Fairytale | Jerza | AU

24. Natsu's Home.

One week later

Jellal's POV:

     Today was the first day of vacation. I was walking over to Natsu's house to spend time with the guys. The dry summer wind blew, ruffling my hair. I patted them down neatly. I saw Gajeel walking ahead of me and called him.

     "Hey, Gajeel!" I shouted and walked faster. He turned back and saw me. He stopped in his tracks, waiting for me to catch up. "Hey." He said, "Let's go together." I nodded and we started walking together.

     When we reached, Gray was approaching from the opposite direction, waving at us. We waved back and waited for him. Then, we entered through the gate together. Laxus was standing at the door, ringing the bell.

     "Hey, Laxus!" Gajeel said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Oh. Hey guys." Laxus said, looking at us. Then he ringed the bell again. No one answered. Laxus said angrily, "Damn this Natsu! I have rang the bell about a dozen times now!" He banged the door and shouted, "Are you in there, Natsu?! Answer the door!"

     "Have you tried calling his phone?" I asked Laxus. "No." Laxus replied. I dialled Natsu's number and put the phone to my ear.
Ring, ring,
Ring, ring...
     The call finally disconnected. "He isn't answering." I told the guys, "I'll try again." Again, he didn't pick up. Laxus cracked his knuckles and asked us, "Should I take this door down? If he is inside, we're have minced Natsu for lunch today."

     I nervously laughed and patted him on the shoulder saying, "It's okay Laxus... He must not be home. Calm down." "Or maybe, he's sleeping." Gray said, walking up to us. He then took us to the side of the house, where there was a window. We peeked through the window and saw Natsu sprawled on the sofa.

     Laxus lost his cool, he opened, or probably forced, the window from the outside and shouted at Natsu, "YOU DUMBSHIT! WAKE UP! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" At that, Natsu woke up groggily, rubbing his eyes. He said in a sleepy voice, "Why are ya'll making this racket... early in the morning.. ? Lemme sleep." He slumped back onto the sofa.

     Gray and I held Laxus back from breaking his front door while Gajeel tried to provoke him. "Natsu, you're just afraid of losing to me! That's why you're hiding!" He laughed, a smirk on his face. Natsu opened one eye to see the smirk and got up.

     He opened the door, went to Gajeel, and started quarreling. Laxus got out of our grips on seeing Natsu and went to where Gajeel and Natsu where fighting. He then punched Natsu in his head and went into the house.

     "Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch... That hurts..." He whined, lying on the ground. "It should." I said and followed Laxus into the house. Gray and Gajeel came after me, leaving Natsu outside.

     The house was small and it looked like an earthquake had occured there. It was a big mess. There were newspapers and wrappers lying all around. A blanket was lying at the foot of the sofa. Cans, packets of ramen and whatnot was lying on the floor. It felt like the house wasn't cleaned for... ever, actually.

     Natsu came back and apologized, "Sorry, guys! I completely for about this... hehe!" "Um... Natsu? Where's Igneel?" I asked, knowing Igneel would never let this mess happen. Natsu replied, "Igneel? He is on a work trip. He went actually, two weeks ago. Why?"

     "No reason." Gray answered, looking around the room. Gajeel laughed, "Just great. This guy is not just a loser, he's also dumb..." Laxus replied, "You're one to speak." At that everyone laughed.

     "So... How are we going to do anything in this mess?" I asked. Natsu shrugged and said, "I'll clear it up in no time." He gathered the empty cups and cans put them in a bag. Then picked up clothes and other things and put them on a chair, covering them up with the blanket.

     "Done!" Natsu said, looking around proudly at his work. I internally groaned. Natsu then said, "Would you guys like something to eat? I have some bread... and eggs, maybe. Well, I have jam if not eggs. And ramen! And some meat. Take whatever you want!"

     He went into the kitchen and opened the door of his fridge, searching for the things he mentioned. "Ah! Here's the eggs!" He took them out and placed them on the counter.

     We were all inside the kitchen, so it was pretty crowded. I didn't realise, but Natsu was standing really close to me. And he had really bad morning breath. "Natsu..." I said, trying to breath as less air as I could, "First go brush and wash up... please."

     He looked confused for a second before he said, "Oh, yeah! I haven't even brushed yet! I'll go wash up. You guys help yourselves." He went into the house, probably, hopefully, to the bathroom.

     By the time he came back, we had made ourselves home, lounging on the sofa. He was wearing a fresh set of clothes. "Hey guys... Let's watch a movie. I selected a few, look over there..." He said, pointing to a list next to his T.V.

     We picked a movie and started watching it in silence. It was a fun, comedy movie. We laughed a lot while watching it. So much, that Natsu choked on his bread while laughing. Gray had to hit him in the back to get him breathing.

     Nevertheless, that was fun. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then we were about to leave. "Okay then. How about we meet next week again? There's a festival at the shrine." Natsu asked us. "Okay!" Gajeel replied. Gray nodded. Laxus also said yes, so even I agreed.

     On the way back, I couldn't help but smile. It was fun, being with these guys. 'I am glad I have these guys. I don't know what I'd do without them.' I sighed. I was sighing a lot these days.

     When I reached home, I went straight to the sofa and lied down. It was exhausting. 'I haven't laughed like that in so long. That was a nice break...' I smiled, thinking about today's events. 'Maybe, it would be better if the world consisted of only these guys and me, and nothing else. That would be a nice life... There would be no worries, no problems, no regrets, no pain...'

     'But life is not that easy... Just me and my friends would mean euphoria for me, but no. Life wants to bring in the other pests... Why won't they leave me alone? The squealing girls, the jealous guys, the students who give me dirty looks for being how I am... Then there's Erza... I'm happy she came into my life. Maybe, just maybe, life isn't so bad...?'

     The soft sofa and my exhaustion lulled me to sleep. Thinking, or rather, overthinking about stuff always made me tired. I gave in without any protests and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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Next Update: 20th April, 2020.