Chapter 8
Natsu quietly began washing the dishes, working silently-much to the fear of his coworkers. He was strangely quiet, so Erza had nothing to shout at him for. There was no drooling Natsu, no playful Natsu…only a working, diligent, and worst of all, silent Natsu.
The pink-haired boy replayed the moments at the hospital, biting his lips on occasion and almost slipping a dish through his unwavering fingers. As he stopped, he unconsciously brushed his lips with the back of his hand. He did not know why he suddenly decided to kiss her; whenever he thought back, he only remembered the faint vanilla scent that lingered. Boy, he was confused about everything now: his life, Lisanna, Lucy, just everything.
Lucy was in despair. So was he. So why did he want to help her if he was in such a mess? His heart did not pound overwhelmingly for Lucy like it did for Lisanna. Whenever a speck of blonde appeared in his vision, beads of sweat would instead form on the back of his neck.
Besides, that blonde….she wasn't going to live long anyways. He bitterly scrubbed the dishes harder.
It had already been two weeks since he visited the hospital. He could imagine his dad frowning in his spirit form while scratching his head.
And was she okay? He wanted to know…the curiosity was killing him.
Something was making him sick to the stomach. He didn't like this feeling.
All of a sudden, the world around him began to spin as unmoving objects started to fly. It was almost as if someone started stirring his liquid vision with a mixer. His hands faltered as his arms drooped.
"Are you slowing down, Natsu?!" Erza barked, somehow happy from managing to find something wrong. She tapped his forearms. "I have to say from all this dishwashing, you've gained a little muscle-!"
"Erza…I-I don't feel that well…." he whispered hoarsely.
"What the hell, flame-brains?" A new voice appeared, belonging to Gray's. "You took yesterday off, so don't pretend like you're sick."
"Would you like a punch to the stomach?" the red-headed woman offered.
"..N-no…" Suddenly, it struck him that he hadn't eaten yet in awhile. Maybe because his mind was too distracted on so many things. He leaned on the counter, wobbling back and forth.
Suddenly, Gray's voice changed. "…Hey….dude, are you ok? You're looking pale, now that I look closer."
"I…..I'm..fine…" Natsu wavered on the spot for a few seconds before slipping on the floor and blacking out.
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His eyes flickered open, then closed from the sudden light.
"Hey, I did not overwork him! I swear, Jellal!" An alto woman voice hit his ears.
"Well, you might want to lessen the work on him. He fainted from anemia," the blue-haired man replied, "You should give him something to eat that is plentiful in iron."
"…Alright, I will…"
"Oh, Erza, he's awake."
"NATSU!" Erza bellowed.
He mentally groaned. If he knew he was going to attract attention like this, he would've just pretended to be asleep.
"Yes…?" He asked, rather timidly.
"YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A SPINACH OMELET WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" she demanded. "Fainting from anemia? That's pathetic!"
"Sorry…" He used one hand to rub across his eyes. He just wanted to sleep right now.
"Do you realize how worried we were when you suddenly collapsed on the ground?! Even Gray began freaking out!"
"Sorry…" With the same hand, he pushed back his pink bangs.
"Gray's going to come with your food, and you better finish all of it," Erza growled. "If you don't, I'm going to stuff it all into your mouth."
"…Ok.."
Almost as if on cue, Gray entered the scene with the dish and a cup of cranberry juice.
"Alright, let's move, Erza." Jellal ushered the rather-pissed Erza out of the room and shut the door, isolating the two frenemies.
There was an air of silence.
"…Hey," Gray said awkwardly.
"…Hi…." Natsu didn't know what else to respond now. Usually, it would've been a string of unrelated insults towards each other. Now, Natsu was just weak and vulnerable.
"Eat." The raven-haired teenager set the food in front of Natsu, who bit his lips when his stomach began growling. He didn't even argue with Gray as he grabbed the fork and began devouring the omelet. He didn't even realize how hungry he had been.
"This is strange."
"Mmm?" Natsu muffled through his forkfuls of egg and spinach.
Gray sighed. "You know, how you're actually listening to me. And how we're not fighting, even though Erza's not here."
"…Oh."
"What's been going on with you? You have dead fish eyes these days," Gray commented as he plucked a button off at a time.
"To be honest…I have no idea," he admitted after taking a swig of his juice. Instantly, he felt better, but he couldn't get rid of that sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Well, it's definitely not nothing."
"It's like I feel sick in the stomach…Nothing's wrong, but there's a sinking feeling."
"A sinking feeling?"
"Yea." Natsu devoured another bite of the omelet.
"Isn't that just guilt?"
The pink-haired boy stopped as he bit his lips. "…Guilt for what?" He finally asked, continuing to eat.
Gray rolled his eyes. "I don't know. I'm asking you."
"….I…."
"…" Gray twiddled at his collar.
Natsu set down his fork. All he knew was that he wanted to go. He placed the dishes next to him on the couch and walked toward the door.
"..Hey, where are you going? You just recovered, idiot!" Gray grabbed him. "Sit back down!"
"I need to go visit them."
"Them?" Gray repeated in a question form.
"Yes, them," Natsu answered cryptically. "Erza's going to get mad, but I need to go."
After a moment of hesitation, Gray ran his fingers through his slick black hair. "Fine, just go, you flame dweeb…"
"Hey ice princess."
Gray blinked, startled that Natsu suddenly used the typical insults.
As Natsu opened the door, he gave a toothy grin to his confused frenemy. "When time comes, you and the others can visit Lucy too!"
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Lol does anyone still read this fanfiction? O_O It's been like a year since I've updated, danggg. Holy shizz, when I read this, I felt so nostalgic, so I felt obligated to update hehe. Well, thanks for reading C:
