A/N: More fluff. Next chapter might be more angst. And yay for being on sick leave!
She hates admitting it, but he's definitely important to her.
"Erza, did you eat yet?" He asks, staring at the armored woman suspiciously. She sighs heavily, realizing that she'd been too caught up in digging up information to eat something for breakfast. "Geez, you can't even take five minutes to go and get food from the bar downstairs? I'll bring you back something," he offers, clapping her shoulder and heading off to bring back food for the mage.
He's always there for her, to make sure she's in tip-top shape and even offers to spar with her so she doesn't lose her touch. She hit him for things that weren't his fault, but he'd come right up to her afterwards and put bandages on her wounds.
She sets the tourism book back down on the table and digs through his bag, pulling his shirt from yesterday to her face. She inhales its musky, mint-touched Gray smell, the same smell that had only increased in strength over the years. The same comforting smell she'd memorized since she was a young girl, as she had a tendency to sit on him when she beat him in battles, and somehow she was always able to prevent the blush that threatened to appear when she caught scent of fresh water and strong mint. Nothing smelled better, in her opinion, not even her own shampoo (which was what she told her nakama her favorite smell was).
She stuffs the shirt back in his bag after getting enough of his scent to last her for a while. She flops back on the bed in the room they shared (it was cheaper this way, and she was low on Jewel. He was Jewel-less) and reads more of the information.
"I underlined what should be important while you slept on the train," he says after reappearing with four plates of food. He sets one on her bed before taking the other three to his bed and digging in. She inspects her plate, finding a few strawberries on top of a pile of freshly-made pancakes. "I'll take the book if you don't eat right now. You didn't eat lunch yesterday and you slept through dinner. You have to be hungry."
She flips the book over and puts the plate on her lap as she cuts into the pancakes with her plastic fork. "You knew what to get me."
"You eat everything with strawberries. It's not that hard to guess what you'd like," he replies with his mouth stuffed full of his own pancakes. She smiles gratefully at him.
"Thank you." She takes a bite of the pancakes, which taste pretty good for being free, and eats one of the strawberries. She is truly grateful for having the ice mage with her on this mission.
"Eat ice, monster!" Gray yells as Erza stabs it through a chink in its armor. She feels as though the comment is stupid and pointless but it's so him that she can't help but feel her heart flutter. Gray was the distraction as she went in for the kill.
It falls to the ground heavily, pinning Erza under it, as she stabbed it through the throat and it fell forward. Gray smirks as he pulls on her arms to get her out from under the monster, another perk to having a partner. She catches wind of his intoxicating smell, and closes her eyes as she pulls herself out from under the monster with his assistance.
He's always there to help her. It doesn't matter what she asks him to do; he'll do it thoroughly and to the best of his ability, almost as if he owes her something. She could be trapped in a basement as a hostage, and he'd travel hundreds of miles to fetch her and do as she ordered.
"Thanks, Gray," she says offhandedly as she tries to stand up, only to be unable to. Her legs crumple beneath her, and she cries out when her jaw connects harshly with the rest of her head and she accidentally bites through the tip of her tongue.
"Erza! Are you okay?" He asks, his voice taking on a worried tone. Another reason why he's important to her, is because of his ability to fawn over her due to injuries. He grabs her wrist and pulls her up, only to have her fall into his body. "Well, that didn't work." He picks her off the ground and carries her bridal-style. She takes the chance to breathe in his calming, relaxing scent that could be used as sedative.
"I can't feel my legs," she realizes, her blood freezing in her veins. She tries to keep her breathing regulated, but it starts racing and she can't reign it in. She's panicking. She can't walk. She could be permanently disabled. She closes her eyes and tries to take deep breaths, tries to calm her racing heart, but all that's floating through her brain is her inability to move from the hips down.
She is placed on the ground and her hand is pressed to Gray's bare chest, where she feels his steady, slow heartbeat. "Feel this? Try to match it. Don't jump to conclusions yet. It's probably just temporary."
She nods and takes deep breaths, thankful that someone could talk sense into her prone-to-internal-panic brain. "Okay," she breathes heavily. "It is temporary. I will be able to walk after we get home."
"There you go," he smiles and picks her back up, carrying her back into the city where their hotel room was waiting. He sets her in the bed she'd deemed her own before stripping out of his (remaining) clothes and joining her.
She pulls herself closer to the ice mage after he falls into a deep sleep, his snoring patterned to be relaxing to the exquip mage as she curls up next to him, her arm experimentally draped over his chest. She cuddles closer to him, relishing the warmth he gives off. Yes, he is important, because he is willing to take care of her when she cannot take care of herself.
