Lucy burst into the infirmary, shoving past several people to collapse on the side of Natsu’s hospital bed, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her head into his shoulder to hide the tears in her eyes, although Natsu could smell them anyways.
Team Natsu had been on a pretty simple mission. They just had to defeat a giant octopus monster.
Of course, Natsu being his stupid, reckless self, had launched into battle without paying attention to anything, and his instincts hadn’t saved his ass that time. He’d been grabbed by one of the octopus’ tentacles before anyone could react and was raised almost 20 feet into the air before being thrown harshly on the ground.
He’d gotten right up and continued fighting, scoffing at the rest of his team’s wondering if he was truly fine. Lucy had had a tiny inkling that he wasn’t fine, but she’d decided to trust him in knowing his limits.
That had been stupid.
As soon as the octopus had been defeated, they’d given a celebratory cheer. Lucy had turned to Natsu just in time to see him stumble and then collapse on the ground, passed out cold.
“Natsu, you idiot!” she’d cried, darting to his unconscious body to help Wendy turn him onto his back. “I knew he was hurt! Why didn’t I stop him!?”
“Lucy, it’s not your fault,” Erza had reassured.
“He shouldn’t have been a major fucking dumbass,” Gray had added.
Wendy had stood up after checking his vitals and performing a bit of magic on him. “He’s not in fatal danger, but I want to get him to the guild as soon as possible.”
Happy had chimed in, “We aren’t too far from Magnolia; Carla and I can fly Wendy and Natsu to the guild faster than if we all tried to take the train.” Carla had nodded her consent to the plan.
“You sure you won’t get too tired!?” Lucy had asked with concern. “You won’t accidentally drop him on the way!?”
Erza and Gray had both rested a hand on her shoulder in comfort. “Natsu will be in good hands,” Erza had reminded her as the exceeds nodded their confirmations.
Lucy’d been antsy the entire half-hour train ride home, Erza and Gray’s words of solace offering little to no consolation. She’d darted off the train as soon as it pulled into the station, forgetting or perhaps just not caring about her bit of luggage still on board. Surely her companions would grab it, anyways.
The people at the train station and throughout Magnolia had seemed to notice the celestial wizard’s distress, as she’d easily been able to forge a path through town and to the guild hall.
Which brought us to now, Lucy crying on his shoulder as he hesitantly brought his own arms around her. “Luce…”
The few other guildmates that had still been in the room chuckled at the scene, wondering if now was when something would finally happen between the two who’d been dancing around the line of friends and lovers for ages.
“He’ll be perfectly fine; just needs to rest for a few days and let his body heal itself again,” Wendy made sure to tell Lucy, who nodded in response against Natsu’s shoulder, still hiding her face. Wendy gave a smile to Natsu before ushering out the remnants of the guild members and to meet Erza and Gray at the door to give them the news.
Natsu and Lucy were silent for a bit, the only sounds in the room being Lucy’s sniffles and the ticking of the clock on the wall.
“Luce…” Natsu started again, not sure how to approach the situation.
