Summary: A thunderstorm has come to Magnolia and the guild all react to it differently.
Pairings: Sibling! Mira/Elfman/Lisanna, Sibling! Erza/Wendy, Gray/Juvia, Evergreen/Elfman, Gajeel/Levy, Jet/Levy/Droy, Alzack/Bisca, and Natsu/Lucy. Always Natsu/Lucy XD.
YouTube Prompt: A tribute to the Fairy Tail girls to Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like a Woman.
Strauss Siblings:
The storm was so ferocious that it managed to knock their power out. This hadn't bothered Mirajane or Lisanna, who calmly sought out the candles and lit them, but it did bother Elfman a little.
"It isn't manly to have candles!" he said stubbornly. "It is much more manlier to go out, fix the power, and brave the storm – LIKE A MAN!"
"Don't be silly, Elfman," Mira giggled, "It is much safer and warmer to stay in here. We can have a story night like the old days."
"Ooh, yes!" Lisanna agreed, "It's been way too long since we had a story night. And I know some really good ones now that I learnt in Edolas."
"Oh, how fascinating!" Mira gasped. "You can tell one first then."
"Yes!" Lisanna cheered, as she sat down between her older siblings, "Which one shall I tell you first? Edo-Juvia told me a really good demonic mermaid one once, or there's the murder stories Edo-Lucy told me (though I'm not sure if they were stories or just her actual killings…), or the possessed car story from Edo-Natsu, or even…Elfman-nii-chan, are you okay?"
Throughout Lisanna's pondering on which story she should tell, the middle Strauss sibling had begun to tremble which on worsened at each word his youngest sister uttered. "Of course, I'm okay!" Elfman lied, his face red with embarrassment, "I look forwards to each and every one of your stories, after all GHOST STORIES ARE MANLY!" he finished in high squeak instead of his usual deep bellow.
Lisanna and Mira swapped amused looks and had to hide their giggles. "Perhaps another time for ghost stories," Mira suggested kindly, "what are the romances in Edo-Fairy Tail like?"
And with that the family spent the whole night curled up together as the eldest two listened to Lisanna's stories about the parallel world she had been living in.
Erza, Wendy, and Charle:
Wendy had been a bit nervous about the storm. She had never been a big fan of them even when she lived outside and had a dragon protecting her. There was just something about them that made her fear for her life. When she had accidentally confessed this to Erza she had expected the derision that it deserved. The derision Charle definitely had given her as she tried, and failed, to get Wendy to be a little braver.
Instead she found herself bundled up into bed, with a hot chocolate, and Erza acting all motherly as she read Wendy a story out of her book.
Well…a bit of a story, Erza kept blushing, and changing the pages which caused Charle to tut at her for some reason. It was somewhere between the couple declaring their love to one another, and the first real roadblock of their relationship (with what seemed to be about thirty pages skipped) that Wendy started to drift off to sleep, with her head in Erza's lap, and Charle's head pressed against Wendy's hip.
A crash of thunder could be heard which caused Wendy to jump a little in her sleep, Erza simply hummed contently as she stroked Wendy's hair, and soothed her back into blissful ignorance.
Gray and Juvia:
Juvia hated storms. Hated, hated, hated, hated them. They were always the proof of her instability. The very thing people hated about her. Juvia made it rain, and when she made it rain people hated her, and when people hated her, Juvia got sadder and angrier, and storms suddenly appeared, and then everyone hated Juvia even more. It was a vicious cycle that had been broken by only one person.
On beautiful, perfect, and very naked person….
Juvia didn't cause this storm but would anyone believe her? What if Fairy Tail got fed up with Juvia's storm making and stopped being nice to her? What would Juvia do?
Juvia sobbed bitterly into her Gray-sama doll as the wind howled with her.
"Ack!" Gray yelped. "Juvia…I can't breathe. Let go a little."
Juvia held on tighter instead. She clutched tightly to the lukewarm skin that was her Gray-sama, and pressed her face against his guild mark while she breathed in his strange scent that was simply him. She was so glad he agreed to stay with her even if she had forgotten temporarily and thought she was cuddling her doll instead. "Gray-sama…" she murmured, and then her eyes bugged out in realisation. "Where are your clothes?!"
"Crap!"
"Ah! Juvia's virtue is now missing as well!"
"Oi! Don't say crap like that, Erza will kill me!"
Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe:
The moment the storm hit they ran out like the lunatics everyone thinks Bickslow is (and he definitely is). They had their own ritual for thunder storms because they were the Thunder God Tribe, and this was their element. Laxus was starving and they were desperate to party while he feasted.
If anyone else from the guild saw them they might die of a heart attack. Freed had lost all of his formal trappings, as he wore only a shirt and trousers, both of which were sticking to his skin, and his long green hair was plastered to his face, and his eyes wild and bright. Ever was smiling like a child in a toy factory, and Bickslow had lost his helmet and heavy armour, the three of them were also holding hands and dancing wildly in the rain like lunatics.
"Time to party, my babies!" Bickslow shouted to the skies.
"Party, party, party," his dolls chanted as they zoomed round in circles above them.
"Ah, Bickslow, look at Ever," Freed smirked, "she's covered in mud already."
"Shut up!"
"Ooh, perhaps we should have invited Elfman to join us," Bickslow suggested teasingly as his female best friend fumed furiously, "he would like the sight of Ever in ripped tights and mud all over her. Think it would be manly."
"Manly, manly, manly!"
"I said shut up!" Evergreen screeched.
They didn't get to tease her more because Laxus pounced, in all perfect grace, into the air and sucked in all the lightning into his mouth before he landed on his feet with ease. They all applauded and cheered him on. "Amazing as ever, Laxus-sama!" Freed praised their leader gushingly.
"I'm glad we've agreed I'm amazing," Evergreen smirked.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it!" Freed snapped. "Stop stealing Laxus-sama's glory!"
Bickering between the two ensued, which was ignored by the stoic Laxus, and the grinning Bickslow. "What did that one taste like?" Bickslow asked over the thunder that was Evergreen trying to murder Freed.
"Like oranges," Laxus grunted.
"Oranges, oranges, oranges!"
The Connells:
It wasn't the thunder that scared Asuka. Oh definitely not! She had grown up around guns, and was used to loud banging noises. She had no problem with thunder but lightning…well, she went to school. She heard the stories. Lightning can come down from the sky and electrocute you! And that was terrifying.
"Hush, sweetheart," her mother murmured as she tucked her into bed, "there's nothing to fear."
"But what if the house gets hit?" Asuka whimpered.
"It won't," her father promised as he ruffled her hair goodnight. "I promise you."
"How do you know?"
"Well," her father scratched the back of his head, "you remember Laxus Nii-chan?"
"The big, scary, blonde man in the silly coat?"
Her mother giggled at that and her father looked strangely amused and ill at the same time. "Yes, him," he said, and then he coughed, "well Laxus Nii-chan is a lightning dragon slayer, like Natsu Nii-chan is a fire dragon slayer, and like Natsu Nii-chan can eat fire, Laxus Nii-chan can eat lightning."
Asuka's eyes widened at that. "Really?" she asked.
"Yes, really," her father nodded solemnly.
"And I imagine he is very hungry right now," her mother spoke up, "since lightning is very hard to get. Do you think Laxus Nii-chan will let our house be hit by lightning when he can gobble it all up instead?"
"No," Asuka giggled.
She found the idea eating lightning very funny. Probably because Natsu Nii-chan looked funny when he was eating fire. Like a human dragon, only harmless.
"There you go then!" her mother said firmly, "now go to sleep. You're safe."
Asuka obeyed her parents and promptly closed her eyes ready to go to sleep. Now feeling assured that no one was going to get hurt. That night, Asuka fell asleep not to the sound of thunder, but the sound of her parents kissing one another (yuck!).
Cana, Macao, Wakaba, Romeo, Reedus, and other Fairies:
Most of the guild, that was still in the building when the storm hit, ended up standing by the door as they watched Cana drunkenly dance in the rain. She wobbled around in her high heels, arms in the air, and the water soaking her white blouse to reveal a black lacy bra for the world to see.
"What a sight," Wakaba drooled.
"Definitely," Macao agreed perversely as a bit of blood slide out of his nose.
"Dad!" Romeo hissed embarrassed. Why did he have to be related to such a pervert? It made it so difficult to have friends when his father is perving on half of them!
"It is a beautiful sight, oui!" Reedus agreed as he hastily started to paint. "All those colours when the lightning flashes…"
Romeo would like to say that Reedus painted a beautiful picture of the storm itself….but unfortunately he too was bitten by the perverted bug, and was actually painting a portrait of Cana and her very see-through top.
Romeo sighed dejectedly and wandered back into the guild where surely someone would put him out of his misery.
(Not that he had much luck, even the Master was drooling at the sight of Cana, and so were all the other men, while Laki looked on disdainfully.)
"Here, on the house," Kinana said as she rubbed his back sympathetically, "you look like you could use a drink."
"I could use a less perverted father," Romeo smiled thankfully. He accepted the free hot chocolate gratefully and sipped it. His eyes widened as a strange taste was laced with the bittersweet chocolate.
"I thought you could use a little pick me up," Kinana winked, "but it's just a drop. I'm not going to be serving lethal amounts of whiskey to minors."
Gajeel, Levy, and Lily:
Gajeel wasn't sure how he ended up in this position but he wasn't going to argue against it. H had been helping Shrimp with a gigantic stack of books that she was trying to drag back to the guild when the storm suddenly hit Magnolia.
He had expected Lily to jump and suddenly dig his claws into Gajeel's shoulder, this had become a common recurrence since their partnership had started, but he hadn't expected the Shrimp to suddenly shriek, drop her books, and cling to his arm.
"Gihihi," he chuckled.
"Shut up!" she hissed.
"You don't seem the type," he said, "I thought you were made of sterner stuff."
"It's not a matter of how strong I am or not!" she shrieked. "Look at Lily. He's a fantastic fighter, very strict, stoic, and disciplined but that doesn't stop him from cowering from the storm! It's called an irrational fear for a rea-"
Another loud crashing noise of thunder and a matching flash of lightning shut the Shrimp up as she squealed again and threw her arms round Gajeel, her face buried into his chest.
Gajeel smirked to himself. He had his cat snuggled up against the back of his neck and his girl in his arms. He had no reason at all to dislike storms.
Jet and Droy:
Jet and Dory were sobbing. Not out of fear, though that would sometimes be the case, but out of worry and shame. There was a great big thunder storm raging outside, and they weren't with their best friend, and lady love, who was terrified of storms. They had once again proved themselves worthless for Levy's love.
So instead of doing anything useful, like go out and try find Levy, they huddled up together and clutched each other for comfort as they wept and wailed. "We're the worst!" Jet sniffled. "Once again we're doing nothing to protect our Levy!"
"She's probably out there," Droy stopped to bite into a sandwich he made earlier, "all on her own. Or worse…with Gajeel."
This conjured an image of the tough, biker, iron dragon slayer draping an arm round their frightened Levy, and she blushing and smiling a thank you at him. This caused them to wail even louder and sob even more.
"Levy-Chan!" they wailed in unison.
"Wait!" Jet burst out as inspiration hit him. "We should cheer her on from here! If we do it with all our hearts, I'm sure Levy-Chan will feel us and be comforted by us!"
"You think so?!" Droy asked eagerly.
"Of course! It is the power of our feelings, and you know what Master said, that's the most powerful magic of all!"
"All right!" Droy flung his sandwich over his shoulder. "Let's do it then!"
"HOORAY, HOORAY, LEVY-CHAN, HOORAY, HOORAY, LEVY-"
Their cheering was suddenly interrupted by a thundering bang on their wall which caused them to scream and cling to one another.
"QUIT THAT RACKET!" their neighbour shouted.
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy:
"What are you doing, Luce?"
Lucy was already in her pyjamas and was in the middle of climbing into bed when Natsu blurted out the question. She raised an eyebrow at him and he immediately felt like a bit of an idiot ("What do you mean a bit?" a voice that sounded suspiciously like Gray sneered in the back of his head). "Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "I'm going to bed."
"Why?" Natsu asked. "A storm is on, we should be telling ghost stories, and eating food, and drinking hot drinks. Not going to bed."
He was really looking forwards to spending the night with Lucy. She told the best ghost stories and she was always fun to freak out whenever something spooky happens as well. He had Happy's agreement to turn the lights off when they got to a scary part of a story so Natsu could make Lucy jump. Now all his planning was going down the drain. It wasn't fair!
"This is the best way to view a storm," Lucy said, "curled up in bed, where it's safe and warm, and enjoying the view."
"Sounds boring," Natsu wrinkled his nose.
"Suit yourself," Lucy shrugged, "you can leave if you want but it's raining heavily now." She then curled up on her side, with her back to him, and seemed content to watch the storm that way. Determined not to be left out, he kicked his shoes off and climbed in with her. "Natsu," she growled, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Watching the storm the best way," he shrugged. "Is that all right?"
Lucy seemed to deflate at that. "Fine," she muttered, "you can stay here and watch the storm, and then you leave my bed."
"All right!" Natsu grinned.
He had to shift around a bit to get comfortable but soon enough he had spooned round Lucy perfectly, with one arm wrapped round her waist, and the other being used as a head rest, while he nuzzled her hair lightly as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
Lucy was right this was the best way to view a storm. It was so warm, and nice, and safe, and he couldn't think of a place he would rather be than here, in this moment, where it was warm.
Lucy fell asleep with a smile pressed against Natsu's forearm, and Natsu followed quickly afterwards with a matching smile.
Happy, however, flew in from the kitchen (where he had been raiding the fridge for snacks while he viewed the storm through the kitchen window), took one look at the couple, and then grinned manically at the wall (since there was no one else there), and said, "they liiiiiiiiiiiike each other."