I don't own Fairy Tail!
Hold onto your seats ladies and gents...
The fire roared and crackled in the fireplace, something Gray rarely found to be comforting sight. He pulled the heavy blanket closer to his body in an attempt to get warm. The ice mage had woken up with a chill he couldn't shake. Over the course of the morning it seemed to only be getting worse, much to the dismay of his girlfriend and rival. He felt a cool hand on his forehead, testing his temperature.
"Gray, I think you have a fever." Mirajane confessed, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.
"I'm fine. It's just freezing in here." He assured her, his whole body shivering.
"Gray, you feel hot to me. Normally you feel like ice." She frowned, obviously worried about her boyfriend.
"Gray," Natsu said, placing his own hand on the ice mage's forehead. Gray flinched, noting his hand wasn't as scalding as usual. "You feel hot to me. You need to go to the hospital."
"I'm not going to the hospital." He argued, folding his arms in front of his body under the blanket. "It's just a little cold."
"Well, at least let me make you some hot peppermint tea. I always made it for Lisanna and Elfman when they were sick. Even though it's hot, the menthol will make your temperature drop without making you feel colder." Mira pleaded softly, making the ice mage feel guilty.
"That might be nice." Gray gave in, casting his gaze from the white haired beauty to his rival. "Can you make that fire any bigger?"
"Do you want me to burn your house down?" He asked, making the flame in the fireplace grow.
"Let's not get carried away." The raven haired wizard coughed into the blue blanket. Could he really be coming down with something this early into fall?
"You even smell sick." Natsu said, sitting in the arm chair beside the couch.
"Well no ones forcing you to stick around flame brain." Gray pointed out, stretching out his leg before pulling it in close to his body.
"Someone's gotta make sure you're not an asshole to your girlfriend."
"I would never mistreat Mirajane." Gray snapped, sending the dragon slayer a venomous glare.
"You turn into an asshole when you aren't feeling well." Natsu shrugged, grabbing a magazine off of the stack. "You always have."
"Shut up. You're the asshole. I'm letting you stay in my house and you have the gall to insult me." Gray reasoned, wishing he had the strength to get up and pound him to a pulp.
"I wouldn't have to stay in your house if you hadn't gotten mine demolished by your crazy stalker." Natsu argued, an intense look of sadness playing across his face.
"We both know that wasn't my fault." Gray defended, his anger shrinking. Was Natsu really that upset about the house? It was just a crumby shack.
"Boys!" Mirajane shouted, reentering the room with a steaming mug of tea. "I swear if you two fight now, I will get involved. You're friends. Act like it."
"Fighting is kind of what we do Mira." Gray pointed out, taking the cup of tea from her.
"Not while you're sick it's not." She informed him, casting an exhausted look at Natsu.
"What?" The pink haired mage asked defensively. "He started it."
"Can you help me with something in the kitchen?" Mira asked, her face showing something gray couldn't quite read.
"Yeah, sure." He replied, tossing the magazine back onto the coffee table to follow behind her.
"I need you to run to the guild and get Makarov for me." Mira said in a hushed tone, low enough that there was no way Gray could hear.
"What?" Natsu asked curiously. "Why?"
"I don't know, exactly." She admitted, a look of frustration growing on her face. "He just told me that if Gray happened to get sick I needed to get him right away, only I don't trust you two to not fight right now."
"Hey. I already said I'm not going to fight Gray until he is back to his full strength, and I don't go back on my word." The dragon slayer said defensively, crossing his arms.
"That doesn't mean he won't try, stubborn as he is. He is always in a terrible mood when he gets sick."
"See?" Natsu said. "It's not just me. You think he's an asshole when he's sick too."
"I didn't say that." Mirajane sighed, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "Please focus."
"Right." The pink haired wizard nodded. "Go get Makarov."
"Just tell him Gray is sick. I'm sure he'll hurry over."
"Any idea why he's so worried about Gray getting sick?"
"Not really." Mira admitted, letting her mind jump to all the blood tests they had been giving her boyfriend lately. "Just hurry back okay?"
"Sure." Natsu replied, quickly heading out the back door.
"Where's he going?" Gray asked, as Mirajane reentered the room.
"He's going to get Happy." She lied smoothly, not wanting to worry him.
"Great. The last thing I need when I'm sick is that stupid cat flying around."
"I gave him a list of things to pick up." She said, brushing his raven hair away from his sweaty forehead. His eyes betrayed his tiredness. "So you can get some rest."
"Thanks Mira." He replied softly, catching her hand in his as it trailed down the side of his face. He pulled it to his lips and planted a fevered kiss on the back of her hand. It earned a small smile from the woman. "You look so worried."
"I am worried." She confessed, taking a seat on the coffee table next to the mug of peppermint tea.
"You don't need to worry about me, Mira." He said softly, giving her hand a tight squeeze. "I think I've proven, if nothing else, in the past few months that I am pretty resilient. Besides, it's just a cold."
"You're an ice mage Gray, you get colds, but you don't get fevers, not like this."
"First time for everything, right?" He asked, coughing and laughing simultaneously. "Really Mira, don't worry."
"I can't help it. I love you." She sighed, staring into his dark blue eyes.
"I-" The words caught in the ice mage's throat. "You love me?"
"Yeah." Mira admitted, turning away as she felt heat rush into her cheeks. While he was sick probably wasn't the best timing, but it just slipped out. The words felt natural, like something she'd been meant to say for all of her life.
"Mira, look at me." He urged, grabbing her hand and pulling it back to his lips. He planted another soft kiss there, making her turn to face him. "I love you too."
"Good." She decided, leaning in to kiss him on the lips.
"Don't." He said softly, pulling away. "I don't want to make you sick."
"I have a good immune system." She assured him, pressing her lips against his. He was even warmer than she realized, but she set that aside for the time being. She moaned softly into his mouth, the peppermint tea he'd been drinking only serving to accentuate his normally exquisite minty taste.
He broke off the kiss in a coughing fit, a look of pain crossing his face as he bent over.
"Are you okay?" Mira asked. Maybe she should have gone and gotten Makarov herself.
"Yeah." He assured her, wheezing slightly. "Sexy way to end a kiss, right?"
"You're hopeless." She sighed, watching the pain fade from his expression. "But just about anything you do is sexy."
"You're really funny Mira, you know that?" He laughed lightly, leaning back onto the arm of the couch.
"A riot, I'm sure." She sighed, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to go upstairs to your bed?"
"Are you asking me for sex?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow at her in amusement.
"More like I'm telling you you need to sleep and I want to know if your own bed would be more comfortable." She informed him, running her hand down his arm.
"Spoilsport." He teased, catching her eyes.
"You wouldn't anyway." She pointed out, taking a sip of his peppermint tea.
"Don't drink that." He demanded, an urgent look crossing his face. "You're going to make yourself sick."
"Gray," She said softly, taking another sip. "I told you, I have an excellent immune system."
"Yeah, so do I." He groaned, eyes glued to the mug.
"Oh fine." She sighed, setting the tea down. "So, do you want to go to bed or not?"
"The fireplace is down here." He nodded at the cackling flame. "And this might be the first time I've actually ever used it. I may as well get some use out of it, right?"
"If you're sure." She replied, a tone of uncertainty leaking into her voice.
"Mira?" He asked, his eyelids growing heavy.
"Yeah Gray?" She responded, wondering if he needed something.
"Thanks for the tea."
"You're welcome love." She replied softly, taking the mug back into the kitchen.
Natsu took off towards the guild hall at as fast of a pace as he could manage as he remembered exactly where he had smelled Gray's sickness before. Never in his life had the dragon slayer been more annoyed at his proneness to motion sickness. He swore under his breath, hoping he would make it there fast enough.
"Lucy, you don't have to respond, but I know you're here so I need to vent." He said as quietly as he could manage as he flew up the sidewalk.
"I swear to Mavis." He groaned, trying to find the right words. "I think Gray is sick, badly sick. He smells like you did, before- Gah."
"Even with you here, it's hard to talk about you being gone, you know it? It's weird to talk to someone about their death." Natsu mumbled, earning a rather odd look from an old woman standing by a stand of orchard apples. He didn't have time to stop and try to explain himself now, not if he wanted to get there in time. Would it even matter how quick he got there, if it was the same illness? The healers had said there was no hope for Lucy.
"I think he may have the same sort of infection that took you from me. And if it's magic, a spell like you old me, I think he may be in trouble. We might loose him too Luce, and I'm not sure if the guild can survive that. Two members in such a short amount of time, Mavis..."
"I'll go to him." He heard a voice whisper softly in his ear. "Maybe I can help."
"Please Luce." The dragon slayer replied, slowing to a stop. "See what you can do."
"Hurry." She urged him. "Go get Makarov."
"Right." The pink haired wizard said, dashing towards the end of the street. He was only a couple blocks away from the guild hall, surely he would make it there in time. There was no other option, he had to.
The fire dragon slayer crashed through the front gates of the guild hall, earning annoyed looks from nearly all of it's members. That didn't matter now. He bolted up the stairs, straight for the guild master's office. Natsu fumbled the knob, unable to get a grip on it in his panic. He knocked the door open by force.
Makarov was sitting on top of his desk, examining a large disorganized pile of papers Natsu couldn't be bothered to look at. He shot the dragon slayer a confused look, dropping the paper he was holding. "What is it?"
"Gray." He panted, all the running finally catching up to him. "He's sick. Smells like Lucy."
"He what?" Makarov asked, a look of realization playing across his face.
"He smells like Lucy, before she died, the infection." He rushed, nearly merging his words together.
"We must get Porlyusica at once." He announced, hopping off the desk quickly.