A/N: This was actually a year-old request, but I worked it into LoLu Week, which runs from August 11 to 17th. Please drop in and see all the pretty fanart and fanfics.

lolu-week. deviantart com
loluweek. tumblr com

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, and he should totally have a LokexCatnip moment, even if just as an omake.

Bookcover by icecream80810 (fav. me/d5mtgpu)

Day 4: Feline

Beware The Ears

a Fairy Tail fanfic

by Rhov

request from Xthenjazziesaid

Lucy walked through her front door, but she sensed right away that the room was not empty. She prepared to get angry at Natsu or Gray for showing up uninvited. Instead, her eyes widened in astonishment to see ginger hair and a neat suit curled up on her couch like an orange and black tabby cat. Instead of raging, Lucy set her stuff down quietly and took her shoes off at the door. Then she crept forward, trying not to make a noise.

She rarely saw Loke sleeping. He had his blue sunglasses to the side, and his face looked so gentle without them. She knelt beside the couch and watched the way he breathed. Instead of snores, it sounded more like purring from an older cat, quiet but content.

He really is handsome, not like I'd ever tell him.

She reached up and stroked his hair. When he posed as a human mage, his hair was so short and choppy, but at times like this, when he came as her Spirit, her knight, her prince...that fluffy mane of ginger hair made him seem cooler somehow, more like a mighty Lion rather than a wild cub. The softness of his hair tickled her fingers, making her hand plunge further into that mane.

That was when she felt...something. A lump?

Loke jolted awake, and his bleary eyes blinked in shock. "What...Lucy?" He yawned widely. "What are you doing?"

"Loke, what happened to your head?" she asked with gentle concern.

"My head?" He felt through his hair. "What is it? Did Natsu burn my hair off?"

"You have a lump." She reached up again, since his hands were feeling everywhere but that spot.

Loke's eyes widened, yet before he could warn her, she touched it again. Definitely, she felt a large lump there, sort of triangular shaped, although his thick hair covered it up. Loke went stiff when she rubbed on it.

"Does it hurt? Should I put ice on it?"

"No!" he cried out, and his voice almost cracked. "Just...you can...rub it, if you want." He blushed brightly when he said it and looked hesitant for once.

"Were you in a fight? You smell like char, so I'm guessing Natsu challenged you again."

Loke laughed tensely, but when she rubbed the lump growth on his skull, he moaned.

Lucy pouted. A lump this hard surely must hurt. Then as she softly rubbed through his hair, she noticed a second lump. "Two? Wait..." She flattened his hair some, and suddenly Lucy squealed. "Omigosh, these look like kitty ears!"

"Lucy!" Loke cried out in humiliation.

"Do you honestly have kitty ears?"

"They're...they're not ears." His face was turning pink with shame.

"What are they? You didn't have these before."

"They...don't often show up," he mumbled.

"Ooh, is it like some power-up? Since I'm stronger now, you get kitty ears as an upgrade?"

"I said they're not ears!" He huffed and turned his head away from her. "Look, they're just a bit embarrassing, okay?"

"But it's cute. I thought I noticed something strange about you lately, but I figured you were styling your hair differently."

"I was, to hide them."

"Aww, but you shouldn't. They're cute."

"They're not cute!" he snapped in petulant annoyance.

"Are they sensitive?" She rubbed them again. "Hehe! My Lion has kitty ears."

"Nnngh!"

Her hands froze when she heard him make that noise. "L-Loke?" That was definitely not a moan of pain.

Suddenly, he grabbed her. With both speed and dexterity, he twirled so that she was yanked to the couch and he was suddenly on top of her. Lucy looked up with huge, startled eyes. She almost yelled at him for being a bit rough, but Loke's eyes practically gleamed.

"Yes," he whispered in a seductive tone. "They're...sensitive."

Lucy stared, and it took a moment before her face flushed at what he meant. "Oh! I...I'm sorry. I didn't realize...but...why do you have them now? Don't tell me you're just entering puberty."

He chuckled gently in his deep chest. "Hardly. And they're not really an upgrade due to your strength. The only time the tufts appear...is when I've decided upon a mate."

"A...m-mate?" She shivered as his green eyes gazed over her body. "Loke...that's ridiculous. You've dated countless girls."

"Dated, yes, but only that. I never slept with any of them. I'm a playboy, not a manwhore. However, when I saw you in that wedding dress at the Grand Magic Games...I knew right then, I wanted only you. I wasn't joking when I said we should really get married. Right after that day, the tufts showed up. You were busy fighting, so I didn't say too much, but I knew you were the only mate for me." He stroked her face lovingly, smiling down at her, happy to finally be able to confess all this instead of constantly hiding it. "I want you as my lioness, Lucy."

Her face still looked uncertain. "You...is this just that you want to have sex?"

"Wha-...? No! Of course not! I mean, I do, but that's not the point here."

"Is that what those are? Oversized gonads on your head?"

"Over...sized..." He snorted a laugh, then sputtered out a chuckle, and finally Loke rolled off of her as his whole body shook with loud laughter. "Oh wow, that's a first!" he roared hilariously. "Here I am confessing I want you as my wife, and you're calling me a dickhead."

She quickly sat up before he pinned her again. "Well, they're due to sexual arousal, right?"

"Not even close! If that were the case, I'd have these tufts all the time. I'm a man, after all." He rubbed out a laughing ache in his stomach. "Seriously, that's too funny. Gonads on my head!"

"Then what are they?" she yelled in anger, not liking that he was making fun of her.

He sighed and calmed himself down. "They're not indicative of arousal, but of commitment. I've got the same parts as any human male down below the belt, princess. These are just a little extra. They're more like a huge warning sign to me that I've found the right girl." He caressed her face. "You're that girl, my mate."

She still looked ambivalent. "This isn't like destiny, is it?"

"I wish it was that simple. You could turn me down."

"If I do, do the ears disappear?"

"Even if I was no longer your Spirit, I would keep them until the day you die. My heart is made up. I only pick one mate every few centuries."

"Then you've been married before?"

"Let's not get into that," he warned. "The important thing is that you're the girl I want, and I'm not going to change my mind. Not tomorrow, not in a year, not in eighty years."

"That's rather annoying."

"Then I'll be annoying."

"Will you keep the kitty ears whether I accept or turn you down?"

His eyes saddened. "I really hope you don't turn me down, Lucy. I've never been more serious."

She pouted. "I'd...have to think about it."

"I expect nothing less. I'm talking about a lifelong commitment, not a fling."

"Right," she mumbled, feeling this was too fast and too surreal. "Also, I'm not going to have babies right away, just to let you know." She waited a moment. "Can...can you have children, Loke?"

He smirked a little. "Maybe you actually could consider these as gonads. I can have children only with the woman who rouses the tufts."

"That's...weird."

"More like it makes me a little more human."

"Kitty ears make you human?"

He leaned in deviously close. "Beware the ears, Lucy. With these, I'll always know where you are, and I'll sense when you're aroused. All you have to do is touch them, and I'll be ready for you."

She looked up at the ear-like lumps, and she licked her lips.

"You're tempted."

She jolted and blushed.

"Do you want to touch them again?" He lowered his head a little. "Go on. Feel me up, babe."

Lucy's face looked ready to explode, and she suddenly slapped him across the face. "You never change!" She bolted off the couch and ran to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Loke rubbed out his reddened cheek. "And you still slap just as hard." He looked at the bedroom door and sighed. "She's right. I never change. I'm still an animal and a jerk...the worst." He rose up and put his sunglasses back on. "At least she knows now."

He straightened out his suit and tugged his tie into place. Loke began to walk toward the door when Lucy's bedroom door creaked open. He paused and looked back in surprise, and she petulantly peeked out.

"Well...aren't you a cat? You're supposed to chase after the mouse, idiot." Then she shut her door again.

Loke blinked in shock, then slowly a sly smile rose to his lips. "Kitty play time!" He ran to the door, opened it and growled inside, "This Lion's ready to hunt!" Then he slammed the bedroom door closed to give them some privacy.