"Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime."

— Mineko Iwasaki

Natsu was unsure how long this strange existence lasted. Sometimes, he could hear. Sometimes, only smells came to him. Sometimes, what made it to his brain was so bizarre, he was not even sure if it was real or dreams. Sometimes, it felt like someone came to visit him and stayed only a few seconds, and other times it felt like they stayed for days on end. Time, space, reality, everything swirled and blended and distorted.

Finally, there was light to the darkness. A hand grabbed his, and he managed to squeeze back.

"Erza! Get the doctor."

"Lucy?" Natsu whispered. His vision was blurry, and his eyes felt dry.

"You collapsed. It's been three days."

Only three?

"They said your heart stopped. What happened?"

What happened? He remembered the volleyball game and the pain in his chest. If Lucy did not know, it meant Erza was still keeping this a secret.

"Don't bother him with questions," Erza told her. "He just woke up. I'm sure he's more confused than we are. Please go tell Master that he's awake, then go let Happy know. We promised to tell him right away."

"Oh, yes!"

Natsu saw a yellow blur leave, and a red blur came over in its place.

"Are you awake enough to hear me?"

Natsu kept trying to blink the blurriness from his vision. "Maybe. What happened?"

"You had a heart attack, a massive one."

"So, everyone knows?" he asked weakly. "Gray knows? About me? My heart? What I did?"

"No," she said with sadness and worry for him and this obsession of keeping secrets. "They only know you had heart trouble, nothing else. I had to tell Master the whole story, but the others don't know anything beyond that your heart stopped for a while."

"Thanks," Natsu whispered in relief. "Water."

"Wait for the doctor. You might have trouble swallowing."

A minute later, the doctor arrived and examined him with the help of a nurse. Erza stepped out to give them room and to wait for Makarov.

"Mister Dragneel," the doctor said as Natsu eagerly drank water. "We had to induce that coma to protect your brain from damage, but you're not out of danger yet. We've monitored you this whole time, and we decided to wait for you to regain consciousness before discussing actions."

"Actions?" he asked, sipping his cup.

"Were you aware of your heart condition?"

He froze and looked up sharply.

"I talked to two healers who know you, an elderly lady and a young wizard girl. Both said you did not have a heart condition just a few months ago, but the young girl said you've complained about pain in your chest for a few weeks now. From what I've seen, I really don't understand how your heart failed so suddenly, and so young, considering you're in impeccable health otherwise."

"How bad is it?" Natsu asked sternly.

The doctor was startled by the severity of those narrow eyes. "There are no artery blockages, no plaque buildup, just the muscles of the heart are ... fatigued. Dangerously so. It's a condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Basically, extended periods of severe stress—either mental or physical—produce increased levels of certain chemicals and enzymes which..."

"Am I gonna die?" Natsu interrupted in irritation. The technical crap was just gibberish to him.

"Your overall health is good, which increases your chances of full recovery. We need to keep you in the hospital for a while, carefully monitor your heart, and keep you free from stress. Your friend said it had to do with a mission you took as a wizard, a particularly painful one. Physical stress like that could definitely have brought this on, although it's rare at your age. It must have been a hell of a mission."

A mission? Yes ... healing Gray had been his own personal mission, and he risked everything to finish the job. "So I'm fine, then?"

"Hardly," the doctor frowned. "You'll need surgery. One of your heart's valves is no longer working right. We can fix it, and we should do it soon. With your heart how it is now, any strenuous physical work could lead to another cardiac arrest. Considering the severity, I highly recommend a ventricular assist device."

"What the hell's that?"

"Think of it as a partially artificial heart. It'll be temporary, and you'll need to be careful while it's inside you."

Natsu cringed and looked away in anger. A fake heart? Something in his heart broke? This was too much! "Does this mean I can't fight?"

"You'll need to take it easy for a while, but once your heart heals, you should be able to do your work as a wizard, so long as you're careful."

Natsu forced himself not to roll him eyes. Obviously this doctor had no clue what sort of man Natsu Dragneel was! "So a surgery and I'm good to go, huh?"

"Well, we have to carefully monitor the heart, you'll need a round of medications, beta blockers, negative inotropes, ACE inhibitors, diuretics, a diet..."

Natsu groaned at that. "Diiieeet?"

The doctor chuckled that of all the serious things they had to do, a change in food was what this young man focused on. "With the right treatment and a healthy change in lifestyle, takotsubo cardiomyopathy will often heal within a month."

"A month!" he yelled. "Can't you make it heal faster?"

"We're talking about your heart, sir."

"But ... magic healing..."

"That's with magic healing and mechanical assistance devices."

Natsu sneered and looked away. "Maybe it wasn't worth it after all," he grumbled. "Me for him. My heart for his leg. I really wasn't thinking it through, was I?"

The doctor and nurse exchanged confused looks.

"Can you bring Erza in?"

"Of course."

"And set up the surgery as soon as possible. Let's get it over with. Don't tell anyone else but Erza and Makarov about this."

"A doctor respects the privacy of the patient," the doctor assured him. "We can do the surgery tomorrow morning."

"Fine," Natsu grumbled. "The sooner, the better."

The two left, and Erza walked back in. The room was so quiet now, and she saw the lonely look on Natsu's face as he gazed at the window.

"Was I stupid, Erza?" Natsu asked, sounding strangely serious. "Doing it all on my own, going until my heart gave out. Was it yet another dumb thing that I shouldn't have done?"

"Probably," she admitted honestly. "We could have shared the pain. We even could have brought in someone else without Gray ever knowing. If I had any idea that you were working yourself into an early death, I would have put a stop to it right away."

"Maybe you should have," he muttered regretfully. "I thought anything was worth it. I was willing to sacrifice my own leg, or my heart, or my life. That's pretty stupid though, right? It wasn't like Gray was dying. It wasn't like he wouldn't have been able to fight in a wheelchair."

She frowned at his words. "Natsu, it's not like you to regret a choice."

He shook his head at his stupidity. "Even I can realize when I've made a dumb mistake. How's Gray?"

"He and Juvia left on a mission together. They're dating now."

"Yeah, I heard him ask her out ... here in this room."

"Seriously? He asked her out in a hospital? That boy has no sense of romance."

Erza saw the pained look in Natsu's face. She had thought before that Natsu's determination to heal Gray went beyond just a bond of friendship. Now she saw sadness and jealousy. Her cheeks flushed slightly as the truth dawned on her. Natsu had not done all that out of sheer stubbornness. He had done it out of love!

Natsu ... was in love.

"He came here a few times, you know," she said softly. "He really was worried about you. It was him and Jet who took you to the hospital."

Hearing that did not make Natsu feel any better.

"Should I send him a message that you're awake?"

"Like he cares," Natsu grumbled. "But can you send a message to Rei-chan at the Pussy Palace?"

Erza choked up. "Uh ... I think I'll let Loke deliver that message," she said, blushing brightly. "You don't really want a stripper, right? I mean, with your heart this weak..."

"No, just let her know. Tell her I'm going through surgery tomorrow, and ... and tell her Gray has a girlfriend. She'll want to know."

Erza's eyes narrowed. Why would the stripper Natsu was not-really-dating be interested in Gray's love life?

Unless...

Pieces were falling into place for Erza, and she looked at Natsu with pity.

"I'll let her know," she told him.

His feelings for Gray had been so intense, he hired someone to teach him about love, all so he could show love properly. Then Natsu risked his life just to bring Gray happiness. In return, Gray ignored Natsu and was dating someone else. How painful that must be! It almost made her want to hit Gray again, except he could not really be blamed. He was clueless about Natsu's feelings and about the sacrifice he made. Gray was just living life as normally as he could.

Which was precisely what Natsu wanted.

"Natsu, maybe we should tell him," she said. "It's not fair to Gray, and hiding it from him means you have to hide it from everyone. People are seriously worried about you, and I can't tell them why this happened. They'll ask you as soon as you're out of the hospital."

"I've got a month," Natsu reasoned. "I'll think of something to say."

"You shouldn't lie to your friends."

"I won't lie. I just won't say unnecessary details."

"Unnecessary!" she bellowed. "Natsu, you put your life on the line for Gray. He should know. They all should. If they knew—"

"I can't—"

His shout faltered as he felt a pain in his chest. Erza rushed over and grabbed his hand. Natsu forced himself to relax and get over the angina pain.

"I can't let him know," he said softly, "especially not now. If he found out, think how guilty he'd feel. If he knew I'm like this because I wanted to save him, he'd hate me. I don't care about that too much, but the worst is ... he'd hate himself. More than anything, I can't let Gray feel that way again. I can't ... can't let him feel like he should die!" A tear dripped down Natsu's cheek, and he angrily wipe it aside. "I won't bring him sadness. If he's happy, that's what I want. Even if it's with Juvia..." His words cut out and his eyes widened. He realized too late, he had said too much.

Erza nodded now that her suspicions were confirmed. "You love him so much, I want to tell him," she said, looking proud and sad at the same time.

"Please don't," Natsu cringed.

"No. You should be the one to say the words." She squeezed his hand. "But someday you'll have to tell him about all of this. You can't keep it a secret for the rest of your life. That isn't fair to him, and it's not very loving."

"Maybe I still need time to figure out this whole love thing," he smirked playfully.

She gave a soft laugh and patted his head. "Even when you're being mature, you're an idiot."

Just then, Happy burst into the room and flew straight into Natsu's chest, crying with relief. Natsu smiled at seeing him, and suddenly it was like that dark aura had never existed. Natsu was laughing, and Erza saw how the Dragon Slayer put up a faux-naïf personality. She wondered how often he did this, feigning ignorance and stupidity to hide deep inner turmoil. Slowly, she slipped out of the hospital room and let him and Happy have a joyful reunion.

Natsu underwent heart valve replacement surgery and insertion of a ventricular assist device. A few days later, Gray and Juvia returned from their mission together and heard the latest news.

"So he had a surgery on his heart?" Gray asked, sitting with Juvia and enjoying a milkshake. "How serious was it?"

"Fairly serious," Erza told him. "He'll be in the hospital for a month, but the recovery is so far going well."

"If he's up for visitors, maybe I should go tell him about me and Juvia."

The blue-haired rain woman leeched onto his arm and rubbed her cheek against him in happiness.

"Oh, he already knows," Erza told him bitterly.

Gray looked confused. "You told him?"

"No, he said he heard you."

Gray's eyes widened. "Heard what?"

"When he was in a coma, he heard you asking Juvia out."

Juvia covered her cheeks. "Natsu heard that? How embarrassing!"

Gray's face paled. "What else did he hear?"

Erza glanced over suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"Did he hear everything?" he asked urgently.

Erza stared at him, trying to sort him out. "I don't think so. Why? Did you say something to him?"

Gray looked down, trying to remember precisely what he had told Natsu that day. He had confessed a lot, thinking the Dragon Slayer was asleep. If he had been aware of all of that...

"I should go see him," Gray decided. "Juvia, stay here. That hospital is too gloomy for someone like you. Plus Natsu might get jealous when he sees how happy we are together."

She blushed with joy. "Is Gray-sama really happy?"

"Of course," he said, and Gray gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be right back."

Gray hurried toward the hospital, fretting about what Natsu had heard. Had he mentioned the dreams? They had been bothering him. Even now, although he was dating Juvia, he kept having erotic dreams of her that slipped into threesomes involving Natsu.

Although he liked the idea of making love to Juvia—maybe one day they would get that far—in his dreams he preferred kissing that fiery mouth, and he preferred Natsu's rough, hot hands to Juvia's gentle, thin fingers. He would dream of thrusting into Juvia, but then suddenly Natsu would stand arrogantly over him, thrusting into Gray's mouth, those warm hands combing and pulling at his hair, those narrow eyes gazing down dominantly, hazy with the pleasure that Gray was giving to him. Pleasuring Juvia while also pleasuring Natsu...

Gray shook his head. He really needed to stop thinking about this.

"Oh! You're Gray-dear, right?"

The ice wizard jolted at the female voice. "Gray-dear?"

Hardly realizing it, Gray had reached the hospital, and just coming out was a busty black-haired lady wearing scant clothes and platform shoes with fishnet stockings.

"Rei, right?" Gray asked.

"Rei-chan," she corrected. "I'm friendly enough with everyone to be called chan, but never friendly enough with anyone to drop all honorifics." She grinned as she said it, as if that was her favorite saying.

"Uh, right. Were you here for something?"

She tipped her head to the side and smiled. "Same reason as you, I guess. You're here to see Natsu-dear, right?"

Gray petulantly shrugged. "I guess I should at least make sure he's not dead."

Her crimson lips pouted. "That's a truly morbid thing to say. His heart was failing. He really could've died."

Gray felt like crap immediately afterward. "Y-yeah, I know." Shit, saying something like that to his girlfriend. I'm an asshole. She must have been terrified for him.

"Do you know what he has?" Rei-chan asked, and Gray shook his head. "It's called takotsubo cardiomyopathy. There's an easier name for the condition, though. It's called broken heart syndrome."

"Broken heart?" Gray asked.

"A person truly can die from a broken heart, Gray-dear."

He scoffed and shook his head. "So this is all just because of that girl who turned down Natsu?"

Rei-chan's eyebrow lifted in amusement. "Girl? Oh, it's hardly a girl's fault. Do you know who has really had Natsu-dear stressed out so much it weakened him to the point of being sick?" She took one long fingernail and tapped it to his chest. "You! He was running all over the kingdom for you, Gray-dear. He said he fought three dark guild cells just to get that machine that healed you. He would come home exhausted and sometimes bloodied. He wouldn't stop, though. He'd come home just long enough to look up information, ask your guild master a few questions, pack a fresh set of clothes, and set off again."

"And pay you a visit," Gray glared.

She shrugged blithely. "A man has needs. Mostly, we talked. He couldn't tell you what he was doing. You didn't believe in him. You thought he was an idiot. You were ready to give up. Do you know what really broke his heart?" she asked in accusation. "When you told him you were planning on amputating your leg. After that day ... I've never seen a man so obsessed over someone else, and trust me, I see a lot of obsession in my line of work. By the way, it's nice that you're walking again. I'm glad Natsu-dear's efforts didn't go to waste."

He looked down at his leg. For those ten days, he had just laid back on a bed and grumbled that Natsu could not be bothered to wait around with him, not like he needed that flame-brain to hold his hand while he healed. It never dawned on him, Natsu had spent months searching for that healing machine. His unannounced leaving could have simply been Natsu succumbing to exhaustion now that his mission was over.

"I guess I owe him an apology," he muttered, feeling guilty now for all the times he had yelled at Natsu about abandoning him.

"You owe him more than that," Rei-chan said with a narrow glare in her painted eyes, "but an apology is a good start." Then she smiled enigmatically. "He worried about you so much." She stepped nearer to him, until Gray began to lean back at her way-too-close proximity. "I'd have to ease his poor, tense muscles when he'd get back from his searches. He didn't stop thinking about you, even when we were ... intimate," she whispered, eyes gleaming deviously up at him.

Gray gulped hard. What exactly did she mean by that? A dirty thought came to his mind, and he felt his cheeks getting hotter.

"He ... he talked about you on our beach trip," Gray said, shifting the conversation strictly back to her and Natsu.

"Did he? How sweet that he feels comfortable enough with you to talk about me! He must really trust you."

How did she flip this right back to being about him and Natsu?

"So you two, how serious is it?" asked Gray. "He says you're not boyfriend and girlfriend, but I got the hint that you are ... um ... you're..."

"Intimate?" she asked.

He blushed at the word.

"Have you ever heard of the phrase 'catch a tiger by the tail'? You should see how hard it is to catch a dragon, especially when the dragon has decided that someone else should be holding his tail. Still, he's a real animal!" She leaned up into his ear. "You should hear the way he roars when he comes."

The noises Gray heard in that seaside hotel returned to his ears. "Oh, so good! Fu- ... ugh! Unnh! Oh ... mmmmmnh, shit! Almost ... almost ...Ah ... nnngh ... gaaaah!"

"I don't want to know perverted details!" he shouted. Instantly, he felt ashamed as people glanced over at the two of them. Still, having a peek into Natsu's sex life left his heart beating rapidly. "So, are you two still ... intimate?"

"Not while he's in the hospital, no. I may be a strip dancer, but even I won't do perverted things in public. By the way, you just removed your pants. You may want to put them back on."

"Huh?" Gray looked down and saw he was only wearing his boxers. "Dammit, not again!"

Rei-chan giggled as Gray found his clothes and yanked them back on. "So this is what he meant about you also being a stripper," she smiled.

"What did that flame-brain say about me?" Gray snapped.

"Oh, lots of stuff. He talks about you all the time. He admires you greatly, really cares for you, especially through these past few months. It's almost like he's enamored with you. If you weren't both guys, I'd almost think ... well, that's probably just me imagining things, right?"

Gray's eyes jolted up in shock. "Think what?" he asked faintly.

"Nothing," she dismissed, blithely waving her hand as if to brush the idea out of her mind. "As for Natsu-dear and me, we're not intimate at the moment. We're fairly lose in our arrangement, we can come and go, which is how I prefer to do things. He's so taken up with that other person, though, I hardly know what I can do for him besides give him the comfort he's simply starving to receive. We've had some intimacy, yes, but..." She gave a shrug and soughed, "...not anymore."

"What do you mean, not anymore?" Gray asked skeptically.

"Apparently, the person Natsu-dear loves found out about us and got angry. He told me he doesn't want to do the things we used to do anymore. It's not even like we did a lot to begin with," she said in a huff, "but he's so sensitive to that person's feelings. I'm almost jealous."

"That girl who turned him down must really mean a lot to him, huh?"

Rei-chan smirked. "The girl? Ooh yes! My poor baby is trapped in a whirlpool. He can't get that little tormentor out of his mind. He would do absolutely anything for that person."

Gray felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered what Natsu once said to him.

"I will do anything—anything—to help you ... I'll give anything to have you back in Fairy Tail. And I mean anything."

"I really do wish the best for them, and I know that when Natsu-dear wins the heart of his dear love—and I have no doubts he will—" She walked up seductively to Gray and caressed a finger down his torso toward his manhood. "Natsu-dear is going to show that little sweetheart a really hot time." She leaned in even closer, pressing her body slightly against his as she whispered into his ear, "Especially how good he can kiss."

Gray gulped hard. "K-kiss?" He looked aside sharply. "What's so great about a kiss? Anyone can kiss."

"I used to think the same thing," she shrugged, pulling away, "until I felt the kiss of a Fire Dragon Slayer. Seriously," she lamented lightly, "I think he ruined me. Nothing else comes close to comparing to that burning mouth and how he uses that long, nimble tongue of his. I really do wish he would use that mouth elsewhere, if you know what I mean, but he wants to save himself for his sweetheart. I envy the person he'll do that to."

Gray felt his heart racing as he thought about those dreams he had. In his threesome dreams, he sucked on Natsu, but in dreams that were just about the two of them, it was Natsu on his knees sucking on Gray, that hot mouth sheathing his arousal, scalding saliva drooling down his length and to his balls.

"Shit," he whispered, feeling an uncomfortable tightness in his pants.

Rei-chan smirked with satisfaction. "Well, I'll leave him to you."

"What?" Gray shouted, jolting out of the daydreams.

"You wanted to see him in the hospital, right?"

Gray cringed. There was no way he could see Natsu now, not feeling this way. "He's fine enough to have a visitor like you, so it's not like I really need to check on him."

"Oh, but he really misses you," she lamented with a pout. "Even now, he was talking so much about you. Natsu-dear would love to get a visit from his precious, sweet teammate."

"Che!" Gray scoffed. "I doubt that."

"Then you obviously don't know him well enough." She began to walk away, but she paused by Gray's shoulder and leaned back to his ear again. "You really should get to know him better." Then she strode away, strutting with a shake to her hips that left men and a few women all up and down the street gawking.

Gray stood there, planted by her mysterious words. He glanced up at the hospital.

"He's fine. He doesn't need me to bother him."

Gray turned sharply, rushed through the town, and went back home. He stripped from the entryway all the way to the bathroom, until he was naked by the time he reached the shower. He turned on the cascading water and jumped in.

"Like I care," he grumbled. "I have a girlfriend. He should also man up and ask out that girl he likes. Idiot flame-brain! Like I care!"

Still, images flitted past his vision.

"I don't care!" he shouted.

Natsu on his knees, those eyes no longer fierce, but pleading, begging for permission to use his fiery mouth...

Gray grabbed at his scalp and pulled his hair, wishing he could rip those erotic images out of his mind. "Dammit, stop it!"

He turned the water on hotter, hoping the pain would kill his erection. Instead, like at the beach, it had the opposite effect. Now in his mind he saw his cock in that mouth, he heard the hums of pleasure he had eavesdropped on in the hotel, and his hand went down to stroke himself.

"I don't want it to be your face," Gray whispered. "Why? Why your face?"

He knew he could probably turn the water onto cold and the vision would freeze away; however, he also knew these sorts of fantasies were more powerful and fulfilling. He never lasted long when it was Natsu in his mind.

"Damn you," he seethed. "Goddamn you, idiot."

He stroked quickly, wanting it to be over as soon as possible. He knew the fantasy would not end until it ran its course, so he let his mind pretend it was Natsu's mouth, that burning tongue, the high moans he had heard.

"Ahh ... mmmnnnh, ugh! Mmmmnngh, more ... ah ... ahhh!"

Gray covered his mouth to hold back his own sounds. His wrist sped on, making this quick. If it was over fast enough, the guilt would not bother him as much. His thighs began to tighten. He shivered as the heated water dripped down him like burning fingers caressing his skin. His mind imagined Natsu looking up with a messy, wet face and his pink hair dripping down to his shoulders. And that mouth! Those lips, and that tongue, licking him, kissing him, smiling slyly as he knew how he could mess up Gray.

"I want to taste you, Gray."

Gray gasped and arched back against the shower wall. "Oh God!"

He slammed his fist into the wall as he came. He leaned against the wet tiles, trembling at the intensity, watching the cum shoot into the hot water, only to wash away. He breathed hard as the fantasy faded and weariness washed over him.

It felt so good! So good to let go, to give in and let these perverted thoughts overwhelm him.

But it could never be. Natsu had some girl he liked. He might feel a brotherly closeness toward Gray, he might even put his life on the line for him, yet it was some girl who stole his heart and then broke it. Even Rei-chan said that Natsu would do anything for this unrequited lover, and she firmly believed Natsu and this girl would hook up.

He would lose Natsu, and he didn't even know who was his competition.

"I shouldn't care," he trembled. "You like some girl, and now I have Juvia. I shouldn't care for you! So ... why...?"

He hugged himself, and not even the hot shower water stopped his trembling. He had begun to realize at the beach, these thoughts were dangerous. They were fantasies, and how horrible was it to think erotically of your own teammate! Plus Natsu was busy thinking about that girl, whoever she was. He looked so ardent at the beach when he talked about her.

"It'd definitely be ... strange, right?"

"Strange. Goddammit. Here I am, wishing it was me," Gray said wryly, "and even you said it'd be strange. And it would be, right? You and me? Shit. That's just crazy. So stupid!"

That was why he ran to Juvia. Before he fully lost his heart, he needed to find someone, anyone. Otherwise, it would just hurt when his emotions were rejected, and he might end up hurting Natsu purely out of emotional frustration. That flame-brain bastard had done enough for Gray. Too much! So much, it pissed Gray off. He did not want to inconvenience him even more with a confession, especially since Natsu was sick now and any additional emotional stress would only make him worse. These mixed-up feelings utterly confused Gray, and he was not ready to face this sort of life-changing reality, especially when Natsu loved someone else.

It would be best if Natsu found love with his girl, and if Gray found happiness with Juvia. He told himself that everyone would be happier that way.

"You love someone else, and I need to figure out what love is. I can't even know if this ... this feeling ... if it's ... that," he said weakly. "I can't know unless I know what the hell love feels like, and I'm not about to take that sort of chance with you, because if I'm wrong ... if it's ... not love ... I don't even know what the hell this is, and I don't want you to make fun of me. You'd just reject me anyway because ... because you ... love someone else already."

Why did the idea of actually losing something he never had, something he refused to grab, hurt him so much?

Softly, knowing he was slowly losing himself to these confusing, conflicting thoughts, he whispered, "Damn you, Natsu." His eyes closed, and tears streaked down along with the shower water. "Damn you for messing me up!"

———

Notes:

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a real heart condition, and yes, it's honestly called "broken heart syndrome" due to it being common amongst people facing a relationship breakup, the death of a loved one, and other forms of mental, emotional, or physical stress, which puts a massive strain on the heart muscle. It is most common in women over 50, so seeing it in a young man would be really rare, but it can happen, especially if the stress is unnaturally acute, like with Natsu and what he suffered through for ten days. The condition was discovered in Japan and named after octopus traps, since the deformation in the swollen heart makes it look like the takotsubo jars used by fishermen. In modern medicine, it takes two months to fully recover, so I figured that with magic, it would take half that time. 

A lot of people hated Gray after the last chapter, but remember, he has no clue Natsu likes him or what Natsu sacrificed. He thinks Natsu likes some girl, and no one, not even Natsu, has corrected him on this assumption that it's a female. If anything, this ambiguity is making matters worse for Gray now that he's starting to recognize his emotions for Natsu. Hopefully I explained his point of view clearer and you don't all think he's an asshole anymore.