Work Text:
Fairy Tail was having a slow kind of day. Nobody was overly energetic, no brawls had yet to break out. It was the kind of day that saw even Natsu and Gray relaxing together, speaking of often ridiculous things, sometimes comparing workouts, rarely seeking advice.
Today, they were avidly discussing what they thought each member of Fairy Tail they could see, could lift. And now, they had their sights set on Lucy and they couldn’t agree. She looked scrawny and delicate, Gray didn’t think she was liable to lift more than 40kg but Natsu kept making the case that whenever she needed to carry one of them she never seemed to struggle. They slipped off the benches they were taking up and slunk over to where Lucy was sitting with Erza and Levi, determined to get the answer.
“Hey Lucy!” Natsu called when they were close, the girls all turned to them. “Me ’n’ Gray need you to settle somethin’.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“What do you lift?”
They all looked confused for a moment, then Levi snickered and Erza turned to Lucy to size her up.
“Why do you want to know?” Lucy asked, not sounding opposed to the idea, rather amused instead.
“Gray thinks you can lift more then 40 kilos. I think you could do 60 easy.”
Lucy took a sip of her tea with a sly smile then beckoned Natsu over as she put it down and stood.
“Stand here.” She said, gesturing in front of her and Natsu and Gray shared an anticipatory glance before he stepped around and waited for further instructions. She held out her arms.
“Jump into my arms and plank.” He did and she barely even swayed under his weight dropping down on her. He felt Lucy step out a bit, altering her stance before her arms tensed and Natsu was thrown above her head, her hands catching him on his side and thigh and holding him above her, not a strained tremor to be seen.
Natsu laughed as Lucy turned around to show him off, letting him see that they’d drawn most people’s attention. Erza looked impressed and was clapping for her. Levi was in awe.
“Well done Lucy.”
"Quick Reedus get a picture!"
“See Gray, told you she could lift.” Natsu gloated from his place in the air.
Gray huffed at him. “You said 60. You weigh more than that.”
“I said 60 easy meaning more than that too.”
“You were still wrong.”
“I was not.” He shot back, a familiar bubbling of excited irritation building in his chest.
“There’s a difference between 60 and 65 flame-brain.”
“No there isn’t.”
Gray crossed his arms and adopted a snotty, superior expression.
“When you learn to count you’ll know what the number 5 is.”
Natsu rolled out of Lucy’s grasp, landed on the floor on all fours.
“You learn to count.” He demanded and launched himself at him, taking Gray out at the waist in a solid spear tackle; igniting a brawl that Erza kicked out the door in less than a minute.