Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

So as you can all see, I'm back with another little oneshot. I can't help but be proud of this one. I wrote all 4.7k words of it last week Friday in just under 4 hours. I edited today before posting it which takes it up to about 5k words, but that's not the point! I basically had the whole story fleshed out in just 4 hours and that is just mind boggling to me. Never thought I would have that in me!

But I don't own Fairy Tail, we should all know this by now. I HOPE I don't have any grammatical or spelling errors or any missing words. I spent a long time editing it lmao. Knowing my luck, there'll be something wrong.

ENJOY!

Nightingale syndrome

Oneshot

No one knows it, but Juvia is a healer. She's no Wendy, but she's just as good at using bandages and salves and even her own water make magic that she had ended up developing really well. She never knew she would have an affinity towards healing, but she was glad that she was good at it. However, no one came to her for healing. Mostly because she hadn't told anyone that she was good at healing, but it worked for her. She really didn't want the life of another nakama in her own hands.

Well, all except Natsu's.

At first, she didn't hear the tapping. It was quite cold, so she didn't leave her window open like usual. Winter was settling in and that meant that her heating was pretty much on 24/7. The tapping then got louder and more desperate as it then started tapping through her dream. She scrunched up her face at how annoying the sound was until it eventually pulled her out of her deep sleep.

She sat up immediately, completely disorientated, her head shifting from side to side quickly. Her eyes finally settled on the window, her eyes still blurry with sleep. She tried her best to wipe away the tiredness from her eyes and she sighed when she saw exactly who had disturbed her sleep that she had tried so hard to fall into. She found herself growling in annoyance.

"Juves, lemme in. Please."

He had finally learned himself some manners. She slipped out of bed and padded over to the window on the balls of her feet. Natsu leaned back as Juvia gently pushed open the window to let him in. He climbed in stiffly and she shuddered when the cold breeze caught her skin. It was only the beginning of winter and Juvia could already tell it was going to be a very cold one. Natsu had seen this and he simply brushed up against her, transferring some body heat over to her. She closed the window with a tired smile at his thoughtfulness. Still, that didn't excuse him coming over and disturbing her sleep.

"Does Natsu-kun know what time it is?" She whispered harshly at him. He grinned a little and shrugged his shoulders carelessly. It didn't really matter what time it was, Juvia is always going to let him in.

"I dunno, you tell me."

"It's-" Juvia looked over his shoulder and squinted her eyes at her clock. She can't see because of how dark it is. It's a new moon and also a very cloudy night, hence the reason why it is so dark. She glares at Natsu as if it was his fault and that makes his grin widen.

"It's stupid o'clock, that's what time it is!"

Because of how dark it is, she doesn't see what part of his body she hits when she reaches out to swat him in her annoyance. She pauses while he hisses, almost doubling up in pain when her hand comes into contact with something wet. And sticky. Her annoyance doubles, but now she's filled with worry as well. Worry that she tries her best to hide by being annoyed.

"For Kami's sake, Natsu-kun."

He's laughing softly even though it's not funny as he nods his head. "Uh, yeah." He hates worrying her, but he needed her on this. He knew how much it pissed her off, but he also knew that that was a blanket to cover exactly how much she was agonised over him. He swore that this time he wasn't reckless, he was just trying his best to protect the civilians around him and got badly hit in the process.

"Sorry."

She rolls her eyes which he can see due to his enhanced senses and that meant that he had really good night vision too. He knew that she knew that and it made it easier for him to smile through the pain.

"If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have gotten yourself hurt."

"I know."

She sighs as she helps him sit down on her bed. She reached over him and turned on her lamp that was next to her bed, the soft yellow light shining on the most important parts of him. She bites her lip when she sees all the injuries that were left on his skin. Her eyes soaks in every single one of them, wondering which one she would have to attend to first. He was going to have more scars than he already did once she was through with him.

He's got a nasty hole in his left shoulder, as if he had been shot by something and it exploded his blood all over him. He also has a disgusting gash that went from his armpit and down to his hip on the same side. She winced when she saw that the bleeding had just about stopped. She had also noticed him hobble over to her bed, meaning that he has a foot that is now out of commission. She bites her lip again, drawing blood when she sees just how much he has been through. Without realising it, her eyes shifted to the left side of his chest and she almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw that nothing had been targeted for his heart. Or maybe the bullet wound he had was aiming for there. Either way, it had missed.

She takes a deep breath while she closes her eyes, trying her best not to cry. She scolds herself mentally. He doesn't need tears right now, he needs healing. She feels him tug at her hand and she hoped to fuck he was at least using his good arm to do so. She opened her eyes to see him staring up at her with his soft obsidians.

"Juvia. Babe. Don't stress too much. I'll be alright. I just need you right now."

She knows that. Without speaking, she has her blood wires attaching themselves to him. She feels bad when she sees him wince, but his face soon relaxes as she gets her blood pumping around his body. She bends down next to him and pulls out her extensive first aid kit from under her bed. Every time she brought it out, Natsu always snorted. Like clockwork, he did so now and she rolls her eyes.

"What's so funny?"

"You're so extreme for having that."

She glares up at him, her face casting dark shadows in the pale light. "That's because someone likes to have extreme injuries."

Natsu just hums in agreement as she stands up and places the kit next to him on the bed. He reaches his hand out and cups her cheek before gently tracing down her jaw and using his thumb to rub smoothly across her lips. His index finger slides up to the bridge of her nose as his eyes drink in all of her. He then moves a strand of hair away from her face, exhaling heavily as he regards her in a way that makes it seem like he wants to remember her properly for when he drifts off into the afterlife. Juvia loathes and loves that he touches her like that. Because he is so powerful and shakes off every bad thing that happens to him, Juvia sometimes forgets that he's a mortal too.

"I'm sorry," he whispers gently, all signs of playfulness gone. Juvia nods her head in understanding.

"Juvia knows you are, but it's okay. You're getting blood on the sheets."

"Oh shit, sorry-"

"It's okay, stop apologising. Juvia will clean the sheets in the morning. We can sleep on the sofa bed later. Let's get you sorted out, okay?"

"Sure."

Before he can retract his hand, Juvia holds it gingerly, almost as if she is going to break him and kisses his palm. She looks up to see that boyish grin that he has always had on his face, dancing on his lips. Her heart flutters at the sight of it, but she doesn't let it show on her face. She doesn't need to, he can already hear how her heart beats for him.

"Okay, let me sanitize my hands and then clean your wounds..." She does so silently, sending a coat of water to cover his skin and wash out his injuries. He groans at the coolness of it and his eyes finally fall on her figure. She's wearing that silky pink babydoll nightdress that he loves so much, because it matches his hair colour. Her breasts are pushed up deliciously and he can't help but think about how bewitching she looks. Sometimes, he couldn't help but think that he really didn't deserve her.

"Sometimes, Juvia doesn't know why you still come to her with injuries like this. Seeing as you come out all this way to Fairy Hills anyway, why don't you just go to Wendy-chan? She can do a much better job than Juvia ever will."

Juvia would rather that he got healed up with magic so that he got better faster. Doing it the way she did made her feel like a civilian and it worried her that it wouldn't be enough to help him. She almost quivers at the thought of ever losing him early.

Natsu grunts softly when Juvia wipes at the hole in his shoulder. He was lucky it hadn't come out of the other side and she used her water magic to pull out the bullet that was still lodged in there. He also spied Juvia's sewing kit that she had changed into a stitch kit and he knew that she had put some numbing medication into the blood wires so that he wouldn't feel what she was about to do to him. He hated using anaesthetics as he wanted to be awake to see everything she was doing. This was their time together.

"You take good care of me. I could also say the same thing about when you come to mine all bruised and injured." Albeit she was usually better off than he was, she still scared the shit out of him when she came back hurt. She was usually so careful so he always demanded the details of her job so that he knew whose prison cell he was infiltrating and then killing. She would never tell him.

"Shut up."

Natsu cackles. "Hey, be nice to the patient. I'm injured."

"Juvia is being nice, she's tending to your wounds at stupid o'clock. Now stop complaining before Juvia makes it worse." She could never do that and they both knew it.

She brought out her needle when she was sure that Natsu was completely numb. She had bought a lot of stitches from Porlyusica when she had basically begged the woman to teach her how to stitch. She barely needed the lessons, she was proficient at sewing, but doing it on skin was very different from making a doll. Porlyusica had actually been impressed with her and while she helped Wendy with her healing spells and potions, she was more than happy to help Juvia with the physical side of healing if Wendy wasn't around or had run out of magic. Juvia got more than enough practice with Natsu. Porlyusica was also the one who taught her how to store certain medication in her blood wires for times like this.

There was silence between them as Juvia concentrated on stitching the large wound on his side. Not once does he flinch and Juvia feels like she's holding her breath the entire time. Despite knowing she was good at it, she was always afraid that she would do it wrong. Natsu is very precious to her and she needs him to know that. He can't go dying on her because she made some sort of mistake.

After what seems like an eternity, she's finally done with that wound and has moved onto the bullet hole. It was small, so 2 stitches was more than enough for him. She put all the stitch tape over all his stitches. She glances down at his foot as if just remembering it and she touches it slightly. Natsu gives her a blank look, indicating that he can't even feel her touching him.

"It's broken," she states.

"Nah, it can't be," he responds as he's shaking his head in denial.

"Says who?"

"Says me. I can't afford a broken ankle, Juves."

Juvia smirks despite him being so ridiculous right now. "Juvia is getting paid for patching you up? Natsu-kun is way too kind."

He smirks back. "No way. But seriously, I've got a few jobs that I wanted to go on and I can't just not go because I fucking busted my ankle. I was even gonna go on a few bigger jobs with my team too."

Juvia huffs and levels him with a glare. "You're seriously injured and all you can think about is your team and some jobs? They'll be fine, they've got Erza, Gray and even Lucy. Lucy is no slouch."

"I know," he grumbles. "I just wanted to be there." He has something important that he needs to save up for, not like he'll let her know that.

"And Juvia wants you to be here," she mentions softly. The meaning went two ways. She needs him here physically with her and she needs him alive. That makes him sigh as he nods his head, showing that he will be here for her and that he was going to stay. Juvia smiles triumphantly, placing a subtle kiss on his temple.

"Juvia is going to use the elastic bandages. At least you can still move. And then Juvia will treat your foot. We'll have to go to the living room for that one. Juvia will surround your foot with water so that it takes the weight off of your leg. Juvia hasn't really got any plaster to make a cast, so we'll go to Porlyusica-san's place tomorrow."

"You're a babe," he breathes out, causing her a blush to bloom on Juvia's face as she ducks her head shyly. He chuckles at her reaction, happy that she isn't still mad at him. Not like she was actually mad, she just likes to act like she's mad so that he can understand the severity of the situation. His injuries were really no laughing matter.

She takes a peek at all the black and blue bruises on his chest and titters as she makes a little joke. "You look like a building fell on top of you."

Natsu was silent, not saying anything to deny it and Juvia's eyes widened, her voice filled with disbelief and humour. "Wait, did a building really fall-"

"NO! Okay, YES, but that was because I had to get the civilians outta there! I managed to throw the last one out before the building fell. Don't worry, only the bruises are caused by the building. I was pretty lucky in surviving that. I nearly caught all that rubble with my face. Not fun, I can tell you that for free."

"So can Juvia. Juvia can't believe-"

"But babe, as you can see I'm fine now."

"Stop interrupting me. What am I going to do with you?"

She only speaks in the first person when she's extremely distraught. There's only so much emotion that she can hold onto before she breaks down and starts blubbering. To be honest, she's lasted a long time. Usually, she would have broken down by now, but he was proud of her. He really doesn't mean to make her worry. However, he knows that if he were in her shoes, there's no way that he would ever let her out of his sight again. He would have her on a leash.

"I actually think she would enjoy that."

"Okay, let's go and get this bandaged up."

She surrounds his foot in water and his side is now bandaged up too. She goes to his good side and helps to hold him up. She's grateful for all the times Gajeel and Erza had forced her into lifting weights, because Natsu's dead weight was almost toppling over her. She scowls up at him and he smiles sheepishly as he tries to hold some of his weight up. Still, she can't really blame him, he has a really bad side and it probably hurts to stand up, despite the numbing medication. If he really put his mind to it, Natsu barely flinches at things like this and Juvia doesn't know what she hates more. Him wincing and showing how much pain he was in or him refusing to show how much pain he was in.

Juvia was grateful that she had splashed out on a very fancy sofa bed. It means that she only has to push one button and it does it for her, unfolding mechanically. She places Natsu down on the bed and plumps up some pillows for him before placing them behind his back. He sits up nicely and Juvia grabs another cushion and gently places his foot on it. The water surrounding his foot suddenly goes ice cold due to Juvia's control which puts an end to the throbbing better than the numbing medicine can.

Natsu looks up at her as she's heading towards the kitchen. She still has her wires attached to him and he frowns. "Juves, you might wanna remove your wires. I should be good now, don't drain yourself."

"Juvia will be okay, don't wor-"

"Juvia."

"Okay, okay!" She retracts her blood wires with a pout. Although she's able to use her blood wires really well, that was more on regular people. Porlyusica had already told her that she couldn't use it for too long on a dragon slayer as their level of magic is just too high. It required too much magic in order to help heal a dragon slayer with the magic that she used. Still, she was always ready to risk her own health where Natsu was concerned. How he had found out that she wasn't allowed to use it for so long was beyond her.

"Maybe Porlyusica-san told him to keep an eye on Juvia."

She got a few snacks for him and even a glass of water. She has it all out on a tray, his eyes sparkling at the sight of them and her. She places the tray next to him and she sits on the other side of it so that it's in between the both of them.

"Juvia knows that Natsu-kun hasn't eaten. You never eat until you're patched up."

He gives her a knowing look. "I can't because I don't know what kinda drug you're gonna put in me whenever you use your blood wires. Remember the first time I had eaten before I came here?"

Juvia does remember it. At the time, it was far from hilarious. He had gotten puke everywhere. It was horrifying and Juvia ended up flooding her whole apartment as a way to actually get it cleaned. Now, it was a funny little story that they liked to bring up every now and again. It had happened around the start of their relationship.

"It was the most disgusting thing Juvia had ever seen."

He grins at the memory. "Your reaction was the best! I had never seen you shoot geysers out of your hands before! One hand had boiling hot water and the other had freezing cold water, it was amazing. Just like you. Because even though you too got covered in it, you still tended to my wounds."

Juvia blushes and moves a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh please, anyone would have done it."

Natsu shakes his head. "But you're not anyone and I'm glad you're not. You're Juvia. My Juvia."

He smiles at her and holds her hand, intertwining their fingers. His hands are always so rough and he enjoys just how soft her hands feel against his. It's really nice. She feeds him a few snacks as his good hand is the one holding her hand and she would rather feed him than let go. It's been a few weeks since they had had some alone time. Natsu must have finally told Happy to stay put so that he can see his girlfriend.

"Other than the injuries, was it a good fight? Whenever you come back from a fight that interests you, your body runs really hot, just like now."

Natsu grins just like a Cheshire cat at the little piece of information Juvia has on him that even he doesn't know about himself. It's really cute that she knows little things about him. At least he wasn't the only one who paid attention to his other half. Juvia pays him just as much attention as he does to her. He will never say he's insecure about their relationship, but Juvia always reassures him that she loves him through just the smallest of things.

"Yeah, it was. I got so mad after he clotheslined the building though. That was a dirty fucking trick and I'm glad I put him in his place. He wasn't above getting civilians injured in his attacks in order to make me fight him seriously."

"What even happened out there? Juvia thought it was a normal job."

"The rating of the job changed the moment I realised I was chasing an S-class criminal. The original posters of the job couldn't afford the S class pay, so they made it a low one. The whole time they were sending regular mages to their death as he killed everyone who ever challenged him."

Juvia's heart rate quickens at the thought. Her heart goes out to all the mages who had thought they were going on a simple job and their lives were terminated early because they basically lied to. It was tragic and Juvia was kind of happy that Natsu had been the one to take the job from their guild. She knows that at least he can handle it. Still, that could have easily been her out there too. She doesn't think she has the strength to take someone like that on.

"And what exactly possessed you to take a regular job, Natsu-kun?"

He shrugs with one shoulder. "I don't actually know. Maybe because I was sick and tired of going on jobs with my team. I wanted to go on one with you, but you weren't back yet and I wanted an easy job to fill the gap until you came back. I wanted us to go on an S class job together and that's the real reason why I didn't want to have this stupid broken foot."

Juvia giggles at his cute pout and she shakes her head. "That just means that now we get to hang out here until you're better. Juvia will make Natsu-kun all his favourite food and then we can go on a job together once you're all healed, deal?"

Natsu doesn't bother answering as he moves the empty tray of snacks and their glasses over to the table and then uses the remaining strength he has to wrap his arm around Juvia's waist and pull her on top of him. She gasps and uses her water body to soften to the blow so that she doesn't land on him heavily. She gives him a hard look which he ignores with an innocent smile. Instead, he slowly moves his hands up and down her bare thighs. Her dress is now bunching up around her hips as she straddles him. Her face is as pink as his hair, but she let his hands roam over her body.

He moves his hands up until he gets to her hips, where his thumbs rotate in circles on her waist. Juvia glances down at him and can't help but think he looks so pretty. Despite a few cuts on his face and that large scar on his jaw, he's really a dashing young man and Juvia sometimes can't believe just how lucky she is to have him in her life. She cups his cheeks with both hands as they just stare at each other, drinking each other in. Azure clashes on onyx before Juvia's hand slowly moves down his neck, much like his had done earlier. She touches him lightly, almost as if an apparition was kissing his skin where her fingers were touching.

She moves further down his neck, tracing over light cuts and scars. She moves to the bullet wound were she circles it a few times and then moves her fingers down to his side. Even though he can't feel any pain when she touches it, he could feel her. She takes her time over his side injury, almost as if he's a canvas and she's drawing over him. He's her masterpiece that she wants to take her time with, slowly, pensively. They're still staring deep into each other's eyes as they lay their souls bare for each other.

He then tugs her down so that his face lies in the crook of her neck. Her arms instinctively wind themselves around his neck as her right hand reaches up and rakes her nails through his hair. Sometimes, he just needs peace and the only person that can give that to him is Juvia. He breathes in her scent deep, her aroma is memorised as his favourite scent in the whole world. As long as she's alive, he can smell her wherever she goes, even when she isn't with him. The basis of her magic keeps him quiet and calm, a feat that no one can claim. She's his ocean, a siren that calls and drags him deeper and deeper. It doesn't make him weak, it makes him strong.

But after the battle that he had gone through with the closeness of losing himself under that building, it was Juvia's face that burned through his mind. He's dead sure he had passed out under all that rubble and that it was Juvia's saccharine voice that brought him out of the river of Sanzu to make sure that he didn't die before he told her he loved her one last time. No, he wasn't going to die in a fight. He's going to grow old and die of old age after spending so many years with his lover, Juvia Lockser. He hasn't made her Mrs Dragneel yet, so he's not allowed to die.

And that was how he had pulled himself back from the brink of death. He was trapped under the rubble, but a large piece was holding back a lot of weight that he managed to crawl from underneath. How he had defeated the mage was beyond him. The man wasn't strong himself, he just used a lot of dirty tricks. Thinking back, the building had been old and maybe the man knew it's weak spots to make it crumble. Natsu had been able to fight due to the adrenaline and the thought of wanting to get home to Juvia.

His injured arm tightens around the small of her back and Juvia lays a kiss on his cheek. "Be careful. Don't hurt yourself-"

The words on her tongue die off and her mind comes to an abrupt halt and goes blank. His tongue finds her weak spot. Her love bite in his favourite place has faded away due to how long it has been since they had been so intimate, and she's glad that he wants to give her another mark. Her breath stutters out when he nips and sucks at her pliant skin, his incisors piercing her. Juvia throws her head back with a delighted moan and Natsu can't help but lay kisses all over neck and her jaw before finding her lips.

The kiss is exactly like the pair of them. Chaotic, energetic and hot. Natsu is hot and thank Kami he is. He's still alive even after putting himself in danger and Juvia really doesn't know what she's going to do with him for scaring her. They kiss desperately, hungrily as if they want more from each other. Their passion engulfs one another as Natsu sucks on Juvia's bottom, pouty lip. Juvia moans into his mouth as one hand moves up, running circles on her nipples through her enticing dress.

Natsu needs to remind himself that this isn't the illusion Juvia that helped bring him back from the edge. This is the real Juvia, the one that he needs to stay alive for, to make happy and to remember that he can still have her. Her hand is still raking through his hair when she eventually decides to pull back. They're breathing heavily, the kiss knocking the breath right out of them. Juvia pokes Natsu in his chest lightly and he pretends to wince. He grins devilishly when he sees her glowering at him.

"Natsu-kun really needs to be careful out there. Please."

Natsu nods when he hears her voice crack on 'please'. "I know. I'll try."

Juvia sighs. She knows he can't really promise such a thing. Even she can't. They're mages, S class mages at that. Death is always around the corner when they take a difficult job.

"Natsu-kun knows that we don't really go on jobs together as Master has different uses for our skill set. Juvia can't be there to protect you."

It's always so funny yet so cute whenever Juvia says she needs to protect him. It was refreshing to have someone want to do something like that, instead of letting him do everything himself.

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing to you. You gotta be careful out there too, Juves."

"Sure."

"You also can't die." He's referring to that time when she died in front of him when they were against the members of Tartaros. Natsu didn't know just how much that little scene of her 'dying' would affect him.

"Same to Natsu-kun."

He chuckles as he leans forward and rests his head on her ample breasts. Juvia's cheeks glowed, but she let him stay there.

"I guess it's official. We can't die. Not on a job and not against any enemies."

"Juvia loves you," she blurts out, which makes Natsu stop breathing for a few seconds before he continues. "Juvia loves you so much."

Juvia would have never thought that these words would ever be aimed at Natsu, but now that they have been dating for three years, she can't imagine herself saying these words to anyone else. She hasn't stopped running her fingers through his hair which is slowly sending him off to sleep. With the snacks she had given him and the numbing medicine that ran through her blood wires, he was more than ready for bed. Just having Juvia this close to him, rocking her like this...

"I should go out and buy a ring when I'm all healed up. I've been saving up for it anyway."

"I love you too, Juvia Lockser."

Juvia gives him an inquisitive look, wondering why he said her full name, but she puts it down to him being a weirdo. Her weirdo of course. She doesn't know that he;s saying it because he wants this moment to be the last time that he recognises her as a 'Lockser'. Soon she's going to be a Dragneel. His arm squeezes her one last time before she slides off to his good side.

"Bedtime?"

He nods at her, watching as she moves to switch off the lights. She comes back and settles in next to him, minding his broken ankle. She doesn't want to hurt him by snuggling in close, but Natsu sorted out that problem by pulling her into his good side anyway. He knows that she would usually have trouble falling asleep, but that's if he's not here. The pair of them fall asleep easily when they're in each other's arms

He places a chaste kiss on her temple. "Goodnight, Juves," he whispers to her softly. He sees her smile as she closes her eyes, nodding a little as her breathing slows almost immediately.

"Goodnight, Natsu-kun."

So, how was it? Did you enjoy it? I really hope you did! I felt like I had to show my face just to remind everyone that I AM still here and I haven't forgotten about you guys. I am still writing and I'm still planning a lot of works that I hope you all get excited for when I release them. Also, just want to mention that I stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote in the present tense. I hope it was okay. It was SO hard, so kudos to you guys who write in the present tense!

Don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! I love you guys to Pluto and back. You already know that this is my 10th year as a writer and I toast (underaged readers grab some juice or something) to many more years! Much love to you all!

Lolita-love,

Lolita-chan,

Dark Gothic Lolita