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fumifooms · 3 months

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Chilchuck’s wife and family - Facts, theories and headcanons

I want to keep this as a sort of masterpost on Chil’s family situation if I can, but if we get a lot of information on it (in the additional content that Kui is gonna make) that renders this more or less useless I probably won’t update this anymore. If you find other crumbs of information or I've said anything factually incorrect please do tell me! I'm planning to edit this as we go since I want to compile most if not all of the information and pages we get about this topic on here, and if I just wait to post it perfection paralysis will nip this in the bud. It focuses a lot on Chilchuck and Chilchuck's wife relationships, but the daughters and Chilchuck's own parents and siblings are talked about as well.

CW/disclaimer: This post talks about messy family dynamics and such, there’s no outright abuse I’m implying anywhere, but alcoholism and neglect are mentioned and discussed. I’m not here to demonize anyone! I love every character involved and I just want to theorize about the topic as a layered issue that involves complex characters. Also, I try to use very transparent language as to when I’m citing or analyzing canon information and when I’m giving a personal interpretation or headcanoning.

Abbreviated table of content:

Timeline and circumstances

Possible strains on the marriage

The hair question. Confirmation on what his wife looks like?

Other family dynamic & post-canon theories & headcanons

Parenting style + misc in a reblog addition (new)

Let’s start with the facts, shall we?

Timeline and circumstances

So, we see that Chilchuck and his wife are childhood friends, and they married at 13 years old and had two children in that same year. Since half-foots reach the age of maturity at 14, they seem to be what we'd call teen parents. It's a bit debatable though, since Laios says the age of maturity for tallmen (humans) is 16 instead of 18 or even 21, so what's considered to be the age of maturity is a cultural thing and isn't fully reliable when we want to compare to our irl understanding and what developmental stage it perfectly aligns with. Also, during the succubus chapter Chichuck says that his daughters were all now of age to be independent, and Chilchuck's wife leaves to live with Flertom, which would mean that Puckpatti was independent at age 10 and lived away from home as well (since she's the third/last daughter). Ah yes another interesting thing to note is that we don’t know the pregnancy periods for the races, since Meijack and Flertom were born the same year. It could be tight timing or it could be something else, but I don’t think they’re twins, they keep talking about them being the oldest and the middle child, them being twins is definitely the sort of thing that would get mentioned.

Him starting working on the island notably happens just one year before his wife leaves him. I don't remember the other instances of him mentioning it though I feel like it happened, but since he started working at the Island's dungeon, working as a dungeon diver and then forming the half-foot guild, that probably means he started being away for longer periods of time and having a less reliable schedule on when he'd be coming back home. It is said that he went back home somewhat regularly iirc, though he usually ends up sleeping at the half-foot guild quarters. I'm not sure if Kahka Brud is also where he lived with his family, or just since he rented someplace new after she left him. He and his timeline state that he was born in a small village "northeast of the island", which he left at 14 one year after being married, but it isn’t stated where they go after so it’s unsure how far his home was from the island if it wasn’t in Kahka Brud. We don’t know when his father died so if that factors in to him leaving his village we have no clue.

Chil also says that he hasn’t seen or spoken with his wife nor daughters since the incident, which would mean he's gone 4 years without contact with his family during the events of canon. I don't remember if Chilchuck is said to exchange letters with his daughters, beyond the initial one from Flertom saying her mother was with her, so I've been assuming he hasn't.

He also says "For about ten years I’ve been travelling to dungeons in various areas and doing work" which considering he’s turning 29 that year would mean he started around 19 years old? The panel also gives details what sort of work he’s been doing. Either way it’s confirmed that Chilchuck travels for his work a lot.

In addition, since Chilchuck has the seal of approval of the bicorn + says so himself, he has always stayed faithful to his wife. So that means that unless he's had previous adventures before he was 14 and got married, he's never dated anyone else in his life, nor had romantic or sexual encounters/experiences with others in his 16 years of marriage right up to canon (year 514). I feel it’s safe to say that it’s implied that during all these years starting from when they were married, Chilchuck's wife was a housewife whose main job was taking care of the kids and the house.

Marcille's take on what happened is unreliable, as Kui even takes the time to directly say so in the Adventurer's Bible, so I don't want to use it as a baseline even if it offers some insight on what could have happened (her feeling out of place, leaving to test his love, etc etc).

What Chilchuck says seems to be accurate though since it pertains to his perspective of the events! Unlike how Marcille's theory flows, Chilchuck was aware that something was off before she left since she "suddenly fell into a bad mood".

Piecing everything together, my theory: Chilchuck and his wife were childhood friends and have always always sort of danced around of each other, the classic movie love story with childhood sweethearts, until they ultimately confessed and got together. While dating, Chilchuck's wife becomes pregnant and they're both unequiped to deal with the situation but decide to marry, either a bit forced in order to cover it up or hopeful to make the best of it. They make it work as they can and Chilchuck works to provide for the family while she takes care of the home and the kids, which means that even though he's not a deadbeat father (he cares, he was at least a bit involved in their lives and raising them since for example he knows how to braid hair after all) he ends up being rather absent from home. It only gets worse over the years, especially when Chilchuck starts working further and further away from home and coming home less often, and since Puckpatti left home Chilchuck's wife is alone at home most of the time, never knowing when Chilchuck would be coming and if to prepare the table for two instead of one, or even if he'd be coming back at all since his work is dangerous. The humdrum and lifestyle would get to her, they've grown into different people in these 10 years of marriage and she doesn't feel the spark or feels valued & seen anymore, so she leaves. He feels confused and betrayed which turns into anger so he doesn’t try to reach out and mend things, and with the way he says they’re estranged and he moves away I think he’s avoiding his family somewhat.

Possible strains on the marriage

Tfw all your daughters are independent and your husband is gone to work almost all the time and he barely even tells you that he loves you, is there even a reason to stay together anymore? Every day it’s just you and an empty house and chores to do, wondering if you have to cook for one or for two today.

Alright it’s analysis and theorizing time! Although there are more facts down in this post if you care about Chilchuck's wife's appearajce, Chilchuck's parents & siblings or the kids, the essential facts so to speak were all in the first part.

We don't see Chilchuck showing any discontent with his wife through the manga so I'm assuming that he was content in his marriage, happy with his wife, and with how he stayed faithful to her even in the 4 years after she left (and never stopped calling her his wife. Which also shows a weird stubborn attitude since he wasn’t planning on reaching out to her and mend things but I’ll put aside the possible entitlement/coping mechanism for another time) I think he truly loved her and still does. Since she left him and not the reverse, I'm putting a lot of emphasis on his wife's side of things. Especially since we do see how Chilchuck is at work quite a bit but never see how he is at home. I’ll be sounding harsh towards Chil on this but he’s pretty much the only party we can criticize since we don’t know her, I still side with Chil on the leaving issue though, he’s justifiably pissed if she left without a word what the hell even.

Alcoholism and health

Chilchuck’s favorite food as listed in the Adventurer’s Bible is beer, and it’s shown that he’s prone to drinking until drunk whenever he gets the opportunity to. A cheerful drunk is still a drunk. (Extra reading: if interested here's a oneshot FMA fanfic by a friend that goes in depth about this very topic that really illustrates what sort of family dynamic that can bring about. It’s not dunmeshi but it’s a good read.) Chilchuck is also canonically underweight, starving himself for a strict weight management diet (Extra reading: you can look at a short compilation post about that here). Did you know under eating makes one irritable? And this is on top of Chilchuck sometimes/regularly coming back home with "horrible injuries", since Marcille guesses it and he acts like she’s dead right on everything that far.

It’s rough seeing someone you love mistreat themselves, not being able to shake them out of that and having to stay to see them wasting away. It’s rough seeing them put their work above their own health. Putting their work even above their family. Putting alcohol over family time. It's not that simple, but there's always that element when asking someone you love to tone it down with things like alcohol or such, that if they refuse, then it feels like they value that thing more than they value your feelings or opinions. That they love alcohol more than they love you.

You know how there’s often this thing of "Well I’m providing everything for this family, so whatever else that I do you don’t get to complain." I do think that it’s something they’d have argued over a little bit, not that he’d say it that way, but the essence of it. "Chilchuck, you’re drinking a lot of alcohol often, I’m worried maybe you should ease up on it." "This is what I want to do in my free time, give me a break.", "Dear, your mood gets worse when you’re hungry, I really think you should stop dieting-" "Would you rather I die in a trap because I was too heavy?", "Honey I don’t like when you work so far away from home for so long" "Well what else can I do, do you have any better idea?". That sort of thing. Even if not being passive agressive or snappy, or even spoken upon, these situations can cause tension, or a feeling of powerlessness or imbalance in the relationship. Although I personally feel like they were both rather passive in their relationship (thus having little arguments), which itself can be a problem since yes they let each other live but they grew more distant and less communicative as a result, more on that later. Content and tolerating, rather than happy and fulfilled.

Workaholism and long distance

Spending a lot (or even a majority?) of time away from home for years and years obviously can strain relationships in many ways. Besides becoming more distant, both with his wife and his daughters, there's just that side that maybe you grow apart or you end up not knowing them all that well. Like the fictional dialogue excerpts I wrote just above, the way Chilchuck puts work above most things can by itself be the source of a lot of unhealthy habits and strains that could not only hurt himself but his relationships too. Devoted doesn’t mean attentive, even if Chilchuck 100% devotes himself to only her romantically and works in the goal to support her that doesn’t transfer into being there for her, even when he physically is.

An absent father isn't necessarily a deadbeat father, but an absent father is absent. And alright, we don’t know what his schedule was like exactly, but he was busy and traveled around, I think it’s fair to assume that if we were to make comparisons it’d be like parents irl who are often on work trips. We don't know what Chilchuck's wife's social circle is like, but regardless of how big or small or supportive it is it would be easy to get lonely I think. Besides raising the kids undoubtedly falling more onto her shoulders as well. Managing a household can be very hard and tiring even when not alone, I can imagine she felt like she missed the support of Chilchuck either as help or comfort oftentimes. We know very little about her, but I don't get the impression that she'd build up resentment over it except maybe her ‘falling into a bad mood’, but exhaustion? Absolutely.

It’s also implied imo, even beyond Chil not often being at home, that they rarely go out together. And that could very well be part of why she was mad after the outing. In Marcille’s theory she says that her wife felt out of place amongst all the cool adventurer coworkers, and if it’s a rare time that they go out together and it was supposed to be about her meeting his coworkers… I feel like what could have happened was that she felt out of place yes, and even moreso if she ended up not participating in conversations much because of it and no one really seemed to care, and the evening was all Chilchuck and his coworkers chatting it up as always and she was an outsider, if she sort of just faded into the background, if it felt like nothing would have changed wether she was there or not... If she felt like her presence didn’t matter on this special outing that rarely happened, it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for her to want to leave, definitely. He finally comes back after a long work travel and they finally go out and this is what their quality time is like? The outing that was supposed to be about her & them both ended up being all about him, and once more she was supposed to just orbit around him and his life without complaint or her own selfish wants like a devoted wife. With how Chil said that she got mad "all of a sudden" on the way home and he didn’t know why, plus that he was probably drunk (which may very well have made the whole thing worse), I feel like it supports that he didn’t pay her much attention during the evening, not that I’m assigning him ill intent at all, I’m sure that for him, it was a casual and fun night out and he didn’t think it'd been unpleasant or alienating for her.

That night

And all of this speculation in order to try and figure… What happened? Why did she leave? I've already gone into it a fair bit, but this is where I discuss it fully in depth.

We can’t rely on Marcille’s theory. Neither in the why she felt so out of place enough to want to leave, nor if her intention when leaving was to "test" him. I definitely agree that the reason why she left is layered and that the night/outing was the straw that broke the camel’s back more than the cause perse, but besides that it’s hard to say how much of it was impulsive and how much was because nothing else had worked to fix their relationship, or how long she'd been thinking of maybe leaving him.

Personally my favorite interpretation isn't that she found herself to be boring surrounded with Chilchuck's adventurer coworkers, or her reason for leaving is super centered around insecurity and if Chilchuck even loves her anymore, but that she sees how rich and eventful Chilchuck's life is and at the same time realizes how stagnant her own life has been. Chilchuck has adventurers for coworkers and they go out to bars and spend evenings together chatting it up, while she always does the same house chores every day and waits, and wonders, uncertain about when her huband would come back, and waits some more. She has a sort of passive role in her own life that gets pulled in one way or another by the people around her at their whims and needs, which is also a recurring theme in the manga: having a passive role in your own life, or a role that's devoted to others. Like with Falin who's always following her parents' directives or following Laios around, being the party's healer and eventually sacrificing herself for Laios and Marcille (she also doesn't seem to think much of marriage, as seen with Shuro proposing to her and her not having answered yet, which fits with how she was supposed to have an arranged marriage in her hometown too; a loveless marriage isn't something alarming to her). Izutsumi too, whose whole arc is about her gaining freedom and figuring out how to use this empowerment for herself and what she wants.

So she'd sit there, not knowing anyone except Chilchuck and not being able to follow their conversations about dungeons, and think about how this is a world she's totally apart from. How she knows so little of the world compared to him. She'd realize that while she's always waiting for Chilchuck to come home, dedicated to him and their family, Chilchuck's world doesn't stop and end at where and when he sees her, that while she's waiting he's living and experiencing things and being self-fulfilled. She's so passive and devoted and her tasks seem almost senseless now that the house is empty except for her, and in that time he's formed half-foot unions and she understands so little of what his life has become outside of her sight. This isn't a diss on Chilchuck or his attitude, I just think that it'd make her ponder about happiness and lifestyles, what's worth it and if she's content with her life. I think she'd find that her and Chilchuck aren't on the same page anymore, and probably they don't communicate much or even that they don't know how to communicate with each other anymore.

Other factors

They really do seem to be on different pages and not know how to communicate with each other well, since for example Chilchuck thinks that on the way back home she "suddenly" fell into a bad mood and seemingly left it alone, or otherwise they didn't talk until he knew what was wrong. Or like how she left and Chilchuck never reached out to her to talk or mend things, just like she never reached out either. According to Marcille it could be that she wanted to "test his love" and see if he'd even care if she was gone, but Chilchuck just got angry that she left like that and never reached out to her, so if that's true they definitely have incompatible expectations or ways to deal with things like that. Maybe she thought of leaving as something he should react to by trying to win her back, but Chilchuck did nothing and let her do her thing, and tbh if that were me I'd also have waited on her to reach out because I figure out that if someone leaves me they want space from me idk. He seems to be rather passive when it comes to interpersonal relationships and how they can mess up, made an analysis post here that talks about it, so the way he reacted by not reacting doesn't feel surprising, maybe she didn't know/remember that part of him, or wanted to shake him out of that tendency. He has no clue why she left, and there are just so many misunderstandings here that it's impossible to know what happened and how she felt and what she wanted for the future.

Also, we’re shown that younger Chilchuck, when he started dungeon crawling, is much more "innocent" and optimistic, less closed off on himself and bitter, and maybe he hasn't even developed his famous "sarcastic retorts" and "abusive remarks" yet as is plastered on all his character introductions and stats. Chilchuck has definitely changed a lot over the years, and some would argue not for the better. Staying with someone for so long has implications that they'll change and be different of course, but signing up for marriage with someone can still leave you questioning that choice decades down the line when they're so different

We get to see his freckles fade in sync with his corruption arc /j

Tfw when you can’t recognize the man you fell in love with.

The hair question

Edit 1/13/2024 leak!!!! Things aren’t officially confirmed but this is a safe bet. You can still read this section to see my reasoning to thinking she had black hair prior to this tho haha

It's not all that important rationally, but the community's been split on the topic: is Chilchuck's wife blonde or not?

Kui highlights Chilchuck being attracted to blondes a grand total of three times, and many assume that his wife is blonde due to this. However, the only vision we see of Chilchuck's wife is Marcille imagining herself as a halfling, so it's up for debate! Flertom has black hair, and that's mostly been the key clue that has people arguing.

I'm not an expert in genetics but black hair is a dominant gene, but it also doesn't mean a black haired parent can't have a brown haired kid, or that two brown haired parents can't have a kid with black hair. As long as one of the parents have it in their genetic code from somewhere in their family tree, it's possible, if not maybe unlikely.

People have been taking Flertom having black hair as evidence that Chilchuck's wife has black hair, but it could be Chilchuck that has the gene and could pass it on. Although...

That seems unlikely. We don't know what Chilchuck's elder brother's hair color was, and his elder sister does have a darker brown hair color, but in the case their parents had black hair or the gene for it, it seems highly unlikely if not impossible for the dominant black hair gene to miss this many amount of time in the gene russian roulette game.

And so I shall now call a witness to the stand, and you reader shall be the judge… Dandan.

You know, this guy? He makes appearances throughout the whole manga, but only has one spoken line in an easy to brush over flashback iirc. He's most often seen hanging out around Chilchuck and other half-foots, but it's unsure how far back he and Chilchuck go.

Now. Remember how Chilchuck and his wife are childhood friends? What if, and hear me out, what if Dandan is related to her. A cousin, or a sibling. Or maybe he's Chilchuck's cousin, even, if we go the reverse route.

The chapter cover

Look at the chapter cover below! We see each member of the main party at a table that's meaningful to them and their history, mostly showing themes of family, community and routine. Laios and Falin sharing a meal by themselves, Marcille at a meal in the cafeteria at the magic academy, Senshi by himself cooking in the dungeon, Izutsumi with Inutade at the Nakamoto household, and... Chilchuck, surrounded by much more mysterious and unknown characters and surroundings.

The only face we see besides the infant is a young one on the left which strikes me as looking a ton like Chilchuck! I doubt it's Meijack or Puckpatti, or someone else, especially since Chilchuck left his hometown pretty early which must make family gatherings harder (and routine is implied with the others’ panels). If it were Meijack I think Kui would have drawn it to more closely match her too, and have her usual freckles. I also don't think it's just Chilchuck and his own family, since if that's Chilchuck the only sibling with black hair he could have is his elder brother and the infant in the middle is clearly, well an infant.

My thoughts are that the table is shared with family friends, or at least members of the community. The elderly person implies that either there's extended family or it’s a gathering, especially if Chilchuck's grandparents don't live with them. Community is implied to be very important with half-foots imo, and if Chilchuck is from a small hometown like he says that would surprise me even less. Childhood friends are often brought together as friends because of circumstances, such as proximity or their families being friends! Doesn't that kid almost off-panel on the right, with a Flertom-like hairstyle and black hair, look to be the same age as the Chilchuck on the left? 👀

Also… Notice the dragon plush she’s holding?

Passed down from mom to daughter? The "most likely belonged to his daughters" is interesting too

If he is related, Dandan could be the infant. I suppose he doesn't end up mattering all that much in the end if you theorize that the Flertom-like kid is his wife on its own though haha. But wether or not you think that this is convincing enough, it's all we have on the topic for now.

Ah yes! Lastly, I've seen the sentiment around that his wife should be blonde, that Chilchuck's taste for blondes, if not the thing that brought them together, should be an acquired taste from loving his wife. That if that's not the case, then Chilchuck's type being blondes is either out of place or insuting or unromantic, etc etc. I can't help but disagree! I think, especially with how Chilchuck and his wife are domestic and all about knowing each from a young age, familiarity etc etc, that it would be so sweet if she wasn't his type! Loving someone so deeply, even if they aren't an idealized type... Which is a common theme/story & character beat in Dungeon Meshi.

Family dynamic theories

Meijack is the most capable, takes after her father the most, seems to have her own business as a locksmith but has a stable steady life. Flertom is the most social, she works at a tavern which seems stable and is ambitious with marriage plans, she has a caring side to her since she sent her dad a handmade gift. Puckpatti is the most upbeat, though she has the most unstable lifestyle, seemingly doing odd jobs.

His daughters do seem well adjusted, which encourages me in that their family seems amicable on the whole and (at the very least) decently functional. We don’t hear what they think of Chilchuck but presumably none of them are on bad terms with him or each other. Flertom does say that "half-foot men are stingy" which, gee, I wonder what half-foot man would have made taught her that- though it does also seem to be a racial stereotype in general, with how for example Namari also says to "steer clear from stores with half-foot clerks".

Flertom seems to be the only one who reached out after their mother left (the only one who's mentioned to have done so at least), and it's because she was the one who took in her mother. It’s not implied that they exchange letters regularly too iirc, it possibly was the only letter they've exchanged since then. I wonder if the daughters even know the full story, if their mother told them all about it or very little. Maybe some are pretty out of the loop, or more distant.

It strikes me that they don't seem to be very close. We're not shown anything that leads us to believe they don't like their father, but I think they're so used to him being absent for work that such distance is normal for them and they don't really long for a deeper relationship or to see him often. They were already out of the house and it seems like they didn't see each other much at that time either so for them it would be just a bit less than the regular amount of Dad time. It's been 4 years Chilchuck what are you doing... But yeah! From what we see they seem mostly unaffected, almost indifferent, not that we can truly tell. I imagine Flertom is the one most attached to Chilchuck with how she sent him a handmade cowl, and I think he rubbed off the most on Meijack teachings wise (besides her attitude, she’s also the one who still wears braids, and we see that Chilchuck braids hair). It makes sense, since they're oldest, and on the contrary I think Puckpatti is the one that knows her father the least. It'd fit the timeline with him working away more while she grew up imo.

Wouldn't it be interesting then that she's the one that Chilchuck says is carefree, in the official translation "doesn't treat life real seriously"? That she's the most optimistic, the most go-with-the-flow, out of the bunch? To me that sounds like a result from her being the youngest and Chil being the most often at work, thus her getting raised by her mother without as much involvement from Chil. Far be it from me to say Chilchuck would raise his daughters to be unhappy btw, not at all, we just all know what down-to-earth values he wants others to have so he doesn't have to worry about them.

Although… Puckpatti spotted?? Seems like he wants to stop her from buying something? His heart meter for her is full <3 (Note: I’ve seen it be argued that this could be his wife. I disagree, since the "stop them" and way that the long haired one is off-center compared to everyone else gives the sense that it’s many of his daughters, and the fact that it’s styled after a dating sim doesn’t mean it’s romantic love as we see with the others. Otherwise imagine being her wife and he tells you not to buy stuff when you go shopping together rip)

Headcanons time:

When naming the daughters, together they choose a pool of names they’d like but only one has the final say, and they alternate between who that is. Chilchuck sticks around more near the end of her pregnancies, and he hasn’t missed any of their births. I don’t have any opinions on who named who right now, but there could be some interesting stuff to theorize with Puckpatti, like them taking extra care picking the name together because they settled on her being their last daughter for fluff, or it was supposed to be Chilchuck but he was so busy that he ended up not picking in time and she was the one to name her for angst.

Actually scratch that I have a new theory : What if it’s actually customary for each parent to pick one half of their half-foot kid’s name? So then each would have chosen half of each girl’s name… And this could be why Chil calls Puckpatti Patti instead of Puck which is her first name, because he’s stubborn since Patti was his pick lmaoooo. Pattipuck doesn’t have the same ring to it alas, his wife was so right

Chilchuck liked to do activities with the girls when they were young. He's not opposed to relaxing at home with them perse, but he likes to do workshops with stuff like arts & crafts to develop their agility some. I don't think they'd do much outings to places like restaurants or theatres for money reason, and I don't think Chilchuck is much of an outdoors type, but he could accompany them to nice fields to play in, or in winter places to play in snow and sled, and organize some activities at home. He's not home very often so when he is he likes to take it easy as a break from work and values the time he gets with his family.

Chilchuck would sometimes work from home as a locksmith, say, unlocking a chest for a customer. In those times, Meijack would take interest and watch him work, even handing him the tools he needs as he goes. In this way, Chilchuck taught her a lot about the work of a locksmith over time. He's also the one that would oil door hinges or do renovation around the house- when he's available.

Like the plushies under his table in his home that we see in illustrations, Chilchuck has a lot of mementos from his daughter (and his wife) he keeps around. Sometimes they take a bothersome amount of place, but throwing anything out isn't something he's seriously willing to consider. Flertom's the most artistic and she used to help with sewing clothes back together, so he has a cheap ceramic mug painted by her when she was really young and small embroideries around.

Imo Meijack would be the most distant in the present. Flertom makes efforts for her parents and is pretty involved, and Puckpatti's distance is more out of being a bit airheaded and being busy + not having a great grasp on time or what's a normal amount of family contact, but Meijack's the one who knowingly and intentionally keeps some distance. I think she’d be the least optimistic about their family situation, and although she’d be hopeful when Chilchuck reached out to them again she’d be a but hesitant. I think Meijack would hold some grudges, being the one most critical of their parenting, both grateful to her dad for working so hard for them and saddened that he wasn't in their life more. Since Flertom was born in the same year I think it’s possible that Meijack was pushed aside a bit to take care of the younger baby more, out of necessity rather than lack of love. Her mom probably needed a lot of help around the house too. Flertom wasn’t blind either, and she cared about & noticed her mom’s emotional states, but she’s on the whole more hopeful and forgiving.

This is my most far fetched one but it is a hc after all, but I think it'd be interesting if one of them had food hoarding tendencies/stress. I like to think it's Flertom, because she's the middle child and would get told that her older sister and younger sister are "growing and need the food" so she wouldn't be allowed to take as much refill or such, add that to them not having much money to frivolously spend on food and that makes a kid who's worried about not eating to her hunger and tends to be possessive over food (I'm projecting). Differential treatment is inevitable in families with many siblings, and it can manifest in small or big ways, maybe they realize it maybe they don't. Working in a tavern has helped eased that tendency of her though, and while she does diet a bit she always leaves a meal feeling satisfied.

When they were younger, Flertom was a real firecracker, loud and spirited with some troublemaking tendencies! She was the daughter that got in trouble & got scolded the most. You can still see slivers of it now that she’s an adult, but she’s much more poised and diligent. She has much more acquaintances than friends, but she has a couple of best friends and usually gets along well with most people. Puckpatti was always a bit head in the cloud, very kind if not gullible, and tended to make friends somewhat easily but didn’t keep them for long, preferring to keep meeting new people and not keeping in touch well. She isn’t super talkative but tends to ramble when she does. Meijack is very introverted, she has more trouble making friends, she has a good handful though they don’t meet up often, her friendships tend to last and she’s close to them. She’s grown more confident over the years, less repressed and more quiet. Meijack as the big sister tended to be the listener for her younger sisters who had more social mishaps. Flertom has dated once before and it only cemented to her that she was going to have very high standards from then on.

Meijack wears thigh-high boots because she hates when sand, dirt or snow gets in her shoes. She wears practical clothing but avoids anything frilly or flashy. Puckpatti also dresses practically, but she does enjoy pretty clothes, it’s more out of necessity and due to not having enough money to indulge. Flertom has a social stable job and she loves prettying herself up (especially as she’s in search of a husband) so she’s the one who gets the most and nicest fashionable clothes and accessories.

Chilchuck is hinted to have had a rather dysfunctional family himself (alcoholic father, distant siblings, etc). So he doesn’t really have the best model on how to raise someone and such. I imagine it was a sort of neglectful home situation, where the kids are encouraged to be independent. If they didn’t have to work or help around much, then free range parenting sort of thing. We do see how the family has full and warm feasts, where someone cleans his mouth with a rag, so it’s not like he didn’t have a caring circle or a tragic childhood though! I don’t remember if it’s explicitely stated, but he’s heavily implied to having grown up poor, as most half-foots, and I just think it's the hardened hardworking family type of childhood where just like he does with others they instill somewhat harsh life lessons in him, which in turn encourages him to indulge in the simple pleasures of life like alcohol and sex, or at least women’s beauty and crass jokes. We do see he seems more optimistic when he's younger in flashbacks, so a bunch of his harsh view on the world is still likely learned and earned rather than taught. I still think he inherited many flawed views from how his father acted, like his attitude about excessive drinking not being a big deal and worth it. That work hard play hard, enjoy life die young mentality he has, shown mostly in the "alcohol" section of his Adventurer's Bible profile, could very well be partly a result of the general poverty half-foot communities are that he grew in as well, like how he doesn't hope for things to be as best as they could be and contends with good enough. As far as I remember, his mother is never mentioned, but I doubt it implies she was out of the picture. She was probably a regular sort of mother that took care of the home as well and was still around when his father died. It looks like there’s a good age gap between one sibling to the next, that could be interesting to dig into too.

A part of Chilchuck’s character is that he takes responsibility for safety and actions of people around him and is very often looking out for them to not do faux-pas wether socially or literally with stepping onto traps. The way he says "I’ve got three people to think of here" makes me think that’s also how he’d think about having to provide for his family, and that could be a source of stress and insecurity for him. Caring for others is a pretty integral part of his character and we see time and time again that his family is very important to him, in any case.

Post-canon

This pic has so much to say!! It’s the ‘thank you for reading’ double page spread where they’re going to a big dining table at the castle with Laios and the main gang. First family gathering in 4 years perhaps?! I’ll say, not feeling very hopeful that his wife isn’t in this, not even implied to be just off-panel with a hand or anything… I imagine before this he still talked to them at least a bit and figured their family situation out, but I think this is still in the early stages of reconnecting. Haha imagine being one of them and receiving a letter saying "Hi it’s been a while… I want to introduce you to my ex-coworker the king and his friends, you up for that?" I don’t want to reconsider all my hcs for this yet, but this pic does seemingly show an eagerness from all the daughters to reunite and reconnect! Meijack’s could be seen as more hesitant, but I think it’s just awkwardness from meeting so many new people, of high status no less. Chilchuck does seem awkward and somewhat self-conscious though, and while that could be just from say Marcille and the others meeting his daughters and him not knowing how to act, I think that also shows that Chilchuck is unsure how to act around his daughters too. Can’t blame him, I’d be stressed too. Anyways, the daughters are all dressed up! Puckpatti even brought flowers! And I doubt it’s just for Senshi, or just to be in with the king. Oh also also, Puckpatti chides Meijack here, seemingly on manners?, so that implies new/different family dynamics there~

We know with the succubus chapter that he does plan on reaching out to his wife again and shooting his shot, and when Marcille was dungeon lord he told her she could help think of a plan to make up with her together at which point Marcille showered him in gifts and flowers intended for her and his daughters. So we do know that whatever happens and however it happens, Chilchuck definitely will at least reach out to her to win her back or worse case scenario get closure on the situation.

These are his plans before it’s revealed that the Island is… Well, not an island but the golden kingdom, so the news that Laios is king and that might have changed them a bit, but I think he’s still gonna stick around to help with the half-foot guild for a while.

My personal ideal post-canon Chilchuck life is that after around a year or two of helping around in the golden kingdom, especially regarding half-foot working rights, he gets his shop and finally settles down. He prioritized the whole half-foot guild because there are changes to attend to and people to help, but also used that to procrastinate a bit on getting in touch with his wife again. He does send a letter though, and when she replies they then meet face to face. They explain how it was like on their end, their grievances and their feelings, and they do reconcile. But… It’s been 4 years and his wife has frankly moved on. She’d rather they stay as friends, and Chilchuck has mixed feelings on it but is ultimately fine with it. He was halfway resigned to not reconciling with his wife in canon after all. But no longer do they have cut contact! They get together with the girls for the holidays and the ambiance is nice! He starts exchanging letters more regularly. He also gets a second family of clingy asses with Izutsumi and the main gang and so though he lives alone in his shop he’s well surrounded and well loved, and his daughters visit to check up on him every so often.

I really like the… Maturity of Chilchuck’s plotline, if that makes sense? To me the ending that fits the most is him and his wife reconciling, but not getting back together. I like that they could still be adults about it and at least amicable even after divorce, and that that wouldn’t be treated as a tragic ending. In the end, they were childhood friends and teenage parents, they rushed things a bit and I genuinely think they’re just not that compatible. If not then, at least having it be a gradual process, getting back together and making it work until they’re truly comforatble with each other. Destroy the relationship to better build it again stronger!

Although, his arc in the manga is to allow himself to form connections and be optimistic, which would fit well with him and his wife getting back together. I def think Chil would get healthier post-canon which could fix the issues they had in their relationship though. Like for one he starts eating more, which improves mood & irritability & health, and also after the whole half-foot guild he plans to settle down with a shop so it wouldn’t be long distance or unstable anymore which would definitely give his wife some peace of mind. If they still do some long distance at first while he gets the half-foot guild stable, it’d be really cute if he sent pressed flowers with his letters to her… That could make a nice fic concept, like over time all the pressed flowers and exchanged letters hehe (oh shit that’s a nice title)

My post-canon timeline is Chilchuck lives a nice life living alone in his house except his friends all visit him and care and even tho he likes living alone it’s also bittersweet and every corner of his life is haunted by mementos of the ones he loves and the moments he had with them. But then it’s also like the shared duty of everyone to pass by his shop when they can and keep the old man company and sometimes that means many people come at the same time like if both Meijack and Marcille came the same day~ Cozy life, no regrets except a lil regrets still. That’s it that’s all I want.

Misc

I didn’t know where to put this, so new category time! Family truly is a central theme of Chilchuck’s character. His reaction to learning more about how life gets made is so awed by the wonder of the world. Life indeed…

The implication of this page is that Chil didn’t know about the science side of how procreation works, though of course he did know about the practical side of it. This is speculation, and we have no clue how widespread the information of how reproduction scientifically works lol, but I think it’s fair to think that half-foots’ education especially in smaller communities is handled by the parent, school of life style, or if there are schools then the education is very general and it probably ends early. I think this is supported by how for example half-foots’ jobs we’ve seen are based on experience rather than knowledge, like being a locksmith. Of course any job has its fair share of specialized knowledge to learn, but jobs you learn on the fly pretty well. This sort of dynamic contrasts a lot against elves many tallmen communities, like with the magic academy, where education and knowledge are valued almost above experience, this is what the mandrake chapter was all about after all. Poorer communities tend to have poorer education systems as well irl, it’s a whole issue.

So I already said my piece about his wife not being blonde and it being nice and romantic because literally you don’t need someone to be a beauty ideal to love them and that’s fine and normal and even more romantic imo. But!! I do have an headcanon, now that his wife’s appearance is all but explicitly confirmed. While their hair is blonde, yes their hair is wavy and the ‘main’ one has deep-set eyes, not unlike his wife! Now this is a ‘which came first the egg or the chicken’ question, but while most people seem to be assuming that he got with his wife because she was his type, since they’re childhood friends I feel like it’s his love for his wife that shaped his preferences in that deparment. Like ok he loves golden hair and hers is black, but isn’t it so much more romantic that he has so much love and devotion for his wife and has stared lovingly at it so much over the years, that it’d become his ideal? He loves her eyes <3

Conclusion

Reminder that I’ve got more stuff in a reblog addition now. What I've got left to add at some point:

Compile more info on Chilchuck's father and his other family

Reread the manga and catch details like exchanged letters & his work schedule. Reword some things to repeat myself less maybe

A buddy is planning to make a name analysis post for everyone, and I might have more to say especially about the daughters once I know what possible meaning their names have

Other stuff I may be forgetting about

And thus I leave you with a lil web weaving I made about Chil & his wife’s relationship~ And this is where I’d put panels of Chilchuck’s wife… IF THERE WERE ANY

Should we call Chilchuck's wife Mrs. Tims... We don't know dunmeshi marrital traditions though, and half-foot already have somewhat complex naming conventions... I hate that we don't really know if the daughters' last names are Chils or Chilz. Oh yeah the last names change each generation, that’s odd right? But in english it sounds like saying Chil’s, like, [father]’s, so I think this also supports how half-foots communities tend to be tightly knit and live in the present, for them to be like "Ooh so you’re [father]’s little one eh? I know who that is and this is insightful as to who your family is to me!". Iceland’s a place where last names are like this, though I don’t know about pros and cons of it in that context

Ah and I have a bittersweet spotify playlist about her and Chil too, here if ya want. That’s it the post is over

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #spoilers #chilchuck tims #delicious in dungeon #chilchuck's wife #chilchuck’s family #Tims family #puckpatti #meijack #flertom #Analysis #Meta #Despite my best tries I am not omnipresent it's always fun when piecing together these topics is a community effort!!#please do build upon this if you have anything to add #but yeah editing is up in the air. I'll probably be adding stuff maybe even cutting stuff out #this is a giant post i am slightly overwhelmed #Kui puts so much importance in details it's incredible. It truly feels worthwhile to get into the weeds #We support chilchuck’s wife on this blog #I covered how stressful her life could have been a bit in my Grind Me Down Sweetly fic funnily enough if ya want to give it a read. It has #Daughters mentions too hehe. And my post-canon marchil take #Oh also if there’s already theory and compilation posts out there about this i’m down to link them in or smth. I haven’t seen it done but #If it’s been then i’m very interested in reading & seeing #Apparently chilchuck being an absent dad is a heated debated topic. Oops #Pls do not murder me… Peace and love in the dungeon meshi fandom? He’s my second fave have mercy on this humble stan #This is 7k words btw. Pls do pick and choose what you’re interested in or skim or take breaks or anything

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chrofeisnightmaregf · 10 months

Note

Hello! If your requests are open can i ask for a fluff gray fullbuster x reader? Take your time ^^

a/n: Hi love! Sorry it took so long. I tried to make it funny but It didn't work out so well so it's just 6k words of mediocre writing. You didn't specify gender so I made the reader gender neutral. I hope you like it<3

synopsis: everyday scenarios of what it's like being Gray's s/o. Or everyday scenarios of Gray trying to figure out why he loves you and gets the answer in the end.

CW: Lots of talks(Mainly jokes) of death, sickness(motion sickness), detailed descriptions of being sick and throwing up, mentions of fighting, reader is mentioned to be a dragon slayer but no mention of what your element is or if you have a exceed, I tried to make reader funny but their kind of annoying, Gray is ooc, some light swearing. That's really it but let me know If I missed anything.

Do not steal or repost any of my works!!

WHY I LOVE YOU- Gray Fullbuster x reader

Terrified.

The only way to describe how you are feeling right now is terrified.

You never thought you would be bested by the likes of a creature such as this but if this is your fate you will take it. You lived a fulfilling life as one of fairy Tail’s top mages and one of the few s-class wizards that are in the Fairy Tail. You have made amazing friends that double as your family all thanks to that very same guild. That same guild also brought you your best friend and boyfriend. The man who gave your life meaning. Guilt flooded your system knowing that you would be leaving him all by his lonesome. You only hoped that the rest of your former team would take care of him while you were gone.

“Gray” you mumble, tears filling your lash line. “I’m so sorry to be leaving you like this.” Gray meant so much to you. He was your first ever friend, the one who introduced you to team Natsu and most importantly? He is the one who showed you what true love really feels like. How you wish you could tell him goodbye. But maybe this is a good thing, you don’t want him to see you like this.

“Babe?” you gasped. You whipped your head around to the direction the voice came from.

“Gray?” you questioned. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to go to the store?” you bite your lip trying to hold back the tears. As much as you wanted to see him in your last living moments you didn’t want him to see you like this.

Gray’s body tensed. “Babe are you- are you crying?” he moved towards you reaching his arms out to pull you in a hug.

“No!” you shouted. Gray retracted his arms, obviously confused by the look on his face. “You shouldn’t see me like this” you sniffled. This made Gray even more confused.

“What are you talking about y/n? I’ve seen you cry before.” Gray had no clue what you were talking about. He had seen you cry plenty of times so why were you making a big fuss right now?

You bit down on your lip harder trying not to let your tears spill but it was to no avail. It was bad enough before knowing that he would have to find you in your shared home dead but now he would have to witness your demise. This was terrible.

The tears started rolling down your face and you sniffled again. “Like this Gray! You shouldn’t have to see me like this in my final moments. I don’t want you to remember me like this. I want you to remember me as my happy self. Not all teary and snotty.” This statement not only confused Gray even more but it also made him annoyed. What did you mean your final moments? What the hell were you talking about?

“Y/n what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean by your final moments?”

“Just leave me alone Gray! I don’t want you to remember me this way!” “What the hell are you talking about y/n? What do you mean remember you this way, why do you keep talking like you’re about to die?”

“Because I am Gray! I’m about to be killed and I don’t want you to see this creature brutally obliterate me!” Gray opens his mouth to further question you but stops as the familiarity of the situation hits him. He sighs and moves towards you. Didn't you guys just go through this last week.

“No Gray please don’t come any closer or it will kill you too!” You yell, but he doesn’t listen to you and keeps heading in your direction. Just as you were about to yell at him to get away from you again he walks past you and grabs a tissue.

He comes back to where you're standing and in front of the dining room table and sweeps up the creature in front of you. You gasp. “Is this the creature you’re claiming is about to kill you?” you nod and look away from the thing quickly, trying to avoid eye contact with the terrifying monster at all costs.

“Y/n look” you shake your head.

“Put it down Gray or else it’s gonna kill you too!” Gray deadpans.

“Babe if it was gonna kill me it wouldn’t have let me pick it up” he sighs out.

“That’s because it’s gonna sneak attack you Gray! It wants to trick you and make you believe it’s harmless so it can kill you without you struggling!” he rolls his eyes at your overdramatic behavior. Why exactly does he love you?

“Y/n…” he sighs “It’s a spider.” You gasp. He says it like it’s some harmless bug. As if there aren’t spiders out there that can't poison you in a single bite. He says it so casually like spiders can’t crawl into your ears and lay eggs. As if spiders can’t-

“Y/n” Gray calls out your name to draw your attention over to him. “Watch me”. Hesitantly you look over to him. He opens the dining room window and slowly sets the spider on the ledge then removes the tissue from on top of it revealing the small but deadly creature.

You screech watching the creature that was about the size of a quarter scurry around the window sill. “What the hell are you doing Gray!” you jump back as the monster starts to make it’s way back inside. “Gray it’s trying to come back in just kill the damn thing” You shout, getting into a fighting position. If Gray won’t kill it you will.

Gray scoffs and sets his forearm on the window sill to block the spider from coming back inside. He beckons you over with a ‘come hither’ motion. You take slow cautious steps over to him but once your in arms reach he grabs you and yanks you over to him. You yelp and jump behind him. Before you can yell at him some more he shushes you. “Watch,” he mutters.

You almost gagged at the sight of the spider walking across the window sill. The spider walks from one side of the window to the other a couple more times before crawling it’s way down the wall and crawling off.

“See y/n? It’s all gone. It didn’t wanna kill you. Hell, it didn’t even wanna be in the house in the first place, it just got trapped.” Gray smiles at you and closes the window. Your eyes move between him and the window repeatedly.

“Is it really gone?” you whisper. He hums in approval. Almost as if someone else had taken over your body your mood switched completely. You squealed.

“GRAY MY LOVE YOU SAVED ME FROM THAT MURDEROUS CREATURE EVEN THOUGH IT COULD HAVE KILLED YOU TOO! YOUR SO BRAVE I DON’T KNOW HOW TO REPAY YOU! THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU-” you cut yourself off by jumping on top of him and wrapping your arms and legs around him, gripping him like a koala and not letting him go even as he topples over and falls due to the shock of you jumping on him.

“ACK- WHAT THE HELL Y/N GET OFF ME THAT HURT!”

“NO! NEVER GRAY BAE I NEED TO REPAY YOU!’

“HOW THE HELL ARE YOU REPAYING ME? ALL YOUR DOING IS SMOTHERING ME”

“I’M REPAYING YOU BY SMOTHERING YOU WITH MY LOVE NOW SHUT UP AND DEAL WITH IT” to make your point you shove your head in the crook of his neck then go limp, laying on him with all your body weight. He can practically feel you shattering his ribs and groans.

Why does he love you again?

________

All you could think in this moment was how much you hated traveling on any sort of vehicle. You could feel the pit in your stomach tightening and your mouth pooling with saliva. The pit in your stomach moves upwards into your throat and you gag. You grab onto the ledge of the boat and hoist yourself up just enough for your head to hang off the side of the boat so you can empty the contents of your stomach- or well, lack thereof. You’ve thrown up so much that all you can puke up at this point is bile.

You finish your puking with a groan which follows by you collapsing to the ground. Your arms wrap around your stomach and you whimper. “I’m really sorry I can’t do anything to help you y/n” says Wendy with a frown. You shake your head at her and try to offer her a reassuring smile.

You place a weak hand on her shoulder “It’s fine Wendy it’s not your fault that your spell doesn’t work on me anymore.” She looks at you with a frown on her face. She opens her mouth to say something but you cut her off. “Enough Wendy, really it’s okay, stop apologizing.” Before she could say anything more Natsu gagged in the background which caused a chain reaction because you felt more bile coming up.

You grabbed onto the ledge and started to throw up alongside Natsu. “Natsu, y/n!” Wendy’s voice was laced with worry.

Erza placed a hand on her shoulder. “Their fine Wendy don’t worry about them, they do this all the time.” Lucy hums in agreement with Erza’s statement.

Natsu whined in the background letting out a small plea of “Wendy heal” me or something along the lines of that, it was hard to tell over the noise of him puking. Wendy gasped trying to make her way over to Natsu but Erza held her back. “Cut it out, Natsu!” Lucy yells at him. “Don’t listen to him wendy. Your healing magic doesn’t work on him or y/n anymore.” You nod at Lucy’s statement.

You make your way back to the floor. “You’ve used your healing magic on us so much that it no longer works. It’s not your fault so don’t feel bad. Plus me and Natsu have had motion sickness since we were kids, and we are used to it.” You smile at the girl. She smiles back at you.

“Still, is there anything I can do to help?” You were about to say no but the blistering hot sun reminded you of one thing she could do to help you out.

“Yeah, actually there is,” she nods eagerly. “Could you go get Gray for me?” The girl nods, scurrying off to search the ship for the ice wizard. Lucy looks at you confused.

“What do you need Gray for?” she asks curiously.

“Motion sickness is bad enough but with the sun beating down on me it makes me more sick. Lucky for me my boyfriend is a walking popsicle so he can cool me down." Lucy giggles.

“You guys are so cute” Lucy raves, clapping her hands together. “Maybe the cutest couple in all of Fairy Tail!” she exclaims. Erza hums in thought before nodding her head in agreement.

You open your mouth to thank them but are cut off with a harsh rock of the ship caused by what you could only presume was a big wave crashing against the side of the boat. You barely have enough time to pull yourself over the ledge of the ship before you're throwing up bile again. The wave of nausea had caught you so off guard you didn’t have enough time to adjust your hair. There wasn’t much you could do though, as your hands were occupied with gripping the ships ledge with dear life. Natsu isn’t faring much better either. Luckily though he had Lucy behind him holding his scarf so it doesn’t get soiled.

One hand gathers your hairs up gently into a makeshift ponytail while the other is placed on your back. It was obvious it was Gray. you could tell by the cold hand that could be felt through your shirt. Gray rubs soothing circles on your back trying to keep his nonchalant composure. Having grown up alongside you in the guild he was used to your motion sickness but that never stopped him from getting worried.

Once you finished you groaned and wiped your mouth off. Instead of sliding back down to the floor you turned around to face Gray.

“Gray” you whisper looking into his eyes.

He gave you a small and gentle smile and brushed some of your hair back out of your face. “Yeah?” he asks, meeting your loving gaze. There was a pause between you two as you both just held eye contact.

“Graaaaaaaayyyyyyyy” you whined falling into him “I’m gonna dieeeee.” he only rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around your waist. If this wasn’t how you usually acted when you got motion sickness he probably would have toppled over onto the ground with you throwing all your weight onto him. But alas, this was how you always acted when you were sick. Clingy and overdramatic.

Wendy gasps. “Wait what! You're gonna what y/n?!” Your words made Wendy nervous and caused Gray to groan.

“Would you stop with the dramatics already y/n? You’re scaring Wendy.” He adjusts you so you're both sitting on the floor with back to his chest, his back to the wall of the ship’s ledge. “Ignore her Wendy, she always does this.” Before Wendy could make a rebuttal Erza dragged her away to the other side of the ship.

Gray looks down at you. “How is it that even when you're sick you still manage to be so overdramatic?” You grin and look back at him.

“Because it’s fun, and it annoys you so it makes it even more fun.” His face scrunches up and he glares at you. “Don’t look at me like that Gray, we both know you love me.” you say to him with a cocky grin on your face.

“I’m looking at you like that not just because you annoy me” he starts off, making direct eye contact with you. “It’s because your breath reeks of throw up,” he says, pushing your head away from him. You gasp. If looks could kill gray would be six feet under. Upon noticing your gaze Gray busts out laughing.

You scramble away from him feeling offended but that proved to be a bad idea because it felt like you just got sucker punched in the gut. You groan and lay on the floor and curl into yourself. This makes Gray laugh even harder. He was worried about you but he had to admit your reaction was funny to him. You’ve had motion sickness since you were a child so you should know not to make any speedy movements if you don’t want to upset your stomach.

You whined. “Screw you Gray…you Elsa wannabe.’” he snickers.

“Really babe, Elsa wannabe? That’s the best you can come up with?” You continue to glare at him.

“Keep hating on me Gray” you mumble wriggling around a bit trying to get comfortable, which was hard to do seeing as you were lying on the hard floor of a ship. “You're gonna regret it when I die on this boat due to motion sickness.” He rolls his eyes at your continued dramatics but lets out a little snicker.

‘“Oh no” he says sarcastically “what will I ever do?” He pretends to ponder on the thought for a bit as you gaze at him before shrugging. “Your death will be sad but I'll move on.” You gasp, causing him to let out another laugh. You flip him off and slowly roll over on your side with your back facing towards him.

He continues to laugh as he reaches forward to scoop you into his arms. He pulls you back into his chest. “Y’know I was only joking Babe, I love you more than anything.” He mumbles quietly. Your eyes widen in shock. It wasn’t like Gray to express his love for you out in public for everyone to hear. And he only called you babe in public when you had motion sickness. You reach a hand up behind you and run it through his hair.

“I know baby” you hummed out. “I love you too.”

Gray smiles down at. He rubs his hands up and down your arms soothingly. The cold hands on your body soothes you and allows you to fully rest yourself against him. Your limbs start to go lax and you feel sleep starting to creep up on you.

All the puking must have tired you out, Gray thinks. “Tired?” He asks. You hum allowing your eyes to drift shut. Sleep starts to take over your body which creates a peaceful silence between the both of you. Gray looks down at you, admiring your peaceful face. Hopefully you’ll sleep throughout the entire boat ride till you get to the job site he thinks, at least then you won’t have to feel so sick.

A harsh wave rocks the boat back and forth and causes you to jolt awake and let out a groan. Another large wave hits the boat causing the rocking of the boat to be more intense.

“You okay y/n?” Gray does well to hide the worry in his voice but he can’t fool you. You could read the man like an open.

“No” you replied with a shaky voice. It felt like someone had a death grip on your stomach and was shaking it up and down. “Not one bit.” A small frown was placed on Gray’s face. He moved his hands down and placed them on your stomach hoping to cool down where it hurt the most.

You sighed. The feelings of his hands on your stomach made the sickness in your stomach a little less painful. Just as you start to relax and get comfortable again a third wave crashes into the side of the boat. The relaxed feeling disappears and is replaced by extreme nausea traveling what felt like the speed of light up your throat.

You jump up and turn around. In an attempt to grip the boat’s edge to throw up you somehow elbowed Gray in the face and knocked him over onto his back. While you were busy puking up bile Gray was groaning in pain whilst holding his nose.

The overbearing sting in his nose made Gray wonder; why does he love you?

________

Gray should have known better than to trust you to pack food for the job. When he entrusted you with the task to gather food for the upcoming job he wanted you to pack canned foods, cereal and some sandwich making supplies. But no. You didn’t. Of course you didn’t. Gray opened the bag of food expecting to find something to eat after the long boat ride. Between the heat, the constant waves making the boat rock, and your taking care of you and your motion sickness (and having to deal with Natsu being motion sick) he was hungry. So imagine his dismay when instead of finding something filling he instead finds loads of candies and chips.

“Are you serious y/n.” The question was more rhetorical but you answered anyways.

“You're the one that told me to pack food Gray bae.” Your tone was innocent yet condescending and gray wanted to wipe that cocky grin off your face.

Gray runs a hand down his face. You swore you almost saw him pop a blood vessel.

“I should’ve known you would pack junk food instead. What are we supposed to eat now?” you picked up a pack of gummy worms and threw them at him. He rolled his eyes “we can’t eat only junk food while on a job, y/n.”

“Don’t listen to him y/n! I love what you packed, it all looks so yummy!” Happy says, practically coming out of nowhere. Gray jumps in shock.

“Where the hell did you come from, Happy?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too” just like Happy, Natsu practically appeared out of thin air. Gray glared at him.

“Then maybe you should have packed your own food flames for brains.”

“What the hell did you just say to me Elsa?!” Natsu and Gray clashed heads.

“You heard me pinky now get out of my tent!”

“I don’t think I will”

“Fight, fight, fight!” chanted Happy, snacking on the bag of gummy worms you had previously thrown at Gray. you snickered.

“If you guys are gonna fight, could you not do it in me and Gray’s tent? I would like somewhere to sleep tonight.”

“Stay out of this y/n, Gray needs to be taught a lesson in respect!”

“The hell did you just say to them?” You groan at their antics. They were seriously gonna drive you up a wall. As funny as their fights could be you would prefer that they didn’t blow up the tent you and your boyfriend are supposed to sleep in.

You walk over and grab Gray’s arm and drag him out of the tent. “Hey! Let me go!”

“Nah i’m good” you say. “As funny as you and Nastu’s fighting is, I would prefer to have a place to sleep at night.”

“Then we would have taken it outside! Now let me settle the score with him!” you roll your eyes.

“Gray we both know you would have fought inside, you both get to caught up in the moment. Also, neither of you will settle the score. Your fights always end in a tie.” Gray wanted to say something but you spoke up before he did. “Plus the town we accepted the job from isn’t too far from our campsite. I wanna do some exploring before we have to get to work!” You say gleefully.

You choose to ignore Gray’s pouting and pull him away from the campsite towards the town.

It was hard for Gray to stay mad at you for interrupting his fight when you looked so cute walking around the town staring at everything in awe. Despite the blazing heat you stayed full of energy, dragging Gray to every stall that caught your eye.

“I’m hungry” you say about an hour into your guy’s little adventure.

“Me too,” he says. “What do you want to eat?” He continues on, taking a look around the area and reading out the names of the food vendors. “Pizza?” he asks.

You shake your head. “Not feeling it.”

“Ramen?’ he asks.

You shake your head no.

“Fried chicken”

You shake your head again. “It’s too hot out for any of those, I want something cold.”

He arches a brow at you. “What exactly is cold food, y/n?” you shrug.

“Food that’s cold.” he deadpans.

“Yeah no shit.” He looks around. “One of these stands may sell salads, those are cold.” You shake your head for the umpteenth time. His brow twitches. You hum in thought and look around, surveying all the food stands in the area. Your eyes light up.

“I know!” you say.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” you grin. “How does pizza sound to you babe?” He growls.

“I offered pizza up the first time!”

“Oh you did?” you asked, heading to the pizza stall. “I must not have been paying attention. Sorry Gray bae.” You smirked. God how you loved to annoy your boyfriend. The man scoffed and rolled his eyes but the grin and small laugh he let out deceived how he truly felt.

After getting your guys’ pizza you continued your adventure around the town as well as continuing your playful bantering. You stopped your walking “Hey Gray.”

“Hm?” he asks, standing right next to you.

“Look” you say with your dominant hand pointing towards the sky.

His eyes widen slightly. “It’s beautiful,” he says, staring in awe. You guys had been walking around for so long now that the sun had started to set. The clouds were thick, puffy and breaking apart to show the sun which had created a beautiful blue to orange ombre with a golden sun right in the middle.

No matter how beautiful the sunset looks it paled in comparison to the way you looked. Especially right now. The sun casted a beautiful yellow and orange hue on your skin. You look absolutely ethereal. Like an angel sent directly to him from heaven. How did he ever get so lucky to have such a stunning partener.

You looked at him and smiled and in that moment he swore he would never see anyone as beautiful as you are.

“I love you Gray.” He smiles at you and is about to pull you in for a kiss before the moment is ruined. Someone walked by and bumped into your shoulder harshly which causes you to stumble.

“Hey what the hell?!” You shout. The person who bumped into you only scoffed at you.

“Maybe you should move out of the way next time instead of just standing in the middle of the path.” You look around you.

“There is plenty of room for you to walk around without bumping into me! You did that deliberately.”

The girl smirks. “So what? Serves you right bitch. Maybe you shouldn’t stand in the way.” Gray’s eyes widen. Did she seriously just call you that?

“What did you just call me?”

“A bitch, are you stupid or something?” Judging by your posture, Gray knew he had to step in.

“You wanna say that again?” Your kind tone and smile betray the actions Gray knows you are about to commit.

“Y/n don’t-”

“No Gray, let the girl repeat what she said.” Your smile and voice seemed so innocent but your eyes betray you. Gray could see the anger flaring up in your eyes.

“Yeah Gray,” the girl snickers, “Stay out of it.” Is she seriously antagonizing him too?

Gray could see it in your eyes. The anger had taken over your eyes. “You did not just say that.” You growl out, taking on a fighting stance. Not just any sort of fighting stance though. It was your dragon slayer punch stance. You were quick, readying up your attack to strike her but Gray was quicker. He grabs you by your waist and throws you over his shoulder like you weigh nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

The girl busts out laughing. “Awe! Your boyfriend has to carry you away, how cute!” She says in a baby voice which only serves to make you more annoyed.

“Are you serious right now Gray?! Put me down right now!”

“Very serious y/n! I know you get worked up and defensive but you can’t hurt the woman! And you definitely can’t use your magic on her. Do you know how much trouble you can get in for using magic on a civilian?”

“Like I care, Gray! Put me down right now! I let you and Natsu fight all the time, Gray this isn’t fair!” you whined and Gray presumes you’re pouting- to which he is right. You are also pouting.

“Actually I think it is fair. You broke our fight up earlier.”

“Whaaat? Noooo. I would never have done that” you say with a sarcastic and sheepish voice. He deadpans, heading towards the direction of the campsite as you continue trying to convince him to put you down and let you go fight the girl. All he does is sigh.

He really wants to know why he still loves you.

________

Gray’s body shot up out of bed. His body was sweating and he was heaving. “It was just a dream,” he mumbles. “It was just a dream.” No matter how much he says it his heart won’t stop racing with anxiety. Even as he takes in his surroundings. The clock on the nightstand that reads 2:03, the moonlight peeking in through the curtains, the cushy mattress and soft blankets and your soft breaths, he still can’t seem to calm his racing heart.

He wants to wake you. He so badly wants to wake you up. The only person who knew how to work him out of his panicked state but he just couldn’t bring himself to move past his pride. Not to mention you looked so peaceful.

So instead he got out of bed and dragged himself to the living room. This proved to be a difficult feat as his legs felt like they were made of lead. He sat on the edge of the couch trying to take deep breaths but they weren’t working. If anything were doing the complete opposite. It felt like his heart sped up with every breath. It soon came to the point where Gray felt like he couldn’t breathe at all. His ears were clouded with an incessant ringing that wouldn’t stop and Gray didn’t even notice he was starting to cry until he felt the salty tears roll down onto his lips. Once he noticed he was crying he also noticed he had started to rock himself back and forth. The only thing on his mind right now was that nightmare. That terrible, terrible, nightmare that would not leave his mind. That nightmare where he relives the most traumatic moment of his life. Except it was worse than what it was in real life.

“Ay-, ray- Gray- GRAY” he jumps up. His head whips around to find you staring at him with worry filled eyes. “Baby what's wrong? Why are you crying?” Your voice was soft and you slowly approached him the way you would approach a wounded animal. You place your hands on his shoulders and push him down onto the couch and squat down in front of him. “Speak to me baby what’s wrong.”

He bites his lip to try and stop the tears from coming out but it doesn’t do much. He doesn’t look into your eyes when he speaks. “I can’t- I can’t breathe.” He says. His palms feel sweaty, he can’t breath and his heart is beating so loud he can hear it in his ears and he voices that out to you.

“Okay let’s take some deep breaths alright? Just the way I taught you okay? Breathe in for five, hold it for five, and breathe out for five. Let’s do it together.”

He nods, and do it together you do. You do it five times before he starts to calm down. You do a couple more deep breaths before you decide that Gray will be fine on his own. You usher him back to your shared bedroom with the promise of coming back upstairs with some sleepy time tea and cookies.

While boiling the water and putting the cookies on the plate you're pretty sure you know what caused his panic attack. It was probably the same nightmare as last time. The only thing you want to know is why he chose not to wake you up? Was he scared you wouldn’t care? You only shook your head and waited for the tea to come to a boil before pouring it in the cups and carrying them along with the cookies to your bedroom.

“So” you start while you get comfy on your side of the bed and hand him his cup of tea. “What happened?”

Gray stares down into his cup of tea and blows at it. He doesn't make eye contact when he says “I had that nightmare again.” you nod, your suspicions now confirmed.

“You wanna talk about it?” He nods.

“It was the day Ur died. Every bit of that day was played back in vivid detail. Me running off and her coming after me, her doing the iced shell. And just as she is about to die she looks me in my eyes and starts talking. She tells me that I'm weak. That i’ll never be a good wizard because I can’t defeat Deliora myself and that it’s my fault she is gonna die. That had I never left, had I tried harder none of this would have happened. She says that she regrets ever taking me on and that-” you place a hand on his free hand.

“Take a deep breath. You don’t need to rush. Take a sip of your tea love.” he nods. He takes a deep breath just the way you had him do earlier. He pauses for a minute or so to take a few sips of his tea before he starts back up again.

“Then she says that I need to leave you or else I'm gonna get you killed too and it will be all my fault. She said you’re too good for me and that you don’t deserve to have to deal with someone who killed their own master and that you need to leave me. And then she-” His voice starts to crack so he takes another breath and drinks some more tea.

You could feel your heart breaking with every word that came out of his mouth. “Then she dies. She completes the spell and dies. I know it was just a nightmare and that none of it was true but it all felt so realistic y/n. And it all felt so true. I know it wasn’t but it did.”

“Gray” you set your tea down and hold your arms out “come here.” And he does. In the comfort of your shared room he lays his head in your lap and lets you stroke his hair. “What she said in that dream was just that Gray, a dream. Something your mind made up to scare you Gray. to make you doubt yourself. You didn’t kill Ur, she did it because she loved you. You didn’t kill her, Gray and she would never blame you.” He nods to everything you say and you feel tears wet your thighs.

“She would never call you weak because you’re not. You are one of the strongest wizards I know. And you won’t get me killed Gray. I am a strong and capable mage. So capable I made it to S class. And I am not too good for you Gray. I'm perfect for you and you’re perfect for me. You’re my person Gray and I know I’m yours. I would never leave you and you’re never leaving me, okay?”

He couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle and you smile. You gently wipe his tears away and continue to stroke his hair.

“Hey y/n” Gray mumbles then sits up.

“Hm?”

“I love you.” You smile and cup his face with your hands.

“I know Gray, I love you too.”

“I know you do.” you giggle then move in for a kiss. It was short but sweet. He sat next to you and took a sip from his tea before playing you down and pulling you to his chest. You guys laid like that in a comfortable silence until eventually your breaths evened out. By the look on your face Gray assumed you were sleeping.

He laid there silently admiring your face and thought back on the last couple of days with you. Why did he love you? He constantly asked himself this question but he knew. He always knew why he loved you. Moments like these where you talked him down from what you call a panic attack, where you hold him in your arms while he cries, when you make him tea and bring him cookies then play with his hair.

But that wasn’t just it. He loved your dramatics. He thought it was funny even though he would never admit it. Your fear of spiders made him laugh, even when you jumped on top of him and practically crushed his ribs after he got rid of the spider claiming that it was you paying him back. He would never admit it but he didn’t mind carrying you away from fights. He found it sweet that you're ready to fight for him over something so stupid. He enjoyed how much of a tease you were. Making him list out foods just to say no and name one he already named, how you whined and claimed you were dying when you were really just motion sick.

He enjoyed holding you when you got motion sick. He was happy to help even if it was as simple as placing his cool hands on your sickly body hoping to make you feel less hot. He enjoyed it. He loved it. In truth Gray never needed to be reminded why he loved you because he already knew why. He would always know why and he never needed a reminder but if he one day, for some reason decided he did, all he had to do was look at you. Look at your smile, your eyes, listen to you talk and laugh and crack corny jokes. All he had to do was just be in your presence to be reminded why he loved you.

He knows why he still loves you.

And he will never stop loving you.

#nightmaresnonnies #nightmarewrites #this shouldn't have taken this long #this has been done for over a week #oops #fairy tail #fairy tail fanfiction #fairy tail x reader #gray x reader #gray fullbuster #gray fullbuster x reader #gray fullbuster one shot

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