Disclaimer: I don't own FT.
Whenever the team went on a mission that required them to sleep outside, Lyon always had the first watch, because he never seemed to mind it, and Sherry took the last because once woken up she never found herself able to get back to sleep.
Yuka's neutralizing magic lent itself to the penultimate shift, because whoever had to wake Sherry up was likely be attacked by a vengeful space blanket doll, and Toby had no preference once his beloved sock was beside him.
This had been their system for years, a residual habit from their days of hunting the frozen Deliora. So when Sherry emerged from her lacrima-heated tent to find none other than Lyon keeping watch over their Mount Hakobe campsite, she immediately knew something was wrong.
"Lyon-sama." She yawned daintily into her hands. "You're still awake?"
"I wasn't tired, so I let everyone sleep in," he explained without looking at her.
Sherry's pale pink lips curved downward into a pensive frown. She knew he hadn't been sleeping well–not for months. Not since they learned that Fairy Tail's main members had been vaporized by the black dragon of death. But, as much as her instincts prompted her to comfort him, she knew better than to address the situation outright. If she smothered him, he would only deny that he was still grieving and close himself off even more.
"You should sleep more, for love." She took a seat next to him on a fallen log. "You're going to make yourself sick."
"Ice wizards don't catch colds, Sherry."
An amused sort of disbelief danced within her deep blue eyes. She had always been terrible at hiding her emotions. "I'd bet my love that most of them don't play with their health as much as you do."
While she wouldn't have dared to speak so flippantly when he went by the title of Reitei, their dynamic had been changing slowly since they left Galuna Island. Now that they were truly friends, she could pester him about things like this.
He had no response, but somehow that was fine because the silences between them were never awkward.
Sherry glanced toward the two still occupied tents in their campsite. "Those two won't be up for awhile now." Toby, especially, slept like the dead. "There's no point in staying up all night." It would be the third time that week if her count was correct.
"You should take your own advice," Lyon countered.
She shook her head, opened her backpack, and started brushing her hair into a neat ponytail. "You know me. Once I'm up, I'm up."
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her recurring nightmares were no secret to the rest of their team. When people are around each other as much as they were, such small pieces of residual brokenness became near impossible to hide. "Which one was it this time?"
She looked down at her lap. "The same as always, only he got Chelia too." The youngest Blendy was barely a year old when Deliora killed their entire family.
"You know, they say you can only have a dream more than once in the same night if it actually happened." And it didn't. She kept Chelia alive.
Sherry shot the ice-mage a questioning glance. "I know that what you're trying to do is out of love, but we both know that isn't true." The people who said such things must have never known the kind of terror and despair that holds the mind with an iron grip.
He nodded, smirking slightly. She was quite the pessimistic optimist. "I guess you're right."
"No rest for the wicked." Then again, they weren't that wicked anymore, although they were still a shade darker than Fairy Tail. Or what it used to be.
Lyon's thoughts started drifting to Gray and Ur as they so often recently. At his core, he'd always been the worst of their little ice family. Maybe that was why the world wasn't done with him yet.
Immediately detecting the shift in his mood, Sherry leaned against his arm. She rested her cheek against his shoulder as though trying to convey some unspoken message skin-to-skin. "At least we get to watch the sunrise." The pitch black night sky was just beginning to recede, giving way to a dark purple still encrusted with celestial jewels. "But you should still sleep more," she tacked on with a tone that was meant to be stern, but came off as more playful than anything else.
"You worry too much." She always did.
"Someone has to, Lyon-sama," she countered. "It's a part of my love."
At this he looked down at her, taking note of her sincere expression. She'd always been beside him, even when he was nowhere near deserving of it–all of them had, truthfully. But it wasn't until the Nirvana mission that he fully realized how much she cared for his well-being. It was impossible to forget the tears she shed, and the relief in her eyes after seeing that he survived the fight against Racer. "I know. Thank you, Sherry."
"Lyon-sama…" Something in the way he said her name sent a faint blush to her cheeks, and made her heart skip a beat or two. She sighed inwardly. Not this. Not again. She thought her romantic feelings for him had finally begun to dissipate.
He would have kissed her then, but the last time he checked she was still seeing that pretty boy from Blue Pegasus. Lyon was almost sure it wouldn't last for more than a couple of months. He could wait for her that long. It was only right. After all, she'd been waiting for him for years now. After she and Ren broke up, he would tell her how he felt.
It was only a matter of time.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! I might turn this into a series of one shots.