You're Not Alone (GraTsu)

Ten

"Ugh..." Natsu groaned softly as he shifted around slightly. He didn't even remember passing out last night, but when he woke up, he didn't know how he got to his bed. Confusion washed over him as he sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his eyes. As he looked toward the clock on his nightstand, he noticed it was just past three in the morning. This was no surprise. He always woke up at ungodly hours and usually couldn't get himself back to sleep. Natsu figured it was best not to force himself to sleep. If he did, he would probably wake up with a massive headache.

"Damn... I owe Levy an apology..." He muttered to himself as he went to grab his phone that was resting on his nightstand beside the clock. The message light was blinking. Maybe Levy messaged him to tell him what happened. He remembered a little of the conversation, and even remembered he had gotten the answer he was looking for but he also remembered having a panic attack. Shaking his head slightly, he unlocked his phone, seeing he had two unread messages; one from Levy and one from...Gray. He decided to open the one from Levy first.

[Levy: Natsu, you ended up passing out while we were there so Gajeel helped me get you into bed. I had a feeling you would end up passing out on us due to not sleeping very much so don't worry about it. Just take care of yourself and remember, Gajeel and I will always be here for you. I know you'll make the right decision when the time comes. See you soon!]

Reading the message brought relief to Natsu. She wasn't upset with him about passing out, but then again she was rarely upset with him anyways. She worried more than anything, which made Natsu worry as well. Deciding that he could reply to her message later, he moved to read the message from Gray, realizing that it was from much earlier, before Levy had even come over. He remembered agreeing to have a similar day with Gray like the one they had today. Thinking about that only made him blush, along with what Levy had told him. He needed to find out if Gray felt that spark as well, but at the same time he was too scared to ask. He didn't know if he wanted the answer or not, but he did know that he needed to read the message.

[Gray: I really look forward to it. I had a nice time with you today and I really hope you had fun too. Maybe we can see about doing something either tomorrow or Sunday?]

Ah...so he wanted to hang out sooner than Natsu expected, not that it was a bad thing. Natsu actually felt himself growing rather excited to possibly be hanging out with Gray sooner than later. At the same time, he was still very nervous about it. He didn't know how he would react around Gray now that he was aware of what that spark meant. Panic was starting to set in again. Now he was in a battle with himself, unable to decide if he wanted to see Gray again so soon or not. Unfortunately for him, it seemed his fingers moved on their own. Before he knew it, he already had a response typed out and had pressed send. Crap, what the hell did he just type!?

[N: Tomorrow or Sunday would be great. Tomorrow I plan on looking for a job though, but you're more than welcome to accompany me. It would be nice to have someone to chat with.]

Relief washed over Natsu once more. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was. He was worried about typing something extremely embarrassing or something, but luckily it was more casual and hopefully not too desperate sounding. As he flopped back against his pillows, he focused his gaze on the ceiling. He had gotten so much information in one day and when he tried to go over it in his head, it only caused a headache to form. To his surprise, he felt his phone vibrate beside him. Who the hell was awake at this time and texting him back? Sitting up once more, Natsu picked up his phone and opened the message.

"What the hell? He's up!?" Natsu asked himself with a surprised expression on his face. "...Hopefully I didn't wake him up with that message..." If he had, he would have felt terrible.