Simba x reader

             Over the next few weeks, as your wounds heal, you cant be sent out to hunt or fight anymore. As you spend your time laying in the shade around pride rock or telling the stories of your homeland, you notice Simba spending more and more time with you. He's started venting to you about his frustrations and asking you for advice, and you've been listening to his stories about the past. On the first night you slept near his nest he seemed surprised, but now you couldn't think of sleeping anywhere else. Sometimes he'd keep you up with little jokes or childish pranks, and you'd do the same in return. Some other lionesses seem to think you and Simba have a certain fondness for eachother, but you shrug it off knowing that, at least for you, you're nothing more than good friends.

           One night you notice Simba is absent from his nest. You try to shrug it off, but something worries you. The days have gotten hotter and hotter, but the nights only grow colder. Food is scarce and many of the lionesses are now weak with hunger, all of these troubles have been weighing on Simba like a boulder on his back. He had been sharing his portion of food with the weak and injured lionesses, including you, but because of that he's been growing leaner. You get to your feet, determined to find him and bring him in to the warm safety of the den, but when you step outside you see something that makes your heart stop. Simba has collapsed on the stony ground, shivering and too weak to move. You heave him onto you back and call for the other lionesses. Askari, one of the strongest lionesses in the pride, shakes sleep from her mind and helps you haul him in. The two of you take him to his ledge and lay him down. You lay with him, trying to warm him up. Askari takes command of a few lionesses and tells them to find the hunting party, and to collect water if they can. Simba needs to eat and drink.

       Panic grips your mind as you listen to his shallow breaths. you dont know what to do, there's only one thing you can do. You start talking to him, as gentle as a mother to a cub "Simba... Stay with us. You'll be alright, I promise. Its not your time, not yet. The pride lands still need you... I need you." As your voice fills the quiet of the den Simba's ears twist to face you. He blinks open a tired eye, looking around. His throat is too dry, so he doesnt try to speak. You wonder how he let himself get this bad, How you let him get this bad.

           Lionesses fill the den, carrying small scraps of meat or  life-saving water in carefully held leaves. As these provisions are fed to the king, life seems to return to him. he becomes more aware, ever so slightly stronger. The king would live another night, but in the back of your mind you couldn't help but wonder how many nights he suffered like this. How couldn't you have seen it before? You shake your head, ushering the thought away. Simba would live, that's all that mattered. You didnt dare sleep or leave his side for the rest of the night, fearing that if he was left unattended he may slip away to the stars.

       In the morning Simba seems to finally regain his senses. He blinks awake in the morning light filtering in through the cave entrance and gazes silently at the lionesses surrounding his nest, then he notices you. You press your head against his shoulder "Dont scare us like that. From now on dont share your food, you need it more than we do," You say sternly. Simba seems taken aback, after all an outsider just gave the king an order, but he didnt fight it. He simply nodded, knowing that he pushed himself too far this time. Kasi steps forward and lowers her head to the king "You've been blessed with your life, my lord, but how will we survive? The herds have all gone, we are all weak and half-starved. The sickness looms over our heads like a cloud of ash ready to bury us at any moment," she pleads. Simba looks to the ground, lost in thought for a moment. Eventually he sits up, clearing his throat before speaking "Grubs."