A/N: New Chapter is up! Finally able to get around to writing now that summer is here! Anyways, be sure to let me know what you think and like always, thank you for the support! J
Big shout out to: DancesWithSeatbelts, Rose Tiger, maidenoftheluminousrapture, Nashi Luna Dragneel, brooke0315, Guest, and RosesAndRavens!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot sadly enough. TT~TT
The once usual rambunctious guild hall was dead silent as everyone's eyes were glued to the two small children inside the guild. Heck, even Nab took a break away from the request board to gape at the now small mages. The two boys glared at one another ignoring the captive audience that was displayed before them.
'If looks could kill,' Lucy thought to herself as she stared at her two companions' staring contest. Snapping out of their shocked stupor, Makarov began clearing his throat, earning the guild's attention. "The stakes have increased much higher than before…" he said very sternly.
"Master?" Mirajane questioned.
"Having Natsu as a toddler again was bad enough… but having Gray and Natsu both remain as rugrats will be the death of me!" He sobbed, "Do any of you realize just how much property damage these two are going to cost me if they remain lose in the town? Not to mention the scolding I'll hear from the Mayor all on account of these two fools!" He began to rant, ignoring the boys' yelling at being called 'fools'.
The guild grew frighteningly cold at the thought of their fire and ice mages going toe to toe inside of the newly repaired guild hall, especially since most of the guild was aware of Natsu's pension for practical jokes. Even Lucy shuddered at the thought of a miniature Natsu always barging into her room or playing pranks on her.
'Tch, as if he doesn't do that enough already.' She thought to herself, finding herself becoming more irritated with the situation as she recalled her teammate's constant break-ins and pranks that he pulled on her constantly.
"That settles it then," their master spoke, "These two are not allowed to leave outside these walls until we find the cure, is that understood?" they nodded in response to their master's wishes. "Very well then, Lucy," He called the celestial spirit mage's name causing the blonde haired beauty to step forward. "Make sure that these two don't get into any trouble would you?"
"W-what? But why me?" Lucy cried out in shock as she glanced back at the deceptively innocent expression of the pink haired boy.
"Aw don't think of it as a burden Lucy," the silver haired bar maid smiled, placing a gentle hand on the blonde's shoulder as a sign of comfort, "think of it as…" she thought aloud cutely pouting as she placed a finger to her lips as if in deep thought, "Experience for when you have children of your own!"
"No Way!" Lucy yelled violently, crossing her arms at the takeover wizard in an 'X' fashion above her head. Giggling at the celestial wizard's response, the barmaid returned back to her duties behind the counter ignoring the flustered blonde behind her.
"Love-rival…" a dark voice spoke behind her scaring Lucy nearly half to death.
Placing a hand over her chest as she tried to calm her beating heart she came face to face with the familiar scowl of the water mage. Juvia glared darkly at the blonde haired girl as she placed both hands on her hips in annoyance, "Why does love-rival get to babysit Gray-sama when she has Natsu-san all to herself already? If love-rival knows what's good for her, she'll stay away from Gray-sama." She threatened, frightening the blonde more and more.
"N-no, no, you got it all wrong! If you want Gray for yourself then fine take him! One toddler is good enough for me." Lucy began to explain nervously to the rain woman, placing her hands in front of her chest in surrender.
Juvia's eyes widened in surprise at hearing this, "Does that mean… Love-rival is a pervert?" Lucy's jaw dropped at hearing such a thing from the bluenette's mouth.
"WHAT?!"
"Love-rival was not interested in Natsu-san beforehand and now that Natsu-san is a child, love-rival wants him all to herself." She explained in a-matter-of-fact kind of tone. All Lucy could do was sputter nonsensible gibberish at the water mage's explanation as she slowly began to sink to the ground in defeat before crying out, "But I'm not a pervert I swear!"
"Only for me you can be Lucy!" Natsu pipped in, grinning broadly with his arms behind his head in jovial fashion.
'Somebody… anybody… wake me up from this nightmare," Lucy dramatically wept, "I just wanna go home!'
'At long last, Juvia can be alone with Gray-sama only this time he will be a child. If Juvia can show Gray-sama how good of a mother she is then perhaps… perhaps…' Her mind began to short-circuit as her imagination ran wild with Gray confessing his undying love for her at having such great maternal skills to finding a cure and having several children of their own.
"Ah~ Juvia is so excited she can't believe how fortune has smiled down upon her." The blue haired woman sighed dreamily, holding her face with her hands to hide her reddened cheeks in embarrassment.
Spotting the small raven like child Juvia bent down at her waist to pick up the ice mage. "Gray-sama, Juvia will be responsible for taking care of you until you go back to normal, please be gentle with Juvia." She blushed innocently.
"What the hell kind of nonsense are you spewing?" The ice mage hollered in embarrassment, squirming in the blue haired woman's arms as she began carrying him towards the bar.
Settling the miniature Gray onto a nearby stool, Juvia seated herself beside him fidgeting in her seat out of nervousness as the raven haired boy stared at her incredulously, watching her every move.
"Does… does Gray-sama wish to eat?" She spoke up.
Gray brought a hand back up to scratch at the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had picked up in the past before glancing towards the side. "Uh… sure."
"Juvia can prepare anything Gray-sama wishes to have!" she said rather ambitiously, causing the ice mage to sweat nervously. "Umm… that's okay we can just order here."
"A-are you sure? Juvia has a vast knowledge of recipe's she can cook up for Gray-sama."
"No, no that's alright! I'm fine with just getting a quick bite here," he chuckled nervously, wishing to not upset the water mage in any way for fear of what she would do. "Besides, I wouldn't want to put you out or anything."
"Gray-sama isn't putting Juvia out!" she practically yelled, startling the ice wizard, "Juvia… just wants to make Gray-sama happy. As long as Gray-sama is happy, Juvia is happy." She spoke in a soft tone, ducking her head away from his gaze as she stared down at her fingers resting on her lap.
The raven haired boy stared silently at the woman for a moment or two before he flashed her smile. "Being surrounded by the people you love the most would make anyone happy." He spoke, causing the rain woman to gasp and blush at hearing this.
'Huh, wonder what I said?'
Lucy glanced down at the pink haired boy before her. She was starting to become irritated with her partner and frankly, she wanted nothing more than to go home, take a nice hot bath, and jump into bed to hopefully, the keyword there being "hopefully", ridding herself of this horrible nightmare.
Placing both hands on her hips the busty blonde haired wizard pouted at the fire wizard's indifferent expression. "How are you not freaking out about something like this? Don't you realize that the more time you spend in this body of yours, the more you'll return to your child-like psyche?" She scolded.
Natsu shrugged his shoulders in response, angering the blonde even more. "I still don't see what the big deal is. You worry too much Lucy, I'll be fine, I promise!" he grinned.
"How can you not see what the big deal is if you don't…" She paused mid-sentence. So far reasoning with the tiny fire wizard was proving to be a royal pain in the ass. Perhaps she should try a different approach instead, one that he would definitely understand.
"You know what, you're right. I shouldn't worry about something as trivial as you turning into a child." Lucy said rather calmly. The pink haired fire mage raised a brow at her odd mood change, bewildered as to where his partner was going with this.
"It's just that… no forget it." She waved off the subject, turning her back on the intrigued dragon slayer as she slowly made her way towards the bar.
"Wait! What were you about to say?"
Stopping dead in her tracks, the celestial wizard did her best to hide her knowing grin before turning to face the fire wizard. "Hmm… I don't know if I should tell you, especially because of your condition." She contemplated aloud, teetering back and forth on her heels, crossing her arms behind her back, waiting for her partner to response.
"Tell me what?" He demanded, anxious to hear what she had to say.
"Yeah, tell him what?" Happy appeared, floating closely behind Natsu. Lucy flashed the blue exceed a small glare before continuing on with her plan.
"Well I was just going to say how lonely I'll be now that I have a toddler for a partner. With no one around I'll probably team up with someone else… Loke perhaps?" Hearing the celestial spirit's name ignited a hidden rage within Natsu especially when it came from Lucy's lips.
"The worst of all is how lonely I'll be at night with no one to warm me up when it gets awfully cold out." Lucy said rather sadly, stressing the last bit as if to mentally tell the dragon slayer just what he's missing out on by being a kid.
"But Luce, I'll still be there when you get cold or lonely at night. Happy and I will always be there for you!" Natsu argued.
"Aye!"
'Looks like it's time to pull out the big guns!' She thought to herself, seeing as how her plan was starting to fail.
"You are right but… it's just not the same if I can't feel a man's body around me." The blonde haired woman crossed one arm across her chest emphasizing her rather large assets even more while she placed her other hand on her cheek giving the two her best longing expression.
Beginning to feel the familiar burn of heat rising on his face, Natsu shook his head to rid himself of any perverted thoughts that concerned his teammate. 'Get it together Natsu, she's your friend she deserves better than to be treated like some play thing' he mentally scolded himself, 'Even if she is rather cute sometimes… or has a really soft body that's perfect for snuggling with.'
"Alright then it's settled! The sooner we look into how I can get back to normal the sooner we can sleepover at Lucy's!" The fire dragonslayer cheered, raising both fists to the sky as he gave out a hearty laugh.
"H-hey now just wait a minute! Whoever said anything about a sleepover?" Lucy cried out in frustration, waving her fists at the two completely forgetting about the act she just pulled seconds before.
"Duh, you did weirdo, you said you wanted a man's body around you at night." Natsu replied indifferently.
"Huh? But I never… Er, what I meant to say was that I…" The golden haired mage tried to explain, finding herself at a loss for words at the feel of two small tan hands wrapped around her larger ones.
"Let's go look for a cure Lucy, together." He beamed.
With a small nod Lucy smiled back at the dragon slayer, "Right, together."