Summary: Natsu comes across one of Lucy's photospreads in Sorcerer Weekly during his absence. He really wasn't prepared. (Nalu)

No way.

No freakin' way.

What were the chances that he'd see her again like this?

It had been seven months since he had left Magnolia, left the guild, though Natsu was doing his best to resist the temptations of homesickness. While it was rough at the start, eventually he reaquainted himself with being just a team of two. Seeing Guildarts had bought back the queasy twisting of his heart for a short while - spending all that time reminiscing hadn't been the brightest idea he'd ever had - but it subsided again as soon as the dragon slayer had a sufficiently tough opponent to distract himself with. The memories shuffled themselves politely back into the corners of his mind.

Tromping around in the wilderness, just him and Happy, was a lot of fun, but they'd finally run out of supplies and, coincidentally, completely wrecked his last set of spare clothes. Stopping at a small town had been Happy's idea, and Natsu had to admit that indulging in the expense of spending a night in the inn really had done him some good after a long day haggling over prices.

The biggest find by far of their excursion had been a copy of Sorcerer Weekly with a very familiar blonde posing on the cover. It was a bit out of date, the vendor hedged, but that hadn't mattered one bit when Natsu hurriedly forked over the jewels for it. Wistful pain had stolen the fire mage's breath as he stared down into those big brown eyes. How could he not buy it?

He really did miss her.

It wasn't until they had left the town behind by several days, killed a huge, monstrous boar that had been harassing some travelers, and made camp for the night that Natsu finally pulled the magazine out to flip through it. He just hadn't had the time to do it before now - it had nothing to do with how it made his heart lurch in his chest to see the girl, really it didn't - but they were settled in for the night, and Happy was snoring away with a belly full of feral pork.

The dragon slayer allowed himself a small smile at Lucy's confident expression staring back at him on the cover. Big, bold text promised more, exclusive even, pictures of the "champion celestial wizard" inside, so he flipped through until he found them. And then gawked.

Sprawled out in various provocative poses, in lingerie that barely hid anything, was his partner. He'd seen her in far less, gotten to grope her naked breasts in fact, but this somehow seemed far more illicit. Maybe it was that she was only almost naked and combining it with those sultry looks cast at the viewer, painted lips pouting while her eyes sparkled with mischief. Images of Elfman's anxious complaints about Mirajane's barely-there outfits in her own pinups floated into his thoughts, but he found himself having a very different reaction to seeing these photos of his friend.

Especially the big, foldout candid one where she was laughing, head thrown back and cheeks flushed while her body was very nearly bared to him. The sheer fabric hugged her form, molding against her high, rounded breasts and draping her hips to stop at the top of her thighs. A galaxy of little, strategically placed, golden stars studded the outfit and covered just enough to tease at what was hidden underneath. Granted, he knew damned well what was under there, and it only seemed to make it more effective.

He could almost hear her ringing laughter, feel the warmth and softness of her skin under his fingers that crumpled the stiff paper of the magazine. The memory of those perfect breasts, heavy and pliant and succulent in his hands, made him swallow hard. Natsu felt the immediate and deep desire to find out if she tasted as sweet as she'd always smelled. Blood filtered both north and south in his body, heating his face and… other things until his breath became ragged, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Oh shit.

That was new. He'd never reacted to her quite like that before. Was it how much he missed her? The racy clothing and seductive posturing? Or maybe, a tiny cat-like voice deep in his head whispered, he liiiiiiiked her and the distance between them was finally forcing him to come to terms with it. Whatever it was, he couldn't say that he didn't like it.

"Hey, Natsu? Are you okay?"

The dragon slayer started, jerking violently and quickly tucking the magazine against his chest. "W-wha?"

Happy tilted his sleepy head. "Your face is all red. Are you getting sick?"

"Nah! I'm fine - just fine!" His answer was so loud and hasty that the exceed stared at him suspiciously. "Really, Happy. I'm okay."

"Hey, is that Lucy's magazine? Is it any good?" Normally, Natsu would've been glad to have his friend be distracted from prying questions. Just not this time considering where the feline's wandering focus had landed.

The fire breather scrambled to stuff the publication in question back into his rucksack. He really, really didn't want the exceed to see what was in there. "Uh, it's fine. Not that interesting."

"I bet it was weird. That's why your face is red, isn't it." Happy said solemnly. Natsu froze, dark eyes darting over to the blue cat. "You just didn't want to say anything bad. You're a good friend, Natsu."

"Uh... R-right…"

The exceed yawned and flopped back to the ground. "Don't let Lucy's weirdness keep you awake. At least it means she hasn't changed while we're gone."

That brought a small smile to Natsu's face, and he forced himself to relax. Lucy had once said that she desperately wanted to model for Sorcerer Weekly, after all. Maybe this meant she was fulfilling her dreams too. Maybe Happy was right, and she hadn't changed at all.

Or maybe he'd changed and was suddenly some hormonal, lust crazed pervert where his partner was concerned...

He shook the thought off and settled back into his sleeping bag. One reaction to a nearly naked Lucy didn't mean anything, Natsu decided. It wasn't like he was the only guy to ever get caught up in her charms She was his badass and awesome friend first and foremost. No, it wasn't a big deal at all.

So much not a big deal, in fact, that just one more peak couldn't hurt.

Right?

Author's Note: I considered having Lucy look uncomfortable in the photos or Natsu noticing something was off – but frankly that didn't seem like it would be as much, and I really needed to write something fun. I'm going to say that Lucy did a few photoshoots before the charm wore off, and she decided she didn't actually like being a model so much. I hope everyone is cool with that.