A/N: First fic of the year! Yay.
Of Tea
It was the day after one of the big parties at the guild, the party of the New Year.
The guild was a mess. Food and drink had been spilt on the floor, tables and walls and pillars broken and people were also slumped on the floor here and there. Fortunately some tables survived. And so did the bar and the general area for food and drink preparation – as wild as the guildmembers and guests were while partying, they had learned that messing with the food was a very big no-no. And they didn't enjoy not being able to eat either. So the few members that had a bigger tolerance to the crazy parties and the even fewer mages that had dragged themselves to the guild for breakfast were the only ones conscious and working.
Gray entered the guild and headed to the table. He was tired and the usually easy trek to their usual table was a nightmare. He had to dodge bodies and rubble and be careful not to slip on the random bit of food or drink.
He sighted Lucy at the table. She sat with a book, a steaming mug and a plate with what looked like toast. She was flipping the pages of the book, distracted, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Her eyes were half-open and she must've yawned some five times in just the interval of Gray noticing her and sitting beside her.
"G'morning." The ice mage said, biting down a yawn as he pushed aside the clutter so that he could place his arms on the table, a cushion to his head.
"Oh. 'morning Gray. How are you?" The celestial mage asked with a small smile. She straightened and curled her hands around the mug for a moment, before raising it to take a sip from it.
"Tired. Hungover. Sleepy. It's too damn early." He replied with a mumble, face scrunching up with distaste.
"Haha- ouch!" the blonde mage groaned, one hand rising to her head. "Yeah, I saw that you drank more than your share… way more than it." A playful smile appeared on her lips.
"What can I say? You have to enjoy these moments. But why did we have to come here at this ungodly hour anyway?" Gray asked, keeping his eyes still well shut.
"I don't remember well. We were supposed to help with cleaning up? The whole team was punished because of a certain duo…" Lucy replied, her left hand picking one bit of toast before she caught herself. "Also, it's not an ungodly hour, as you put it. It's noon. Quite late, actually…" she brought the piece of toast to her lips, munching thoughtfully.
"I don't care if it's noon or late afternoon or whatever. I didn't sleep enough. The party then the fireworks and music were too loud." One of the ice mage eyes opened to throw a glare at the blonde.
"Yeah, call it noise…" Lucy teased.
"Also, talking about a duo, where the hell is that flamehead anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be here, bouncing like the ball of energy he is, eating more than it's healthy, messing things a bit further?" With that the ice mage straightened, glancing around the room.
"Ah, yeah, Natsu's not coming. Apparently he caught the flu." Lucy stated, eyeing Gray attentively.
"The flu? You've got to be kidding. That idiot never gets sick, unless he's in a vehicle or such thing." Gray shot back, flabbergasted.
"I was surprised too when Wendy told me earlier. Apparently it's not the common flu – of course, the dragonslayers are those weird things we know, ne?" She said in a teasing tone. "Anyway, she was with him for most of the night. I think I'll go check on him later. But maybe you should go there soon, no?" she waggled her eyebrows at him meaningfully.
"Oi! What do you mean!" Gray shouted before recoiling at his tone. "Ouch."
"Nooothing… just saying…" Lucy winked at him.
"I don't think I like your tone…" Gray grumbled, crossing his arms on the table and laying his head on them once again.
"It's no tone. Let's just say that some of us are aware of some new things that have been going on…" Lucy went back to flipping through the book, a smile on her lips.
"Fine. I'll go check on the flamebrain, happy?" Gray said in defeat. He stood up but before turning around, he picked the remaining pieces of toast, effectively leaving Lucy with nothing to eat. He poked his tongue out at her when she made an affronted noise.
Getting to Natsu's house didn't take long. It was a well-known path, way too familiar to him – Gray sometimes admonished himself for that.
He showed himself in, noticing the too-silent house. It was a very strange feeling, so at odds with how Natsu's house usually was, at the least because Natsu's a person who's always moving, making noises yet, at that moment, there was a sepulchral silence.
No.
There was some noise.
A low something, almost out of hearing range but there, still.
The moment was broken by an explosive sneezing fit that had Gray running to the fire mage's room without conscious thought.
"Natsu! Are you feeling alright?" he queried, eyes widening as he took in the state of his friend.
"Whad're you doing 're, Gray?" Natsu grumbled as he distractedly looked for a tissue paper before noisily blowing his nose.
"I came to check on you, of course. Where's Wendy? And Happy?" Gray replied, suspiciously.
"Oh," Natsu flopped back on the pillows. "They had to go out on a supply run, I guess. I think I'm low on my provisions. And, according to Wendy, I don't have what's needed for this thing." The last word was uttered with a fair amount of disgust.
"But, what is it that you have, after all?" Gray sat down at the bed's foot.
"Wendy galled it the… khien flu? Someding like dat. Apparendly id's dis awful ding dat dragonslayers gan gatch." There was a pause in which he blew his nose once again, throwing the tissue away into a nearby bin afterwards. "Why didn't Gajeel gatch dis insdead of be?"
"I can see that being sick makes you much grumpier than usual." Gray teased with a snort.
"You wouldn't be saying dat if you had to drink some weird tea Wendy prepared! Id's awful! I don't know how she gan stand de smell!" Natsu sat up again, trying to make his usual pissed-off face but only managing a cute frown, his pink nose twitching slightly. "Id tastes like feet! And smells even worse!"
Gray patted Natsu's leg with a mock seriousness. Though… he could feel sorry for the other – the smell permeated the house and it hung above his head like a thick, slimy scent, making one's mouth twist in disgust.
"Well, think like this, the sooner you get better, the sooner you'll get rid of the smell." He said in a playful tone, eyes landing in an innocuous-looking mug that sat on the bedside table.
"Why gan't I just drink that lemon, ginger and honey tea like oders?" Natsu whined, pouting.
"I guess that being a dragonslayer had to have some setbacks?" Gray said as he stood and went to hold the mug. "And I bet that you have to drink this?"
"Wendy dreadened me do drink id before she redurned. Or else…" Natsu crossed his arms and looked to the other side, stubbornly.
"In that case, shouldn't you?" Gray asked in a cajoling tone of voice.
"Damn Gray. I don't wanna!"
"But you have to. C'mon." Gray extended the mug and awaited for Natsu to pick it up. "Natsu…" he rolled his eyes at the other's antics.
"Aww, you're nod being fair. I don't wanna-" Natsu's tirade was cut by a series of sneezes. He glared at his suddenly snot-covered hands.
"Okay, you need help with that now." Gray stated neutrally, face scrunching slightly in disgust. He turned and placed the mug back before fetching a new paper tissue. "You dragonslayers don't play around, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah… id's very funny… I'm great ad producing snot. Godcha." Natsu muttered as he wiped his hand, rolling his eyes at Gray.
"I'll make you a deal." Gray said suddenly, still holding down the stinky mug between them. "If you drink this now, when you're feeling better we'll do that thing you wanted."
"Whad! For real?" Natsu started smiling.
"Yes, you thick headed flamebrain." Gray acquiesced with a long suffering sigh.
"Hihihi, well den…" he extended his hand towards the mug. "In dat gase, I'll do id." He held the mug, looked at it suspiciously, mouth twisting with disgust before drinking everything in one go. He gasped for air when finished, cleaning his mouth with the back of his hand. "Done."
"I can see that." Gray remarked dryly.
"Oi, you promised, yeah? No durning back now." The fire mage was smiling at Gray slyly.
"I know what I did, flamebrain. I haven't had my brain melted, unlike you…" Gray turned his back on the other and puttered around in the room.
"Shud up!" Natsu said in outrage.
There was silence and then.
"Hey, Gray," Natsu grabbed Gray's pant leg, making the other pause and look at him. "Stay with me?"
Gray stopped what he was doing and sat down beside Natsu. He threw him a reassuring smile.
"If you want me to." He agreed, handing Natsu a new tissue.
"Well, I do." Natsu blew his nose again before falling down heavily onto his bed. He closed his eyes and sighed. "So no running away."
"I won't." Gray promised. He placed his hand over Natsu's arm, assuring him of his presence.
It didn't take long until Natsu's breathing evened out.
And Gray sat there as Natsu slept. Even after Wendy and Happy arrived, or Lucy's visit.