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Natsu can tank a hit. Thus far, nothing and no one has dished out anything he couldn’t take. This has, of course, built up a lot of, perhaps unwarranted confidence on his part that is not good for Lucy’s heart.
In his true, genuine belief that he is in fact, invincible, he is often the first to run head first into fights that require a little bit more tact than he has, much to Lucy’s grief.
Unsurprisingly, that is what has got him in his current predicament, laying prone on the ground, body paralysed from the waist down. He’s in no immediate danger, thanks to his much more restrained teammates who had managed to take out the enemy forces before they had managed to take him out, but that didn’t mean he was getting out unscathed.
Lucy looks incredibly unimpressed when she comes to his rescue, hands on her hips as she looks down at him.
“What did I tell you?”
“Not to run in without a plan?”
“And what did you do?”
He doesn’t reply, because she knows the answer, and she knows he knows the answer, but he doesn’t find it in himself to feel too bad about it. Instead, he offers her a bright grin, knowing exactly what she’s here for.
At his lack of response, she rolls her eyes but squats down next to him none the less, not willing to let her partner stay out here while injured. One arm slips under his knees while the other hooks under his shoulders and Natsu picks up the message and wraps his own around her neck. She lets out an unrestrained grunt as she lifts him off the floor, not bothering to hide how much energy she has to exert doing so, which is only exacerbated by the dead weight of his lower half.
She makes sure to lift with her knees and not with her back (because lord knows she already complains about her back problems enough), and aside from the initial strain, she doesn’t have much problem holding him up. She adjusts her grip slightly once she has him in her arms, but after that, Natsu knows he can make himself comfortable.
He likes this much more than when she used to lug him over her shoulder. It’s much more comfortable, for one, but also just for the novelty of it. No one else wants to carry him around like a princess, but Lucy will do it, if not just because he would do the same to her.
It’s a little slow getting back to the rest of the team because as capable as she is, Lucy’s biggest strengths do not lie in her physical capabilities, and Natsu is a heavy guy, but she keeps going regardless.
Natsu doesn’t care how long it takes them because he’s enjoying himself far too much to complain. He’s resting his head on her shoulder, nuzzling up to the crook of her neck, appreciating the familiar comfort of her scent (even if she is a little sweaty from the fight). Being able to catch a glimpse of the muscle she’s built up in her arms from years of working as a guild wizard is a bonus too.
He's almost disappointed when the rest of their team comes into view, where they’re waiting for the two of them. Wendy’s with them, which is a relief because the numb feeling in his legs has gone from weird to unsettling, and Lucy is clearly having a hard time carrying him like it, but he’s not looking forward to when she’ll put him down.
“Here comes the princess and his knight,” Gray snarks at their approach, clearly a directed insult at Natsu. “Good job getting your legs mangled, idiot.”
Natsu doesn’t even feel like fighting back, still running off the high of being carried by Lucy and also maybe something in whatever magic it was that turned his legs like this in the first place.
“You wish you were me,” he spits back, grin plastered across his face, too busy being smug about his woman carrying him back to base to care what Gray has to say about it.
The grin doesn’t even go away when Lucy ungracefully drops him to the floor at Wendy’s feet, exhausted from being his ride over here and falling to her knees beside him.
If this is what he gets for it, he might have to get himself injured on the battlefield more often.