Small Sacrifices

Gratsu Week 2019
Prompt: Voice

Small Sacrifices

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Natsu heard muffled yelling coming from inside of the apartment he shared with his boyfriend Gray. Stopping for a moment, he put his ear to the door before fumbling through his pockets for his keys. It didn't sound like Gray was fighting with anyone, but Natsu recognized the tone, his boyfriend was definitely frustrated about something.

"How the hell am I supposed to know the user's intent?" Gray was yelling, "I don't even know my intent."

"I'm home." Natsu closed the door behind him, greeted by the sight of his boyfriend sitting at his desk clad only in his boxers and staring daggers at his Chromebook. Natsu dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and walked over.

"What's going on?" Natsu asked before leaning over to kiss his boyfriend, making sure not to let any other part of his body come into contact with Gray.

Natsu worked in construction, and his clothes were covered in the usual mix of dust, dirt and whatever else he picked up during the day. He didn't want to get Gray dirty, it would only annoy him anyway, and he looked riled up enough already.

"It's just some test I'm taking, nothing to worry about," Natsu paused at this information, he'd thought Gray was on vacation this week. They'd made plans to go out to dinner for once.

"I thought you were on break," Natsu peered at the tablet's screen, only to be greeted by some sort of navigation interface. He was puzzled, Gray was studying to be a child psychologist, what class could he possibly be taking that required this?

Gray peered at him guiltily before closing his expression off once again. "I am, this is something else."

Natsu arched an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation but none was forthcoming. He was tired after a long day at work so he decided to let Gray have his little mystery and kissed him one last time before heading to their bathroom to wash off the grime from his body and change into some clothes that would hopefully make Gray forget whatever was bothering him. He began to sing off-key with a grin, knowing it drove Gray nuts.

He paused in his singing when he heard another voice competing in volume. It was Gray, once again screaming at his tablet. What in the world was he doing? Natsu was getting very curious. He turned the hot water off and walked into their bedroom, wearing a towel around his waist.

He quickly found some clothes and put them on and when he heard Gray screaming about something called an umlaut decided maybe a walk on the beach might be warranted too. Gray clearly needed to relax.

Natsu stood behind his boyfriend watching the contents of his screen once again. His eyes narrowed when he realized that Gray was taking some sort of employment test. What was the idiot thinking?

Gray already worked twenty hours a week at his University on top of the hours spent studying and writing papers. They barely got to spend any time together as it was!

"Gray, we have a dinner reservation, remember?" Natsu tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, but the guilty expression on his boyfriend's face as he turned towards him let him know he'd forgotten.

"I know love, just give me thirty more minutes, okay?" Gray pleaded before muttering under his breath, "Maybe we should just stay home."

Natsu was confused by those words, they rarely went out as it was. He moved away from Gray so as not to make it seem like he was pressuring him to hurry up, but he continued to watch his boyfriend struggle with the exam, looking through what looked to be a lengthy manual before settling on an answer. The poor guy looked absolutely miserable.