I wonder how many of you are going to laugh at this.


8
Strip

When Natsu woke up late in the morning. He checked his body for anything out of the ordinary, but he didn't feel anything wrong, so he went to a mirror to see if his skin had changed color. Nope, it looked just fine. He wasn't cursed while asleep...yet.

Natsu decided to go eat a fish from the lake close to his house because he didn't trust the food in his fridge or cabinets. Zeref could have cursed everything edible for all he knew. So, he caught a huge, fat fish that Happy would be envious of. Natsu didn't leave any leftovers.

Now he was walking to the guild, but every time he walked past someone, who was close enough to touch, his eyes would linger on them until they had already passed him by. No one came up to him and handed him anything, so did that mean he was in the clear? Natsu did the math and he concluded that he was 90% sure he was curse-free. He would just have to wait five minutes while at the guild to see if there was something handed to him that was cursed, if not, then he was good this week!

Natsu walked into the guild and walked up to the bar.

"Hey Mira, nothing showed up for me, did it?" he asked.

"Nope, not that I know of," she replied. "I could check if you want."

"No, it's fine. I think I'm just going to go look for a job." Natsu left the bar and went to look at the job requests. He looked it over, but he wasn't finding anything interesting.

"So, no curse this week? That's a shame, I would love to see what Zeref came up with next for you, flame brain." Natsu felt his temple pulse when he heard the irritating voice of the ice stripper. He turned around with a burning glare that could melt ice, and saw Gray standing there with a smug smirk.

The smirk made Natsu almost throw a punch at the ice-make mage, but he held back. "You wouldn't find it funny if Zeref cursed you," he said.

"Good thing he doesn't like me then, huh? Maybe he'll curse you to being an ice block or something"*

Natsu gritted his teeth and threw a punch at Gray for his comments. He landed the first hit, and now the two mages began to fight. No one else in the guild really bothered to look up, too used to the fire and ice mages going at it with each other to be surprised anymore. What did make them look up, though, was when Natsu's coat landed on Elfman's head. Now everyone was paying attention to the two fighters.

Both Natsu and Gray were topless, but neither one noticed yet. Natsu kicked out with his leg, but Gray blocked it with an arm. Natsu lost both of his shoes - same as Gray. The longer the two fought, the more clothes they lost. They had to stop it before they both removed their boxers.

"That's enough, you two!" Elfman grabbed both mages from the air and bashed their heads together. The two were dazed, but Natsu was the last to recover.

"What was that for?!" The dragon slayer yelled.

Before anyone could answer, Natsu felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over to see Gray looking at him, more specifically his chest. "Where are your clothes?"

Natsu was confused. He wasn't the one missing clothes, Gray was, like always. "What are you talking about? You're the one missing clothes, not that that is surprising of course."

"Um, Natsu," Lucy called out, getting the dragon slayer's attention. Natsu noticed a blush on some of the girls in the room. "You might want to look down at yourself."

Natsu did as told, expecting nothing wrong or out of place, but when his eyes took in his lack of clothing, they widened in horror. The only thing he had covering himself was his boxers; Gray was in the same state.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Natsu shouted in a shrill voice. "Where did my clothes go?!"

Elfman handed Natsu his top, and Max was just about to hand over his pants, but something white fell out of them. Max picked it up. "It's a note from Zeref," he said.

Natsu groaned and said, "What is the curse this time?"

Yes, I put a curse on your friend, Gray. When you land a hit on him, you'll get his stripping habit for the day. -Zeref

Max had read the note aloud for everyone to hear, and then they all turned to look at Natsu. Natsu felt not only shock and horror for having his frienemy's bad habit, but also rage. He knew that Gray was not going to let him live this down. Out of the corner of his eye, the dragon slayer could see the devil horns on Gray's head and knew he was right in his assumption.

Natsu looked down and his shoulders began shaking. Laughter started bubbling up inside him, but it wasn't joyful laughs, they were eerie and angry giggles.

He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I GOT GRAY'S STRIPPING HABIT?!" He took another breath before he continued. "ZEREF BETTER PRAY IT ISN'T AS BAD AS GRAY'S, OR ELSE I'LL SEE HOW HE LIKES TO WALK AROUND NAKED ALL THE TIME FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!"

"I get the feeling he wouldn't care much," said Happy.

"You want to bet on that?"

"Bring it on, Natsu." Everyone else started placing their own bets. Most of the guild agreed with Happy, and maybe ten agreed with Natsu.


Natsu had his clothes back on his body and tried to make sure they stayed there. Gray kept making fun of him, and it always resulted in him at least losing his shirt. One time, Gray went too far with his teasing that the two mages fought again.

Natsu swung the first punch at the smug-faced ice mage. Gray ducked under the swing just in time, his smirk never leaving him. Natsu kept throwing punch after punch, and kick after kick. All Gray did to counter was dodge each and every one of his attacks.

Natsu saw Gray's smirk get wider the longer Natsu tried to hit him, which only made the dragon slayer want to hit him more. That was when Natsu noticed that Gray's shirt was off. He stopped and looked down to see that his shirt was gone too.

"Not again!" Natsu exclaimed angrily, but there was a hint of a whine in his tone.

"What is going on here?!" Natsu felt his blood run cold. He slowly turned to look and saw that Erza had returned to the guild. She was looking at both him and Gray, but her eyes stayed on Natsu. "Natsu, where is your shirt and scarf?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Natsu tried to come up with something, but his brain was drawing blanks. He couldn't think of anything to say.

"Natsu was cursed by Zeref again, and now he has Gray's stripping habit," said Happy joyfully.

"Hey, who's side are you one?!" demanded Natsu, sounding betrayed.

"Where are Natsu's and Gray's clothes?" Erza asked everyone.

"Here!" said Mira, who was holding up Natsu's scarf and Gray's top.

Natsu quickly ran over to grab his beloved scarf and wrapped it around his neck. Gray strolled over and took his shirt and put it on calmly like it was no big deal. That didn't surprise Natsu in the least, because that was Gray. He never went a day without stripping, but Natsu wanted this day to be over so he could keep his clothes on.

Natsu looked around. "Does anyone know where my shirt is?" he asked.

"Here you go, Natsu," said Romeo, who held out his shirt.

"Thanks man!" Natsu said cheerfully and in relief. He put on his clothes and sat down. Hopefully with Erza there now, Gray would leave him alone for the rest of the day.

He was right about Gray not really bothering him anymore, but sometimes just sitting there and talking to someone was enough to still make him lose his clothes. He was talking with Lucy about the job she did yesterday with Levi when she stopped talking and said, "Natsu...you're missing your pants." There was a blush on her cheeks as she said this. Natsu looked down to see that the only thing covering his lower parts was his boxers. Luckily he didn't lose anything else, but it didn't stop his face from feeling feverous.

"Does anyone know where my pants went?" Natsu called out to everyone in the guild.

"Yeah, they're above you!" answered Gray. Natsu narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked up toward the rafters. Gray was right about his pants being up there, but he felt that Gray might have something to do with how they got there. He turned to Happy. "Can you get them down for me?" he requested.

"Ay!" said Happy. He flew up to get his pants down, and once Natsu had them back on, he turned to Gray.

"Were you the one that put them up there?" he hissed.

"Why would I do something like that, let alone touch your pants? Who knows where those pants have been except for your smelly backside," said Gray.

"Are you saying I smell?"

"Yeah, you smell so bad that I'm shocked you didn't even notice. On second thought, it has probably killed your nose with how bad it is."

Natsu gritted his teeth. "This coming from the guy that can't even take a bath or shower without the water turning into ice?"

"At least I shower in an actual bathroom instead of some lake!"

"ENOUGH, YOU TWO!" Natsu and Gray paled at the sound of Erza's voice. They didn't move to turn to face her, they knew what was coming. "Gray, Natsu...If you both think neither one of you are getting clean, then how about I lend you a hand?"

They slowly turned to her with a look of horror on their faces. "No, we're okay," they said together, but their voices were higher than normal.

"No, I insist," she said with an innocent smile, grabbed both of them, and began dragging them toward the bathhouse. "I'll make sure you're both clean. That way you'll both shut up about your hygiene."

"Erza, we're not little kids anymore!" shouted a mortified Gray and Natsu just before they left everyone in the guild hall behind.

"Good thing you both have that stripping habit. It makes it quicker for me to just toss you both into the water right now."

Natsu didn't notice it, but as he struggled to get out of Erza's iron hold, he stripped all of his clothes off, along with Gray.

"WAIT!" the two males shouted, but Erza already threw them into the deep water.


When midnight finally came, Natsu could feel the urge to strip his clothes leave him. His body felt relaxed. He didn't know just how bad it was. The temptation was stronger than he could ever, truly know. But now it's over, so he's relieved and happy. He left to go home and sleep the rest of the night away with all his clothes on.

TBC


*Should I or should I not turn Natsu into an ice block? He would have to be held by Gray the hold time, or be stuck in the fridge. What do you think?

Natsu: I can't believe you gave me Gray's stripping habit.

Enj/Dark: I felt like I could have made that funnier, but I couldn't think of anything else.

Zeref: I love the touch where you had Erza give Gray and Natsu a bath. :)

Enj/Dark: That was good, but I think I could have done better still.

Natsu: Please review… :(

Zeref: If you have any suggestions, please let us know!