Fairy Tail Furious

Chapter 41

"Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy..!" Natsu whined childishly as Lucy applied pressure with the towel to his bleeding nose. The blonde didn't react to his complaint, rolling her eyes as she pinched his nostrils shut and tilt his head back. "Owowwy, Luce!"

"Quit acting like a baby and try to stop the blood flow, Natsu," Lucy said as she grasped his wrist with her free hand and brought it up to his nose. "Pinch it tight and keep your head tilt back for a while." Once Natsu slowly obeyed her instructions, Lucy let go to sit down on the sofa.

They were in the living room of their apartment on the couch, which also served as Natsu's bed before he stumbles out in the middle of the night. The fluffy comforter and pillows were tangled on the cushions as they both sat there with the TV on for background noise, playing a movie on one of those late-night channels. Natsu was under the blanket and Lucy helped herself next to him with the blanket settled on her lap.

During their chicken fight in the garage, Cana accidentally kicked Natsu hard on the nose, prompting referee Lisanna to stop the game due to injury. The pink haired man didn't drop Lucy, as promised, and sat her down on the counter with his eyes shut tight to hold back his tears as blood began dripping from his nose. Cana shrieked and apologized to him in as many languages and ways possible after jumping off of Gray, who sighed at the state of his friend. Lucy used the towel that was her treasure for the game to hold his nose, explaining that she will help Natsu back to their apartment and treat his nosebleed.

And now here they were, Natsu making weird noises and Lucy shaking her head.

"Ca'a haz feet ah brickz," Natsu said stuffily and Lucy sighed and fixed the blanket to cover them both more, trying to make him more comfortable. "Ah 'e di'nd win..."

"We can try again sometime," Lucy said simply leaning back on the couch, briefly looking to the TV while Natsu made a noise of agreement. "But, for safety measures, let's do it properly in a pool, so we don't have to worry about anyone falling to their deaths."

"Yaha," Natsu tried to nod, but Lucy's hand came up to stop him.

"Don't move your head, Natsu. Keep it tilt back," she said sternly, but softness in her voice when he gurgled and flopped his head back on the cushion. Smiling, Lucy lightly rubbed his chin and covered chest before letting his go, leaning a bit to rest against Natsu. "Good. Stay that way until the bleeding stops - you should be able to tell when you can't taste iron anymore."

"Mm-hmm..." Natsu breathlessly huffed his shoulder, but letting Lucy lean on him comfortably. "Ahn you, Looshy."

Lucy hummed sweetly before grabbing the remote off of Natsu's lap. "Want me to change the channel? Not sure if you prefer this movie or not, but it was on when I switched the TV on..."

Natsu just shrugged, listening to what was on the TV. He nudged Lucy a little, making her turn her head up to look at him. "An ya 'ook ah mah nahz?"

Lucy rolled her eyes fondly before sitting up, letting Natsu remove the stained towel to peer at his nose. "Taste the iron anymore, dork?"

"A little, but I don't think I trust my sense of taste too well right now," Natsu sniffed lightly, his speech much more clear without the towel plugging his nose. But then again, Lucy figured he would have naturally did that with his personality, especially when he couldn't tell if he could taste blood or not. Natsu was just Natsu.

Red stains on his upper lip and chin stood out on his tan skin, little splatters around the rims of his nose and she knew that was what was causing him to sniff constantly as she looked. Overall, she hasn't seen any more bleeding like before. "You seem okay now. Doesn't look like you're bleeding any more."

Natsu brought his head up, making the tips of their noses touch until she pulled back in time. She was lucky she moved quickly, or they could have... Well, Lucy was just lucky. Sporting his cheeky grin, Natsu was delighted.

"Oh yay," he said stupidly, completely oblivious to Lucy's red cheeks as she pulled the fluffy blanket up to her chin, eyes wide in shyness. "I thought I was gonna have to stay like that all night!"

"If you pinch hard enough and just tilt your head back, then you're fine," Lucy peeped quietly, and she couldn't help herself but imagine Natsu sleeping with tissues shoved up each nostril and snoring. Smiling a bit at the image in her head, Lucy sighed and leaned her head back on his muscular, warm arm. "I bet Gray is going to tease you for that, hm?"

"Probably, but then I can just make him match with me! You think it'll leave a bruise at all? I don't wanna look like a wuss with just a purple nose, you know?" he thought up suddenly, looking down to see his roommate shake her head. "Good, so I don't have to worry about my good image for the races then!"

"When is our next one, Natsu? Do you know?" Lucy asked, feeling somewhat tired from her workout earlier in the day and having to fight with Cana all while on Natsu's shoulders.

"Ah, lemme think," Natsu hummed, resting his head back on the cushion, staring at the ceiling with sleepy eyes. "My head feels a bit dizzy."

"Because of the nosebleed, Natsu," Lucy reminded him, making him mutter an 'Oh yeah', and going back to reminding himself of their schedule.

"The day after tomorrow, we got a race with a bunch of gangs," Natsu said finally and Lucy closed her eyes and nodded in understanding. "I think it's just for fun, but there's money prizes with it. But Gramps assigned us to deliver a package with a tracking device to a drug lord for the FBI - nothing too dangerous, though; we just need to drop the bag in some public parking lot and go."

"Okay," Lucy breathed before curling up on the couch. "Is it early in the morning?"

"Around noon, when a lot of people are out for lunch so it doesn't look suspicious," Natsu explained, crossing his arms and kicking his feet to the coffee table. Stealing a peek down to the dozing blonde, Natsu raised a brow. "You falling asleep already, Luce?"

"Mm," Lucy made a noise and a small shrug, yet her body was slowly turning down. She was tired, and Lucy didn't want to bother with getting up to go change or go to bed. Her aching muscles were keeping her still, so she'd rather calm down here on the couch until then. It was rather calming to listen to the TV and someone else breathing near her, like she wasn't alone anymore.

Bringing up her arm that wasn't squished between her and Natsu, she draped it over his abdomen like she usually would with her pillow. It was usually Natsu being the bigger spoon when she snuck into bed, but she could care less about who was being cuddled at the moment. Within minutes, Lucy fell asleep with a small smile on her face as she cuddled closer to Natsu, relishing how warm and firm he is against her too-soft skin.

Natsu didn't seem to mind that Lucy fell asleep on him. He watched her go limp and breathe slowly against him with a curious twitch of his mouth, his hand coming to rest atop of her slim arm and she made a soft sigh with a tiny smile. Perking a grin, the pink haired situated himself and his partner to a more comfortable position on the couch, making sure that Lucy got most of the blanket and enough room to move around in her sleep.

Thinking back to what Makarov and himself spoke about earlier, he could feel his cheekbones flaming a little at the sudden realization of how close him and Lucy actually are compared to when they first met. The memory suddenly made him think of what his own father would have thought about him bringing a girl - a rich man's daughter at that - back to the garage and recruiting her for Fairy Tail.

Resting his head on the couch once more, Natsu thought out how Lucy Heartfilia was pretty rough in the morning with her shoes; her amazing cooking skills that he truly believes is so much better than Mirajane's own meals, or how she had the mind of a car designer, being able to name cars with all the paint and added accessories that hid the original content of the vehicle. Lucy was nice and fierce at the same time, and understanding and stubborn...

Natsu eventually fell asleep with the conclusion. Yes, Igneel would have approved of Lucy very much.