Good Intentions

Home Again

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 3: Home Again

The train ride home was uneventful. Natsu was passed out thanks to Erza's not so gentle cure for motion sickness while Happy napped peacefully next to him. Lucy seemed to be enjoying her book. Erza had a thoughtful look on her face as she stared at both Natsu and Gray. She had been doing that all morning, watching their every move, and it was starting to get on Gray's nerves.

"Will you quit staring already! If you have something to say just say it!", Gray snapped at Erza.

"I didn't realize I was. I suppose I'm trying to decide what to tell the Master about our mission.", Erza replied.

"Oh.", Gray swallowed nervously. He had been trying not to dwell too much on what was awaiting them when they got back to the guild. He was really hoping that the Master would not subject them to one of their punishment games but he knew it was a disctinct possibility.

Erza sighed, she knew that she had done something wrong last night. She knew that even though both Natsu and Gray feared her wrath they trusted her implicitly and it pained her to betray that trust. While she had acted flippantly with Lucy the previous night she wasn't fooling herself, she knew there would be deep consequences from her actions. She would have to work hard to earn back their trust and even then it might never be the same between them. All she could do was hope that it was worth it in the end. This led to her current quandary. After what she had done was it really fair of her to deliver them to the Master's wrath? She decided she would let the effect of the potion run its course.

"Look, I'm not comfortable withholding the truth from Master but I am willing to make you a deal. I am impressed that you both worked together to help repair the damage you inflicted and that you caught the mages that had escaped earlier. Even though you messed up you finished the job and upheld your pride as Fairy Tail wizards. If you promise me that you and Natsu will work on getting along better then I will not tell the Master the full details of what happened. If you go back to your usual routine, I will have no choice but to let him know. Talk to Natsu when we get back and let me know what you decide. Deal?", Erza told Gray as evenly as she could.

"I think I get where you're going with this but I think you are going to end up being disappointed.", Gray sighed. "Natsu and I just don't have the type of friendship that you want us to have and that's fine with me. If I want to hang out and have drinks I go to Cana or Loke. If I feel like talking about something that is bothering me I will probably go to you, or rather you will eventually force me to talk about it."

"I know that he and I fight a lot, but the rivalry that we have had for so many years is what forces me to be stronger and work harder because let's face it the bastard does not pull punches . He is the one that I go to when I am upset or just need to blow off some steam because I know that we can beat the crap out of each other and when all is said and done he won't ask any questions and we'll be fine .", Gray continued, " Sometimes that's all I really need."

"So, I'll talk to him about laying off some of the more pointless fighting , I'm sure he will agree but I really have no desire to change the nature of our friendship. You know it's funny, but we haven't really had the energy to bicker ever since dinner last night. I have to admit it's kind of peaceful". Gray grinned and with that he finished the conversation. He spent the rest of the ride in silence.

They arrived in Magnolia sometime after noon and made plans to meet in the guild in a few hours to report on their mission to Makarov. The girls went home to relax for a bit leaving Gray to talk to Natsu and Happy about Erza's proposal. Natsu and Happy immediately set off towards the forest.

Gray called out to Natsu, "Oi, Flame Brain hold up I need to talk to you."

Natsu continued walking but replied , "Ugh, I am tired of talking, all we have done is talk. It's not really our thing. I will see you at the guild later."

Gray prodded, "But we need to talk before we go to the guild, Erza said..."

"Fine, but if you want to talk to me, Ice Pervert, you're going to have to catch me first!" , Natsu grinned at Gray, "Last one to the river has to do whatever the winner says." and with that the dragon slayer took off as fast as his legs could go knowing full well that Gray could never resist a challenge. He took a quick look behind him and was pleased to see Gray racing him to the river. That was one thing he liked about the ice mage, he never backed down.

He already had a pretty good idea of what he would ask to do if he won. After having to do all the cleanup work, being on his best behavior and suffering through yet another train ride he was full of energy and itching for a fight. The no holds barred kind and Gray was just the one to give it to him! He couldn't wait.

They were neck to neck most of the way, neither one gaining any clear advantage over the other. Happy cheered them on the whole way there but to Natsu's dismay called the race as a tie.

"Happy, are you blind? I clearly won!", Natsu panted his words out.

"No you didn't, Squinty Eyes, I think you are the one who needs their eyes checked. I was the clear winner", Gray declared. He was also a bit winded from their race.

"You can't just declare yourself the winner!", Natsu sputtered.

"Why not, isn't that what you were trying to do Dragon Boy?", Gray pointed out. Gray waited for the inevitable over the top reaction to his name calling. After all, Erza was not here at the moment and he was in the mood for a fight.

Natsu gave Gray an angry glare and sat down to catch his breath. Gray looked at him surprisedly but sat down as well.

'What the hell? Normally, he would have tried to punch me by now', Gray thought to himself.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?", Natsu asked Gray calmly.

Gray looked at his friend in disbelief. "Oh yeah, while we were on the train Erza offered us a deal. She said that if we worked on getting along better with each other she would not tell Makarov about what we did during the mission. I guess she wants us to be better friends or something. We both have to agree or the deal's off and then she will tell Makarov everything", Gray rolled his eyes at the dragon slayer.

"Is she serious? We get along fine. What does that even mean?", asked Natsu.

"I don't know, she didn't really go into specifics. I suppose she just doesn't want us to fight so much.", Gray guessed.

"But we enjoy fighting with each other, it's kind of our thing.", Natsu noted.

"I know, maybe just not in the guild, or during a mission?", puzzled Gray.

"Fine, I will try not to fight with you in the guild so much or on missions if you fight with me now.", Natsu tried to get his original plan back on track.

"Isn't that kind of missing the point? Besides, I don't really feel like fighting right now.", and Gray was surprised to realize that it was true. He really did not feel like fighting his rival at the moment. He had been thinking excitedly about doing just that while they had been running but now the urge was gone. It felt really strange.

"Come on, Ice Prick, fight me. I'll even let you throw the first punch.", Natsu offered. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized he was just going through the motions. He had lost the desire to fight sometime after arriving at the river but he figured if he could get Gray to hit him then that would get him all fired up and they could go from there.

'Since when do I need a reason to punch the ice bastard?', the fire mage thought to himself. He felt a bit uneasy but did not know why. Happy chose that moment to accuse them of being no fun and flew off to find Carla.

So instead of the fight they had both been eagerly anticipating they sat in companionable but somewhat confused silence. Their whole interaction felt off but neither one could figure out what had happened to change their mood. After a few minutes of this they agreed to take Erza's deal and went their separate ways, each engrossed in their own thoughts. They would meet up again at the guild later.