The Things I Do For You

Warmth slowly stretched across Natsu's face as light streamed in from the window, but not one part of his body seemed to answer it. His eyes were heavy and the warm, weighted blanket pressed him firm into the bed and the warm body behind him. His eyes fluttered open despite his exhausted body begging them not to, and he barely suppressed a groan. He could feel a soft breeze spread the room, likely from an open window.

Gray never liked it to be too warm, and the moment winter passed, everything was too hot for him.

With the breeze came the smell of food, and Natsu mentally cursed his enhanced senses. The town was a few miles away from their hidden little house in the woods, but he could smell it all from the comfort of their bed. Someone was making eggs and bacon, and someone else had pancakes—or perhaps waffles, he had trouble telling the difference sometimes. As all of Magnolia awoke slowly, the smells only became more enticing, but a single glance at Gray made him still.

Gray's arm was thrown over his side gently, keeping him there should he try to slip away, and for once, his face was peaceful. It was always so rare to see him like this, and Natsu hated ruining it. He was constantly just as stressed as Natsu was, or his mind became riddled with horrible nightmares of the past. It had led to many sleepless nights where they spoke in hushed voices about the things life had thrown at them and told one another they didn't deserve to go through hell.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he began to slide out from beneath Gray's arm ever so slowly, already thinking about whether to make sausage or bacon with their eggs. He was nearly a quarter of the way out when Gray's eyebrows knitted together in his sleep, and he felt those deft hands dig into the fabric of his t-shirt, yanking him back until his head rested lightly under Gray's chin. He sighed softly, mind already wide awake and ready to start the day, no matter how much he wished he could stay there in Gray's arms. One of Gray's arms lay flat against the small of his back, effectively trapping him there for the next few hours, and the other became his pillow.

Natsu sighed and snuggled in, fully accepting his fate as Gray's personal teddy bear. When Gray's eyebrows remained drawn tightly together and his hands gripping the oversized sleep shirt as if he'd lose Natsu to even the slightest breath of wind, he sighed once more. He wrapped an arm around Gray's bare back and brought the other up to his hair, gently winding his fingers through the tangles. The slow relaxation of Gray's tense muscles only encouraged him. His other hand traced old scars with touches as light as he could manage. He no longer needed to see them to trace them. Every inch of Gray's body was burned into Natsu's memory, but he had no idea if it was due to the other's stripping habit or the fact that he had seen most of the injuries that scarred him.

He had no idea how long he'd been doing that for by the time Gray's eyes opened, but it didn't really matter to him. Nothing mattered when Gray looked at him like he was his entire world. "...mmm...Hey-" Gray's greeting was cut short by his yawn, but he pulled Natsu closer to make up for it, "what'ime's'it?"

Natsu's eyes lit up softly, chest full of love as he watched his sleepy partner's face, "I have no idea what time it is, Gray, but we definitely need to get up." He attempted to wiggle out of bed again, by Gray's hold on him tightened, "Gray-" Natsu couldn't even finish his sentence without laughing softly, "Dork, we might have a job waiting for us at the guild."

Gray mumbled indignantly as he buried his face in Natsu's hair, "I don' wanna... You're warm...'n cuddly..." he ran his hand through Natsu's hair to prove his point.

Natsu practically melted under the gentle touch, a purr nearly slipping from his lips, "Gray, we need to go..." He tried to pull away once more, but Gray rolled on top of him, squishing him between himself and the bed, "Oof... You're heavy, Snowflake."

"It's muscle from sparring with you," his words were still slurred a bit, tiredness holding his tongue against the room of his mouth and forcing the slight accent from his homeland, Isvan, to make itself known, "and you probably only slept for....what? An hour?" Natsu felt heat creep into his cheeks, and when the side of Gray's lips quirked up into the most annoying, yet endearing smirk, he looked off to the side, hating that he was caught. "Hey," Gray's voice had softened, and the teasing smirk was replaced with worry in mere moments, "What's going on? I know..." He pauses briefly, contemplating his words, "I know July isn't a great month for you and all, but usually you at least talk with me. Or we spar it out."

Natsu didn't respond to him, choosing instead to just stare out the window, face seemingly blank. Gray knew better though. He could see the bags under his eyes and the raw sadness hidden in them. "If you don't want to talk, can I at least hold you?"

Natsu turned his head back to him, face still as blank as he could make it, "You are, Gray, and we... We need to go to the guild-"

"No," Gray interrupted, "I'm not letting you work yourself until you pass out again because you don't want to talk about this. You do this every year, and it hurts so fucking much to watch you fall apart like this."

Natsu closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see the way he just knows Gray's face is twisted when he worries. He went to open his mouth, an apology on the tip of his tongue, but Gray beat him to it.

"Don't. You've nothing to be sorry for, you dumbass dragon," Gray sounded much closer than he did earlier, and cold lips against his forehead answered why. "But... We're staying in bed today." He wrapped the blankets around them both, hoping to get the plan through Natsu's thick skull. "You don't have to talk, but I'm going to hold you until you feel better, you cuddle-whore."

Natsu sighed yet again that morning, but the corners of his mouth slowly twitched upwards, unable to hide the smile anymore, "You're just as much of a cuddle-whore as I am."

"Excuse you," Gray said. He put one hand over his heart, mocking offense, "I am a snuggle-slut."

Natsu laughed softly and grabbed his hand to lock their fingers together. "A hug-hoe." Both of them laughed for a good minute, the ridiculous familiarity of their teasing cutting through the tension like a hot knife, "There's no getting out of this is there?" He made no move to get away despite his words.

Gray leaned down and pecked his lips softly, "absolutely not."

Natsu shook his head as he wound and hand back in Gray's hair, "if you're gonna kiss me, do it properly, Elsa." He smiled as Gray's lips were on his one's more, hand burrowing deeper into his hair.

Gray laughed softly, the motion forcing them to disconnect their lips, "The things I do for you, Pyro." he's smiling widely at Natsu, eyes soft as he finally relaxes a bit. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"No promises," Natsu whispered. His eyes were already sliding closed and Gray tucked the blanket around them.

"You're a shithead," Gray responded, but Natsu had already gone limp against him, a week without more than an hour of sleep at once finally catching up to him, "but you're my shithead."