-Sick-

Gray's Turn

It seemed that Gray had caught a fever as he stayed in his bed feeling, warm all over. He couldn't find the strength in him to move his body too much. In fact, all he felt like doing was sleep. Though, he knew that had to eat something soon.

Living alone, it was kind of too quiet for his liking. It was one of the reasons why he goes to the guild often after all. The stillness makes him realize just how lonely he really was and he hated that feeling.

Then, he heard the doorbell ring, making him wonder just who would visit him. Panting heavily, he used whatever strength he had to get up from the bed and go downstairs, rather shakily mind you, and open the door. He was a bit shock to find the fire mage by his front door.

"N-Natsu? What are you doing here?" He managed to wheeze.

Natsu observed the ice mage's appearance for he had been curious as to why the latter hadn't come to the guild. He could see the reason why now. Gray's hair was disheveled, tired eyes meeting his gaze, face flushed and covered in a thin sheet of sweat, and looked like the other was having trouble breathing from the deep breaths he could hear from his sensitive ears.

"You have a fever?" The dragon slayer asked, quite baffled for he had never seen the latter sick … ever.

"So what?" The ice mage questioned. He supposed it would be alright if Natsu were to accompany him, but he didn't have the courage to ask.

Natsu regarded him with a serious look, making the male uncomfortable from the unrelenting gaze. Without warning, the fire mage lifted the ice mage, who yelped from the sudden action, but couldn't do anything to even struggle, as he let himself in, closing and locking the door behind him. He trudged upstairs to the ice maker's room, though in the midst of it, commented, "How did you manage to even get downstairs without falling off?"

All he received was a groan as an answer, as he reached and opened the door to the other's room. He gently, much to the latter's surprise for he was expecting a harsher treatment, placed Gray onto the bed and tucked him in.

"I'll go cook something so you just rest there," and with that, the fire mage left the room.

Gray could only stare in astonishment before a smile appeared on his face. He was really thankful that he wasn't alone anymore, and it had really been long since he's had company. He patiently waited for the latter to return for there really wasn't much for him to do in his current state.

He hadn't even realized that he had dozed off until the pink haired male woke him up.

"Don't sleep with an empty stomach," he said, positioning the ice mage to sit upright with the pillows used for support.

Then, with a bowl of soup on one hand and a spoon in the other, he began to spoon-feed Gray.

"You probably don't even have the energy to do it yourself, so don't fight me on this one," Natsu stated, blowing over a spoonful of soup a couple of times before serving it to the ice maker.

The latter was docile much to the dragon slayer's surprise, and kept feeding the male until there was nothing left. He placed the dishes aside to clean up later and after much contemplating; he decided to get the other an ice pack for his forehead.

"Thanks," Gray said hoarsely, feeling grateful for the cool temperature on his forehead.

All he really needed to do now was to have plenty of rest... which would mean that Natsu was probably going to leave. There was nothing for the fire mage to do anymore, much to the ice mage's dismay, but he wondered if he could really ask the latter to stay.

'Would that be asking for too much?'

"It's about time for me to go then, since it seems like my job here is done."

No! Don't go...

Gray wanted to scream out that he didn't want the other to go so badly, but something was preventing him from doing so.

"You better get plenty of rest so you can come back to the guild," Natsu smiled before turning to the door.

Please don't go... I don't want to be alone anymore

Though all Gray could say was "Take care..." then watched the latter leave the room.

He figured out why he couldn't say it when he had suddenly remembered his past. When he was sick, his parents fought because they were blaming the other for their irresponsibility to take care of him. He hated that they fought every time, and more so, because of him. He didn't want to burden anyone, and that was why he prided himself to not get sick... Though, here he was now, getting sick after for so long.

'As much as I've wanted Natsu to stay, he was probably busy with more important things. Although, it had been really nice to have had some company.' He thought, slowly closing his eyes and once again, despising the stillness of the room.

He was startled greatly when Natsu came back, slamming the door open and close as he entered. He walked up to the ice mage, who looked at him with a confused expression, and stated, "On second thought, I'm staying."

He sat down cross-legged on the floor and stayed there. It made Gray question, "Why?"

"I'm not going to leave a sick person all by themselves," Natsu answered, raising a brow for it was only common sense.

"... You'll get bored." The ice mage reasoned.

Thank you.

"That's fine."

"... You'll catch my sickness."

Thank you.

Natsu grinned challengingly, "Bring it on! I'm not afraid of some illness."

Gray stared at him, outstretching a hand and was caught by the other's to hold on to. "... Will you be here when I wake up?"

The fire mage nodded, "Yup!"

"You really don't mind?"

"Nope!"

Then, Gray let out an endearing smile, as he found the courage to finally say what he's been meaning to.

"Stay by my side."

Natsu held on to the hand, tightening it slightly as to reassure the other that he was there, and returned the smile with his own.

"Always."

He wasn't alone anymore.

I got sick again just after the new year, and it was the worst kind where I could barely move. I tried countless of times to write, but nothing good came up. Seriously! I typed about 7 pages of stuff, then I came to realize that I wasn't going anywhere with it. So it was omitted. Then, I wrote about 6 pages in my notebook – omitted. Then, I attempted to write a good start of a story 5 times! It's not even writer's block because I have a ton of ideas, so I don't know what to call this. Writer's Overload (?n?) I don't know.

I hope you enjoyed reading this story. Since I was sick at the time, I took my OTP down with me… sorry for that.

Suggestions and comments are welcome =^w^=