"You guys lost," smirked Gray.
Knowing exactly what that'd do to Natsu.
"You don't have to keep repeating that ice-face!" he yelled snappily at the smug mage.
"Gray is correct," Erza said sagely, from where she was perched next to Gray on the hotel bed, though it wasn't hard to notice how she was gloating as well. "And so you have to face punishment set by us!"
"N-now now," said Lucy, seated on the floor next to Natsu, holding up her palms in a placating manner, "we don't have to get too excited over the punishment."
"Yeah, but we still are," said Gray, not taking his amused eyes off Nastu's huge pout. "You didn't reach the mayor's office first, we did. And the spoils of war go to us."
"What war? It was just a race!"
"Spoils of the race, then!"
"I don't think that - "
"Would you just tell us what it is already?!" yelled Natsu, unable to stand another second of Gray being any kind of winner.
Gray and Erza exchanged a not so subtle glance at each other before nodding.
"Well this is gonna be exciting," muttered a very excited Happy from behind his paws.
"You two," said Erza grandly, "have to be close!"
"Well that's stupid. We already are, she's my beat friend," said Natsu, missing Lucy's flushed, but pleased smiled.
"What she means to say is, you'll have to be physically close," said Gray.
"What!?" yelled a now very obviously flustered Lucy. "That's - no - you can't - I'm not - this - rude - "
"Woah, woah! Lucy, why'd you head go straight to the gutter?" teased Gray.
Lucy stilled and took on an even brighter hue. "W-well you said…"
"Sit on his lap," commanded Erza. And no one refused an Erza command.
Sighing deeply and wondering why such things only happened to her, Lucy gingerly got off the floor, turning towards Natsu. It really didn't help her situation when he only leaned back, smiling, resting his weight on his palms as if offering his lap saying - 'Come here, it's all yours.'
Somehow she managed to sit daintily, doing her best to not put too much of her weight on him. The only positive she could find was that with her back facing him, Natsu couldn't see her expressions.
"That looks really awkward," Gray commented, titling his head to one side, as if judging a painting.
Erza and Happy nodded their agreement with equal seriousness, heads titling as well.
Lucy was about to made a snide remark at them when she felt her entire seated self being lifted into the air.
Natsu, in an act of weirdly good non-combat coordination, turned her around to face him, before placing her back onto his lap.
Much to Lucy's only growing embarrassment.
"That's much better!" Natsu declared cheerfully.
In the background now, Erza, Gray and Happy were all exhibiting varying levels of interest at the scene before them.
"N-no it's not!" argued Lucy in a soft voice.
"How come? You're sitting more comfortably now and I can see you!"
"Don't you see how close this is? How inti - oh, never mind," she gave up, rolling her eyes before dropping her face into her palms.
"Hey now," he said softly, "don't be like that." He drew her hands away from her face and held her chin, titling her head towards his own.
