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He couldn’t sleep.
He had a long day of and an even longer week. Days had been spent training at the guild, bickering with Gray, ducking Erza, and playing with Happy. It was nothing unusual compared to his everyday routine. But it had weighed on him more and more as the days dragged by and all he had was happy to keep himself company. He still had Happy now, curled up in a ball at the far end of the bed. The cat’s soft snores and the rise and fall of his chest was usually enough to put Natsu to sleep. He was exhausted from been up for 7 days straight. Now would be the perfect time to fall asleep. But just like every other day this week, he couldn’t. The bed was wrong. Too spacious and wide. He could kick his feet out without bumping into anything, could fail and toss around the bed with undisturbed. There were no cold feet pressed up against his legs or louder snoring overlapping Happy’s. No hands shaking him awake at the middle of the night because she still believes Cana’s story about dream-snatching elves. He doesn’t sleep because he knows that if he wakes, he wakes alone. No blue eyes that lit up whenever they see his, no teasing over his bed hair, no tummy scratches for Happy or hands intertwining with his.
No Lisanna.
How could he sleep when such a core part of him was missing?
Natsu rises out of bed checking on Happy one more time before jumping out of his window to patrol the Magnolia streets.
No sleep would come to him this night either.