100 reads? Already? Oh my freckled jesus, ARIGATO!

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Gray's zombie mode had seriously unnerved Natsu. What the hell was wrong with that kid? He wanted to talk to someone about it, but Gray was obviously out of the question and the way Lucy reacted last time was enough of a hint to not talk about the raven haired boy in her presence.

He needed someone smart, and who would understand. Natsu didn't know if anyone in this foster home could be considered clever. Not with the amount of damage that had occurred just days before. That particular incident had included Gajeel and Erza getting into a rather heated discussion about the right way to look after a cat.

Smart and understanding...

Oh! Levy!

**

"What's up, Natsu?" Levy greeted Natsu, slightly irritated at the concept of being dragged away from whatever she happened to be reading at that paticular moment in time.

"The sky?"

"Haha, very funny."

"All seriousness though," Natsu composed himself. "I have a problem and I needed to get it off my chest." Levy nodded and actually put down her reading material, not forgetting to bookmark it.

"You can tell me anything," she assured Natsu. Natsu nodded and began to talk.

"I became friends with Gray an-

Levy cut him off before he had even started.

"Gray?" she shrilled. "Gray Fullbuster?"

Natsu nodded and Levy gaped at him, open mouthed. Jeez, what was the big deal? Maybe talking to Levy hadn't been such a great idea after all...

"And Lucy's okay with that?"

Wait, what?

"What has Lucy got to do with it?"

Levy clamped her hand over her mouth and shook her head.

"Just forget I said anything. It's none of my business," Levy mumbled. "Just... Just keep talking. I want to help!" She smiled.

Natsu gave her a funny look before resuming his speech.

"As I was saying, I've been visiting Gray recently but he had a creepy time out yesterday, and didn't respond until I quite literally slapped it out of him." Natsu said, remembering how he had to push Gray off the bed in order to get him to function.

Levy listened carefully, deep in thought. Something seemed to be troubling her.

"You know, I'm sure he was just tired," She said, far to quickly.

"Now that you mention it, he did fall asleep right after he snapped out of it," Natsu mulled over the situation. Yeah, that was probably it. Gray was just tired. Maybe he just wasn't getting enough sleep?
He smiled at the memory of Gray curled up in the thick blanket fort Natsu had constructed around the sleeping boy.

Natsu liked watching him sleep.

Wow. That even sounded creepy in his head.

Suddenly something caught Natsu's eye and he smirked.

"Oi Levy, didn't Gajeel make that bookmark?"

Levy blushed.

**

Natsu had recently arrived at Gray's room, and was currently sat on the bed, watching the ravenette amusedly. He was like an entirely different person today. At that moment in time, Gray was rushing around the room making 'whoosh!' noises as he attempted to relive the dream he had for Natsu's sake.

A large purple bruise was still prominent on Gray's forhead from yesterdays incident, but it didn't seem to be bothering him, so Natsu decided not to worry.

"-and then i woke up!" Gray exclaimed, a bit too happy for someone who had just described falling out of an aeroplane. Natsu laughed as Gray bounced over to where he was sat and threw himself on to the blue duvet.

"You seem very excitable today," Natsu told Gray, who was now humming a song that Natsu didn't recognise and swinging his legs to the beat.

"I do?" Gray seemed genuinly surprised by this. His contagious smile slipped off his face and he stared down at his feet sadly. "Sorry."

"No, no, that's not a bad thing!" Natsu reassured him hastily. Gray's grin immediatly came back and he beamed happily at Natsu.

"Okay!"

Gray reached out a hand and ruffled Natsu's salmon hair, but Natsu swatted his hand away and ducked his head.

"Don't do that," He mumbled. "God, I hate my hair..."

Gray tilted his head to the side, confused. "Why? It's really pretty!"

Natsu's cheeks heated up and he blushed shyly. No one had ever said that about his hair before. They had always teased him about the strange colour or the weird way it stuck up crazily.

"You really think so?"

Gray nodded enthusiastically in conformation. Then he said something that kinda freaked Natsu out a bit.

"You're really pretty."

Oh. Okay.

Natsu turned away from Gray, who was still grinning gleefully, so he couldn't see him blushing.

"Y'know," Natsu squeaked, changing the subject hurriedly in an attempt to ignore how high his voice had become. "You should really leave your room once in a while."

Gray frowned at this, and shook his head.

"I can't do that," he replyed, in a 'duh' tone of voice. Natsu, confused, asked him to elaborate.

"They said I shouldn't go near people anymore," Gray sighed. "I can't remember why though..."

Natsu wondered who 'they' was, but felt that his number one priority at the moment was to comfort Gray.

"Well, I think you are a very nice person," he told the distressed boy. Natsu gently tilted Gray's chin upwards, forcing him to look up. Obsidian eyes met emerald ones. "And I'm not going to leave, okay?"

Gray nodded. Then his eyes lit up and he grabbed Natsu's arm excitedly.

"Why don't we have a sleepover!"

Natsu considered this before dipping his head to say 'yes'. He had just promised that he wouldn't leave, and Gray seemed to be in a very fragile state at the moment-

"YAY!" Gray squealed, dragging out the 'a' whilst piling more pillows onto the bed that he had just pulled out of the wardrobe, that, like everything else in the room, had been painted a dark blue.

Fragile state my ass...

"Whoa! Calm down! It's just a sleepover!" Natsu fruitlessly tried to retrieve Gray from Cloud 9.

Gray giggled happily, now arranging the array of pillows and blankets.

"I am calm."

Natsu laughed and went to assist Gray in the construction of a pillow fort. They built a fairly good fortress, and stood back, admiring their master peice. Gray clambered over the blanket moat and plonked himself in the middle of his castle. He then placed a small orange cushion on his head and crowned himself 'King of Graytopia'.

But Natsu wouldn't accept that. What on earth gave Gray the right to be king of the shared pillow fort?

So...

"PILLOW FIGHT!"

Gray shrieked as a well-aimed pillow came flying towards him. The two battled over rulership, fighting furiously, lobbing whatever happened to be closest to them at the other. After about half an hour of cushions soaring through the air, they both collapsed in the center of their now wrecked fortress.

"Maybe we can both be king," Gray gasped, in between breaths. Natsu nodded weakly and pulled a fluffy blanket over the two of them, too tired to climb into bed.

After a couple of minutes of comfortable silence, Gray spoke up.

"Hey, Natsu?"

"Yeah?" Natsu turned to look at his fellow king of the newly renamed Gratsutopia.

"Thank you for being my friend."

Natsu smiled and gently took Gray's hand into his, squeezing it slightly. They both fell asleep, fingers interwined in their shared pillow kingdom.