unnecessary drama along the way as well. The whole situation was preventable if the fire dragon slayer would have just made good choices.

"It is! After all the trouble I've caused you and the guild, of course I would feel that way! What I did was wrong, and I shouldn't have injected you with the enchantment." Natsu took in a deep breath before closing his eyes before looking away, muttering his last question. "I was expecting to wait years before you actually forgave me, so why are you not mad?"

Gray sighed and leaned back against the bench, lifting his arms up and resting his hands on the back of his head. "I'm not mad because you're the reason why I'm sitting here right now." Natsu's eyes widened, and he turned towards his comrade, who wore a smug smile on his face. "Huh?"

"I'm going to say this—being invisible was quite the experience, all though it didn't turn out the way I expected it. I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. There were . . . quite a few things I've heard from people that I probably would have never heard in person, which was honestly quite amusing," Gray paused and winked, and Natsu cringed.

"It was difficult because I couldn't use my magic and it was also hard to move items. I also couldn't speak, which made me feel less invisible and more like absolutely nothing. You took time away from job requests to look for me, and you continued to do so even when I was no longer invisible. I know you weren't the first person to find me, but I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for . . . well, you." Gray wrapped his arms tightly around the fire dragon slayer, who wore a shocked expression on his face. It took a few moments before he finally accepted the ice mage's words and hugged him back.

Maybe Gray was right. He should be focusing on the good things, like the fact that, after all this time, Gray was finally back—physically. That's all that really mattered at the moment. Natsu rested his head on the ice mage's shoulder and closed his eyes.

It felt really good, that hug.

•••

Wendy and Gajeel were gone as soon as they heard Natsu and Gray speaking to each other. They concluded that there was no point in waiting around, for the two would come to a conclusion on their own. The ice mage and the fire dragon slayer were practically adults, and they should be trusted to act like it. The two dragon slayers made their ways back to the guild hall in comfortable peace. Wendy was glad she was able to get around Gajeel, another dragon slayer, after so long.

When they reached the building, they were immediately embraced by all three of the exceeds, who were all curious about the whereabouts of Natsu and Gray, and how things were going between them. The sky dragon slayer smiled and answered, "I think they will be just fine." Gajeel agreed, and the two made their ways to a table that seated Lucy, Levy, Erza, Loke, and a panicked-looking Asa, whose hands were tugging at his brown hair. Juvia and Lyon sat a few seats away, conversing quietly.

Levy sat beside Lucy with wide eyes, spacing out and staring at absolutely nothing. Gajeel assumed she was told of the situation between both Natsu and Gray. When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she jumped before giving off a nervous laugh when she realized it was the iron dragon slayer. "What's the deal with that loser?" Gajeel pointed to Asa while asking aloud for everyone at the table to hear.

Lucy shook her head and responded, "He thinks Gray went after Natsu to fight him or something. Erza told him countless times that Gray isn't mad at Natsu, but I guess he has some sort of feeling . . ." Gajeel noticed that Loke rolled his eyes.

Wendy sat across Levy next to Erza, and she looked over at Asa, the only person she was unfamiliar with at the table. "Well they aren't fighting, that's for sure," she said. "Gray said he just wanted to talk to Natsu. I think he just wants to get rid of the tension between them."

Asa looked up at the girl and let go of his hair before sighing and resting his head on his palm. "I guess that's way better than them fighting," he muttered. Lucy laughed and shook her head. "Those two used to fight all the time. It's quite normal when it happens."

"Yeah, and if they do it again they are going to pay," Erza growled, sending shivers up and down the spines of those who were sitting around her. The two wizards fighting was something she realismzed she shouldn't be worried about, though. It wouldn't really settle anything between them, for when it happened the two always tied. She trusted what Wendy said, and she hoped that, when the two wizards walked through the guild doors, all the bad things would be put behind them, and that things would go back to normal.