● BLACK ▪ BLUE● ¤Gruvia¤

°6°

THE PLOT THICKENS?
__________________________________"I'm tired!" Happy complained, holding onto Natsu's scarf. "I wanna stop!"

"Quit complain', cat!" Gajeel barked. "My Lily ain't saying a thing!"

Pantherlily decided to speak in defense of his fellow Exceed. "Gajeel, we are all quite tired. Why don't we stop somewhere?"

Lucy sighed and looked down at the map. "Why're you on a job with us again?"

"Master asked me to tag along." Gajeel kicked a stone.

The blonde shrugged. "The closest town is Azalea. Oh, wow, I've always wanted to go there."

"Isn't that one of the richest towns in Fiore?" Wendy asked quietly.

"It is indeed," Erza said, brushing her scarlet hair out of her face. "An inn will be expensive."

Gajeel turned back to them. "Who said anything about an inn?"

Gray glared. "You suggestin' we sleep on the ground?"

"No."

"Then what, Metal Head?" Natsu asked.

"I know a place."

Lucy sighed. "We'll still have to pay, so it doesn't matter." She yelled into her hands, muffling it. "I hate paying for things!"

"We don't have to pay," Gajeel snapped. They were getting on his nerves, and Lily chuckled.

"Where are we going, then?" Gray shouted, irritated. "I have no patience for this!"

"Just trust me, icehead! I ain't got any patience for you, either!"

He really didn't, not since Juvia came to his apartment, crying and shaking about how he'd died, how he'd said no. Gajeel could respect Gray's decisions, because it was his life and it was up to him who to love and when to love and whatever.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

"Where are we going?" Wendy asked, rubbing Carla's head. "I'm confused."

"Somewhere where we can get some sleep, a good meal, and a nice conversation."

"Since when do you care about nice conversation?" Lucy quipped.

"I like this person," Gajeel explained simply.

The team looked at each other, shrugged, and carried on. They came to a gate that Gajeel quickly made a key for and opened. They looked at each other, quite worried now. Breaking and entering? That may be Gajeel's thing, but not theirs. Even Lily was quite confused.

"You comin'? Trust me, I could care less if you wanna spend 50,000 jewel on some fancy hotel. I get to stay here for free, so-"

At the mention of 50,000 jewel ("That's almost as much as my rent!" Lucy said), Team Natsu bustled through the gate, heading down the path.

"I'm still tired~" Happy said again.

"Quiet, it's only another mile!" Gajeel rolled his eyes and mumbled about weak-ass whiners while they walked.

"He's not very nice when he's tired," Wendy whispered to Erza.

"He's not very nice at all," she whispered back.

"He's got dragon hearing," Gajeel shouted back to them. "So shut it!"

They walked past the fields, and Natsu grabbed Lucy's arm and pointed and yelled about how pretty they were, especially those really pretty pear trees, or those walnut ones, and this was a lot of trees, wow, but it's okay, Luce, we like trees.