Chapter 12
It had been almost three days since Natsu returned to doing requests and he was looking at a particular quest on the request board. It was different from the rest which were all construction help requests. Normally he wouldn't think much of it, but when all of Fiore was as messed up as it was it appeared out of place.
"Hey Luce, Come take a look at this."
Natsu then read the request out loud as she got up from her seat next to Canna across the room. A blinding light flashed out and he flung his arms up in surprise ripping off the request in the process. When the light cleared His cloths laid as a puddle on the floor.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled as she ran over.
She looked fervently around for the crazy fireball only to then see his cloths moving then falling aside to reveal a tiny two year old toddler sized Natsu. She stared for a moment in shock. After looking himself over he gave a annoyed expression.
"C…" Lucy said with a dark expression.
"Huh?" he asked turning to the blond.
"Cuuute!" the blond squealed her face lighting up with a huge smile flinging her arms around him in a hug squishing him into her gigantic breasts as she nuzzled him.
Natsu was about to stand up, but then realized he would be naked if he did. He looked around and seeing the barmaid he asked her to bring him something smaller to wear. Unfortunately right at that moment the Iceprick and the water mage decided to come in at that moment. Gray looked from the tiny Natsu being squished to the request flyer on the floor then back to him and sighed.
"You just had to read it out loud didn't you?" Gray said referring to the time Natsu read a request and switched everyone's bodies.
"What do you…?" Juvia said as she came around him and when she saw Natsu she froze for a moment then squealed, knelt down next to him, then started petting him on the head.
"What is this Juvia wants twelve, and Gray-sama don't be so mean to him."
"Wha?" Gray sputtered his face going bright red.
Mira came back with a T-shirt which he hurriedly put on before getting up and slipping out of the two girl's grasp. Turning to Lucy he asked "Do you think you can change me back?"
"I might, but it may take longer than it would take Levy." She said with a disappointed face. She apparently didn't like that he had moved away, but well it was good to know that she seemed to really like kids.
"I'll call the master and see if he knows anything he's currently at a meeting with the council. I'm also sorry, but Levy and Gajeel left on a mission together this morning, so you won't be able to have her help you till the day after tomorrow. So Natsu, you might have to live like that for a day or two."
"Thanks Mira." Natsu said with a sigh.
Lucy took the flyer and walked towards the guild library muttering about such a waste of something. Natsu taking into account how horrible he was with books sat by the bar to wait. Mira walked by carrying a pair of beer mugs.
"Hey Mira, can you get me a large beer?"
"No can do Natsu, you might be in your twenties, but right now your physically a child. We have a strict no under aged drinking policy. I can get you Juice, milk, soda, or water though." She offered helpfully setting down the beers by Gray and Juvia.
"No thanks, if it isn't a beer or some alcohol there isn't any point."
"Ahh, what's wrong? Maybe I can lend an ear?"
"Will that really help though?"
"You won't know till I hear right?"
"Alright. Just don't say anything to anyone." He said slouching down into his arms grumpily. "I…mive Lug..vt..nt..apsk…der.. t…de..ni..givnt…"
Mira blinked. "Huh? I can't understand you when you're mumbling Natsu; could you say it a bit more clearly for me?"
He leaned up a little so his mouth wasn't covered by his arms at least.
"I love Lucy, but can't ask her to be my girlfriend." He said quietly, but soft enough only Mira could hear what he said.
Mira smiled. "Natsu… that's perfectly normal for someone who never asked anyone out before. You just need to find a spec of courage and the right time for you to tell her. Just one piece of advice, don't make her wait forever. If you do you might miss your chance then the girl of your dreams might wind up with another guy."
"Thanks Mira." He said with a smile then reached strait out in front of him and cheerfully asked "Beer please."
"Nice try, I already told you I can't give you any alcohol till your big again."
Natsu scowled, but hearing some chuckling he turned his head. Gray was turned looking at Juvia his shirt off (again) and they seemed to be joking about something. He seemed to have completely let down his guard. A wicked smirk spread across Natsu's face. Letting your guard down around me? Big mistake icedrawers, Natsu thought to himself.
Natsu trotted into the guild library in a surprisingly good mood. Lucy hearing the door open looked up.
"Hey Luce, if anyone asks especially Gray I'm not here." He said ducking behind a full book cart and three giant piles of books.
"What did you do to Gray?"
"You'll see."
Lucy didn't have long to wait. She heard a shout from by the bar followed by some furious stomping as Gray stormed in.
"Have you seen Firebreath? When I get my hands on him…."
"Um, no. Gray did he do something to you?"
"You don't need to know." He said spinning around and storming out slamming the door behind him.
As he had turned his back to her Lucy saw the cause of his anger, and she couldn't help but stare. Right on the tail bone of his pants was a giant hole scorched in the fabric. You could just make out under the soot that Gray was wearing snowman underpants. Lucy took a sharp breath in as the door slammed then burst out laughing. It was Natsu's best prank ever. Lucy kept laughing till she had no air left in her lungs and started to wheeze and gasp from the lack of oxygen. Natsu had come out by then and was watching her laugh with a pleased grin.
"Alright, that was enough of a break for me. I need to get back to work translating why don't you go over to the fiction section and read one of them. By the time you finish Gray should have calmed down enough you can head back to the bar without him trying to kill you."
"Sure."
Lucy worked in silence as she compared all of the different ancient languages to the poster. Half way through she glanced over at the dragon slayer that had settled cross leg next to her and was reading one of the novels by Zekua Melon. It was strange seeing him quiet for any length of time. She couldn't help but wonder what if Natsu had liked her back and they had gotten married and had kids. Would their kid sit next to her like this reading while she worked, or would it cling to her wining and asking to play? Snapping herself out of the current train of thought she told herself to focus. She didn't have time to think about stuff like that, and besides he just didn't feel that way about her. Hours later she finished going through all the languages at the guild.
She literally couldn't believe it. Not a single language matched the flyer. Either it was a new language discovered or just wasn't available to the public. She looked sideways at the now sleeping slayer leaning against her chair. Gently she picked him up and held him. To think the brash often destructive hot head used to be such a small cute child. If he was really the age of a two year old right now he would have just barely learned to walk at this time and wouldn't have been able to speak properly. She decided that she was just going to carry him home and let him sleep. He was in a two year old body after all. Lucy headed down the hallway to the bar where Mira was giving Gray another beer.
"Mira, I'm going to take Natsu and head home. I looked through all the languages, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I'll have grandpa Crux do a search at home, but either way this is going to be way out of my league to handle. We'll definitely need Master or Levy for this."
"Alright, I'll make a copy of this and let you take it with you."
"Thanks Mira."
