White pearly gates. Clouds hovering around me. Choirs singing in the distance. No, I wasn't in heaven. Quite the opposite, actually. I was just passing through the rich side of town as I often liked to do on my way home. Home, I thought. It was a foreign concept to me. My family and I had never had a stable income, as my mother died while giving birth to my sister and my father fell into a depression after her death. I don't remember my mother much. I was only five when she died, and my memory has faded a lot twelve years later. But I do remember that she was beautiful. With long, glossy blonde hair that fell in waves over her slim figure and clear green eyes that sparkled whenever she was with someone she loved, my mother was as radiant as the sun. Unfortunately, I inherited none of those traits, though I wish I had. Instead, I ended up with a comparatively plain combination of black hair and black eyes, taking more after my Japanese father instead of my English mother. My sister had much better luck when it came to genes. She had black hair, too, but hers was silky and soft like my mother's was. She was petite and slim with green eyes and long eyelashes. My sister was utterly breathtaking. And with her acting ability, she was the one who brought in most of our income by starring in shows at theaters around the area even though she was only twelve years old. My father didn't work much, even after twelve years, but when he did, he repaired cars at the local mechanic shop. I worked too, but at my last job, I had gotten fired for being stubborn, hostile, and rude to customers. Working in customer service was really not for me.
As strange as it may sound, it was probably a good thing I got fired since the video store didn't pay much, and it was crucial that I brought in some kind of income. I recently found a new job, but I wasn't particularly excited about it. It paid much more than my old one, but it made sense considering who I was working for. Well, not necessarily who, but what type of person. My new job was going to be working as a slave for the super-rich, specifically a boy my age. He was rich by inheriting his parent's fortune, and had probably never worked a day in his life. He was most likely a lazy, mean slave-driver who would work me to the max then pay me whatever is considered minimum wage to the rich. I was okay with that though. I knew that when I signed up for this job, and I know that now as I walk past the boy's house (mansion?) on the left side of the road. I had been lost in thought and hadn't been paying attention to where exactly I was in the rich neighborhood until I saw his address. 221 Baker Street. I stood staring at the large house behind the iron gate. I had memorized every house on this road, but only because I enjoyed daydreaming over the ornate architecture and unique designs of houses that I could never afford. I had never even dared to dream I would walk inside one, let alone work in it. Especially not for a boy my age. But the kid's parents said they would only hire a guy their son's age, so I assumed that they wanted not only a servant for him, but someone he could make friends with. This theory backs up my other theory about how the boy is lazy and mean since he probably doesn't have any friends if his parents have to hire one and pay them to be nice to him.
I realized that I was still standing in front of his house when I felt something cold and wet on my face. I looked into the sky and was met with thousands, no, millions of tiny white flakes falling down from the sky. I looked back at the road with the beautiful houses, and the scene laid before my eyes was breathtaking. Well, it was breathtaking until I realized that I forgot my jacket at the video store I just got fired from. I groaned out loud and started jogging away from the neighborhood where I would be working starting tomorrow. I wasn't much of an athlete, so after about a minute of jogging, I slowed to a walk. I was already out of breath. Now, that's just pathetic, Gray. I thought to myself. I was paying so much attention to how pathetic I seemed in that moment that I didn't notice the person right in front of me until we collided. Hard. I stumbled and fell backwards onto the wet, snowy ground, my tailbone hitting the sidewalk at a pretty painful velocity. That's going to leave a bruise for sure. I thought, my cheeks flushing slightly from both the chill of winter air and the general awkward situation I found myself in. Once I finally mustered up some courage, I tilted my head back to meet eyes with the stranger, who looked vaguely familiar. He had salmon hair that couldn't have been natural and black eyes not unlike mine in color; however, his eyes shone like brilliant stars in the night sky, whereas mine tended to lack any sort of emotion.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there. Are you alright?" The pink haired boy asked me, his voice laced with polite concern.
"Yeah, it's fine. Whatever." I replied.
"Here, let me help you. I'm really sorry I knocked you over- I guess I'm stronger than I thought." The boy laughed. His laugh was melodic and clear. It made me want to laugh with him, but the best I could do was force a smile and take the hand that was waiting for me to grab. He pulled me up to my normal height, but I guess he was right about being stronger than he thought, because when he pulled me up, I flew into his chest at an impossible speed. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders to steady me and took a small step back, but lost his balance in the wet slush starting to form on the pavement and fell backwards. I, of course, because the universe wanted to spite me with clichés, fell on top of him, banging my knee in the process. Great, another bruise. His arms still around my shoulders, he laughed at the situation we found ourselves in. I, again, simply forced a smile and crawled off of him awkwardly.
"I'm sorry. Once again. I really should learn to control that." He said in between breaths. I stood up, this time offering my hand to him. He took it, and, being very careful this time, stood up without making either one of us fall over. He continued to hold my hand after he stood up, starting to shake it.
"Hi. I'm Natsu Dragneel. Nice to meet you." Dragneel? That name sounded quite familiar, and I got a feeling that I somehow knew this boy for the second time since meeting him.
"Gray Fullbuster. Same to you."
"Well, Gray, you are all wet and snowy and you must be cold because I see you have no jacket. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to leave the house without a coat in the winter?" He smirked a bit, raising the corner of his mouth slightly to show the humor behind the question. I winced at the mention of my mother, but tried not to show any reaction to him. After I didn't answer for a moment, the air surrounding the conversation became awkward and I internally cursed myself for not having any idea how to talk to people. Thankfully, he seemed to be a bit more suave than I was, and he cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Well, I can't just let you walk home in wet clothes while it's still cold and snowing. Why don't you come to my house and I can get you some dry clothes?" I hesitated to answer because I had only just met this boy, and though he didn't look much older than me, he was insanely strong as I found out earlier. I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision, but I eventually decided I could trust him. He seemed pretty nice before, and that was good enough for me.
"Alright." I said in reply to him. Once I said it, his black eyes lit up, and he grabbed my hand, dragging me back to the rich neighborhood. I figured he just lived on the other side of it, but when he stopped in front of a very familiar house, I widened my eyes, checking the address to make sure. I double checked the address. Triple checked it. And on the fourth time, Natsu looked at me strangely, asking if I was okay. I forced another smile.
"Yeah, sorry I was just surprised. I always thought this house was beautiful as a child and took every opportunity I had to walk past it." He laughed and said something, to which I just kept my forced smile on my face. I was deep in thought, drowning out the sounds of the conversation and the rest of the world with only one thing occupying my mind.
Natsu Dragneel is my master,
And I am his slave.
A/N
I'm sorry to anyone reading who may have black hair and black eyes! I was not trying to call you boring or plain or anything! I was just trying to show that Gray has a habit of comparing himself to others and he isn't very confident in himself. You're all gorgeous whether you have black hair or blonde hair or green hair or purple hair and I love you all :)
~Jules
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When the Snow Falls (Gratsu)
FanfictionGray Fullbuster is a seventeen year old whose family fell apart twelve years ago with the death of his mother. He and his sister have to work to keep their family alive. When Gray gets fired from his job, he has to find work in a place he never expe...
