Ok, I seriously want to finish this fic before school starts because god knows I won't have time to write when it does!

*AGGRESSIVELY WRITES FANFICTION*

Ahem, anyway, this prompt is from PokeTail!

Prompt: While on a job, team Natsu are attacked by some dark wizards who want to kill Natsu. Gray protects Natsu and takes the blow for him, knocking him out and making him hospitalised. Turns out he's temporarily paralysed. Natsu gets really over protective over Gray since he blames himself.

This one is set before Oracion Seis. That's why there's no Wendy or Carla.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!

Read and Review!


Natsu scowled at the mages in front of him. He and his team had taken a job near Hargeon to defeat a monster, but on their way to the monster's lair, they had run into these guys. Gray smirked at them.

"Something tells me that you guys aren't with our client," he remarked dryly. A man, who looked to be the leader of the group, scoffed.

"So we've got ourselves a wise guy. Look, just hand over the Salamander and no one gets hurt, alright?" This time, Gray growled at them.

"You want my Natsu? Like hell you bastards are getting him!" With that, the dark mages charged forward, hands aglow with magic. Team Natsu stood back to back before spreading out to defeat them.

Expectedly, it did not take long until the dark mages lay sprawled on the ground, having been decimated by the Fairy Tail mages. Natsu laughed.

"For all their big talk, they sure were easy to beat!"

Erza nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Well, now that that's taken care of, let's be on our way to the monster's lair."

"Aye!" Happy cheered. The group turned and continued on their way when shuffling was heard behind them. The team turned to find the leader of the dark mages standing, although just barely. He sent a cocky smirk in Natsu's direction before a magic circle appeared on his palm and a jet of black miasma was sent flying out.

What happened next was a blur.

One second Natsu was staring at the attack about to hit him, the next he was on the ground with Gray on top of him. Blinking, he came out of his stupor and sat up, pulling Gray closer to his body as he did so. The dark mage in front of him grinned before toppling over, unconscious once more.

But that was hardly Natsu's concern at the moment.

Natsu shook Gray gently, trying to rouse the unconscious ice mage. Natsu's concern grew as he spoke softly to Gray, trying to wake the raven and get an answer.

"Gray? What's wrong? Talk to me." When there was no answer, Erza had gave Natsu the go ahead to take Gray back to the guild. She, Lucy and Happy would take care of the dark mages as well as the monster.


Natsu flew down the pavement with Gray in his arms. Immediately after the train stopped, he had picked Gray up and raced towards the guild. As the building came into view, Natsu kicked the door open with a loud slam. He ran towards the infirmary while shouting,

"Jii-chan! I need your help!" The door slammed shut, leaving the rest of the guild curious as to what had happened on the mission.

When Makarov entered the room, Natsu immediately jumped to his feet from the stool that he had been sitting on.

"What seems to be the problem?" the old man asked.

"Something happened to Gray on our mission, jii-chan! Do something!" Just as he said this, Gray's fingers twitched and his blue eyes opened slowly. Natsu was immediately by his side. "Gray! How do you feel? What's wrong?"

Gray groaned as he placed a hand to his head. "What happened? Where am I?"

Natsu smiled gently at him. "You're at Fairy Tail. You passed out on our mission and no one seemed to know why so Erza told me to bring you back here."

Gray nodded as he accepted the answer, though a little frustrated. He turned back to Natsu. "Natsu, is there something on my legs?" The rosette frowned and shook his head.

"No. Why? What's wrong?" Gray's eyes widened as he hurriedly sat up and stared at his legs. Natsu's concern returned full force as he placed a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Gray? What's wrong?"

"N-Natsu… I can't feel my legs."

Makarov decided to intervene at this point. He stepped forward, his hand on Gray's left leg.

"Tell me Gray, what happened?"

"Well, on our mission we ran into some dark mages who wanted to kill Natsu. We took them all out, but there was this guy that came to and attacked Natsu with this weird black mist. I tackled him down and I felt something hit my hard on the back."

Makarov nodded as he hollered, "Jet, go bring Porlyusica!"

A fading "Got it!" could be heard before the three were left in silence once again. Makarov coughed into his palm and left the two alone, sensing an awkward atmosphere.


Gray crossed his arms as he frowned at his lover. Natsu had yet to say a word to him after the news and quite frankly, it was starting to piss him off. He sighed as he knew exactly why the normally boisterous Dragon Slayer was as quiet as a mouse.

"Stop blaming yourself, Flame Brain. It's not your fault." At that, Natsu's head snapped up, the thoughts that had been swarming in his mind verbally rebuked.

"It is… if I had been quicker to react then you wouldn't have had to tackle me…" Natsu trailed off. Gray rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Look Natsu, I would've pushed you out of the way no matter what. My body just moved on its own. You probably would've dodged it. It's my fault ok?"

Natsu shook his head. He was about to retort when the door opened to reveal Porlyusica. The pink haired healer has a scowl on her face, as usual, but did not hesitate to make her way over to her patient's bed, muttering about stupid humans.

The diagnosis was not long and it was what Gray and Natsu had both known and feared.

Paralysis.

"Don't worry, you fools. It doesn't seem to be permanent. I can't cure it though. I don't even know when it will go away. For the time being, he should stay in this infirmary. If he has to move, you might want to invest in a wheelchair." The word wheelchair echoed in both boys' mind, haunting them. Natsu stood abruptly from his seat.

"You have to do something! Gray can't go on missions in a wheelchair! You're a doctor! Fix him!" Porlyusica's eyebrow twitched. Just as she was obviously about to snap at the rosette, Gray chimed in,

"Thank you, Porlyusica-san. We'll definitely look into it." The pink haired healer looked like she still wanted to answer Natsu back with something scathing, but she huffed and accepted Gray's thanks and left to inform Makarov of the boy's condition.

"Natsu, what was that?" Gray demanded. The Dragon Slayer had the decency to look ashamed.

"'m sorry…" he mumbled. "But she should be able to help you! She's a healer!"

Gray groaned. "Natsu, she even said it was only temporary! What more do you want from her?"

"I want her to fix your legs!"

"Godamnit Natsu is it that big of a deal?! It's not like the world has ended!"

Natsu was taken aback by Gray's anger. He didn't understand; why was Gray so mad?

"Gray? I'm sorry…" Natsu apologized. Gray sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. It is a little hard to accept and I guess I took it out on you a bit," Gray admitted. Natsu shook his head.

"You don't have anything to apologise for…"

There was a long silence between the two until Natsu spoke again.

"Hey Gray, are really going to stay in here?" The raven looked up, confused.

"Yeah. Where else would I go?"

"My house! I can't leave you alone when you can't use your legs!"

Gray growled, upset at all but being called an invalid. "Of course you can! I'm perfectly capable of doing things myself! Besides, Porlyusica-san told me to stay in here!"

Natsu pouted and gave Gray puppy eyes. "Please Gray? I feel responsible so at least let me do this," he pleaded. Gray groaned as he covered his face with his hands. He was sucker to Natsu's puppy dog eyes and the Dragon Slayer knew it. He mumbled out some sort of consent in demonic tongue and watched as Natsu's expression turned from begging to ecstatic in milliseconds.

"Yeah yeah, just take it up with Porlyusica-san first," Gray grumbled.


"Absolutely not. He should not be moved right now. You could damage his legs even more and then there will be hell to deal with!" Porlyusica snapped. Natsu wanted to protest but Makarov sent him a glare that shut him up instantly.

"Thank you, Porlyusica. We'll keep Gray in the infirmary. Thank you for coming."

Porlyusica huffed in disdain. "Next time don't make me leave my own house!" she shouted as she left the office. Makarov laughed as he moved so that he was in front of Natsu.

"Natsu…" he began.

"But jii-chan! It's my fault Gray is paralyzed! I should at least take care of him!" Natsu argued. Makarov sighed.

"Indeed, you should. But you can't move him just yet. You can take care of him in the infirmary, can't you?" Makarov asked. Natsu pouted but nodded. The old man smiled. "Then you should get back to Gray. I'm sure he's wondering where you are."

"So I'm stuck in here, right?" Gray asked. Natsu nodded. Gray sighed as he flopped back onto his pillow. "Well, I sort of expected that. There was no way— Natsu what are you doing?"

Natsu looked up curiously. "What does it look like? I'm making myself comfortable."

"Yeah, I know. But why?"

"Why? Because I'm going to stay here with you."

"What?! Why?!" Gray demanded.

"Why else? It was my fault that you were hurt so I'm going to take care of you until you're better."

"Natsu…" Gray said warningly. But Natsu was having none of it.

"I couldn't take you back to my house so I'm just going to take care of you here. Please Gray?" Gray shook his head, getting an odd sense of déjà vu.

"Fine, fine. Now come over here and cuddle me so we can get some sleep. I'm tired."


The next morning, Gray regretted his decision to let Natsu take care of him. He had asked for food and the Dragon Slayer had returned with enough food to feed an army. And of course, he had insisted on feeding Gray. That was where he drew the line.

"Damnit Natsu, I can't move my feet not my hands! Let me feed myself!"

"Gray, please?" Natsu begged.

Damn those puppy eyes.

After Natsu had fed Gray his breakfast, he started on his own. Gray watched as his lover all but inhaled the leftover food. He laughed. That was Natsu's appetite for you. Watching Natsu devour all that food like it was nothing almost made him forget that he was stuck in bed for who knew how long. Gray sighed as he looked down at his legs, willing them to move.

Nothing.

Natsu watched Gray silently as his lover tried to move his legs. Seeing the frustration on Gray's face made him guiltier than he already was. When Gray flopped back down on the bed annoyed, Natsu spoke up.

"I'm really sorry." Gray turned his head to the rosette.

"How many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't your fault."

"Still… it must be annoying not being able to move."

Gray thought about this. "Yeah, it is. But I guess it could be worse. My hands could be paralyzed too."

Natsu cringed. "I don't even want to think about that."

"Good. Things could be worse. Now is that enough to snap you out of your self-blaming funk, Flame Brain?" Natsu blinked as Gray's words sunk in. He laughed lightly and smiled at his lover.

"Really Ice Princess? Did you really have to do that?"

Gray smirked back at him. "Apparently so. Now come over here and kiss me."

Natsu smiled and climbed on top of the bed, his lips hovering over Gray's. "As you wish." He pressed his lips against Gray's cool ones and smiled when he heard Gray make a content noise. Playfully, he nipped at Gray's lower lip and smiled when Gray made whining noise. Teasingly, he pulled away and smirked down at his lover.

"Natsu you damn tease," Gray muttered. Just as Natsu was about to dive down and claim his lover's lips again, the door opened to reveal Erza, Lucy and Happy. Lucy and Erza immediately flushed bright red while Happy put his paws over his mouth.

"He likessss him!"

"Excuse us for intruding!" Erza shouted as she grabbed the door and slammed it closed. Natsu and Gray couldn't help but laugh as Natsu got off of Gray and took his seat on the stool.

"You can come in now Erza," Gray called. The door opened again and the two still very much flustered girls entered the room.

"W-We just came to give you your share of the reward," Erza explained. Natsu laughed.

"Thanks, Erza." Lucy strode up to Gray.

"Gray, how are you feeling?"

Gray didn't see any point in hiding his condition. "I'm paralyzed from waist down, Lucy."

"…Oh."

Erza was next to speak. "Do you need anything Gray? Water, food or perhaps a book?" Just as Gray was about to answer, Natsu cut in.

"No, it's ok Erza. I'm taking care of him. You guys can go hang out with the others or something." Erza raised an eyebrow at this but figured that Natsu felt responsible and so she complied with his wishes, Lucy and Happy following her.

"You're too overprotective sometimes," Gray mused. Natsu frowned.

"Maybe, but it's not always a bad thing."

Gray snorted. "Whatever you say, Natsu."


Three weeks passed by with Gray bedridden. It seemed as if Gray's paralysis would never be cured. Gray sighed as he flipped the page of the book he was reading. It was already late into the night and everyone had left. Only he and Natsu were left in the guild. The Dragon Slayer had been taking care of Gray for the past three weeks, always by his side and fetching whatever the ice mage needed. While it was endearing, it sometimes pissed Gray off. Granted, he was a little more vulnerable like this, but that didn't mean that he was incapable of doing anything!

A knock on the door brought him out of his musings.

"Natsu? Is that you?" When there was no answer, Gray was immediately worried. "Natsu? Natsu, stop fooling around." The door creaked open and a man that Gray had never seen before stepped into the room.

"Sorry, I'm not the Salamander. But you're going to help me lure him out."

Natsu sighed as he dried his hair, having just stepped out of the shower. It had already been three weeks since Gray had been paralyzed. But there had been no signs of improvement. Was the paralysis really only temporary? Was Gray ever going to be able to do missions with him again? Natsu sighed as he pulled on his boxers and pants. He threw on a shirt and wrapped his scarf around his neck. He had just exited the showers when he heard Gray scream.

Instantly, he dropped the dirty clothes that he was holding and bolted over to the infirmary, dreading the worst. The door to the infirmary slammed open and Natsu felt his flames lick angrily across his skin at the sight that greeted him. A man that Natsu had never seen held Gray's throat tightly and the raven was sputtering, beginning to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. The man grinned and released Gray, the raven choking and heaving in lungfuls of air. Natsu growled, deep and feral.

"Who are you?" The man looked appalled that Natsu didn't know him but soon collected himself.

"My name is Sora. I was the one who hired those dark mages three weeks ago." Natsu's flames roared within him and it took all of his self-restraint not to burn the man in front of him to ashes.

It was him

He was the one…

The one who caused Gray to be hurt.

"Obviously, you don't know who I am. I was the one in charge of the Bosco Trading Company. Of course, it doesn't exist anymore because you turned us in to the Magic Council."

"It was my job! Besides, you were selling drugs!"

"That isn't the point! You took my life's work away from me, Salamander. You'll pay with your life! Even if I have to take it myself!" Sora whipped out a gun from his back pocket and trained it on the Dragon Slayer. However, before he had a chance to shoot, Natsu flew a blanket of flame his way.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He tried to keep the damage minimal, since he was still in the guild and Gray was too close to Sora. The last thing he wanted was Gray to get hurt.

The former business man fell to his knees in an excruciating amount of pain. Never before in his life had he had to endure such heat. Sora looked up at Natsu, who now stood in front of him looking enraged.

"You caused Gray to be hurt. Never let me see your face again or I will burn you into a pile of fucking ash." Terrified, it was all Sora could do to run away screaming. Natsu sighed as the tension of the battle drained out of him. He turned to Gray who was rubbing his throat. "You ok?" The raven looked up at him.

"I'll live."

Natsu gave him a cocky smirk. "This is why it's good to be overprotective."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, go on and brag." Instead of the smug gloating that Gray expected to hear, he felt warm hands encircle his waist.

"I'm sorry I was late. He hurt you."

Gray smiled and reached up behind him to ruffle Natsu's hair. "Don't worry about it. You really helped me out ok? Thanks," he said as he turned and pecked Natsu on the lips. The Dragon Slayer smiled softly as he toppled over sideways, bringing Gray down with him. "Natsu? Did he hurt you somewhere?"

"Nah. I just wanna sleep and cuddle."

Gray laughed and closed his eyes. "Good night, Natsu."

"Good night, Gray."


For the next week, Natsu's overprotectiveness seemed to have doubled. After the encounter with Sora, it really was no wonder, but still, it annoyed Gray a little. The day that marked one month after Gray had been paralyzed, Natsu was lying on top of Gray, taking a nap. Gray smiled as he gently carded his hand through Natsu's hair. Natsu had really run himself ragged taking care of him. Gray watched as Natsu wrinkled his nose and shifted in his sleep. Gray laughed to himself. It was so different from the usual dominant Dragon Slayer.

Gray suddenly winced as he felt a pain in his legs. He nudged Natsu awake.

"Hey Natsu, can you get off my legs for a second? You're kinda heavy."

Natsu mumbled something and moved off of his lover's legs. Just as he shook himself awake, he seemed to realise something.

"Hold on, did you just say that I was heavy?"

Gray looked up. "Yeah. What of it?"

Natsu jumped up and rocked back and forth on his heels excitedly. "You have feeling in your legs!" he cheered. Gray's eyes widened as he tried to move his leg and was overjoyed to find it moving. Steeling himself, Gray swung his legs so that they hung off the side of the bed facing Natsu. The rosette watched with bated breath as Gray slowly slid off the bead, easing more and more of his weight onto his legs. Natsu watched as Gray stood for one second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Gray didn't falter in the slightest and Natsu launched a flying tackle on the ice mage. Thankfully, Gray retained his balance and the two weren't sent sprawling onto the bed. Natsu eagerly attached himself to Gray's lips and the two shared a passionate kiss. Natsu pulled away first, smiling brightly.

"It took you long enough to get better, Gray!"

"Ha! Sorry, Flame Brain."

Natsu rolled his eyes. He excitedly tugged his lover's hand and headed towards the door.

"Come on! Let's do a mission together! It's been a while!"

"Already? I was bedridden not even five minutes ago, Natsu," Gray laughed.

"You can shake it off. But if you ever do something stupid like this again, I swear to god Gray I will kick your ass," Natsu threatened. Gray smiled and pecked his lover on the nose.

"Wouldn't dream of it. Now let's go pick out a mission."


Halfway through, I realized that I wrote the prompt wrong and then I had to go back and change a bunch of stuff. That's why it took a bit longer than I'd expected.I also feel like Natsu is a little OOC here... I sure hope he doesn't seem that way.

Anyway, I hope you liked it PokeTail and I hope everyone enjoyed! See you in the last chapter~