Life After Near Death

Amongst the Towering Stacks

"A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity."
― Germaine Greer

After leaving Rei-chan's office, Gray took a stroll through Magnolia. He loved that the weather was finally cooling off. Orange, red, and yellow burst through the trees, a wind made the fallen leaves skip across the cobbled roads, and around him people were wearing coats, gawking at him for not wear a shirt at all—

Wait, where did his shirt go? Dammit! And after he had been so careful not to strip in front of Rei-chan! Oh well, he would just buy another one later.

He arrived at the guild to find it relatively quiet. The Harvest Festival and Fantasia parade were just a week away, so people were off working on their parade floats or helping with the preparations around town. Gray began to walk to the mission board, but Natsu was already there glancing at the fliers with one sheet crunched in his hand. He turned suddenly as Gray neared and burst out a summery grin.

"Hey, ice princess! I was thinking we should do a mission, just the two of us."

Gray paused. Did Rei-chan...? No. No way. It had to be pure coincidence. Still, it was eerie. His curiosity was tempered only by realizing the awkwardness that would ensue if he confessed that he had gone to a stripper for love advice.

"A mission, huh?" Gray said, trying to sound casual. "Got any good ones?"

"Well, there's this one," he said, handing over the flier.

Gray glanced over it. The pay was average, the job itself sounded only mildly challenging, but Gray realized it was not really close to Magnolia. Although by train they could be at the location in hours, Gray knew Natsu avoided transportation if at all possible. It would take them two days to walk there.

Two days there, two days to talk to the client and do the mission, two days back. They could definitely make it in time for Fantasia.

"Looks good," he decided. "How about we skip the train and walk there?"

"Yeah! That's what I was thinking," Natsu said exuberantly. "And I was thinking, maybe ... maybe we could ... well..."

"We could bring a tent and go camping," Gray blurted out.

Natsu froze and looked at him in astonishment. That was exactly what he was about to say. "Wow, I think we've been dating for so long, we can finish each other's sentences." His face flushed as he laughed. "Camping. That's what I was thinking, too. It'd be really fun, just the two of us. We only really need one tent and ... and we could share it and ... and ... it'd be nice, sleeping side by side," he whispered, remembering how sweet it was to fall asleep holding Gray's hand and feeling his body right next to him.

Gray reached forward and stroked his fingers over Natsu's arm. "Yeah, it would be," he said softly. "Happy won't mind?"

"Actually, he's been suggesting something like this for weeks. Happy is a real sucker for romantic stuff."

Gray laughed, wondering just how much Happy was urging Natsu on. It was nice to know the Exceed who was like Natsu's own son was rooting for them.

Natsu smiled to himself as he thought about it. He had dropped the meat off at home and rushed to the guild to find a mission for the two of them. To think that Gray was wanting the same thing!

It must be fate.

"We could share a sleeping bag too, if you want," Natsu whispered bashfully.

He wanted Gray to be pressed against him all night, with blankets wrapping them together like a fire-and-ice burrito. Who held whom, he didn't care, just so long as he could feel those cold toes playing on his feet and have Gray's body right against him.