Chapter Text
Their Promise
Honestly, it was probably something that he had done on impulse at the risk of losing his rank, but he really didn’t care. He knew she was quite the distance away, fighting her own battles, he knew that, and yet, that didn’t stop him from tuning his attention to where she was, setting his enemies aflame as he truly began to understand that special ability that his mother had, and what Igneel had told him about. He could hear her, he could hear her screaming. It rang in his ears with such ferocity that there was nothing he could focus on except that. What did they expect him to do? When his fiance was being attacked? That was when he felt the adrenaline rush, and the influx in magic, or some other force, not from the form he hated, burst into his wings, and, without thinking, he bolted from the battlefield he was in, the battle he was in, with such force that a sonic boom was left in his wake.
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They were a support corps, they weren’t supposed to be facing enemies of this stature, but she supposed that that’s what would happen if they were in the area that they were in. The worst part is that they were in the midst of traveling to another Artillery Corps camp. After staying with the Dragon Corps for almost two months, they had separated again, to pursue further commands and push the enemy back a little further. The strategy that she and General Dragneel had come up with was perfect to share with General Scarlet, whom they notified immediately once they had decided the course of action they were going to take.
Since then, Erza had had her baby, and, because of how far out she was from the ice wall, the support unit immediately set out to assist her after succeeding with the raid that started to push the tides of war in their favor. However, she had sent a decent number of her corps to help in bringing the young infant back into the safety of the ice wall, where the Defense Corps could keep them safe. However, she had sent one of her strongest soldiers on the mission, which she assumed the enemy had found out about through a similar manner that they had found out about the assist that was sent to Fort Lamia before they fell.
As if they had known about it, they strategically had planned an assault on her corps about a month into traversing between Artillery Corps camps, and while First Lieutenant Leo had yet to return. She stared at them as they attacked her, with such force, and such surprise that she hadn’t had time to properly react. However, her instincts took control, and her time with Natsu’s quick reflexes back when they were together, must have influenced her quick thinking skills, because she started commanding her troops with authority that she hadn’t known she was capable of. While it did help save most of her unit, there was a major decline in morale.
They had thought the enemy had been pushed back, that they were safe, when, out of nowhere, as they were camping near a lake, they were under attack again. She whipped around with her guns at her hips, and aimed to where she thought the enemy had come from. However, instead, there was dead silence. She heaved, eyes scanning the area, hoping to find where they were, but to no avail, she wished that she had the quick senses that her fiance did, but instead, she was straining her eyes in the dead of night, trying to listen to the slightest sound. A gust of wind in the air, and her eyes darted in the direction it had gone, only to suddenly have a gash in her head, as she screamed, stumbling backwards, and placing a gun under the chin of the enemy in front of her, and fired, blasting straight through their skull.
She pressed a hand to her head as she tried to regain her balance. Another gust of wind, as if they could use the same attack on her again. She fired in the opposite direction that the wind had gone, and hit the enemy square between the eyes before they could approach her again. Blood was blocking her vision, but luckily, Aries was quickly by her side floating to her from her pink cloud form, creating a barrier between her and the enemy who was attacked, but putting the two of them between the enemy and the lake. What was their plan? It was as if they were cornering her directly. Her foot slipped on the ground as she tried to regain her balance, and soon the blood on her head was washed away by the fresh water of the lake, and she felt herself sinking into its depths.
With her vision fading, she thought that for a second she saw Natsu dive into the water towards her, but that was impossible, he was a hundred kilometers away by now, they were travelling in two different directions. Still, as consciousness left her, she only let it, because she felt his warmth, or what she wanted to believe was his warmth. Despite not being able to remember the moment clearly, she knew that she had wrapped her arms desperately around her rescuer, as they pulled her back up to the surface. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened in the time that her consciousness was gone, but she did know that when she walked out of her tent, the whole lake and the area that she had been attacked in was gone, evaporated and burned to ashes.
Even now, as she stood with the other generals in the meeting discussing peace, she wasn’t sure what had happened. Part of her wanted to believe that the person who was standing the closest to the Secretary of Defense, Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Prime Minister, at attention, like herself, in his ceremonial uniform was the one who had saved her, but she felt like that was just wishful thinking, because there was no way he’d be able to make it to her when he was a hundred kilometers away.
The captains of their enemy kept staring at her fiance with looks of disgust and hatred. She could kind of understand that, seeing how he was the general of the corps that had destroyed most of their regiments, in fact, he even destroyed some of the camps completely on his own, without the rest of the Dragon Corps. Still, they all sat in silence at that table, waiting for the one in charge to arrive. Her ears hurt as she heard the grandfather clock chime for the tenth time. Her legs were beginning to tell her that she had been standing still for too long, too.
After hours of waiting, their enemy’s captains said something along the lines of how their major general was busy, and could not make it. To postpone the meeting for signing the peace treaty until another date. The one who had the most authority signed the armistice, but the peace treaty still was yet to be signed. She took a deep breath as she watched from her peripheral vision their enemy leave. It was at least another fifteen minutes later before the Prime Minister, Secretary of Defense and Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff left, as well. Slowly, the rest of the generals began breaking attention and taking their leave, but for some reason, her fiance, and the one who received those hateful glares the most, and the one who she felt might have saved her that day, months ago, still stood there at attention.
She broke attention herself, and made her way over to him, waving her hand in his face, but he didn’t look at her. She placed a hand on his arm, it was tense. She gently cupped his face, and forced his head down to look at her, “Natsu, are you okay?”
In a soft whisper he muttered, “They’re still here, Lucy…”
She nodded, “I’m sure they haven’t-”
“They hurt you.” He added.
She shook her head, “I’m alright now, Natsu. Relax, they signed the armistice, they can’t attack us, not now-”
“Shh.” He muttered.
She clamped her mouth shut, and stood there again, in complete silence for what felt like another fifteen minutes, before he relaxed, and gave her a peck on the lips and made his way out of the meeting room. She hurried after him.
“What was that for?” She asked.
“What was what for?” he asked, slowing his pace so that she could walk beside him.
“You getting all serious, and then just kissing me and leaving without saying anything?” She muttered, elbowing him in the arm.
He smirked, “Mhmm.” He stopped, and stood at attention. She followed suit, and watched as the Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff walked by conversing with the Secretary of Defense. As soon as they passed them, he dropped his attention, and turned the corner, heading back to the small number of troops that they had brought with them to this meeting, “I wanted to kiss you, was there an issue?”
She shook her head, “No, not exactly, but when you tense up like that it makes me worry, Natsu. How-”
He suddenly stood at attention again, and she followed suit. He looked over at her, and broke his attention, with a laugh, “They were talking about something as they were leaving, made me concerned, that’s all.”
“Oh, okay.” She sighed, before slapping his arm, “Are you just randomly going into-” she cut herself off as he suddenly stood at attention again, and she copied him.
He relaxed, “Oh, gosh, Lucy, that’s hilarious. Anyway, I’ve got some things to discuss with my troops. Since this is the second time that they didn’t show up, master said that we can go back to our homes for the time being.”
She blinked, “Our homes?”
He nodded, and turned to her, kissing her on the lips, “So, I’ll see you later.”
She sighed, and shook her head as she watched him walk away, before turning heel, and heading to her own troops.
If he was being honest, he wanted to fly to the enemy headquarters, grab their leading general and slam their face onto the peace treaty as proof of signage. However, not only did he not know where the enemy headquarters was, or what their leading general smelled or looked like, but he was very strictly told by the chairwoman not to do that. Now that he was thinking about it, why didn’t he go searching for the enemy headquarters back then when he first proposed to Lucy… no, wait, why didn’t he go searching for it when he returned to the Dragon Corps after he confirmed that they were dating? He still didn’t understand why she didn’t think they were dating, but they were.
He sighed as he pushed open his cabin door, hours later, only to be pounced on by Happy as he bounded into the cabin from behind him. He lay flat on the ground. No, there were multiple reasons why he hadn’t just murdered the enemy’s leading general. Multiple. Still. The fact that the enemy didn’t want to come and sign the peace treaty was bothering him a bunch. Why? Because he and Lucy were going to get married once this war was over, and he wanted to do that as soon as possible, but unfortunately, an armistice does not count as the end of a war, and so they couldn’t get married because it wasn’t a peace treaty. Or, at least, that’s what Lucy kept telling him. That it had to be a peace treaty. Although, while an armistice is not the same as a peace treaty, he wasn’t stupid, he knew the two were different, it was proof that they weren’t fighting anymore. Hence why he was laying face first on his uneven cabin floors at the moment.
He lifted his head up to see Happy circling around on his bed, before laying down, as if this was all he wanted in his life. He did not remember leaving the place as much of a disaster as it was, but it had a nasty smell in here, too, which didn’t sit right with his nose. He crinkled it, as he watched a bug crawl in front of his face. He snatched the bug with his hand, before looking it over, making sure it wasn’t poisonous, and tossing it in his mouth, before pushing himself off the ground. Crunching the exoskeleton as he did so.
“Happy, you hungry?” He asked, making his way to the cabinet.
Happy was suddenly beside him, his bed forgotten.
He ruffled Happy’s fur, as he opened the cabinet, and sighed, “You know what… let’s do some hunting…” He groaned as he noticed a spiderweb forming in the cabinet, “And probably getting rid of the pests first.”
Happy rubbed against him.
“Really, Happy, what if they eat our food?”
Happy spun around so quickly that he was whacked in the face with his tail. “Ouch, Happy.” He grumbled.
Happy looked over at him with a triumphant face.
He shook his head, and pulled the spiderweb down, crunching the spider that was making it in his hand. “Look, Happy, don’t you want to play a game?”
Happy closed his good eye.
He frowned, “Just like we used to?”
His aq bar friend turned his head away.
“Whoever can catch the most bugs gets to have the first pic of the game we hunt.” Natsu drawled out, slowly making his way over to him. He repeated, “First pic. You could pick the thigh, or the breasts, if you want, Happy… if you win…”
Happy opened his good eye and looked over at him, but didn’t turn his head back.
“And… the loser has to sleep on the roof.”
As if that’s what he wanted, Happy turned his whole body to him, and swatted his hand with his paw, smacking out the web and spider that was in it.
Natsu smirked, “I knew you were up for the challenge.” He crouched and stared dead into Happy’s eyes.
Happy did the same, preparing to pounce.
“Ready?” He muttered, “Go!” He exclaimed, and immediately they spun around searching for the pests that invaded his home while he was gone.
It was probably at least half an hour later that he crunched down on the beetle in his mouth, as he said, “I got five hundred twenty three.”
Happy seemed to smirk.
“No way you got five hundred and twenty four.”
Happy swished his tail, as if in victory.
“Bullshit.” Natsu grumbled.
His aq bar motioned with his head to the hatch on the roof.
“I demand a rematch.”
As if rubbing it in his face, Happy made a circle around him, suffocating him with his wings as he did so.
“Ugh, fine, I’ll sleep on the damned roof.” He groaned, and wiped his face off of spiderwebs. “Let’s go find a big game, Happy. Bugs are not that appetizing.”
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Lucy gently pushed the door open to the salon, “Hello?” She asked.
“Oh, hello, how can I help you?” the salon owner replied.
“This is… the… Elbman Girls’ Salon, right?” She asked.
The owner nodded, “Yes, I’m Elbman,” they stated.
She sighed in relief, “I’m glad it’s still here.” She placed her hands on the counter, “By any chance, do you know if Natsu’s cabin is still where it was before he was drafted?”
Elbman stared at her for a few seconds before clapping their hands, “My goodness, I thought you looked familiar. You’re that prim and proper girl who came in with him back then, aren’t you?”
She nodded.
“Yes, he’s still living in that cabin from when I had given you the map last time.”
She smiled, “Okay, awesome. Thank you so much!”
“What’s with the luggage?” They asked, before she could walk out.
“Oh, um, well… you see…”
They shook their head, “No, no, no, I get it. Just… remember, sometimes there’s an echo in those mountains if you scream too loudly.”
She snapped her head up from her suitcase, “What? Scream?” A blush adorned her cheeks, “We… we’ve… never…”
They waved at her, signalling her to leave, “I do want to warn you, though, the way Natsu lives is a little… unconventional.”
Lucy smiled. It’s not like she didn’t know that. “Thank you.”
She rolled her suitcase out of the salon, and made her way over to the mountain, choosing to ignore the people who were muttering to themselves why a general was here, and if that meant that the enemy was going to attack them. It made her wonder if they saw Natsu come home. Or… did that mean he wasn’t home? She stopped at the foot of the mountain and stared up at it. Where was that trail that Elbman had mentioned all those years ago, again? She looked around, hoping that, maybe, she’d see Natsu laying at the foot of the mountain again, but to no avail. She sighed, as she noticed a thin line of dirt going up the mountain. She rolled her suitcase over to it, and stared up at it. This was the trail? She heaved, and pulled her suitcase up closer to her, grabbing the handle, before she began to make the trek up the mountain.
It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. It probably took her at least two hours to get to where she was, which made her feel like she wasn’t fit at all. Even though she had just served seven years or so in the military. She looked around at the ‘landing’ she seemed to come to. There were definitely less trees here, but the grass was so long it made her wonder if anyone even lived this far up. Did she miss it? She looked down at the trail. No, Elbman had said, all those years ago, that the trail went straight up to Natsu’s cabin.
Her eyes widened as she noticed something hidden on the side of the mountain, near a sudden drop off. Was that it? She carefully got up, and dragged her luggage over to the cabin door. She wished there were windows that she could use to peer inside and check if Natsu was there, or if it was even Natsu’s house in the first place. She looked around, surely there was something that signalled to her that it was Natsu’s cabin, right? She took a step back and looked at the cabin, it was small, of course. Maybe it wasn’t his, because his wings were so large. She shook her head, no, no, no, because she trusted what Elbman had said. The place did seem a bit overgrown though. What other option was she left with, though? She raised a hand, and knocked on the door. There was no answer, and she really wanted to tell him about the housing that she had applied for this morning, too. It had been a couple days since the last meeting with the enemy, where they signed the armistice, and supposedly today, as she had heard when she had gone to apply for housing, was that the treaty was supposed to be signed.
“Hello?” He heard, and froze in place as he stared at the food he and Happy were chowing down on.
“Happy, quick, hide this.” He muttered, stuffing his face, really quickly and almost choking on his food as he did so. He coughed, as he bumped into the cabinets, and knocked down the basket that he had tossed the hoodies that were far too small for him now in. He eyed Happy, who immediately started eating the food quicker than before. He motioned to the hatch to Igneel’s cave or the hatch on the roof. Happy stared at him, before looking at the two hatches, and choosing to chow down even more.
He groaned, and wiped his face, licking his hands, before opening the door, “Lucy?” How did she even get here in the first place? He looked down at her, and was she going on a trip? Why come here? Maybe she needed directions? “What are you doing here? Did you get lost?”
She shook her head, and peered over his shoulder, and he lifted up his wing to hide what Happy was doing. “No.” She pulled her suitcase around, “My place got destroyed in the war.”
His eyes widened, that was right. He couldn’t believe he forgot about that, “Oh. I’m sorry.”
She shook her head, “It’s not your fault, it’s the war’s fault.”
“Yeah, but I’m sorry I couldn’t protect it.” He heard Happy still chowing down on the deer.
She smiled, “My mother’s and father’s graves are still intact, don’t worry.”
“Still… I still couldn’t protect it.”
She shook her head, “It’s not your fault. Besides, my father put a lot of pressure on me back when I lived there.” That was true. Her father was awful.
He leaned against the doorframe, spreading his wings to hide Happy even more, “So, where ya gonna live now? Want me to help you find a place?”
She bumped his legs with her suitcase, he wasn’t sure why she was doing that, did she know that she was doing that? She carefully said her next words, “You… you didn’t forget you proposed to me, right?”
“No, how could I forget that?” he asked, that was one of the best things that could have happened during the war, “But where are you going to stay? Levy will probably let you stay at her place with her… I’m sure. Oh!” He snapped his fingers, standing up straight. Happy was taking forever to get rid of that stupid deer. “Cana’s place. Since she’s currently MIA, I’m sure you could crash her pad.”
She pushed her suitcase forward again, “Actually, I was hoping that…”
He grabbed her suitcase from her. They could just go and check it out, since Happy didn’t want to listen to him right now, “Wanna go check it out? I heard it’s pretty spacious.”
She grabbed her suitcase from him, and brought it between them, “And… What's wrong with me staying with you?” She looked up at him, with eyes so big he wanted to grab her face and kiss them.
His eyes went wide, and he looked behind him. Happy looked at him with a face that told him that he was going to continue taking his sweet time eating. He glared at him, and mouthed for him to hurry up, before turning his attention back to her, “Me? You want to stay here? Why?”
“Well, because you’re here.” Lucy replied.
“Yeah, I get that,” He wanted to live with her, too, but she had such a huge house back then, and this was just one small room, not a big one, “but this place is small, and cramped, it’s not like your old place.”
Lucy shook her head, “But you’re here.”
He looked behind him again, Happy glared back at him, as he tore more flesh from the deer. He mouthed again for him to stop being so stubborn, and turned back to her, “Well… yeah, but, I can just fly down the mountain, but you’d have to climb down it all the time, and-”
“So that’s why the trail is way too overgrown. It seemed a little too non-existent, even after being at war for years.” She sighed.
“There’s a trail?” he asked.
She knocked her knuckles against his forehead, “There was dumbass, took me a while to climb up here.”
He looked behind her, oh, it was that trail that Igneel had said he made when he was little, trying to climb up the mountain after injuring his wing. He still didn’t know how Igneel knew everything that had happened that day when he wasn’t even there for it. “Ah, oh, well…” Did that even count as a trail? Could it? Was there even anywhere to walk on it? He remembered struggling so much to climb up the mountain, was it easier if that was a trail now?
“So,” she pushed her suitcase forward, and he stepped aside before it could hit his knees.“I’m staying here.”
“We’re not married yet, though.” Natsu replied, was that why she brought a suitcase? She wasn’t going on a trip?
“And? We’re going to be, soon. Sergeant of Defense Makarov is meeting with the enemy today to sign the peace treaty.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I heard.”
“So, let’s stay here.”
“What?”
“Not forever,” she stated, pushing past him to walk into his cabin, “just until I get approval for us to move into the housing that I applied for.”
He stopped her from going in any further with his wing, “Move in, together?” For real?
“Yes,” she replied, “That’s what married couples do, right? Move in together, start a family, you know?”
He blinked, did she think he was stupid? Of course he knew what married couples do, his parents were married. “Well, yeah, I know… wait, housing?”
She nodded, “Yeah, I applied for housing. They’re gonna be building new homes in the town, and I applied for one of the ones that are going to be built into the mountain side, thinking of you.” She smiled, “It’s even gonna have a large, spacious closet, so that you don’t get cramped with these.” She gently grabbed the wing that was in front of her. He flinched.
“What about Happy?”
“There’s gonna be space in the backyard for Happy, plus, it’s gonna be next to the mountain, so he’ll be able to scale up it all he wants!”
That did sound nice, but, “What about what you want?”
She smiled, “There’s gonna be a whole wall that’s a built in bookshelf, in the library room. Plus! A bookshelf that hides a secret door to a bunker! I applied for a three bedroom, but one room will be a library.”
“What about the third room?” Natsu asked. That sounded like one big house. Not one room, but three? Why did they need so many? Then again, his place was two rooms, technically, if you count Igneel’s cave. Because Igneel said he’d get his own room, so… two rooms, right?
She trailed her fingers up his scales, delicately. He tensed up as she muttered in a voice he swore was seductive, “A guest room… or perhaps… a nursery?” She looked him up and down, “If you’re up for it.”
He blinked, and jolted his wing away from her. That pet of hers felt so much different than her pets from before, almost like she wanted him to pounce on her. Wait, no, she could see Happy, right? Did Happy get rid of the deer? Wait a second… A nursery? For like… babies? He spun her around, guiding her away from his front door, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to live together before being married, then.”
She smirked, and turned around, “You know, I’ve been curious,” she reached up, over his shoulder, and ran her hand over the scales on his wing, “Are you sensitive on your wings?”
He smirked back at her, and leaned forward, pulling his wing away from her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She smiled, “So, I can stay here?”
Happy meowed quietly, signalling to him that he had finished getting rid of the deer, finally. He moved out of the way, “It’s a lot smaller than what you’re used to, though, I’m sure.”
She sighed, and marched into the small cabin, and practically stopped immediately. “And a mess, apparently…”
He folded his wings against his back, as he made his way around her. His basket of hoodies had been knocked over, and so did some of the things from the kitchen area, and he also had forgotten to clean up yesterday. “Well, Happy and I haven’t been back here in… seven years?”
“Seven years?” Lucy repeated, looking around the place, “That long? Are you serious?”
“I mean, I don’t know, I’m not good at math. Last I was here was probably before I was drafted.” How many years actually was that, though? If he was drafted at fourteen… and it was supposed to be his twenty-second birthday soon, thus he was twenty-two… Well, technically he was still twenty-one… so… seven years, right?
She slapped him on the arm, “Is it hygienic to stay here? Hasn’t your food gone bad?”
He shrugged, and opened the cabinet that he had bumped into earlier, “I mean, it's military rations, so…” The bags had fallen over.
“Military rations?” She asked, as she pushed down his wing, causing a pain to shoot through his shoulder and up his neck. He wasn’t going to say anything about it, though. She didn’t know, after all.
“Yeah, it’s what Igneel would bring me, worried I wouldn’t be able to hunt for something myself.”
“Hunt?” she asked.
He smiled, and looked over at her, showing her his nails, “It’s fun, you should try it sometime.”
She sighed, and let go of his wing, and he brought it back up to its proper position, and rolled his shoulders. “I’m not going to do any hunting…” That’s a bummer. It was really fun to hunt. “What about mold, mildew, bugs…”
He shrugged, and kicked aside some of the hoodies that had fallen out of the basket, “Happy and I would eat the bugs if we find any…” Wait, he looked over at her, she looked both horrified and disgusted. Was that wrong? To eat them? He corrected himself, “I mean, Happy would eat them…” She seemed more relieved upon hearing that from him.
He actually really liked living with Lucy. Even if she did have some strange habits sometimes, like her desire for them to get a… bed. Those things were the most uncomfortable things in existence. She also was adamant about him going down the mountain to get groceries, because she didn’t want to make the trek down there. He wasn’t sure why, because, now that he thought about it, couldn’t she just ride on Happy? Was she forcing him to get groceries for her? Still, when he’d come back, the place would be cleaner than when he left it, which made him wonder if he did it enough times if one day he’d come back and it would be a completely different cabin. That sounded funny.
His wing cramped, and he spiraled into the trees. He groaned, and pushed himself up, trying to get the sticks and leaves out of his hair, before checking to make sure her groceries, from her long list, hadn’t gotten ruined. That was another thing. Lucy was completely oblivious to dragon-kin necessities. He sighed, and his foot slipped as he tried to make his way back up the mountain. She did have good thighs though, if she was hiking this all the time. Although, it wasn’t like he understood human necessities either. One time, he was about to eat a bug that had crawled in through the window, when Lucy had hurriedly rushed in and smacked the bug with a newspaper, making it fly out the window. It seemed that eating bugs wasn’t something humans did. Another thing that he found interesting about her was the way she’d sleep in the hammock. Maybe it was because she didn’t have wings, but the way she slept in the hammock was the most adorable thing in the world.
He pushed open the door, and faceplanted onto the ground, “I’ve got your groceries… I… think the eggs might have broken, though.”
“What?” she called, and he heard the hammock swing, as she got out of it. The floor creaked as she walked over to him. “The eggs broke?” she asked, “And why are you face first on the floor?”
“I live here now.” He muttered. He had forgotten just how much he hated climbing this stupid mountain.
“Are you okay? You’ve got leaves in your hair.”
“I’m fine.” He groaned into the ground.
“You sure?” She asked.
“Positive.”
“Okay…” she muttered, and right when he thought she walked away, he heard the floor boards creak, and move under him, as he felt her hand in his hair, “So, why are you covered in leaves?”
Was everybody in his life knowledgeable on what he does when they weren’t even there for it? “I… took a detour.”
“Did you… crash… into a tree or something?” she laughed.
He groaned. Nope. He couldn’t hide it from her either.
“Wait, really?” She lifted his face up, straining his neck, “What happened? Did you hurt your wing? Did you get distracted?”
He groaned, and pulled away from her as he sat up, “My wing cramped, that’s all.” He sighed, “Are the eggs broken?”
She looked over at the bag, “Oh, I’m not sure, I hadn’t checked. Why were you face planting on the floor though?”
He groaned, and leaned against the wall, “I don’t want to move.”
“Well, we haven’t gotten approval to move yet, the house still has to be finished being built-” She sighed, “That’s not what you’re talking about is it?” She couldn’t believe she thought that it was.
He sighed, “Well… that either, actually.”
“What?” She asked, “Why?”
He glared at her, “You said it’s not going to have a hammock.”
“No, it’ll have a bed.”
“Nope.”
“Nope?”
“No fucking way I’m laying in a bed.”
“You know, military beds aren’t real beds, right?”
“They have ‘bed’ in the name, that makes them a bed.”
She sighed, and got up, “Still, you just need to lay on a good bed.”
He watched as she turned the corner, “I’d rather stay in my hammock.”
She looked around the corner at him, “I know you showed me a few days ago, but… you really sleep in the hammock? I’d think a bed would be more comfortable for your wings.”
He groaned, and got up off the ground, “No, I like the hammock.”
“Okay, why?”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his nose into her neck, “It’s comforting.”
She smiled, and tousled his hair with one hand as she pulled the groceries out of the bag, “Oh, the eggs didn’t break.”
He lifted his head up, “Oh, they didn’t.”
“By the way,” Lucy said, as she turned around in his embrace, “I ordered a bed.” On the radio she had brought up with her, they were doing a shopping segment, and she had dialed up, on the telephone she had brought, and ordered a bed that was on sale. It took a bit, because the connection was horrible.
“What?”
She sighed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, “I just… didn’t think we could… well… you know… very well in a hammock, and… you sleeping on the floor all the time is just…”
“The floor is more comfortable than a bed.” He replied, and kissed her.
“No, trust me, it’s not.”
“It is.” He answered, and let go of her, “I’m laying down.”
“Why?”
He sighed, as he backed up from her, “You seriously have good thighs, Lucy. How on earth do you trek up the mountain like that all the time?”
She looked him over, “I mean… you have good thighs, too…”
He shook his head, “No, seriously, that trek is a nightmare.”
She laughed, “I know it is. I don’t like doing it either. That’s why… I don’t?” She nodded her head to the groceries, “Remember?”
He sighed, and slipped himself into the hammock, “No, no, no, you’ve definitely got good thighs.”
She pulled the edge of the hammock over so she could look down at him before he wrapped himself fully with his wings, “I like your thighs, though, Natsu…” She drew out his name a bit.
“That’s nice…” he muttered, as he covered himself with his wings.
She sighed, and ruffled his hair, as his head poked out from under his wings’ embrace. “I really do, though. I’d love to massage them.”
“Then why don’t you?” he asked, eyes closing.
“And…” she pulled on the edge of the hammock, tilting it towards her, and causing his eyes to open again, “I want to do more than just massage your thighs.”
He yawned, “Then… Can you do that tomorrow?”
“What?”
“Or after dinner or something?” He asked.
“What?”
“I’m tired. And more exhausted than usual, because I didn’t stretch my wings properly this morning.”
“What?” She asked, “Is… that why you got a cramp in your wing?”
He nodded, as he tucked himself under his wings’ embrace in his hammock, “Wake me up when dinner is done.”
She let go of the hammock and sighed, she was an idiot. Hold up. She snapped her attention back down at him. Did he say that she could massage his thighs? She slapped her cheeks, and that she can massage his thighs? She shook her head, and made her way back over to the small kitchen area he had. This was crazy. It had been a few days now, but… She glanced over at him in the hammock, and Happy on his blanket, before around the cabin. Happy was sleeping, too. She was curious, actually.
She did do some cleaning while he went out to get groceries these past few days, but… she didn’t do any deep digging around his cabin. She tiptoed over to him, and waved a hand in his face, he didn’t move. “Natsu…” she whispered. He didn’t budge. She poked his cheek. He made a face, but didn’t move. She smiled to herself, before looking over to Happy. She tiptoed over to the feline, and waved a hand in his face. She poked his nose. He still lay asleep on his bed. They were completely asleep here. He did have that weird salamander signature from that fake dragon-kin guy, and rubble from that haunted house they had gone to, but he also had… a chest there in the corner…
She glanced behind her, before carefully sliding the chest away from the wall, just enough to open it. Or at least it would be just enough to open it, if she could figure out how to unlock it. She hummed to herself for a second, before making her way back over to the kitchen area, and grabbing a pair of chopsticks that she had brought, for some reason, he had no eating utensils. She glanced at him as he lay in his hammock, and over at Happy, before tiptoeing back over to the chest.
She had done this a couple of times when her father had locked her in her room. Her friend Virgo, who ended up on the Spirits Corps with her, had taught her how to do this. She played around in the lock with the thin end of the chopsticks for a bit before she heard the sound of it unlocking. She smiled to herself proudly, before carefully opening up the chest, only for it to suddenly close again. She looked at Natsu’s hand on the top of the chest, it was covered in scales. Carefully she followed his arm up to his face, his pupils were constricted into slits, and his horns were out.
“I’m sorry…” she muttered.
He didn’t say anything.
“Natsu?” She asked, waving a hand in his face.
His body suddenly relaxed, and the scales went away and his eyelids closed, and he collapsed against the chest. She blinked, what in the world? She gently pulled him off the chest and into her lap, combing her hand through his hair. She looked back up at the chest. His desire for her not to open it, in his sleeping state, was only making her want to know more about what was inside that chest. She gently began pushing it open, before Natsu’s hand snapped it closed again.
“Natsu?” she asked, looking down at him. She gently nudged him.
He blinked his eyes open, and pushed himself up off of her lap.
“Natsu? Is there something in this chest you don’t want me to see?” she asked.
He looked over at her, eyes groggy, before muttering, “What chest?”
She tapped his hand, “This chest.”
He looked over at it, “Oh…” He pushed himself off of her, before digging into his pants’ pocket and pulling out a key. He put the key in the lock, and turned it. “Just… childhood stuff.” He replied.
“Childhood stuff?” Lucy blinked, “Childhood stuff?”
He yawned, and pushed the chest back against the wall, “Yeah,” he got up, “Don’t open it, okay? I don’t want to relive that right now.”
“Relive…” she muttered, before sighing, “Okay, I won’t open it.”
“Thanks.” He muttered, and curled up next to Happy, wrapping himself with his wings and falling back to sleep.
She shook her head, and looked down as she noticed a piece of paper had fallen out of the chest. She carefully flipped it over to see a child’s drawing of a figure. Some type of figure. She could make out the eyes… and a smile… she frowned, she was not going to be figuring out what this was so easily. She flipped it around, and tilted her head as she looked at it. She sighed, and suddenly heard a low growl through the floor. She looked over to see Happy glaring at her.
“What?” She asked.
He looked at the paper in her hands before looking back up at her.
She turned it to him, “Do you know what it is, Happy?”
Happy looked over at Natsu, curled up like a baby with his wings wrapped around himself against Happy's side. Happy covered him with one of his wings, and looked at the paper she was holding again.
“Does he not want me to look at it?” She asked.
His glare softened.
She sighed, and gently placed the paper face down on the top of the chest, “You don't need to be so protective of him around me, Happy, you know that.” She got up and knelt in front of Happy, ruffling the fur between his ears.
He purred into her touch, and she sighed. She needed to make dinner. Or at least attempt to make dinner. She stared at the groceries in front of her. These past couple of days she had tried to make dinner a few times, but they ended up eating whatever Natsu and Happy hunted that day instead. What she wanted to make was a special egg quiche that her mother would make her when she was younger. Sure, Spetto usually cooked, but there was this one dish that her mother would make, and it was delicious.
She groaned as she pulled the pan out to see it all soggy, wet, and more like a soup in the middle of the crust. And yet, somehow the crust was also burnt? She crouched onto the ground, hands knotted in her hair as she tried to rack her brain for what she had done wrong. She grumbled to herself as she stared up at the pan on the counter. She thought she could finally do it this time. It was the only recipe that she had actually watched her mother make, too. She asked Natsu to get a rough quiche recipe from town, too. She sighed, what were they going to do now? Natsu was too exhausted, partially because there were no battles to fight right now, so he seemed to be catching up on all that missed out sleep for years, and then also, he had woken up rather early this morning, and did some hunting. They had the game he had gotten in the thing he said was made to preserve meat, but she hadn't seen a device like that in all her life. She didn't know if she could trust it, honestly.
“Oh my gosh.” She heard behind her, and she looked up to see Natsu standing there. “It doesn't look black.”
She jutted her elbow against his leg, “Rude. It never looked black.”
He knelt down next to her, “This turned out better than yesterday's.”
She groaned, “But still not edible.”
“I'll eat it.”
“No, you won't.” She snapped, “You can't eat it until I can get it right.”
He sighed, “So then, what's for dinner?”
She got up from the ground and grabbed the pan, “I'm throwing this out.”
“Luce,” Natsu groaned, “You've been throwing out all of them, though. Can't I try this one?”
“No. I didn't make it right, obviously.”
He slumped on the floor, “You're rude, you know that?”
Happy crawled up next to him and she noticed the paper she was looking at in his mouth.
“Well, I'm trying, you know? I didn't exactly need to cook growing up.”
He laughed, “Yeah, yeah, miss rich and important. What's that, Happy?” He asked, taking the paper from his aq bar's mouth.
“Ah, that-” Lucy began.
“Oh.” He interrupted her, “Didn't know she fell out.”
“She?” Lucy asked.
He looked up at her, and carefully folded the paper, “Yeah. Anyway, I can just heat up the meat, take your pick, Lucy.”
She groaned, and stared at the cooler, she assumed, “It's a little…”
“A little what?” He asked, as he stood up.
“It's a little unnerving to look in there.”
“Is it?” He asked as he made his way back to the chest.
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Well… um… it's just a bunch of dead animals in there.”
He looked over his shoulder at her, “That's what meat is, though?”
“Yeah, but…”
He sighed, “Fine, fine, just take your pick of military rations.”
“Ugh, no way! I've had those for the past seven years, I'm not eating that.”
He turned around, “Then take your pick of meat.”
She shuddered.
“Lucy.”
She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her, “You know what? Let's eat out today!”
“Eat out?” He asked.
She nodded, “Yeah.”
“You're gonna go down the mountain?”
She nodded.
“Okay, sounds good, where are we going?”
She blinked. She hadn't thought that far, “We'll decide when we get down there.”
“Cool.” He looked to Happy, “You wanna stay here, lazy bum, or do you wanna come with us?”
Happy whacked him with his tail as he made his way to the blanket that Natsu called a bed.
“I'll take that as you staying here.” He rubbed his nose.
“Wait…” Lucy put her hands out, “If Happy's not coming, then…”
“Let's fly down, Lucy!”
“I'd rather not.”
He pouted, “Please?”
“Nope.”
“Please?”
“No. I'm not getting on your back, that was terrifying.”
He sighed and made his way to the door, “Fine, we'll go the long way.”
She grabbed her bag off the shelf by his hammock, and followed him out, “Yes!”
He stared at the slope, “You know what?”
“What? Are you gonna fly down?”
“Nah, let's slide down.”
“No.” She replied, “You're gonna help me get down from this mountain, gently. It took me forever to climb up it.”
He sighed, and began making his way to the trail, “Fine. It would be more fun to slide down it, though.”
“No.” She said, grabbing his outstretched hand, and carefully beginning to make her way down.
Natsu leaned against a tree halfway down the mountain, “You sure we can't slide down it?” He asked.
“Yes.” She muttered, as she carefully took another step down. “By the way, why are you tired going down this? I'm sure that with the amount of battles you've faced going down a mountain is nothing.”
He shrugged, “Fighting in constant warfare is one thing, climbing up and down this steep mountain is another. Besides, usually when we'd fight in valleys or mountains, we'd jump from tree to tree, not trek on the ground. There could be magic mines, after all.”
She nodded, “That is true. But, don't magic mines go off regardless of if you stepped on them? They just go off if they sense an imbalance in magic, right?”
He nodded, “Yeah, but sometimes you just gotta run through them full force.”
“You've done that?”
He nodded, “Yeah, and then took out a whole enemy camp, too.” He shuddered, “Got a nasty scar from it though.”
“Which one?” She asked.
He sighed, as he helped her down a steep rock, “The one that had me sent to Fort Fairy Tail when you were a private.”
“Oh.” She muttered, “That's why you were promoted to Second Lieutenant so early.”
He shrugged, “One of the reasons, yeah. Gajeel was promoted soon after, though. We kind of ranked up at a similar pace.”
“You guys did? Levy didn't mention anything like that to me.”
“Well, I do outrank him now, so.”
She shook her head, “You know, you took command so much more readily than I did. I wanted to tell Vermillion no.”
He was silent for a few seconds before replying, “Yeah, well, we were at war. I didn't really get a chance to think about it.” He looked away from her as Igneel's death replayed in his mind.
Finding a restaurant to eat at was by no means as hard as it was back when they were younger, but the eyes that were on her fiance weren’t exactly ones of respect. In fact, while many of the older generations were looking at him with looks of disgust or annoyance, the younger generations, who were closer to her age or younger were looking at him with admiration or… dare she think it… lust. She hooked her arm around his as she glared at one of the poor admirers who they passed on their way to find a restaurant. Maybe she shouldn’t have used such a harsh glare, like she would to her enemy on the battlefield, though, because they flinched so visibly she suddenly felt bad.
She looked over at him as he talked about something he and Happy had done one day. He looked so beautiful right now. Sure he might have more battle scars than she did. Sure, he might have a more muscular build than he used to, but… She leaned up, and kissed him on the cheek. He looked over at her, and kissed her lips before she could back away, and continued talking. She loved this man so much. She was so tremendously grateful that she was going to be able to flaunt to the world that she was his and he was hers soon. Once the peace treaty is signed that is. She stopped in her tracks.
He turned to look at her, “What is it?”
“Invitations.” She muttered, and grabbed his hand, “We need paper to make invitations!”
“Invitations to what?”
“Our wedding!” She exclaimed, “Before we go and eat, let’s go to a stationary store real quick.”
“What? But I’m hungry.”
“It’ll be quick!” She exclaimed, and pulled him with her to a stationary store that she had passed.
He folded his wings tightly against his back as she opened the door and dragged him inside, “Lucy…”
“What?” She asked, turning to him.
“This store is a bit… tight.” He muttered. “And, I'm hungry.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal. What are they going to do? Turn away a three star general?”
He was hesitant for a minute before replying, “Yeah…” It had happened before, granted, he had accidentally almost set the whole place on fire, because he was testing out if their paper was fire resistant like they claimed it was.
She frowned and looked at the person behind the register, “Are you going to turn away a three star general of the Dragon Corps?”
The person blinked before glancing down at the sign in front of the register, “Um… well… we… don’t like our products to be… knocked out of place…”
Lucy looked down at the sign, “‘Dragon-kin welcome, please put your wings away’?” She slammed her hands onto the counter, “You think they can just make them disappear?”
“Lucy.” Natsu stated, “I can make them smaller.”
“Yeah, but-”
“If you guys can’t follow our rules… even if you are generals… we can’t-”
“You’re gonna turn Lucy away?” He asked, “Really?”
They flinched, “Um, well… it’s the rules of the store… I… I just work here.”
He sighed, closing his eyes and opening them again. His pupils had constricted, he was sure of it, “Anyway, Lucy, what type of paper were you looking for?”
She huffed as she turned away from the worker, “Pretty paper, that’s white, and not too extravagant.”
“Want to search for it?” He asked.
“But what about you? What type of paper did you want?”
“We can go with whatever you want, I don’t know much about this stuff.”
She hummed and looked down at the paper that she found in front of them. Honestly, she kind of liked the ones that had this lace-like pattern on them, but there were also some that looked like they had gold in the paper. She picked up some of the paper and turned it around in her hand. Would it be hard to write on? Should she get new writing utensils for it?
He placed his head on her shoulder, “Can’t decide between those two?”
She looked over at him, and kissed his temple, “No, I can’t. That aside, though, do you have writing utensils?”
He shrugged, wrapping his arms around her, “I’ve got some ink and brushes, why?”
“Ink and brushes?” She repeated, “What about fountain pens?”
“Don’t have those.”
She frowned, “I feel like it’d take a while to make the invitations without one.”
“We don’t even have a date yet.”
“I know,” she replied, and put the gold one back, it would probably be hard to write on it, “but I want to have these all prepared for whenever we do have a date… and location.”
He hummed, “So, we gonna go eat now?”
She laughed, and tapped his arms with her hand, “Let me look at the fountain pens and ink first.”
He sighed and let go of her, “I’ll be outside then, it’s cramped in here.”
“Okay.” She replied.
He tapped her shoulder and she looked up at him, “Just be quick, okay?” he asked, and kissed her lips.
“Okay.” She answered, kissing his cheek, before maneuvering over to where the pens were at.
He sat down on the ground outside of the store, leaning back on his hands as he looked up at the sky, watching as the birds flew without a care in the world, and under the dome that was the ice wall. The ice wall had grown since he was younger, it didn’t used to reach this far back, but now it did, even if it had been breached in the last six months of the war. He should probably make sure that that ice punk was alright, he did lose his ‘pops’ when it had been breached. He sighed, and closed his eyes feeling the wind against his face.
He felt someone touch his wings and he opened his eyes and looked over at the little baby that had crawled over to him. He smiled, and scooped the baby up and put them in his lap, “Now where on earth is your mother?”
“That little punk.” He heard, and looked up, “I can’t believe they made it all the way over here. They sure are tenacious.”
“They take after you, Erza.” He answered, “Where’s Jellal?”
She sighed, “He’s going over the treaty agreements, hoping they’ll agree to our terms, with the Chairwoman.”
He poked the little baby’s nose, “Why’d you have them so early?”
She sighed and squatted on the ground in front of him, “It’s not like I planned to have ‘em. It’s just… well… you know how it is. When it’s stressful, and you’ve got someone to help you with that.”
He looked up at her, “Yeah, a little.” He smiled, “Still, I think Sieg probably takes more after you than they do Jellal.”
She ruffled her baby’s hair. “Really? What makes you say that?”
He shrugged and bounced the baby up and down on his lap, “They smell more like you and your mother than they do Jellal.”
“My… mother?” Erza repeated.
He nodded, and the door to the stationary shop opened, and Lucy came out with a wrapped package of paper tied together with twine. “Yeah, your mother.” He gently handed her back her baby.
“You… actually… knew my mother?” Erza asked, as she stood up with Sieg.
He nodded, standing up, “Yeah, I did. Long time ago, though, we didn’t really talk much.”
She shook her head, “It’s fine. It’s fine.” She looked down at her baby in her arms, “I… I just…” she took a deep breath, “I want to make sure my child gets to have the life I wasn’t granted.”
He nodded, bending over a little to poke her child’s belly, “Yeah, I’d hate for my future daughter to experience stuff like that.”
“Future daughter?” Erza asked, eyeing Lucy, before her eyes dropped down to Lucy’s flat stomach.
“I’m not pregnant.” Lucy answered, and gently kicked his leg, “Saying things like that is going to give off the wrong idea, Natsu.”
He shrugged and stood up straight, “I’m just saying.” He looked over to Erza, “Lucy and I are eating out today, what brings you over to this side of town?”
She took a deep breath, “I was just doing rounds. I feel uncomfortable unless I do them.”
He nodded, “Feel that. Anyway, there’s a good bakery over there… I think… that has some tasty strawberry cake.”
She smiled, “I know, just came from there.”
He laughed, “See you around, Erza.”
Lucy waved goodbye to them as she hooked an arm around him, suddenly not feeling the package in her arms anymore. “Erza’s baby is cute.”
“They are.” He nodded, “But… I think we’ll have a cuter baby.”
“A cuter baby?”
He nodded, and looked down at her, “Yeah. One that looks like a little mini you. I’m sure they’d be adorable.”
She laughed, “Sure, sure. Let’s talk about that after we actually get married. Can’t have kids yet.”
He nodded, “Yeah. So, where’s the restaurant you wanted to go to?”
“I’m not sure,” she muttered, “how about we go check out that buffet on the corner. I heard their food is pretty good.”
“Oh? Sure, let’s go there!”
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Fire was all around him, but not his usual flames. He looked down at his small hands covered in blood, and not what they usually looked like. Around him were everyone he loved and cared about, their eyes all staring at him in the way that he hated. Those terrifying eyes that told him life was not behind them. He saw his father, his brother, his mother, Igneel, and… He snapped his eyes open as he heaved, grabbing his chest, and looking around his cabin. The moonlight seeped in through the cracks in the windows, and he stared down at his hand. No, that would never happen. Ever. He took a deep breath, but his scales weren’t disappearing. He wasn’t going to allow something like that to happen to her. He wrapped his wings around himself, attempting to comfort that feeling. Happy’s purr against him was comforting, but it wasn’t enough. His eyes scanned the room, and landed on his hammock, that even after all these years still had the smell of his mother, and Igneel’s scarf was in there, as the pillow for his head. He pushed himself off the ground and made his way over there.
Lucy felt the hammock move, and she opened her eyes, to feel Natsu’s wing sliding underneath her, before soon, his own body slid into the hammock beside her. She looked over at him, as his eyes were half-lidded, no doubt half asleep, still. “Natsu?” she asked, attempting to move out of the way for him, only to suddenly be flipped onto her stomach on top of him, and his wings wrapped around the two of them, tightly held close by the ‘walls’ of the hammock.
She was face first on his chest, and she gently tried pushing herself up, to look at him, “Natsu-” she stopped as she saw his face. His brows were furrowed, and his chest was heaving underneath her. His scales were present on his temple and cheeks, and his horns were visible from under his hair. It didn’t seem like it registered to him that she was on top of him right now, because his hands were not holding onto her, but rather wrapped around himself underneath her, as if trying to protect himself from something.
She lay her head down on his chest, gently sliding her hands down, to grab his hands from underneath her. She pulled them off of himself and wrapped them around her, before reaching her hand up to his head, and gently started combing through his hair. She didn’t know what was going through his mind, and she didn’t feel like it was her place to ask. He could be thinking about Igneel’s death, or the war. He had experienced a lot of death in the war that he had fought. His head turned and his lips pressed against her forehead, likely unbeknownst to him. However, she felt him inhale deeply, and slowly his scales started to disappear. And she soon felt his body relax under her, and his breathing go back to normal. The war did horrible things to peoples’ minds, and the Dragon Corps probably had their minds messed up the most from it. Natsu had been on the frontlines since he was fourteen after all.
She didn’t think she could sleep much after that. Instead, for the rest of the night, she just combed her fingers through his hair, wishing that he’d open up to her more, but it wasn’t like he didn’t share things with her, it was just highly unlikely that he’d share in detail why he was panicking during the night. She felt him take a deep breath in, and looked up to him, to see him turning his head, and inhaling the hammock, before slowly opening his eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He looked over at her, on top of him. And smiled, moving his hand to cup her face, “You’re pretty even in my dreams.”
She smiled, “Do you think you’re still dreaming?”
He nodded, and wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her down, “Your eyes are so beautiful.”
“I think your eyes are beautiful, Natsu.”
He blinked, and slid his hand up to push her head down, “Don’t let me wake up. I’m glad you’re safe.”
She blinked against him, before pushing herself up from him, “I’m glad you’re safe, too, Natsu.” she poked his cheek, “The war is over, you know.”
He stared at her with eyes half-lidded, “I wanna kiss you. Can I kiss a dream Lucy?”
She laughed, “I don’t know about a dream Lucy…” she pulled herself up so that she was above him, looking down at him, “But the real Lucy you can kiss.”
He stared at her, before pulling her closer again, “Guess I’ll have to wait till I wake up, then.”
She pushed herself up again, and cupped his face, squeezing his cheeks, “You are awake, babe.”
He blinked, and shook his head, “No, I can’t be… Lucy is…” his eyes widened, “Sleeping in the hammock… which I’m in right now… wait… what?”
She laughed, and kissed him, “You got in the hammock last night.”
“I did?”
She nodded, and ran her hands through his hair, “Did you have a nightmare?”
“What?”
“Your scales were all out, and so were your horns.”
“Oh. Yeah… something like that.” He sighed, “Sorry I made you cramped in here.”
She shook her head, “No, it’s fine. I like sleeping with you, Natsu.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded, “Yeah. I can’t wait to sleep with you all the time.”
He smiled, “Then we’ll have to bring the hammock to the new house.”
She laughed, and pushed herself off of him some, but didn’t know where to put her hands, because she didn’t want to press on his wings that they were practically laying on. “I’m going to make you love beds, Natsu.”
He shook his head, “Nope. Never going to happen.”
“The bed I ordered is supposed to be dropped off at Elbman’s hair salon today.”
“Nope.”
“Can you go get it for me?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not getting the bed.”
“We can’t sleep together in the hammock all night.”
“We… did, though?”
“We can’t do that every night.” She sighed, and ran her hands over his chest, which was only covered by a loose tank top, “What if we want to do more than sleep.”
He smirked, and swiftly flipped the two of them over, somehow not twisting them out of the hammock. His wings stretched out behind him as he stared down at her, “Then we’re going to be one tired couple.” He leaned down and kissed her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him back, attempting to deepen it, but instead, he pulled away. “I’m okay with that.”
“Are you? What about your beauty sleep?”
She frowned, “And? I’m sure I’ll get plenty of-”
He cut her off by giving her a kiss, “You look like you didn’t sleep much last night. Was that because of me?”
“Oh, well-”
He got up out of the hammock, stretching his wings out, “I’m sorry, but we can’t share the hammock if you don’t get enough sleep in it.”
She sighed, and tucked herself into the hammock as his wings stretched out above her, “I didn’t sleep last night because you were having a nightmare.”
He turned over to her looking her over, his wings suddenly folded to his back again, “Are you okay?”
She blinked, “Am I okay? Are you okay, Natsu? Why-”
He lifted up her arms, looking her over, “You’re not hurt?”
“No, of course I’m not hurt, it was a little uncomfortable at first, but-”
He sighed in relief, “As long as you’re not hurt.”
“Natsu…” she muttered, sitting up in the hammock.
“Yeah?” he nudged Happy with his foot, “Happy, wanna stop being a lazy bum today and help me get the bed for Lucy?”
“You can talk to me about the nightmare, you know.”
He turned around, “It’s nothing.”
Happy yawned, stretching his body, and wings up, before rubbing against Natsu, as he walked over to Lucy, to get his morning pats.
She swung her legs over the side of the hammock, and scratched under his chin with her whole hand, “It… didn’t seem like nothing, though.”
“As long as you’re not hurt, it’s nothing.” He replied, and rolled his shoulders, before opening up the windows.
“Even if I wasn’t hurt, if you keep it all inside, then-”
He stopped and looked over at her, “Do you want to join us today?”
“No, I don’t. Natsu-”
He sighed, “You’re not gonna let me not talk about it are you?”
“I don’t want to force you, of course, but-”
“Just… a nightmare that I wasn’t able to protect those I cared about, Lucy.”
She got out of the hammock, and wrapped her arms around him, “You’ll protect us.” She looked up at him, turning his face down to look at her, even though he was already looking at her, “I know you will, but, even if you can’t, Natsu… I’ll be okay. Plus, you gotta let me protect you sometimes, too, you know.”
He smiled, and kissed her, “You have no idea how much you already do.”
She kissed him back, “I’m glad to hear that, Natsu.”
He nuzzled his nose into her neck, as his arms wrapped around her. Not a kiss, not him inhaling her scent, just him rubbing his nose into her neck. He let go of her, gently pushing her back as he made his way to the center of the cabin, and stretched his wings out. She ducked, as she watched them grow in size, and stretch outside of the cabin windows he opened.
“Do you…” she muttered, as she made her way behind him, “Need help?”
“No, no, I’ve got it…”
She gently pressed a hand down on the base of his wing, and pressed it with a gentle but strong force in the direction he was stretching his wing, “I can help.”
“Ahhh, wait, that actually helps a lot.”
She smiled to herself.
“Can you use more force?”
“I don’t want to hurt you, though.”
“You won’t, you won’t.” He replied.
She pressed her forearm against his wing. The sound he made at her action made her think things she probably shouldn’t. Happy looked over at the two of them, sitting on the ground, before scratching behind his ear with his hind leg. Think about other things, Lucy, she told herself as she pressed down again, partially grinding her arm against his wing.
“Gosh, that felt good.” Natsu sighed, “Can you do the other one, too?”
“Yeah…” she muttered, as she changed her position, and repeated the action she had done to his other wing.
“Ahh, damn it.” Natsu muttered, “I should’ve asked you to do this sooner.”
“Yeah…” she pressed her forearm into his wing, pushing it in the direction he was stretching. Happy stared at them with his big eyes, before licking his paw, and grooming himself. A thought came to her, of which he had kind of avoided answering before, but… was he actually sensitive in his wings?
He rolled his shoulders, and cracked his neck as he stepped away from her, shrinking his wings in size, and folding them against his back, “You should really do that more often, my wings feel brand new.” He sighed, and turned around, “You have a magic touch, Luce.”
“Oh… yeah…” she looked him over, “Can… Can I do it every morning?” There was a strange satisfaction bubbling inside her from being able to make him make the sounds he made. Was she messed up for liking those sounds? Or was she messed up for thinking of him making them in a different kind of situation?
His eyes widened, and a huge smile spread across his face, “That’d be amazing, Lucy!” He grabbed his shoulder, and rolled it, “I don’t think I’d have any wing problems if you did that.”
Now she felt a little guilty. She took a deep breath, “It helps that much?”
“Oh yeah,” Natsu replied, “I could never get that stretch right ever since my wings grew out.”
“Did it cause you issues during the war?”
He hummed for a second, “Not really, I don’t think. I think it’s because I was in constant warfare. Still, when we’d all stretch back when we weren’t in battle, I could never get that stretch right. When my wings were smaller it was easier, of course, especially since… anyway. It was easier.”
Since what? She hesitantly reached up and touched his wing, “I’ve been curious about this since the day you proposed… but… is it really dehumanizing for your wings to be pet?”
“Well, I don’t let anyone touch them except you if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Yes, and no…” she sighed, “It’s just… I wish you would have told me earlier on that that’s what dragon-kin feel when their wings are pet.”
“Why?” He asked.
“Well, I know you told me not to touch them, but, at some point you just stopped telling me to stop, so I continued to do it. If I had known that it was dehumanizing, then I would have stopped sooner, and only gotten permission from you to-”
He folded his arms, “It’s an intimate thing.”
“What?” She lifted her hand off his wing.
He sighed, “It’s an intimate thing. Petting, or grooming, our wings.”
“In…Intimate?”
He nodded, “Yeah. It’s only something you do with someone you love and care about.”
“Oh…” Her eyes widened, “Oh! Is that why you thought we were dating?” She snapped her hands to her mouth.
“We were.” He replied, and shook his head, “Anyway, Happy and I are gonna go out for a hunt.”
“Can you pick up the bed on your way back?”
He groaned, “Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
He threw his arms down like a baby, “Fine!” He spun around, and if his wings weren’t folded to his back, she would have been whacked in the face with them. “Come on, Happy.”
“Thanks, babe!” She called as he walked out the door.
He closed the door behind him, and shook his head, why did she want a bed so badly anyway? He was perfectly fine sleeping on the floor, or with Happy, and she was all comfortable in the hammock, so what was the big issue? Happy nudged him with his head, and he nodded, before taking off into the sky, and flying to the mountain peak, with Happy in tow, so that they could listen for what kind of animal they were going to get today. Beds were uncomfortable. He tried sleeping in them multiple times, and he always rested better when he slept on the floor of his tent instead of in the bed. Had less nightmares that way, too. Of course, prior to Igneel’s death, he would sneak out of his own tent on occasion, and cozy up next to his dragon ‘father’ in a cave. It felt more like home when he did that.
“What are you thinking, Happy? Deer? Or bear?”
Happy pounced next to him.
“Yeah, Lucy would be terrified if we brought back a bear, huh? Deer it is, then.”
Happy strained his eyes down the mountain beside him, or rather, his one good eye. His other eye had been severely damaged, and now had a cloudy surface over it, which prevented him from seeing out of it. Not like he could see well out of it before the cloudiness came in, though. Wendy had said that the damage done to his iris or something was irreparable, even with her healing spells.
“Do you think we should both catch one?” he asked.
Happy meowed.
He smirked, “Okay, okay, the one who gets the smaller deer sleeps on the roof, got it.”
They both got into position, angling themselves towards the mob of deer in the valley of the mountain range his mountain was a part of. They looked at each other, before bolting down the slope. They each came to a halt on either side of the mob. He looked across the small clearing to Happy. That cat, he was thinking the same thing he was. He waited a bit, as the herd grazed, waiting until one deer happened to get just a little too close to the trees, and he jumped down, digging his claws into its neck as Happy pounced on his prey. The mob followed the stag and disappeared into the woods, leaving the two does that they had preyed upon behind. Fair, they were dead now, anyway.
He dragged his deer into the center of the clearing, and Happy did the same. “I think mine is bigger, Happy.”
Happy meowed, and gestured to the belly.
“You’re cruel.” He muttered, “And no, that deer is just fat.” He groaned, “Dang it. Now I gotta sleep on the freaking roof.” He glared at him, “How dare you. You know Lucy is living with us, too.”
Happy smirked at him, and knelt down for him to put his prey on his back.
“Just for that, you’re carrying mine, too. Besides, I gotta go pick up that bed. Put them in the meat preserver for me, okay, Happy?”
Happy grumbled a response.
“That’s on you. I’m gonna be sleeping on the fucking roof tonight, and it smells like it’s gonna rain, too. You’re a real jerk, you know that?”
He glared at him.
“Oh, come on, you know even when you lose you never sleep on the roof, don’t look at me like that.”
Happy rolled his eyes, and took off towards the cabin.
“You’re a real jerk, Happy!” He called after him, “I should have named you ‘Jerk’ instead of ‘Happy’!”
He sighed, and looked around, before licking off his fingers from the blood. He needed to get that damned bed. As long as she never made him sleep in it, he supposed it would be fine. He did like sleeping in his hammock better than the floor, after all. Besides, after Lucy had slept in it, and relaxed in it as much as she had, it had her scent along with Igneel’s and his mother’s. It was the most calming place to sleep. He nodded to himself, before taking off towards the town that Elbman’s hair salon was at.
He landed outside of it, to see a giant package at the door. It was addressed to ‘Lucy Heartfilia’ and immediately, he thought about ignoring it, and telling her that the bed didn’t arrive. He pushed open the door, “Oh damn, this place changed a lot.”
“Welcome-oh!” Elbman exclaimed as they came out from the back, “I haven’t seen you here in years! Oh my gosh, what happened to your precious face!”
He shrugged, “The war. That package out there is something I’m supposed to pick up, isn’t it?”
“I suppose. I guess when I told you you could send things here, you told your little fiance about that, too?”
“Eh, not explicitly.” He muttered, and grabbed the hair catalogue, “You got new hairstyles in?”
“A few. Did you want to redye your red?”
He shook his head, “Not really, I think it’d be too traumatic if I did that.”
“I see.”
“But…” he muttered, “I could use a trim…”
“Would you like to schedule an appointment?”
“Yeah, sure, why not.” He answered, “Put me down for the next available time you’ve got.”
“Oh.” They muttered, “I didn’t realize how booked I had gotten. I can have you in three weeks, is that alright?”
“Three weeks?” He muttered. “Dang, and I was really hoping to get a new haircut before the wedding… Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, we don’t have a date yet. Sure, go ahead.”
“Wedding?” Elbman asked.
He nodded, as he flipped through the catalogue more, “Yeah.”
The door opened, and someone walked in, he heard Elbman greeting them, and them not walking out of the hair salon like what had happened before. He sighed, closing the catalogue. He should probably take that darn bed up the mountain, but he truly didn’t want to. He groaned, and slouched over the counter.
“What’s the matter?” Elbman asked.
He shook his head, “Nothing. Lucy just wanted to get a bed, that’s all.”
“A bed?” the stranger asked.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Elbman asked.
He groaned, “Don’t tell me you think that beds are comfortable!”
“Well, they are.”
He pushed himself up from the counter, “No way in hell are they comfortable.”
Elbman shook their head, and walked into the back to start preparing whatever they needed for this stranger who had come in. They just didn’t get it in the slightest. He sighed, he should stop wasting time here, and actually take up the bed.
He halted as he felt hands on his wings, he pulled his wings from them as he looked over his shoulder, “What are you doing?”
The stranger blinked, “Oh, my apologies, I just… have never seen anything like it.” They grabbed his wing, “It’s a different color on the inside, I-”
He pulled his wing from them, “Stop.”
“Oh, can you feel that?”
This person was an idiot. He sighed, “Can you feel it if I stepped on your foot?”
“Uh, of course I-”
“Okay then. Glad you got the idea. Touch my wings again, and I’ll step on your foot.”
They gulped.
“I’ll see you in a few weeks then, Elbman!” He called, and stepped out of the salon, only to stop as he stared at the huge package. This was gonna put a strain on his wings, but with the help that Lucy had done earlier, it was bound to be easier.
By the time he had gotten back to his cabin, putting the package down with a thud, and rolling his shoulders, he could smell another attempt at whatever it was that she kept trying to make in his oven. She came outside, hurrying over to the private magic energy source for his cabin. Igneel had installed it when he brought this cabin over for him. It had to be replenished with a specific type of magic, so he was told, but he never used it enough to deplete the magic supply in it. Lucy didn’t seem to register that he was there, and maybe that was for the better, he could hide this package, and she’d never be the wiser.
“Oh! Natsu, you’re back!” She exclaimed.
And… he thought too soon. He sighed, and leaned his arms on the large package as he looked over at her, “Yeah?”
“I… I think your oven stopped working in the middle of baking it, and… I was gonna restore the energy, but… it doesn’t look like it’ll accept my magic as energy.”
“Yeah?” He muttered, watching as she pushed her hair that had fallen out of her messy bun behind her ear. She always said her messy buns were messy and not pretty, but there was something about this look of hers that he simply adored. He supposed it was because she wasn’t visibly trying to be pretty for him, like she did for the first couple of days they lived together.
“Natsu.” She snapped her fingers in his face.
Had he zoned out watching her? “Yeah, I’m listening.”
She placed her hand on her hip, and he watched the motion, as he watched her lips move, no doubt scolding him for not paying attention. She leaned down a little so that they were at the same height, over the package that he had brought. “You know, your eyes are telling me that you’re-”
He leaned up and kissed her, “Keep talking.”
She frowned, and her lips came out in a cute little pout.
He kissed her again, “Go on, I’m listening.”
She sighed, “Kissing me isn’t gonna make me less frustrated that you weren’t listening, Natsu.”
He shrugged, “You want me to replenish the magic energy device?”
She blinked, “You were listening?”
He pushed himself off of the package, and made his way over to it, “I’ve never had to replenish it before… but Igneel had my magic calibrated to it.”
“Oh…” she muttered, and made her way over behind him as she watched him put his hand in the device, where she had tried to replenish the energy a little bit ago.
“It’s insane that you’ve used it all already.” He muttered.
“How much magic are you putting in there?”
“How much do I need to?” He asked.
“Well, I mean, do you want to replenish it again? I-”
“I’ll just empty my reserves then.”
“What?” she asked, grabbing his arm, and pulling him away from it, “You can’t do that, Natsu, you-”
“Why not? It’s not like there’s a war going on-”
“And? That’s dangerous. Emptying all of your magic could make you hospitalized for life.”
He frowned, “Fine, fine, I won’t.” He pushed himself off the ground, and stumbled, as he tried to regain his balance.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, yeah…” he blinked and shook his head, trying to restabilize himself, “That thing really drains you…” He gripped onto her shoulder.
“Do you… need to rest?”
He shook his head, “No, no, I’m fine.” He let go of her, and stood up straight, balancing himself with his wings.
“You don’t look fine.” She grabbed his wrist, and sent just enough magic into him to get a gauge of how much magic he had left, “Natsu!” she exclaimed, “you sent a whole quarter of your magic reserves into that thing?”
“I… I guess?” he muttered, and fell backwards, taking her with him.
“There’s no freaking way you were actually intending to send all of your reserves into that, right?” she asked as she looked down at him on the grass.
He heaved, “How was I supposed to know what it feels like to be depleted of magic all of a sudden like that?”
She sighed, and leaned down, pushing his bangs out of his face, “You’re a real idiot. How on earth did you command a whole corps when you think like this?”
He groaned, “It’s not like I wanted the position. Tried to have them give it to Gajeel.”
“Really?” That surprised her, “I thought you always wanted to be better than Gajeel.”
He sighed, pulling her on top of him, “Of course I do, and I am, but…” he pushed her hair behind her ear, “I wasn’t exactly ready for the position.”
She leaned into his touch, “You know, you can talk about him to me.”
He smiled, and pulled her down so that her head rested on his chest, “Maybe someday, Luce.”
She sighed, he never liked opening up all that much, so she shouldn’t force him, but she wanted to know what went through his mind at times like this. She just lay there on him, for who knows how long, as she listened to his heartbeat getting steadier and steadier, as if his magic was replenishing itself. She pushed herself off of him, and looked down at him. She really needed to get a book that told her more about dragon-kin anatomy.
“Natsu.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you channeling your magic right now?”
“Sorry?”
“Meditating, and replenishing it.”
“No…” he muttered, “I’m just resting.”
“Why…” she placed her ear against his chest again, listening to his heartbeat for a few seconds, before pushing herself up again, “does it sound like your magic reserves are growing?”
“I don’t know…” he muttered.
“So… you’re not purposefully replenishing your magic energy?”
“No… why?”
“But it sounds like it’s growing.”
“I mean, duh. You’ve got to let it grow.”
“How?”
“What?”
“How does it do that?”
“What?”
She frowned, it wasn’t growing quickly by any means, he was still missing approximately a quarter of his reserves, but it was a tiny bit less than before. Like the pollen a honey bee collects. Slowly but surely they collect enough that honey can be created from it, but it’s just a small amount that each bee collects. “You’re so… different.”
“Different?” he muttered, raising a brow at her, “Uh, yeah, we’re all different, Lucy.”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.” She tapped his chest, “Your body restoring its magic on its own is so crazy. How does it do that?”
“Yours doesn’t?”
She sighed, “Of course mine doesn’t.” She grabbed his hand, and put it to her chest, “Can you feel it growing?”
His face heated up, and she noticed his tan skin take on a more rosy tint on his cheeks as his eyes were wide. “Uh… no…”
Her own face blushed as she realized what she had just done. She dropped his hand, and covered her face with her own hands. She was an idiot. Having him touch her like that, purposefully… wait, hold up, was that really a bad thing? He was her fiance. Couldn’t she… no, still that wasn’t the right thing to do in a moment like this. She could have just had him grab her wrist like she had done to feel how much of his reserves he had left, but of course, she just had to put his hand on her chest. It wasn’t on her breast of course, because you felt how much magic energy you had on your chest, or neck, like you would to feel your pulse.
“Lucy.” Natsu muttered, sitting up, and pulling her hands off of her face. He lifted her face up to meet his, “Are you alright?”
She looked up at his kind eyes, before back down to his hands. She leaned into his touch, for a second, before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him on the lips, causing them to fall back into the grass. How could he be so kind and caring like this? She couldn’t believe that he was hers, or at least about to be, forever. She seriously loved him so much.
She played into the mood that she had unintentionally set, as she kissed him deeply. He returned the favor, and before she realized it, his hands were on her hips, and he was adjusting her position so that she was straddling him. She lifted her face off of his for a moment, just to catch a breath, before devouring him in her mouth. Their tongues danced together as if they were the centerpiece of a jewelry box, and her hands roamed over his body as if searching for treasure. One of his hands cupped her face, as his other started sliding up her back. Whether his actions were intentional or not, it felt like he was trying to get the corset she was wearing off of her. She pulled the tie on the corset on her front, loosening it, as she lifted her lips away from his.
“Lucy…” he breathed, before his eyes shot open, and he sat up. “Ah, fuck!” He exclaimed, pushing her off of him, and rushing into the cabin.
She blinked, what? Why did he- Her eyes widened as a smell hit her nose. Her quiche! No, she actually thought she’d have it this time. She pressed her face into her hands, she couldn’t believe that she had gotten so distracted. She felt a wet nose against her, and looked through her fingers to see Happy, looking at her with a face that made her think he was telling her, ‘you naughty little girl… trying to take away my friend’s innocence.’ She groaned, and curled over herself. She truly was an idiot, wasn’t she?
She begrudgingly dragged her feet into his cabin, and watched as he placed, with bare hands, the burned quiche on the stovetop, fanning it with his hand, but the fire still wasn’t out in the oven, which he didn’t seem to take notice of as the flames licked at his pants. She was about to say something when his wings spread out behind him, and with a force so strong she felt like she was going to fly out of the cabin, his wings flapped towards the flames putting them all out.
“Sorry.” She muttered, and her gaze dropped to her hands.
“It’s fine,” he replied, “but this thing is as hard as a rock.”
“Natsu.” she frowned, looking up at him, “I really did- what are you doing?”
He blinked as he looked at her, and brought the ‘quiche’ down from his mouth, which was agape. “I was gonna try it.”
“You’ll break a tooth. You just said it was as hard as a rock.” She marched over to him, “And besides, I told you you can’t try it until I get it right.”
“Oh, come on!” He whined, putting it back on the stove, “You’ve been making it practically every day for a week, Lucy, and I haven’t been able to try a single bite of any of them.”
She shook her head, and was about to snatch the burned pastry that she had made, but the second her fingers touched it, she yelped in surprise, and jumped back. Him holding it with his bare hands made her forget that that was literally just on fire in the oven. She blew on her fingers. “Gosh, that’s hot.”
“Ah, why’d you touch it then!” Natsu exclaimed, grabbing her hand, “Your fingers are all red!”
“Well, yeah. You have any-” she stopped talking as she watched her fingers disappear into his mouth. Maybe it was because of their intimate moment outside, where she had loosened her corset, which was still loosened, she just noticed, but her hand in his mouth right now was not giving off the feeling of disgust, but a different feeling entirely. His tongue was warm on her fingers, but still cooler than the quiche that she had ruined.
Warm and wet were usually the grossest thing when put together, but the way his tongue traced over her fingers in a way that made her want to imagine it doing other things in different areas of her body, made her not want it to stop. However, it did stop, much to her dismay, as he pulled her hand out of his mouth, carefully, opening his own mouth wide enough that she could clearly see how much he was avoiding touching her with his fangs. How sharp were those, anyway? They looked terribly sharp, and she was still surprised that they never pierced into her lip, or tongue, when they kissed.
The feeling of pleasure had gone as she stared at her wet hand, though, “What was that?” she shook her hand, watching as his saliva dripped off of it.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do when you burn yourself, right?”
She looked over at him, “What?”
“Ah!” He snapped his fingers, “but Igneel did put…” he opened up a cabinet, “this on me sometimes when I got hurt…” he looked at her hand, “but you’re not cut anywhere, so I don’t think it’s for that… what was it he put on my arm after he burned that off?”
She blinked, “What?” Burned what off? On his arm?
“Here it is!” He exclaimed, “This stuff, I think, is for burns.”
“You’ve… been burned?” she asked looking down at his hands as he handed her the ointment.
“Put this on it.”
Her eyes stopped at the burn mark on his right wrist, “What… what’s this?” she asked, grabbing his hand and turning it over. How had she never noticed this before?
He looked down at what she was referring to, “A scar?”
She looked up at him, “A burn scar, Natsu.”
“Yeah, and?”
“I…” she glanced over at the burned food that had once been a quiche on the stovetop, “I thought you don’t get burned.”
“I don’t.” He replied, and opened up the ointment, scooping some of it up with two of his fingers.
“Then… how? How did… How did you get burned?”
“Igneel burned me.” He answered, as he seemed to realize that her hands were still wet. He grabbed one of the towels that she had forced him to buy off the counter, and wiped her hand off.
“Igneel burned you?” she asked, “Why?”
He looked confused on where the ointment he had just scooped out had disappeared, not realizing he had gotten it on the towel when he wiped off her hands, “To get rid of something else.”
“Get rid of something else?” She repeated, and watched as he scooped up ointment again.
“Yeah.” He replied, and gently massaged the ointment onto her fingers.
“What… what was he…” she trailed off as she noticed where the scar was. She looked up at him, before back down at the scar. “Natsu… you… when?”
“Huh?” He asked, looking up at her face instead of her hand.
“When… when did…” she took a deep breath, she should just ask, “When did you get branded?”
He tilted his head, “Branded?”
With her hand that wasn’t covered in ointment, she turned his right wrist over, “Igneel covered the branding, didn’t he?”
“Oh. Yeah, he burned off where they cut into me, why?”
“Cut… cut into you?” she repeated. No, of course that would make sense, if he couldn’t be burned. Her grip tightened, she didn’t know what was worse being burned or cut into. “When?”
“Does it matter?” He asked, wiping his hand off on the towel.
“Well, of course it matters, Natsu, I…” she frowned, “I don’t remember you having a scar on your wrist when we first met.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t there back then.” He answered, before shrugging, and looking around the cabin, “Happy, did you preserve the deer?”
Happy made his way around her and meowed at him.
“It wasn’t there back then?” Lucy muttered, “Then… when… when did you get it?”
“A while ago.” He replied, “Anyway, Happy.” His voice tone changed, “You what?”
“A while ago isn’t an answer, Natsu.”
“I can’t believe you, and you’re making me sleep on the roof tonight, too, you… you little-”
Happy smacked his face with his tail as he turned away from them.
“Oh you know exactly what you did!” He exclaimed, and attempted to pounce on his aq bar companion, but Happy maneuvered out of the way, resulting in him stumbling on the ground with arms flailing. He attempted again, and Happy jumped out of the way again.
She looked down at her hand, and over at the ointment. He was a free dragon-kin, having never been owned by anyone, so… how… How could he have such a scar? She felt guilty for some reason. Why did she feel guilty? She looked over at the quiche, and sighed, here she was attempting to create her mother’s dish, still thinking about herself. She seriously was such a selfish person. She groaned, and put the lid back onto the ointment.
“Happy! I will get you for that!” Natsu exclaimed as he chased Happy out the door.
She soon heard thumping on the roof, before the roof hatch opened up, and Happy came bounding inside from it, followed by Natsu, who swung down, and attempted to pounce on him. She put the ointment back from where Natsu had pulled it from, and looked around the cabin. It was a mess now, from them bounding around the place like kittens.
“Happy! That’s cheating!” Natsu exclaimed as Happy flew out one of the open windows, “You think I can’t get you?” He asked, putting one foot on the sill.
“Natsu.” She muttered.
He turned around, “Yeah?” He asked, and she noticed Happy poking his head back in.
“You made a mess of the place, and we still need to put together that bed, and figure out where we’re going to put it-”
“Can I just toss it off a cliff?”
“What?” she asked. “No, of course you can’t.”
He groaned, “Damn it.”
Happy seemed to laugh at him.
“Shut up, Happy.” He pushed a hand in the aq bar’s face, forcing him out the window.
“I’ve never built a bed before, so, I’m gonna need your help.”
“You want me to build the death cradle?” He asked, with a shocked face.
“Death cradle?” She muttered, “Are you serious? It’s a bed.”
“I’m not building that uncomfortable thing.”
“Why not?”
“Lucy.” He put his hands on his hips, one foot still on the windowsill, “This is my cabin, we’re not having a bed-”
“Yes, we are.” She replied, “So help me build it.”
He pouted, and looked out the window, “What? You think you can get away now? Happy, you-”
She grabbed his wing, hoisting him back into the cabin before he could actually jump out the window, “You’re helping me build the bed.”
“Ow, Lucy.” He groaned, reaching behind him to grab his wing, “Be gentle would you?”
“Sorry.”
He looked out the window again, “What the heck? No freaking way, Happy! You can’t just decide things like that!”
“Natsu.” Lucy sighed, “Can you bring the box inside so that we can build the bed?”
He stared at her with an exaggerated look of shocked betrayal.
“Cut the dramatics, Natsu, and get the box.”
He groaned, and dragged his feet across the floor, “Fine.”
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She stared in awe at the dress in the window, it wasn’t exactly her type, but it was one of the most beautiful wedding gowns she had ever seen in her life. She had to stop in her tracks just to look at it displayed there. Who knew a wedding dress would feel this close? She had dreamed ever since she was a little kid the chance to wear one of those gorgeous dresses, and now, that dream was soon going to become a reality. Of course, that reality would only finally come into fruition once their enemy finally signed the stupid peace treaty instead of the armistice. Sure, it would probably be best if they went to the camps that were currently making sure that the armistice was upheld, but since they were generals, they had the privilege of being able to go home.
She changed her position so that it appeared like her reflection was wearing the wedding gown. She bit her lip, would Natsu think she was beautiful in a dress like this? No, the important thing was that she thought she was beautiful, right? Oh, she didn’t know. She wished she could ask her mother about it. That would be nice.
A feathered arm nudged her shoulder, “Dang, Lucy, didn’t know you were that desperate.”
She turned to look at her companion, “Is it that obvious?”
Levy shrugged, “A little. Anytime we pass a bridal dress boutique you’re staring into the window. It doesn’t exactly feel like we’re having a girls’ day, you know?”
Lucy sighed, “I guess. But we’re so close! I can almost claim him.”
“Claim him?” Levy asked, “That’s kind of bold words.”
She shrugged, “Yeah, well… I really want him, you know?”
Her friend, and former subordinate, smirked, “Should we stop by a lingerie shop?”
She blushed, “What? Levy! We aren’t married yet!”
She laughed, “Oh, come on, Lucy, you aren’t gonna tell me you two are living together in a cramped cabin and then tell me you two haven’t done the devil’s tango.”
She sheepishly looked away, “We… haven’t.”
“You haven’t?” Levy whispered, before leaning in closer, “You really haven’t had sex yet?”
Lucy covered her face with her hands, “No, we haven’t.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head.
“Dang, I don’t know how many times Gajeel and I have, and you’re saying you haven’t? You’ve been living together for nearly a month now, Lucy.”
She groaned, “I know, I know, but we truly haven’t yet.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Is it though?” Lucy asked, “I feel so naughty for wanting to do something like that when we aren’t married yet.”
“Tell that to all the pregnant women around town. How many of these women in Magnolia do you think are married? Most likely, very few. They just missed their partners so tremendously while they were at war.”
Lucy groaned, “Yeah, but… it’s still… naughty.”
Levy shook her head, “You know, you’ve really got to grow out of that prim and proper upbringing you had. Do you still think dragon-kin showing their backs is scandalous?”
She looked away, and bit her lip, “In all honesty, I wish Natsu would wear clothes that cover his back more when we go out in public.”
Levy laughed, “What?”
She sighed, “Look, I get it, most people are probably looking at him with curious eyes, disgust or annoyance, in particular to his back, it’s not like inequality will just go away completely, I’m aware of that, now. Even so, do they have to look at his back like that? Oh, and another thing, I’ve seen some people look at him with eyes of lust.” She shook her head, “Also…” she leaned in and whispered, “I heard that petting a dragon-kin’s wings is an intimate thing, that they only let the people they love and care about do,” she raised her voice again, “and yet the amount of times I’ve seen people attempt to touch his wings is numerous. I’m sure you can relate, when you go out with Gajeel.”
Levy hummed, “You know, I think the real thing they’re probably curious about in your case is you being with him. I don’t get as many looks as you do when I go out with Gajeel. But yeah, I do notice some people staring at him in a way I wish they wouldn’t.”
“I am curious, though, Levy, how did you and Gajeel even start dating in the first place?”
Levy smiled, “Honestly, I really don’t know, but before I knew it, he was my everything, you know? It’s crazy, I felt like he hated me so much when we were younger, and I even was scared of him, too. But then, I don’t know, overtime, that fear of him developed into something more. Hating him, and all that wasn’t going to bring us to anything, so why should we do it?”
“What?”
Levy smiled, “Hatred. It never leads to something good, Lucy.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s-”
“And… maybe that’s why Natsu doesn’t do much about people who look at him like that, or touch his wings without permission.”
Lucy sighed, “That wasn’t what I was talking about though-”
“But you were thinking it, Lulu.” Levy smiled, “Anyway, Gajeel used to hate a lot of people back then, too, but now it’s like all he focuses on is me, and it makes me all giddy inside.” She laughed, “I wonder if it’s the same for Natsu.”
She shrugged. “By the way, Lev.” Lucy muttered, deciding to change the subject a bit, “Natsu had told me that not all dragon-kin cover their whole bodies in scales like Gajeel does… but… you had said once that Gajeel had seen Natsu’s whole body covered in scales.”
Levy nodded, “Yeah, he said that Natsu’s body was completely covered in scales for a split second one time.”
“Really?” She hummed, “Natsu said his body doesn’t do that.”
“Really?” Levy muttered, “I’ll have to ask Gajeel if it really was his whole body.”
“How is it that their whole body gets covered?”
“Hmmm… Like their whole body gets covered, right?”
“Not like just scales down his arms, and temple, but-”
“His whole body. There isn’t an inch of him that I’ve seen when he does it, that doesn’t have a scale on him… at least… when he’s clothed.”
“Levy.” Lucy groaned.
“Sorry, sorry,” she muttered, “You should ask Natsu to get all covered in scales for you.”
“Why?”
“To see how much of him gets covered.”
She shook her head, “When I asked him to go all ‘dragon’ before, he said I’d already seen it.”
“Yeah,” Levy muttered, before standing on tip-toe to whisper in her ear, “but don’t you think it’s kinda sexy when they’re in bed like that?”
Lucy blinked, and her cheeks heated up, “Levy…”
Levy smirked, and put her feet back down, “You know, you could stop by that lingerie shop before heading back home.”
She groaned, and looked over at the shop on the corner. “Should I?”
She did. She did stop by the shop, and currently, she was standing in front of the cabin door, looking down into the bag that had the undergarments that she had gotten. What in the world was she thinking? Maybe she should go back down the mountain and return it. No, that’s too much of a hassle, she had trekked all the way up here with them, after all.
The door opened, “What are you just standing here for?”
She looked up at him, “You’re home?”
“Yeah… Happy and I finished our hunt early… what’s that?” He asked, looking down at the bag in her hands.
She swung it behind her, “Nothing.”
He frowned, watching her sneak past him inside, maneuvering around so that her back was to the wall, and he couldn’t sneak a peak into the bag she was carrying. “You’re acting weird.”
“No, I’m not.” She spun around, bringing the bag in front of her, and sighing.
“So, what is it?” he asked, as he looked over her shoulder.
“Nothing.” She replied, clutching it to her chest.
“Mhmm.” He muttered, “And you’re hiding nothing because?”
“I just felt like it.”
“Uh-huh.” He nudged Happy, “She’s being a weirdo again, bud.”
“No, I’m not. Do you really need to know what’s in it?”
“When you’re hiding it like that, yeah, I do.”
She frowned, “You don’t.” She made her way over to the chest that all of her clothes were stored. She was going to stuff this thing into the very bottom of it.
“Is it clothes?” He asked, suddenly behind her again. Why did his cabin have to be so small?
“No.”
“Sure…” He muttered, before whispering to Happy, “It’s clothes.”
“Natsu.” She snapped her head around to him, “You’re being incorrigible.”
“Don’t know what that means.” He muttered, “So… what type of clothes did you get that fit inside that small bag?”
She glared at him.
“I’m just asking.”
“And I’m not going to tell you.”
He smirked, and looked at Happy, “She got weird underwear again, Happy.”
The large feline nodded his head in agreement.
“It’s not weird.”
His smile widened, before he spun around, his wings tight against his back, putting his hands behind his head, “But it is underwear, isn’t it?”
He got her. She groaned, “You know,” she dug into the bag, “I got you some, too.”
Natsu looked over his shoulder, and watched as she pulled out one of the garments. He jumped back, his wings spread out, “I’m not wearing that.”
“Are you sure?” She asked, putting the bag aside, and making her way over to him, holding the garment with both hands, “I think it would look great on you.”
His wings flinched as he stepped back, his teeth were out, and he was crouching on the defensive. Dragon instincts that passed down through the dragon-kin she assumed. “Get that away from me, Lucy.”
She took another step closer, and he took a step back, “Natsu, babe, it’s just one piece of clothing, you can wear it one time, right?”
“No.” He replied, and she noticed his horns peeking out from under his bangs. Maybe, just maybe Levy was right in saying that this underwear could make him go dragon.
“For me?”
He took a step back again, his heel hitting the cabinets in his kitchen, “Lucy Ashley Heartfilia, I’m not wearing that.”
“Please?”
“No.” He replied, and she could see his scales coming out along his arms, and on his face.
“Why are you all defensive, Natsu?”
“What?”
She pulled at the edges of the fabric, “I could help you put it on, if you’d like.” She was close enough to him now, with his wings pressed up against his cabinets as he tried to stay away from her, or rather, the underwear, so she could see, amidst the red scales on his face, a pink hue spread quickly across his cheeks.
“Never.”
“Natsu…” She slurred.
His eyes shot up to meet hers, his pupils were slits, before back down to the garment she had in her hands. Frantically, they were searching around the room. “Lucy… no.”
His scales were all out the way she had seen them before, should she try and push it a little bit more to get it all out- before she could even finish the thought, he hoisted himself onto the counter, and leaped over her head, grabbing onto the ceiling, and practically crawling across it with his claws, before pushing open the hatch, and jumping out of it.
She sighed, of course. She looked over to Happy, who stared at her with a look that said, ‘You really went ahead and pushed him away, didn’t you?’
“Oh shut up. I was just trying to be intimate, and you guys started it first.” She groaned, and turned the garment around in her hands, even if she initially had gotten it to see if she could turn on his dragon side, she did buy herself a matching set. She sighed, and rolled up the underwear, and made her way back over to the chest, dropping it into the bag, before stuffing the bag into the bottom of the chest so she’d never have to see it again, and be reminded of her failure.
Wait. She turned around and looked at the counter that Natsu had jumped off of, before trailing her eyes up the route he had taken. There were small burn marks along the route. His eyes, the scales, what she knew about his scales and horns… She groaned, “I’m an idiot.” She looked up at the hatch, “I put it away, Natsu, you can come back.” She called.
There was at least three minutes of silence as she stared out the open hatch, before his head popped into view, his horns still out, and so were his scales, “You won’t have me wear it?”
“No, I won’t have you wear it.”
He carefully popped his upper half of his body down, and looked around the cabin, before carefully bringing the rest of himself inside, “Why’d you buy that ugly thing anyway?” He asked, rubbing his arms, as if that helped make his scales disappear. Maybe it did, actually.
“Levy was talking about her and Gajeel.”
He snapped his head around, “Gajeel?”
She nodded, “Yeah.”
“Gajeel wears that?”
“I don’t know, Natsu, I don’t exactly want to picture Gajeel wearing it in my head right now.”
“Yeah, please don’t picture that.” He grabbed her head, and ruffled her hair, “Get that dirty freak out of your head.”
“He’s not in my head.” She sighed, before gently taking his hands off her head, “Why’d you go all beastly on me, babe?”
He groaned, “Not important, that smell was just… plus, it looked weird, and uncomfortable.”
“The smell?” Lucy asked, Levy had told her that the smell was enriching to dragon-kin. She needed to read through the books she got about dragon-kin.
“Yeah, the smell.” He replied.
“The smell makes you do that?”
“Yeah, I guess, can't control myself.”
“You’re not allergic to it, are you?”
“No, nothing like that, I can breathe fine.” He replied, as he let her fix his hair from where his horns had messed it up.
“That’s good.” She muttered, “Your scales haven’t fully gone away, though.”
“It’s alright, they’ll go away eventually.”
She sighed, “Is it a bad smell?”
He hummed to himself for a second, “I wouldn’t say it’s a bad smell, it’s just… not one of my favorite smells.”
“Favorite smells?” she repeated, “What’s one of your favorite smells?”
He looked over at her, “I don’t know, what is one of my favorite smells?” he asked, taking a step closer to her.
“How am I supposed to know?”
He gently grabbed a lock of her hair, and pressed it to his nose, before letting it slide out of his grasp as she stepped back, “Can I get a refresher? I seem to have forgotten what my favorite scent smelled like.”
“You forgot?” She teased, “You better go find what that scent was.”
“Yeah, I should,” he took a step closer to her.
She crossed her arms, “What are you waiting around here for, go find the scent you missed.”
He smiled, and wrapped his wings around the two of them before she could hurry off away from him, “It’s supposed to rain today, you want me to get soaked?”
She shook her head, “Of course not,” she tried pushing his wing out of her way, “But I don’t know what you’re-”
He cut her off as he pulled her closer, and pressed his face into her neck. Her breath hitched as she felt him inhale. His hot breath came out against her a few seconds later. She needed to get used to his type of intimacy, because it wasn’t something she had read much about in her stories. She carefully began to wrap her arms around him when she felt something warm and wet slide across her skin. She froze. He lifted his head up, before turning her head gently and licking her cheek.
“Ah!” She freaked as his grasp on her tightened, “Natsu, are you trying to eat me?”
He laughed, “Of course not.” He muttered, pressing his forehead against her temple, “What made you think that?”
She turned her head to look at him, “You licked me.”
He nodded, “Yeah, and?” He licked her lips.
“You licked me.”
“You already said that.”
“Like, just… went ahead and licked me. That’s…” she couldn’t bring herself to tell him it was gross when his eyes looked so happy right now. “Not what I was expecting.” she finished.
He nuzzled his nose against her cheek, “Get used to it, Lucy.”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
He snatched the paper off the table as he looked through it, Elbman was towel drying his hair right now after cutting it, and washing it. He stared at the headline. No freaking way? He, a general, had to find out about this through a newspaper article and not from anyone in the commanding base? He read through it, confirming that the headline of the article was true.
“Oh, yeah, it seems as though the peace treaty was finally signed.” Elbman stated, as they moved onto using the device that they called a hair dryer.
He read through the article again, “You’re serious?”
“Yes, dead serious.”
He looked up at him, “Can I use your telephone?”
“Of course, just let me finish styling your hair first.”
He snapped his head back to the newspaper. Signed. Finally? Did that mean that he and Lucy could finally get married? No more of this in between that they were doing? They could finally have that ceremony that he had wanted since he was fifteen years old? He read through the article again. This was probably the most reading of a single piece of media that he had ever done in his life, but that didn’t matter.
“Okay,” Elbman said, gently turning the chair he was in around so that he could see his face in the mirror, “Just like you wanted, right?”
He looked up at himself, “Yeah, it looks perfect.”
Elbman smiled, “You wanted to use the telephone?”
“Yeah, can I?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s on the wall. I’ll be at the counter when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” He said, as he held the paper in his hand, and made his way to the telephone. It took him a second to recall what the number was, but he turned the rotary, and dialed up the number, before taking the receiver off the wall and putting it to his ear.
“This is the office of the Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, how can I help you?”
“Yeah,” He muttered, it was still a wonder to him how you could hear people through devices like this. “This is General Natsu Dragneel of the Dragon Corps, can I speak with the Chairwoman?” It also felt weird calling her that instead of master.
“General Dragneel?” the person replied, “Oh, yeah, give me a second, I’ll let her know you’re calling.”
The line was silent for a little bit, before he heard his master’s voice on the other end.
“General Dragneel?”
“Hey, master,” there were eyes on him from the other people who were waiting for their hair to be finished in the salon, or waiting for their appointment to begin. “I was reading the paper, and it said that the treaty was signed? Really?”
Mavis sighed, “Yes, the treaty was finally signed, I apologize that we didn’t notify you directly, but your place isn’t close enough for our lines to reach.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” He looked down at the paper, “The important thing is that the treaty was signed, right?”
“Yes, but we’re still going to have our defenses up, until we’re certain they are keeping their end of the treaty.”
“Okay, okay, that’s fine, but the treaty was actually signed?”
Mavis sighed, “Yes, the treaty was actually signed, Natsu, you can get married to Lucy now.”
“Yes!” He cheered, and pumped his fist in the air, “Thanks, master!” he hung up, and spun around, before skipping over to the desk, “How much?”
“Twenty.”
“Got it.” He replied, and dug into his pocket, to pull out the money.
He jumped in the air upon leaving the salon, and did a backflip onto the salon roof. They needed to get a priest, right? He knew there was somebody who had been willing to wed them… he asked around the time when Lucy moved in. Where did they live again? He scanned the area before his eyes stopped at a small steeple in the distance. That’s where they were. He’d make sure they could wed the two of them in the ceremony, before he’d go to Lucy.
Wait. He landed in front of the chapel, should he go to Lucy first? She did seem like she wanted to pick out the venue, after all. He groaned, should he just go back and have her deal with this stuff? No, because he didn’t want to throw all of it on her. He paced back and forth, honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.
“My, is that little Natsu?” someone said.
He turned to the door to see the old lady.
“Uh, yeah, hey, do you remember when I asked if you could um… official… officialize? Officialize my wedding?” He asked, rushing up to him.
The old lady smiled, “Officiate?”
“Yeah, yeah, that.”
She nodded, “Of course I can officiate your wedding, any day, why? Do you have a date now?”
“Uh, no, not exactly…” he groaned, “But it’s gonna be soon!” He waved the paper in her face, “They signed the peace treaty, which means Luce and I can finally get married!”
The priest smiled, “I’m proud of you.”
He nodded, “Okay, well, as long as you can officialize the wedding everything is good! I’m gonna head back to Lucy!”
“Officiate.” the priest muttered as he flew off.
He landed on the roof of his cabin with a thud, before opening the hatch, and poking his head in, “Lucy!” He exclaimed, as he came inside. She was all cozied up in his hammock, reading. She looked really pretty right now, but he had important news to share.
“What?” She asked, looking up from her book.
“Take a look at this!” He excitedly stated, tossing her the newspaper he had snatched from Elbman’s salon.
“What is it?” She asked, unfolding it to read its contents. “What?” She exclaimed, as she suddenly toppled out of the hammock.
“Isn't this great?” He asked, kneeling on the ground next to her.
“It was signed?” She asked as she read through it again.
He nodded, “Yeah.”
“So… the war is actually over?”
“Yeah!” He exclaimed.
She grabbed his face and kissed him, “It's actually over.” She muttered as she read over the paper again.
“Yeah!”
She jumped to her feet, “Let's go look for a venue, and get a priest!”
“Already got a priest!” Natsu smiled.
“And venue?”
“Thought you'd want to pick it out.”
She hugged him, “Absolutely, I do! I've also already got all the wedding invitations drafted! I just need to add the date!”
“How about tomorrow?” He asked, looking up at her.
She shook her head making circles around him, he had to keep turning his head as he watched her do so. “That's too soon, not everyone will be able to make it.”
“You and I can.”
“I know, but still.” She sighed.
“This weekend?”
She looked down at him, “Seriously?”
He nodded, was that still too soon? But they had waited so long already.
“Okay, let's do that.” He internally cheered as she agreed. “We've got a week then. It's a good thing I've been looking at wedding dresses when I go down the mountain once a week.”
“You could just wear your uniform.”
She shook her head, “You do that, but I'm gonna wear a wedding dress.”
“Okay, that sounds good. You'd look good in anything after all.”
She stopped between his wings, “Anything?”
He looked up at her, “Yeah, I've never seen you in anything that doesn't look good on you.”
Her hands pushed down on his wings, causing a sensation to bubble inside him, but he was more used to this… now, at least. She whispered, “You know what you haven't seen me in, though?”
“No, what?”
She leaned forward, “Nothing.”
He whispered back, “You haven’t seen me in that, either.” He couldn’t lose to her.
She stood back up, and looked down at him, “You’re an awful flirt.” She grumbled, with a smile, as she flicked his forehead.
He folded his wings, and stood up, “Yet you agreed to marry me.”
She crossed her arms, “That I did, and are you sure I won’t regret it?”
He shrugged, “I know I’m regretting nothing.”
“You’re making me feel like your love is greater than mine.”
He leaned forward, just far enough away from her to tease her with a potential kiss, but not give it to her, “I am the one who proposed first.”
She cupped his face, “Still, I’m the one who agreed to be Mrs. Dragneel, so-”
“Dragneel?” His eyes widened.
“Yeah…”
“Why Dragneel?”
She looked confused, “What do you mean ‘why Dragneel?’ Isn’t that your last name? Dragneel?”
He nodded, “Yeah, it is, but you don’t have it.”
She sighed, “Not yet, of course-”
He shook his head, “Not ever.” He didn’t want her taking that name, if he could help it. He didn’t want to steal her away from what was hers, he’d rather be stolen away by her. Ironic, really, considering she had practically done just that when they first met.
“What?” She put a hand on her hip, “Are you backing out? Now? Are you serious?”
“What? No, why would I do that?” He made his way to the kitchen. How did she come to that conclusion? “You’re just not gonna be taking my last name, that’s all.”
“What? Why?”
He grabbed a snack and leaned against the counter, “Cause I’ll be taking yours.”
“You’re kidding.”
He shook his head.
“The bride usually takes the groom’s last name.”
“Usually. But I don’t want to.”
“What? Why?”
“Cause yours is pretty.”
“Thank you, but don’t you think I would have wanted to take yours?”
He shook his head, that had actually never once crossed his mind. “Your dad took your mom’s didn’t he?”
She sighed, “Yeah, he did, but-”
“So it’s a family tradition, isn’t it?”
“My family is weird, and it’s mainly because of our familial status, but we don’t have that status anymore, you know.”
He nodded, “I guess, but why would that mean your traditions change?”
She sighed, “I mean, I guess it wouldn’t, but… I really did want to take your last name.”
“And I wanted to take yours.”
She sighed, “How about this, we’ll hyphenate it.”
“Hyphenate it?” He repeated.
She nodded, “Yeah, make it Heartfilia-Dragneel.”
He clicked his tongue, “My daughter isn’t going to be a Heartfilia-Dragneel.”
“What? Why?”
“Because then she wouldn’t be keeping up with the tradition of your family.”
She sighed, “But I like the sound of it.”
He shook his head, “No, no, no, Dragneel-Heartfilia sounds much better.” It’s like her name was permanently etched into who he was, and he liked that. She was forever a part of him that way.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Dead.”
She sighed, and gently pulled his wings around the two of them, “Still, I think that-”
“How about this,” He interrupted her, stuffing a biscuit into her mouth, “We play rock-paper-scissors, and whoever wins gets to pick the last name for us, and for our daughter.”
She bit into the biscuit, and pulled the rest of it away from her mouth, “Why are you already assuming it’ll be a daughter?”
He shrugged, “The girls in your family are powerful, are they not?”
She blushed, “Thank you, but-”
“And I want a daughter.”
“Why?”
“Well, cause then she’d look like you.”
She shook her head, “I think she’d look more like you, your traits are just so… there.”
He clicked his tongue, “Nah, if she’s a girl, she’d most definitely take after you.” On top of that, there was a lesser chance of his father’s dormant genes inside of him being prevalent in a daughter, or at least, so he had heard… from overhearing the Strauss siblings’ conversation one day… Kinda crazy, considering how there were three of them, and only one of them was a boy, and all three had those demon genes.
She sighed, “So you want to decide our last name, which we’ll keep for the rest of our lives, on a game of rock paper scissors?”
He nodded, “Yeah.”
“The General of the Dragon Corps, one of the most fierce battalions in the war, wants to choose his last name on a game of rock paper scissors?”
He nodded, “We can do it the way your race does it, instead of mine.”
She raised a brow, “How does your race do it?”
“We choose between a big rock, trees, or our talons, and see whichever wins in one strike.” He smiled, his older brother was terrible at it, but his mother was pretty good. Igneel did beat him every time though. “It’s more fun that way, but we can do it your guys’ way instead.”
“Yeah, I don’t have talons, and how the hell do you think I could win against a boulder or a tree?”
He shrugged, “I’m sure you could win if you put your mind to it.” She was strong, after all. Maybe later, after all the wedding stuff was out of the way, he could teach her it.
She shook her head, “Fine, best two out of three.” She put her fist out on her open palm.
He put his snack down, “Okay, ready?”
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Lucy exclaimed, slamming her hand into her palm.
“Shoot?” He repeated, that was the first time he heard human rock paper scissors say that. Did Gray teach him the wrong one? The jerk.
“Yeah, you choose between rock, paper, or scissors on ‘shoot’.”
He hummed, “Oh.”
“Doesn’t matter, I won that one. I just have to win one more!” She smiled that beautiful smile of hers.
His brows furrowed, now she was making him more competitive, “Yeah, I’m not gonna let you.”
She shook her head, “Jokes on you, but I am a master at rock paper scissors… the human way.”
“Yeah?” He asked, “Then go again, I got it this time!”
She smiled, “Alright, but I did warn you! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”
She blinked, she seemed surprised that he won. “Lucky try…” she muttered.
“Two out of three, right?” He asked.
“Yeah. We’re tied, one to one. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”
She frowned, when they tied again. Her pout was cute.
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” She sighed, “Are you cheating?”
“How do you cheat in human rock paper scissors?” Zeref had taught him a trick to cheat in his way, which he used against Gajeel one time, and then taught the trick to Wendy. She only used it once, and then openly admitted that she had cheated right after. Turns out, Gajeel cheated, too.
She clicked her tongue, “Again. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re the one saying it.”
“Why would that change things?”
He shrugged, “Don’t know, let me say it this time.”
“Fine.”
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” He exclaimed, and finally won the game.
“You… ugh…” She groaned.
“I win!” He smiled.
She sighed, “Fine, you win. What’s our last name gonna be?”
“Heartfilia.”
“And our child’s?”
“Dragneel Heartfilia.” He smirked.
She sighed, “Wow. No hyphenation?”
He shook his head, “Nope.” That thing would be so annoying, honestly. Besides, Lucy never really put her middle name on things when she signed, so their daughter’s name would just be… whatever her name will be… Heartfilia.
“So, Natsu Heartfilia, then?” Now that she was saying it out loud, it had a nice ring to it.
He nodded, “Yep! Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia!”
She tilted her head, “No middle name?”
“No, I don’t have a middle name. Why would you need a middle name? If I had a middle name then I’d be like you, lalalalalalah.”
“Ha, ha, very funny.” She poked his forehead, “Don’t think I forgot about mister ‘E.N.D.’!”
He frowned, “All the cool kids were like that, Lucy. You were the weird one.” Her and her frilly dresses.
“The Tartaros band sucked, though.”
He shook his head, “They were punk-rock, you just didn’t like it.”
“Do you still like it?”
He shrugged, “I’ll listen to them on occasion, they’re the only records I have.”
She peeked over his wings, “You have a record player?”
He nodded, “Yeah, Igneel gave it to me.”
“I’ve been staying with you for a month, and you didn’t tell me?”
He shrugged, “It’s in the basement.”
“You have a basement?”
“Well… kinda? It’s more like a tunnel to connect me to Igneel’s cave, but Igneel said they were called basements.”
“Where? How do you get to it?”
He nodded toward Happy, “The hatch is under Happy.”
She pushed his wings out of the way, “I want to see!”
“It’s dark in there.” He replied, as he began snacking again.
“It’s not like I’d go alone.”
“Happy says it’s too wet down there for him, so who are you gonna go with?”
“You.” She replied.
“Me?” He repeated, “What? Why? I thought we were gonna go look at venues and dresses?” She meant she wanted to go in there now? He needed to make sure it wasn’t a literal disaster before she did that.
She snapped back around, “Oh my gosh, you’re right!” She grabbed a handbag from the shelf beside the hammock, “Let’s go!”
It was a relief that she didn’t want to go in the basement leading to Igneel’s cave, but he was bummed that she still did not like flying on his back yet. At least, that’s what she would tell him, but if she truly didn’t want to get on his back, she could whack his head like she did when he was about to eat a beetle that crawled into the cabin. Or when he tried to eat her quiches. She still hadn’t gotten that right, according to her. But she would feed those to Happy now, instead of just tossing them out. Happy now thought that he was her favorite, which was obviously not true.
Lucy crossed her arms in a huff as they sat at a newly restored park after going to look at six different venues. “I can’t believe it. They’re all jerks, each and every one of them.”
“The fifth one we just couldn’t afford.” Natsu muttered, handing her a kebab that he had gotten at a stand nearby.
“Yeah, but still. How could they all say that they couldn’t change the sizes of doorways to accommodate your wings?”
“I can just shrink my wings.”
“Okay, yeah, for two of them, you could do that, but then there was one of them who said that they don’t even allow their guests to have interracial marriages. That’s insane. In this day and age?”
“That was only one of them.”
“Yeah, but come on. Seriously? You know how many interracial couples there are? A lot. Gajeel and Levy, and Gray and Juvia for instance. Well, Gray and Juvia aren't as much of an interracial couple, but… you get my point.”
“Yep.”
“Still. The audacity of those places. I want to have a word with our wedding planner.”
“We have a wedding planner?”
She sighed, “Well… kind of?”
“Who?”
She sighed, “It’s more like I just ask them for advice.”
“I thought you were planning the wedding, though.”
“I am.” She replied, “but the wedding planner helps.”
“Then what do I do?”
“Sit there and look pretty?” she shrugged.
He frowned, “That’s stupid.”
“Hey, you got the priest!”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” She snapped her fingers, “The priest! Do they have a pretty chapel or venue that we could use? Surely if they’re willing to officiate the wedding then they’re not going to turn you away, right?”
“Well, they have a small chapel…” he muttered, “and no, she wouldn’t… She was my teacher.” He hummed for a second, “Now that I think about it, I think your mom looked a lot like them.”
“Huh?”
“Smelled like them, too.” He frowned, “Anyway.”
“Really?” Lucy asked, “My mom smelled like them?”
He nodded. “Wanna meet them?”
“I mean, sure, I’d have to meet them before the wedding anyway.”
“Sweet!” He looked around, “How to get to their chapel again…” He leaped into the air, and kind of floated there for a second.
Lucy rolled her eyes, “Can’t you use your nose?”
He landed beside her, and pointed his finger in a direction, “This way!”
She rolled her eyes again, but followed him anyway. What intrigued her wasn’t that it was a female priest, those were quite common these days, but the fact that this said priest had apparently smelled like her late mother. He maneuvered his way through the crowd, which was not only a lot more accommodating of him, but he was also much more used to them, at such a pace she would have lost him if it weren’t for his striking pink hair, and red wings on his back. He really stuck out like a sore thumb, but her only qualm with that was that other people were looking at him, not just her. Especially because the shirt he was wearing right now exposed practically his entire back.
“Natsu, wait!” She called.
He turned around, noticing that she wasn’t directly behind him, “Wow, Luce, you’re slow!”
“Just slow down.” She grumbled, as she jogged up next to him.
He rolled his eyes, “I wasn’t going that fast.”
“Sure.” She glanced at his open back, and tried to pull up the back a little, but regretted it as the shirt untucked from his pants.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“Your back is exposed.”
“Yeah, and?” He laughed, and pulled her hand off his shirt, before tucking it back in.
“Who got you such a scandalous shirt?” She grumbled.
He smirked, “I believe that was…” he poked her nose, “you.”
She rolled her eyes, “I didn’t mean for you to wear it… in public… without a jacket or sweater, though.”
He spread his wings out a little, exposing more of his back, “I’m just wearing what you bought me, is that so wrong?”
She frowned, “Next time… wear revealing clothes like that at home, only.”
He leaned down, “Why?”
She pressed a hand into his face, pushing him from her, “Besides, I didn’t know that it would reveal that much of your back.” She leaned closer to him and whispered, “It’s down to the small of your back.”
He smirked, “Should I just take it off? Like Gray?”
“No!” She exclaimed, and grabbed the back of his shirt and hastily pulled it up higher, untucking it again. “Ugh, and who knew it’d also be this short on you, too. I swear it wasn’t a crop top in the dragon-kin fashion magazine Elbman gave me.”
He laughed, “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll wear one of my zipper shirts next time.”
She smiled as she looked up at him, “I’d appreciate that.”
He poked her nose with his finger again, “You wear skimpy clothes, too, General.”
She rolled her eyes, “When?”
He brought his hands up behind his head as he began walking away, “You know…”
“When?” She repeated, as she hurried up by his side, again.
He looked away, “I mean… they’re, like, really skimpy.”
“Uh-huh.” She poked his shoulder, “When did you see me wearing skimpy clothes? Huh?”
“Oh, well, you know.”
“I don’t, General, I don’t know.”
He gave her a look, before his eyes ran over her, and met back up to her eyes, “You want me to say it here?”
“Sure, go ahead, because I’ve never-”
“Three days ago.” He interrupted her.
“Three days ago?”
He nodded.
“You’re going to have to clarify, I-” she cut herself off, “Wait… Natsu…” She slapped his shoulder, “You did come back early that day didn’t you?”
He raised a brow, “What?”
She frowned, “Trust me, I was just trying it on, I never-”
“Trying what on?”
She eyed him, “Are you playing dumb right now?”
He gasped, “Wait, for real?”
“What?”
He covered his mouth with his hand, “No way, I was throwing a shot in the dark.”
“What?”
He laughed, “See, I knew it! You have tons of those skimpy clothes in your chest,” he backed up away from her, “You have to wear them sometimes.”
“Natsu.”
He laughed, “Gosh, who knew I was right?”
“Natsu Dragneel.”
“Lucy actually wears skimpy clothes when she insists she doesn’t!”
“General Natsu Dragneel.”
“I gotta tell Happy when we get back!”
“My darling dragon!” She exclaimed.
He turned to her, “Yes, stardust?”
She glared at him, “You didn’t see me trying on lingerie?” She harshly whispered.
He blinked. “Uh, no?”
She groaned, and made her way over to him, “You’re a jerk.”
He smirked, “I’m your jerk.”
She grabbed his wing, and pulled down on it, “Tease me one more time, Natsu.”
“Ow!” He exclaimed, before kissing her cheek as she let go, “We’re here.”
She looked over at the small chapel on the outskirts of the town, practically in the mountains, that they had arrived at finally. “Oh, this is a cute little chapel.”
He nodded, “I guess.” He made his way up to the door, and opened it.
Lucy quietly followed him into the quiet building. A single step of her foot on the floors caused it to creak, and echo along the walls. She froze, and looked over to Natsu, who must have mastered the ability to walk on these floors and not have them creek, because he was practically gliding across the floor, making his way deeper into the sanctuary.
“Oh my, little Natsu, you’ve come back so soon. I didn’t expect you to come back today.” A woman’s voice spoke.
“Yeah,” he replied, “Luce and I have been going from venue to venue, and can’t find the right one, but she wanted to meet you.”
Lucy looked at the woman in front of them with wide eyes. She looked much older than she remembered her mother looking, but she really did look like her. Tears came to her eyes upon seeing her. It was like she was seeing her mother again.
“See, I told you she looked like your mom.” Natsu said, before immediately making his way to her side, and rubbing her back, “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She’ll be fine. She just needed a moment.
The priest made her way over to them, and gently touched her shoulder, “Lucy Heartfilia, right?”
She looked up at her with tears in her eyes, “I… I…”
The priest smiled, “You look exactly like Layla.”
Her eyes burned, and she clutched onto Natsu’s arm to stabilize herself.
“I don’t think we ever got the chance to meet.” the priest smiled, “I was disowned by the family when I was younger, and have pursued the life of a priest since then.”
“I… I…”
The woman wiped her eyes, “I’m your mother’s aunt, Anna Heartfilia.”
Natsu’s eyes widened, he had never known what her last name was, but that made a lot of sense now. Why she looked like Lucy’s mom, and smelled like Lucy’s mom.
Anna lifted Lucy’s face up to meet hers, “Is it alright if I officiate your wedding, Lucy?”
With tears in her eyes she nodded, “Yeah…” she wrapped her arms around her. She thought all of her family was gone, but there was still one person left. It hurt her, seeing a face that looked so much like her mother’s, and yet wasn’t, but she wanted to be selfish, and put aside reality, pretend that she was hugging her mother right now, instead of her great aunt.
Their wedding surprisingly went off mostly without a hitch. They realized that they couldn’t host the wedding inside the chapel, seeing how there were a few dragon-kin that were going to be attending, and also knowing how Natsu’s wings seem to spread out, or grow, when he gets excited or emotional, they chose to have the wedding outside. Lucy’s wedding planner did an excellent job, and their hired photographer took some of the best photos of the event, with a rather high quality camera, too. Erza did have to leave early, because Sieg started crying rather loudly during the reception, but other than that, it was amazing. Especially their first dance. She didn’t think she would love flying, but when they danced together, Natsu had ended up taking them into the sky in his excitement, which did make for great photos.
Oh, and Jellal had excavated her family’s estate, and found some old childhood photos of hers, giving it to her as his and Erza’s wedding gift to the two of them. Seeing a picture of her and her mother on top of the packaging really did make her cry, though. Which made Natsu get a little too upset with Jellal for doing that, but she had to console him confirming that her tears weren’t of sadness, but of happiness for receiving something that she had thought she had lost forever. Of course, Erza did give her something that she could only describe as ‘bedtime toys’ for her and Natsu, which she decided to keep a secret from Natsu the second that she opened it.
That being said…
She stared at him as he made his way around his cabin, packing belongings into her suitcase. Who knew that underneath his ceremonial uniform he had on a backless tank top? Sure, it may have been a part of their uniform while they had been active soldiers, but did he really have to be walking around like that right now? She was practically biting her finger as she crossed her legs on the bed. The sun was setting, and they were going to be leaving for their honeymoon first thing in the morning -a beach retreat because Natsu had never gone, and the last time she went was a summer with her mother - but… why couldn't she have him now? He was hers now, she wore the ring on her finger, he wore the ring on his finger, they were legally each other's now. She slowly got up from the bed, carefully making her way over to him
“Natsu?” She slurred.
“Yes?” He asked, “Did you want to bring the red blouse or the blue one?”
“I don't care…” she muttered, “You and I are married right?”
He looked behind him at her, one brow raised, “Yes? I thought that's what the wedding was for…”
She nodded, “You're right, that's what it's for…”
He shook his head, “You're a weirdo.” He muttered as he went back to packing her things.
She smiled, as he reached up to grab her sun hat off the rack. She took another step closer to him, “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, that's why we're married now, isn't it?” He mumbled, as he gently put her hat into her suitcase.
“It is.”
“Lucy, you're being- ah,” he began but suddenly cut himself off as she began running her hands seductively over his wings.
She massaged the base of one of them, as she squeezed herself between them, noticing how his body tensed up at her action, “And you, you love me too?”
“Ye-ahhh,” he tried to reply, and gasped, “Lucy, what are you-” he moaned at her action, and suddenly covered his mouth as if he wasn’t expecting the sound to come out.
She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “They're sensitive, aren't they?”
“Lucyyyy,” He moaned, “Sto-ahhh.”
She smiled, “Can I touch them?” She asked.
“Lucy, I can't foc-ahhh.” He heaved.
She pressed her lips against his neck, as gently continued to massage his wings. “Do you have to focus right now, babe?”
“Lucy.” He muttered, “You're -”
She glanced down at the buttons holding his tank top in place, “I'm what, Natsu?” Carefully, she started to undo the buttons.
“Lucy!”
“Shhhh, shhhh,” she soothed, as she snaked her arm under his wings and to his front, “You're not nervous are you?” She asked, as she carefully, and gently dug her fingernails under his scales and slid her hand up from its base, just enough that it wouldn’t hurt him.
“No, Lucy, fuck!” He exclaimed as his back arched, and he flung his head back.
She smiled, taking the opportunity he presented her and kissed his neck, “I love you.” She muttered, slipped her thumb underneath the fabric on his chest.
“Lucy…” he breathed.
She slowly slid more of her hand between the fabric and his breasts, until his shirt fell off his neck, “You're so beautiful, Natsu.”
His chest rose and fell, and she could hear a soft vibration in his throat, it reminded her of Happy's purr. “Lucy,” he gasped, “Can… I… turn around?”
Her fingers found his nipple and she started gently circling her finger around it, and she was not dissatisfied with the result. It almost sounded like a low whimper, vibrating from his throat, and resonating against her own body. Along with his back arching from her massages on his wing, a moan escaped his mouth, and he turned his head to look at her. “Should I massage your wings more often?” She whispered against his lips.
“Lucy Heartfilia…” he muttered, and kissed her, attempting to turn around, but as he began to do so, her hand gently gripped tighter on his wing, stopping him from moving. His chest was heaving, and he looked her in the eyes, “Can you move? So I can turn around?”
She smiled, and slid her hand down the center of his back, choosing to tease him a little bit more instead, “You love this, don't you?”
“Lucy…” he gasped, and he dropped his head forward, exposing how his scales were becoming visible on his neck. He attempted to pull away from her, but she gripped his wings before he could, “Lucy!”
“Sorry, sorry,” she muttered, “Didn’t mean to do that.” She slid her hand up to his shoulder and started to pull the two of them away from the open suitcase. Her other hand still held onto his wing, as if she was scared he’d fly away if she continued, “Do you want to lay down?” Or rather, she was more worried he’d take over, which she wasn’t quite ready for, yet.
“Let go…” he moaned, but was backing up along with her anyway.
She smiled and stepped out from between his wings, “Can I satisfy you?” She asked, looking him over as she made her way to his front.
“What?”
She looked down at his exposed breasts, “Satisfy you.” She repeated, placing an open palm on his breast, where she could feel his heart beating faster.
“Lucy, we've got to leave tomorrow morning, so-” he was still gasping.
She pushed on his chest backing him up, “You don't want to?” She slid her hand up so she was reaching over his shoulder dancing her fingers on his wings.
He looked up at her, from her hands, “No, of course I want to, but- ahhhh, Lucy!” He exclaimed.
She lifted her hand away from his wings, “Sorry, sorry.”
“Lucy Ashley Heartfilia…” he breathed out, smirking as he took a step back, legs hitting their, or rather her, crappy bed.
He looked back at it, and the second he did so, Lucy gently pushed on his bicep, causing him to fall onto the bed, sloppily. He tried to fix his position, from laying on his side, when she climbed on top of him, forcing him to lay on his stomach, and ran her fingers along the base of his wing, lightly caressing the webbing. She wasn’t done satisfying him yet.
His back arched, as he gripped the pillow on the bed, he cursed, and buried his face into the pillow. She noticed how his scales had started to become a lot more visible than before, and spread down further on his back. She caressed both of his wings simultaneously with her hands. He buried his face deeper into the pillow, and she was worried he was going to rip the fabric by how tightly he was gripping it with his hands. She wanted to strip him here and now, but that'd have to wait. It did please her though by how much he was trying to stop himself from moaning at her actions. She gently moved his wing, and trailed kisses down to the base of it. His wings were warm against her lips, and she swore they kept getting warmer, the more she carried on.
“Natsu…” she hummed, leaning forward to whisper in his ear, “I can't hear you if you suffocate yourself like that.”
He turned his head out of the pillow, and glared at her. Her eyes widened, she didn't think she had ever seen his face covered in a blush the way it was. She kissed his lips, “Why do you look angry?” He had a prominent pout on his lips at her question, but she couldn’t bring her eyes from the way his cheeks, and ears, despite his red scales, were such a beautiful rosy red.
He tried to get up, but she leaned down more when he did, “You know exactly why…” He grumbled.
She smiled, and leaned down more so that she could rest her cheek on his shoulder, “You're really sexy like this, you know.”
He buried his face in the pillow again, as if doing so would hide the blush that was beginning to cover him along with his scales the longer she sat on top of him. She gently began massaging his wings, again, and felt the vibration of the moan in his throat. She slowly sat up, and looked down at him, willingly defenseless under her. She didn’t know how much she’d like having this dominance in their relationship, and she knew it likely wasn’t going to last long, but… The way his toned back heaved under her, and the way his wings twitched as if expecting her to touch them again, and… most importantly, the way his scales continued to spread all the way down his back the longer she sat on him. She wanted to devour him. She pulled at the corset that she was wearing, untying it, and freeing her stomach, before tossing it aside. As he was about to get up, she leaned forward, “Shhh, shhh, don't move yet, I haven't satisfied you enough.”
She pulled her dress up, and tossed it aside, leaving her in nothing but her slip and bra. She leaned back down, pressed the exposed skin of her stomach onto his warm, and scaled back, and whispered in his ear, “Can you tell me where you like it best?”
He gasped, and his hands dug into the pillow he was holding, his nails piercing into the fabric, “Lucy Ashley Heartfilia, you're gonna kill me.”
She laughed, and kissed the scales at the nape of his neck. “I'd never.”
His body was heaving, but as she began to trace out the veins on his wings, she adjusted her hips on him, feeling her own body getting warm, and wet in certain regions, the longer she desired him in this way.
Natsu buried his face deeper into the pillow, “Lucyyyy,” he moaned, understandable despite it being muffled.
She gasped herself, and sat up straight, had she seriously just… he totally could smell her right now, couldn’t he? She lay down on top of him, resting her cheek against the nape of his neck, and circling her arms around him, and under his wings. Her hands found comfort in groping his breasts, which caused his breath to hitch.
“You're gonna be the death of me…” he muttered.
She smiled, and rubbed her cheek against his neck, “You sound just so beautiful when you moan though, babe.”
He sighed, and turned his head out from the pillow, “You couldn't have let me turn around?”
She hummed, “I wanted to satisfy you. Your wings are really sensitive, Natsu.”
“Y-yeah, they are….” He mumbled, “so don't touch them like that.”
“But you liked it.”
“Lucy…” he groaned.
She gripped tighter on his breasts, “Can't you just…” she kissed his neck, “Let me satisfy you, Natsu Heartfilia?”
“Ahhh, Lucyyyy.”
She smiled, “I'll stop now.”
His body was warm, and he buried his face into the pillow, again. “This feels very one-sided.”
She smiled, “Is that a bad thing?” she asked, kissing his neck.
He groaned, “Not exactly, but…” He brought his hands down from the pillow, and pulled her hands off his breasts, he turned his head to look at her, “Can’t you let me return the favor?”
She shook her head, “No can do. I’m much more satisfied hearing you moan.”
He buried his face into the pillow again, “I swear, if I knew you were going to do this…”
She scooted herself up on his back, “What? What were you going to do?” She whispered.
He glared at her out of the corner of his eye for a few seconds, staring at her ‘innocent’ smile. He smirked, before adjusting his position, pushing himself, and her, up with his hands, “I’d make sure that there wasn’t an echo in these mountains.”
Her eyes widened, and she pounded her fist into his shoulder blade, “Gosh, Natsu! You’re the one moaning here!”
“Ow,” he muttered, collapsing back onto the bed, “They’re really sensitive at the base, Lucy.”
“Oh,” she muttered, “Sorry…” She leaned down, and whispered in his ear, “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
He turned his head to look at her, “You’re the devil.”
She kissed him, “No, I’m your stardust.”
He shook his head, as he clapped back, “Black hole.”
“Black hole? Why? Because I suck you in?” That came out worse than she intended.
“No. If I die, it's all because of you.”
“That makes no sense.”
He buried his nose in the pillow again, “You just had to pull me towards you, didn't you?”
She laughed, “Then you're my black hole, too, babe.”
“Then can I turn around?”
She giggled, and hugged him, pressing her cheek against his neck, “Never. I'm sleeping right here!”
He sighed, but didn't fight against her actions. Instead, he smiled at her stubbornness, though he'd never admit that to her. If she was in the bed, it wasn't as uncomfortable, after all. He sighed, her calming scent was getting to him, along with her comforting warmth against his back. The warmth of a body was different to him than other warmths, and he found himself craving Lucy’s the longer they stayed together in this small cabin. It was a wonder how he held himself back for as long as he did. She really would be the death of him.
Lucy awoke the next morning from the sun shining unforgivingly on her eyes, and she stared up at the ceiling, realizing that they must have not closed the windows last night. Last night… She really may have gone a little too far, she’d admit, but he was her husband now, so she could do this much, couldn’t she? A head popped into her view, followed by eager licks as if she wasn’t already awake. She pushed Happy’s face off of her, as she realized he had slept on top of her last night, though she wasn't sure when he had gotten back from where he had disappeared to. She looked down at herself as she sat up, that was probably for the better actually, she may have caught a cold if she didn’t have something to cover herself.
She turned her head as she looked around the room for her husband. The suitcase was still exactly where they had left it, and the fact that Happy was here likely meant that he hadn’t gone out hunting, besides he had said that he wasn’t going to hunt the morning of their honeymoon. In fact, it was going to be a nice getaway for the two of them, away from Happy, and everyone else. Natsu said he’d fly them there, which meant all of their things for this trip were just going in her suitcase, because she was adamant that he not carry her, her suitcase and his bag. Of course, if Happy was going with them, then he’d be carrying the luggage. However, Happy wasn’t going to come with them.
She leaned back on her hands, feeling scales underneath them. She looked over, noticing them pressing down into his wing as he still lay underneath her. She gasped, tumbling off of him, and flexing his wing back up, noticing the grimaced face calmly disappear. “Sorry.” she muttered, before poking his sleeping face.
He grumbled, as he turned his head, away from her, “Not now, Lucy.”
“What?” She sighed, and jostled him on the bed.
He opened his eyes without much effort at all, turning his head to glare at her, “Now now.” He repeated.
“You slept on the bed.” She smiled.
“I was sandwiched on the bed.” He countered.
“But you slept on the bed.” She lifted up his wing, “And you didn’t curl yourself into a ball this time.”
“I was sandwiched between you and the bed, Lucy.”
She shook her head, and covered herself with his wing as she scooted closer to him, “I slept great, though.”
He rolled his eyes, “At least one of us did.”
“What? You didn’t sleep well even though you fell asleep before we could get to the good part?”
He smirked, and adjusted his position, pulling her under him as he propped himself up above her, “The good part? I can show you the good part, stardust.”
She covered her mouth, “Oh, can you now?”
“Damn right, I can.” He smirked.
“I don’t like where this is going.” She frowned.
And she was right, as his hands suddenly ran softly all over her exposed skin, in light little quick touches that tickled her, resulting in her breaking out into laughter. He smiled a wicked smile as his tickles became even more aggressive, and her laughter even louder. If they had neighbors, they’d definitely wake all of them.
“Natsu!” She laughed, “Stop!”
“Stop?” He smirked, “You want me to stop?” He pulled her closer to him as he straddled her lap, tickling her senseless.
“Seriously!” She laughed, “Stop! I can’t breathe!”
He adjusted his position and blew raspberries into her stomach, “Never.”
“Please!” She laughed, as his fingers started tickling her more, “We’ll be late for check-in!”
“You had your way with me last night, stardust, I can have my way with you this morning.”
“Stardust?” She laughed, trying to pull his hands off of her sides, but failing pathetically, “I thought I was a black hole!”
“You’re both, you devil.” He smirked, before licking her lips, followed by him giving her a very sloppy wet kiss on her cheek.
“Natsu! You’re the devil here!” She screamed, as she couldn’t hold in her laughter.
He blew raspberries into her neck, “I’m not the one who slept on my spouse, stardust.”
She laughed, “I fell asleep, Natsu! I didn’t even realize I did!”
He leaned closer to her, almost touching her nose with his, “You must have done it because you wanted to be late, huh?”
“What?” She grabbed his face, “No. I want to be early.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we should finish packing, huh?”
“You’re the one tickling me, dragon.”
He licked her nose, “I have no clue what you’re talking about.” He said as he got off of her.
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“Nope.” Natsu stated, turning around, only to be stopped by her before he could get very far.
“Why?” She asked, “I think it’s beautiful!”
“No, no, no…” he shook his head, “I’m not staying here.”
“Yes,” she turned him around and pushed him with great effort towards the door. “You are.”
“No fucking way!” He exclaimed, digging his feet into the carpet.
“Why not?” She asked, giving up, mainly because she didn’t want their carpet to get ruined.
“That,” he pointed into the room she was trying to push him into, “is just asking to be burned to bits.”
“Natsu.” She frowned, and maneuvered her way around him, making her way into the room, “It’s comfortable.”
He shook his head, “No fucking way. I didn’t think they came that big, though.”
“Of course they do.” She laughed, and sat down on it, bouncing up a little bit, “It’s about as big as my childhood bed, actually.”
He took a step back, “I’ll go sleep in my cabin. You can stay here.”
“Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia.” She sternly replied, “It’s just a bed.”
He made a face, “Exactly.”
“It’s not going to hurt you.”
He glared at it, “You don’t know that.”
“What?”
He looked around the room, before taking another step back, further away from the door, “It could. You have no idea what that thing is plotting.”
“It can’t be plotting anything, babe, it’s a bed.” She rolled her eyes, before noticing him glance away from the room. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“No…where…” He muttered.
She jumped from the bed, and hurried towards him. He yelped at the action, and immediately spun on his heel, attempting to to get away. She grabbed his wing before he could get far, and pulled him towards her, collapsing the two of them onto the floor. “Nowhere? Really?” She asked, as she looked down at him.
He pouted, “Fine. I was going… home.”
“This is your home now, Natsu.”
“It doesn’t smell like it.”
“That’s because we just moved in.”
He hummed, “Nope. If it were my home, then there wouldn’t be a death cradle in one of the rooms.”
“It’s a bed, get used to it, and of course there would be, Natsu. What? You want to sleep in a hammock your whole life?”
“Yeah, that sounds pretty good, actually.”
“And…” she leaned down, creating a curtain with her hair, “what about me? You’d leave me all alone in this big house?”
He bit his lip, “Ugh, fine!” He caved, “But I’m not sleeping on the bed. This carpet is comfortable, though. I’ll sleep here.”
“No, you’re sleeping on the bed.”
“You can’t make me.”
“Watch me.” She replied, and kissed him.
“The hammock is better.”
She sighed, and pushed herself off of the ground, “Could you at least check out the walk-in closet in here? I had them make it especially large just for you.”
He grumbled a response, but followed her begrudgingly into the room anyway. He was walking as far away from the bed as he could, though, as if it was going to just up and attack him. She pulled his arm, trying to get him to not press his wings against the wall, but he eyed the bed with such disgust, she decided to let him do what he was doing.
“This is the closet!” She exclaimed, and opened the double doors, “See, super spacious!”
His eyes went wide, and he made his way inside, his wings finally relaxed on his back, no longer tense, “This is…” He spun around, “You know what you could do, Lucy?”
“No, we’re not hanging a hammock on the racks for clothes.”
He pouted, how did she know what he was thinking so perfectly?
“It’s nice, isn’t it? Look, I even had them install a hatch on the roof so that you can stretch your wings in the morning.”
He looked up, “Oh. Oh!” He looked back at her, “You know what you should ask them to also build-”
“No, we’re not having them put rods for a hammock in the closet, Natsu.”
“How on earth did you know what I was gonna say?” He asked, leaning closer, “Can you read my mind?”
“No,” she flicked his forehead, “But it’s really obvious what you want. Besides, I know you.”
He crossed his arms and plopped himself onto the floor, “Where’s Happy staying?”
“There’s a hut in the backyard-No, Natsu, you’re not staying with Happy.”
He gasped, “You’re a psychic, Lucy, there’s no other explanation!”
“Yes, there is,” she fixed her dress as she knelt down in front of him, “It’s called: I know you.”
He rolled his eyes, “And- ah, wait… no, Igneel also knew what I was gonna ask sometimes, too…”
“Oh, yeah?”
He nodded, “Yeah.” He sighed, “Like, one time, when I was eleven, I finally got permission to go to the festival at Fort Fairy Tail, right?”
“Yeah…”
“And I was gonna ask him if it was okay to go inside buildings if I was offered food, and was immediately turned down before I could even ask it.” He clicked his tongue, “He also knew I was lying when I hurt my wing one time, too. Oh! And that I climbed the mountain cause I left a trail, too.”
“Wait, what?”
He shook his head, “So…” He looked her dead in the eyes. “You… you’re going to say something like, ‘the trail on the mountain leading up to your cabin was made by you?’ right?”
She laughed, that was what she was going to say, “Spot on. But really, that trail was really made by you? Did you… get in trouble with Igneel when I took you to the resort?”
“Dragged me to the resort, Lucy.” He corrected, “And… um… I never told him about that. Besides, something else happened on the last day that was more important, anyway.”
“You aren’t gonna let me live that down, are you?”
He shook his head, “Nope, Miss Lucy, I’m not.”
She flicked his forehead again, “Okay, fine, E.N.D. if you want to play that game. Do you remember when I took you to the opera for the first time?”
“Only time.” He corrected.
“You had to be escorted out because you screamed so loud when the hero died.”
“Well, duh!” He exclaimed, “That guy was singing his heart out about how he was always going to return to her, and then he up and fucking dies. What a jerk.”
She laughed, “You’re still upset about that?”
“Of course I am. The guy could have dodged it, or blocked it, or something.”
“Natsu, it’s a stage, it’s choreographed.”
“And?” He replied.
“Besides, we both fought in a war, Natsu, do you think it’s possible for us to always predict the future?”
He hummed for a second, “I mean, technically, I guess not, I didn’t expect Igneel to die, but…” He looked her dead in the eyes, “If I made a promise to you, I’d do everything in my power to make sure I fulfill it.”
She smiled, “Just… if you can’t fulfill it… don’t beat yourself up about it.”
He leaned in, and kissed her. “I’m gonna sleep here. You can have the bed.”
She sighed, and shook her head, “I am going to make you love beds, Natsu.”
“Never happening.” He replied.
“Never say never.”
He fell back onto his back, spreading his wings out under him, “I just did.”
Lucy smiled, and got up from the floor, “Then… I guess I’ll just lock you away in here.”
His eyes widened, and he snapped up as she made her way to the door, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.” She replied, grabbing both doors.
“Lucy.”
She began to close them, “What, I thought you wanted to sleep in here?”
“Yeah, I do, but, you’re gonna lock me in here?”
She smiled, “What? No…”
“You’re closing the doors, Lucy.”
“I am?”
He grabbed the door, and pushed it open, “Don’t close the door.”
She hummed, “No. I’m closing it, I just can’t sleep with the doors open, Natsu.”
“What?”
“I can’t.”
“Lucy.”
She grabbed the door he pushed open again, “I truly can’t.”
“Lucy.”
She started closing the doors again. “Good night, Natsu.”
“It’s the afternoon!” He exclaimed as the doors closed on him.
“Is it?” She asked.
“Yes.” He replied through the closed door, “And we were going to eat dinner. You were going to make that kiss or whatever it was.”
“Quiche.” She sighed, and opened the door a crack, “You know, I think it’s best if you stay in here, I still haven’t gotten it right.”
“What?”
“There’s absolutely no way out,” she glanced up to the hatch on the ceiling before back to him, “either.”
He smirked, and leaned forward, kissing her, “You should be glad I love you.”
“I am.” She smiled, and closed the doors, again.
They’d unpack the small amount of things that they brought here later, Natsu had insisted on leaving most of his things in the cabin, hiding them in the basement, Igneel’s cave, for safe keeping. Apparently, one of the first things he had done when he had gotten back from the war was block the entrance to Igneel’s cave, insisting that it was to protect what belonged to him, and preserve his memory. For now, though, she was going to work on that darn quiche. The last time she made it, she almost perfected it, and if she just changed, ever so slightly the time it was in the oven, then she was certain she’d get it right. Besides, this was a real kitchen in their new house, which meant that she didn’t have to guess much on how hot the oven was.
“I’ve got it!” Natsu exclaimed half an hour later as she was putting the quiche into the oven.
“Got what?” she asked, as she watched him come inside through the window.
“How we’ll decide if we should toss the bed or not.”
“We’re not tossing the bed, that’s not a decision we need to make.” She replied, wiping her hands on her apron. “But, what’s your plan on if you’ll sleep on the bed or not?”
He frowned, “That wasn’t my plan…” he shook his head, and perched himself on the table, “We play rock, bark and talons, the dragon-kin rock, paper, scissors.”
“No.” She sighed, “And get your feet off the table.”
He swung his feet off of it, and swung them back and forth as he sat on the edge, “We’ll play it the easy way, like my mother played with me when I was little, and how I played with Wendy when she was little, okay?”
“Wait…” Her eyes widened, and she turned her head towards him, had he ever mentioned his mother before?
“Yeah, we can wait until the kish, or whatever it is, is done, that’s fine. Let me explain it to you. You don’t have talons… so…” he pointed to a knife on the counter, “You can use that.”
“What?”
“It’s a blade, isn’t it?”
“What? Yeah, it is, but-”
“And then, instead of an entire tree, like I played with Igneel, we can just find a big stick, and a good rock, it doesn’t have to be a boulder, I didn’t force Wendy to use a boulder, that’d be ridiculous, she was too little for that, after all.”
Maybe she had heard him wrong. “Natsu, I feel like you’re forgetting something.”
“Hmm?” He asked.
“I’m… not a dragon-kin.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s why you’re gonna use a knife. Zeref used a blade he sharpened himself, so you can use a knife.”
That was a name she had never heard before. She sighed, “And… how do you play… rock, bark, and talons?”
He pulled his legs under him, “I’ve got the rocks and the sticks out back, but, you choose a rock, or a tree, or stick I guess, and throw it as hard as possible at your opponent. Of course, if you both opt for talons, then you run forward at your opponent full speed. If the rock or tree breaks when you hit it with your talons, or a rock, or a tree, I guess, then you win.”
Her eyes widened, “What about if you both choose talons?”
“Oh!” His eyes sparkled, “If you immobilize your opponent,” he made his hand into a claw, and pressed one of his talons to his throat, “like this, then you win.”
She was horrified. “And… you want me to play against you… with a knife?”
He nodded.
“A knife.”
He nodded again.
“Natsu, that sounds terrifying. You played this with Wendy?”
He nodded, “Yeah, it’s fun. We played the kids version.”
“What’s the kids version?”
“You put berries on your talons.” He answered.
“But… everything else is the same?”
“Smaller rocks and trees of course.” He replied.
“But…”
“I’ve got it set up in the backyard, Luce.”
“Natsu…” she shook her head, “No…”
“Well, then, I guess I’m sleeping in the hammock, screw this place, Lucy.”
“Natsu!” She exclaimed, “We’re staying here, you know how much this place cost us?”
“Um… yeah, I paid for half of it.”
She groaned, “Natsu… we’re sleeping in the bed together.”
“Not if you lose.”
“Natsu Dragneel.”
“Heartfilia.” He replied, flashing her his wedding ring.
“I’m not going to play that risky game.”
“Then I guess I’m not staying here.”
“You’re kidding.”
He shook his head, “If you want to admit that you think you’d lose, go ahead, Lucy, I win by default if you forfeit.”
“Natsu.”
“Look, I won’t even cheat against you.”
“How the hell do you cheat… ugh, nevermind that. You want me to put your life in danger… for a bed?”
“I’m serious, Luce.”
“You’re insane.”
He shrugged, “I guess you’re forfeiting, I didn’t know you’d just give up like this, Lucy, I’m disappointed.”
She gasped, and untied the apron, “Oh, you’re on!” She rolled up her sleeves, “You’re so dead.”
He smirked, and gestured to the backdoor, “We doing the kids' way or...”
She slapped his arm, “Of course we're doing the kids' way, Natsu, and…” she glanced around the kitchen, “I'll use a-”
“You can't use a spoon…” he laughed, “how is a spoon gonna cut through rock?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” He replied, and hopped off the table, leaning over to swiftly pull the knife out of the holder, and hand it to her, “Come on.”
She stared at the blade in her hand, before glancing up at his cheerful face, “Your games are dangerous.”
He shrugged, “You guys like to throw sharp objects at a board, it’s not much different.”
She frowned, “Darts, and it is, because we’re throwing it at a board and not another human being!”
He wrapped his wing around her and started pushing her towards the door. “It’s fine, I’ve only been hit with a rock… five times? It’s not dangerous.”
“Five times with a rock?” She asked, stopping at the door, and turning around, “You’ve been hit with a rock five times when playing this game?”
He shrugged, and continued pushing her outside, “When I was little, yeah, don’t worry about it. I can make sure I don’t get hit.”
“Okay, but what about me?”
He paused, “You think I’d hurt you?”
“No, of course not, but what if… I miss, and don’t hit the rock, or-”
“You won’t, obviously, and if you do…” He stopped, and hummed for a few seconds, “Yeah, I guess rocks are dangerous.” He thought for a few seconds, before snapping his fingers, “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
“Where else am I supposed to wait?” She sighed, and watched as he grabbed a hold of the roof, and pulled himself up onto it.
“Uh,” he looked back at her, “I don’t know? I’ll be back soon, though!” He took off before she could ask where he was going. She sighed, she should make sure to check on her quiche in a few minutes, though. She wasn’t going to get caught up in the moment like the last time, if Natsu hadn’t put it out, she’d have burned down the cabin.
The air was actually pretty nice today, though. She looked around their backyard. She hadn’t gotten a chance to look at it much when they had arrived, but it was quite spacious. The wind on her face felt nice, too. Maybe it was because half of the house was built into the side of the mountain, but she felt so close to nature here. Ironic, really, considering how she lived in a cabin for two months. However, this was more what she was used to, no hate to how Natsu had grown up, but she didn’t think she could last her whole life in a cabin. Especially one that was so secluded from everything else.
She felt a presence behind her and spun around with the knife, only to see her husband staring down at it as it nearly nicked his chin, with his hands raised, “We’re not playing the game yet, Luce.”
She sighed, and dropped her stance, “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, before showing her what he had in his hands, “We’ll use these instead of rocks.”
She raised a brow, “You want me to get soaked?”
“What?” He laughed, “No, but it’s a good way to see if you got hit with it, right? Getting wet is much better than hurting yourself. I can’t have you hurt your head again.”
She sighed, and accepted the waterballoons that somehow hadn’t popped in his hands when his nails were as sharp as they were, “You know, I’m wondering if I should regret marrying you.”
He looked offended, “You shouldn’t, that’d be a bad decision.”
She shook her head, “You’re more reckless than I thought you’d be.”
He shrugged, and gestured to one side of the backyard where he had set up the rocks and sticks. “Are you ready?”
She frowned, “I feel like you have it easier for dodging.”
“I do?” He raised a brow.
She nodded, “Yeah, you can just fly away.”
He frowned, “Want me to tie them?”
“What? No, not necessarily-”
“I’ll be right back.” He sighed, and took off again.
Maybe she should check on the quiche while he is gone. She gently lay down the knife and waterballoons on the grass, before making her way back inside. What was great about this oven, which Natsu’s oven didn’t have, was that there was glass on the door. That meant that she could look in and see the status of her quiche. She couldn’t open the oven, that’d mess with how it was baking, but she could peek in and see if it was burning on the edges. She squatted in front of the glass watching as it baked.
The timer she had set soon dinged, and she looked over to the window of the backyard to see if Natsu was back yet. He wasn’t. What was taking him so long? She opened up the oven, before reaching in, with oven mitts, and pulling out the quiche that she had made. Her smile widened as she noticed the texture was how it was supposed to be. She placed it gently on the stovetop, and fanned it as she took off the mitts. It looked perfect. This one was good enough that she might even let Natsu try it. She used the right amount of all the ingredients, didn’t mistake the teaspoon for the tablespoon this time, and even had bought a pan that was made specifically for quiches.
She looked outside again, noticing he still wasn’t back as the sun was beginning to set. Where on earth did he go? If he never came back… did that mean that she won by default? She shook her head, no, that was ridiculous, she wouldn’t screw him over like that. However, if he wasn’t back by the time she was going to bed, then she did win by default, and he couldn’t argue against it. As it was getting darker, she decided to test out the lighting feature of their house. Their house was powered by the magic power plant, along with the other houses in the neighborhood, which Natsu’s cabin didn’t have. The personal magic unit that he had was used mainly just for the oven, and the meat preserver if he remembered to connect it. He had no light fixtures like their new house had, and her family estate had.
“Okay!” The front door swung open as Natsu came inside, “Now we’re even.”
“What took you so long…” she trailed off as she looked at him, the scarf that was always in his hammock was wrapped around him, folding his wings to his back, and securing them in place. “What are you wearing?”
“You said I could just fly away, but I can’t if this is holding my wings in place.”
“You went to get something to tie your wings?”
“Yeah.”
She groaned, “Then why didn’t you bring it back, and tie your wings here, instead of at your cabin?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. She had a really good point, he couldn’t think of anything to counter it.
She sighed, “Well, let’s play that game then. By the way, I finished the quiche, and it turned out pretty good.”
He was instantly by her side, “Can I try it?”
“Yes, I’ll let you try this one.” She grabbed the scarf that was around his waist, and dragged him outside, “But first, I’m going to beat you in this game.”
He laughed, “Okay, okay, but I’m not going to go easy on you.”
Is what he said, but, with a stick in his hair, and him covered in water only ten minutes later, he was proven wrong. She pulled the stick out of his hair, and knelt in front of him, “Why didn’t you dodge it?”
He glared at her, “You distracted me, Lucy.”
She shrugged, “All I did was point out that the birds in the sky were pretty.”
“There were no birds in the sky.”
“They flew away.”
He pouted.
“And you getting wet by the waterballoon was all on you. You practically swatted that balloon into your face.”
He frowned, “Then we’re tied?”
“No.” She kissed him, and gently tapped his chin with the dull and flat side of the knife, “I win.”
He gasped, “That’s not fair!”
She shrugged and stood up, “I think we’re even, here… or rather… you kind of won a big one. You beat me in rock, paper, scissors, permanently making our last name Heartfilia, plus, I can’t even choose our future child’s middle name, because of you, either. All you have to do, when I beat you in rock, bark, and talons, is sleep in a bed.”
He dramatically fell onto the ground, “My wife has beat me.”
“In a game,” she sighed, and pulled on the scarf around his waist, “Now, untie yourself so that you can try my quiche.”
He pouted as he got up, and undid the scarf from around his waist, freeing his wings. “I’m going to eat all of it.”
“Not if it doesn’t taste good.”
He shook his head, “It will, it will.”
She rolled her eyes, and followed him back inside.
She watched him as he served himself a rather large slice of her quiche. It was a little cold, and she was about to say that he should warm it up first, but before she could, he took a huge bite of it. The first thought that went through her head as she watched him mouth close around his bite was: what if it tastes bad? Of course, that soon proved to not be the case, as he turned to her with eyes full of tears.
“Why couldn’t you let me try this sooner?”
She sighed, and grabbed a napkin out of the drawer, and made her way over to him, “Because I hadn’t gotten it right.”
He shook his head, cheeks still full, “I wanted to try it, though.”
She wiped off the corners of his mouth, “Does it taste good?”
He nodded profusely, “It tastes amazing, Lucy.”
She sighed in relief, before taking a fork to the slice he took, and carefully taking a small bite. Her eyes welled up the second it came in contact with her tongue. Not because it tasted bad, by no means did it, and not because it was the most delicious thing in the world, but because she was instantly reminded by her mother’s quiche.
“It’s good, right?” He asked, as he wiped her eyes with his thumb.
She nodded, “It is.”
He kissed her forehead, before getting himself another slice, “Did you finally get it right?”
She nodded, as she carefully chewed the food in her mouth.
“Tastes like your mom’s?” He asked, handing her a plate with a slice on it.
She accepted it slowly, “Yeah, just like hers.”
Natsu smiled, “Then, I’m glad I got to try her cooking, too.”
She let out a laugh, and gently punched his arm, “It’s my cooking, not hers.”
“But you made it to be like hers, right?” He asked, “I’m sure she was a great mother, if her food tasted like this!”
She sighed, and poked her fork into her quiche, “She was. She was a wonderful mother.” She looked up at him, “I’m sorry I’ve been hogging the kitchen all this time.” She decided to test the waters, she felt like she was being selfish thinking of only her parents. “You can make something your mother made, too.”
He frowned, and tilted his head, “Um…” he furrowed his brow, “I… oh!” he shook his head, “No, no, no, humans can’t eat that…” He groaned, “Nah, it’s fine.” he concluded, “I’d rather eat your mother’s cooking. What else did she make?”
Lucy pouted, he didn’t take the bait, “Nothing, this quiche was the only thing she made. Our chef, Spetto, usually took over in the kitchen.”
He turned his head, “Chef?”
She nodded, and looked down at her quiche, “Yeah, but my mother would sneak in the kitchen and make this. Nobody would argue against her, especially since she was sick.”
“Ah. I see… you had a chef?”
She looked up at him with wide eyes, “Oh, that’s right. Sorry, that was probably inconsiderate of me, but yes, we did have a chef.”
“Like… what they have at restaurants?”
She nodded, “Kind of?”
His eyes widened, “That’s so cool! Man, I wish I had a chef.”
She laughed, and placed her empty plate on the counter, “Well, I’m going to get ready for bed, see you in there.”
“Yeah, good luck.” He replied, stuffing his face, again.
She frowned, and pulled the quiche away from him, “Let’s go to bed, Natsu.”
He looked at her with a look of betrayal.
She sighed, “You can finish eating the quiche tomorrow, let’s go to bed.”
He took a step back, with his hand on his chest dramatically.
“We have a refrigerator, it will keep the quiche fresh.”
He dramatically turned away from her, and wiped imaginary tears from his eyes, “My wife claims to know me, but she doesn’t at all!”
She rolled her eyes, “Stop being dramatic,” she pulled him out of the kitchen and to the door of the master bedroom, “And while you wash up, from all of this dirt and… leaves?” She muttered as she pulled a leaf out of his hair, “I’ll go and put away the quiche.”
He gasped very audibly, but ended up making his way through the master bedroom to the master bath, anyway. “Oh!” He exclaimed, popping back out before she could make her way back into the kitchen, “Happy wants to sleep inside, so he’s gonna come in through the roof.”
“What?” She exclaimed, and he disappeared again into the bedroom.
She groaned, and looked over at the aq bar who was looking at her through the window. She sighed, and nodded her head, and he jumped up onto the roof. She groaned, she had made a hut in the backyard and everything for the guy, and he decided to come inside the house? She shook her head, as long as he doesn’t get into anything, she supposed it was alright.
“Hey, Lucy!” She heard her husband call less than five minutes later. She sighed, and made her way around Happy, who decided to follow her around like a duckling to its mother, and made her way over to the bedroom.
“What?” she called back as she reached the doorway.
He opened the bathroom door, and poked his bare, and wet, upper half out as he grabbed the frame, “You know how you massage my wings in the morning?”
“Yes?”
“I thought about this a little on the honeymoon, right?”
“Yes?”
“I was thinking- oh, hi Happy,” Natsu began explaining. Happy rubbed against Lucy as a response. Natsu frowned, “don’t touch her like that, you beast.”
She sighed, and ran her hand over Happy’s fur, “You were thinking?”
“Oh!” He snapped his attention back up to her, “I was thinking you could help me wash them.”
“What?”
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Well, because it’s hard to reach back there, and usually, I just pour a bucket of hot water over myself, and the last time it was truly washed was probably when Igneel would lick me down, but-”
“Lick you… what?”
“Lick me down.” He repeated, “Anyway, I was thinking, because you’re like, so good with those massages, if you could help me wash my wings, too.”
She blinked, “Now?”
He raised a brow, “I am taking a shower now.”
Lucy looked down at his exposed skin, “Now?”
“Yes?”
She looked over to Happy, before looking Natsu over again, she smirked, “Do you want what happened on our wedding night to happen again?”
His brows furrowed, “If you make me unable to return the favor then forget about it.”
“Natsu, what? I thought you liked it-”
“Forget about it.” He replied, and closed the door.
She laughed, and made her way over to the door, knocking on it, “I’m teasing, babe, I’m teasing.”
He cracked the door open again, “Immobilize me again, and you’ll regret it.”
She laughed, “Got it, got it.” She replied, and pushed open the door, squeezing herself into the steamy bathroom, leaving Happy in the bedroom alone.
Happy, of course, didn’t have an issue being left alone, he was used to it, after all. However, as he moved around the place, exploring this new building that Natsu had begun rubbing his scent all over in, he heard a yelp from the bathroom, and immediately recognized it as his friend’s. He bounded to the door, and attempted to push it open. He didn’t care if there was water in the bathroom, hearing Natsu cry out like that was terrifying enough to him. Natsu and he had been together for so many battles, and he couldn’t protect him a few times, like when he suddenly left him with the Dragon Corps to go back somewhere else so long ago. Sure, they explained to him that it was because of an injury, but he wasn’t there for the injury, when he could have protected him. He also couldn’t protect him when he got hurt a few times, even if Natsu blamed himself for Happy’s failing vision. He pushed the door open, breaking it off the hinges, and slamming it onto the ground in the steaming bathroom.
“Happy!” Lucy exclaimed, staring with wide eyes at the feline who stood at their now open bathroom doorway.
Happy looked behind her at Natsu who sat curled over on a stool, his back towards him, and his face in his hands. It was wet in here, but was Natsu crying? He carefully made his way over to him.
“Happy, did you just break the door?” Lucy asked.
He ignored her as he rubbed his head against Natsu’s wet body.
Natsu looked over at him, “What is it, Happy?” he asked.
He looked fine, except his scales were out. He looked over to Lucy, and a low growl came out before he could stop himself.
“Hey! Hey!” Natsu exclaimed, grabbing his face to face him, “What are you growling at Lucy for? You like her.”
He looked him over, before rubbing his head against him.
Natsu ruffled his fur, “I’m fine, Happy. Lucy just touched a sensitive spot, that’s it.”
Lucy sighed, and began coming closer to them, but he blocked Natsu from her with his wing. “What? You know I wouldn’t hurt him, Happy.”
Natsu laughed, and pushed the wing out of the way, before giving Happy a big hug, “We’re just playing around, buddy.”
Happy looked over at him, before back to Lucy.
“Happy,” Natsu whined, “Are you gonna come protect Lucy if I make her scream?”
“Natsu!” Lucy exclaimed, and Happy noticed her face changing color.
“It’s a serious question.”
Happy looked over at him again.
“We’re fine, buddy. Lucy didn’t hurt me, she’d never do that, you know that.”
“Why didn’t he interrupt us on our wedding night if he’s this protective?”
Natsu looked up at her, “He wasn’t there on our wedding night, Luce, he was out with Carla.” He snapped his fingers, and turned Happy’s head towards him, “You know what you want to do with Carla?”
Happy seemed to frown, and looked away from him.
“Oh, don’t be like that, buddy. It’s like that. I’m not hurt, okay, buddy?”
Happy rubbed against him, again.
“Fine, fine, fine, I’ll make sure I don’t ever scream when Lucy and I are mating, buddy.”
“Natsu!” Lucy exclaimed.
Happy stared at him for a few more seconds before abruptly turning around and whacking him off his stool with his tail in the process. He was just worried, couldn’t he understand that.
“I’m sorry, Happy!” Natsu exclaimed, “Thanks for worrying about me, bud!”
He turned his nose up as he made his way out of the wet bathroom.
Lucy couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore, and burst out laughing, “Did… did he come in here because you screamed?”
Natsu frowned, uprighting himself, “I did tell you not to take it in that direction, though…” he trailed off and his eyes widened, he looked up at her, “You’re never massaging my wings again.”
“What?” she asked, “Why?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, “You… you… you’re thinking about other things when you’re massaging me, aren’t you?”
“You know, you’re not sounding very convincing when you’re in nothing but a towel.”
He frowned, “Just tell me the truth, Lucy, are you-”
“No, of course not. It’s just a massage.” Lucy lied. Well, it was a half-lie, because at first, those impure thoughts definitely were going through her head, but the more she did it, the less she thought things she shouldn’t when she was giving him his morning massage. “But, even if I did, is that a problem? We’re married now.”
He pouted, “I wish you had something super sensitive like these, too.”
She shrugged, “Who says I don’t?” She asked, and began making her way out of the bathroom.
“Hey, wait!” Natsu exclaimed, “You’re gonna leave after only cleaning one of them?”
She gestured to the door, “We don’t have a bathroom door anymore, Natsu.”
“And?” He asked, “It’s just you and me in this house.”
She glared at him, and gestured to the door again.
“And Happy.” He sighed, “One wing feels lighter than the other, though, Luce!”
“Ugh, fine, but you’re holding that door up the entire time I’m in the shower.”
“Inside the bathroom, or outside the bathroom?”
She slapped his wing, “You’re a naughty boy, Natsu Dragneel.”
He looked up at her, “Heartfilia. I’m a naughty husband, Lucy.”
She flicked his forehead, before leaning down and kissing him, “If only you wouldn’t put up a fight to sleep in a bed.”
He rolled his eyes, and sat up straight again. “You won the darn game, Lucy, I’ll sleep in the damn bed.”
She turned his face up again, and kissed him, “I love you, you know that?”
He sighed, “Mhmm… why? Because I said I’d sleep in the bed?”
“Is there a different reason I should love you?”
“Ha ha,” He smiled, “Love you, too, Lucy.”
She smiled, and let go of him, before starting to wash his other wing for him, “Are all dragon-kin’s wings sensitive?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He replied, “Why?”
“I was just wondering if it was only you… What’s this scar from? It looks older than the other ones.”
“What scar?” He looked behind him.
“This one on your wing. It’s practically hidden under your scales and-”
“Oh, that. When I broke my wing when I was little.” He faced forward again, “I couldn’t fly back then, because I was doing wing folding training, so my wings were tied against me, and fell off a cliff, I think.”
“Wing folding training?”
“Yep.” He replied, “When our wings grow in, they’re rather small, of course, but then they start to grow out enough for us to fly. After we’ve learned how to fly, we’re trained, by tying a rope around us, how to fold our wings tightly against our back.”
“Why?”
He shrugged, “Not sure, I just know I didn’t like it, it felt restraining. But I think it’s so that we’re not taking up too much space or something.” He looked back at her, “We also learn how to shrink our wings, too.”
She grabbed the shower head and hauled it over, “How long were your wings tied to your back?”
He hummed as she sprayed down his wings, getting all of the soap off of them, “I think maybe half a year or so?”
She dropped the shower head, “Half a year?”
“Ow…” he muttered, rubbing his shoulder where the metal faucet fell on him, “Yeah, I think so. I don’t know, Lucy, why do you want to know?”
She shrugged, “Sorry, and I was just thinking what it’d be like for our child.”
“Oh.” He shrugged, “I’m sure you can look through those books you bought the other day and find something.”
She pinched the skin on his neck, “But I know someone who lived through that time, first hand experience. I don’t know how to raise a dragon-kin, Natsu.”
He turned around, “It’s not like you’d raise her by yourself. Besides, how do you know if she’ll be a dragon-kin? She could just be human.”
“Because you’re dragon-kin, Natsu, obviously, our child is going to be both.”
“Is that obvious?” He asked, as he got up.
“Of course it is.”
He frowned, “I don’t think so.”
“Natsu.”
“I’m going to eat some more of that kish while you take your shower-”
“You’re holding up the door, Natsu, so no, you’re not.”
He frowned.
“And you’re holding it up in the bedroom, not the bathroom.”
He frowned deeper.
“Go get dressed into your pajamas first.”
He sighed, and dragged his feet out of the bathroom.
“Natsu.”
“Yes?” He asked, turning around.
“I love you.”
He kissed her, “Love you, too, can I eat the kish?”
“Quiche, and no. Save it for breakfast.”
He groaned, “I’m not going to get any sleep, and you want me to save it for breakfast?”
“Yes.” She sighed, “And you will get sleep, I promise.”
Of course, she knew it wouldn’t be easy to actually get him into the bed. She took her shower with him holding up the door, and she could hear him complaining to Happy the entire time she was in it. When she got out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, he just stared at her as she made her way into the closet, even when she told him to go ahead and lay down in the bed. He had grumbled a response, and she had thought that he’d be laying in it when she got out of the closet, but instead, he was just standing on the side of it staring down at it. She asked if he had brushed his teeth, and he grunted a response. If she didn’t see his toothbrush was wet in the bathroom when she went in to do her nightly routine, she wouldn’t have thought he did.
However, even after her facemask was complete, no longer on her face, and her hair properly braided so that it didn’t get tangled up when she slept, she came out of the bathroom to see him still standing in the place he had been before, staring down at the bed. Of course she asked why he was still staring at the bed, but he grumbled something incoherent instead of properly giving her a reply. She figured he’d lay down eventually, after all, he couldn’t possibly be thinking of standing there the whole night. She grabbed a book from the mini shelf on her bedside table, and got up onto the bed to read a little while she waited for him to join her. If reading a little was two whole chapters, that was. She had gotten so invested, that when she saw the eighth chapter of her book staring back at her, she realized that she may have read for too long, however, when she looked back over to her husband, he was still staring at the bed with the biggest look of disgust.
“Are you going to lay down?” She asked.
He glared at her, “It looks uncomfortable.”
“It’s extremely comfortable, I’ll sleep like a baby on this.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, before looking back down at the bed. “Do I curl up?”
“I… don’t think you’ll need to.”
He glared at her again. “I’m comfortable when I’m curled up.”
“And you will be comfortable even when you’re not curled up on this bed.”
He frowned and looked back down at the bed. “Do I sleep under the blankets or on top?”
“Under, I’d assume.”
“Not helpful.”
“Oh, but it is summer, still, so, it’s up to you.”
“Not helpful.”
She sighed, and put her book on the bedside table, “Are you going to get in, or just stand there menacingly all night?”
“Stand here menacingly.” He answered without missing a beat.
“No,” she sighed, and reached over the bed to grab his arm, “you’re laying in this bed.”
“No!” He exclaimed, like a baby.
“Yes, you are.” She pulled him onto the bed.
“No, wait, Lucy-” He called out, but his face collided with the pillow.
“See, it’s-” his wing fell on top of her, feeling much more heavy than it had ever felt before. She looked over at him, “Are you okay?”
“I live here, now…” he muttered as sleep took him over.
She laughed, and looked at the heavy wing that was laying on top of her, completely limp, but heavy. She had never known it could feel this heavy. She looked over at him, and pushed the bangs out of his face to see his calm and comfortable expression. She was getting hot under this wing, though, and she couldn’t even move in the other direction to turn off the lamp at her bedside table. She stared up at the ceiling in her immobile state. This did not count as him returning the favor she gave him on their wedding night. She wanted him to pin her down in a different way than this, and yet, she was eternally grateful that he actually did like the bed, because it would be a heck of a waste of money if he didn’t.
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Her eyes snapped wide open as she felt magic power bolt into her from Natsu’s touch. “Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed, instantly wrapping her arms around him as he buried his face into her chest, arms wrapping around himself instead of her, and wings falling on either side of them. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah…” he muttered, “I’m fine.”
She looked up to see the light fixture on their ceiling sparking. “Did you just…”
He shook his head, “No, no, I’m fine, we can continue.”
Lucy looked at his wings laying around them on the bed, and down at Natsu as he still had his face buried in her bare chest, “You’re not fine.”
“No, I am, just give me a second…”
She sighed, and gently rubbed his back, which was covered in scales. “You’re not fine, Natsu, your whole back is transformed.”
He looked up at her, “No, I’m fine, I just need a second.”
She poked her finger against the tip of his horn, “And you went into your ‘dragon’ form intentionally?”
He furrowed his brows at her, “Are you okay?”
“I’m alright, just a small amount of power shot through me through your touch, Natsu, you… received the brunt of it, didn’t you?”
He sighed, and pushed himself up, “No, I’m fine, we can continue.”
She frowned, “It’s kind of hard to continue when you were just shocked.” It wasn’t just his back that was covered in his scales, his arms were, too, and almost his whole face was, as well.
“Then… we’ll just set the mood again, I-”
“I want to make sure you’re okay, Natsu.”
“I’m fine, Lucy, trust me.”
She scooted herself up from under him, and touched his arm, receiving a spark in response, “You’re not fine. We should go to the hospital and make sure-”
“No, no, no, I’m fine, Lucy, I-”
She frowned, and pressed a hand against his chest, shooting a small amount of magic into him to gauge his power level. She looked up at him, “You’re not fine, you’ve got… three magic sources inside you right now?”
He pulled her hand off of him, “Because the magic from the lights hasn’t gone away, yet.” He leaned up to her, “And it’s kind of hard to just back down when you’re this beautiful, Lucy.”
She rolled her eyes, and accepted his kiss, “Still, Natsu, I want to make sure that you’re alright, you can’t-” Her eyes shot open, “Natsu!” She exclaimed, dropping her hand down to grab his, pulling it away from where he was touching.
He smirked against her, leaning forward, “You’re effortlessly beautiful.”
She smiled, and snaked her arms around him, as he scooped her up against him, laying down with her on the bed, “And you’re effortlessly beautiful, too.”
He kissed the corner of her lips, “Do you know-” he kissed her jaw, “how much I’ve been wanting-” Her head turned up, opening up her neck to his kisses, “to claim you like this?”
She felt his hand massaging her, causing her to instinctively arch her back to his touch, and dig her fingers into the scales on his back, “Natsu!” She moaned.
“You want me to stop?” he asked, lips against her bare breast,
She looked down at him, “Of course not, but-Ahh!”
He smirked, and gently kissed her skin.
“Natsu, please,” she muttered, watching as his wings perked up again.
“Lucy,” he whispered, and gently lay her down on the bed, supporting himself with one hand, as he hovered above her, caressing her face with his other, “There’s nothing in the world that could be better than you.”
She danced her hands down his front, “I can think of one thing.”
He leaned down, nose against hers, “And what is that?”
She smirked, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer, so that his bare, scaled, skin pressed against her naked body. She whispered, gently against his lips, “You,” before claiming him, sliding her tongue into his warm mouth, dancing with his. She tangled her fingers into his hair as she felt him slide his hand down her side, pulling her leg up to wrap around his waist. She felt his teeth on her tongue, sharper than she had expected them to be, and sharper than they had been before. She opened her eyes, looking up into his as he backed away from her just long enough for her to see his pupils dilated, with his scales ever so prominent on his face and horns still out, before he brought his head down to suck on her neck, carefully enough that his sharp teeth didn’t penetrate her skin.
She gasped, feeling his hands on her, and she looked up at the ceiling at the sparking light with half lidded eyes. She felt his scales against her leg, and under her arms. The skin of his stomach was slowly feeling more and more like his wings… which were perking up the longer they engaged in this. She tapped his back, with wide eyes as she noticed his wings stretching up to the light fixture again. “Natsu, stop.” She whispered.
He pulled away from her, “Why- Aghhhhh!” He exclaimed, and curled over himself tighter than he had before, dropping her leg, and grabbing at himself, as his wings dropped to either side of him, and he unconsciously backed up from her, jolting in shock. He curled over himself on the foot of the bed, burying his head into the comforter.
“Are you okay?” She exclaimed, getting up, and crawling over to him on their bed, “That looked worse than last time.”
“Ow, that fucking hurt.” He grumbled.
“I… I said-”
He put his hand up, stopping her from continuing, “Please, don’t say anything.” He groaned.
Lucy closed her mouth, and looked up at the ceiling. Their light fixture was sparking even more than it had before. “Our ceiling is too low.” She grumbled.
“It’s fine.” He replied, face still buried in the comforter.
“It’s not fine, you just got shocked twice in one night.”
“Lucy, please, don’t say it.” He grumbled, “Ow, ow, ow…”
“I was just going to say that maybe we should have done this in a different room-”
He looked up at her, “You’re the one who insisted on this darn bed.”
“It’s not the bed’s fault, Natsu, the ceiling is too low-”
“And the bed is a lot higher than the floor.”
She sighed, and rubbed his back, “I’m sorry. Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine.” He grumbled, turning his head to bury it back into the comforter.
“Are you sure? We should go to a hospital or something to make sure your magic isn’t messed up from that.” She whispered, “It felt pretty messed up when I gauged it a few minutes ago.”
He shook his head, “No, it’s fine, it just feels like Laxus sent his magic into me, that’s all.”
Lucy sighed, “Laxus’ magic is lightning, are you saying it feels like you were just electrocuted?”
He groaned, “Lucy, just…”
She sighed, “Okay, okay, I just want to make sure you’re alright,” she gently touched one of his wings, “and… are your wings alright?”
He groaned.
“I’m guessing they aren’t?” She sighed, and carefully got out of the bed, grabbing her underwear off the floor and putting it on, “Let’s not have sex tonight, okay? We can try out the bed at a different time.”
“It took a fucking month for us to do this, in this bed, Lucy.” He grumbled.
“And, I’m not going to have my husband electrocute himself when we get intimate.” She put on one of his t-shirts, and buttoned the neck up.
“I’m fine, Luce, I just have to control my wings, that’s it.”
She carefully made her way around his wings that still lay limp on either side of him. “And I’m not taking chances.”
He groaned, burying his head even deeper than before into the comforter.
“If it hurts this badly, we should visit the hospital.”
“I'm fine.”
She gently rubbed his back, “If being fine is laying in a fetal position on the bed, that is.”
“Give me a minute, Lucy.”
She sighed, “We're not continuing, Natsu.”
He grumbled something incoherent.
“Look, I want this just as much as you do, babe, but we really should have thought about how your wings kind of… stretch out when you get excited.”
He groaned, “I didn't think it'd be a problem. It wasn't a problem in my cabin.”
“We didn't get this intimate in your cabin, Natsu.”
“Yeah, but it wasn't a problem.”
She shook her head, as she continued to rub his back, “and you also had huge windows and a hatch on the ceiling… and no light fixture that could hurt you like this.”
He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her, “And?”
She sighed, and patted his back, “I'm just saying that it wasn't a problem there because of those reasons, the major one being the lighting fixture.”
He groaned and buried his face in the comforter again, “So, you're saying that we can never have sex? When we finally figured out how I won't suffocate you with my wings?”
“You never suffocated me with your wings, Natsu, they were just heavy, and acted like their own heated blanket.”
“Same thing.”
“It's not, but I'll let you have it. Look, I'm not saying that, I want to do it in this bed, too, but we might have to do some remodeling to our ceiling first.”
“How long will that take?”
She shrugged, “I don't know, a month maybe?”
He groaned.
“I'm not happy about it either, but I do not want this to ever happen again.
“I don't either.” He grumbled, sitting up.
She looked around on the floor for where he had kicked off his underwear. “So, we can stay in your cabin until it's fixed. I'll call the construction company first thing in the morning.” She handed him his boxers.
He accepted them from her, as he turned around on the bed, only to yelp again in pain, grabbing his wing, and curling over himself again, “Shit!”
“What's wrong?”
“I… I can't move my wings.”
She looked at his wings splayed out on the bed, and hanging off of it on either side, “Like, at all? Are they numb?”
He groaned, “No, not numb, like, not all of them are, but the nerves are more sensitive than usual.”
“Oh.” She placed one of his T-shirts down on the bed, one she had grabbed from the hamper of clothes she hadn't put away yet. “Do… you need help?”
“No, I've got it.” He sat up again and looked at either of his wings, he grabbed one of them, attempting to lift it up, only to groan in pain, again.
“I can help.”
He shook his head, “No, it's fine, I just…” he looked back at her, “Can you move? I don't want to hit you.”
“Oh? Um, yeah…” she took a step back, “Where do you want me to go?”
He frowned as he thought for a second, “the bed?”
She nodded, and made her way back around his wing, and sat down on the bed. She watched as he groaned, but grabbing his wing, and tossed it full force to his other side, grunting as it collided with his other wing, and consequently causing him to fall off the bed into his wings, which only hurt him more, as she could tell from his loud exclamation upon impact. She crawled to the edge of the bed and looked down at him as he lay there, wings folded under him, in a way that didn't look natural in the slightest, with a scrunched up face as if he was trying to hold himself back from admitting he was in pain, breathing heavily.
“You okay?”
He groaned and sat up, putting his boxers on, “Yeah, I'm fine, I'm sure my wings will be fine in the morning.”
She handed him the shirt she had grabbed before, and he slid his legs into it, pulling it up over his butt with a bit of struggle, considering how his wings didn't want to cooperate with him at the moment. “I should have considered your wings when I applied for the house.”
He slid his arms into the sleeves of the shirt, “It's fine, Lucy, I didn't think they'd stretch up to the ceiling either.”
She frowned, watching him clasp the collar in place around his neck, “You also wanted to toss the bed, though.”
He sighed, and pushed himself off the ground, only to fall backwards when his wings didn't want to join him in the action. He caught himself before he collided with his wings again, “I wouldn't have actually tossed it when you love it so much.”
She slid over on the bed, patting his side of it, “But you and I wouldn't have had this situation if we weren't sharing it.”
His wings dragged on the floor as he made his way over to get in the bed, “We would have both ended up in the bed at some point, though, Lucy, you know that.”
She sighed, watching him struggle to get his wings to cooperate with him as he tried to get into bed. “But it's still not like I didn't know your wings perk up when you're excited.”
He climbed into the bed, and lay down, pulling the covers over him, “Yeah, but sometimes I can control them. It's not your fault, Lucy.”
“Sure feels like it.”
He reached over and cupped her face, “It's not.”
She smiled, leaning into his hand, “Thanks, babe.”
“We'll figure out this hiccup later, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Goodnight.”
She nodded, “Goodnight.” She reached over and turned off the lamp on her side of the bed, Natsu rarely ever turned his on, and cuddled into her husband's embrace. He pulled her closer to him, kissing the top of her head, and hands unconsciously sliding into the huge hole in the back of her shirt. In turn, she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek against his chest, wanting so desperately to never let go of him. And she wouldn’t. They were married. He was hers forever.
It was rather embarrassing to be phoning the construction company and requesting that the ceiling of their bedroom be raised. Partially because their bedroom ceiling was kind of built into the mountainside, and partially because she didn’t know how to say it to them without explicitly telling them that her husband got shocked during an intimate moment because his wings stabbed into the ceiling light fixture. She was grateful they didn’t ask questions, but she knew that they were definitely thinking them. She looked at her husband as he leaned over the back of the couch at her, his wings folded against his back, and his arms hanging over as if he was a ragdoll.
“When are they coming to fix it?”
She shrugged, “They said they’re busy with building other homes, but they’ll send a team to check ours out. Asked us if we had a place to stay in the meantime, because raising a ceiling in our house would take a significant amount of time.”
He pouted, “So-” Happy walked in between them, and sat down with his nose pressing against Natsu’s face, he laughed, “What’s with that expression, Happy?” He pushed a hand into the feline’s face, backing him up from him, “You’re being ridiculous.”
“What face did he make?” Lucy asked.
He pushed himself off the couch, “He’s just angry I haven’t gone hunting with him yet.” He rolled his shoulders, “Alright, Happy, let’s go!”
“Just like that?” she asked, “what were you going to say?”
“Huh?”
“Happy interrupted you.”
“Oh, I was just gonna say we’re gonna be staying in my cabin, right?”
“Yeah, once the construction workers start working on our ceiling.”
“Nice!” He pumped his fist in the air.
“Don’t look too happy about it.” she frowned.
“I’m not,” he replied, making his way around the couch to her, “I just still prefer my hammock.”
She grabbed his face, squeezing his cheeks in her hands, “There’s gotta be another reason you like that hammock, it was comfortable yeah, but it’s not as comfortable as our bed.”
He squeezed her face in return, “Why tell you now, I gotta keep the mystery going.”
She rolled her eyes, “Sure. So, why do you like your hammock so much?”
He smiled, and rubbed her nose with his, “I told you, it’s comforting, Lucy. It’s got a comforting scent.”
“A comforting scent?” She asked, “I thought I had a comforting scent.”
He hummed for a second, “You’ve got a calming scent, I like it.” He licked her cheek, “Happy and I are gonna go hunt, okay?” He let go of her and nodded to his feline friend.
“Gross.” She grumbled, wiping her cheek.
He stuck his tongue out at her, as he backed up to the large window in their dining room, adjacent to their kitchen. “Love you, Lucy!”
She rolled her eyes, “Love you, too.”
He smiled, and opened the window, “We’ll be back soon.”
“Use the door!” She exclaimed, as he and Happy took off.
He perched himself on a branch in the tree of the mountain, and looked over at Happy who lounged on a thick branch next to him. The feline seemed to have a knowing smirk on his face, and he wanted to push him off of his sturdy branch. Maybe he should just burn the tree instead. His aq bar friend flicked his tail at him, as if to gain his attention, before stretching his wings up, and then dropping them to his sides all limp.
“Ha ha, very funny.” He grumbled, “Where were you, huh? You got all protective of me the first time Lucy washed my wings, and then you choose not to break down our bedroom door this time? Some friend you are.”
Happy glared at him, before gesturing with his eyes in the direction they had come.
He frowned, “Okay, yeah, Lucy would get mad at you if you broke down our bedroom door, too, but still, not even a meow of concern?”
He gave him a dead-pan stare.
“And? It’s not like we were able to actually do anything.”
He seemed to raise one of his eyebrows, well, if he had eyebrows that was. He was a cat, after all.
“Yeah, you can’t be seeing Lucy naked, don’t even think about it.”
Happy nodded his head, and looked down as if observing for prey to catch.
“Don’t act all high and mighty with me, Happy. You’re the one who jumped Carla first.”
He looked over at him.
“Okay, yeah, I know she didn’t return your advances, but still, you really should have thought about that before pouncing on her the way you did.”
He glared at him.
“And yes, she knows about Touka, too.”
He glared at him again.
“No, I didn’t tell her, obviously, you’re just a big playboy aren’t you?”
He turned away.
“Happy.” He swung over to the branch above his feline friend, “Do you want some mating advice?”
Happy rolled his eyes.
Natsu shrugged, “I’m just saying, one of us is married, and last I checked…” he showed off his ring to him, “that’s me.”
Happy looked up at him, and eyed the ring for a few seconds, before snapping his jaws around his hand.
Natsu laughed, and pushed his head off of his hand, freeing it, “Even if you get rid of the ring, Happy, Lucy and I are legally married with or without them.”
Happy grumbled.
“Don’t be a sore loser, buddy.” Natsu laughed, ruffling Happy’s fur, “Now, what should we catch today?”
The hardest part of hunting with this new house was the fact that Lucy was adamant about not letting the animals they caught into the house, insisting that they take them to a butcher who could skin them and get all of the meat off of the animals. He thought that was stupid, because they could do that themselves, but he obliged to her wants anyway.
He slammed his and Happy’s catch of bear onto the ground in the back of the butcher’s shop they had started going to, and knocked loudly on the back door.
The door opened to Elfman Strauss, one of the Strauss siblings who had fought under Gildarts during the war, “You’re back with another great catch, you’re a real man, Natsu.”
He rolled his eyes, “How quickly do you think you could get this back to me?”
Elfman hummed while inspecting the bear, “It’ll take a little while, I’ve got other game I’ve gotta work with, not just yours.”
“Okay? So how long do you think it’ll take?”
Elfman shrugged, “A few days. Come back on Monday. I should have it done by then.”
He nodded, and mounted Happy who had come with him, “Got it, I’ll see you then- oh, and, how are Lis and Mira?”
Elfman gave him a pump of his fist, “They’re the men, as usual!”
He rolled his eyes, “Well, tell your sisters I said hi.”
“Will do!” Elfman smiled, “Oh!” he called right before he took off, “Lisanna wanted to apologize for not being able to make it to your wedding. She did get you and Lucy a gift, though. I don’t have it today, but I’ll make sure to bring it on Monday.”
“Oh, okay. Tell her that Lucy and I said thanks, then.”
Elfman smiled, “Will do!”
“See ya, Elfman!” He called, and took off on Happy.
The Strauss siblings were a family that he had befriended during the war. He had originally mistaken them for Elbman and their sisters, however, it was soon quite clear to him that they were completely different people. While Mira and Mina were quite similar, they were definitely very different. The Special Corps would assist the Dragon Corps from time to time, which had brought him closer to the small family. At first, when he could sense their curse affinity magic, signalling to him that they had demon blood like himself, he had thought they would notice that he too had the same magic, but it seemed that they were never able to make that connection. Mirajane, Mira as she was usually referred to, was one of the strongest soldiers in the war he had ever met. Honestly, he didn’t think she’d be at first, but he soon put her on par with Erza, despite her rank being lower. The three of them were all masters of transformation magic, something that Igneel would use to take on a human form, and Mirajane did try to teach it to him one time, but while he could temporarily take the form of Lucy, he couldn’t give himself a human form, and even when he looked like Lucy, his wings were still present. Besides, the transformation felt unnatural, and he could only hold it for a few minutes. It seemed useless to him.
However, as members of the Special Corps that transformation magic that they had was extremely helpful in their individual missions. As someone in the Dragon Corps, it wasn’t as helpful, and he didn't like it, so he never practiced it. Fire was more effective anyway. He landed with Happy outside of their home, which had a long stretch of hard rock, he assumed, stretching out from a gate like door. Lucy told him that it was a garage, and it was for automotives, but he didn’t like automotives, and didn’t see the need for them in the first place, because he and Happy could fly. Still, Lucy was insistent, saying that she could use one if they weren’t there to take her anywhere, or something like that. So, he didn’t destroy it.
“Natsu.” Lucy grumbled as he made it to the door.
“I’m gonna take a shower, don’t worry.”
She frowned, crossing her arms as she blocked the doorway.
“And Happy’s going to take one, too.”
She sighed, “What in the world did you hunt in order to get covered in blood like this?”
“We got a big bear today!” He smiled, and moved his hands to show her, “I think it was about this big!”
She covered her eyes, “I don’t want to see your bloody hands, Natsu.”
“Oh,” he hid his hands behind his back, “I forgot to lick them clean, sorry, Luce.”
“Lick them-” she put a hand up to her mouth, and she held the door, her cheeks inflated for a second, and he instantly knew she was gagging at the thought.
“Oh, sorry, um… clean them in the creek?” He shrugged.
She shook her head, and gestured to the hose that was attached to the waterline under their house, “Rinse off with that before you come in and take a shower, and Happy is not coming inside.”
“Fine.” He grumbled.
Lucy shook her head, and went back inside the house. She didn’t think she’d ever understand why he liked to hunt all the time. She supposed while they were living on the mountain, in his cabin it made sense, but now that they were living in this house, in a developing neighborhood, it didn’t quite add up to her why he hunted, when there was a market just a couple blocks down from where they lived. Still, she had already gotten used to living in this house for the past month, and now they were going to have to temporarily stay in Natsu’s cabin for a month, again. She lived with him in that cabin for a little over two months, and while she did like being so close to him all the time, she was not cut out for mountain life, and really did not want to experience it ever again.
She sighed as she stared at his cabin again, having ridden Happy up here, she was not going to be trekking that monstrous climb again. The construction workers said that they’d work as quickly as possible on their house, because they had other houses to get to, but it would take a month at the quickest. Who knew her decision to have their house built into the mountain would bite her in the rear like this? Plus, another hefty sum was needed to cover the costs, too, which she was not in the slightest not surprised about. It was much more than she had originally anticipated it being. Her and Natsu did share expenses, but they had their own accounts, too. Natsu wanted to just merge their accounts entirely when they visited the bank to create a joint account after they had come back from their honeymoon, but before they had moved into their house. She did debate on if that was the best course of action. While it would be nice to have a joint account, and they did open one, she chose, and insisted, that it was financially more responsible to have their own separate accounts, too. Natsu did grumble about that for a few days claiming that she doesn’t trust him, which was ridiculous, she trusted him with her life without a second of a second thought. He was her whole world, and she wanted him to know that, but she also didn’t want to waste finances.
She pulled up the chest that they used to use as a table when they lived in this cabin, and slammed her books down on the chest, and sat down on Happy’s blanket all folded up underneath her. While they were here, she was going to make sure to do some studying. She never had gotten to finish school, due to the war, and she didn’t like that at all. Education was important, she had to make sure that she could at least do some studying of her own, even if she wasn’t going to be going to school.
“What are you doing?” Natsu asked, as he climbed out of the hatch, pulling another chest with him as he did so.
“I’m studying.”
“What are you studying?” He asked, as he sat down next to her, “And, is that Happy’s bed?”
“Yes, it is, I’m not sitting on the floor if I’m gonna be studying for a while, I have to have something comfortable to sit on, and this is the best thing you have.”
“Then study on the bed.” He gestured with his thumb to the creaky bed that she had gotten for a good deal over the phone when she first moved in with him.
She made a face, “Ugh, no, that’s not comfortable enough.”
He rolled his eyes, “That’s what I kept saying, but look at where we are right now because of your insistence on beds.”
She pushed her hand in his face, pushing him away, “The bed at our house is comfortable, for your information, and, after sleeping on that for a month, this wretched thing in here is the worst thing to have ever been invented.”
“That’s what I kept saying.” He muttered, pulling her hand out of his face, “What are you studying, though?” He asked, scooting next to her again, and resting his head on her shoulder.
“Just some basics.”
“Understanding Dragon-kin Anatomy, The History of the Dragon War, The Equality Campaign’s Deepest Struggles, Interracial Marriages: The Biology of Mixed Races-”
“It’s studying.” She quickly snapped, covering up the books with her arms and notebook.
He laughed, and pulled one of the books out from under her, as he sat up, “Dragon-kins and How To Raise Them doesn’t exactly sound like a studying book.”
“It is.” She snapped, attempting to grab it back from him.
He leaned back with it, stretching it back so she couldn’t reach, “No, I wanna see what this is about.”
“Natsu Dragneel!”
He stuck his tongue out at her as he stood up, “Heartfilia~.”
She rolled her eyes, “Give me back my book.”
“No.” He replied and flipped it open, “Oh! A table of contents!”
“Natsu!” she scrambled to her feet.
“Hold on, hold on…” He muttered, backing up from her.
“You-”
“‘Unit 1: How were dragon-kins born?’ Sounds interesting.”
“Natsu!” She exclaimed, as she attempted to grab it from him, but he swung it out of her reach, before pushing her back with his wings.
“‘Unit 2: The dragon-kin’s biology’ oh? Oh!” He exclaimed, turning the book to face her and pointing to a chapter as he protected himself from her hands with his wings.
“Natsu, give it back, please?”
“No, no, no, I’m interested in this chapter here,” he turned the book back to him, “‘Understanding the reproductive organs of dragon-kin.’”
“Natsu!” Lucy exclaimed, attempting to climb over his wings.
“Oh, and there’s another chapter titled, ‘Mixing dragon-kin genes, the most compatible races’ which sounds interesting, too.”
“Natsu!” She exclaimed, and as she was pushed away again, she decided to try and crawl under his little barrier he had created.
“The third unit seems interesting, too, Lucy!” He exclaimed, as he pushed her away with his wing again.
“You’re not making this fair.” She grumbled.
He stuck his tongue out at her, “Don’t you want to know what the third unit is called?”
“No, Natsu, I don’t.” She already knew what it was called, she had briefly skimmed the units when she had picked the books to buy at the bookstore.
“‘Unit 3: Dominating your dragon-kin.’” He looked up at her, and a wicked smirk played across his lips, “Domination, huh?”
Her face heated up, “Natsu, that’s not what it’s about-”
“Yeah, uh-huh.” He replied, pushing her away with his wing again, “Look at these chapter titles in the unit, Lucy. ‘Best tools to get your dragon-kin to submit.’ ‘Disciplining your dragon-kin.’ ‘Restraints for your dragon-kin…’” He trailed off, and silently read the chapter titles.
“Natsu, wait, no!” She exclaimed, attempting to grab the book from him again, but instead, he blocked her with his wing, and sat down on the ground, suddenly flipping through the book, deeper into it. She groaned, “Natsu, it’s not about that kind of stuff, yeah, they worded the chapters weirdly but-”
“Give me a second, Lucy.” He whispered, probably harsher than he had intended.
She sighed, and quickly spoke, trying to give an explanation before he actually read anything in it, “Look, this book was recommended by the bookstore worker, they got it from the adult-”
“Lucy.” He interrupted her, “I said give me a second.”
“Natsu.”
He scanned the pages of the unit he landed on, and she watched as his pupils turned to slits the more he scanned the pages. His scales started to come out again. She attempted to grab the book from him, but he stopped her, with his wings, again. His brows furrowed. He looked up at her, and flipped the book around for her to see the picture, “This hurts like hell, why would they write this?”
Her eyes widened, too embarrassed to admit that she had bought the book. She sighed, and grabbed the book from him, turning it around and briefly reading the descriptions, “Because this book looks like it talks about role play, and BDSM, in this unit at least.”
“What?”
She looked down at the picture, the wings of the dragon-kin in the illustration were strapped together, and their face was blindfolded, with their hands and legs tied. She knew he was talking about the wings, though. “It’s not like I’d do those things, but the other chapters, and units had intrigued me, which was why I bought it.”
“What’s BDSM though?”
She blinked, and looked up at him, “Oh, well…” she groaned, “you know, doing…” she pointed to the picture, “these kinds of things to your partner during… sex?”
He frowned, “You’d hurt me during sex?” He dramatically placed a hand to his chest.
“It’s consensual.”
He furrowed his brow, “But you’d do it?”
She shook her head, “I wouldn’t, of course, but-”
He snatched the book from her, “You know,” he looked at the picture, “this…” he sighed, “This is what they do to dragon-kins when they traffic them.”
Her eyes widened, “How… how would you…” no she knew how he'd know, her eyes shifted down to the burn scar on his right wrist.
He sighed, realizing he brought down the mood, and got up off the floor, “I guess, I get it, if it’s consensual or whatever, but I just can’t picture a dragon-kin consenting to that when it hurts as much as it does.” As long as Lucy didn't blindfold him or tie up his wings, he actually might be okay with it, himself, since he trusted her.
“I’ll return the book, Natsu-”
“And, the other chapter titles, too…” he flipped the pages some more, “Ow… what the hell?”
She stood up, and looked over his shoulder at the part of the book he flipped to, “What the hell?”
He looked over at her, “You bought this.”
“I didn't read it before buying it, though.” She reached over his shoulder and grabbed the book, “What chapter is this?” she flipped a couple pages, “‘Disciplining your dragon-kin’? This isn’t discipline, it’s plain out torture.” She groaned, “And what’s with this wording in the chapter?” She flipped to the publication data page, and looked for the publication date. “This is the most newly updated edition, and yet they didn’t get rid of that chapter?”
“Lucy-” He should have known that the book would have those kinds of things in it, and now he made Lucy upset.
“No, this is ridiculous!” She exclaimed, “All I wanted was to get some proper education, specifically in raising dragon-kin, and they have to throw this in my face when my husband is dragon-kin in today’s society after the war? What? This is the newest edition? Bullshit, it's the newest edition. If it truly was the newest edition, they wouldn’t have a whole chapter that’s as dehumanizing as this one is. I’m going to have a word with this publishing company, because this is completely unacceptable.” She turned around, “Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia.”
“Yes?”
“Fly me to the publishing company address in this book.”
“What?”
“Wait, is that too commanding? I-”
“No, no, it’s fine, I’m just surprised you want me to fly you, and not Happy.”
She sighed, “Well… I…” She paused, wait, was it a good idea for her to arrive with Natsu or not? If the publishing company allowed these chapters in the book, that was meant to be an educational adult book, then could she trust them if she brought Natsu there?
“What’s the address?” He asked, looking at the page she had flipped to.
“No, Natsu, it’s okay, I’ll just go there myself-”
“Nah, it’s fine.” He smiled, “I wanna fly with you, again, let’s go!”
She straightened out her clothes once they landed, as Natsu combed his fingers through her hair. He had gone a lot faster than she had anticipated, and she didn’t think he could actually fly that fast, and yet here they were at the publishing company of that wretched book. She took a deep breath, and looked at her husband.
“Do I look demanding?”
He kissed her, “You look beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes, “Not what I was asking.”
“But it’s the truth.” He shrugged.
She spun on her heel, and marched up to the door, swinging them open as dramatically as possible. Natsu followed her in. She looked around the lobby of the publishing company, before marching up to the front desk. People were giving her tons of space, and she turned around to see Natsu snap his wings back to his back and smile. She sighed, and turned back around.
“I want to talk to whoever approved this book to be published.” She demanded, slamming the book onto the counter of the reception desk.
The person at the desk looked down at the book before back up at her, and to the person who was behind her. “Was there an issue with the book?”
“An issue with the book?” She exclaimed, and opened it up to flip to the pages that had made her husband go all silent on her. “Of course there is an issue with the book!”
“What might be the issue?”
“What might be the issue?” Lucy repeated, and slammed her hands on the counter, “The equality campaign has been over for well over a decade, and you’re still allowing your company to be publishing things like this?”
They blinked and looked down at the pages she had opened to. “If you’re not satisfied with these-”
“Not satisfied?” Lucy exclaimed, before rolling her eyes, “This book was recommended to me because I wanted to know how to raise my future child, and low and behold there’s… babe?” she asked, waving Natsu over, “Can you explain to her why these chapters are an issue?”
“Huh?” he asked, looking down at the book, “What am I explaining?”
She tapped the book, “Why these chapters are an issue.”
“Oh.” He replied, “Because this is what traffickers did to us prior to branding and selling us.”
“See.” Lucy exclaimed, “You can’t have that kind of stuff in a book!”
The person at the reception desk smiled, “Look, I get your frustration, but these chapters are BDSM, they’re supposed to have the domination-”
“I don’t care if they’re that or not!” Lucy yelled, “Look, what is with this wording here, huh? Why does it speak as if my husband is my property? We’re not twenty years ago, we’re today. You couldn’t have-”
“Look, I’m sorry if this book offended you, but-”
“Offended me?” Lucy repeated, and grabbed Natsu’s arm, “Your book is dehumanizing to my husband.”
“I’m sorry, but-”
“My husband fought in a war to save your stupid asses, and you choose to publish a book that’s dehumanizing to him and dehumanizing to his race?”
“Again, I’m sorry if this book offended you and your husband, but-”
“I want you to recall all of the books.”
“What?” They sighed, “That’s not my decision to make-”
“Then tell the person in charge!”
“Lucy.” Natsu whispered in her ear, “I’m fine.”
She abruptly turned to him, “Well, I’m not. They’re making me upset!”
“Want me to burn the place down?” He whispered.
Her eyes widened, and she laughed, “No, babe, let’s not do that yet.” She eyed the person at the counter, before spinning around, and marching out of the publishing company.
“What?” the person exclaimed, and hurried around the counter rushing to stop them from leaving.
Lucy crossed her arms as they stood in front of her, “I’m leaving.”
“You can’t burn down our company, that’s-”
She rolled her eyes, “Babe, burn it down.”
Natsu’s eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers, as if they were a match, lighting a flame between the two of them. “Really?”
“No!” the person exclaimed, grabbing her husband’s hand, attempting to put out the fire, only to recoil immediately upon feeling the heat of his hand.
“Then recall all of those books.”
“So, I can’t set it on fire?”
She patted his arm, “Next time, babe.”
“I’ll contact our CEO, please, please, please don’t set the place on fire.”
She looked over to Natsu, “That depends on if you’re going to recall the books or not.”
The person sighed, “Please, wait in our lobby, we have coffee and snacks, I’ll phone our CEO.”
Lucy huffed, and marched over to the lobby area, with Natsu in tow.
“You know, Lucy.” He muttered, as she poured herself a cup, “I’m really fine with it.”
She shook her head, “There’s no way you’re fine with it, Natsu. You, and the rest of the dragon-kin fought so hard in the war, and these people are publishing books like that. I can’t believe it.”
He poked her nose before she could take a drink of her coffee, “Then why’d you buy it?”
She glared at him, as a smirk played on his lips. She placed her coffee back down on the counter, and poked his side, “I was trying to study about how to raise our eventual child so that I didn’t go in blind.”
He laughed, and leaned down, “Well, our child and you will be in the same boat then.”
She blinked, “What do you mean?”
He covered his eyes with his hands, “Blind.”
“What?”
He took his hands down, “You know, ‘cause babies are born blind.”
She tilted her head, “I mean, it’s close to being born blind, I guess. They can’t see very far, but they can still see.”
He nodded, “Well, yeah, technically, I guess, they can see… but not for a while after they’re born.”
“What are you talking about? Babies can see.”
He placed a hand on his hip, “How would they be able to see if their eyes are covered.”
She poked his nose, “Do you think babies don’t open their eyes when they’re first born? Sure, some babies don’t, but-”
“What? No.” He leaned against the counter, wings small enough that they weren’t being pressed, “Anna and my mother explained it to me when I was little.” He rolled his eyes, before closing them and pressing the outer corners of his eyes with his ring fingers, “I asked them about this.” He opened them and looked at her.
She jumped back, “What the fuck!” She exclaimed, “What is that?” He faced her with this scale like film over his eyes.
He closed his eyes and pressed on the inner corners of his eyes, before opening them again, and blinking a few times, “To protect your eyes from the water, obviously.”
She blinked, “How come… how come I’ve never seen you do that before?”
“‘Cause I don’t like doing it.” He shrugged, “but Anna explained it to me back then.”
She reached up, and gently pressed on the outer corner of one of his eyes, he blinked, and that weird scale-like film was covering his eye again. “That’s… can you see?”
He shrugged, pressing the inner corner of his eye, and blinking, removing the film, “Not really. It does make it easier to see underwater, though.”
“You’re so unique.”
He raised a brow, “Are you saying you don’t have that?”
“No, of course I don’t have that.” She sighed, “This is the first time I’ve ever heard about it.”
“Huh. Weird.”
She rolled her eyes, and took a sip of her coffee, “I think it’s more weird that you think everyone is like that.”
“Is it?” He muttered.
“Yeah, but…” she hummed to herself for a second, as she recalled something she read in a book, “Oh! I remember reading about scales coming off the eye when dragon-kin are born…” she looked over at him, “Why… why would you still have them now?”
“What do you mean coming off the eye?”
“Like… they fall off the eye.”
He frowned, “I mean sure, I guess. It was a hassle to get them out of my eye when I was shedding my old scales back when I was still growing.”
“What?”
“Well, because your eye is super uncomfortable with that extra layer in there, so I had to practically dig my nail in there to pull out the shedding scale, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
“Ugh!” She shook her head, “Stop, stop, don’t explain it!”
He tilted his head down, tapping her on the shoulder, “Why? What’s the issue?”
“It’s gross, babe.”
Natsu laughed, “Your expressions are the best, Luce.”
She slapped his shoulder.
“My, my, my, my, what an honor it is to meet you, bon!” someone exclaimed, making his way over to them. He was very lanky, and had an eye-glass on one eye. He looked every bit how she expected the CEO of this publishing firm to look like.
“Hello.” She frowned.
“Salut, mademoiselle,” the man placed a hand out for her.
“I’m married.” Lucy replied, putting her left hand into the guy’s hand, and shook it.
The man blinked, “My apologies, madame.”
She rolled her eyes, and took her hand from his, wiping it off with a napkin. Natsu held in a laugh at her action. “Are you the head here?”
“Indeed, Madame. Monsieur Sol at your service!”
“Yes, thank you.” She sighed, “I’m sure you were informed that I requested you recall all of your books of Dragon-kin and How to Raise Them, because it is insanely racist and dehumanizing.”
“Ah, indeed I have.” Sol eyed Natsu beside her. “I’ll even hold a consultation with you about it, General Heartfilia, right?”
She frowned. So he knew who she was, and still addressed her as mademoiselle. Their wedding had been front page news when it had happened, and by no means were they secretive about it, either. “Look, mister Sol, but what I want doesn’t need a consultation. We’re living in a completely different time than before, and it wasn’t even right to do so before. I can’t believe you’re publishing books like that, I-”
“Oui, oui, oui.” Sol replied, and Lucy noticed his eyes drifting towards Natsu again.
She took a step in front of her husband, “I’m speaking to you.”
“Oui, oui, oui, I’m hearing you.” He gently pushed her out of the way, “I just had never seen such a man!”
“What?” Lucy asked, “Excuse me.”
“Miss, I can guide you to the room for the consultation.” the person from the desk muttered.
She rolled her eyes, “Why on earth would I need a consultation?” She groaned, “This is a publishing company.”
“Non, non, non,” Sol smiled, getting his face all up into Natsu’s, “Un bel homme!” He clapped his hands together, and turned around, “Might I speak with him?”
“What?” Lucy asked, “This is ridiculous, I-”
“No.” Natsu answered, making a face, “I don’t like you.”
The man clicked his tongue, “non, non, non. Refusing wouldn’t do you any good, monsieur. Think about Igneel, and how you-”
Natsu punched the man square in the face, and Lucy’s eyes widened as she saw her husband’s scales all out, and his pupils constricted into slits. Natsu growled, “Don’t you dare bring up Igneel.”
“Monsieur!” the person from the desk exclaimed, rushing over and helping their CEO up from the ground.
Instead, the man seemed to be remolding himself, which would have come as a surprise to her if she hadn’t fought in the Spirits Corps. There were quite a few people with elemental magic like that. Earth magic, at least, it was a form of it, at least. A mixture of earth magic and transformation magic. “Natsu…” she whispered, placing a hand on her husband’s arm.
“My apologies,” Sol muttered, extending a hand, “I didn’t mean to make you agitated, monsieur.”
Natsu growled, “Bullshit.”
“Natsu.”
He groaned, “Let’s go, Lucy-”
“We can’t go, yet, Natsu, they haven’t agreed to recall all of those books yet.”
He groaned, “Then I’m going to wait outside, Lucy.”
“What?” Lucy asked as he pushed himself off the counter. “Why?”
“I mean, do you think you can’t handle it on your own?”
She shook her head, “Of course I can handle it on my own, Natsu, but-”
“See, I know you can, too, but- Hey!” He exclaimed, snapping around.
“What are you doing?” Lucy exclaimed, instinctively, her hands reached for her side, even though she had brought no weapon with her.
The stupid CEO stretched Natsu’s wing out, again, ignoring her husband’s demands to let go, and limboed under it, as if he was examining it in the most strange way possible. He clapped his hands, “What was wrong with le livre, madame?”
Lucy frowned as that weird man stood between her and her husband, “It was dehumanizing to my husband, monsieur. So,” she grit her teeth, “rappelez-vous les livres, or we will brûlez tout.” She got up in his face, “Do you understand, Monsieur Sol?”
He smiled, “Non, non, non.”
“Oui, oui, oui.” She frowned.
The man played with his mustache as he swung himself back and forth at the hips, “Non, non, non, madame. There was nothing wrong with le livre.”
“Nothing wrong with it?” Lucy exclaimed.
Sol turned around to face her husband, “After all, you, madame, are the only one with the problem with it. Your bel homme doesn’t seem to have a problem with it at all.”
She groaned, “I’ll get the book banned, you-” She stopped as she noticed her husband frozen in place. “Get your nasty hand off of him.”
The man turned around, “I don’t think you understand, madame. Keeping beasts like this tame is what le livre is for.”
“Beast? You’re telling me, to my face, when my husband is right there, that he’s a beast years after the equality campaign, and when that man behind you is the reason you guys are still alive?”
“Non, non, non,” the CEO shook his head, “I’m giving you the facts. Regardless of-” he was cut off, by being flung across the room by her husband’s hand.
“Shut the fuck up!” He roared. All of his scales were out again, when they had only just disappeared again. His horns were out this time, too, but… they looked different than usual. He had his eyes tightly closed, though, and was breathing heavily.
“Monsieur!” the person from the desk exclaimed again, rushing over to the annoying man.
“Natsu, are you okay?” Lucy asked, hurriedly grabbing his hand, and massaging it like she had done multiple times before when he got stressed.
He frowned, taking a deep breath, and bringing her hand to his face, pressing it to his nose. His horns shrunk in size, and looked again how she remembered them looking. Why had they looked different before? He opened his eyes, and let go of her hand, and marched over to the CEO. “You’re going to listen and obey exactly what my wife says, or I’ll burn you and your wretched company into a pile of ashes.”
“You-you-you wouldn’t-”
“Try me.” He snapped, punching a fist into the wall, burning right through it, but using just the right amount of heat that he didn’t set flame to it by his action. He turned around, and made his way back to his wife. She was staring at him with wide eyes. He sighed, she was going to ask him what had made him snap like that, wasn’t she? He wasn’t exactly ready to tell her that story, yet, and honestly, he didn’t know if he’d ever be. However, if she earnestly asked, he was sure he’d cave under her sweet eyes and comforting smile. “Stupid hypnosis magic…”
“Are you alright, babe?” She asked, her voice laced with concern, and her brows furrowed upwards as she reached a hand up to cup his face.
He smiled into her touch, inhaling that calming scent of hers, and allowed his body to revert back to a more normal appearance. “Yes, I’m fine. Are you?”
“You'll be arrested for arson if you set fire to-” the person from the desk stammered.
Natsu turned around, “It'd be an accident.”
Lucy grabbed his arm, “One that occurred from certain people pushing him to his limits.”
He looked down at her, half surprised she was catering to his antics.
“Everyone knows that fire dragon-kin's scales get warmer when they're agitated.”
“I just got a little too heated.”
“Happened to sit down in a chair that was flammable when trying to calm himself down.”
“And BAM!”
“The place is on fire.” Lucy smirked, pressing her cheek against her husband's shoulder.
“We have witnesses!” The person exclaimed.
“You mean the people who all ran off when my husband first got agitated because you kept pushing his buttons?” Lucy asked, and turned to her husband, “Where are they now, babe?”
“Not within human hearing range.”
She turned back to the two of them.
“Madame, Monsieur,” Sol said as he sat up, “my sincerest apologies, we shall recall des livres. Please, just…” he stopped as his eyes landed on Natsu, “We have an auteur who writes about the different races, and would improve greatly with an interview. Si vous plaît.”
Lucy frowned, “What?”
“We'll recall des livres.”
She sighed, “You want to interview my husband?”
“Not us, our author!” The person from the desk exclaimed.
Lucy crossed her arms, “What are you going to ask?”
“About dragon-kin upbringing and-”
“I don't want to relive that, so no.” Natsu immediately replied. “Luce and I were generals in a war, you don't have the upper hand here.”
Honestly, they probably should have used the general card sooner, now that she thought about it, however, something still didn’t sit right with her on why her husband had gotten all frozen up there for a second, and how his horns were different than they usually were, even if it was only for a moment. What she probably should have done was talk to him about it, ask about it, but instead, she just kept thinking about it. She thought that maybe his horns weren’t always the same, and had even asked him to periodically show her his horns in the most casual ways possible-
“You’ve been asking about my horns a lot recently, Lucy.” Natsu muttered, as he was organizing old albums in Igneel’s cave one day.
“No, I haven’t.” Lucy replied, crossing her arms, and pouting as she looked away from him.
“Uh-huh.” He muttered, and turned back to his albums, “Why do you want to see them so badly anyway?”
She frowned, she probably was a bit more obvious than she had intended to be. “I was just curious about them, that’s all.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Well, you know, why wouldn’t I be?” she muttered, as she wandered deeper into the cave.
“Because you never really mentioned them much before.” He muttered.
“I just think I came to the realization that I’ve never seen their full length.”
“Sure you have.”
She turned back around, “You know, turns out all those books were recalled.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good.”
She squatted next to him, “And it made me start thinking.”
He looked over at her, “You only just started thinking? Wow, that explains a lot.”
She slapped his arm, “Not like that, idiot.”
“I’m just saying, thinking is a good thing, Lucy.”
“No, not that.” She tapped his forehead, “it made me start thinking about when you snapped at the publishing company.”
“When I snapped?” he asked, “They were treating you like nothing, Lucy.”
“Thanks for standing up for me, babe, but not about that.”
“Then about what?” he asked, as he turned over a vinyl in his hand, “Did this one come before or after th-”
“About your horns.”
He dropped it.
“Oh, be careful.” Lucy whispered, catching the record before it hit the stone. She looked up at him, in the dimly lit light from the lamp that she had brought down here, she could see his eyes were slits, “You okay?”
He blinked, and his pupils dilated again, “Thanks, Luce.”
“Are you alright, babe?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, why?” He slid the vinyl into the box, and started counting them, to make sure that they were all there.
“Because your eyes went all reptile like when I mentioned your horns on that day…”
He raised a brow, “What do you mean?”
She frowned, “Natsu, I’ll just ask.” She took a deep breath, “Why were your horns different that day?”
“What are you talking about?” he laughed.
She sighed, “These past couple of weeks, your horns have always been the same, and were always the same during the war, and leading up to it, but that day your horns were definitely different.”
He rolled his eyes, “That’s stupid, why would my horns be different?” Of course, he knew why, he just didn’t want to reveal that form of his to Lucy, he despised it, after all, so she didn’t need to know about it. At least, for as long as he could keep it from her.
“I thought it was weird,” Lucy began, but continued before he could say anything, “So I did some research on it.”
“Yeah?”
“Apparently, it’s not possible for a dragon’s or dragon-kin’s horns to change shape or appearance, or color. I thought maybe the books were wrong-”
“Sometimes they’re really wrong.” Natsu interrupted her.
“Yes, I know, that’s why I asked Gajeel and Wendy if their horns ever changed shape or color. They said that that’s impossible.” She leaned forward, “So, I want to know why yours do.”
“Th-they don’t.” He grumbled, and stood up.
She grabbed his arm, “You stuttered, Natsu. They do, don’t they?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied, and made his way to the ladder that leads to the inside of the cabin, freeing himself from her hold.
“Are you saying I was seeing things, babe?”
He shook his head, before pulling himself up, and tumbling into the cabin. Happy jumped upon seeing him. He groaned, and made his way over to his feline friend, “Happy, Lucy has gone crazy.”
She climbed up the ladder after him, “I have not. I can even draw what they looked like for you, too.”
He turned around as she put a box down onto the ground. “You can draw them?”
“Yes.” She replied, “I’m not the best artist, but I can show you how they were different at the very least.”
He grabbed the box from her, “There’s no need for that, Lucy, because my wings don’t change.”
She sighed, “I wasn’t talking about your wings, Natsu, I was talking about your horns. Why? Are you going to tell me your wings change, too?”
He messed up. “Other than changing in size, no, they don’t.” He replied, “And that’s the same for my horns.”
“Sure.” She sighed, and grabbed the box back from him, “Let me draw them out for you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I’m going to. I have to convince you, somehow, that I had seen horns that were different than your usual horns.”
He grabbed the box back from her, “You really don’t have to.”
She smirked, whether or not he realized it, he was admitting, by his actions, that his horns were different that day. She snatched the box back from him, “No, I want to. Clearly, you don’t believe me when I said your horns were different-”
“Because they weren’t.” Natsu exclaimed, grabbing the box, his horns and scales were out. “They weren’t different, Lucy, I wouldn’t have let them be.”
She blinked, “Natsu, honey, are you alright? I’m sorry.”
He looked up at her, eyes wide, “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m sorry for pushing you, I didn’t mean to-”
He handed her back the box, “I didn’t mean to yell.”
She placed the box down, “No, I really shouldn’t have pushed you like that, I-”
He took a step back from her, “Give me a second, Lucy.” He sighed, his wings wrapping around himself, as Happy got up from his spot, and purred as he rubbed his large body against him.
“You don’t need to share.” Lucy sighed, “I didn’t mean to keep pushing your buttons, Natsu.”
He shook his head, “No, if you wanna-”
“I don’t.” Lucy replied instantly, as she noticed the genuine terror that was in her husband’s eyes. “I don’t want to know anymore.”
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Lucy rolled over in the bed, to look at her husband all comfortable again. After moving back into their house, it took almost another whole month before Natsu had figured out how to sleep in the bed without suffocating, as he called it, her with his wings… again. She hadn’t thought it would take that long, but it did. They were getting closer to six months of marriage, and she and Natsu still hadn’t gone all the way yet. It felt a little weird, especially since Levy had informed her that she got the test results back from the hospital confirming that she was pregnant. She poked her husband’s cheek. Plus, Juvia was pregnant, too, now, and she wasn’t, and yet, she was the only one who was actually married, so how was it that she still wasn’t pregnant? Sure, she wanted to go at her own pace, but maybe being married to such a competitive man, it made her feel like they were beating her in the race.
She poked his cheek, “Am I being too hasty?”
He grumbled a response, and yawned in his sleep.
Her eyes landed on his sharp canines, or fangs more like. She wondered if their future child would have sharp teeth like that. If that was the case, there was a high chance she could get bitten by those teeth. Natsu was always super careful with his teeth whenever they kissed, or even when he gnawed on her skin on occasion. She gently pushed down his lip to get a clearer view of those unique teeth.
“How sharp are they?” she muttered, and carefully stuck her finger into his open mouth. She poked the tip of the tooth, and brought her hand back, maybe she had poked his tooth too hard. She hadn’t expected it to truly be that sharp. She brought her hand up to look at her finger, it had a stinging sensation in it, her eyes widened as she saw the very small piercing hole that his tooth had made to the tip of her finger. “Very sharp, I guess.”
Natsu groaned, and closed his mouth, almost chewing to himself for a second, before his eyes snapped open. He made eye contact with her, and looked her over, “Are you okay?”
She blinked, “You were dead asleep.”
He sat himself up, and moved around her limbs, and her face, “Are you okay, though?”
She pushed him back down, “I’m alright, Natsu.”
He frowned, “I taste blood, Lucy.”
“Oh.” She showed him her finger, “I was just seeing how sharp your teeth are-”
His eyes widened, “I bit you?”
“What? No, of course not, I-”
“You’re hurt because of my teeth?”
“No,” she sighed, “I pressed a bit too hard on the tip and-”
“So, I bit you?”
“What? No, why do you keep coming to that conclusion-”
He turned around from her in the bed, wrapping his wings around himself as he did so, “I don’t want to hurt you, Lucy.”
“You didn’t.” She replied, “It was on me for being stupid-”
“But it was my teeth that hurt you.”
“Natsu.” She sighed, and scooted over to him, pushing down his wing so that she could talk to him. “What are you doing?” She asked as she saw his hands in his mouth.
“I’m getting rid of them.”
Her eyes widened, and she simultaneously covered his mouth and pulled his head away from his hands, “No. Stop.”
“Why?” He asked, as he pulled his head from her, and gently took her hands off his face.
“I’m not going to have you pull out your teeth, Natsu, that’s-”
He pushed his wing up, blocking her, “They hurt you, Lucy, and-”
“It was a small nick on my finger, Natsu, because of my stupidity-”
“You’re not stupid.”
She groaned, and pushed his wing back down, “Get your hands out of your mouth, Natsu.”
He pushed himself off the bed, “Yeah, they’ll probably bleed if I pull them out here.”
“Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia!” Lucy exclaimed as she watched him make his way over to the bathroom, pushing open the curtain - they hadn’t fixed the door from when Happy broke it, and she realized a little too late that she never asked the construction company to fix the door, so her makeshift door, a curtain, ended up being a more permanent replacement than she had intended for it to be - and closed it behind him without acknowledging her calling him. She groaned, and pushed herself out of the bed, “I know you can hear me, mister.” She grumbled, sliding open the curtain.
He glanced at her from the mirror, “Don’t worry I’ll take them out.”
“No, you’re not taking them out!” Lucy exclaimed, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard you say!”
He raised a brow at her.
“One of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard you say.” She corrected herself, and grabbed his face, turning him to her, “Why are you jumping to the conclusion that you don’t need your teeth?”
“They hurt you, Lucy. My fangs hurt you, so-”
“Because I was being stupid, Natsu. You don’t hurt me with your teeth when we kiss, or when you suck on me, so-”
“Not yet.” He countered, “And I don’t want it to ever happen, so let me pull them out.”
“No!” Lucy exclaimed, pulling him closer, “I don’t want you, too. If you do that, I’ll cry.”
“Don’t cry, Lucy, it’s just-”
She gently pushed open his mouth, “These teeth of yours, Natsu, I really really like them. Don’t get rid of them.”
He gently pulled her hands off his face, “Then what am I supposed to do, Lucy?”
“What?” She asked, “Don’t do anything, why do you need to get rid of your teeth?”
He gently cupped her face, “Because they’re dangerous, and there’s a chance I could seriously hurt you.”
“I don’t care, Natsu. You think I didn’t think of that the first time we kissed?”
He frowned, “I… Did I hurt you then?”
She groaned, “Natsu, no, you didn’t. But I know you have sharp teeth, Natsu, I like your sharp teeth. So I don’t want you to pull them out-” she noticed his eyes drifting to her nail kit, “or file them down. I like them just the way they are, and I don’t want them to be anything but.”
“And what if I hurt you again?”
“Then it was an accident, Natsu. Why-”
“Then I’ll make sure that the accident never happens.” He turned back to the mirror, and opened his mouth wide, and stuck his hand in his mouth.
Before he could dig his finger nails into the base of his tooth, she pulled his wings back, “I said stop!”
“Ow!” He exclaimed, and glared at her through the mirror, “Why’d you do that?”
Happy poked his head into the bathroom, when he had gotten inside the house, she didn’t know, but he also stared at Natsu with a look similar to her own. “Your teeth are staying just as they are in your mouth, Natsu.”
“Then they’ll hurt you.”
They were going in circles. She sighed, and looked down at Happy, “Then I’ll move away.”
“What? Why?” He exclaimed, instantly turning away from the mirror, and gently lifting her hands in his, “Why would you-”
She let go of his hands, and cupped his face, “Because I love my husband. I love all of him. I can’t let him destroy himself like that. You’re keeping your teeth, Natsu.” She nudged Happy with her hip, “Right, Happy?”
The feline rubbed his head against Natsu as a response.
“Happy agrees, Natsu. You put your nails under your teeth one more time, and I’m packing my bags.”
“That… that makes no sense.” He muttered, “If you love me, why would you leave me?”
“Because,” she cleared her throat, “I can’t have a husband claim to love me and then take away something I love.”
“What?”
“I love your teeth, babe, they’re a part of you, so don’t get rid of them.”
He frowned, but sighed a response, “Fine.”
She cupped his face, and kissed his lips, “Thank you, Natsu.”
He kissed her back, but left it at just a peck.
She frowned, “That’s it?”
He smiled, and kissed her again, but keeping his lips completely closed.
“Natsu.” She frowned, “You’re being stubborn. I want a kiss.”
He kissed her, “I gave you a kiss.”
She looked down at Happy, “Give us a moment, buddy,” she muttered, and the aq bar seemed to roll his one good eye and turned around, purposefully smacking Natsu in the face with his tail, and made his way out of their bathroom.
“Ouch, what was that for, Happy?” Natsu asked, rubbing his eye where his friend’s tail had hit him.
“Natsu.” Lucy demanded, “I want a kiss.”
“I keep giving you kisses.”
She frowned, “Oh, you know exactly what type of kiss I want, don’t give me that.”
He sighed, before kissing her so deeply on the lips she thought he’d actually open his mouth, but, even after she licked his lips in their kiss, he kept his own lips sealed shut. “There, a kiss.”
She gasped, “Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia!”
He made his way around her to get out of the bathroom, “It’s in the middle of the night, Lucy, why’d you-”
She spun him around, and pressed him against the wall, his wings sandwiched between himself and the wall, and he grimaced upon the impact. “I don’t want a shallow kiss, Natsu, I want you to devour me like before. Why aren’t you?”
“I’m not going to devour you, Lucy.” He muttered, he wasn’t going to risk hurting her again.
She sighed, and grabbed his face, “You can kiss me without hurting me with your fangs, Natsu, you’ve done it plenty of times before.”
“Yes… but now I’m not going to take that chance, Luce.”
She frowned, “Okay…” she stood on her tip toes so that they were at eye level, or, as close to eye level as they could get, “I’m not letting you go to bed until I feel your tongue in my throat, Natsu.”
He frowned, “That’s kind of impossible.”
She rolled her eyes, “No, it’s completely possible, because you’ve done it before.”
He shook his head, “Not if I don’t want to open my mouth and risk hurting you.”
She groaned, “Natsu, honey, babe, dragon, my dear, how on earth do you think we can have a child if you don’t want to open your mouth?”
He stared at her blankly, “Uh, last I checked, my mouth isn’t the thing that’s needed to make babies, Luce.”
She stared at him blankly, “And, uh, last I checked, I don’t like it when there’s no loosening up beforehand.”
“I can do that with my hand.”
“Mhmm,” she grabbed his hand, “So these nails of yours are okay, but your teeth aren’t?”
“I’ll trim them, I was meaning to, anyway, I nearly scratched you last time.”
She groaned, “Natsu, honey, I like it when you suck on me, okay?”
He frowned, “Then… think of a different way.”
She pressed her head against his chest, “Honey, you’re going to make me hate you.”
“Why?” he sounded offended.
She smirked, for a second, before looking up at him with her best pleading eyes, “I don’t want to hate my husband.”
“Then don’t, Lucy, why would you-”
“But how can the two of us get along when there’s no foreplay?”
“What?” He sighed, “Lucy, we-”
“And…” she continued, turning his head down to look at her, “I like seeing my husband at his sexiest…” she pouted, and abruptly turned around, “But if he’s not going to play with me, showing those sexy teeth of his, I don’t think we could ever have children.”
“What?” He exclaimed, spinning her back around, “What are you talking about?”
She sighed, looking away from him, “My husband must not love me anymore.”
“What? No, of course I love you, Lucy, why would you-”
“I guess it’s time to move out…”
“Lucy stop!” He exclaimed, and she noticed his horns trying to poke through his hair again, and his scales becoming visible on his face. She got him. She hid her smirk under her pout. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll kiss you the way you want me to.”
She looked up at him, “Prove it, baby.”
He looked a little taken aback by the word that she had never used for him before, but nevertheless he still leaned down and kissed her on the lips, sucking them for a bit, as if to earn the courage to open his mouth. Right when she was about to give up, he opened his mouth and forced hers open, sliding his tongue between her lips, giving her the incentive to pull him down closer to her, and shove her own tongue in his mouth. Their tongues danced together, as he guided hers away from his teeth with his own. He leaned forward, causing her to take a step backwards, and another, as his hand slid up her back, and the other cupped her face, pushing ever so gently but securely on her cheek, forcing her mouth to open wider. She nearly coughed, when she felt her own tongue shoved back into her mouth as he sucked on her lips. He pulled away from her, and licked his lips, before kissing their saliva off of her own.
“Happy?” he asked.
She frowned, “No.” She slid her hands down from around his neck, and wrapped her arms under his arms and wings at his back, “I want more, baby.”
He raised a brow, “Why are you calling me that?”
She tilted her head, as she tried to find where the zippers were on his shirt. “What are you talking about, baby?”
He frowned, “You never call me that, Luce.”
She puckered her lips and closed her eyes, “Give me more, I’m starving.”
He sighed, “Lucy, it’s well past midnight.”
She opened one eye as she found the zipper, this shirt he was wearing happened to only have one zipper it seemed. She should have guessed that, honestly, when she could feel, and had seen, the large hole in the back to accommodate both of his wings. “And? It’s not like either of us have something going on in the morning.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders, “I do, though. I’ve got to pick up the game from Elfman’s butcher shop before he sells it to someone else.”
She shook her head, “Elfman wouldn’t actually sell the game you hunted to someone else, Natsu.”
He rolled his eyes and kissed her forehead, “Besides, the best time to hunt is also early in the morning, and-”
“Baby.” Lucy interrupted him.
He snapped his attention completely to her again, “Who is this ‘baby’?”
She carefully unzipped his shirt, “My baby, right?”
“You’re not pregnant, Lucy, and zip my shirt back up.”
She grabbed the edges of the shirt, and pulled it around, “I’m not pregnant yet, baby.”
“Stop calling me that.” He grumbled, his brow furrowing, “You never call me that, I don’t like it.”
In a fluid motion, she pulled the shirt around, sliding her hands along the fabric as she did so, so that she could pull it over his head, leaving it just on his arms. “I can call my husband whatever I want, baby.”
He shivered, “No, no, no, I don’t like that one. What happened to ‘babe’?”
She shrugged, as he let her take his shirt off his arms, “I wanted to switch things up, can’t I do that?”
He frowned, “Just for that, I’m not gonna let you see my sexy teeth ever again, Lucy.”
“What?” She asked, “You can’t be serious. I just got you to agree not to hide them from me.”
He covered his mouth with his hand, “Then you shouldn’t have called me ‘baby’ because I have no idea who that is, and it’s not me.”
She pulled his hand down, to see him purse his lips.
She sighed, “Okay, fine, Natsu,” she handed him back the shirt, “I just wanted to have a nice moment with you while the mood was still set.”
He kept his mouth pursed, and nodded as he accepted his shirt again, and put it back on.
“I’m not even calling you that anymore, babe!”
He shook his head, backing up, to the doorway, and opening the curtain with his wing, “I’m going to go sleep on the couch.” He muttered, covering his mouth.
“Why the couch? Isn’t that more uncomfortable on your wings?”
“The couch at metal breath’s place.” He added.
“Natsu Dragneel.” She groaned, and followed him into the bedroom, “All this because I called you ‘baby’?”
He narrowed his eyes at her, “I’m not your baby, Lucy.”
“And uncover your mouth.”
“Who is your baby, Lucy, because it’s not me.”
“Natsu.”
“And I’m not Natsu Dragneel, either.”
“Natsu.”
He opened the door to the closet. “I’ll stop if you apologize.”
“What? Apologize for what? You’re the one who wanted to pull out your teeth, Natsu.”
“Yeah, to protect you, my wife, Lucy Heartfilia.”
“Babe, seriously.”
He backed into the closet, still giving her the same narrowed eyed stare.
“Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia!” Lucy exclaimed, swinging open the closet doors, “You’re not leaving in the middle of the night!”
He shook his head, “I’d prefer not to, Lucy Ashley Heartfilia, but my wife seems to have mistaken me for someone else.”
“How have I mistaken you for someone else?”
“Who is ‘baby’?”
“You, you are baby.”
He clicked his tongue, “Nope.”
She sighed, “Look, Natsu, is it that strange for me to want to call you by different pet names?”
“Yes.”
She grabbed his hand, pulling it off his mouth, “You’re being stubborn.”
“Yeah, I am. I’m not ‘baby’ Lucy.”
She sighed, “Would you put up a fight like this if I accidentally called you my boyfriend, or fiance, instead of-”
“Absolutely.” He answered immediately. “I’m your husband, Lucy. We had a ceremony and everything.”
“But my husband tried to tear his own teeth out a few minutes ago because I accidentally nicked my finger on them.”
“Yeah, and I’ll do it again.”
“You better not.”
“Apologize for calling me ‘baby’.”
“You’ve called me baby before, too, Natsu.”
He hummed for a second, “Um, no, I’ve never done that.”
“Why can’t I call you baby?”
He shook his head, “Because.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Well, I’m not your baby, am I? You don’t call me little dragon, you call me dragon, so why are you calling me baby?”
“I could call you little dragon-”
He spread his wings out.
“-but I won’t.” She groaned, “Natsu, come back to bed.”
He frowned.
“Seriously.”
He crouched down.
“Ugh, look, I’m sorry I called you ‘baby’ Natsu, but you need to apologize for wanting to tear out your teeth.”
He frowned, but stood up straight, and folding his wings again, “I’m sorry I wanted to pull out my teeth, Luce, but-”
“No buts. Try again.”
“I’m sorry I wanted to pull out my teeth.”
“And?”
“I won’t do it again.”
“Thank you.” She smiled triumphantly.
“And what about you?”
“I won’t call you baby ever again.”
“Thank you.” He smiled, and kissed her very sloppily on the lips, “Love you, babe.” He made his way around her and back into their bedroom. Why did it feel like she just lost?
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“What’s the matter? Trouble in paradise?” Levy asked as she sat down at the table, “And you know I can’t drink.”
She groaned, “Yes, I’m well aware.”
“Lucy’s upset about something, but she wouldn’t spill until you arrived, Levy.” Erza muttered.
“I can tell.” Levy muttered.
“So, what’s the issue?” Juvia asked, “did your husband fly away?”
She raised a brow, “Why?”
“I doubt that’s it.” Levy muttered, as Juvia poured the two of them glasses of water.
Lucy groaned, “Okay, look, Levy, I’m sure you can relate, right?”
“Maybe, depends on what it is.”
“Well…” she poured herself a glass of beer, “You see, the other day, Natsu and I were out at the market getting some much needed groceries, right?”
“Okay?” Juvia asked, “did something happen at the market?”
“Yes!” Lucy exclaimed, “Like, the equality campaign ended ages ago-”
“It was only a little over eleven years ago.” Levy muttered.
“Same thing.” Lucy sighed, “But tell me why the second I showed up with my husband, they started ignoring me, huh?”
“Oh,” Levy nodded, “I can kind of get that. There have been a few times where I’ve been shopping on my own, and, of course with some discomfort on their part, I’ve been able to get what I needed, but the second Gajeel is walking beside me, they start turning me away.”
“See!” Lucy exclaimed, “That’s just wrong on all fronts! What’s with the blatant discrimination!”
Erza sighed, “Yeah, and I’ve been working with Jellal and the Chairwoman to try and get that equality that we had hoped for back, but it still seems it’s not easy, even after all of these years. I did hear from Natsu, though, that it’s better than it used to be.”
“Oh, yeah, for sure, it’s better than it used to be.” Levy replied, “Gajeel used to be turned away by almost every business in town before the war, and now it’s barely any of them, as long as he complies to their wants. Same with me, half the places didn’t like it because ‘my feathers would leave a mess’ even though if anyone was smart enough they’d know that feathers only come off when faes are molting, obviously.” She groaned, “still, it is better than it used to be. Dragon-kin are just…”
“More discriminated against.” Juvia finished, “Gajeel has talked to Juvia about it a few times.”
Lucy groaned, “Yeah, but do they have to be that blatantly obvious?” She shook her head, and took a big drink of her beer, “And here’s the worst part, we finally found a place that would give us time of day, and then one of the people there asked me if I’m actually planning to have a child with him.” She slammed her hands on the table, “Are they insane! That’s my husband, of course I plan to have a child with him!”
“Lucy,” Erza muttered, as she took a sip of her own drink, “Calm down a bit.”
She groaned, “I would calm down, of course, but get this, sometimes Natsu would do the shopping on his own, right, and, I don’t know if he just sucks at bargaining, but everytime he tells me the total it’s way higher than it ought to be. The other day, he went and got eggs, bell peppers, and jalapenos, and it was nearly three times the cost that it was when I got the same amount.”
“Doesn’t Natsu suck at math, though?”
Lucy frowned, “A little, yeah, but he can do basic addition, and he’s got the memory of an elephant.”
“Maybe you need to find the right place to shop at.” Levy muttered, “Gajeel has found a place, I can give you the address of the market.”
“That’d be helpful.” Lucy replied, taking another drink.
“Make sure you eat, too.” Juvia muttered.
“I do get Lucy’s frustration, though.” Erza sighed, “That’s insane pricing.”
“Right?” Lucy exclaimed. “Plus, why can’t I have a kid with my husband, what’s it to them if I have a kid or not?”
“Not what we were talking about-” Levy muttered.
“Yeah!” Erza agreed, slamming down her empty glass, “Have a kid with that man and prove them all wrong!”
“I feel like they got off track.” Juvia muttered.
“How’d they get drunk so fast?”
“They were drinking before you arrived.” Juvia sighed.
Lucy whined, “That’s another problem, though!”
“The drinking?” Levy asked, taking a sip of her water, as she flipped the meat that everyone seemed to forget about.
“Natsu Dragneel.” Lucy cried, “Why is he so sexy!”
Levy spit out her water back into her cup, “Lucy, what?”
“Oh, yeah, and she’s been bragging about how sexy her husband is for a while, too.” Juvia shook her head, “Not as sexy as my darling Gray of course, though.”
“Uh-huh.” Levy muttered.
“I have to stop both of you girls there.” Erza smirked, and slammed a picture of Jellal holding her child onto the table, “There’s nothing sexier than your man holding your child.”
Lucy snatched the picture, “Natsu would look so sexy like that, for sure.”
Juvia smirked, “Juvia’s man will be holding Juvia’s child soon, too.”
“So will Gajeel.”
Lucy whined, “So why can’t Natsu!”
“What’s the issue?” Levy asked, “I thought you said you two were trying for a baby.”
“We are!”
“So?” Erza muttered, “Maybe you’re just trying on the wrong days.”
Lucy shook her head, “Can’t be on the wrong days, I’ve done so much research on it, and have been tracking the whole cycle each time.”
“Then is it Natsu’s issue?” Juvia asked.
“No!” Lucy exclaimed, “Natsu is extremely active!”
“So… you’re the issue?” Erza muttered.
Lucy groaned, “No, it’s just… recently, Natsu’s always asleep by the time I get the mood properly set.”
“Then wake him up.”
“How would that work?” Juvia asked.
“Oh!” Levy exclaimed, “You should trick him into wearing that underwear you bought before.”
Lucy groaned, “I tried that before, and he ran away.”
“Again?”
She nodded.
“Then… what if you wear it?”
“What?”
Levy nodded, “Both of the garments you bought that day were infused with it, right?”
“You should use what I gave you for your wedding day.” Erza smirked, “Jellal really likes that.”
Juvia hummed, “Just put it all out there for him, he’s bound to respond.”
Lucy hummed again, “Should I?”
“Go for it!”
“I mean, make sure you get permission, first…” Levy muttered.
“Pounce him in his sleep!” Erza exclaimed.
“You’re drunk, Erza.” Levy sighed.
“Yeah!” Lucy replied, way too giddy about it.
“And you’re drunk, too, Lucy.” Levy groaned.
“And if he wakes up, you’ve gotta give your best sexy face!” Juvia cheerfully chimed in.
“And you’re way too into this, Juvia.” Levy sighed, “Just, Lucy-”
“I’m going now.” Lucy exclaimed, slamming her share of the cost for dinner onto the table, “Natsu’s going to be so happy tonight!”
“Lucy!” Levy called after her as she skipped and nearly tripped out of the restaurant.
Lucy stared down at her husband as he slept on the floor in their living room. He looked extremely exhausted. She smiled to herself as she saw him turn his head. He wasn’t going to need to do anything tonight. She tiptoed around his sprawled out wings and into their bedroom, and to their closet. She opened up the drawer in her dresser, and dug to the bottom of it to grab out the box with Erza’s gift in it. She still had yet to use this thing. She changed into her sexiest lingerie, and took the gift with her to the living room. She peered around the area, making sure that Happy wasn’t in the house, before sitting herself down on her husband, legs on either side of him. She took a deep breath, as her head was spinning from all the beer she drank, but she was still sober, she had to be. She wouldn’t do this to him if she wasn’t. Wait… no… or was it the other way around?
She grabbed both of his arms, and lifted them above his head, taking one of the pieces of Erza’s gift to hold them in place on the floor. It had some type of magic magnet inside of it. She stared down at him as he was powerless underneath her, and the adrenaline and desire from the previous times she ended up on top of him by some form or another rushed back into her. She really liked being dominant, she realized.
“What are you doing?” he yawned.
“Hi, babe.” She smiled.
“Did you drink?”
“I want to try something.”
“Okay?” he muttered, and looked up at his hands, before back at her, “You drank, didn’t you?”
“Can I try something?”
He raised a brow, and yawned, “What is it?”
She pulled out Erza’s gift, and stared down at it in her hands, turning it around as she tried to figure out how it went. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I’d hope not.” He replied, “But why am I restrained?”
“You’ve been so exhausted,” she whispered, leaning down.
“Not really.”
“So, just let me handle this tonight, okay?”
“Okay, what are you doing?” He asked as she slid Erza’s gift over his head.
She strapped the gift in place, “I want to try something, babe.”
His pupils constricted, as he felt the straps on his face. There was something forcing his mouth open, too, he couldn’t talk properly. “L-”
“It’s okay, it’s okay-”
He tried to break the restraints on his hands, “Ge... i… ahf!”
“Natsu, babe, it’s okay-”
“Ge… i… ahf, oo…ee!” He exclaimed, as he felt his scales coming out, and the horrid memory that he thought he had buried resurface again.
“What?” Lucy asked, as he pulled his hands up from the ground, despite them still being restrained. He grabbed at the straps on his face, attempting to pull it off of him, but struggling to do so. “Wait, stop, stop, I’ll take it off!” She exclaimed, his panic seemed to sober her up. She couldn’t believe what she had just done.
He heaved as she attempted to undo the straps. The vivid memory replayed in his mind. A time when the people of the town ostracized him, purposefully separating him from his brother. There was that wretched muzzle that they had taken off someone’s dog, only to put it on his face. It had been so long since he had remembered that moment, and he didn’t think he ever would, but without his mother, and without his father, all Zeref could do was fight against the crowd of kids who chose to poke and pry at him, knowing that he couldn’t fight back.
“It’s stuck…” Lucy muttered, and quickly freed his hands instead, “I’m sorry, Natsu.”
He shook his head, as he grabbed at the straps, scratching his own face as he did so, he couldn’t even speak properly right now, and the tears had formed in his eyes before he could stop them. He wasn’t against Lucy trying new things, by any means, especially when they were trying so hard for a child, and she had restrained him a few times before, so he hadn’t thought it would be an issue. Hell, even if she had shown him the devices before putting them on him, he likely would have obliged, because it’s Lucy, and he trusts her, but he hadn’t expected a childhood memory to resurface when he tried so desperately not to relive his childhood.
Lucy got up from him, “Let me get some scissors or something.”
He turned over the second she did get up, and tried to pull it off his head with a different leverage point, but to no avail. His teeth were beginning to hurt with his jaw being forced open in the way it was. Even his horns were in the wrong spots to break the straps, and he’d use his fire to burn them off, but he didn’t want to risk burning the house down right now, and in his current state of mind, he likely wouldn’t have the best control of his fire.
“Okay, I’ve got scissors, Natsu.” Lucy came back, and he heaved as he sat up in front of her.
She felt absolutely terrible about what she had done. Especially when a few months ago she had thrown as big of a fit as she did at that publishing company. His eyes were truly slits, and his horns were out, and scales were all the way down his neck and arms. He was heaving as his hands kept inching back to his face to get the straps off of him. She gently turned his head so that she could get a good point where she could cut the straps and not accidentally nick him.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, again, as she cut the straps, and gently pulled it off of him.
He heaved, and pulled her into his arms, burying his nose into her neck, and inhaling deeply. They stayed like that for a few minutes. He pulled her closer to him, and buried his face deeper into her neck. She gently patted his back, as his wings lay limp behind him. Trauma. That was the only thing that could come to her mind from his actions just now, and she wished that she hadn’t thought that it would be a good idea to put that on him. She didn’t hate Erza for giving the two of them that gift, and surely she did it only with the best intentions, but she didn’t feel bad in the slightest about cutting it.
He finally pushed himself off of her, and whispered, “Sorry, I ruined the mood again.”
She shook her head, “No, I’m sorry I put it on you.”
He looked her over, “You’re all dressed up for it and everything, though.”
She smiled, “But I said I didn’t want to hurt you, Natsu.” She cupped his face, “And that was hurting you.”
“No, Lucy, I-”
“Yes.” She sighed, and kissed his forehead, “I shouldn’t have tried to pounce you in your sleep either, and-”
“Oh, I’m not mad about that at all.”
“You should be.”
He smiled, and kissed her, “Nope, not one bit.”
Lucy grabbed his face, “Are you trying to set the mood again? When I just brought back a traumatic memory?”
He nodded, “I ruined it, and I want to set it again.”
She laughed, and accepted his kiss, “You really know how to lighten the mood, babe.”
“So, you’re not down anymore?”
She grabbed his collar, and fell back onto the carpet, “I am right now.”
He smirked, and leaned down claiming her mouth in his, “This kind of down I can handle.”
She smiled against his lips, “You’re sexiest without those things anyway.”
He smiled back, as his hands slid up underneath her garment, “And you’re sexiest without these.”
She laughed as she let him undress her, “Only if we’re even, Natsu.” She reached up, and played with the zippers on the back of his shirt, one zipper in each hand.
“Then make us even, stardust.”
She unzipped him, and pulled the shirt off of him, “Can I play with you first tonight?”
He smiled, “You said I didn’t need to do anything earlier, didn’t you?”
She gently pushed him up so that he wasn’t hovering above her, but sitting on his feet, “And I’m going to satisfy you, tonight, then.”
He fell backwards, pulling her on top of him in the process, “Then satisfy me, babe.”
She smiled, and leaned down to kiss him. When he was about to hold her, she took his hand off of her, and held his wrist to the floor above his head. She sucked on his lips, nibbling ever so gently on the bottom one, grateful for how plump they were. He lifted his other hand up today beside the one she pinned, allowing her to hold both of his wrists above him. She pulled away from him, just long enough to see his eyes glossed over and his lips following hers for a second. Maybe she really was still tipsy, because she wanted to always be the dominating one when he looked like this.
Natsu's biggest issue when they did these things, like restraining him, he never restrained her to her dismay, was to make sure he could still see and that his wings weren't tied together. She hadn't thought Erza's head harness gift would be an issue, especially since he allowed her to put a collar on him a few times before, so she felt bad that she caused such a trauma by putting that on his head. Even so, the way he was heaving under her made her almost wish that she hadn't cut it. That left a bad taste in her mouth, and she slammed her lips against his, shoving her tongue into his mouth to deepen it. She felt him jolt under her, and one of his fingers tapped on her hand that held him in place. She pulled away, and he coughed, she may have been too aggressive. Right when she let go of his hands, he grabbed her wrist, and pulled it back to hold his other wrist in place.
“Sorry, I just couldn't breathe for a second there.” He whispered, “Continue, babe.”
Lucy looked down at him, “Can you keep your hands there?” She whispered.
“Yeah?”
She let go of his wrist, and pushed herself up, staring down at him with her whole breasts on display. “Don't move.”
“Okay.”
She slid her hands gently down his torso, adjusting herself as she did so, hearing him hold his moans in his throat, as if refusing to let them out, but failing. She played with the waistband of his shorts, before sliding them off of him slowly, as he obeyed her by keeping his hands in place, and his muscles stiffened as he fought himself not to move. She loved him so much. She discarded his shorts, and gently spread his legs apart just enough that it'd give her room to massage his thighs, slowly working her way up.
A deep moan, followed by her name escaping his mouth was all she needed for confirmation that he liked this. Her fingers massaged just under the hem of his boxers, and she watched as his head turned to the side, jaw clenched, and his bottom lip tucked under his fangs. This was the best reaction she had gotten out of him, recently, and for some reason, she didn't want to stop until she knew for a fact that they were getting that baby tonight.
At least, that was her plan, but a couple weeks later she was staring down at the set of tests on her bathroom counter, all of which were not coming up positive. She groaned, why? They had tried so many times these past months, and there was still nothing. She wanted to cry. Was it really that hard to get pregnant? Or was it just her? Or maybe just them? Erza had gotten pregnant from one night of passion during the war, and Juvia and Gray weren't even living together, and she was pregnant right now. Did she really need to try that herbal scent from that lingerie store that her husband despised? Levy had said it worked wonders with Gajeel, so why was it that her husband hated it so much?
(continued in second part...)