Natsu was not cozy.
Laxus's house was too big, especially for someone used to a one room shack. The building was two floors and a massive layout with a great room large enough that Natsu hated having to walk across it. Also, Laxus lived there. Laxus. For as humiliating as Natsu used to think it to have Gray fussing over him, Laxus was a million times worse.
Granted, Laxus did his best. He set Natsu up in a room right next to one of the bathrooms (Who needed more than one bathroom when you lived by yourself?) and made sure first thing to get Natsu's hammock set up with a mattress underneath to catch him if he fell. Some thought went into accommodating his condition.
None of that changed that Natsu had been thrown into someone else's home with almost no warning, nor that the house was too large. The guest room was on the second floor, and stairs had become the bane of Natsu's existence. Between having a bathroom he could probably reach without help during the night and being on the same floor as the main living area, Natsu had to admit that the bathroom was less embarrassing. Explaining to Sting that he needed help reaching the toilet had been awkward for both of them. Being able to reach most of the locations in Gray's apartment without overexerting himself, however, had been ideal.
Then again, Gray left him for days without a word, and Laxus agreed to take care of him until Lucy returned on even shorter notice than Natsu had been given for this change.
"Make yourself at home," Laxus told Natsu, and Natsu might have felt more capable of that if Laxus hadn't then shut his bedroom door.
"W-wait!" Natsu called out.
The door opened back up immediately.
"Can I sit in the kitchen?"
Laxus shrugged. "I won't stop you."
Trying again, Natsu said, "Can you carry me down to the kitchen."
"You… need help getting down the stairs too?"
"Nevermind." Natsu pulled his scarf up over his nose to try and hide that he was blushing. "I'm fine up here."
"No. Sorry. I didn't realize your condition was… Let's get you down."
-o-
The news hit Gray like a bombshell. 'Unfit to continue looking after Natsu.' His life had revolved around making sure Natsu was okay ever since the diagnosis, and now he was unfit. Makarov wouldn't even tell him what precisely made him unfit, only that there had been many concerning reports which he wanted to look into.
What had he done wrong? He apologized to Natsu for the thing with Sting and promised to let them meet back up. He backed off on that controlling business, and even then, most of his offenses were things done for Natsu's safety. Like opposing Natsu going on a job. Look how well that turned out. Other than that, he'd done his best to be supportive while Natsu came to terms with his situation, he'd made himself available to help with all of Natsu's physical needs, and he'd always been careful to make sure that when he couldn't be there for Natsu, someone else would be. He'd even given up all hope of having Natsu for himself because he knew Natsu would be happier with Lucy.
Considering that, Gray knew he ought not to fuss. Natsu was to live with Lucy now, and they were sure to appreciate so much alone time together. If he really wanted Natsu to be happy, then why would he fight to drag Natsu back to his place?
This was what Gray reminded himself as he crossed his arms, planted himself firmly in the chair of Makarov's office, and said, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what was said to make you think I can't take care of him."
"Gray, don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. I didn't split the two of you up because I wanted to."
"Then why did you?" Gray demanded. "Why am I suddenly unfit to look after him?"
"It's not something that came on all of a sudden," Makarov stressed. "People have been expressing their concern to me almost since I first asked you to walk Natsu home. Walk Natsu home, Gray, that's all you had to do, and do you know how many times I heard people suggest you were overstepping your bounds?"
Gray bristled, and opened his mouth to argue that he'd also been put in charge of assessing Natsu and helping with his physical therapy, but Makarov spoke again before he could get the words out.
"I've had too many people come to me wondering if you two are a good fit. Natsu himself has brought issues to my attention in the past."
"This is about Sting, isn't it?" Gray asked before he could stop himself. "Natsu's still mad over me not liking Sting. I already admitted I was in the wrong there." He shoved his chair back and stood, trying and failing not to glare at Makarov. "Fine. Whatever. If Natsu's that fed up with me, that's his call. Thanks for at least convincing him he still shouldn't be on his own."
Despite Makarov's protests that he wait and calmly talk things over, Gray slammed the office door and stalked off.
Unfit to continue caring for Natsu. Please. He was the only one in the whole damn guild to recognize that letting Natsu tag along on jobs would end badly. He was the one who made sure Natsu did his therapy without overexerting himself, and took his medicine whenever he was supposed to. He was the one who went way out of his way to do whatever he could to cheer Natsu up after the news that he had to retire came out, when everyone else felt it best to leave him alone. Lucy let Natsu lay in bed for a whole week without bothering to take any of his treatments, then paid so little attention to where he was that he slipped away, came on a job, and wound up having another attack! Lucy was the one who snuck Natsu off to another town then left without telling anyone where he was! Why was Lucy considered more fit to see to Natsu's care than he was? Hell, why was Laxus? Had Natsu and Laxus even spoken since the diagnosis? Did Laxus even know what all Natsu's needs were?
Gray swallowed back a frustrated scream. Natsu liked Lucy, so for as badly as he wanted to run back and fight Makarov, he had to let it go. He had to. For whatever Lucy's failing were, Natsu liked being with her. He couldn't deliberately do something that jeopardized their ability to be together. Natsu would hate him for that even more than he'd hated being he couldn't see Sting.
Gray hated that. Hated that it was Lucy that Natsu liked. Hated that Sting could waltz right in and pluck Natsu away and not have Natsu ever get snippy with him about what the roset could or couldn't do. It wasn't fair. Gray loved Natsu. Gray wanted what was best for Natsu. Why did Natsu have to like someone else? Why did everyone think he wasn't even good for Natsu?
Elfman called out to him as he stormed past, asking if he was alright and if he intended to leave without taking Natsu with him. Gray ignored the words as best he could, slamming the guild's front doors on his way out.
If he'd taken a moment once outside to gather his wits, Gray would have gone home and continued to rage there. He never got the chance to have this moment. No sooner had he shut the door than was Juvia out it as well, putting a hand on his shoulder and attempting to offer comfort.
"Juvia couldn't help but hear what the master had to say. Gray shouldn't be so upset. Juvia knows Gray did his best with Natsu, and now there's more time to be together with Juvia."
"Not now."
"If Gray needs to talk, Juvia is—"
"I said not now!" Gray snapped, shoving her away. "What will it take to get it through your head that I don't want you around?"
He would regret saying that to her later, and not just because her tearing up and running away triggered a rainstorm that he then had to walk home in. Already in too bad a mood to care that he'd gone too far in telling her off, Gray scowled up at the rain and stormed off in the first direction his feet took him.
Paying as little attention as he was to where he was going, Gray only had a vague idea that the path he'd set himself down automatically was a familiar one, but it wasn't until he stepped past the town's border that he realized why that was. This was the path he walked Natsu back and forth on up until the last attack. Without realizing it, he'd taken himself in the direction of Natsu's home.
Gray almost turned around. He didn't want any reminders of Natsu, and thus of what people thought of his dedication to taking care of Natsu. He wanted to run home and pretend the whole day hadn't happened. No Natsu refusing to speak to him or Makarov calling him unfit. In fact, Gray wanted to pretend the whole damn month hadn't passed. Then he could avoid Sting as a love rival and Natsu asking to move back home too.
Instead of turning around, Gray strode forward. Natsu asked to move back home, after all, and it wasn't too unreasonable a request. His house was small enough that he wouldn't need much help getting from one end to the wall from the other. The main concerns with leaving him there were that it was a little way's out of town, and that all the clutter was a safety hazard. Happy could help with any minor issues just fine, and even if Gray wasn't fit to keep Natsu in his home, he'd proven himself more than capable of walking with Natsu. So long as he tidied up the place, it would be ready for Natsu to move back in as soon as he no longer needed someone with him constantly.
He expected it to be hard to go back there, and it was, just not for the reason he thought. Letting himself into Natsu's house triggered no memories of how he'd come to be the one always taking care of Natsu, but instead of what it had been like before Natsu needed so much help.
The walls were papered with all of the jobs Natsu went on, and memorabilia from major events was scattered here and there around the room. A bone from the dragon graveyard rested in one corner. Pressed leaves from Sirius Island's tree were pinned to a shelf, on which rested a scroll that Natsu had most likely stolen from the Zentopia church. This was the house of someone who used to be active. Someone who went on a new adventure every week.
Someone who didn't have the energy to get himself to the bathroom by dinner time.
It was like watching Natsu take in that he wouldn't recover the ability to fight and run all over again. Gray's throat constricted as it hit him anew just how radically this disease had altered Natsu's life. Half a year ago he'd been a hyperactive idiot who the guild couldn't help but see as invincible for all his triumphs. Now the most Natsu could do to assert himself was give someone the cold shoulder when they controlled his life in a way he didn't want.
Gray missed the Natsu who called him 'droopy eyes' and got into fist fights with him over who had to tell Erza that the store ran out of cake before they could buy one for her. The Natsu who sulked when he forced things his way but didn't put up any physical resistance was easier to keep from having another attack, but it was depressing to think of how thoroughly Natsu had fallen to grow so resigned.
Was that what everyone else saw? They didn't have to worry nearly as much about Natsu's wellbeing. It was Gray's responsibility, not theirs. Without needing to consider how Natsu's behavior impacted the odds of him running off and getting himself hurt, one could easily notice only how distinctly un-Natsu-like it was for Natsu to submit to every restriction Gray placed upon him. No wonder so many people voiced concerns to Makarov. If Gray saw Natsu suddenly become so submissive and abruptly move in with someone who had a track record of trying to stop him from doing what he wanted, Gray would be worried too.
He would speak to Makarov again in the morning, Gray decided. Once he'd had time to cool down, he'd go back into that office and make his case. Explain that Natsu was the one who'd insisted on the move in, fearing that he might be left in the care of strangers otherwise, and that the change in temperament was from fear of another attack after the last one was so crippling. Insist that he wasn't being controlling or abusive, and even if he'd let his feelings get the better of him once, he'd quickly apologized for it.
It wasn't like he'd done anything else wrong, so that should have been enough to smooth things over. He's apologize to Natsu again too. Until then, it would take him at least the remainder of the day to get Natsu's house organized.
-x-
STA: Tbh I don't really know what to say for this one. Bye.
Ryuu91: I guess I must be popular with Ryuus O-o
FranGipani6181: Yes. These are my two favorite reactions. Screams of horror and ego stroking praise.