Boys Trip

When news of his ex-girlfriend's wedding breaks, Natsu Dragneel enlists the help of his two best friends, Gajeel and Gray to help him get his cat back from her, and maybe, just maybe, stop her wedding. [NaLu, Gruvia, Gajevy. A/U.]

Chapter One

Gray Fullbuster entered his three bedroom apartment removing his leather jacket before tossing it carelessly on the green colored couch. He found his home dark, so he went to flip on the light switch only to see his best friend sprawled out on the longer couch, cuddling his favorite blanket. Empty beer cans and tubs of cookies and cream ice cream surrounded him. The dark haired man removed his shoes, leaving them at the door before going over and kneeling in front of his life long friend, Natsu Dragneel.

"What's up with you?" Gray asked, a bit concerned but also annoyed. He pushed the empty cans aside to sit closer.

The pinkette opened his eyes slightly and they were bloodshot, motioning to the coffee table where two pink and white envelopes sat, one of them already torn open. The twenty six year old placed the keys to his motorcycle on the coffee table, sitting back on the ground as he grabbed the open letter and looked to the front side of it. It had been addressed to him so he glared towards his friend for actually being the one to open it. Once he looked back however to see who it was who sent from, his eyes softened and he set the envelope down for a moment.

"It's from Lucy. I know already."

Clearly. Gray thought to himself as he looked back to the torn envelope. "Why did you open it in the first place?"

"I thought it was for me!" Natsu yelled, sitting up throwing his arms in the air. "I mean after all it's from Lucy!"

Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Natsu went to hugging the couch pillow. It was from Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia, their old best friend, Natsu's ex-girlfriend, and still love of his life. The dark haired man remembered the day Lucy broke up with Natsu. It had been sudden, extremely random and she had barely given the pinkette an explanation. Gray had been working that night but when he came to the building they lived in he had found Natsu sitting in the rain, on the front steps of the entrance, holding Lucy's heart shaped necklace he had given to her for her 25th birthday.

"Look man." Gray began, "it's been almost eight months—"

"Ten years." Natsu mumbled, finally sitting up rubbing his eyes. Gray didn't dare tease fun at the man for crying at this moment. "I gave my life to her for ten years, Gray!"

"I know, I was there too." His best friend nodded, sitting on the couch beside Natsu who simply hid his face in his hands. He placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, the pink and white envelope still in his other one.

Natsu sighed and leaned back into the cushiony couch, his nose red and face puffy. "Look at the letter." He demanded.

Gray furrowed his brows in confusion before he turned his attention to the envelope. He tore the paper more, realizing it wasn't a letter inside but instead a beautiful white invitation with golden calligraphy lettering. His eyes widened in shock when he read the words:

With great joy & their families, we invite you to celebrate the wedding of Lucy Heartfilia and Sting Eucliffe.

Is this a sick joke? He dropped the invitation and quickly turned to Natsu who stared blankly at the Iron Man 3 framed poster Gajeel Redfox, third roommate and best friend, had hung up on the wall many years ago. "Natsu…"

"She's getting married." Natsu took a shaky breath. "She's getting married." He stood up, his breathing uneven before he turned to the clean white wall and slammed his fist into it creating a hole. "Lucy's getting fucking married!"

"Chill out, man!" Gray jumped up and wrapped his arms around his friend to stop him from doing any more damage. "I understand you're upset okay! But you're not gonna get anything by trashing our place."

Natsu seemed to calm down, and his fist was probably bloody. He didn't care. He sat back down and Gray sat beside him, unsure of what to say. He saw Lucy's and Natsu's relationship start all the way to the end. He had been friends with her for many years, but his loyalty lied with Natsu and that would never change. So when she walked out of Natsu's life he decided she had walked out of his too.

The front door opened as Gajeel stepped in with his younger sister, Juvia, behind him. Gray stood up as Natsu laid back down hiding underneath the dragon designed blanket. The blue haired girl quickly smiled at him as she ran forwards entrapping him in a hug. He smiled a bit at the younger girl. She was twenty-two, in her last year of college, while all the guys in the room had already graduated more than two years ago. Her big blue eyes landed on the hole in the wall and immediately scanned Gray's fists for bruising.

"What the hell happened?" Gajeel questioned, stepping inside, his eyes darting between Natsu and the hole. "Did you guys fuckin' fight again? Cause I told ya—"

"We got some mail, man!" Gray cut him off, his eyes motioning to the invitation on the coffee table.

Gajeel only made a confused face before he walked over and looked between the scattered papers until they landed on the wedding invitation. He looked to Gray, shocked. Then looked at the depressed Natsu, who didn't move.

"Gray-sama, Gajeel-kun? What is going on?" Juvia asked, as Gajeel handed her the invitation and moved to sit in the free chair underneath his iron man poster.

She set the piece of paper down looking up at her boyfriend before he moved to sit down on the couch with her beside him.

"When did those come?" Gajeel looked to the coffee table to his own untouched invitation.

"I assume today." He placed his arm around Juvia who only leaned closer to him. He looked down at the bluenette who rested her head on his chest. "Did you get one today?"

"Juvia hasn't been home yet." She lived in a smaller apartment close to her school which she shared with her two friends, Cana and Lisanna. However she spent more time at Gray's apartment, which is how she knew well about the taboo subject that had been Lucy Heartfilia for the past year.

Gajeel rubbed his temple with his finger, shutting his eyes as he recalled how miserable Natsu had been the first two months or so of the break up. It was sad music blasting through the apartment, or finding the pink haired guy drunk on the roof of the building. He was seemingly getting better around the six month mark but in that moment the pinkette looked like he did back during the first week of the breakup all over again.

"Juvia… Juvia will go get some food." The bluenette kissed Gray on the lips before standing up and rushing out of the apartment, leaving the three best friends.

Gajeel was next to stand up, placing his hands in his pockets as he walked towards Natsu.

"Salamander. Get up." Gray looked between his friends. "C'mon Salamander. You can't get down in the dumps again."

"Fuck off." Natsu murmured, underneath the blanket.

Gajeel growled at the comment but shook it off remembering the situation. He nodded to Gray who as well stood up and surrounded the sad man.

"He's right Natsu. You can't stay like this."

"Just let me die here." The pinkette mumbled in a sigh.

Gajeel rolled his eyes, attempting once more to pull the covers off from his friend. Natsu had a tight grip on it though, which annoyed him.

"Fine." He yelled when he was unable to move the man. "I'll give you three days. Alright. Three days, you can sulk, cry, sit in the dark, not shower."

Gray crossed his arms. "Sounds good." He patted where he believed Natsu's head was. "Three days to be upset about it. Then you gotta let us help you get better again."

Natsu didn't move, just stayed hidden under his blanket and before he knew it, he was asleep.

Gray laid on his bed when his girlfriend stepped into his bedroom a couple of hours after dinner. Natsu hadn't joined them at the table but they left him some food on a plate next to the couch. Her hair was still damp from her shower but he didn't mind it as she slipped under the covers with him. He only wore his boxer shorts while she was covered up in snowman printed shorts and matching silk tank as pajamas. She wrapped her arms around his middle, leaning her head on his chest tracing his tattoo with her finger as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Did you really not know anything about this?" He asked her, running his fingers through her damp, blue hair. He could smell that mango shampoo she loved to use.

"Juvia… may have heard something…"

"And you didn't think to mention it?"

Sitting up, Juvia grabbed the ends of her hair and started twisting them with nervousness. She nibbled on her bottom lip, before looking at her boyfriend who sat up, his back against the headframe.

She sighed and dropped her hands in her lap. "Don't look at Juvia like that."

"He's my best friend, Juvia." Gray crossed his arms. "If you knew something you should have told me."

"But Juvia didn't know an invitation would come here..." The bluenette began to counter argue, "when the invitation came for Lisanna and Cana… Juvia may have gotten one too."

"Great." Gray scoffed, "so you lied to me earlier?"

"No, no, Juvia didn't lie exactly." She placed her finger in the air. "Gray-sama asked if Juvia received the invitation today…"

He rolled his eyes at her words. " I'll give you that one." He got out of the bed and moved to his dresser to search for something. Juvia watched him for a moment before standing up herself.

"Juvia wanted to tell you Gray-sama." She stomped lightly. "But the day they came in the mail, Lucy-san called us and asked me to not mention the wedding to you or Gajeel-kun because she knew you two were still mad at her for what she did to Natsu-san."

"She called you?" Gray asked, looking back to the girl who nodded slowly in response. "When?"

Juvia looked down in shame. "A couple… days ago."

"Fuck Juvia!" He slammed his hands on his dresser. "You're my girlfriend! You saw how hard this was for him! You're supposed to help me protect my friend!"

"Gray-sama! Juvia didn't think for one minute Lucy-san would send an invitation to you!" Juvia hated arguing with Gray, especially when he began to curse at her. She quickly wiped away the forming tears in her eyes. "Juvia knows how hurt Natsu-san is. She would never want to hurt him more but… Lucy-san is still Juvia's friend, and deep down she knows Gray-sama still cares for Lucy-san as well."

"Fucking hell I do!" Gray scoffed, causing Juvia to step back. He shook his head. "Lucy left my best friend in the rain. She just left! She didn't care about anything we had done for her!"

"Gray-sama…"

"You know she didn't just walk out on her relationship with Natsu! She walked out on her friendship with me! With Gajeel, and even you Juvia!" Gray raised his hands in the air. "I can't believe you would still call her your friend after that."

"Gray-sama rejected Juvia for years! He messed around with other girls in front of Juvia and broke her heart many times! Yet Juvia still loves you despite that!" She caught herself placing her fingers lightly over her mouth shocked at the words she just yelled.

She looked up to Gray who as well looked shocked at her words. But it was true. While in high school Juvia loved Gray, he was however two years ahead of her and ignored her feelings. It was like this until he was finally graduating college that he took her feelings seriously and began to date her.

Juvia started to sniffle, attempting to hold back her tears but it was to no avail as she started to cry. She stepped back and slid against the wall as Gray sighed and ran his hands through his hair, taking a breath to calm down.

He walked forwards, leaning down to pick up the girl and place her back in his bed. She hid her face from him as he rubbed her back apologetically.

"Juvia stop crying please." He felt her tears seep onto his bare chest, only holding the girl closer. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Juvia… Juvia's…" she hiccuped, wiping her tears away as new ones simply streamed out. "Juvia is sorry too." She managed to mumble out.

"I was just angry… at Lucy, for Natsu." he placed his cheek on her head. "I don't mean to take it out on you."

"Juvia knows." She seemed calmer now. He lifted her head as she moved to straddle him and he wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. She smiled softly at the action before he leaned forwards and kissed her softly.

"I can't forgive her though. At least not until Natsu does." Gray said when he pulled away from her. "But I don't mind if you're still her friend, and even go to that wedding."

Juvia leaned her head to the side. "Are you sure?"

"I won't be going with you though." He smirked. "And you're not allowed to wear anything hot."

She moved towards him again, sighing into the kiss as his hands roamed her body. She ran her fingers through his hair, ready to let him take off her pajamas so they could get straight to the makeup sex when suddenly they heard a loud crash coming from the kitchen.

Quickly they jumped out of the bed and ran towards the kitchen. Gajeel as well must have heard the sound since he barged out of his room as well, meeting them in the hall. They found the kitchen a mess with pots and pans scattered across the ground while Natsu wobbled around trying to open the liquor cabinet.

"The fuck, Salamander?"

The pinkette gave up on the cabinet before falling to the ground, his back against the wall. He took a breath before he covered his face once more. Juvia was the first to run to him, wrapping her arms around him as he leaned into her beginning to break down.

"Why the fuck did I fall in love with her?!" He cried. "Stupid fucking love."

Juvia caressed his hair, "love didn't hurt you, Natsu-san. A person did." She whispered softly.

Gray had appeared on the other side of him, placing a hand on his shoulder while Gajeel could only watch the moment. He wasn't the hugging or comforting type, but he would stay there with his friend until he was calmer.

Natsu could feel his heartbeat slowing. He had given his heart to Lucy, for ten years, and she took it with her when she left him. She was there for him when his father died, when they graduated, when they entered and left college. She was supposed to be there for everything. He had talked with her on many nights, about marriage, a family, a future. They laid in their bed together every night and talked about it, though she always told him she wasn't in a rush to get married. She wanted to explore the world with him, try new things with him. Was it all a lie? Was everything she said to him a lie? Here she was, not even a full year later marrying some guy in less than a week. How did she move on so fast? He truly thought he would be happy with her forever. Just the three of them until they had a baby. Him, herself, and Happy, their stray cat they had taken care of together.

His eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet shocking all of his friends.

"Happy!" He wiped his tears away quickly, anger settling on his face. "I need to get Happy!"

...

A/N: I was so nervous to put this up but I did and I'm here for feedback. Thanks for reading.