Notes:
Based on that tiny little snippet in the 100 Year Quest manga about Natsu burning off Lucy and Wendy's clothes, accidentally, because he was frightening off some people hitting on Lucy. Because how dare they drop that nugget of protective/jealous Natsu and not let us see it. Also Wendy is everyone's younger sister and they all love her. (Natsu, Gray and Erza are complete siblings, too, but they they are the 'we will be at each other's throats constantly but god forbid you say a word against my sibling because I will bury you' siblings whilst Wendy is the 'BABY...PROTECT AT ALL COSTS' sibling) Lucy is a very much loved in-law :)
Lucy wasn't sure how she'd become the sole caretaker of Natsu when he was suffering from motion sickness.
When they'd realised that it wasn't just a Natsu thing but a Dragon Slayer thing, after watching Gajeel, Sting and Rogue all fall foul to it in the Grand Magic Games, everyone had become slightly more sympathetic towards him. Because Polyursica had gone on to explain how motion sickness was caused by a clash between your body's sense of balance and inertia and what your senses were telling you...and everyone knew just how sensitive Natsu's senses were.
It went from 'oh, he's just overreacting' to 'wow, that might actually be awful'.
Her exasperated sighs became apologetic rubs along his back or her running her fingers through his hair whilst he leant out of a window or over the side of a boat. Before she really knew it, it became a habit for Natsu to lean towards her on trains and carriages and rest his head in her lap, waiting for her fingers to softly card through his hair to relax him and give him something else to focus on. And she gravitated to his side on boats and tried to comfort him in any way she could.
The others left her to it, not even giving raised eyebrows or suggestive remarks for the utter erasure of personal space in those moments. And she guessed that, really, she was his partner so it was kind of expected for her to want to take care of him. Even if their extended team did spend almost as much time working together as they did apart, there was still something special about their smaller team of her, Natsu and Happy that didn't quite extend to the others and they didn't interfere when something was THEIRS.
When they'd all reunited after that long year apart and poor Wendy started suffering from the affliction, the others did get involved in making sure she was okay. Erza was certainly a lot softer towards Wendy than she ever had been towards Natsu, when it came to their motion sickness, and she'd exchanged knocking Natsu out so he didn't have to deal with it for resting a hand gently on Wendy's head in comfort. Erza apparently decided that gentle younger sisters called for a different response than boisterous younger brothers. And Gray was normally happy to care for the young girl, too. And both Gray and Erza were now far more patient with Natsu, after seeing Wendy suffering, than they used to be.
Still, Lucy was at the point where she was used to travelling with a fire breathing dragon slayer in her lap, the boneless mass sprawled over her generating enough heat to make her toasty and warm in the winter and uncomfortably sweaty in the summer. Even having Gray sat opposite or next to her didn't tend to make the heat bearable when the air temperature was almost as hot as the exhalations that coasted across any exposed skin on her legs.
Which was making travelling across Giritana pretty frustrating. Because she was used to her legs going to sleep after a while. And she'd become a pro at holding an open book in one hand and petting Natsu's surprising soft hair with the other. And Natsu had gotten to the stage where he knew when to move before he vomited on her (something that, when he'd first started this habit, hadn't always been the case). But it was warm, even if they weren't at the height of a sticky Ishgarian summer, and a few hours on a train resulted in her feeling overheated and slightly gross.
She almost wished that Natsu and Wendy had gotten away with their little stunt to erase the railway line from the map, because days and days of walking might not have been that fun, either, but a fresh, outdoor breeze would have probably helped prevent her from sweating through her blouse and she could feel her legs stuck to the leather of the seat, which made her squirm uncomfortably at the thought of getting up when they stopped at Rain Hill.
Erza may be put off at the stops and languid nature of the Giritanian railways, but Lucy was definitely looking forward to a break and a chance to stretch her legs. It was a good job Erza stashed plenty of their luggage in her requip space, too, adding it to her cart of cases because Lucy was definitely going to want to change.
If there was one thing Lucy did like about the motion sickness, and how it affected her teammates, it was that it always seemed to break Wendy out of her customary formality and let her be a little more open and carefree.
Wendy was a sweet, lovely girl and everyone adored her. But she always seemed to hold herself back, a little, and spoke with nothing but the utmost politeness. Her manner of speaking sometimes gave Lucy uncomfortable reminders to her life before the guild, and she would love nothing more than to one day get Wendy to drop the formalities and just call her by her name.
But, when she was overcome by motion sickness, she whined and cajoled almost as much as Natsu. And she never would have dreamed of sabotaging a map beforehand, especially not Erza's. It shattered some of the walls around her and let them see her at her worst...which actually made Lucy love her even more.
But it was the utter joy and free-spiritedness Lucy saw from her when the sickness passed, when their boat docked or their train stopped, that really was a delight. Because she lit up completely and jumped for joy and cheered and ran and celebrated with Natsu like the child she was (and like the child Natsu wasn't).
It wasn't a surprise that they both wanted to vacate the train and spend the two hour stop exploring the fresh air of the town. And Lucy couldn't wait to accompany them, which was why she was the first one up and racing for the doors.
She loved exploring new towns with Natsu, because he always made it fun. He could sniff out the interesting parts with ease-markets, restaurants, street performers...they always managed to find something to see or do, even on a short timescale. And he took such delight in people.
A lot of people saw him as someone who liked fighting and food and not a lot else. They might be kind enough to add friends to the list.
But Natsu also loved life. He liked seeing people selling their wares and making things and telling stories and just generally going about their day. So he would be just as fascinated by a florist making flower crowns, and gladly model one with her, as he would be by a yakinuki stall. And he knew what Lucy liked, and was happy to take her to things that he knew would interest her.
And bringing Wendy along, especially when she was in this more carefree mood where she was too busy celebrating the calmness of her stomach to worry about minding her manners, just enhanced the experience. Because Natsu would be excited to share things with her, too, and a happy Wendy was adorable. Lucy was pretty sure she would end up buying Wendy a doll or something, just to see if she could get a hug out of her whilst she was this excitable and unlikely to hold herself back.
They'd barely made it off the train, Natsu practically barrelling into her with the speed in which he followed her, before he grabbed her hand, reached back and grabbed Wendy's, and darted off along one of the roads leading away from the station.
'Natsu! Wait, where are we going?' She did trust him when it came to exploring, but it was nice to have a heads up.
'Um…' Wendy had let Carla jump into her free arm and was cradling her in the crook of her elbow whilst she ran to keep up with Natsu dragging them both along. Happy was fluttering along above them, caught up in the excitement of somewhere new. 'I think I can smell a farmer's market?'
Natsu glanced back at Wendy, pride on his face, before pulling them down another street, chasing down his destination with utter focus.
'Yeah, lots of fresh food and some herbalists and someone has a stall with fruit pies.' He sniffed the air again, and Lucy saw Wendy copy him, closing her eyes briefly and trusting him to keep pulling her along safely.
'I can smell soaps, too?' Natsu nodded, and Lucy couldn't help but be impressed by them both. 'And cedar wood...maybe someone selling carvings?'
They burst out of the street and into another, lined with stalls and tents and tables, merchants and shoppers bustling about and buying and selling with noise and chaos everywhere.
It was wonderful, and Lucy was glad they'd been convinced into accepting a reward from Merciphobia for protecting Elmina City.
It hadn't felt right, at first, accepting payment from him. After all, they'd been there to potentially kill him. But between the attack from the Diabolos Guild and Merciphobia's rampage, plus the escalation from his lack of control over his magic from the White Mage's influence, the city would have certainly been worse off if they hadn't been there. And with such a long mission keeping them away from other sources of income, they had to be practical and make sure they were able to fund their journey. So they had taken the, extremely generous, rewards and found themselves with a comfortable amount of the continent's currency.
It would be nice to spend a small amount here.
They wandered around for a bit, taking in the various items on sale. Happy zoned in on a fish stall immediately, and wasn't even put off when Natsu told him the fish wasn't quite as fresh as they were used to. And Natsu had disappeared and returned three times, each time munching on a new handheld snack. Lucy and Wendy stuck together, though, and looked at some of the exotic and unfamiliar fruits and vegetables and the stall that sold both fruit and savory pies. There was indeed a stall with wood carvings, delicate animal shaped ones alongside practical items such as decorative boxes and picture frames. They found a stall selling handmade soaps, ones that smelled so good they had Wendy breathing in deeply enough that Lucy thought she was going to forget how to exhale. Even Natsu gulped down his newly acquired skewers and paused to sniff at some of the soaps and lotions.
Natsu sniffed at the various products she kept in her bathroom all the time, and many a time they made him sneeze or crinkle his nose. She always thought they smelt lovely, but he'd explained that some of the artificial scents were irritating and she'd thrown away more than a few perfumes because of how much they clearly aggravated Natsu's nose. And Lucy knew that Wendy was always particular about what bath products she used, never borrowing from the other girls when they used the bathhouse.
She was definitely going to purchase some items before they left, and she was sure Wendy was making a shopping list too.
They'd left Natsu talking to a spice merchant about an exclusive blend, one that had made Lucy's eyes water from several footsteps away but had Natsu practically salivating, when Wendy grabbed hold of Lucy's hand to get her attention and pointed between the stalls to some of the shops standing behind them.
'Lucy-san, I want to look over there.'
Lucy could just about spot a sign to a toy shop between the canopies, and Wendy looked a little embarrassed to be asking. Normally, Wendy would have gone on her own, she was perfectly capable, but Lucy supposed that with the short timescale they had before the train left and being in a completely unknown town made it more sensible for them to stay together. Of course, Natsu and Wendy could probably find her anywhere, so it was probably more for her benefit that they stuck close as she was the one most likely to get lost or separated.
And it wasn't like Lucy objected to the idea. In fact, plan 'get a hug from Wendy' could be well on it's way to completion if there was something to Wendy's liking in the store.
Happy, having been just as reluctant to approach the extreme spices Natsu was bartering over, fluttered up from where he'd flopped down on her head to look over the stalls.
'You'll have to go round this way, it's a bit cramped to get between the stalls.' He flew off past a couple of stalls before finding a bigger gap and shooting through it. Lucy and Wendy followed, Carla calling out to Happy for him to wait for them as she kept pace, despite staying in her exceed form.
They ran after him through the larger gap, but found themselves immediately in the path of a family who had been walking along the pathway between the stalls and the shops behind, almost colliding with the poor people. Lucy managed to pull herself and Wendy into a small alley between the toy shop and the building next door, momentum helping prevent the collision but taking them more than a few steps down the narrow gap, and called out an apology to the parents who had grabbed their kids and pulled them back slightly. But they waved off the near miss, realising it was just an accident, and carried on their way.
Carla called up to Happy, still fluttering above their heads outside the alley, and chastised him for rushing ahead.
'But we wanted to get to the toy shop quickly, didn't we?'
Before Carla could respond, a voice from behind them cut in.
'Aw, why bother with a toy shop when you can play with me, instead.'
Before Lucy even turned around to see the speaker, she knew she wasn't going to like what she saw. The slimy tone of voice and the innuendo laced words told her everything she needed to know. And when she did turn her head she saw a tall, slender man extinguishing a cigarette on a dustbin lid, a empty bottle of beer sitting at his feet until he knocked it over when he started to approach them. A couple other men, both seemingly as unpleasant as the first, were sat on crates a little way behind and were watching with amusement and curiosity. All three pairs of eyes raked over her, lingering on her hemline and her cleavage before sending a cursory glance over Wendy, who had pressed herself into Lucy's right side the moment she realised they weren't alone in the alley.
Lucy wasn't sure if it was a protective gesture from Wendy, wanting to reassure Lucy that she had backup, or if the young girl was nervous from the man's tone. But Lucy couldn't sense any magic from any of the men and, even with this first guy's height advantage, she was certain she could take them. You didn't spend years around Fairy Tail's best mages without learning to throw a punch. Or, normally in her case, a very well executed kick. Besides, they weren't trapped in the alley, so she wasn't really concerned.
'No, thanks, we have somewhere to be.' She didn't bother to smile at the man, hoping her lack of reaction would put him off, just turned back away and put a hand on Wendy's back to guide her back out of the alley.
But they'd not made it more than two steps when she felt a pressure on her wrist and she realised that the man had grabbed her left arm, trying to prevent her from leaving. The other two men had stood up, but hadn't approached. They were still watching and snickering between themselves.
He pulled at her, trying to pull her back towards him, and she braced her feet to prevent him from succeeding. She felt Wendy pull away from her, slightly, and the slight increase in magic in the air told her than Wendy was alarmed and ready to defend Lucy if needed.
Lucy was so proud of her, even though she was a little put out that a young teenage girl thought herself more capable at dealing with a threat than Lucy was. Even if, knowing what Wendy's slayer magic was capable of, she most definitely was.
But Wendy pulling away, slightly, also meant that Lucy could access the pouch on her belt, and she slid one of the keys from it, knowing from the feel of it that she'd grabbed Taurus. Punching the guy with Celestial Spirit imbued super strength probably wouldn't be necessary, but it made her feel more comfortable to have the key in hand.
'Let go of me, please.' Her voice didn't waver, and she met the man's gaze without flinching. 'I have no interest in you and I'm leaving. Now.'
His grip tightened, and she shifted her stance to prepare to sweep his leg out and twist her arm out of his grasp. The other two men started to put their own bottles of beer down and her grip on the key tightened even more. She could see Wendy narrow her eyes and start to suck in air, unsure as to whether or not she needed to intervene, and Lucy could see her ponytails fluttering as she switched her gaze between the man touching Lucy and his two companions. Even Carla looked ready to pounce, although she still hadn't transformed. But, most of all, she noticed Happy, who'd still been watching from outside the alley, turn and fly back towards the market.
Lucy knew, with one hundred percent certainty, that she needed to stop this before he returned with Natsu.
'Come on, sweetheart, I know I can make sure you have fun.' He switched the hand grabbing her wrist, moving enough that she realised she would need to change her angle to knock him off his feet, and she started to adjust when she felt his newly freed hand attach itself to the back of her upper left thigh.
And then move up.
In her shock at his outlandish forwardness she forgot her intention to sweep his feet out from under him and remained frozen, eyes widening in horror as his thumb brushed the edge of her panties.
How dare he. How dare he.
Wendy shifted, her feet planting as she realised what the man was doing, and Lucy could see her preparing a roar. And Lucy shifted the key in her hand, moving it to the best angle to bring it up and tap it to her chest, her original belief that the magic would be over the top now replaced by a desire to show this man exactly why you don't grab unsuspecting strangers.
'Get both of your hands off of me, right now.' Her tone was cold, and her eyes were sharp and filled with as much anger and disgust as she could express as she stared back at him.
He had one chance to concede to her demand before he discovered what Fairy Tail mages could do.
The other two men started making their way towards them and she hoped it would be to pull their friend back, but the grins on their faces didn't give her hope. If they decided to get involved then if she didn't get them she was sure Wendy would.
But the first man's lack of magic was also, apparently, matched by a lack of sense. Because, instead of backing away, he stroked his thumb and a jolt of disgust, fear and outrage filled her as it slipped under the elastic of her undergarments.
But then he was gone, ripping his hands away from her by his need to slap away at his clothes that were suddenly ablaze, the other two men falling back in shock and backing away across the floor, as heat ripped through the alleyway, before they shot to their feet and ran off, abandoning their friend.
'She said no, asshole.' The tone was calm, the words spoken rather than shouted. And Lucy knew that meant Natsu was viciously angry.
She and Wendy backed away from the man, pressing into the wall of the alley to try and escape the heat.
Natsu's fire was magical in nature, and magic always had intent. If you used a magic sword on someone but didn't want to cut them too deeply then the cut would remain shallow. If you used an ice spell to freeze someone solid but didn't want to kill them then it froze around them and didn't actually suck any of the heat out of the person entrapped. And if you didn't want to burn someone's flesh then you could melt an entire stadium but not char a single person.
Everyone in the guild had felt the heat of Natsu's flames, but the worst they normally inflicted on people was a mild case of superficial burning, rather like a sunburn. Their team members were more resistant to Natsu's fire than the rest of the guild, having been exposed to it more often, and they tended to mostly walk away from his fire with nothing but a coating of soot. In fact, the only times she could recall Natsu burning people severely was when he wasn't in control of his magic. The incident in Elmina the most prominent in her mind, for multiple reasons.
She was sure that if Natsu could clearly remember what had happened after he ate Ignia's flames then he would be horrified.
So she was surprised to see that the man's right hand actually seemed to be blistering.
'Natsu!' She turned to see him standing at the entrance of the alley, eyes narrowed in the man's direction, and not showing any intent to stop the blaze which seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. 'Stop! I think he's had enough!'
The flames flickered slightly, and she could feel the heat burning away at their clothes, fabrics melting and shrivelling under the magical heat. Wendy had pressed back against her, hugging her fully around the waist as Lucy stared in concern at the scene before her. And she could feel Carla against her leg, having pressed between her and Wendy. Happy, too, flew towards her and flew straight into her chest, whether to comfort her or receive comfort in his concern, she wasn't sure. But she held him with the arm that wasn't wrapped around Wendy, all of them bracing themselves against the steadily rising temperature pulsing through the alleyway.
And then it stopped.
The man fell to the ground as the heat fell away, and then rapidly shuffled backwards away from Natsu, still standing casually at the opening of the alley and staring as if he hadn't just incinerated almost everything non-living in the alleyway.
'You...you're a monster!' The man stuttered the words out, before scrambling to his feet, clutching his blistered and weeping hand to his chest, before running out of the opposite end of the alley. Not even bothering to pause at his indecent state, with the remains of his melted clothes barely covering him, as he ran through the, miraculously, unaware crowds.
No one else moved. Natsu remained at the end of the aisle, watching where the man had made his escape. And Wendy and Happy didn't pull away from where they clutched at her. Lucy could feel the warmth of Wendy's skin under her arm and she realised that their clothes were also ruined, once again, massive sections having melted away under the intense heat of the magic.
Wendy's top was missing most of the back, although when Lucy glanced down she could see that the front was reasonably intact, where she'd been pressed against her. Her skirt, though, was missing a large swath from the waist band to the hip on the right hand side, exposing the entire side of her bare hip. Carla, still huddled between their legs, was missing most of her outfit, too, and Lucy could see that Happy's knapsack was gone.
As for her own clothes, she could feel Happy's fur tickling against her chest, and she knew her top was probably nothing more than scraps. And she could feel a breeze against her upper legs, now that the remaining heat was subsiding, and she imagined that the only bit of her skirt that had escaped the onslaught was the section between her body and Wendy's.
She could, rather uncomfortably, tell, that she wouldn't have to worry about throwing away the panties the man had touched. The finer fabrics of her undergarments hadn't stood a chance.
'Mou...Natsu…' Her annoyed cry broke Natsu's focus on the escape route the men had taken and he turned towards where Lucy and the others were all still huddled together.
She watched him glance over them all, to make sure they weren't injured, and he winced when he saw how exposed Wendy was.
'Ah, sorry, sorry.' He reached down and slipped the duster out from under his belt, bringing it over and draping it over Wendy's shoulders. Wendy pulled away, in order to wrap it more fully around herself, her slight frame swallowed by the expanse of fabric.
Lucy couldn't help but be a little put out that she didn't get the same help.
'Our clothes are ruined, Natsu!' She pouted, and he spared a sheepish grin in her direction, but he otherwise didn't look that sorry. In fact, he laughed a little, probably relieved that the threat was gone and none of his team were worse for wear other than their clothes. Lucy was glad that Happy was still pressed against her, because she felt a little less exposed with him mostly hiding her chest from everyone's eyes.
She realised that the Taurus key was still clenched in her right hand, and she brought it up to her clavicle with a sigh, letting the magic wash over her and clad her in her star dress. Sometimes it felt like she'd developed the star dresses less as a way to share her spirit's powers and more as a way to ensure she was less likely to be without clothes.
Happy fluttered out of her arms as the magic settled over her, and dropped down to check on Carla, who seemed irritated at the entire situation. Her white fur showed every speck of soot and ash that had settled on them all, and she looked the worst for wear, even though none of them were actually hurt or burned.
At least her key pouch and belt, protected from damage by her own magic, was intact. They'd attached the money pouch to her belt, for safekeeping, and she could also feel the weight of the individual coins rattling around in it. The proximity to her keys had likely prevented the coins from melting together into a useless lump.
Wendy finished wrapping Natsu's duster around herself, managing to tuck it around like a bath towel, and she started muttering a familiar sounding spell. When a bundle of fabric appeared in her hands Lucy suddenly realised what the spell was.
'Oh, did you learn requip from Erza?' She asked, knowing that Wendy and Erza spent a lot of time together when they weren't on missions-Erza adopting her into her found family the moment she'd extended the invite to the guild. Natsu looked over Wendy's shoulder at what Lucy could now see was a Fairy Tail branded jacket and shorts set, and he looked surprised, but proud, before patting Wendy on the head lightly.
'Nice...but, shouldn't you be wearing it?'
'Oh, I haven't quite gotten that far yet.' Wendy clutched the outfit to herself with one hand, before repeating the spell again and letting a much smaller set of clothes fall out of the dimensional space and into her waiting palm. Carla flew up and grabbed the smaller set before dropping back down to put them on. 'Erza-san said that requip was important to learn for a young lady on the go. But it takes a lot of practice and effort to make the clothes appear quickly and exactly where you want them'
Lucy remembered when Erza had tried to teach her some basic requip spells. But Lucy's own magic, used to opening the gates of the spirits, found it difficult to adjust to the different way of manipulating space. She'd managed to store and retrieve something once or twice but she'd mostly ended up accidentally calling Plue, instead, when her magic tried to follow a more familiar path.
Whilst Wendy and Natsu were chatting about the spell and trying to work out how she could safely change, Lucy looked around at the state of the alley. The crates the guys had been sat on beforehand where nothing more than cinder. And the dustbin the first man had stubbed his cigarette out on was now little more than a melted lump. The fire hadn't extended all the way to either end of the alley, which was probably why they weren't getting concerned visits from nearby people, but the walls were covered in soot and the paint on the brickwork was peeling away in places.
'You kind of went a little overboard here, Natsu.'
He looked towards her, hands holding up his duster behind Wendy whilst Carla and Happy fluttered and held it in place around her like a windbreaker, and she could see Wendy quickly pulling on the fresh set of clothes behind the makeshift cover. The amused grin he'd had at having successfully cleared the threat disappeared, and she saw a flash of anger as his eyes dropped to her hips.
'He shouldn't have touched you.'
His voice was gravelly, like he was holding back a growl, and she was so used to hearing that tone when they were in battle that a small shot of adrenaline burst through her system before she remembered that there was no longer a threat.
And she couldn't help but also feel a little annoyed, because what a damned hypocrite.
Natsu wasn't the only person in the guild with personal space issues. Erza had very similar views on what was appropriate and Cana had no qualms, either, although Lucy was pretty certain that Cana was more aware of what was appropriate and just didn't care. And even Mirajane, who seemed polite and well adjusted, wasn't always very good at knowing boundaries. It seemed to be something shared by a lot of the children raised by the guild, their interpersonal relationships and the way they viewed each other warped by a pseudo familial bond and being raised by an incredibly eccentric, and not always well socialised, group of people. But when it came to her, personally, Natsu was the one who not only stepped over boundaries the most but barely seemed to recognise that they existed.
'You touch me all the time.' She muttered, as she returned Taurus's key to her pouch, and she realised her mistake when she saw Wendy's head fly up from where she was aligning the zip on her jacket to stare at her in embarrassed shock, before looking back down and refocusing on her zip with twice as much concentrated effort.
Of course, you couldn't mutter anything in an alleyway with two dragon slayers and not expect to be heard. She could feel a flush painting her cheeks as she realised what that probably sounded like to Wendy's poor ears.
Natsu, though, was looking at her like she'd said something ridiculous, which helped curb her embarrassment a little.
'Yeah, but you're never frightened when I touch you.'
Nope, very embarrassed. Lucy was very seriously contemplating summoning Virgo to dig a hole for her to bury herself in. Because Wendy's ears were going pink and she was probably getting the wrong idea. And Lucy was now wondering what, exactly, Natsu knew about her reactions to him touching her.
She'd read, somewhere, that fear had a recognisable scent. That it wasn't just a saying that animals could smell fear but that the bodies of creatures produced certain chemicals and hormones when scared. She hadn't really thought about the fact that, obviously, Natsu could smell when she was afraid. And she wondered if his intense reaction to the man earlier had been because he had touched her or if it was because Natsu had smelled that sharp, intense shot of fear that ran through her at the feel of those unwanted fingers so close to her most intimate parts.
And he was right. Natsu never scared her when he touched her, even when he broke far more boundaries than some scummy asshole copping a feel in an alleyway.
Oh, she definitely felt other things. Irritation, embarrassment, resignation, indignation. And the things she hoped he didn't sense but was worried he could smell as much as her fear. Like a thrill of excitement, occasional comfort and, god forbid, sudden and unexpected bursts of arousal. She wasn't always immune to the feel of his warm hands on her bare skin and more than once her body would light up within as if trying to match the heat she could feel seeping into her from his touch.
And she quickly stamped that thought down before her heart started to speed up and her body started to give her imaginings away.
Instead, she thought about the cute top she'd been wearing and the way she'd liked how that particular skirt swooshed when she walked.
'I really liked that outfit, Natsu,' She held onto her annoyance and let it banish thoughts of Natsu's fingers trailing across her skin away, 'And it was difficult enough to get one out of the baggage car before we disembarked. I do not want to have to spend several hours draining my magic into a star dress because you got too fire happy.'
She saw a flash of concern cross his face as he looked at the tattoo of Taurus on her skin, probably realising for the first time that her Star Dresses weren't self sustaining. But then a thought seemed to come to him and he looked at the duster in his hands, now no longer held up by Carla and Happy who had dropped it when Wendy finished changing, and held it out towards her.
'Here you go!' A pleased grin took over his face, as if he'd solved the problem. And she was a little charmed by the fact that he thought it would help. But, really, that square of fabric wouldn't cover her as well as it had Wendy. In fact, she wasn't even sure it would wrap all the way around her.
Fortunately, before she could wipe that smile off his face with the facts of the situation, Wendy held out another set of clothes, traces of requip magic lingering in the air.
'Here, Lucy-san.' Wendy was holding another set of Fairy Tail branded clothes, a jacket and pants, considerably larger than the set Wendy herself wore. 'They are Erza-san's but I don't think she'll mind. I had them from when she was teaching me the spell.'
Lucy gratefully accepted them, and Erza wasn't too dissimilar in size to her. Especially for a set of clothes as forgiving as a sweatsuit. She pulled the clothes on over her Star Dress, knowing she could dissolve the magic beneath afterwards, and instantly felt better when she had actual cloth covering her skin.
Even though she was still uncomfortably aware of the state of her underwear. Or lack of it.
Still, she felt covered enough that they could finish their intended shopping before returning to the train. They still had time to get to the toy shop and to return to the stalls. And they still needed to buy the soaps both Wendy and her had been interested in as well as grab something to eat, for themselves and Erza. Natsu had said earlier he'd smelt her stay behind on the train whilst Gray was somewhere in the town, so they could bring her something back that wasn't a dry, prepackaged sandwich from the food car.
Maybe one of the fruit pies, too. Erza would like that. And it would butter her up to keep her on her side when she told Erza all about Natsu burning their clothes off.
She might feel better, now, but she could still see Natsu's unrepentant smile. Even now that Happy had realised that the fish he'd brought had been incinerated along with his knapsack and was now complaining loudly about it a handspan away from Natsu's face, Natsu waving it off with a laugh and a promise to replace both.
He might feel differently when Erza was telling him off for setting fire to their clothes and Lucy was going to enjoy watching him squirm. Maybe she wouldn't even look after him on the train like usual.
Although, as they made their way out of the alley and back to their shopping, she realised that even mourning her most recent set of clothes wasn't enough to drive out her complete and utter affection and her desire to take care of him. And, despite the flutter in her stomach at his soft smile as Wendy ran ahead to the toy shop and the way she was relieved that he always had her back, that kind of irritated her as much as her lost outfit. And if she didn't have the heart to punish him for his careless disregard then she had no qualms of passing it onto someone who didn't let her love stop her from dealing out discipline.
She'd let it be Erza's problem.
Notes:
I got back into Fairy Tail with the release of the RPG and it's been a constant mood ever since. I caught up on the 100 Year Quest and fell back in love with all these characters instantly.
That being said...there are some continuity issues with the manga. One being that Lucy is inexplicably in different clothes in this chapter than the chapter before when they got on the train. Which I couldn't help but fix!
(another is that Levy somehow managed to tell Lucy and Natsu about being pregnant despite her only telling Gajeel the night before they left...which means they can't have actually 100% left on the 100 Year Quest at the end of the FT manga...maybe they went to get everything arranged (like a boat) and then came back briefly before actually setting off)