Lost in the Woods

One Midnight Gone

This story was meant to be a picture book and has some great art already, but life gets busy for us all. So I went ahead and drew a scene for this chapter.

Art by Rhov: http://wildrhov.tumblr.com/post/157244245571/

As night darkened the woods, Natsu sat close to a campfire, occasionally eating the flames. Gray had used his knowledge of survival in the wilderness to make a fire the old-fashion way, just so Natsu could eat it, since he could not eat his own flames. Seeing Natsu snacking on the fire was always such madness to Gray, especially when they were kids. He used to hate flames, being reminded of the fires that broke out in his village when Deliora attacked. Now ... he did not mind so much.

They had a surprisingly hard time trying to find food. Despite both of their best efforts, the river that ran through the forest seemed to be devoid of fish. Although they sometimes saw birds in the trees, they found no nests for eggs. They also saw none of the animals that would normally be in the woods like this. Only a few plants were edible. Gray managed to find enough dandelions, wild onions, cress, wood sorrel, and plantain to make salads, and he boiled some of the roots to make a mash that tasted a bit like potato, with the onions mixed in to make a fairly descent—if scant—meal.

Now the forest was dark, and only their little fire alleviated the moist chill of the nearby river. Fog was beginning to rise and roll over the ground. Gray knew it was going to be a miserable night.

"We should sleep and get an early start," he recommended.

"Sleep where?" Natsu asked with a surly pout.

Gray was about to snap at him to obviously sleep anywhere he darn well pleased, but he quickly realized that Natsu had lost all of his gear. It was not just his food that was gone, but his sleeping bag and clothes as well.

"Look, I don't care if you share my sleeping bag," he said, trying to shrug it off with a hint of annoyance, although his stomach began to twist up at the idea of Natsu sleeping right against him.

Natsu recoiled at the idea. "No way! It'd probably be colder sleeping beside you than sleeping in the middle of the river."

Gray glared, feeling hurt that his kind offer was rejected so sharply. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Idiot."

He turned away, scowling to himself. Let the stupid bastard freeze! Hell, with his flames, he probably would not even feel cold. He shouldn't feel even a little pity for the flame-brain stubborn-ass jerk.

As Gray pulled out his sleeping bag, the camp area was suddenly pitched into darkness.

"Natsu, what the hell?" he cried out. "Stop eating up all the flames."

"That wasn't me. The fire just went out." He breathed a burst of flames into the pit they made, and the fire blazed even brighter than before. "Your campfires suck, ice princess."

"Screw you," he grumbled, too tired to banter with him. He just wanted to sleep and get out of this forest as quickly as possible. Being alone with Natsu had to be the worst thing ever.

Gray crawled into his sleeping bag and fell asleep almost instantly. In no time, Natsu heard snoring. He had been feeling horrible all day. Gray was lost in here because he went searching for him. They were running out of food because he left his pack with Happy. Now, he did not have clothes to change into, a toothbrush, or even a blanket to sleep in. He hated relying on others, yet now he was reliant on Gray's generosity. It was a blow to his pride, especially since it was his rival helping him out.

At the same time, he rather liked that he and Gray could work together like this. They fought so often, so it was nice to have occasional reminders that they were such close friends, almost like brothers.

Which made the fluttering in his stomach a horrible thing to deal with. How was it that he liked relying on Gray so much? Why was he watching him now, gazing at the way he slept, and his heart raced a little faster?

Suddenly, the fire went out again. Natsu jolted. That should not have happened! He had felt no wind, nothing to blow the flames out. He had been the one to gather the firewood, so he knew they were good logs and should burn easily. He breathed more flames onto the wood.

Not even five minutes later, the fire snuffed out again. Natsu almost shouted in anger—his flames should not go out like that—but he heard Gray snore a little. He slammed his mouth shut and blew again. Not even two minutes, and the flames went out. He blew yet again, and in under a minute the fire vanished.

"The hell're ya doin'?" Gray grumbled, half-awake now and pissed that Natsu was messing around.

"The forest keeps putting out the fire." He knew that sounded crazy, but these woods were magical anyway. Maybe it just did not like campfires.

"Leave it," Gray murmured, curling on his side deeper.

"But it's cold," Natsu protested.

"Then get in here, sleep, and shut up."

Natsu's cheeks blushed. "G-get in here?"

Gray let out a sleepy growl. "Stop being stubborn. It's just sleeping. If your weak ass hates the cold, just shut up and sleep with me."

Natsu gulped hard and felt a panic roiling deep in his gut. Sleep ... with Gray? That sounded so weird, so wrong. His heart was racing again. It was just Gray, though. It should not be this strange. Why was he being so nice all of a sudden? It seemed too bizarre, yet it also made Natsu really happy.

As much as his instincts wanted to protest, he did not want to cause Gray to lose sleep. He was already doing a lot to help Natsu, sharing his food, now offering to share his bedding. Natsu realized with humbleness—that he absolutely hated to feel—that he really was helpless in this situation.

"Just this once," he muttered.

He removed his shoes, shirt, and any extra clothes. He rolled his scarf up as a pillow and cautiously slithered down into the sleeping bag. He tried his hardest not to press up against Gray's bare back and to keep his face turned away.

Sleeping ... under the stars ... with Gray!

Natsu bit his lip to hold back the weird happiness he felt deep inside, but finally he whispered, "Thanks, Gray."

"Yeah," he said back, sounding nearly asleep.

Natsu decided to let him rest peacefully. He said nothing else and tried to ignore the fact that Gray's back was actually quite warm. However, he stared out at the shadows of the forest, trying to sort out this new fire growing in his chest.

Gray did not move or say anything more, hoping Natsu would just sleep, but his eyes stayed open. He really had thought Natsu would remain stubborn. Why had he accepted so easily? Now he felt the Dragon Slayer's buttock pressed against his, and although it was obvious Natsu was trying to keep some distance between them, once in a while when he shifted Gray felt the bare skin brush against his shoulder or spine.

He wondered if he would be able to sleep at all, knowing Natsu was right next to him.

The moonlight shined down on them, lying back-to-back in a sleeping bag, both with blushes on their cheeks and eyes open as their racing hearts chased away sleep.