Two weeks later the bandages came off.
For one horrible moment, Natsu squinted, then his eyes locked with Gray's and he grinned.
"How is it?" Gray asked. "You can see again."
"Yeah. You're still a little fuzzy, but I can tell what everything is now."
They could have done better. A lot better. Considering how sharp Natsu's vision used to be, Gray had been hoping that he'd end up with at least twenty-twenty vision upon recovery. But they also could have done worse. A little blurry was workable. They would find him glasses, or maybe, given the exact issue with his vision, commission special ones. After stumbling around blind for half a month, glasses were a huge step up.
Natsu pushed himself off of the infirmary bed, grabbing Gray to steady himself, then walked out of the room on his own.
Honestly, there had been great improvement all the way around. A test walk had proven the walk between the guild and Natsu's home was still impossible unaided, but he'd managed to recover enough that walking across the guild itself no longer wore him out. He could even reliably carry a plate from the kitchen to a table again. Only one, so there would be no employing him as Mira's dining helper again, but improvement was improvement.
He couldn't run. At all. It wasn't even a matter of his legs giving out. When Natsu tried his hardest to run, the best he managed was a brisk walk, which Porlyusica ordered him not to do. Stairs were still hard on him too, which made Gray feel guilty about having a second floor apartment.
He couldn't run, and he couldn't get himself home on his own, but he could get around the guild. Now, he could even see where he was going as he made his way through the guild. Gray hurried over to the infirmary door, mostly to watch the rest of the guild congratulate Natsu on the bandages coming off, but also to make sure he'd know if Natsu's legs began to wobble.
Fuzzy vision or not, Natsu could see well enough to navigate on his own. He wouldn't need to hold Gray's hand anymore. Happy as he was to see Natsu doing better, that thought bothered Gray. He knew why it bothered him too, and the reason why bothered him even more.
Liking Natsu was absurd. For one, Natsu was Natsu. And no offense to Lucy, but what kind of idiot fell for Natsu? He was loud and abrasive and… maybe not so hyper anymore, but still obnoxious. And besides, Natsu clearly had a thing for Lucy, and Lucy for him. Gray wasn't so entitled as to think that helping a friend in need meant he had to right to claim that friend over someone who was in a relationship first, nor was he selfish enough to want to come between those to.
Okay, maybe he did want to, but that was in theory. In practice, he knew better than to try.
It was for the best, he reminded himself. Juvia was jealous enough of the attention Natsu got when everyone thought it was nothing more than friendly concern. If Gray really cared about Natsu's wellbeing, then keeping him safe by not letting Juvia know she had an authentic love rival was the right thing to do.
It hurt, thinking about the idea that he'd fallen for… well… Natsu, for one, but for someone who would never return his feelings.
Gray couldn't help but smile, despite the ache in his chest. Watching Natsu greet everyone, seeing their faces again and grinning like the idiot he was, Gray couldn't help but feel happy for him.
That was it. So what if him and Natsu would never happen? He'd be dammed if at least one of them didn't come out of this happy. He'd give it his all to make sure Natsu neither felt too restrained by his condition, nor had an opportunity to make himself worse, and he'd be as supportive as he could with Natsu and Lucy's relationship.
He couldn't have everything he wanted, but if Natsu was happy, then that would be enough.
-o-
Gray's plans for Natsu hit a snag two days later, when he grabbed his wallet to go buy groceries and saw how little he had.
The guild gave him a monthly allowance now. The same as what Natsu would have made, had he still been able to work. Gray hadn't said anything about it to Natsu. He didn't want the roset to know that he was being paid to take care of him. He didn't want it to look like he needed to be paid to take Natsu into his home and help him with whatever he could. Natsu was an extra expense, though, and looking after him all the time meant barely working, so Gray wasn't about to turn down the money.
The money covered any Natsu and Happy's general cost of living, but it wasn't enough to pay Gray's rent, feed and extra person, and pay for the special glasses Natsu now wore to correct his vision the rest of the way. At least once or twice a month, Gray still had to take a job at the guild. Probably three times for October, given the glasses. Since he'd stayed put ever since Natsu's last attack, it was no longer a matter of needing to work periodically either. Even his rainy day savings were gone.
Grudgingly, he carried Natsu over to Lucy's that morning, along with a detailed list of everything involved in Natsu's care. He was reluctant to trust her still, but no one else had come up to Gray yet and extended the offer to take Natsu in. That seemed impossible to him, but then most of the guild had thought it unnecessary before, and a lot of people were still oversees. It was Lucy or no one, so after the last attack, Gray hoped she realized how serious a matter the Suraci's Disease was.
She lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw Natsu, taking his hand and practically pulling him into her room without even asking what the occasion was.
"It's been ages since you came by," she said as she dragged Natsu over to one of her chairs. "Sit. Have you had your tea yet? I can make it for you, or if you don't need it, I was about to make sencha."
"Soda?" Natsu asked.
"At breakfast time? Really?" Lucy paused, glancing at Gray.
Unable to think of any instructions from Porlyusica that prohibited breakfast soda, Gray shrugged.
"Soda it is! How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"Okay. But how are you feeling?"
Natsu rolled his eyes and said slowly, enunciating each syllable so as to minimize any chances of being misunderstood, "I do not feel as though anything is worse than normal. I am not yet tired, but am grateful for the chance to sit."
Lucy paused in the middle of pulling a can from the fridge and looked to Gray again. "Did you know he could talk like that?"
"I had to double my estimate of his vocabulary just now."
Natsu snorted. "And here I was worried it might be too complex for you."
"Me? You're the one who thinks 'fine' means everything from 'nothing's wrong' to 'I'm about to collapse in severe pain.' How am I the one whose vocabulary is under question?" Gray asked.
Natsu, unable to think of an immediate comeback, accepted Lucy's soda, struggled to open it, and held the still closed can to his lips to excuse his silence.
"It was great that you could bring him over to visit," Lucy said, taking the can back and popping it open for Natsu. "I know you take… I know he comes to the guild whenever you two can manage, but I've actually started to miss coming home late at night and finding him in my bed."
She laughed at that, flashing Gray an ironic grin before popping her own soda can open.
Gray smiled back, or did his best too. The thought of Natsu and Lucy in the same bed made his stomach twist, but it wasn't like he had no idea Natsu ever did that. He almost didn't open his mouth, for fear of criticizing such pre-marital closeness out of petty jealousy, but managed to speak without acting like a prick.
"I thought you were making tea."
"Oh! Right!" Lucy slammed the soda down and ran to grab a mug and tea bag. "Do you want some? Or you can have my soda."
"I'll take it," Natsu offered.
Her lips had already been on that can, and Gray, feeling a little too much like Juvia for comfort, didn't like the thought of Natsu's going on there next. "I can finish it off for you."
"But I want iiiiit," Natsu whined.
"And that much sugar first thing in the morning isn't good for anyone," Gray retorted. "You'll give yourself a sugar crash."
"I'm gonna crash by lunch anyway," Natsu argued.
"Nope. The soda is mine now. Besides, you need to work on not crashing by lunch."
"I have more in the fridge," Lucy said. "I'll send you off with one."
"Oh. About that." Gray picked up the can before it could somehow end up in Natsu's hands. "I can't put off work any longer. Do you mind looking after him for a few days."
"Me? Really?"
"No one else in the guild has put out an offer to let him stay with them, even overnight. It's a choice between letting him crash at your place for a few nights, or dumping him in nursing home as a respite patient. You're cheaper."
"And your house doesn't smell like dying old people," Natsu added.
"And you trust me?" Lucy asked, voice going accusatorily low. She even glared.
Gray met that glare with a flat look, and took a good long sip of his soda, waiting for her anger to ebb away. And it did. For as ridiculous as she'd found Gray to be after the first time she didn't quite look after Natsu, she realized she'd screwed up when her negligence the second time around contributed to his attack.
"Happy will be back from errands soon," Gray said. "He knows what to do, and I'm leaving you instructions for all the things Natsu will try to downplay." And you know now that I wasn't paranoid before, so you're not as likely to downplay them either. "We're friends. You and Natsu are great friends. I don't want to give up on trusting you yet."
Luckily for him, Lucy's attention went to the packet he'd put together on Natsu's care, which he produced from his pocket while he spoke. Looking down at it, she missed the cracks in his attempted casual expression that would have betrayed his lie at the end. He'd already given up on trusting her once. Even with Happy and the list, hell, even with Natsu cooperating, he was nervous about leaving him with Lucy again.
But he needed someone, and Natsu insisted on her, and had he not resolved to help the two get together?
With Lucy still absorbed in reading over the packet, Natsu took the chance to say, "Hey, Gray, you'd better not let Juvia know this happened."
"That I asked Lucy to let another man into her house?" Gray asked. "She'll be elated. What a golden opportunity for one of her love rivals to settle for someone else."
"Nah. I meant that." Natsu pointed to the can. "Indirect kiss. We'll get a week's worth of rain if she hears you drank from the same can as Lucy."
Fuck. He hadn't even considered that stopping Natsu's indirect kiss meant having his own. Not that it mattered that much to him, but somehow, somehow, Juvia would find out.
"W-well, anyway, you two have fun. Once Happy gets here, feel free to ask him about anything I didn't explain thoroughly in those notes. And if Natsu contradicts anything I wrote, assume he's lying and go with what I wrote."
Gray slammed the half-full can down on Lucy's counter and was out the door before Natsu could finish stuttering and come up with an appropriate protest.
-o-
There were many parts of Natsu's body that no longer worked properly, but his lungs were not among them. If he wanted, he knew he could scream out his indignation and Gray would hear it. So would Lucy's landlord, who would come and make a fuss about them while Gray would likely ignore him. Huffing, Natsu instead leaned back in Lucy's chair and took another sip of his soda.
"I didn't think he'd really trust me with you again," Lucy mused.
"You say that like I'm some pet you gotta sit."
Natsu waited for her to tease him with comparisons. That Gray took him out for walks to keep him from getting wrestles was something that had been floating around his mind for the past few days, and he was just itching for someone else to call that out so he could deny it.
Rather than tease him like she used to, Lucy grimaced and said, "Sorry."
"Yeah… Nevermind." Happy would have been all over that one.
"Well…" Lucy took a deep breath, looking around for anything to change the subject to. Her eyes lingered on a stack of papers on her desk, but rather than bring them up, she asked Natsu, "How are things with you and Gray?"
"Good? He's helpful. He still won't let me do things… but I couldn't fight him now if I wanted to."
"You haven't told him yet?"
"Told him what? He knows I don't have the energy to pretend I'm not sick anymore."
"No. I mean… you haven't confessed?"
In the aftermath of his attack, Natsu had completely forgotten that he told Lucy about that. He pulled his scarf over his nose to hide his blush and looked away.
"I take it that means no?"
"I don't think Gray's interested in me like that."
"He likes you more as a pet?" Ah. There was the teasing he'd wanted.
"No. A friend. And who are you calling a pet?"
"You tried to hint that you were interested then?" Lucy asked.
"Why would I?"
"To see how receptive he is."
Letting his scarf fall back down, Natsu took a good long sip of his soda while staring at Lucy and, one this had dragged the silence out long enough, asked, "What do you think Gray thinks of Juvia?"
"I honestly have no idea. Are you worried he might like her over… Oh. Oh. Yeah. Hinting might not do you any good."
"That's what I figured. He doesn't like Juvia though. He told me so."
"Well, someone should tell her," Lucy grumbled. "But that's good news for you. Less competition."
"I really think he isn't interested in me."
"Oh, fine." Huffing, Lucy went over and grabbed a stack off her desk. "Here. I didn't know if you wanted me to keep writing up our missions for you or not, but I figured it was a good exercise anyway. Now that you can see again, you're free to go through them."
Natsu held his hands out to accept the whole stack, but at the last second, Lucy thought better of giving him so much weight. Handing him the top story, she set the rest of the papers on a corner table beside him.
Miffed with not being trusted to hold paper, Natsu said, "Sitting at your desk isn't exercise."
"Not your kind, maybe. Enjoy the story. There's more soda in the fridge, if you need any. Try not to overdo it though. Gray said…" She caught herself, and they both exchanged horrified looks at the realization that they now gave his word weight. "Well, try not to overdo it on the soda. I need to freshen up, but call if you need help with anything, and I can grab a towel and run out. Once I'm ready, we can go to the guild, if you'd like."
Lucy's place was on the second floor, and then you had to turn down a few streets to reach the guild. That was too far for Natsu to make it on his own. Natsu heard the shower turn on, and doubted Lucy would be done 'freshening up' before Happy arrived, but if she somehow managed, that would mean she would need to carry him.
Well, it would probably be good for her to get some real exercise.
-o-
Before Happy returned, and well before Lucy came out of the bathroom, someone else showed up at the door. Natsu rose on his own and went to answer, and was pleased to see Sting and Rogue on the other side.
"Hey, four-eyes. Mind if we come in?"
"It's Lucy's," Rogue pointed out. "We should get her permission to—"
"That's never stopped anyone else," Natsu told them. "Come in. What did you want to see her for?"
"Nothing. We saw Gray without you again, and had to make sure he really did leave you with someone trustworthy this time."
Telling them the full details of his condition might have been a mistake. Sting was like Gray 2.0. But that's what it took to satisfy them once Natsu asked for their help moving his things to Gray's. Besides, Natsu appreciated that they'd come to check on them again, and stepped aside so they could come into the apartment.
"Lucy's bathing, so we have a few hours before she realizes anyone's here," Natsu said.
"You can manage around the apartment on your own?" Sting asked.
"Kind of." He needed to sit back down soon, before they noticed his legs shaking.
Luckily for Natsu, Sting looked up instead of down, taking in the apartment and whistling in appreciation. "She's got a nice place. Genma always picked where we stayed, and the apartment he chose for me is a dump. I haven't gotten around to moving out yet."
Since Sting stepped past him, Natsu took the chance to walk deeper into the apartment as well. Once he'd settled back into his chair, he asked, "Are you busy running the guild?"
"Yeah. You would not believe how much paperwork is involved. And we don't even have someone like you for the council to be riding our asses about."
"He says that, but I handle all of his papers." Rogue smirked. "He hasn't moved out yet because I refused to update his address for him. He's just that lazy."
"Hey. Watch it. I could excommunicate you from the guild, you know."
"Yeah, but then who would handle finances?"
Natsu smiled, watching them banter. It must have been fun at Sabertooth. It was fun at his guild too, when you had the energy to engage with everyone, and they didn't try as hard as they could not to bring up you were sick, only to mention something that made Natsu feel terrible about himself.
In the middle of bickering over whether or not Sting was capable of basic addition and multiplication, Rogue glanced at Natsu and asked, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"You look sad."
Instinctively, Natsu reached up and rubbed his eye. His hand came away dry, and unsure what else might be giving away the ache he felt in his chest, he forced a smile. "I'm fine."
"Oh. If you say so."
His own guild had known not to trust that word for long enough that it was downright weird to see someone hear it and not immediately accuse him of lying. The thought made Natsu crack a real grin, and Sting and Rogue, satisfied with that expression and blissfully ignorant of its cause, stopped worrying.
"He's brightened up now," Sting reported. "Hey, Natsu, you can still go to the guild hall, right? It's just jobs you can't go on."
That was a big just, but Natsu held his tongue on that and nodded.
"So why not come visit our guild some time? We'll let everyone know not to start a fist fight with you in advance. If you're stuck going wherever Gray takes you, I bet you don't get out to see people outside your guild a lot. If he's a grouch about it, we can pick you up ourselves."
"And fight with Gray over who gets to bring me home?"
Sting's eyes lit up. "Give me two days to find a decent apartment, and you're welcome to spend the night."
"Say yes," Rogue told Natsu. "If you can get him to actually get on top of moving, you'll have my undying gratitude."
Natsu laughed. "Sure. Next time Gray goes on a job, maybe."
"Sounds like a plan," Sting clapped Natsu on the back. "I'll have my place all ready for you by then."
"In the meantime," a pissed female voice cut in, "who let you two into my place?"
-x-
STA: Natsu, chapter 10: Goddamit I love Gray. Does he love me back? He doesn't like Juvia, so maybe I have a chance. Should I confess to him or not? Gray, chapter 22: Goddamit I love Natsu. Well, he obviously doesn't feel that way about me. Guess I get to die alone.
Asuka1920: The wait is over.
FranGipani6181: Thank you. I'm always worried that people will get frustrated with how much time I've taken. Most of the ship fics I read focus more on post-hook up drama and don't spend too much time getting characters together, so I always feel a little weird about my pacing. but I'm glad to see that people seem to like it.
Girl: Woah. Made someone cry... I maybe shouldn't be pleased with myself, but I am.