Summary: AU. In Pre-Wold War Britain, the boys encounter the notorious suffragettes. They make an impression on one another.
Pairings: implied Natsu/Lucy, implied Laxus/Mirajane, implied Gray/Juvia, implied Gajeel/Levy, and lots and lots of implied friendship and family feels.
Author's Note: I NOW HAVE OVER NINE HUNDRED REVIEWS! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
They saw them after work.
It had been a long tiring day (not that that stopped Natsu and Gray from shoving each other and trying to strangle one another until Laxus bashed their heads together) and they were all eager to go to the pub and have a drink when they spotted them.
They never seen a suffragette before, Magnolia wasn't exactly a political hot spot, but they had heard of them. Freed wouldn't shut up about them, he was very pro-female rights ("'Cause he is a girl," Gajeel snickered while Freed would flush and stammer out a defence). They didn't know if these girls were typical for suffragettes but they were certainly eye-catching.
Each one of them was really pretty in their own right from the gorgeous white-haired leader to the tiny, blue-haired, girl that seemed to be struggling under the weight of her sign. They were yelling out a chant while marching round and round in a circle, even Gray and Natsu stopped fighting in order to gawk at them all.
"VOTES FOR WOMEN!" the girls shouted. "VOTES FOR WOMEN!"
"That's my nee-san!" Elfman said proudly as he pointed to the leader. "And that over there is my little sister Lisanna"
"What the hell has she done to her hair?" Laxus muttered. "She looks like a boy."
"It's all the latest range amongst the suffragettes," Elfman explained knowingly. He had, after all, helped his sisters with all their politicking and he listened to them and read their letters avidly. He hadn't known they were coming back to Magnolia from London but he was glad to see them causing a stir. "It's to stop men from seeing them as only wives and daughters, and as equals instead.
"She's the only one with the haircut," Gray pointed out.
"Yes but she isn't the only one dressed weirdly," Natsu murmured as his eyes seemed transfixed on a blonde girl's legs.
"That's Lucy," Elfman explained, "she cut her skirts in public to make a point…it erm…..didn't go very well."
"VOTES FOR WOMEN! VOTES FOR WOMEN! VOTES FOR WOMEN! VO-"
"OH SHUT UP YOU WHORES!"
The boys all stiffened as some of the other men in their town started to shout abuse at the suffragettes at Old Man Purehito's outrageous roar. The girls carried on, unbothered, they had probably heard it all, but that had only further infuriated the rest of the male population and that's when they pelted them with rocks.
The girls did their best to fend them off. The wild, scary, redheaded one even batted a few of them back using her sign, but a blue haired, primly dressed, girl fell into the mud and screamed, the tiny one got bruised, and the pretty blonde was even pushed by one of the jeering men so hard that if it hadn't been for Natsu's quick reflexes she would have fallen backwards and possibly bash her head hard against the pavement.
"Oi!" Natsu shouted at the men as he clutched the blonde in his arms. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What do you think?" the old man, with a large red beaded necklace on, sneered. "Teaching these whores a lesson."
Natsu almost dropped the blonde as he moved to fucking kill the bastard but Laxus got there first. He reached out and grabbed hold of the guy by the collar of his shirt and held up his fist threateningly. "Want to say that again?" he growled. "Want to repeat what exactly you think about these ladies? Come on, we're all ears."
Behind him Gray cracked his knuckles, Gajeel grinned menacingly, Bickslow laughed insanely, Freed fingered a sword he had on him (don't ask why or where he kept it, no one knew), Elfman looked intimidating with his huge, gigantic, muscles, and Natsu had the most terrifying look on his face that anyone who knew him well had never seen before.
"Look mate," the old man swallowed, "I'm sorry," he blurted out fearfully. No one wanted to mess with them, the Fairy Tail boys, they all had a reputation. "Really, really sorry, I didn't know they were your girls. I'll leave them alone – promise!"
"You better," Laxus spat out before he dropped the man onto the floor. "Any of you pansies want a go with us?"
The rest of the men just screamed and ran the other way. "Honestly," Gajeel muttered disgustedly. "Babies the lot of them."
They turned to look at the suffragettes and were a little surprised to see them all glaring at them darkly….well apart from one. "We didn't need your help," Elfman's older sister spoke up coldly, "we could have handle it ourselves.
"That's not a very polite thank you," Natsu frowned, "we just saved you from getting hurt.
"It's not a thank you!" the blonde spat as she slapped Natsu's arms from her. "Do we look like we needed protecting like pathetic damsels in distress? Do you think we're so weak and feeble that we can't fight our own battles?"
"I have no doubt that you can fight your battles," Natsu said to the blonde bluntly. Especially with an arm like that, ouch! What was that for?!"
"For being rude!"
"You were being rude first!"
The two began to bicker and the rest decided it was best to ignore them in order to make their own arguments. "If you think we are weak then perhaps you should all fight me in one to one combat," the redheaded girl said darkly as she cracked her own knuckles, "I could take you all in one go."
"No thank you!" Freed squeaked.
"What's a Shrimp like you doing out here? You might get trampled on," Gajeel smirked as he patted the tiniest member on the head. "You should be grateful that I saved your arse."
"How uncouth!" the blue haired girl grumbled as she yanked away from him. "And you did not save us!"
"Ah! Gray-sama!" the other blue haired girl that fell into the mud earlier cooed. She was clinging to Gray's naked chest (he does that….a lot) and she gazed at him admiringly. "You rescued Juvia from such a terrible situation."
"Juvia!" all the girls cried out exasperated.
"Way to regress back into the medieval times," the brunette added disdainfully, "one would think you weren't fighting for your own rights."
"Look!" Laxus snapped finally losing all patience. He just wanted his fucking drink and then his dinner. "We," he indicated to his friends, "Were just doing what we thought is right. It had nothing about you being damsels or whatever nonsense you're thinking. It was just because they were infringing on yours rights. You should be allowed to say whatever you like."
"Hmm," the elder of the white haired girls said, "what exactly are your opinion on female rights?"
"I think you should do whatever the hell you like. Who the fuck am I to tell you otherwise?"
She beamed warmly at him. "Want to help?"
Laxus looked momentarily startled, a strange pink flush took over his neck, and then suddenly he smirked. "Sure," he shrugged.
The blonde warmly handed Natsu a sign, Gajeel and the small blue-haired girl had to peel Juvia off of Gray, and the redhead decided not to kill the rest of the boys. Meanwhile Elfman and Lisanna were having a good catch-up as they pretended all the melodramatics had nothing to do with them.
Eventually they all caused their own scene as the boys cheerfully shouted for the rights of women.
But the commotion they caused is an entirely different story.