It was a surprisingly quiet evening in Lucy's apartment somehow, despite those currently inside.
Natsu had sneaked in bed while Lucy wasn't looking, stuffed (kinda) on her handmade dinner. Happy was already asleep on a pillow to his side and Lucy was curled up snugly reading on the sofa.
The dragon slayer could feel the pleasant-feeling arms of dreamland slowly wrap around him, and had just about succumbed to his lowering, super-heavy eyelids when he heard it.
A soft sniff.
Natsu's brow creased as he tilted his head towards the sound, though not opening his eyes.
The soft whimper that came after ensured he did and, trying not to jostle the sleeping exceed, Natsu raised his head to peek at Lucy.
She was clearly towards the end of her book, but unlike most times when she would have her nose practically touching the book, she now had a palm over her mouth tears streaming down her cheeks, even as her eyes continued darting across the pages.
The sight really bothered Natsu. He knew that it was probably something in the story that had made her cry, and so - in theory - it wasn't like something was actually hurting her or anything, but the sight of her weeping always did upset him.
But it wasn't like he could beat up the book now, could he?
So he rested his head back onto the pillow and waited patiently. She had teared up before, and he knew all she would need to do was finish the book, get to the happy ending and she'd feel better. Maybe even wake him up by kicking him out of her bed.
But the sniffling never did stop. And so Natsu couldn't really fall asleep.
A while later he sensed her approaching the bed.
Natsu opened his eyes to see that she was still crying and the sight hurt him, even if the cause was the troubles of fictional characters.
He propped himself up on his elbow and quickly moved the pillow Happy was dozing on further inside the bed. Turning to face her, he lifted the duvet he was under, prompting her to climb onto the bed, which she did without a word.
While Lucy would typically yell at him for being where he was, now all she did was curl into his warmth, burying her face into the comfortably dark space between them, still in tears.
Natsu tucked the duvet securely around her and began patting her head as she let it all out.
"He…h-he died, Natsu," she hiccuped, her voiced muffled. "He died for everyone and none of them know! They still hate him! But he did it all for them! It's not fair, it's so not fair and I can't even - "
She was cut off by more sobbing and Natsu,on impulse, leaned on her, holding her quivering frame close to him as she continued crying, running his fingers through her loose hair.
While he didn't get every reference she was alluding to, he did understand that Lucy's heart was bleeding for the protagonist, imaginary as it may have all been. Lucy had always had the kindest of hearts, even for people she had just met, and Natsu knew that sort of compassion wasn't the kind to be deterred by the mere limitations of fiction and reality. And so he comforted her the best way he could, by simply being there for her.
In time Lucy did quieten down. Natsu, peeling away just enough to look at her face, found that she had dozed off, her face still a wet red mess. Very carefully, he disentangled himself from her and headed to the bathroom, picking up a couple of hand towels on his way. He ran them under the tap, before squeezing off the extra moisture.
He made his way back to the snoozing blonde, sat at the edge of the bed next to her, and placed one across her eyes, using the other to gently pat her face clean, the light from the bathroom guiding him as he did.
Feeling her stir he paused and pulled back.
"Natsu?" she mumbled, sitting up as she took off the cloth over her sore eyes to rub them.
"Yeah, I'm here. It's okay, go back to sleep," he reassured.
"Why'd you put a wet rag on my face?" she murmured confusedly, and Natsu couldn't help but find it kinda cute.
"So your eyes don't look like huge wrinkly potatoes when you wake up." Despite the lightheartedness of the comment, his voice was only kind.
"Huh," was all Lucy could manage. "So this would really help with the swelling?"
"You're not the first person to bawl themselves to sleep, y'know," he answered, not quite matching her gaze.
Lucy's tired eyes widened. While Natsu had showed no sign of sadness or vulnerability just then, she found her heart aching at the thought of her best friend ever having to cry himself to sleep.
"Hey," she called softly.
Natsu turned to her.
This time, it was Lucy who pulled back her duvet, patting next to her.
"Well, I was going to anyway," he answered cheekily, though Lucy could tell that the offer did make him happy.
He quickly switched off the bathroom light and jumped in next to her, just as Happy turned in his sleep to cuddle to her on her other side.
Lucy smiled contently. After all, both her boys ensured she had reason to.
"Goodnight Natsu," she sighed, feeling him slap on the wet towel back over her eyes.
"'Night Luce," he replied, his voice close enough for Lucy to feel his warmth, causing not the faintest of blushes to colour her cheeks. Lucy supposed it was a good thing it was dark. Then again..
'Did he just chuckle?'
