roxyloserlesbian-arts - Tumblr blog

roxyloserlesbian-arts · 18 days ago

Note

Natsu taking care of Lucy when she's having a fever

(I currently have a fever and I'm coping)

In the Stillness, You

Summary: Lucy has a fever. Notes: Happy birthday @roxyloserlesbian-arts ! Ao3 - FF.net

***

For once, Natsu had decided to use the door. He had woken up this morning feeling extra nice, and made sure to start the day on Lucy’s good side by using a very boring, conventional way to greet her. Something that he knew she’d appreciate: she always went on and on about how she couldn’t feel relaxed in her own apartment due to his impromptu visits through her window. He had never bothered understanding why she felt this way, just like she’d never bothered understanding why he preferred the window. Still, today he complied to Lucy’s wishes and took the normal way in.

So why wasn’t she answering? He’d knocked four separate times already, surely she would have woken up from something like that?

“Maybe she’s passed out from eating too much greasy chicken,” Happy thought out loud.

“Yeah… We should check on her.” Natsu was already on his way out to take his usual window route, when Happy stopped him.

“Hold on!” A blue paw on Natsu’s forehead made him slow down. “You said you wanted to be on Lucy’s good side today, shouldn’t we feel if the door is unlocked before you throw your plans in the bin?”

“Oh yeah that’s right!” Entering through the window was so natural for him that he forgot Lucy could have forgotten to lock the door – it would be quite like her, she could be more scatter minded than people thought.

He pushed down the door handle- door didn’t budge. He tried again, this time pushing instead of pulling. Still didn’t budge. He was growing increasingly impatient.

“Did she seriously have to remember to lock the door today!?” He burst out, trying to push down the gnawing worry that spread inside him. “Nah screw this!”

Leaving the exceed in the dust, Natsu hurried to Lucy’s window, scaling the building within new record time. As soon as he made it up his eyes darted around the room. Cracking the window open, he finally saw her. Well, not her, rather her hair sticking up from underneath the covers. Still, getting this glimpse of her made his heartbeat slow down. He swiftly got inside, holding the window open just long enough for Happy to fly in as well.

“Did ya’ find her?” He asked loudly, earning a pained, muffled groan from the lump hiding under the comforter.

“Shh…”

Natsu looked worriedly at Happy, and then back on the bed.

“What’s goin’ on?” He whispered. It sounded like she was in pain.

Lucy slowly wormed up from her odd position, and Natsu almost winced when he saw her. Her hair was messy, matte, and it was clear that she had been sweating, her bangs sticking to her forehead. She had tired, watery eyes, heavy under eye bags, and her pale skin looked pasty, sickly.

She coughed.

“I’m sick.”

Natsu suddenly felt like he had two left feet and like his torso was twisted 180 degrees. Well, not exactly, but he didn’t know what to do, what to say, or how to fix Lucy’s sickly state. She reminded him a little bit too much of how Natsu himself looked when he saw the train station in the distance. He really wanted to know what steps to take, but this wasn’t a situation he could solve his usual way: no punch would get Lucy out of this.

Luckily, Happy stepped in before Natsu could accidentally set his brain on fire.

“Do you have a fever?” He asked with a low tone. A small disturbance took place in the fur on his forehead, right where a frow would have been, hadn’t he been clad from head to toe in a blue coat. It was obvious he was worried, and it made sense: last time Lucy had been sick, she’d missed out on the rainbow cherry blossoms. A day they were meant to look back on with fondness turned sour, despite the fact that they managed to turn the day for the better by night time.

Natsu hadn’t stayed in the bedroom to hear Lucy’s answer. The apartment was small, were she to use words he’d hear them anyways. Instead he went straight to the bathroom to search for the small thermostat that he’d seen on one of his raids for anti-motion sickness medicine.

When he got back he looked at Happy for answers to his question. She hadn’t used her words, resulting in Natsu only hearing a rustle: he couldn’t know if it had been a nod or a dismissive shrug. Happy shook his head, confirming that Lucy hadn’t checked.

Natsu carefully treaded forward, not wanting to cause any disturbance by carelessly stomping around. He wasn’t sure if it helped being so overly quiet, but he remembered Happy being sick once, and back then he’d be unusually sound-, smell- and light-sensitive. The slim possibility that it was the same for Lucy today made him walk around like the floor was made out of thin glass. There was no need to make a tough day tougher.

He kneeled down beside her and took her chin between his pointer and his thumb, turning her head gently to look at him.

“Open up,” he ordered, sticking the thermostat under her tongue once her lips parted. He was a fire mage – he was used to heat, but even he could tell that Lucy’s face was burning up.

While waiting, Natso hovered by the side of Lucy’s bed like a confused puppy, hands twitching at his sides. It felt wrong to see her like this – curled up, pale, and fragile in a way Lucy was never supposed to be. She was strength wrapped in kindness, sunshine and starlight rolled into one loud, exasperated package. Not this. Never this.

Lucy cracked one eye open, her voice scraping like sandpaper against the stillness.

“What are you doing?” The thermostat wobbled as she spoke.

“Watching you,” he said, honest as always, though he winced at how it sounded.

She let out something between a sigh and a chuckle, weak and barely there.

“Creepy.”

“Not as creepy as dying alone in your apartment.”

“I’m not dying.” Her words stumbled over themselves, exhausted. “Just sick.”

Natsu grabbed the thermostat and scanned the numbers it displayed.

“38,6 degrees. Same thing, clearly,” he mumbled, once again feeling constipated. Action wise, that is. He wasn’t sure what to do: did she want water? Tea? He’d heard spicy food helped keep people healthy, was he supposed to cook something for her? Had she even eaten breakfast? He figured the best way was to just ask: better safe than sorry, after all.

Her usual sharpness was dulled by exhaustion, like all her edges had been smoothed out. Natsu didn’t like it. Lucy wasn’t supposed to be soft like this. She was supposed to sit upright in the middle of battle plans, snapping at him for knocking over her inkwell, or rolling her eyes when he suggested something reckless. She wasn’t supposed to need help.

“Do you need something?” he asked after a moment, the question stiff in his mouth. He didn’t know how to say things like that. They didn’t come naturally, not the way punching things did.

She blinked at him, slow and tired, like she wasn’t quite sure if she’d heard him right. “Just... stay.”

It was barely a whisper, but it felt like she’d reached across the space between them and gripped him by the collar. His heart thudded awkwardly, too big for his chest, but he nodded, scooting closer on the chair he’d dragged over from her desk.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly, the words landing in the quiet room like an anchor.

Lucy stirred again an hour later, her fever still high but her breaths more even. Natsu’s knee bounced rhythmically as he watched her, and Happy shifted beside him, yawning.

“She probably needs food,” Happy said suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Food?” Natsu frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, okay. I’ll make something.”

Happy blinked at him. “You?”

“Why not?” Natsu bristled, already halfway to the kitchen.

The answer became obvious as soon as he stepped inside. Cooking wasn’t like fighting—it required patience, timing, and an understanding of ingredients. None of those were Natsu’s strengths. Still, he wasn’t about to let something like that stop him.

He rummaged through Lucy’s cupboards with the energy of a tornado, pulling out things that looked promising: rice, some dried herbs, a small tin of broth cubes. He had no idea what he was doing, but that didn’t matter. Lucy needed food, and he was going to make it happen.

By the time he got a pot of rice simmering on the stove, the kitchen looked like it had been hit by a minor explosion. Herbs were scattered across the counter, and there was a suspicious scorch mark near the cutting board. Happy flew in, wrinkling his nose.

“It smells... weird.”

“It’s fine,” Natsu snapped, jabbing at the pot with a wooden spoon. He’d accidentally added too much water at first and then not enough, but it was starting to look like something edible. Maybe.

When the rice was finally done—soft and sticky, though slightly overcooked—he ladled it into a bowl and brought it back to Lucy’s bedside. She was awake again, barely, and her tired eyes widened slightly at the sight of him holding the steaming bowl.

“You... cooked?” she asked, her voice raspy and full of disbelief.

“Yeah,” he said, a little defensive. “Don’t look so surprised.”

Lucy blinked at him, then at the bowl. She reached for it with shaky hands, but Natsu stepped in, sitting down on the edge of the bed and holding the spoon instead.

“Here,” he said, scooping up a small bite. “You’re too weak to do it yourself.”

Her cheeks flushed, whether from fever or embarrassment he couldn’t tell, but she didn’t argue. She let him feed her the first bite, her brows lifting in mild surprise.

“It’s... not bad,” she said softly, her voice as warm as the steam rising from the bowl.

Natsu grinned, his chest puffing out a little. “Told you I could cook.”

She gave him a look, equal parts fond and exasperated, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, she leaned back into the pillows, letting him carefully offer her another spoonful. The warmth of the food settled into her, easing some of the ache in her body.

And for the first time all day, Natsu felt like he’d done something right.

By the time Lucy’s fever broke, the room was bathed in the soft, amber glow of the setting sun. The light filtered through her curtains, casting long shadows that danced gently across the walls. Natsu was slumped in the chair beside her bed, his head tilted back at an awkward angle, his mouth slightly open. Happy was curled in his lap, his tail draped lazily over Natsu’s arm, twitching with every soft snore.

Lucy blinked, her head still heavy but clearer than it had been in hours. The ache in her limbs remained, but it was muted now, softened by the warmth spreading through her chest. She wasn’t alone.

Her gaze drifted to the bowl on the bedside table—half-empty, the rice clumped together in a way that screamed Natsu tried. Her lips curved into a small, fond smile. He was a disaster in the kitchen, but he’d tried anyway.

She shifted slightly, the rustle of blankets loud in the still room. Natsu stirred immediately, his nose twitching like he’d caught a whiff of something burning. His eyes blinked open, unfocused at first, before they landed on her. Relief bloomed across his face, pure and unguarded.

“You’re awake!” he said, his voice a mix of surprise and triumph. “You look... not terrible.”

Lucy huffed a weak laugh, her head sinking back against the pillow. “Thanks, I think.”

“Seriously, though.” He leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees as his grin softened into something quieter. “How do you feel?”

“Better,” she admitted, her voice still raspy but steadier now. “Tired, but... better.”

“Good.” His grin widened, and for a moment, he looked like he might jump out of his chair. Then he paused, glancing at the bowl. “You ate, right? I mean, I saw you eat, but did it actually... help?”

“It did,” she said, surprising herself with how true it felt. She gave him a small, crooked smile. “The cooking could use some work, though.”

“Hey!” Natsu bristled, sitting up straighter. “That was top-tier rice. I worked really hard on it.”

Her smile grew, softening around the edges. “I know you did.”

For a moment, the room was quiet. The golden light from the window brushed against Natsu’s hair, turning it into a fiery halo. He looked so... there, so solid and unshakable, and it made something inside her chest tighten.

“Thanks for staying,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

Natsu’s expression shifted, the usual bravado melting into something warmer, something gentler. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”

“I know.” Her eyelids fluttered, the weight of exhaustion tugging at her again. “You’re... dependable like that.”

“Dependable?” He wrinkled his nose, leaning back in the chair. “I don’t know if I like that word.”

Lucy’s laugh was faint but genuine, like the first crack of sunlight after a long storm. “Too bad. It suits you.”

Natsu watched her for a moment, his head tilting slightly as if he wanted to argue. But then he sighed, letting it go. “Fine. But only for you.”

Her breath caught at the quiet sincerity in his voice, and for a moment, she thought about responding. About saying something that would match the weight of it. But the words didn’t come, and instead, she let her eyes close, the safety of his presence pulling her back into sleep.

Natsu settled back into the chair, his knee bouncing softly again as he glanced at Happy, still snoozing in his lap.

“She’ll be okay,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

#i love this so much #yhank youu

39 notes · View notes