Small Sacrifices

Chapter 3

Gratsu Bingo 2019

Prompt: Love

Chapter 3

It had been a week since the incident and Natsu was going stir crazy. The hospital had kept him under observation for several days poking and prodding him incessantly. They'd checked his brain and his heart and everything else they could think of before finally discharging him.

He'd been lucky, aside from the rather severe burns on his hands, the damage hadn't been too bad. His organs were fine, but he'd suffered some muscle injuries as well as a dislocated shoulder from when he'd smashed into the wall behind him, and he felt generally sore.

Gray had been a nervous wreck throughout, refusing to leave his side. Natsu knew he was terrified that if he left for even a moment, Zeref would swoop in and take him away. It was ludicrous, but Natsu didn't fight him, he knew Gray had his own issues, and he certainly didn't mind getting so much attention from his man.

Through it all, there had been no more word from his brother and although he'd like to think Zeref had seen the error of his ways It wasn't like him to give up so easily. So Natsu waited for him to make his move.

He heard the apartment door open and found himself relaxing, Gray had left that morning for his dissertation defense and had promised to be home for lunch. He looked up, smile at the ready only to see Lyon coming into his bedroom.

"Hey Pikachu, how you feeling?" Lyon greeted, smirking at Natsu's heated glare. He helped Natsu off the bed and into some clothes.

"You're not funny," Natsu complained, he hated needing help, but the burns on his hands were still very tender and even he wasn't stubborn enough to subject himself to that much pain just for the sake of pride, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Gray called me, his defense is taking longer than he expected, so he asked me to check on you," Lyon explained as he walked Natsu over to the bathroom, being careful to give him as much support as he could since Gray had mentioned sometimes Natsu's muscles would spasm randomly.

Natsu stopped mid-step and glanced at Lyon worriedly, "Wait, is that bad?"

"No, I think it's good, they just had more questions than what he'd anticipated, he sounded pretty upbeat actually. I think in a few hours we'll have to start calling him Dr. Fullbuster," Lyon beamed at the giddy expression on Natsu's face at hearing those words.

"We should have a party or something," Natsu clapped his hands, forgetting his injuries in his excitement and almost passing out from the pain.

"You really are an idiot," Lyon sighed as he grabbed hold of Natsu and held him against his body while the younger boy rode out the wave of pain. "Where are your pain meds?"

When Natsu didn't immediately answer Lyon sat him down on the toilet and looked in the medicine cabinet. Reading the instructions on the Vicodin bottle, he grabbed the appropriate dosage and poured some tap water into a rinsing cup.

"Open up," he placed the pill on Natsu's tongue and held up the cup to his mouth to allow him to drink it down. "Stay here, I'm gonna get you a snack, you shouldn't have that on an empty stomach."

Natsu nodded listlessly, he couldn't wait until he could do things for himself again. He didn't mind it so much when it was Gray, but anyone else irritated him, especially if it was someone from work. Lyon soon returned with a glass of milk and a cereal bar. He fed him, and after helping him use the restroom, he looked at the bandages nervously.

"Come on, we might as well change your bandages," Lyon declared bravely. He was rather squeamish, but he'd promised Gray he would take care of Natsu and so he would do it.