Living With Each Other

Packing

Gray packed relatively quickly. Clothes, shoes, toiletries, money, some books, and a handful of other miscellaneous personal items. All in all, he had filled a large suitcase, a backpack, and a small cross-body bag. He walked to the guild with all of his stuff, the wheels of the suitcase clicking against the cracks in the pavement.

Gray lugged the suitcase up the stairs into the guild. It was both heavy and unwieldy, so this took a minute. He pushed open the doors.

Juvia noticed him first. "What are the bags for, Gray-sama?"

"I'm going on a mission," he answered gruffly.

"Can Juvia come with?"

"No."

"But—!"

Gray ignored her and kept walking. Mira was not behind the bar, rather she was speaking with Nab at the mission board. Gray parked right next to her and waited patiently for them to finish their conversation.

Once they had, Mira turned to face Gray. "You're completely ready?"

"Yes."

"No regrets?"

"None yet."

Mira winced. He was going to regret it once he found out his partner was Natsu. "Alright, you're going to board the 2:15 train at the D station. After three hours you'll get off into a little town called Avalmir. There should be rides up the mountain. Take those to this address—" She displayed the address written on the request sheet, which had been folded into the pockets of her dress. Gray committed it to memory. "—and that should be it."

"Thanks," he said quickly. His expression changed as something occurred to him, "And my partner?"

"You will meet them there."

Gray found that immensely strange, but he did not push it. It was too late to change his decision, he felt. "Well, thanks." He met her eyes and said more meaningfully, "I'll see you in a while, yeah?"

Mira smiled genuinely.

Gray looked around for a moment. Erza still had not come back. "And... tell Erza I said bye. I kinda feel bad."

"I will, don't worry."

"Thanks." Gray waved before picking up his things. Mira watched him move around the guild, explaining to everyone that he was going to be gone for a while, then saying his goodbyes. He received handshakes and hugs from almost everyone. Juvia wailed when he explained it to her, and Gray had to spend an entire ten minutes simply consoling her. He gave up after that, realizing that nothing he could say would make her stop crying.

Mira was just glad he had not neglected to say goodbye to his guildmates.

After some time, Gray finished talking to everyone. He stood at the doorway, gave everything a final glance, yelled a loud goodbye, and closed the door. Fairy Tail would not see Gray for an entire year.

~~~

Natsu was not a quick nor an efficient packer. He simply could not decide what he wanted to take and what he wanted to leave behind. His house was a mess of trinkets, trash, and unfinished projects of all kinds.

It was soon discovered that Natsu's regular travel pack was far too small for this long of a trip. Happy pulled out an old, larger pack of theirs from storage. It was coated in a thin layer of dust, so Natsu quickly washed and dried it.

Natsu dug through the clothes around his home. Some were hanging in his closet, some were in piles on the floor, and others were in baskets by his wash bucket. It was rare that Natsu wore anything besides his work clothes, so most of his clothes went unused—even pajamas. He exclusively wore boxers to bed. As a result Natsu struggled to pick out, even find, clothes to pack.

He ended up trying on random pants and shirts to see if they fit before haphazardly stuffing them into his pack. He threw some toiletries and money into his bag, but the overwhelming amount of space was taken up by memorabilia. Photos, letters, trinkets, and gifts that Natsu simply could not bear to part with, even for just a year.

Natsu's pack jingled and clanked oddly as he put it on his back.

Happy did not have to pack nearly as much. He was small and did not wear clothes, so all he brought was a fishing rod and a brush for his fur—both wrapped up in a blanket proportional to his size.

"You ready?" Natsu asked.

Happy nodded. He flew up and rested on the structured top of Natsu's pack.

Natsu laughed softly, "Alright." He turned in a slow circle, getting one last long look at his home before departing for the guild.

The walk between his house and the guild had always been relatively long, but Natsu did not mind it. He liked waking up early, he liked being active, and he liked being outside. It worked with his lifestyle.

Natsu ran up the steps and burst through the main doors.

"Mira!" he yelled immediately. Natsu yelled a lot, so people were not shocked by this.

Mira looked up sweetly and Natsu ran up to her. "Hi! I'm ready!" he announced.

"Perfect!" She told him the same things she told Gray—with one change. "Board the 2:30 train at the D station. Get off at Avalmir, take a ride up the mountain, and head to this address." Mira hoped the 15 minute delay would prevent Natsu and Gray from seeing each other until the last minute.

"Oh, sure, uh—"

"Do you need me to write that down?"

Natsu nodded sheepishly. Mira, a natural waitress, pulled a small notepad from her dress and scribbled down the instructions. She ripped the page from the pad and handed it to him. Natsu stuffed it into his pocket and thanked her.

"Go find Carla, Happy! I'm gonna say bye to everyone."

"Sure, Natsu!" Happy flew off to (attempt to) enjoy his final moments with Carla.

Natsu ran to find Lucy. He emphatically explained what he was going to be doing for the next year.

"Oh, that's strange," Lucy commented, "earlier, Gray said—"

"Ugh! I'm sick of hearing about that guy."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Lucy held her arms out, signaling for a hug. Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed as tightly as he could. Lucy shrieked but quickly fell into giggles as she returned the hug. Her squeezes did not affect him as much as his affected her, but she tried her best,

They let each other go and Lucy pulled Natsu down a bit. She pecked him on the crown of his head.

"Have fun, okay?"

"I will!"

"Okay," she smiled, "now go say bye to everyone else."

Natsu did as he was told. He bounced around, sharing his news with everyone. Rather than Gray, who said goodbye in 1-on-1 conversations, Natsu jumped into large groups to say goodbye to all of them at once. He still got his fair share of hugs and sentimental farewells—they were just padded with happy conversations and grouped laughter.

Natsu was still making his way around the guild dangerously close to his train boarding time.

Mirajane walked up to Natsu. "You're going to be late!" she chided.

Natsu paused half-way in a conversation. "Am I? What time is it?" His eyes flicked over to a large clock on the guild wall. "Shit, you're right!"

He scrambled to pick up his bag and retrieve Happy. "Sorry, guys!" Natsu yelled to everyone. "See you in a while, bye-bye!"

The guild returned a collective, "Bye!"

Natsu ran out recklessly, his pack jingling as he moved. Happy flew after him. Mira chuckled to herself. No matter what, that boy really was rambunctious.

No art this update, sorry! I'll have some new stuff soon.