You're Not Alone (GraTsu)

Eight

After eating, Gray had paid for their meal, even though Natsu had tried to insist on paying for himself. Gray told him this was his treat and not to worry about it. Now it really did feel like a date, but Natsu decided not to argue. If he were to be honest, he had a pretty good time with Gray, and he knew he'd be all for doing it again sometime, but for now it was time for him to get home. He still had a little homework to do, plus he needed to call Levy.

Gray had tried to get Natsu to allow him to walk the other home, but Natsu only smiled and told Gray he would be fine. He didn't want the raven knowing where he lived yet since they had just met. However, before the two parted ways, Natsu had given Gray his phone number and told him to call any time. He had blushed as he handed his number over and before Gray could say anything else, Natsu had taken off down the sidewalk.

By the time he got back to his apartment, it was already getting a bit dark outside. Sighing to himself, Natsu reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled his keys out before making his way to the third floor. His apartment was the last door on the left with a bronze 23 on it. It wasn't much, but it was home for Natsu. As he unlocked the door and stepped inside, warmth instantly hit him in the face along with the familiar scent of home. This was the one place the pink haired omega felt he could actually relax, let himself go. There was no one to hide from here since he lived alone.

Once he sat his keys down and removed his coat, Natsu made his way down the short hallway of his small apartment. There were only two doors to go through, one leading to a small bathroom and the other leading to his room. Natsu wanted to get himself changed into something more comfortable before calling Levy. He had a feeling this wouldn't end up being a short talk, so it was best to actually be able to relax a bit and jeans weren't the way to do that. As Natsu started to remove his current clothes, he felt his phone vibrate from his front pocket.

"Eh?" A look of confusion crossed Natsu's face. Before pulling his phone out, he threw the shirt he had removed to the side and lowered himself onto his unmade bed and removed his phone from his pocket. When he moved to the message screen, he saw that it was an unknown number.

[Unknown: Hey, it's Gray. Did you make it home?]

The message made Natsu smile slightly. He hadn't expected the raven from earlier to message him so soon, but he found it to be kind of sweet. However, after reading the message he found that his heart was starting to beat a bit faster. Was he excited that Gray had actually messaged him? It seemed like it, but he still didn't get why. Shaking his head, he decided to reply after adding Gray to his contacts.

[N: Yeah, I made it home. Thanks for checking]

After hitting send, Natsu left his phone on his bed and went to finish changing. He decided on dressing in a simple pair of white sweat pants and an oversized red shirt with long sleeves. With his clothes changed, the pink haired male picked his scarf up from where it fell and draped it over his shoulders. Before completely leaving his room, Natsu scooped his phone up, seeing that the message light was blinking once again. Gray must have responded to him, but he'd have to check that later. As he was walking back to the living room, he pulled up Levy's contact information and hit the call button before placing the phone to his ear. It only rang twice before Levy answered it.

"Natsu! I was wondering when you would call." Her voice sounded as happy as ever, it even brought a smile to Natsu's face.

"Yeah sorry. I just got back home. Are you able to stop by for a little bit? I need to ask you something." Natsu sat himself down on his dark grey couch and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. He really hoped that he wasn't bothering her.

"Gajeel and I will be there in about five minutes actually. I knew you would want to talk so we started heading over about ten minutes ago." Levy laughed gently and Natsu could have sworn he heard a scoff from the other side of the phone. He hadn't really expected Gajeel to come, but it was getting kind of dark so he understood.