Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.
I do own the idea for the fic though.
A/N: I must be sincere. I never wrote something like this in my life, and the few times I tried, it was a complete disaster. Luckily, and I must thank destiny –and Arakan7-, I found inspiration to actually try something like this. God blesses Joaquin Sabina and his songs, god blesses Arakan7 and his story, and god blesses my imagination that's wild enough to do this.
Blackjack.
(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I original fan-fiction story.)
Ah, the games of chance.
Cards, roulette, machines and dices, all the tramps set to entertain people and take their money from them without it being illegal; you can't actually sue someone from taking the money you gave in your own freewill, right?
That's right.
With this little introduction you can guess something and that is not far from the actual point of this story.
Gambling sucks…
…but oh, how she loves it.
She loves the spin of the roulette, the uncertainty of the cards, the thrill of the jackpots, and the expectancy of bingo and the dices.
That's right, she's a gambling addict… sometimes… and only when she's on a winning streak.
How can you leave something when you're winning?
But of course, she loves these games and is recognized as an addict for one little fact –a really 'minuscule' fact- and that's she is unbeatable in those games.
You can't win against her, not even in your wildest dreams.
She's always right with her numbers on the roulette.
She always has the right cards in blackjack.
Jackpots cover in fear when they see her walking in their direction.
Dices fear the moment she'll shake them and throw them to the table in expectation of a good number.
Oh yes, Erza Scarlet doesn't knows defeat, and she's not the Titania on the battlefield only.
21s… red or black… three of the same… perfect 7s…
The nightmare of any casino in Fiore, she's secretly known as the 'Housebreaker'.
Though, with every 'villain' there's always a 'hero'.
And this hero is someone she couldn't believe.
"Please, sir, make your bet." The croupier told the 'hero' with a small smile, happy to see him there to stop the Titania.
"Yosh!" A wide innocent grin appeared on his face, his hands moving all of his tokens to the red square, everyone freaking out when they saw his hands placing all his winnings onto that single spot.
The Titania smirked darkly, discerning a challenge when she sees one, she placed all of her tokens on the black square, shocking and almost killing everyone watching around them with that bold move. She threw a defying gaze at her opponent, only to find him grinning ear-to-ear with his eyes expecting the game to start, her left eye twitched.
"A-alright, bets set." The croupier said nervously, his hands making the wheel spin while the other dropped the ball and this one started to jump over the wooden surface, coming to slide over the spinning wheel after a moment.
"You're going down." Erza whispered confidently to her deathly enemy, her white-gloved hands fixing her tied hair and her purple dress, resting them over her crossed legs when finish.
"Uh? You said something?" The hero asked with a clearly puzzled face, a finger loosening the bow-tie around his neck, his free hand searching for something inside his black tux's pockets.
Erza bit back an insult, not liking the idea of making a mess inside a fancy place when she was having a good time and on vacation. She was supposed to relax and enjoy, not destroy everything in her path for an innocent comment.
And so, after a few more spins, the ball's movement came to an abrupt stop.
"The number's 7, color red." The croupier announced with uncontainable joy, using a stick to move the tokens belonging to the paling Titania towards the grinning hero's side alongside his own tokens. "Winner is Mr. Dragneel."
"Yeah!" Natsu yelled happily, jumping from his seat with his arms outstretched to the ceilings, the Titania trembling in anger after losing again against her idiotic friend. He collected his winnings and, when seeing that he couldn't carry them all, he pushed some of his tokens –like half of his money- towards the croupier; smiling sincerely to him. "Ah, I can't take them with me, you keep them."
"Y-yes sir! Gladly!" The croupier cried with a face full of gratitude, understanding why he was called the 'House's avenger' in many places and by his boss, some of the spectators clapping hollowly at the display of humility that the boy was having while Erza ran to the entrance in search of more tokens; coming back with more, she faced Natsu and pointed to a table not far from them.
"Natsu, blackjack, now." She said sternly.
"Uh? But it's late! We leave tomorrow and we hav-!"
"Blackjack, NOW!" And she dragged him with her, taking Natsu to a lone table and placing her new tokens on it while the dragon-slayer placed his; the dealer shaking in fear and dread at seen the most talented players coming to play on his table.
"E-erza, I really think we should-!" A glare cut him short.
"B-bets, please?" The croupier asked politely, flinching when the scarlet-haired woman smashed her tokens on the table.
She couldn't lose, not in the card game, she was unbeatable in it and she was going to show Natsu why that was.
"A-and you, sir?" Natsu sighed tiredly, placing the same quantity as Erza on the table, the young dealer nodding to them before shuffling the cards and giving his customers their two cards each.
Titania took a peek.
She smirked.
Natsu took a peek.
He sighed.
A few hands later…
"Bets closed, show your cards, please."
"19." Erza stated proudly, watching with confidence at her clubs' jack, diamonds' 5 and spades' 4.
"Sir?"
"20." Natsu muttered with boredom, showing his diamonds' king and spades' jack.
Erza gaped in shock.
"House's is 19… winner is Mr. Dragneel."
"This is not over!" The Titania yelled in rage, placing all of her remaining tokens on the small betting box of the table; she was fuming, she wasn't going to be defeated in her favorite game, and not by Natsu out of all people.
"A-aye, Ms."
Natsu sighed again and placed all of his tokens on the table, tired of the game and expecting it to be over with this final hand, he waited for the dealer to be over with his shuffling while the woman next to him glared competitively at him.
He received his cards after a moment, taking a small peek, his eyes widened.
"I fold." He said simply and sharply, standing up from the stool and heading quickly to the part of the place that was the hotel; leaving behind a shocked Erza and a confused dealer, who watched the hand that belonged to the pink-haired boy with his mind trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
"It's strange, he could have won." The dealer commented after a moment, calling the Titania's attention towards the cards that belonged to her pink-haired friend. The young man left the cards on the table, showing Erza a perfect blackjack's hand.
But what was strange was not that.
For her, a person that knew Natsu as the back of her hand, it was strange and surprising in a whole different level.
A queen of spades…
…an ace of hearts…
…a perfect blackjack.
A few minutes later…
"Natsu!" Erza yelled to him, catching up with him in the corridor leading to their rooms, her voice careful to not be raised up in a tone that might wake up the other occupants and their friends; Happy, Lucy and Gray having retired from the casino earlier than them.
Natsu because he wanted to keep an eye on her and Erza because she was enjoying herself at the casino; who wouldn't when you're winning like that?
"What?" He asked to her, showing his back to her, his feet stopping next to the door that lead to the room he shared with Happy and Gray.
"Why did you fold?" She asked as a start, expecting to hear an answer. His reaction and the hand he had were enough to tell her what he was thinking about it but she wanted to hear it from him, hopefully, it would be what she wanted to hear.
"I wanted to sleep, and you wanted to win, the end." He said with his hand moving to grip the doorknob, a hard slap stopping it midway, he looked over his shoulder and found her glaring at him, expecting a better answer than that one.
He fought back a reaction to the painful slap, his eyes noticing a person walking out of a room with a wheel cart carrying all kinds of cleaning materials, surely someone from the cleaning service that left no sooner he laid eyes on the pair. He was glad the man left, now he could show her why he did what he did without worrying about prying eyes.
"You want a real answer?" She nodded firmly, fighting back a blush when he turned around to face her with scowling eyes, his voice carrying a sensual undertone to it. "You won't overreact to it?"
"Test me." She said with a scowl matching his, clenching her fists to stop herself from pushing him away when he leaned to have his face closer to hers, his warm breathing sending a shiver down her spine when it touched the uncovered skin of her shoulders and neck.
"Are you sure?" He asked again, closing his eyes while breathing the normal scent under the perfume she used to charm the guys at the casino. He growled out in jealousy when he remembered some of the men eating her with their eyes, he couldn't allow that, and he was going to tell her why… while making her feel the same kind of pain she put him through that night.
He moved his hands upwards, caressing the sides of her arms with a measured sensual movement, feeling her tries to stop herself from squirming. He fought back a smirk, slowly inhaling and exhaling her scent again, his fingers continuing their burning path until they reached their destination at the base of her neck, changing their direction to her back. She gasped at the touch, having not felt something like that before and regretting her decision of clothing; an exposed-back dress was not such a good idea at the moment.
"You didn't answer me, Erza…" He purred next to her ear, his hot breath causing a hitching sensation on her as well as a need to jump over him and return the favor… painfully and slowly. Instead, she lowered and tilted her head to a side, her forehead lying against his chest, another gasp escaping her when he rested his face at the crook of her neck, his hot breathing putting her on edge once again.
"I-I…" She felt her own arms moving, unconsciously attaching themselves around his neck like a lifeline, her body wanting to feel more of him by pressing him closer to her. He grinned inwardly, his fingers reaching her lower back, he grinned openly when an idea popped out in his head, his arms moving to hug her by the waist… before sliding up with his fingers doing the same sensual movement that caused a moan to escape her, her face moving to cover itself with his chest. She couldn't give him an answer if he was going to keep on with this.
"I didn't hear your answer…" His arms returned to her lower back, hugging her strongly and closer to him, growling throatily when he felt her gasping for breath, his senses liking the reactions she had under his touch. He faced her ear again, his nose leaving a trail of goose bumps on its path, his tongue escaping for a second to lick her earlobe and cause another beautiful moan to escape her. "Erza…"
"Natsu…" She breathed out, raising her head to rest her chin over his shoulder, her body trembling slowly next to his, finally surrendering to his ministrations. Her hot breathing touching his ear, he flinched for a second before regaining his dominative role, not noticing that he let out his only way of winning out to her. She now knew that he wasn't invulnerable to the same kind of teases he was putting her through, so, she was going to get a little payback. "You like playing with girls, Natsu?"
Erza remembered the moment he stepped into the casino dressed in that black tux, the looks sent his way by some hungry-looking girls… and lewd-thinking older women, the times when some of them tried to flirt with him when she failed to scare them with her death-promising glare, luckily, the boy was oblivious enough to not understand what they were up to. At least, that's what she thought, and that was why she was asking him now if he liked to see women passing out at his every step; she included.
"W-what…?" He gasped in surprise, feeling her arms bring him closer to her, her generous breasts pressing hardly against his toned chest and making him doubt his role on the little game he started; she licked her lips, running them up sensually against his neck before whispering some words to his ear something that might have sent a sane man to the moon.
"Would you like to play with me?" Natsu froze at the question, a part of his mind screaming 'victory!' while the other part warned him that she was aiming to win that battle in which they were, and being the competitive kind of man that accepts every challenge, he grinned and answered her.
"Fire is not something to play with… Erza…" He whispered huskily to her, feeling her stiffen at his comment, having not expected him to recover from her teasing that fast; he took the chance and moved her against the wall next to the door that leaded to his bedroom, his face now facing hers, his passionate onyx eyes staring intently at her shocked deep brown ones; one of his arms releasing its grip from her waist to move a strand of hair from her face before sliding down slowly against her cheek. "…you can get burn with it."
"N-natsu…" She moaned the moment his fingers trailed a path down to the middle of her cleavage, stopping when the dress stood in his way, he growled in annoyance, continuing his way down with his fingers pressing hard against the cloth, following a road down her chest and belly. She moaned again, her mind racing when imagining him taking her right there and then in the hallway; he grinned, changing his fingers' course to the open part of her dress, her leg feeling his burning touch against her skin. "S-stop…"
"I won't do anything you don't want to…" Natsu whispered lovingly to her, pressing his forehead against hers, staring intently at her dazed eyes as his hand stopped and use a finger to draw circles over her exposed thigh; he was grateful that she wore that dress; it gave him more openings to win their battle. "My queen of spades…"
He grabbed her leg and lifted it to his waist, the hand resting on the lower part of her back pressing her strongly against him, leaving no room between them. Erza felt the strength on her arms and legs abandoning her, her mind completely disregarding the nickname he gave her, finally surrendering to him and kiss him hungrily, her soft lips roughly smashing against his in a passionate lip lock that he lost no time to take up to the next level, his tongue fighting against hers for dominance; she realized at that moment that he was right, you cannot play with fire without being burned… badly.
Natsu sat on the bed carefully, folding her leg slowly to have her comfortably lying on his lap; when did they go to a room, Erza didn't know, she was too lost in their struggle for superiority to notice something else; she arched her back in pleasure when she felt his lips withdrawing from hers to kiss the exposed part of her chest, her arms withdrawing if only by a little to have her hands pressing his head harder against her chest.
"Eager?" He asked playfully, kissing his way up to her neck, groaning a bit in pain when he felt her leg moving from behind him to rest next to him, the other following its example as her hips pressed hardly against him. He wanted to drop everything and have his way with her as he imagined since he started to have those wild dreams with her involved but he knew that she deserved better than that.
"Yes…!"
Or he could be wrong and she was as eager as him.
He withdrew from his head from her neck, leaving a red hickey that showed her as his, his hands moving to get rid of his coat, her hands helping by taking his bow-tie –more like pulling off roughly- and starting to unbutton his white dress shirt, his hands taking her place while she roamed her fingers over his exposed chest, finally feeling some of his skin under her hands; their lips and tongues joining in another heated contest before she pushed him back first to the bed, letting him see her disheveled hair run down her shoulders and back. 'She deserves her title…' He thought dazzled, not noticing the smart thoughts crossing his mind as his eyes did not left her alluring form from sight. 'The beautiful and strong queen of the fairies…'
"Natsu…" She breathed out, dropping to have him face-to-face again, her eyes hiding because of the lack of light inside the room and the strands of her hair that got in between their eyes. "What am I to you?"
His hands moved to caress her thighs slowly, earning a moan from her when he reached her buttocks and he stopped there, smiling sincerely to her before kissing her chastely on the lips. "The ace of hearts…" He whispered full of emotion, exposing his heart to her and expecting for his feelings to be accepted. "The first in my heart…"
"Liar…" She replied jokingly, her head lowering enough for their noses to brush. "What about Lisanna…?"
"Jealous…?" He asked with a snicker, not avoiding the question but trying to win time before answering Erza's question, his mind trying to come up with something related to the games she loves to answer her as they were doing so far. "She was the hearts' jack, but lost her spot when… she disappeared…" He turned his head to a side, noticing that his words were killing the mood and also bringing back some painful memories to him; but he regained his train of thought, facing the scarlet woman again with his mind set. "It left me see what I was too blind and stupid to notice before…"
"…And what's that?" Erza asked after a moment, liking where their conversation was going, she didn't like the idea of the dragon-slayer having unresolved feelings in him when he was now showing her that he fell for her as she did for him. Natsu softened his face at the question, smiling sincerely to her, pecking her lips once more, his hands hugging her waist tenderly.
"I wasn't in love with the jack of hearts… I love the queen of spades, the one that fought her way to my heart and became my ace, and that's you, Erza…" He said softly in one breath, dropping his arms to the sides and freeing the scarlet-haired woman from his hold. "I'm your jack, do with me what you want."
Erza remained unmoving after his explanation, a turmoil of crossed feelings building up inside her, she was troubled indeed, he might be lying, he might be telling her the truth, who knows? She just knew that if he happened to be lying to her to get his way with her, he wasn't going to live long. So, she threw every thought out of her mind, and leaned down to kiss him again, raising them both with her arms, feeling their bodies grinding against each other in such a manner that turn them both on once more.
"That's all I wanted to hear…" She said after their kiss ended, gasping for breath, her hands getting rid of the gloves that stopped her from feeling the man under her to the fullest. "But you're wrong in something, Natsu…"
"Uh?" He whispered in confusion, his eyes locking with hers, too enrapture in the shine of them to notice something else. "And what's that?"
"You're not the jack, Natsu…" She rested her hands on his shoulders, pushing both of them to the bed again. "You're the king…"
An hour later…
"Just what the hell happened! ?" Gray asked to no one, seeing the hotel's staff and some firefighters running here and there to stop the inferno before them, Lucy rubbing the sleep from her eyes with Happy lying comfortably on top of her head, watching the ice mage passing back and forth in front of her.
"A-ah, Gray, can you lower your voice?" The celestial mage asked him, yawning tiredly. "Happy is still sleeping."
"Like hell!" He retorted harshly, turning around to glare at her, his actions not earning a reaction from the blonde girl. "We were sleeping soundly and suddenly the whole building is on fire! How the hell can I be calm! ?" He looked behind her and around the place, spotting several people standing there in shock and fear, everyone watching the burning casino-hotel with wide eyes. "And where the hell are Natsu and Erza! ?"
"We're here." He heard a voice behind him, turning around, he saw the ones missing, walking hand-in-hand from the fire before the surprised faces of some of the people around. Natsu looked happy as always and Erza looked worn-out, as well as a little miffed for something.
"Hey guys…" Lucy greeted them with her eyes blinking back her tiredness, her head wobbling unconsciously because of her drowsiness.
"What the hell happened, flame-brain! ?" Gray yelled to the still grinning pink-haired, going to stand face-to-face, he knew the dragon-slayer was involved in this incident and it didn't take a sage to notice it. "You had a wet dream or something! ?"
"Something like that… Yeah…" Natsu replied with his grin still in place, shrugging nonchalantly, his hand squeezing the Titania's hand; earning a small blush from the woman next to him, his grin widening at her reaction. "I was fired up…"
"And how the hell do you expect us to pay for this, huh! ?" Gray walked behind him, motioning to the burning place with both his arms outstretched. "Master is going to skin us alive!"
"Don't worry, Gray," Erza said with a small smile, winking in the pink-hair's direction. "We can always play our way out of this."
"What the hell are you talking about! ?"
"Graaaaaaaaaaaay… Be quiet, please…"
The end.
Story will be subjected to some changes in the future, I might not be satisfied with the final outcome... so... be watchful.
I hope you enjoyed it. *grins*
Saludos.