Making A List...

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Natsu called in sick for the first time in over a year, and he'd already taken the following day off so that wouldn't be a problem. He'd spent some time online the previous evening searching for things that might cheer Gray up and had come up with a few ideas.

He felt terrible for not realizing just how sad and lonely Gray was, too worried about putting in as many hours as he could to really give it much thought. He'd tried to be up for whatever Gray had been up to when he got home, but he realized now that had not been enough. Natsu had never experienced Christmas, but for Gray, it was a big deal.

Gray had a lot of traditions that he'd enjoyed over the years, and now that he found himself alone he was lost and hurting, and Natsu was the worst person in the world to make that better cause he was at a loss at what to do. He did have the list though, and the things that he and Lyon had discussed the night before. Now he just had to secure a rental car on Christmas Eve.

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December 24th :

 2. Trim the tree
 8. Singing Christmas carols
 9. Long Walks to look at decorations then home for Ur's hot chocolate
10.Christmas Lights
11.Stupid Ugly Sweaters

12. Kissing Natsu under the mistletoe

The rental car idea had not worked out so well. The last person he'd talked to had actually laughed at him over the phone and suggested he look into bus tickets, which had actually been a decent suggestion but also a dead end.

"Come on 'Jeel," Natsu whined over the phone, "You know I wouldn't ask unless it was important."

"You getting laid is not important to me." Gajeel retorted.

"It's not like that, I just want to do something nice for a friend," Natsu argued back.

"A friend that you're interested in," Gajeel reminded him.

"That's beside the point, he's staying in my apartment. If that's all I wanted I would have done something about it already. Now stop being a dick and let me borrow your car."

Gajeel remained silent on the line for a few minutes as he considered the request. "Fine, but you're going to owe me big, and if you get even one scratch on my baby, I will repay you with my fist."

"Deal. Thank you!" Natsu exclaimed, now that things were beginning to work out for his plan he was getting excited. Gajeel agreed to drop off his car before noon.

Natsu grabbed some clothes from his closet and put them in a backpack. He tiptoed, not wanting to wake Gray as he grabbed a change of clothes for him from the coat closet, then grabbed his motion sickness medication from the bathroom. He called Lyon again to let him know what time to meet them.

Natsu had already bought tickets for all three of them to attend the event. He really hoped Gray liked it. He looked through his closet, trying to find some old sweaters he wouldn't mind messing up, eventually coming up with a white one and a gray one. Natsu might not have any Christmas sweaters but he was an art student, and he was perfectly capable of making his own ugly ones.

Natsu laid both sweaters on his bed and studied them thoughtfully. He opened the cabinet that contained all his art supplies and pulled out different colors of felt as well as scissors and needle and thread. He grabbed his glue gun and plugged it into the wall then went into the living room to grab some of the leftover candy from the previous night.

Gray stirred, and Natsu stood still, not exactly sure how to act around his friend now that he knew his feelings were returned.

"Natsu?" Gray opened his eyes slowly. "You're not going to work today?"