Icy Fire

Our time

The next week Natsu hardly saw Gray. They didn't have any classes together yet. Then Gajeel, who was working in the black Smith shop approached Natsu after class just before lunch. It was only Monday and Natsu's head was swimming with all the stuff he needed to learn and do.
That's when the heavy arm of his friend fell over his shoulder. "Natsu! Just the dragon I was looking for!" Gajeel exclaimed.
"Huh? Why?" The fire dragon demanded.
"Well the fires down in the shop have been growing dimmer. The dragon who used to stoke them has been assigned to another place, not sure why. We can't find a fire dragon to get the heat up to where we need it. You said you were looking for a job..." He raised his eyebrow to look down on the shorter teen. Natsu thought about it for all of three seconds.
"Yes! That would be great!" He cried. The problem came when he actually began work. Not only was he to tend the black Smith fires, but all the fires in the school. Well, all the public ones. The ones in people's dorms were for themselves to maintain, unless they were a non fire breathing shifter. Then Natsu could be asked to check on them. He had to do this every night and every morning.
He only had a few hours to eat and do his school work. During this time Gray was working either in the kitchens preparing foods, or he was busy with his own studies. Natsu would come home late from checking the fires and collapse exhausted in front of his own. By Saturday he realized he had hardly said more than a passing greeting to his bond mate and lover.
After checking the fires that morning, Natsu was trudging back to his house. The sky was just beginning to lighten. Pink, gold, blue and purple streaked the sky. He stopped to admire the look. It was like a painting so gentle and real.
"Beautiful, isn't?" A voice asked not too far away. Natsu turned. Gray stood on their door step. He was turned facing the rising sun. He didn't have a shirt on, even though Natsu could see his own breath in the morning chill. Gray only wore black pants that came to just below his knees.
"Stunning." Natsu breathed out. Gray stretched his arms high above his head as he arched his back. He yawned. His breath barley visible in the cold.
"Are you done for the day?" he asked, twisting his head to look over at his shifter.
"I, uh, yeah." Natsu stammered.
"Good. Transform. I picked us a picnic. We are spending the day together." Gray ducked back inside. Natsu didn't want to tell him how tired he was. Instead he sucked it up and transformed. His stomach rumbling since he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. Happy walked out, tired, beside Gray.
The ice mage lifted the Exceed to the dragons back. He swung up behind him with a basket. Holding the sleepy cat, Gray told Natsu to fly anywhere. The dragon had laughed at him. He spread his wings and took to the sky.
An image formed into the dragons head. A place he longed to return. It was a sleepy little village. One Gildarts had taken him too. Outside of the towns line, Natsu had a small hut. He had stayed there for several months at a time. He would return every year, but it had been awhile since he had been back.
It was too far away for them to get there and back in one day. Gray showed his acceptance of wishing Natsu to show him more of the dragons life. Natsu had never really had someone he shared so much with. Always friendly and outgoing, he made friends, and enemies quickly. But this connection with his rider was something he cherished deeply. Gray, having been connected to him and understood all of this, rubbed the dragons spike.
Natsu flew to a clearing beside a pond. It was the one he had gone to with Happy his first day. He melted the ice so the Exceed could fish. Natsu transformed to lay in the soft grass. The snow hadn't reached the valley yet.
Gray pulled out a blanket and his packed feast. He had a little of everything. Allowing Natsu to chose first, Gray had to laugh at how he practically drooled over the food.
"It must be hard to stay full. Especially with lighting the fires all the time." Gray muttered as he bit into his sandwich.
"They gave me extra money for food, but yeah, some days it feels like I haven't eaten at all." The shifter bemoaned.
"Why don't you hunt?" his rider asked.
"There's a limit to that as well. We don't want to destroy the population around here of food." Natsu explained.
"Rough. Well, I'm a pretty good cook. I could start cooking at home more." Gray offered. Natsu looked up at him. A piece of bread dangling from his lips.
"Really?" he asked. Gray laughed.
"Yeah. It would make the money go further. Plus you would get more to eat." He stated. Natsu was thrilled. He ate his fill of the food Gray had brought. Mostly this was due to the others encouragement. Once the food was repacked, Natsu stretched out on the blanket. The fall sunlight warming his body. Gray lifted his head to slip under him. He stroked the pink hair as the other drifted into sleep. Gray watched the peaceful face.
He found Natsu loud and sometimes annoying, but he was friendly and kind. Many around the school knew of him now. The other day Gray was stuck behind a group of girls talking about his mate.
"The one with the pink hair?" This was what caught Gray's attention. He had been daydreaming about Natsu. They had been so busy he hardly spoken to him. Plus the dragon shifter always appeared so tired whenever Gray caught a glimpse of him.
"Yes, he came to my room last night to light my fire..." her friends giggled at this. The little dryad blushed. She had slapped her friends arm. "Not like that!" she giggled.
"Is it me or are his fires so much warmer than any one else's?" the third girl asked.
"He puts so much into making sure we are all warm and comfortable." They agreed.
"His very sweet. I wonder if he is dating someone?" one girl asked. Then her friend huffed.
"I still can't believe a kind young fire dragon like Natsu is saddled with an ice mage of all things!" She sounded angered by this. "Like I see why he works so much. Who wants to live with someone so cold-hearted. I bet he forces Natsu to work!" She cried.
"Actually, I think he works too much. But people like you keep complaining about their fire not being hot enough. You're the ones making him work himself to exhaustion." Gray had snarled. He shoved his way past them. That was when he got the idea to take Natsu away from school for awhile.
He didn't want to admit he thought the food would last longer. Natsu had eaten nearly everything Gray had made. He had hoped it would be enough to keep the dragon shifter away from school for the entire day. He smiled down at the sleeping form. Slipping his jacket off, Gray tucked it under the boys head.
He went fishing, his way. Basically he froze the fish in the water and scooped it out. Once he had six good sized fish he set to work cleaning them. "Damn, I forgot to pack stuff to start a fire!" Gray's hissed. He had set up a small campfire pit before digging through his bags to find his kit to start it on fire.
A small glow shot from the blanket to the wood. Soon a decent sized fire was warming the area. Gray smiled over to Natsu. The pink haired boy had rolled to his side. His hands tucked under the makeshift pillow. His sleepy eyes watched the ice mage.
"You're very useful." Gray chuckled. Natsu smirked.
"Sometimes." The shifter murmured. Gray set to work cooking the fish as Natsu dozed. While the fish was cooking, and Gray didn't have to watch it constantly, he went to gather berries and see what other things he could find for their lunch. Having been raised in the woods he knew of many plants that were edible, others that could be used for medicine and the ones everyone needed to stay away from.
He was only gone about an hour, when he returned, Gray saw three fish missing. Happy, his round belly poking out, was now fast asleep beside his friend.
"Little fiend!" Gray muttered. He was upset, but the Exceed had been terrible at hunting for his own breakfast. Gray went to catch more fish. He cleaned them, seasoned them and once more put them on to cook
He crushed up edible twigs and made a bread of sorts. He had found leafy vegetables to make a decent sized salad. The berries topped this adding their color to the dull looking food. When it was all ready, Gray went over to Natsu.
He woke the sleeping shifter with kisses to his face and lips. Natsu snagged the boy yanking him down beside him. Still half asleep, he kissed Gray deeply. It was only at this point did the mage understand the total connection Rogue and Sting had. He could only communicate comfortably mentally with Natsu when the other was in dragon form. When they were both human, Gray was uncertain about the connection.
"Natsu?" he asked once he managed to get the shifter to stop kissing him. They were seated around the fire. He had just given the pink haired sleepy head some food.
"Huh?"
"Do you find it weird to talk to me, mentally while we are human?" Gray asked picking out a berry and plopping it into his mouth. Natsu tilted his head.
"I never really thought about it." He admitted. "You don't like it so, I don't do it." He added when Gray only blushed.
"I've been thinking..." Gray began.
"Uh oh." Natsu teased. Gray threw a berry at him. Natsu caught it in his mouth. They laughed.
"I've been thinking that since we don't see each other much, maybe we could work on our mental communication?" he asked.
"Ok!" Natsu shrugged. "Now I have a question?".
"Yeah?" Gray looked up at him. Instead of talking Natsu sent him some very explicit thoughts. Gray blushed at the implications.
"You want to do that here?" he asked giggling softly. Natsu leaned over kissing the boys cheek.
"Is it bad that nearly every time I see you, I want to do that?" he asked. Gray snorted.
"Horny little dragon aren't you?" he teased. Natsu frowned.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" his rider asked.
"No, it's just, how do you see me? I mean as a human that can shift into a dragon or a dragon that can become a human?" Natsu asked.
"I think the first one. I see you as a human. Why? How do you view yourself?" Gray asked.
"I don't know. I'm just me. My mind is the same in either form. I'm not even sure how I was born. Was I born from a human mother? Or was I laid in an egg like a dragon?"
"You don't know?" Gray asked. Natsu shook his head.
"It makes me happy that you see human me first. So much of my life has been about the dragon part of me. I know you can't avoid the dragon, but the fact you like spending time with human me it's, nice." Natsu blushed.
"I have no desire to fuck a dragon." Gray stated in a monotone. He then looked up to Natsu. "You on the other hand, every time I think about the last time, watching your face in the mirror, it turns me on." He admitted. Natsu laughed.
"You like to watch?" Gray smacked him. This only caused Natsu to laugh more. Gray growled. "Well, you like pain!" Natsu sobered.
"Weird right?" he chuckled. Gray shoved him over onto his back.
"What's weird is all this talk. Let's have some action, little shifter." Gray was already working to unclothe the teen under him. Natsu helped as the sun watched. Happy flew away to go find something else to do entirely. That's when the little Exceed found he wasn't the only one at the school.