A New Home (Gratsu)

Rebuttals

(an: some triggering content up ahead, yo. Just an FYI. It'll be italicized if you want to skip over it. No more warnings after this point so just a heads up.

TW: rape; TW: pedophilia)

The drive back to the Strauss House was awkward, silent, and filled with tension. Once Gray stepped into the car he realized how draining the entire event had been. It was overwhelming enough having to run around in public for a few hours, meet new people, and spend money he didn't deserve. On top of that entire debacle Gray had also realized two very important things: first that Juvia is so creepy he felt as though he needed a security guard or two and, second, that Natsu is really cute, sweet, and funny. The second one is what worried Gray the most.

So here Gray was pretending to be asleep while Natsu hummed along to some indie band he had put on. Gray wasn't quite sure if Natsu listened to this regularly or if the boy was trying to be polite to him by playing softer, less intense, music. Either way the whole situation started to bother Gray immensely since he decided then and there that he hated indie music. Maybe it was the impoverished kid in him hating it simply because he saw it as a 'rich person's music' or maybe it was because Natsu sounded so damn good.

Natsu could tell that Gray was awake the entire drive since, as a Dragon Slayer, he has extremely acute hearing. He had decided to let Gray be since he seemed so overwhelmed. The bright side to this was Natsu knew that he wasn't going to say something stupid that he'd regret and he didn't have to put his foot in his mouth. This would have all been great if the silence wasn't making Natsu uncomfortable.

Thankfully, for the both of them, the drive ended relatively quickly. Natsu pulled up to the Strauss House, Gray yawned dramatically to show he was waking up, and the rest of the world pretended they didn't know what was up.

"Thanks for the ride, Natsu!" Gray said. He tried his best to look suave but his fingers fumbled around the handle. Gray realized that the door was still locked. He pressed the button on the door, tried to pull on the knob, but his door remained locked.

Meanwhile Natsu sat in the driver's seat smirking at the sight before him. A few weeks ago, after a particularly aggressive magic practice session, Erza had tossed Natsu full-force into that door. A repairman who practiced metal-making quickly repaired the door but something was still wonky about the lock mechanisms.

"Here, let me get that," Natsu chuckled as he got out of the car. Even though this sight was probably the most adorable thing he had ever seen he had to give Gray some sense of decency. He jimmied the lock and opened the door with a flourish, presenting Gray like he was a celebrity on a red carpet.

Gray punched Natsu's shoulder on the way out. That kid clearly knew about the door the whole time, played along, and laughed at his expense. Natsu may not know this yet but soon he would never forget. Payback is hell.

"Ow! I'm delicate, Gray!" Natsu shouted dramatically. He rubbed his arm with a wistful look on his face. "I was really attached to this arm too..."

"I hope you aren't attached to the rest of your body because I'm gonna give you a pounding!" Gray grinned as he tackled Natsu, who hit the ground in seconds. Instead of punches Gray jabbed Natsu with his fingers, finding the ticklish spots Natsu pretended he didn't have.

Natsu's face became a darker shade of pink with each poke and his muscles were tensed so hard he felt like he was going to explode. "I'm not ticklish," he managed to say through his gritted teeth.

"Uh huh. Well I have a hard time believing you," Gray giggled after he managed to squeeze out a laugh from Natsu, who quickly fell apart after that.