Day one: Ladies


As Lucy sat in fairy hill's basement/laundry room, knee deep in sweaters, she bemoaned the loss of her precious friend once more. It had been a brave and valiant death, fighting for its life against incessant flames, or something of the sort. Her washing machine had gotten her through the highs and lows of missions, food fights, and good old dirt. But it could not survive Natsu. She was sad to see it go.

Of course, the fact that Erza and Cana were whistling over her delicates might have had something to do with it. The red, lacy ones warranted a particularly piercing catcall.

"If you're going to help," Lucy called, covering her flushed cheeks with her hands, "please actually do something." Cana simply laughed, though Erza pretended to work until Lucy turned away. It was nothing particularly new, Erza and Happy and Natsu and Gray went through her hamper regularly. But the astronomical amount of people going through her laundry brought the embarrassment up to a whole new level.

Juvia waved a blue shirt in the air. Always polite and helpful, she had folded it first. "Juvia would like to know where Lucy bought this!" Lucy could barely hear her over the racket, and her answer was a shout.

"You can borrow it, if you'd like!" Juvia smiled happily, before going back to sorting whites from lights from brights. She set the blue shirt to the side and Lucy smiled. Juvia was always a pleasure. Un-distractible. Maybe Lucy should follow her lead and actually get some work done. It took maybe thirty seconds for her to get sidetracked again. And as enjoyable as this may be, in a terribly-embarrassing-no-privacy sort of way, Natsu was going to pay for this.

It had started she wore the same shirt for the third day in a row, and one she didn't particularly like at that. Levy had been the one to catch her. She had pushed Natsu out of the way and sat down next to Lucy who was laying her head on the bar. She placed a drink in front of the tall blond with a clunk. Lucy groaned in greeting and acknowledgement.

"Lucy." Levy's voice had been calm as she had tried to make eye contact. It had been rather difficult, what with Lucy hiding her face. "You wore that yesterday."

"Mhm."

"And the day before," Levy had added. It was a sure sign that something was wrong. That and the way Lucy had been draped over the bar.

Merely hours later, Lucy was anything but draped now, trying to grab a particularly embarrassing gift from Natsu out of Levy's hands. Where he got the horrid shorts, she'd never know. But she had been desperate two nights ago, when a cooking accident, once again courtesy of Natsu, had put her favorite PJs out of commission. She had been stuck with that or nothing until she had enough money for a new washer. And Natsu slept in her bed more often than not now. Nothing wasn't really an option.

Even the outfit Lucy had been wearing that day hadn't been up to her usual standards. The blacks didn't match. It was a sin above all others. When Levy had pointed this out, gently of course, she didn't want to shock her, Lucy had let out an anguished cry.

She had looked up from her depressed ball, teary eyed. "My washing machine." Levy had nodded sympathetically before she had realized what had been said. Cana had already inched over to listen.

"What?"

"My washing machine," Lucy had wailed, running her hands through her hair. It only increasing her disheveled appearance, and her pigtails had started to fall. "Natsu broke it!"

"Of course he did." Levy and Cana had sighed in disappointment, bemoaning the lack of anything truly exciting going on in their guild full of all-powerful wizards. A chair flew across the room, but nobody looked up. "That's it? No broken hearts or anything?"

"I haven't done any laundry for two weeks," Lucy had moaned through her fingers. They crept up to massage her temples. "Two weeks, Levy! I have no clothing!"

Which was how Lucy had been dragged into the situation at present, struggling to reacquire the mangled attempt at a scarf that Levy was waving around. It had been a jobless week, and Natsu had been bored.

Lucy was the recipient of most of his haphazard gifts nowadays. Though it didn't excuse him from what he broke.

Sure, she'd have clothing for the next week or so, or until she could pull together enough money for a new washer. The Fairy Tail girls were always willing to help each other, be it exciting or less than that. But not without a price.

"Hey, Lucy." She looked up to where Lisanna was holding up a familiar pair of pants. The grin on her face was positively impish as she made herself comfortable to observe the catastrophic affects of what she was about to say. "Aren't these Natsu's?"

Lucy turned a brilliant scarlet, and the squeals and whistles that erupted around the room would leave her ears ringing for hours. As she honestly denied any knowledge of how they had managed to breach her hamper, Lucy was positive of one thing.

Natsu was going to pay.