Never Give Up

WE'RE BUDDIES!

The whole bus ride was a torture to Gray. He had the misfortune of taking the same bus which he and Lucy had ridden last Monday. Since they occupied the whole bus, there were no other passengers around, which was a bit of consolation to him.

The driver was the same guy they met before, much to his dismay. To makes matters worst, he retold the argument he witnessed between him and Lucy. The whole gang were ecstatic to hear the story and was teasing them (particularly him) about the incident.

Lucy then told them what led to the argument which earned a few more teasing claiming that Gray acted like a "hero". So, when the bus finally stopped (to his relief), he made a run towards the door.

He glared at his noisy friends as they stepped out of the bus. They were laughing and singing. Natsu was the loudest and the most annoying one. He was shaking his butt as he sings, "Lucy and Gray sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Gray was steaming with anger and whacked Natsu in the head. "Will you knock it off already? And stop with the butt shaking, it's annoying."

Natsu just sniggered and continue to dance while humming.

"You're never gonna stop, aren't you?" Gray said, clearly annoyed.

"What if I don't, what ya gonna do, princess?" Natsu taunted while shaking his butt.

Gray had enough. He grabbed Natsu's collar and punched him in the face.
Natsu fell on the ground. He spit blood on the floor then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Why you ---" He lunged at Gray and punched him in the face. Then all hell lose and they were on the floor tackling and jabbing at each other.

"Knock it off, you two!" Loke shouted.

Jet and Droy grabbed Gray's arms and pulled him away from Natsu, while Elfman was holding Natsu on the other end. But Gray was able to free from their grasp and kicked Natsu on the shin, which made the two fell on the ground.

"Ow! You bastard!" Natsu lunged at Gray and kneed him in the stomach.

The girls were yelling for them to stop, but they ignored and continued brawling. Erza finally intervened

"ENOUGH!" Erza bellowed.

Everyone froze and went silent, including Natsu and Gray. They were holding each other's collar and had their fist in mid air.

"How many times do I have to tell you to quit fighting?"

They both gulped. They turned their heads and saw Erza glaring at them. Gray had a cut on his lip, while Natsu got a bruise forming on his cheek.

"You're not setting a good example to Wendy. What will his brother say if he knew that his little sister was exposed to such violence, huh?" She reprimanded them.

They turned their gaze to Wendy who was cowering behind Erza. "W-we're sorry, Wendy!" They said simultaneously.

Wendy shook her head and smiled awkwardly. "I-it's o-okay, guys. Really! I'm actually used seeing you fighting." She turned her gaze to Erza. "It's really fine Erza. I-I'm sure t-they're just messing around anyway, right guys?"

"Y-yes!" They both answered while grabbing each other's shoulder and standing side by side.

"W-we're just fooling around, Erza. No harm done, right bud?" Gray nudged Natsu.

"Omph! Y-yeah. I-I just missed taking a few punches from my favorite sparring partner, that's all." Natsu grinned broadly while blood trickled down his cheek.

Erza raised her brows. "You're bleeding, Natsu."

Natsu touched his cheek and saw in his hand that he was indeed bleeding. He faked a laugh.