Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything related; that possession belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Author's Note: This was a prompt I received a while ago on Tumblr that I am finally getting around to. The prompt was: "Levy enters in Gajeel and Lily's apartment for the very first time to take care of a sick Gajeel." Short and sweet, hopefully more sensory than anything. Enjoy!

Sooner or Later: Comfort

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Gajeel, Levy, Pantherlily

June 25, 2014

The room was dark. Being covered in darkness was typical for Gajeel; however, it was also typical for someone under the weather to block out the world around them while recuperating. The Iron Dragon Slayer hadn't appeared at the guild for a few days and it worried Levy. Nothing took him out of commission, especially not the common cold. So for him to lay low with any kind of illness concerned her enough to seek him out and to possibly—hopefully—nurse him back to health. Knowing the typically brooding man, he wouldn't want to be seen in any moment of weakness and would want to be left alone. Sure, she could have respected his wishes but at this point in their relationship, er... friendship... she chose to ignore those wishes and to do what she knew was right.

So, after obtaining a key from Pantherlily and taking a detour from her trip to the library, here she was in Gajeel's small home just on the outskirts of town. With each room she had passed through, she made a map in her memory of the quaint home. It was completely, thoroughly him and every artifact and piece of décor screamed "Gajeel" – it made her smile.

Levy could hear his labored breath as he shifted above the blankets. He was radiating heat; she could feel it against her own skin even though they were nowhere near touching. She stood close to his bed, looking down at him with a frown. She hated seeing him like this, but even Dragon Slayers were susceptible to colds.

Surveying the area, she knew what needed to be done. First, she would tend to her patient. Heading to his bathroom, she grabbed a washcloth and wet it to use as a cold compress to help this heat. When she had gone back and placed it on his forehead, he settled down a bit. She then went to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water and placed it on his nightstand for whenever he woke up. Levy sat down on the bed next to him, timidly running a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. She hoped the soothing gesture would help. Unfortunately, all it did was rouse him from a fitful sleep.

Gajeel's eyes opened slowly. He groggily looked around, sluggishly realizing he wasn't alone. Seeing no Lily, but the Shrimp, he sighed and closed his eyes, not having enough strength to complain or put up a fight.

"What are you," he cleared his throat, and she could hear that movement alone hurt, "doin' here?"

"Shh," she replied. "I'm just here to help. Please drink this."

Holding out a glass of water for the man, she watched him drink like a dying man that had been wandering through the desert.

"Oh!" she gasped, reaching to her side to fish out a small pack of medicine she had brought with her. "Take these, too. Porlyusica said it would help at least bring your fever down."

"Thanks," he rasped, lying back on the pillows after taking the medicine and gulping the pills down.

"Don't mention it," she replied, brushing his hair back once again. "You should get some rest. We can clean you up in a bit and try to get you to eat something. For now, though, rest."

Gajeel nodded slowly, obviously too sick to retort about "getting him clean" and she was grateful for it because he needed to hold onto any piece of strength he had in order to get better. It didn't take him long to drift off, a calmer look across his features than before.

Her presence did the trick, unbeknownst to her; that's why Lily had sent her to him.

While he slept, she made herself busy by cleaning bits and pieces of his apartment, and when Lily finally returned to the home later in the evening he couldn't help but smirk at how easy it was for the two of them to look so… domestic, sitting and cuddling on the couch with a book.