Nalu One shots

I miss you

January

It started with a lump. Natsu was playing with Happy like normal, rubbing his belly to get the little blue cat to purr, when out of nowhere he felt an odd lump on his stomach.

"Hey Lucy!" He called, fingers staying on the spot. "Can you come here for a second?"

"Yeah," he heard her voice from the other room. Natsu's eyes stayed on Happy, swearing that the little guy had a smile on his face as he waited to be pet again. "What is it?" She said when she entered the living room.

"Feel right here," Natsu said, waiting until her fingers overlapped his before taking them away. "Does that feel weird?"

"Actually... Yeah, it kinda does..." Lucy's eyebrows furrowed together as she felt around the small lump. "I wonder what that is... Was it there before?"

"I don't think so," he shook his head. Happy had been his pet since birth, and he'd never felt a lump on him before in the almost fourteen years that he'd had him. "Should I get him checked out?"

"Maybe," Lucy twisted her lips as she thought. "Maybe we should wait a bit, see if it gets worse. It doesn't seem to be bothering him right now..."

"I guess you're right," Natsu picked up his cat, then set him in his lap. "Who's the best kitty in the world?"

Lucy chuckled as she watched her husband scratch Happy's chin. "You two are too cute." Her small smile faded when she heard the sound of boiling water burst out of the pot in the kitchen. "Shit! I forgot I'm cooking!"

As she scrambled out of the living room, Natsu laughed. He glanced down at his purring feline, smiling when he said, "it's probably nothing..."

February

"Hmm," the vet hummed as she felt Happy's stomach. Said cat was growling, clearly not liking being handled by someone who wasn't Natsu or Lucy. "It feels like a growth." She released the cat, watching as he tried to shrink in on himself. "You have a few options. You can either get it removed, or we can wait to see if it gets bigger."

Natsu frowned, looking down at his frightened cat. "It's already gotten bigger..."

Lucy set a hand on Natsu's shoulder, pulling him away from his troubled thoughts. "How do you remove it? Is it just surgery?"

"Yes," the vet said. "We made a small incision and remove whatever's in there. If you want we can also do a biopsy to see what exactly it is."

"Why would you need to do that?" Natsu asked, his hand stroking through the blue fur of his friend.

The vet gave him a wane smile. "To see if it will come back. You don't have to get it if you don't want to."

"How much will this all cost?" Lucy asked, feeling a strain in her throat. They were willing to pay whatever cost it was to take care of Happy, but they weren't exactly made of money. Natsu made just enough to cover their rent, two car payments, and food, while Lucy made enough to cover the rest. Seeing as they were both twenty-four years old, they hadn't thought a lot ahead on savings and retirement, so for the mean time they lived paycheck to paycheck with a little wiggle room.

"Let me go check," she said before leaving the small room, leaving the two of them alone with Happy.

Once she was gone, the cat seemed to perk up. He stood up, looking around his surroundings as Natsu and Lucy started to talk. "Have you ever had an animal go through surgery?" He asked, biting his lip. The idea scared him, worried that something might go wrong.

"Only when Plue got neutered," she sighed. "But I think that's a little different." Her pit bull's procedure was routine, with little risks.

"Yeah," Natsu looked down at Happy, smiling to himself when he felt the small vibrations stirring up in his cat. "I'm sure it'll be fine..." Despite saying that, he felt a little nauseous.