The cupcakes for breakfast were a pleasant surprise, but Gray only apologized for forbidding that Natsu see Sting. There was no mention of choosing not to pick him up for days. Natsu ate his sweets, glowered, and only spoke to ask if they could go to the guild.

The trip to the guild was awkward. Too weak from his Suraci's to walk more than a few dozen feet, Natsu needed Gray to carry him the most of the way. Still fuming about how Gray ignored all need to explain why he took so long to come for him, Natsu pouted and refused to talk the entire time. Gray found himself grasping at straws for what Natsu did or didn't want once they reached the guild, and ended up setting him at a table near the bar, in case he wanted to socialize with tablemates, or with anyone on the bar stools.

With Natsu scowling at him, Gray took the hint and went to talk with Erza in the hope that she had some idea what to do to make up for the gaffe with Sting. Granted, while Lucy had Natsu over regularly and Wendy liked to check up on him with her magic, Erza had no service to provide and was rarely requested by Natsu for house visits. That she only saw him if they were both at the guild made her the least likely to know about Natsu's thoughts and feelings on anything that his disease impacted. Lucy and Wendy weren't there, however, and Happy had given Gray a similar silent treatment, so that made Erza the next choice to go to for help.

While Gray ran off to talk to other guild members instead of begging Natsu to break his silence and asking what he could do to fix things, Natsu sulked briefly about being quasi-abandoned. Lucy wasn't there to vent his romantic woes to, and in a quick scan of anyone present who might do, Natsu found himself settling on Mira. For as much of a gossip as she was, mentioning that he actually had feelings for Gray wasn't going to happen, but complaining about Gray was something he could do without throwing out there how much heartache Gray gave him.

Mira noticed the second Natsu stood from his table. Everyone noticed every little thing he did, since they'd all adapted a mild version of Gray's paranoia since his last attack. She waited for him to take a seat by the bar before moving over to talk with him.

"I miss having my helper," she said.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss helping with all your boring work. At least I was doing something."

"Does the new medicine help?"

"A little? I guess. Gray's been measure how far I can walk first thing in the morning before I need to sit, but it seems to go up and down." Gray swore that meant nothing, and that a general trend up over time was more what they were looking for. Natsu knew it was going to be a gradual improvement, but that didn't make the lack of immediate progress any more bearable.

"He takes good care of you," Mira said.

Natsu could only snort in response.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Gray."

Mira dropped her sweet smile, leaning down so no one else could easily overhear, and asked, "What did he do? I can't imagine he'd neglect taking care of you, so it must be that he was overbearing, right? What's he doing that takes things too far?"

"Actually," Natsu said, "it's a bit of both."

Apology or not, the fact that Gray had put so much effort into keeping Sting away still made Natsu's blood boil, and he detailed to Mira all the effort that went into visiting Sting. How well meaning and careful a caretaker Sting had been was explained at length, with extra details like the whole love rival argument being omitted. Gray wasn't in love with anyone anyway, so it wasn't like Mira would miss out on essential details for understanding Gray's hatred of Sting. From there Natsu went into explaining how late Gray was, choosing to wait days without any warning or explanation to come and pick him up, and then pretending he'd done nothing wrong.

"If he doesn't trust Sting with me, you'd think he'd want Sting to have me for as little time as possible," Natsu finished off with.

To his relief, Mira agreed. "What if he left you with someone who really didn't care?" She asked. "He might have been too critical of Sting, but there has to be plenty of people who really wouldn't do what it takes to help you. If Gray's fine leaving you with someone he doesn't think will do a good job, then how closely is he really looking out for you?"

The main hurt Natsu felt came from the fact that Gray had opted not to pick him up with no warning, explanation, or even reason that Natsu could discern, but he nodded along with this. It wasn't the biggest reason he was upset with Gray, but it was still an issue he was aware of. Compared to the excessive amount of teaching Gray had previously done with Lucy and all the complaining he'd done about every detail Lucy overlooked—even when Natsu needed less help than he now did—it was stunning how little he seemed to worry about the idea that Sting might have provided sub-par care. Even his interrogation the night before had focused more on Natsu and Sting's relationship than it did on how well Sting had performed his role as caregiver.

To have someone from the guild agree with him that Gray's behavior was wrong was a tremendous relief, but stopped being one the second Mira said, "I should report this to the master. Will you be okay sitting by yourself for a few minutes, or should I help you over to someone else's table first?"

For need of assuring people that he only needed so much babying, Natsu's immediate response was, "The tables aren't too far for me to walk to. It's not like I'm alone in the guild anyway." It was only after he'd gotten that out that the first half of what Mira said sank in. "Will Gray get in trouble?"

"Maybe. He got lucky this time, since you were with someone who took good care of you, but what if you weren't? What if Sting's guild wasn't happy to step up and help when things got busy for him, and he decided to leave you on your own all day anyways?"

That hadn't happened, but for as little faith as Gray had in Sting, Natsu could see the worry that he would be left with someone who actually neglected him.

The weirdest part of it, he realized as Mira left to speak with Makarov, was that Gray had no issue with Lucy. The ice mage had been furious the first time he found out that Lucy didn't do everything she was supposed to in looking after Natsu. That Lucy hadn't made Natsu take his medicine or even get out of bed was less a matter of neglect and more her trying too hard to be accommodating after he received bad news, but Gray still acted like it was as bad as deliberate abuse, and still left Natsu in Lucy's care twice more.

Not, of course, that Natsu objected to spending a few days with Lucy. The issue wasn't being left with Lucy. It was Gray leaving him with someone who did something to make the ice mage consider them unreliable.

Mira returned, smiled for him, and said, "The master is taking care of it. Can I get you anything to drink? It's on me."

The subject was dropped there. Natsu, aware of how early in the morning it still was, ordered a non-alcoholic drink and sat with Mira, listening to her gossip about the latest guild happenings. Natsu needed no update on Juvia's antics, but there were a lot of people who he no longer saw as much of. Erza, who had practically returned to working solo, disappeared for three days and came back looking oddly satisfied, which Mira considered to be of note because Crime Sorciere had been seen in the nearby area during her absence. Gajeel was seen carrying Levy's bags on a clothes shopping spree, but informed everyone that this was due to a lost bet with Pantherlily. Elfman and Evergreen still weren't dating, and just happened to go to an amusement park together for reasons unknown. Max had sworn off cleaning duties after a fight with Warren went awry. Lucy submitted a novel to an agent, but she didn't want anyone to hear about it unless she got good news back, so Mira was to tell no one, so Natsu was to pretend he didn't hear it from her.

Maybe, Natsu thought, he would go back to helping Mira around the guild once he'd been on the new medicine for long enough. Boring as it had been, depressing as it was to set his goals so low, it at least gave him reason to be here and there around the guild. Now that he was so thoroughly adjusted to the idea that he was off active duty for good, it would probably be easier to talk with everyone too. No trying to ignore the elephant in the room, or temper tantrums when his condition was brought up. He missed all that interaction. As it was, with his energy level, he was restricted to whoever sat at his table, or the tables immediately next to his.

Mira was the only one to go out of her way to talk with him that day. Natsu never saw any of his old team mates turn up, save for Gray, who knew he was in the dog house. A few people greeted him as they passed by, but most went to mingle with their own teams, or were only there for work.

This was fine… ish. Natsu knew he hadn't been the easiest person to socialize with as of late, and it wasn't anyone else's job to fix it. As he recovered, he would simply have to make more of an effort to reconnect with everyone. from Gray avoiding him to Mira gossiping with him to everyone else minding their own business, Natsu was fine with everything going on in the guild that day.

Everything except the part where Makarov climbed up onto the bar and told him, quietly, to come into the office so they could discuss relocating him from Gray's house.

-o-

"If it were purely a matter of what you do or don't want, we would never have stopped you from taking jobs in the first place."

"I'd have stopped on my own," Natsu argued. When Makarov raised an eyebrow, he blushed and added, "by this point."

"Ideally, you're health wouldn't have reached this point."

"I still don't want to move in with Laxus."

"It's only temporary. Once Lucy comes back, we can arrange for you to stay with her instead. I'm sure she'll be alright with it, all things considered. Gray might be fine leaving you for days on end with someone he doesn't trust, but I'm not. If Gray could do something so irresponsible, then someone else needs to look after you."

Natsu never thought he'd miss the time immediately after his diagnosis, but he missed only needing to be 'looked after' when walking between the guild and his house. How absurd he'd been back then to think being walked home was the epitome of no freedom.

"I'll look into what's happened with Gray," Makarov went on. "This isn't the first time someone has come to me with concerns regarding him acting as your caretaker. Quite a few members have come to me worried about the level of control he imposes on you, or the fact that your last attack happened when he was the one present."

Lucy was the one who'd been tasked with looking after him when that happened, but the last thing Natsu wanted was for her to be barred from looking after him too, so instead he said, "That was my own fault. I snuck out and followed him when I wasn't supposed to."

"And in the aftermath quite a few people came to me and expressed suspicions that the degree to which Gray already restricted you had influenced your decision to do so. Hearing signs now of him burning out as your caretaker only makes me more concerned."

Natsu bowed his head, eyes on his lap. He was mad at Gray for leaving him for days, but not enough so to really want them to split up. Even when he'd mentioned going back to his own home the night before, he'd done so more out of frustration than out of the honest belief that it would be better for him.

Reaching across the desk to put a hand on Natsu's shoulder, Makarov said, "I'm sorry, Natsu. I know this is hard. You've had to face a lot of major changes the last few months. I wouldn't force you through another if I wasn't worried about what might happen otherwise."

Natsu grunted a vague affirmative noise in response.

"Is there someone other than Laxus who you could stay with until Lucy gets back? Gajeel's in town, or you could stay with the Strauss siblings."

There was Sting, but Natsu didn't know just how open Sting's offer to help take care of him was. The white slayer hadn't seemed upset with the prospect of a few extra days with Natsu, but he'd also been plenty busy while Natsu was there. If he was behind on work, how fair would it be to come right back to him? Especially when the last caretaker he'd liked so much had apparently needed time off so badly as to leave him with someone they didn't trust for days without saying a word. He didn't want things with Sting to turn out the same way.

"No one in particular."

"Are you sure?"

"Gajeel's an idiot. I don't want to stay with him. It's only a few days with Laxus, right?"

Makarov nodded. "Lucy can take over for you once she's home, or Erza, possibly. She would need to move into your own house with you, but it could work, if you two are willing to work that out. If I determine that what I've heard about Gray has been over-exaggerated, then we'll see about reuniting the two of you. Until that happens, you can still see him at the guild."

"…Right."

Makarov gave Natsu's a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I'll call Laxus in. We can pick up your things from Gray's and have you set up and cozy in his house by evening."

-o-

STA: Caregiver Burnout is actually a thing you can diagnose people with, but that wasn't really on my mind when I named this fic. I just wanted something to do with decline that also had a fire or dragon pun in the name. (Don't know if I mentioned this before, but the placeholder title for this story was Malade. So glad I thought to call it Burn Out instead.)