Chapter Text
Their quiet reading time was shattered by a yelp from downstairs.
"Natsu, you give that back!"
Carla groaned; although it was hard to hear as another shout sounded out.
"Nuh-uh! If you wanted it so bad, you should've held onto it!"
His finger edging the next page retreated, but he didn't close the book just yet. Maybe...
"Yeah, finders-keepers, Gray!"
"Sting, stop encouraging them!!"
Now he shut the textbook. There was no way their studying was going to continue after this. Either he was going to have to go down there and calm his kids, or-
"Gray, not the glass!"
Smash. "Oi, you missed, numbskull!"
Bang. "Hey, aim it at the idiot, not me!"
Crash. "What are you even throwing at me for, we're not even part of the kids' spat???"
A fight.
Tugging at his coat brought Doctor's attention from the commotion to his only daughter. Wendy's lips moved but he couldn't quite hear. He bent down.
"Are they going to be okay...?"
As soon as he finally understood her - after the third attempt, that is - the sound of a shelf of bottles collapsing was heard.
"That's it, I'm teaching you all a lesson!"
"Yes," he said, while brushing away Wendy's wincing with a hand in her hair. "Because there's two healers who just got done with theory-reading. Do you think you memorized enough for a little challenge?"
Her eyes were still a bit watery as she regarded him curiously. So far, his spontaneous idea was working.
"You want to see how many patch-jobs we can get through before Master gets back?"
She blinked. "You really think I can do it?"
"Yeah. And with little supervision from me, too. Which we might need... There's going to be a lot of people showing up, soon." Just as she started to look a little intimidated at the prospect, he added, "You know what. Why don't we make a game out of it? See how many people you can help on your own compared to me?"
For some reason, the light in her eyes was sparking even more than usual. Maybe it wasn't just a wizard boy thing, but a whole Dragon Slayer thing, when it came to competitiveness. As if to cement that passing thought in his mind as truth, one of her little canines poked out from her half-grin.
"Game on!"
Bonus Scene:
"Didn't I just heal this?"
"Natsu was waiting for me at the steps."
"Ah..."
Having mastered the art of treating burns by this point, Doctor had Gray out of the infirmary in a flash. The next in line plopped down on the bed; or rather, young Jet was plopped down onto it with the help of his friend, Droy. Dots were linking in his mind even before Droy's whimpering began.
"He couldn't stop in time... The nails..."
"Gajeel set a nail trap on the floor?" Both boys nodded. He had a feeling it was something like that, if the magic speedster wasn't on his own feet - but really, Gajeel? Didn't he have a mutual friend with these two? Hopefully this was just a poor accident, for Gajeel's sake if Levy found out post-brawl; and by that, he meant an accident on who ended up as the target, because the nail trap part was definitely on purpose.
"Didn't I already talk to him about tetanus?" he murmured while grasping Jet's feet in a healing touch, just as he had the simultaneous thought, That talk is probably why he keeps doing this, actually.
As the two boys left, Mirajane nearly crashed into them as she charged past the whole line, one sibling of hers under each arm. "Hurry! I gotta teach that brat Gray a lesson!"
He just left, how fast can he be...? Doctor pointed towards the other side of the room, where Cana was emerging with her previously bleeding head now fixed. "Leave one with me and one with Wendy."
In contrast to her stomping, Mirajane's arms were gentle in laying Lisanna down on the bed in front of the older healer, before lightly dragging Elfman towards Wendy's side. Just from a glance, Doc could tell that Elfman was just bruised up, which is why the shivering little girl was left with him. Ice Magic could be brutal sometimes - and harder to warm up after through natural means.
A second after Mirajane left, some slams and shouts could be heard just outside of the infirmary door. The brawl had finally spread to the long infirmary room line. Before he let Lisanna go, he'd have to go out and address that. And maybe finally put his foot down on the patients immediately rejoining the fight as soon as they were healed. Any longer and the entire guildhall would be standing right outside the door.
Actually, that was probably why the brawl finally spread to here, now that he thought about it.
Bundling up Lisanna - mainly for comfort rather than warmth at this point, since her shivering had already ceased - he was halfway towards the door when he heard Makarov's return. It started with a bit of boisterous chuckle, before the guildmaster fully took in the building surrounding the guild-wide brawl.
"Wait- What did you brats do to the bar?!"
Over his shoulder, Doctor called out, "Wendy, Carla, can one of you follow me with heart medicine?"