Aha! The next chapter! I've had this done for a while, but I just haven't put it up... Hope you guys enjoy! Sexual tension and misunderstandings ahoy! (¬‿¬)

Stuck On You

Hear me now, obey my command; where we touch, our skin shall brand. Until our love to full blossom grows, we shall follow wherever each other goes.

In which, Natsu and Lucy get a little stuck…literally.

rub-a-dub-dub… bandanas in the tub!

The only thing that Lucy thought as she stared blankly at her shower, eyes wide and distraught, was that, clearly, she hadn't thought this completely through.

Honestly, it should have been one of her first concerns—right up there with going to the bathroom and sleeping arrangements—but she hadn't even thought about it. Showering had somehow completely slipped her mind, and now that she had all but no choice to shower or bathe, she was in a state of utter internal upheaval.

There were very few instances where Lucy just didn't know what to do. This, it appeared, was one of those times.

Strangely—or not strangely—Natsu was completely unfazed. He had to know exactly what they were going to have to do, and yet, he just looked calmly from the shower back to her. Then rolled his shoulders as if to stretch. If she didn't know any better, Lucy would have said that Natsu had already thought about it and made peace with the predicament.

But, of course, that wasn't possible.

"Okay, this isn't going to work," Lucy breathed, nearly swallowing her tongue in the process. "There is no way that we're showering together."

She absolutely drew the line at naked-time with Natsu. That wouldn't go over well—for either of them.

Natsu only shrugged and glanced at her, green eyes filled with what looked like amusement. "C'mon, Luce, it's just a shower. We both need one, and besides, it's not like we haven't seen each other naked before." He chuckled as he closed his eyes, lips twisting in a grin as if he was recalling something with fondness. "Remember that time we were in the hot spring together?"

That had been last year; the whole team had gone on a mission at the request of an old tree-man-thing whose name Natsu couldn't remember. What he did remember, however, was seeing Lucy—gloriously naked, skin wet and glistening in the moonlight with her gold-spun hair piled on top of her crown.

He also remembered her throwing buckets at him, as though it had been his fault that she and the other girls had wandered into the spring when, in fact, he and Gray had been there first. And, of course, he remembered being all but forced to wash Erza's back…and then getting pummeled for accidentally knocking her over in his enthusiasm over their topic of conversation.

"Yeah, when Erza beat you up for punching her? I remember that," Lucy said snarkily as though she, too, were recalling the hot spring incident.

It seemed that while he remembered the scene with something akin to fondness—well, save the part where Erza had kicked his ass—she recalled it with loathing and embarrassment.

To this day he didn't understand why she absolutely hated the thought of him seeing her without clothes. Like he'd said, it wasn't anything new to him. He'd seen her naked countless times, even felt her bare skin—though it hadn't been by choice. There literally was nothing new for him to see… And besides, she'd seen him naked too. So it wasn't like she'd gotten the short end of the stick; they'd both seen each other naked, give or take a few times on his end.

It wasn't like he'd purposely walked in on her…at least, not the majority of the time.

Natsu cleared his throat, more to pull his head out of the gutter than anything else—because the last thing he needed to be thinking about were the times where he may have kinda, sorta…purposely walked in on her while she was naked. "We gonna do this or not?" he asked, and Mavis, he really hoped that she didn't notice the hitch in his voice.

"I'm thinking or not." Lucy snorted and flipped her sopping hair over one shoulder.

She grimaced when it stuck to her pale, creamy skin, sighing because she knew there was no way she'd be going without a shower. Not when she was covered from head-to-toe in spaghetti sauce. And not when it was quickly drying in her hair.

"I guess I could wear a swim suit…" she mumbled, reaching up to finger her ruined hair in dismay and cringing when the pads of her fingertips brushed over crusted clumps.

"You'd just get that dirty too…" Natsu mentioned and watched her face slowly crumple with acquiescence. And he'd probably still see her naked when she was changing, though he refrained from pointing that out to her. "Besides, it ain't like I have a swim suit, so I'm gonna be naked either way." He lifted a shoulder nonchalantly.

The blonde quickly jerked her face to the side with a scoff, hiding from his probing stare. But, he could still see her flushed cheeks and re-tipped ears—he probably could have seen it even without his slightly advanced sight.

"I-idiot… Like I need reminding," she muttered almost sourly.

Unless she closed her eyes the entire time, Lucy knew she was going to get an eyeful of tan, muscled skin—skin that looked so warm, and inviting, and comforting. And while the curious deviant part of her, which was much closer to the surface than she liked to admit, was more than eager, the more rational parts of her felt like fainting at the idea.

Oh, the woes of having an attractive partner. And, oh, the woes of being attracted to said attractive partner. It just wasn't fair—Lucy somehow always managed to get herself into predicaments like this. Or, well, not necessarily this exact predicament—being stuck together due to some sort of magical incantation and now being forced to shower with her partner kind of got its own category, she supposed. But, she did always manage to get herself into messes…

Actually, Natsu usually managed to get her into messes.

Speaking of her problem-magnet partner, why was he moving around so much behind her? He was suddenly twisting and turning and jerking their conjoined hands in awkward positions.

Lucy huffed, and when she turned her head to glare at him—possibly reprimand—her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she shrieked, "Natsu, stop taking your clothes off!" before slamming her eyes shut and shoving him with her one good hand.

Her stupid, idiot of a partner had already undone his belt and was shimmying out of his baggy pants, revealing a tantalizing strip of bronze skin and making it quite clear that he didn't wear boxers. Or any underwear at all, for that matter.

"Ow!" whined the fire dragonslayer, feebly gripping the waistband of his trousers as they nearly slipped off his trim hips. He almost released his pants to rub his chest, where she'd all but punched him, but quickly thought better of it. "Oi, Lucy, what'd you hit me for?" he asked.

Still averting her eyes, Lucy jabbed a finger into his—thankfully still covered—chest. "You're getting naked!" The statement was almost a screech.

Natsu was trying to take off his clothes. In front of her.

A little screeching on her part was wholly justified, she thought.

"Well, we gotta take a shower somehow, don't we?" Natsu snorted and narrowed his green eyes. Really, he thought, she was being ridiculous. She talked about showering and then freaked when he got ready to shower.

Women, he thought with a roll of his eyes.

"Well…yeah, but…" the blonde stammered, scrambling for an excuse…any excuse. Brown eyes darting up to the bathroom ceiling, she sent out a silent prayer, hoping that something would come to her. And, praise Mavis, it did. Lucy almost sighed with relief as she blurted out the only thing that she could think of, "We need blindfolds!"

Even though she wasn't looking at him, the celestial spirit mage could practically feel the confusion that seeped from Natsu, who was still clutching his trousers. "…Blindfolds?" he echoed.

The guys at the guild had taught him a thing or two about blindfolds and what they could be used for… He'd never thought that Lucy would be the type of girl to go for that kind of thing. But now that he was thinking about it—his imagination had a wicked mind of its own—he couldn't stop thinking about it…

Her, clad in leather and laced heels, a dominatrix with a sly grin and a blindfold clasped in one of her hands. All of the sudden, his throat felt clogged and his mouth was dry.

"Wow, Luce…" Natsu practically wheezed. "I never thought… I mean, I didn't know that you were so kinky…"

Kinky?

Lucy felt her face burn to a whole new degree. All past blushes were put to shame by the fiery-red shade that darkened her whole face and creeped down her neck. Her voice was a squeak when she sputtered, "Kinky? I'm not… I mean, it's not like that! Th-there's nothing kinky about it! It's just the easiest solution…" She trailed off, turning around to face him, and swallowed after meeting his gaze.

He was staring at her strangely, scrutinizing almost; his narrowed eyes traveled from her face, to her chest, then her waist, and eventually to her hips. When his gaze hovered there for a few moments, his Adam's apple bobbed as he tried to swallow.

Lucy didn't know if it was even possible to blush any harder, but her cheeks nearly hurt from all the stinging.

While his obvious appreciation of her figure was nice and all, it made her squirmy and more than a little self-conscious. Especially considering the fact that she was kind of smothered in spaghetti sauce. And that she was wearing practically next to nothing…

"Stop staring at me!" she shouted, yanking on their joined hands to startle him.

It worked, making him blink, and she swore she saw his ears turn pink and his jaw clench tighter. But, she couldn't be absolutely sure because he coughed in the next moment and reached up to rub the back of his neck with an impish grin. And subsequently, of course, he'd forgotten about his trousers…as they slipped down and pooled around his ankles, revealing every inch below his hips.

Lucy's first instinct was to close her eyes again, but not without letting a little peep escape. Her spare hand covered her eyes for good measure. "…Your pants…" was the only thing that she said.

Natsu paused, and he probably looked down—all surprised—but then he chuckled and the tone had a note of embarrassment in it. "Oh, right…" Lucy assumed that he bent over to yank them back up, because she was suddenly leaning backwards due to him pulling on her hand.

"Okay," her dragonslayer partner cleared his throat after a little shuffling, "we're all good now. You can look. But I still don't get what the big deal is… You've seen me naked before."

The blonde heaved a sigh, ignoring his griping, before peering over her shoulder at him. A small dip of her eyes confirmed that he had a firm grip on his trousers and that they were hiked up past his hips. "All right…" Lucy coughed, feeling just the slightest bit awkward.

Quickly, she led him back to her bedroom and to her dresser. Unfortunately, she kept her bandanas in the same drawer as her underwear, so when she opened it, she knew that she was blushing again. Though, it wasn't as if he hadn't peeked into her underwear drawer before—in fact, he'd been wearing her panties on his head just earlier that very same day. But it didn't lessen her embarrassment as she rooted through all the lacy, stringy things—and the granny panties that she tried so hard to keep buried—to pull out two bandanas.

Natsu, though he was looking over her shoulder, didn't say one word about her choice in undergarments. He'd smartly learned to keep his comments to himself over the years, though he couldn't help but make a few faces at some of her underthings—he'd never understand how she could wear something that was literally a triangle of fabric with flimsy strings attached. Maybe that was why she didn't wear them very often?

Either way, it was a good thing that she couldn't see the faces he was making.

Back in the bathroom, the door shut firmly behind them, Lucy huffed. "Okay, turn around."

"Right now?" His brows lifted.

"Yes, right now," she parroted, nodding her head. "We're gonna put these on first and then get undressed."

And then shower. Together. With some of their naked parts touching. Lucy felt like she was blushing for the umpteenth time that hour, noticing the telltale burning sensation in her cheeks.

Natsu, looking at her flushed, cherry-red cheeks, gulped. She looked so nervous. "…Are we gonna have to do this every night?" he wondered aloud, which made his blonde friend blink.

She sighed, urging him to duck so she could reach his head. Then, she haphazardly began to tie the bandana around his eyes. It was exceedingly difficult considering that she only had her left hand available to her. But she eventually—with a lot of twisting, muttering, and awkward pulling—managed to tie it tight enough, yanking on the knot for good measure.

"I guess so… I mean, unless we come up with a better solution or something," she murmured once she was finished.

But, they both knew that they weren't going to be able to. Their options were pretty limited considering that they couldn't let go of each other's hands.

Lucy heaved another sigh at that thought as she tackled the issue of tying her own bandana. For some reason, it was harder to do to herself than it was to another person… Though, she did eventually get it right. But not without Natsu curiously—albeit tentatively—asking, "Uh, Luce? You need some help?" and her responding with an irritated, "No. No I have this."

Then came the challenge of undressing.

Like showering, it simply hadn't occurred to Lucy that she would have a few issues taking off and putting on her clothes. The fact that their hands were stuck together made it all but impossible to remove their shirts…unless they wanted to get into an extreme, and utterly random, game of twister right there on her bathroom floor. And while Natsu probably wouldn't have minded, she certainly did mind.

Writhing around, half naked, on the floor while blindfolded, with Natsu, just had so many opportunities to go wrong.

Natsu, it seemed, had just come to the same exact conclusion as he muttered, "Uh, Luce, how're we gonna get our shirts off?" His voice wavered a little, hinting that he was a little worried, but Lucy highly doubted that he was panicking.

After all, they'd seen each other naked so this was no big deal to him.

Even though he couldn't see her, she rolled her eyes. "I don't know…"

A second of silence passed between the two of them, awkward and thick, and then the sound of ripping fabric met Lucy's ears. Or, at least she thought it was ripping fabric—she really hoped it was ripping fabric.

Turning her head towards the mysterious sound, she asked, "Natsu…did you just…?"

"Yup," he replied without skipping a beat, probably shrugging. "It's just a shirt, no big deal." Although he wasn't Gray, with an overabundance of shirts and pants, he did have a fairly well-stocked closet. One shirt wasn't going to create very much of a dent in his wardrobe. Speaking of his wardrobe… "Oi, when's Happy coming by with my clothes and everything?"

They'd come up with an elaborate excuse as to why Lucy would suddenly need a big box of Natsu's clothes and persuaded the Exceed to drop them off. They couldn't very well do with Natsu waltzing around her apartment naked. It would be fine as long as the cat didn't catch sight of Natsu… Otherwise the whole guild would know of their little problem by nightfall.

"I don't know… I told him to just leave it outside my door," Lucy said, running her thumb along the underside of the strap to her shirt. She really didn't want to have to rip it. "We can check after we get this over with." She pursed her lips and then added, "And if he doesn't get here in time, then I have some clothes that you…left here a little while ago."

Again with the damn blushing, she scolded herself. It wasn't weird to have some of her partner's clothes, especially since he spent so much time at her house…right? It wasn't as though she'd collected them and kept them in the bottom of her closet or anything…

Okay. Fine. So she had.

But only because she was, as her mother used to say, a Paranoid Paula. Those clothes would come in handy someday, she'd known. And it was a good thing that she'd kept them, because now they had a backup plan in case Happy forgot or something.

"Oh." Natsu didn't sound angry or disturbed by the fact that she had some of his clothes stashed at her house. "Cool," he said, and she could just picture the grin on his face. "So…You need help with your shirt?"

…

Happy grunted, lifting the heavy box higher with his tiny paws and flapping his wings faster. There was only so much his little arms and wings could handle. Granted, he had stuffed the box himself so he was the only one to blame for the excessive weight of it, but he huffed irately anyway.

"What was up with Lucy…?" he wondered to himself, skimming lowly along the streets that he recognized. Lucy's house was close; he wouldn't have to fly much longer, thankfully. "She was being weirder than normal…"

Which was an understatement, the flying cat thought. Lucy had always been weird…but she'd never asked for a box of Natsu's clothes before. And that only made him so very curious… What was she planning to do with Natsu's clothes? He highly doubted that she had a sudden urge to do his laundry for him, despite what she claimed… Was she planning something perverse?

The thought made Happy's wings falter in their strides.

Maybe she really was a weirdo… If so, she'd done a good job of hiding it over the years. Natsu hadn't even suspected a thing—Happy had, of course, and if he was right… Well, he was gonna have to protect Natsu from Lucy if she really was a pervert. That was his duty as Natsu's best friend. Though, he did like Lucy…

He kinda didn't want her to wind up being a pervert or anything.

But, still, he had to keep his mind open; at least, that was what he told himself as he came to a jerky landing in front of Lucy's front door and dropped the box with a few, quick pants. He was supposed to just leave the clothes there, not even knock—Lucy had assured him that she would find the clothes. She'd also assured him that he would get a handsome reward…three whole fish. Yet, he couldn't help but imagine what weird things that she might be planning to do with Natsu's clothes…

Some weird ritual? A prank? Or maybe she really was just washing them? Because Natsu hardly ever did his laundry, the smell of them could attest to that. Happy wanted it to be the latter, but he just couldn't tell… So, with a quick gulp, the Exceed fluttered up and turned the doorknob.

It was unlocked, surprisingly, which only made Happy more suspicious than he already was. Lucy never left her door unlocked. Her windows, yeah—and he suspected it was because she didn't want to seem like she was letting Natsu in when she really was—but never her door. That was the one thing that she kept locked up tight.

Creeping inside, Happy glided into the living room. "Lucy?" he whispered, peeking around the cream-colored couches and the potted ferns.

He, strangely, didn't receive a reply.

Frowning, Happy meandered into the kitchen, Lucy's name perched on the tip of his raspy tongue again. It froze there, however, when he beheld the utter calamity that met his sight… Red, paste-like stuff was smeared all over the ceiling, floor and cabinets; noodles were sitting on the counter—they were cold, as he discovered by prodding them with his paw—and there was green, flaky stuff all over the counter.

Happy just didn't know what to make of the mess, because if there was one thing that irritated Lucy, it was a messy kitchen. She wouldn't have done this, and she certainly wouldn't have left this.

Something had happened. Happy could feel it in his gut. That feeling congealed, and he couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing…until he heard a loud, painful-sounding thump…quickly followed by a muffled voice that could only be Lucy's. Hurriedly, the Exceed went off in search of the mysterious noises, and he came to a hesitant halt in front of the bathroom.

In his years of knowing Lucy, he'd quickly learned to never enter the bathroom while she was occupying it. Cat or not, she found his presence an invasion of her privacy…though he had absolutely no interest in furless, human bodies. It was the only reason why he refrained from knocking on the door, or opening it. And it was a good thing he hesitated, because in the next second he heard a second muffled voice…a familiar muffled voice…that sounded strangely like…Natsu.

But that couldn't be, Happy thought with a frown, because Levy had said that Natsu had gone fishing for a while.

And yet, when he pressed his little ear to the door, he knew that it had to be Natsu. There was no mistaking that voice; Happy would always be able to pick Natsu's voice out, even in a busy crowd. So, when Natsu muttered, "Sorry…" Happy was very, very confused.

What was Natsu doing in Lucy's bathroom? And with Lucy?

"Kick your pants over there…" came Lucy's voice. "I don't want to keep tripping on them."

Natsu—and it was definitely Natsu—snorted, and the sound of rumpled clothes being kicked into a corner met Happy's ears. "You wouldn't be tripping if you weren't wearing the blindfold," he said matter-of-factly.

Happy, on the other side of the door, just blinked. Was Natsu really not wearing his pants? Why wasn't he wearing his pants? And blindfolds?

…Were they having some sort of weird, pant-less piñata party in there? Happy wondered to himself as he listened more closely to the conversation.

A feminine sigh echoed, a muttered apology of sorts. "…I don't want it to get ripped," Lucy said then, obviously annoyed and a little frustrated.

Happy knew that tone exceedingly well.

"Well, we kinda have to be naked…" Natsu retorted, which made the eavesdropping cat freeze. The fire dragonslayer continued, sighing, "We're never gonna get anywhere like this, Luce…"

Naked? They were taking off all their clothes, not just their pants? Why? What were they doing in there?

Happy's mind was going a thousand miles a millisecond, scanning through all the possible scenarios. Unfortunately, he now doubted that they were having a weird, pant-less piñata party… And what he did believe they were doing was just something he couldn't fathom… There was no way that Natsu and Lucy were…doing it… Right?

Sure, they liked each other but –

A loud tearing sound interrupted Happy's inner monologue, followed by an indignant half-shout from Lucy. "Natsu!" Her voice was a breathless gasp. "You ripped it… That was one of my favorites…" she scolded.

"Sorry, Luce, but I'm getting a little impatient here…" Natsu apologized. "You didn't want it to get wet, right?"

"I'd rather it be wet than ripped."

…Or maybe they were…

Happy could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. Even with all his blue fur in the way, he knew it wouldn't be very hard to see the blush staining his whole face. Stumbling back, the flying cat zipped back into the living room, paw pressed against his chest and feeling his heart thundering against his ribcage.

What had he just listened in on?

But he already knew the answer to that question… Natsu and Lucy were…doing it…in the bathroom. And with blindfolds.

The flying cat gulped. Charle and Lily had to hear about this…

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Next time! Chapter 5: splish, splash, we were taking a bath...