Chapter XII: In Sickness


A week later...

Natsu Dragneel was definitely one of the cutest men in Earthland.

And when Lucy said that, she didn't mean attractive - well, he was absolutely one of the most attractive men in Earthland also, don't get her wrong - but rather, she meant that he was just insanely adorable. Especially while he slept.

It was a well known fact that Natsu has a problem with snoring like a bear on steroids, which proved to be one of the most difficult things to get used to when the two of them started dating. The first month of them going out, she constantly rolled him over in his sleep into different positions, none of which really did anything to help the noise. And she couldn't invest in some earplugs, because she always had to listen for Kibou in case he woke up in the middle of the night. So for a while, it seemed like she was just out of luck.

Until one night, she accidentally discovered the way to get him to just be quiet at night: just close his mouth.

It never stopped the problem entirely, because regardless if his mouth was open or not, he was still snoring. But as long as his mouth was closed, the obnoxious bear-snore dwindled down significantly to some soft grumblings in his chest and throat. Which was much easier to deal with. Whenever she woke up in the middle of the night because of his snoring, she would reach up, lightly touch the bottom of his chin, and click his mouth shut. Problem solved… for the most part.

But right now, early in the morning, his mouth was open only slightly, allowing him to snore louder than what was preferred. But Lucy didn't care at the moment. This was usually the time she woke up anyway to begin her morning routine, and this morning, she was in no rush to get that routine started. Because the sight she'd awoke to was just the most precious thing she'd seen in a long while.

Natsu, blissfully asleep on his back, one arm hooked beneath his head with the other one outstretched beneath her - she'd used that arm as a pillow that night - his bare chest steadily rising and falling with each of his breaths, and his mouth hanging open only a little. His hair was more disheveled than normal, his bangs falling messily over his face. Lucy grinned as she laid on her side next to him, her arm propping her head up so she could get a better view. She treasured moments like this, where she could see him completely and utterly relaxed, his guard all the way down and allowing her to see a part of him that was rarely seen. Which is why she loved that he wasn't an early riser, because that gave her the opportunity to see him in this state every. Single. Morning.

She often laid in bed beside him for a few minutes to watch him sleep, which some might find a little creepy, but she didn't care. He was just so precious and every opportunity to see him like this was too good to pass up.

Silently, she reached over and softly brushed his hair away from his eyes before grazing the back of her fingers down his cheek, taking a moment to trace the scar that resided there. Once she had, she moved her hand down lower to caress the scar on his neck, reveling at how different the tissue felt compared to the rest of his skin. It was tougher, not as smooth as the area around it. She flinched when she saw him stir in response to the scar being touched, retracting her hand slightly and lifting her eyes to his face, watching him shift before settling back down, his chest expanding as he inhaled a deep breath, letting it out as a long, slow sigh. She smiled warmly and lowered her gaze back to his neck, continuing to trace the muscles in his neck and collarbone.

In as long as she's known him, his strength and body never ceased to amaze her. He was just simply ideal in every way. His skin was smooth and flawless, with the exception of the occasional scar from the years on the battlefield, and not to mention it was perfectly tanned. And each muscle was clearly defined, sculpted by the hands of the gods themselves, from his broad shoulders to his narrow waist to his muscled calves and everything in between. Of course, she would never say anything of that to him, because the last thing that man needs is another reason to boost his ego to staggering heights. She mentioned to him one day that she thought his biceps was one of his most attractive features, causing him to flex and show them off whenever he saw a chance.

She didn't need to go through that embarrassment again.

With a soft hum and a glance to the clock on the nightstand, Lucy decided it was finally time to get up and prepare for the day. She sat up and pressed a kiss to Natsu's cheek, tenderly rubbing his chest before lifting her arms above her head and stretching heartily, releasing a soft sigh. She stood and proceeded with her typical morning routine, starting with a trip to the bathroom to brush her teeth. While she wet her toothbrush, she winced, suddenly noticing the soreness in her throat. She let out a soft moan of distaste, lifting a hand to gently massage her throat. This wasn't good. She hoped it was just because she'd been snoring last night, or something along those lines.

She didn't want to be getting sick. Especially not right now. The Hanami Festival was in a couple of days, and she still hasn't had the opportunity to go with everyone else. When it came around last year, she was living in Crocus as a reporter, and before that, stuff had come up and she couldn't go, and before that, she was sick. She can't be getting sick before the festival. She wanted to go see the sakura trees bloom, damn it! In person, with her friends. She wasn't getting sick. She wouldn't let herself get sick! Not this time!


She was sick. Badly, at that. She'd been stuck in bed for the past two days, sniffling and coughing, her throat feeling like sandpaper, her head feeling like it was expanding and getting heavier. She was nauseous too. All the time. She could barely eat, because most of the things she tried to eat made her want to vomit. Ugh, she hated this. She hated staying in bed all day, she hated not being able to go to the guild with her boys, she hated not being able to hold and play with her baby boy, she hated feeling like her body was going to implode.

And the Hanami Festival was tomorrow. She was going to miss it, again. And now there's no canal outside her house for Natsu to push one of the trees down in a boat for her to see from her bedroom window. She was just shit out of luck, it seemed.

"Luce?" Natsu called as he peeked through the gap in the door, stepping inside when she groaned in response. "We're home."

"How was the guild?" she mumbled, cringing as her voice scraped all the way up her throat. Natsu winced at how raspy her voice sounded. He didn't like hearing her sound like that. He approached her and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out and tenderly sweeping away the stray hairs that had fallen in front of her face.

"It was okay," he said with a shrug, playing with her hair. "Was kinda boring without you." He stroked her cheek. "How're you feeling?" She whined as a response, pulling the blanket tighter around her body. He frowned and sighed. "I'm sorry you don't feel good. Have you tried eating anything?"

"Nuh uh," muttered the celestial wizard with a sigh.

"You really should eat something, Luce."

"I know I should, but…" she trailed off, shivering and pulling the blankets in tighter around her body before continuing, "but everytime I think about eating, I get nauseous." Natsu's mouth tugged down at the corners with a grimace, exhaling in annoyance. Not at Lucy, of course, but at the situation. Talk about shit timing. Every year, Lucy is simply dying to go to the Hanami Festival. For weeks beforehand, she does nothing but babble about how she's going to make cookies for their guildmates, how stoked she is to see Magnolia's famous rainbow sakura trees. Normally, she absolutely refuses to play Bingo - something about how it's an "old person game" - but when it comes to the annual Bingo game at the Hanami Festival, something about it just sounds irresistible. Maybe it was the prizes that sounded so intriguing? Or maybe it was just supposed to be about having fun with her friends? Natsu didn't know, and honestly he didn't really care what her reasoning was.

All he cared about was that she wanted to go.

And with how things were looking, it wasn't looking like she was going to be able to go.

Which was disappointing in a number of ways, for both him and Lucy.

"You need to try to eat something, babe," he murmured, stroking her cheek. "Want me to make you some soup?"

Lucy scoffed weakly, looking at him with tired eyes. "Right. Like I'm going to let you cook without any supervision."

"Hey," he snapped defensively, his infamous pout set on his face. "I'm not completely useless in the kitchen. I can make soup just fine." Despite herself, Lucy giggled a bit at how cute he was, only to regret it soon afterward as she succumbed to a coughing fit. The dragon slayer sighed as he waited for her to calm down, rubbing her back. Once her body finally stopped jerking and she relaxed back into the mattress, he leaned down to kiss her temple. "I'll get started on that soup, okay?"

Wordlessly, the celestial mage nodded her head. With a small frown, Natsu stood up and exited the room, traversing into the kitchen to start making the soup. He uttered a soft curse under his breath, frustrated. This is just perfect, he griped to himself, heaving a sigh. At this rate, if she doesn't start to feel better, she won't be able to go to the festival tomorrow. And he was really hoping that she would be able to go, because he was planning on asking her to marry him at the festival. With that thought in his head, he absently fingered the small velvet box he always kept in his pockets, not wanting to run the risk of her accidentally coming across it in a drawer or something. Whenever he started to think about proposing, he would run his fingers over the surface of the case in which the ring sat, waiting to be revealed to her and be slid onto her finger. It was a mostly unconscious habit that he was desperately trying to stop himself from doing.

With all of his touching and rubbing, the velvet could be worn down, and how dumb would that look? Lucy, will you marry me? Don't mind the raggedy box, I know it looks dumb, but the ring doesn't! Don't judge a book by its cover! Or in this case, don't judge a ring by its… velvet… case?

Natsu rolled his eyes at himself, sighing for the zillionth time the passed few days. With Lucy's constant trips to the bathroom, and since the majority of her time has been spent asleep in bed, he's been deep in his thoughts for most of the time. Which meant that he was constantly stressing out about getting her better so that he could give her the proposal she deserves. He knew he probably shouldn't be stressing out so much, because the last thing he needed was to be tense when asking her the biggest question he will ever ask anyone. But he couldn't help it! With hardly anything to take his mind off the matter, he had no other choice but to focus on it and keep focusing on it until something managed to tear his attention away from it.

Ugh, he couldn't take the pressure anymore. Granted, most of the pressure resting on his shoulders had been inflicted by himself and his pestering thoughts, but nevertheless. He needed her to get better so he could take her to the damn Hanami Festival tomorrow and get it over with. But the proposal and the festival aside, he also wanted her to get better because he hated seeing her like that. He hated seeing her so weak and frail and tired, he hated listening to her get up to run to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he hated that she could barely spend any time with Kibou because of her stupid sickness.

Speaking of Kibou, his jubilant squeal from the living room snapped the dragon slayer out of his thoughts, causing him to turn his head to look at the little child playing on the living room carpet with Happy. Natsu allowed a warm grin as he watched them play together. He was happy that his feline companion loved Kibou as much as he and Lucy did. He took to Kibou like a fish takes to water, pun intended. He even goes far enough to say that Kibou is his little brother.

"Thank you for watching him for me, Happy," he called from the kitchen, beginning the process of making Lucy's soup.

"Aye!" Happy chirped, grinning cutely.

Natsu chuckled. "What're you guys playing in there?"

"I'm not really sure."

"You're not sure?"

"Nuh uh. He seems to be enjoying himself though!"

The dragon slayer chuckled a bit. That's usually how a lot of the games Kibou and Happy play together were like. Neither of them really knew what was going on, but the two of them were delighted and having fun nonetheless. Like true brothers.


"Here you go," Natsu said softly as he carefully handed the bowl of soup to his sick girlfriend. "Be careful, it's hot." Lucy nodded in understanding, but she held the bowl with no complaints, didn't even seem bothered by the heated ceramic. Which was relatively odd, considering how Lucy always had to set hot plates or bowls or coffee mugs on a surface so she wouldn't have to hold it, or if it was a circumstance in which she was forced to hold it, she would use a potholder, or the sleeve of her shirt or her sweater. But right now, she didn't seem to mind it. And what was even more peculiar, was that she didn't blow a couple of times on the soup before taking a sip. Actually, she just gulped down one spoonful after another, unfazed by the heat.

Natsu watched silently, bewildered. It usually took Lucy almost fifteen minutes to get halfway done with a bowl of soup because she had to cool it down before eating it. But after just a couple of minutes, she was done with the bowl entirely. She licked her lips, setting the bowl in her lap before leaning back against the pillows with a soft sigh.

"That was good, Natsu. Thank you," she said sincerely. Natsu blinked a couple times in response, catching her attention. She stared at him. "What?"

"The, uh… the heat didn't bother you?" he questioned slowly, leaning over to examine her mouth. "You didn't burn your mouth?"

She looked at him, confused. "No. Why do you look so surprised?"

"Well, usually, you cool it down instead of just… scarfing it down."

The celestial wizard stared at him for a moment, unblinking. The sudden silence made Natsu uncomfortable, making him swallow the lump that appeared in his throat as he eyed her cautiously. He paled when he saw her eyes get glassy, like they do when she's about to cry.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" she snapped, continuing to look at him with her stiff, unblinking stare.

The question caught Natsu off guard, his eyes widening and his throat running dry.

"N-No, Luce, of course not," he sputtered. "I didn't say that at all. It's just… you're usually so careful about eating things that are hot. I was just surprised at how you-"

"Scarfed down my food? You're just surprised by how quickly I ate?"

"That's not-"

"Hello, pot! Did you know you're black?! You're constantly shoving your face and it's okay, so how come when I do it, it's a cause for concern?!"

"Babe, that's not what I meant-"

She huffed and harshly wiped the tears away from her eyes, handing the bowl back to him before laying down with her back to him, pulling the covers up to her chin. "You can leave me alone now."

Natsu blinked, still processing what had just happened. Had he really called her fat without meaning to? He didn't think so. He stared at the back of her head as he replayed the conversation they just had in his head. He had no recollection of him calling her fat in any way! Maybe she took offense to him using the phrase "scarfing down"? He hadn't meant it like she was eating way too fast, or that she was too eager to eat. It was just surprising to see her eat scalding soup without any precautions into keeping herself from burning her mouth. That's all he meant!

He gulped and hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder. "Babe, I'm sorry. That's really not what I-"

"Just leave me alone, Natsu."

"But, Lu-"

"Just go!"

Natsu retracted his hand, stunned by her sounding so hurt. His face set into a deep frown as he stood up, clearing his throat. He kept his eyes trained on the back of her head, wanting to try and say something but knowing he shouldn't, figuring it might just make her even more mad at him. So with a sigh, he carried the bowl toward the door, sparing one more glance at her before stepping out of the room and silently closing the door behind him.

"I really didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I was just… surprised."

Natsu had taken Kibou and Happy back to the guild after the incident with Lucy, sitting at a table with Erza and Gray as Kibou played with his dragon plushie in the fire mage's lap. He decided it was best to just give Lucy some space for awhile before trying to talk to her again later. Erza sighed with disapproval, shaking her head and rubbing her temple.

"I can't believe you actually said that to her," she remarked with disdain, the tone making Natsu have that feeling he used to get when Igneel scolded him for doing something wrong. He winced at the tightening feeling in his gut, only sighing as a response.

"Seriously," Gray concurred with a nod of his head. "How dense can you be, dragon breath? You don't say things like that to a woman."

"I wasn't trying to make her feel bad!"

"Regardless, Natsu," Erza countered, connecting her gaze with his, "saying something like that, especially with how you worded it, it comes out sounding condescending. It doesn't matter if it's how you intended it to sound or not, it's still a rather disrespectful thing to say."

"But it's weird, though, isn't it?" Natsu pressed, idly bouncing Kibou on his knee. "I'm not the only one who thinks it's weird, am I? She ate soup that was really hot without blowing on it. And not only that, she ate the whole bowl without blowing on it."

"Well, she hasn't eaten much in the past couple of days, hasn't she?" Gray pointed out. "Maybe she was just hungry and didn't really care or even notice that the soup was hot."

Natsu fell silent, lifting a hand to rub his neck. "I… I guess." He rested his elbow against the table and nestled his chin in his palm, securing his other arm around Kibou to keep him from falling off. "But another thing that's bothering me is her reaction. Because usually, if I say something stupid-"

"If?" Gray interrupted, giving him a pointed glance as he took a swig of his drink. "More like "when" you say something stupid." Natsu's eye twitched in annoyance, his teeth grinding together and a vein popping out of his forehead a little bit.

"Yes, if!" he spat. Gray only rolled his navy orbs, irking Natsu that much further. Oh, that icicle prick was lucky he had his son in his other arm, otherwise he would be punching him upside the jaw for a comment like that. "Anyway, usually she gets upset, sure. Calls me an idiot, smacks me, ignores me for a little bit, but she gets over it fairly quickly. Unless it was something really stupid, then I'm typically in the dog house for a day or two. But… she's never broken down into tears and screamed at me because of something like that before. She's never really been super sensitive about her weight, so me pointing out how quickly she's eaten normally isn't something that would set her off."

Erza and Gray fell silent as they took that into consideration. Natsu was right. Lucy's always been rather indifferent to comments about her weight, or at least when people she's close with make those comments, as Natsu had said some rude things in the past that some other women might have killed him for. She usually says something snarky in return to whoever made a statement about her gaining weight. So to take something like that to heart, and to be offended by it to such a substantial level, it was a bit bizarre.

"Is she on her period?" Gray suggested. "Women tend to have mood swings while on their time of the month."

"Maybe, but Lucy's never had angry mood swings before. She usually gets sappy or hor…" He cut himself off and glanced down at Kibou, who was entirely oblivious to their conversation. But the last time he had said that word in front of him, Lucy just about ripped his head off. He cleared his throat before continuing, "or she gets, um… excited." Both the other mages nodded in understanding.

"Well, whatever the reason for her peculiar behavior," Erza concluded, "what you said hurt her feelings considerably. You need to make it up to her. Apologize."

"I tried, but she wouldn't listen to me. She just kept yelling at me and telling me to leave her alone."

"Well, you need to think of something. But you should probably wait a little bit. If you go back now, she'll most likely still be upset."

The dragon slayer heaved a defeated sigh, slouching a bit further than he already was. How was he supposed to apologize if she wouldn't hear what he has to say?


Natsu came home a couple hours later, a half asleep Kibou in his arms, worn out from the day of play he had at the guild, and Happy perched on his shoulder. As he closed the front door behind him, he took a gander over the house, looking for signs of Lucy having been up. But he didn't see anything, which made his shoulders droop a bit. She must not be feeling better, having spent the rest of the day in bed, hopefully getting some sleep. She deserved a few good hours of some shuteye. With whatever bug she had, she'd barely had any sleep in the last few days. He turned his attention down to the small child in his arms, kissing his forehead.

"Let's get you ready for bed, eh, kiddo?" he murmured softly, already making his way toward his and Happy's bedroom. Once passed the door, the Exceed fluttered off of his partner's shoulder and into his bed, snuggling beneath his blanket. Natsu smiled at him. "Goodnight, Happy."

"Night, Natsu," Happy grumbled, already mostly asleep. Natsu chuckled softly and laid Kibou down on the changing table, changing his diaper for the night before putting on his blue jammies with shooting stars on them. He lifted him back into his arms, taking him to his crib, placing a soft peck on his cheek before lowering him into his crib. "Goodnight, kiddo." Kibou didn't respond, already peacefully asleep and clutching his fluffy lion blanket. A warm smile curled onto Natsu's face as he watched him sleep, tenderly stroking his soft, chubby cheek. God, he's so precious. No matter what he was doing, playing, laughing, eating, sleeping, drooling… he was just too perfect.

After a couple minutes, he straightened up with a soft groan, turning on his heel and leaving the room, keeping the door ajar just a little. He ran a hand through his rosy hair, making his way toward his and Lucy's bedroom. As he approached the door, he hesitated, his hand staying frozen upon the doorknob, getting ready to turn it but never actually committing to. He swallowed. Why was he so anxious about opening the door and seeing his girlfriend, the woman he loved? Was it because there was a possibility that she was still mad at him? But Lucy has been upset with him before, and he's never been apprehensive to face her.

Maybe it was because earlier today, she seemed genuinely… angry with him? It was no secret that Natsu had a special talent to get on Lucy's nerves fairly easily and frequently, but she's never been truly mad at him before.

He really hoped what Gray had said before was true, that she was just on her period, or about to start it, and that how she behaved earlier was just because of that. Because he really couldn't stomach the thought of her being angry with him, especially considering he was planning to propose soon. And by soon, he meant tomorrow at the Hanami Festival, if she was feeling well enough to attend Fairy Tail's annual picnic under the sakura trees. And he knew that he probably shouldn't propose while she's furious with him. That might be considered "inappropriate," according to Juvia's lecture the other day.

So, with a deep inhale and a swallow, he turned the doorknob and opened the door enough to peek inside, finding her form under the blanket on the bed, as he'd left her.

"Luce?" he squeaked, inwardly wincing at how high his voice came out. He cleared his throat and tried again, his voice coming out in its usual octave, maybe a little bit deeper, also calling out her name a bit louder than before. "Luce?"

She must have been sleeping, because his voice caused her to shift on the mattress, her head lifting up slightly as she glanced at him over her shoulder, her eyes heavy. "Natsu?" she slurred, reaching a hand out of the blanket to rub her eyes. "What time is it?"

"A little after nine. Me and the boys just got back from the guild."

She blinked sleepily. "Have you been gone all day?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah. I figured you might still be mad at me, so I gave you some time to cool off." Lucy didn't respond, laying her head back onto the pillow, facing away from him. Natsu gulped. "Babe, I… I really am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know me. Words just come out of my mouth with no filter." He chuckled a couple times, hoping to lighten the mood and at least make her smile. But when he didn't get any sort of response from her, the grin fell from his face. He scratched the back of his hair, his gaze drifting to the floor and his other hand reaching into his pocket, absently stroking the velvet box that resided inside. "I'm sorry. I'll head to the couch." He turned and started to leave.

"Natsu," Lucy called, making him stop in his tracks. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, the sound making his throat close up and his gut tighten. Dammit, he didn't want to see her cry again. He turned to look at her.

"Yeah?"

She said nothing, only holding her hand out, reaching for him. He blinked, hesitantly approaching her and grasping her hand, allowing her to gently pull him onto the bed with her. Once he was laying down, she let go of his hand and moved closer to him, snuggling up against his warm chest. He stared at the top of her head, slightly stunned. But everything processed after a moment, and he reciprocated the embrace, encircling her in his arms

"Don't be sorry," she murmured into his shirt, sniffling softly. "You have nothing to apologize for. I overreacted earlier. I don't even understand why I got so upset, so I can't imagine how confused you must have been."

"I was pretty confused," he admitted. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"I know you didn't." She swallowed the lump in her throat, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. You didn't deserve it."

"That's alright. You yell at me all the time." He laughed a little, smiling wider when he heard her giggle a bit too. He kissed her crown, his hand cradling her head to his chest and stroking her hair. "How're you feeling?"

"Better than I did this morning," she uttered, leisurely rubbing his chest. "But still rather crappy. I did manage to keep that soup down, though."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Thank you for making me that soup. It was very sweet of you. And it was surprisingly good."

Natsu grinned radiantly. "See? I told you I wasn't completely useless in the kitchen."

She giggled softly. "You were right." They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or two before she spoke again. "You were also right about it being weird how quickly I ate the soup. After you left, I started to think about it, and it was a little odd."

"It was?"

"Yes. My body didn't even acknowledge how scalding the soup was, and it still hasn't. My mouth isn't burned, it doesn't even hurt at all."

"Huh." Natsu grinned and buried his face into her hair, inhaling slowly to take in her scent. "I guess I must be rubbing off on you."

"I guess you must be," she agreed, smiling warmly. "Mavis help me."

The grin immediately fell off of his lips, morphing into his famous pout. "Why would me rubbing off on you be a bad thing?"

She laughed lightly and looked up at him. "It wouldn't be. I just like making you pout." She lifted a hand and cupped his cheek. "It's cute."

"Hmph."


Author's Note: this chapter took way too long to write, and I apologize for that. This writer's block has been killer. And speaking of killer, the manga has been rather intense lately, hasn't it? The manga hasn't made me cry this often in a long time. Why can't everyone just find happiness? I'm so tired of everyone being so sad and hurt all the time.

Anyway, I hope this chapter turned out better than I felt it was going to while I was writing it. Let me tell you, working on one chapter for several months and hardly getting anywhere is very disheartening and annoying. But regardless, leave a review! Thank you guys so, so much for all the support. I love you guys so much. Remember, don't be afraid to ask me any questions you might have. Love you guys! See you next time!

Also, keep a look out for my upcoming oneshots. I'm planning on releasing some new ones soon!