Relieving the Pain

Lucy softly closed the door to Nashi's bedroom. She trudged back to her and Natsu's room, exhausted. It had been a long day. It has been exactly one year since Nashi was born, also known as her birthday. She was now one year old. The party was, of course, held at the guild, and only at Fairy Tail would you find alcohol at a birthday party for a small child. Lucy was pleased to note that Nashi had a wonderful time. The party was incredible, and absolutely perfect.

Well… almost perfect.

Natsu took a job a week ago, and he still isn't home. Lucy, of course, understood him not being able to come home soon enough for his daughter's birthday. But Nashi, after the excitement of her party, seemed crestfallen. After she and her mother walked through the door of their apartment, she ran – or what you could consider running for such a young child – into her parents' bedroom, hopeful that her father would be there. But he wasn't. The look on her face when she turned around to face Lucy, was the saddest thing the celestial wizard had seen in a long time.

And she was completely prepared to give her husband a piece of her mind once he came home, scold him for making her daughter wear such a disappointed expression.

Much to her surprise, when she walked into their room, he was at the window with his back to her as he carefully closed it. Momentarily forgetting she was angry with him, she smiled and ran up behind him. "Natsu!" she shouted, wrapping her arms around his chest from behind. She leapt backward when he yelped in pain. "Natsu?"

"Hey, Luce," he said without turning to face her, his voice trying to sound normal. But she could sense the strain and discomfort in his tone.

"What's wrong?" she asked cautiously. He shrugged, and she could seem him cringe as his shoulders relaxed.

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me, Natsu." She placed a hand on his back. "What's wro—" She wandered off when he flinched under her touch. Not only that, he felt… different. She slowly and tenderly ran her hand down his back. He was extremely tense, the muscles around his shoulder blades tighter than normal. "What happened?" There was a pause between them before he sighed in defeat.

"I, uh… I took a bit of a fall," he explained softly. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and stepped forward to try and get a look at his face, but he turned his head away.

"Look at me," she commanded gently. He silently refused, turning his head even further away. She hardened her voice. "Natsu. Look at me." The Dragon Slayer sighed and slowly turned his head, his gaze connecting with hers. She took a step back, a hand reaching up to her mouth as she gasped. He had a nasty bruise around his right eye, and a gash ran from above his left eyebrow and down his temple, just below his cheekbone. His hair was dirty and matted, his bangs plastered to his forehead with dried blood. His shirt was open down the middle and his one sleeve was torn off at the elbow, revealing various cuts and bruises down his arms and torso. His clothes were tattered, his usually white pants stained dark brown from his blood.

"It's… really not that bad," Natsu said, lifting his hand to rub the back of his head. But his sore muscles protested against the action, causing him to wince and hiss through his teeth, slowly lowering his hand back to his side. "Okay, maybe it is."

"You said it was 'a bit' of a fall!" Lucy exclaimed. "It looks like Hell took you into its mouth and spit you back out!"

"Well, now you know why I wasn't able to make it back in time for Nashi's birthday party," he said sheepishly, smiling to try and lighten the mood. But Lucy wouldn't have it. She reached forward and flicked his nose. "Ow…"

"Can't you be serious for once?" she asked softly, her disapproving eyes boring into his. He couldn't stand that look. He looked down at his feet, unable to look her in the eyes any longer. After a moment's silence, she gently took his hand in hers. "Come on." She led him into the bed and sat him down on the mattress. She walked into the kitchen and came back a minute later with a first aid kit in her hand. After telling him to remove his shirt – which required her assistance, considering his screaming muscles wouldn't allow much movement – she got to patching him up. The whole process took a little more than half an hour, and she was now working on the cut on his face.

"Natsu, relax," she requested. "You're making this difficult." He did as much as he could to relax his face, but the stinging pain caused from the disinfectant was making it incredibly difficult. He sighed in relief when she pulled away, beginning the process of bandaging the wound. "There. All done." She put everything back into the kit and stood to put it back. As she did, Natsu lifted a hand to grasp his shoulder and rolled it, hoping it would relieve the tense ache. When she came back, he looked up at her with weary eyes.

"I hate feeling this sore," he said, rolling his other shoulder with a groan. "It sucks." Lucy rolled her eyes and sat down beside him.

"Turn around."

He looked at her. "What?"

"Turn around. Come on."

"Why?"

"Do you want it to stop hurting or not?" she snapped, folding her arms.

"Alright, alright. Sheesh," he uttered, turning on the couch so his back was to her. Lucy huffed and placed her hands on his shoulders, and began to message his neck. He stiffened at first, the pressure causing irritation to his already irritated body. But when the pads of her thumbs dug into his skin on either of his spine, he melted, unable to hold back the groan. He felt like he'd died and gone to heaven as her hands moved to his shoulder blades, gradually soothing the ache there. He wasn't at all surprised with his reaction. She'd always been good with her hands (wink, wink.)

Her fingers moved in small, gentle circles beneath his scapula. "Ah," he hissed, his back straightening slightly.

"Right there, huh?" she said, concentration evident in her voice.

"Dear god," he muttered as she added more pressure. Lucy giggled. Once she felt no more spasm around his shoulder blades, she moved to his lower back. She gently pressed into his spine.

"Oi," he gasped, his back arching suddenly.

"Did that hurt?" she asked, concerned. He shook his head.

"Just keep going."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You're so demanding." Natsu chuckled in the back of his throat, but it quickly morphed into a low, pleased moan. He was going to drool. He was seriously going to drool, and he didn't even care. He was so wrapped up in how good it felt, he didn't even realize that he'd been leaning back into Lucy until she grunted. "Natsu. You're crushing me."

"Mm," he hummed, his eyes heavy with lack of sleep and a content grin on his face. She huffed and gathered the strength into her arms to push him over to the side.

"Get off of me," she said as he rolled over, his face falling a pillow. "Fatty." That snapped him out of his blissful reverie. He hoisted himself up, his arms suddenly healed and full of their usual energy. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes narrowed into a fake glare.

"I am not fat," he said slowly, making sure his point got through. His wife giggled.

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe if you weren't so fat, this…" she gestured to his injured form, "…wouldn't have happened." She began to laugh, but stopped abruptly when he grabbed the side of her neck and pulled her into a kiss. She squeaked with surprise, but quickly recovered, lifting a hand to cup his cheek as her eyes fluttered closed.

"I'm not fat," he whispered against her lips.

"I know," she murmured back. He grinned.

"Good." He touched his lips to hers, crawling over her. She put a hand on his chest and pulled away slightly.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked gently.

"I feel as good as new," he answered, leaning forward to reunite their lips. His hooded eyes were suddenly wide open when she pressed a finger to his lips, a smirk on her face.

"Good. Now go apologize to your daughter." Natsu blinked, stunned. He'd been gone for a week, and all he gets was a kiss? But… she gave him a message! She only does that when she wants to…

"B-but—"

"No buts. You missed your daughter's first birthday. Go apologize."

"But she's sleeping!"

"Well, that's not my problem. Go on." Without saying anything else, she pulled away and walked to the bathroom to change into her pj's, leaving a dumbfounded Dragon Slayer on her bed. He watched as she disappeared behind the bathroom door and sighed. He slid off of the bed, grumbling to himself about being manipulated. She didn't even give him a goodnight kiss! And no, that kiss they shared a moment ago did not count. He quietly opened the door to Nashi's bedroom and slipped inside, approaching her crib. The sight that greeted him made his heart constrict. She was using Happy as a pillow, and her blanket was…

…his scarf. It was wrapped around her delicate being, and she was clutching onto the end of it like a life-line. A silly grin crawled onto his lips. Whatever pain had still been present on his body, vanished in an instant, like a leaf in an autumn wind.

Author's Note: Ne, mina! So… how'd I do with this one? Was it good? I hope so! Leave a review!