The Little Dragon & The Little Princess

Chapter 7 - Cold

"Natsu! Lucy! It's time to go!" I called out to them as they were playing with Asuka. The sun was setting and these two need to get home/Lucy's apartment. "Bye Asuka" they said before running up to me. I held my hand for them to grasp but Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand. "I want to hold Lucy's hand home" he demanded. 'The dense Flame Brain is becoming a romantic' I thought. "Ok but stay close. I don't want to know what Erza would do to me if I lost you two" I said and a shiver ran down my back at the thought.

During the whole trip to Lucy's apartment, Natsu and Lucy stayed near me hand-in-hand. Now I have another thing to tease Natsu about when he turns back to normal. "Brrr" Lucy shivered as she hugged herself with one arm. I stopped as I heard her shivering, "are you cold Lucy?" I asked and she nodded. Natsu let go of her hand and took off his scarf before wrapping it around her neck. "Is that better?" he asked. "Yes, it's so warm. Thank you Natsu" Lucy replied and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Natsu looked down with a big smile and blush on his cheeks. Ah, young love...wait that makes me sound old.

I looked up and noticed snowflakes starting to fall. 'No wonder Lucy's cold' I thought. "We better hurry up. I don't want either of you to get a cold" I said. "Ok!" they replied and ran after me hand-in-hand as I continued to walk. When we reached Lucy's apartment, I put both of them in a warm bath together. This doesn't count as being a paedophile because they are my adult teammates in child form, right? Plus Juvia isn't here to help because Erza needed her help with a job so someone needs to bath Lucy. I ended up soaked since Dragon Boy started a splash fight between themselves.

After they were towelled off and dressed, I tried looking in Lucy's fridge to see if she has anything I could reheat. I found some leftover pasta and decided to reheat it. When dinner was finished, I ushered Natsu and Lucy to Lucy's bed. "Time for bed" I said and they tucked themselves into bed close together. Within a few minutes, they were both fast asleep. I turned off the light and went to bed in my futon.

The next morning, I was woken up by a worried Natsu shaking me. "Gray, Gray, something's wrong with Lucy" he said with tears in his eyes. I jumped out of bed and rushed to Lucy's bed where she was still laying. She was still asleep, breathing heavily and sweating a lot. I felt her forehead and felt a fever. "She's got a cold" I said, "will she be ok?" Natsu asked. "She will get better if we take care of her" I replied. "I wanna help! What can I do?" he said eagerly.

"Well she needs to stay warm so get her some more blankets" I said and then Natsu rushed to get some blankets. I went into the bathroom and got a folded washer. I soaked it under the tap and took it to Lucy. Natsu had come back already with five heavy blankets and had them covering Lucy. She looked like she was overheating. That idiot overdid it.

I placed the wet washer on Lucy's forehead and then took three of the five blankets off of her. "Why are you taking them off? She will be cold" Natsu asked. "We don't want to overheat her so she only needs two extra blankets" I replied. "Ok. What now?" he asked. "Now we need to make some lemonade for her" I said and walked to the kitchen with Natsu following.

Luckily, Lucy had some lemons in her cupboards. I put them on a cutting board and cut them in half. "I wanna help" Natsu said from beside me. I took a cup from the cupboard and gave it to him. "You can help me squeeze these lemons" I replied. He took the cup and half of the lemons to the floor then began to squeeze the lemons into the cup with a concentration expression on his face. 'He really wants her to get better' I thought as I squeezed my own lemons.

After about ten minutes, Natsu ran up to me with the cup in both his hands. "Look, look, I made lemon juice!" he said happily. "Great job Natsu. Now go check on Lucy for me" I said and he rushed to Lucy's bedside. I poured mine and his lemon juice into a jug and added water and sugar before stirring it together.

When I finished pouring the lemonade into a cup, Natsu came running back into the kitchen. "Lucy's awake" he told me. "Good timing" I said and then we both walked back to Lucy's bed. She was sitting up in bed with the blankets over her legs. "Here Lucy, drink this" I said as I handed her the drink. "Thank you Big Brother Gray. Achoo!" she sneezed cutely and then took a sip of the drink. "Natsu help me make the drink" I said. "Thank you Natsu" Lucy said while smiling towards him. Natsu blushed, "n-no problem" he said.

As soon as Lucy finished her drink, Natsu jumped up and down next to her bed. "Are you ready to play now Lucy?" he asked eagerly. "Woah there Flame Brain, she's still sick" I said. "But we gave her the drink?" he asked confused. "She still needs to rest" I replied and he looked down to the floor dejected. "If you don't let Lucy rest then I will have to have Erza babysit you" I said and he shook in fear. "A-Aye" he said.