A/N: A request on tumblr for the prompt "Please just sit down. You're swaying on your feet right now."
"Heeeeyyyy, Lucy…" Natsu drawled as he climbed in her window. His voice wasn't bright like it was supposed to be and Lucy could immediately tell something was off before she even turned around to look at him.
She could definitely tell something was off once she did.
Natsu's face was pale. Very pale. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. His eyes were glassy and he seemed to be swaying.
"Natsu!" she cried, grabbing his shoulders. "You're sick!"
He looked offended at that and scoffed. "I ain't siiicckkk! I can't get sicckkkkk!"
"Well obviously you can!" Lucy pressed her palm against Natsu's forehead. It was normally hot, considering Natsu's magic, but Lucy knew it was much hotter than it should've been. "Natsu, I think you have a fever!"
"Nah, can't! Dragon slayers don't get sick! Besides motion sickness, but that doesn't count," he countered, all the while slurring his words. "C'mon! Let's go on a job today!"
"Natsu, you are in no condition to do work today! You need to sit down and rest!"
"Nope! I ain't sick!"
"Please just sit down! You're swaying on your feet!"
"I'm no-"
And then he collapsed against Lucy. She shrieked as she tried not to crumble under his weight, holding him in her arms as he went completely deadweight.
"Na-tsu!" she grunted. "Will you lay down now?" Natsu just groaned and buried his head in between her neck and shoulder, taking in her scent.
"'M not sick…" he groaned out, although it seemed to Lucy that he was starting to relent.
"Natsu!" Lucy whined. "Listen to your body! It's telling you that you need to rest!"
The dragon slayer mumbled something incoherent, but he seemed to be nodding, conceding to Lucy's urgency that he was, in fact, ill.
"Are you going to admit that you're sick?"
Natsu whined against her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm sick…"
"Let's get you back home in bed, okay? And then I'll get Wendy?"
Natsu just grumbled something again, earning a confused hum from Lucy. He groaned and adjusted his head so he wasn't speaking muffled. "Here. I wanna stay here."
Lucy gave Natsu a surprised look as she helped him move and sit on her couch, his weight becoming a bit too much to bear. "Why?"
"Scent," he mumbled as he pulled Lucy to sit down beside him. "Your scent."
Lucy was confused again. "My scent?" He'd shown and alluded to liking her scent before this, but he'd never outright said it like this. Lucy couldn't help but blush.
"I like it…" he admitted as he laid down in her lap and took a big whiff. "Calms me down."
A soft smile curled Lucy's lips. "Really?" Natsu gave a careful nod and Lucy chuckled. "Natsu, I think the fever's made you delirious."
"I'm not delirious… 'S the truth…" Natsu's speech was still slurred, and she didn't know how he'd managed to believe that he wasn't sick.
Lucy's blush was increasing every time he opened his mouth. "Go to sleep, Natsu, you're being weird!" He replied with another long inhale. "I'll just go get Wendy, okay?" Lucy started to shuffle out from under him, to which Natsu responded by wrapping his arms around her, holding her still.
He gave her a weird grin. "If you're gonna make me rest, you're stayin' right here."
Lucy was red down to her chest at this point, but a smile still spread across her lips. "Yeah, okay. But Wendy would be able to make you feel better?"
"Your scent does the same thing, Luce," Natsu drawled out before he finally fell into sleep, leaving Lucy to fret over what to think. Natsu really did seem slightly delirious from the apparent fever. He might not even remember this once he was better.
"I'm confronting you about this scent thing when you wake up again," Lucy said to the sleeping form. "You're being weird."
A/N: Ugh, I just really like the idea of Natsu loving Lucy's scent like this.