Everything she does just tears him apart. Dragon nature is a finicky thing, really.
Kindle (verb)
1. to start (a fire); cause (a flame, blaze, etc.) to begin burning
No one really thought of Natsu as a sexual being. To be fair, he was rather preoccupied with the guild and missions and food and finding Igneel. With all that stuff, it really didn't seem like dragon slayer had time for anything involving the horizontal monster mash.
But Natsu was a man, despite his seemingly asexual tendencies and Lucy was extraordinarily distracting with her tube tops and tiny skirts. The girl was practically walking sex. And hell if he didn't want her with every fiber of his being.
And hell if it wasn't driving him insane.
Igneel had told him it would be something like this. Like starving, like drowning, like burning alive. For the (admittedly brief) moments he had listened to his adopted father, Natsu remembers him describing the unbearable contradictions of mating. He'd never imagined it like this. Sometimes it felt like all he could do to keep himself from hauling Lucy off to some secluded corner and taking her is to hold his breath and sometimes all he could think about the entire day is just holding her hand. He wanted to make her scream at the same time he wanted to make her smile and laugh. From the day he met her it had been this way- granted, it's gotten worse the longer he's had his mate just out of reach yet so close-but it's always been hard enough to try and keep her at arms length. Dragon nature is a finicky thing, really.
But try telling Grey that.
Natsu sank further into his seat, resting his head on the hard wood counter of the bar looking miserable. Grey sipped his drink, considering the sudden development.
"So Lucy, huh?"
Natsu couldn't force himself to look up, but he knew Grey was smirking. Frosty bastard.
"God that's sick," Grey continued when his guildmate didn't respond, "All this time gone by and you haven't even told her. All those missions you've been on, just the two of you. Poor Lucy. She'd probably be disgusted," he sounded so condescending. Natsu knew he was just mocking him, but that didn't make him feel any less crappy. He clenched his fists.
He had a tendency towards snap decisions, and bad ones at that. This was just another bad snap decision. He'd just wanted some man to man advice. He didn't need the guilt trip. He'd already spent everyday since he'd met the girl feeling awful about it. Leave it to Grey to bring the Shit Barge back to harbor.
"I guess I can't blame you," Grey said after a moment of much appreciated silence. Natsu snapped to attention at the sudden empathy. Was Grey actually going to be a bro about this? "I mean, she does have a really nice rack-"
In one swift movement Natsu had Grey slammed against the counter in front of him, one hand clenched around his neck in warning, the other in a white-knuckled fist at his side. The action went widely unnoticed by the partying guild members around them. The growl that ripped from Natsu's chest was a barely a whisper, a pin drop in the clamber of sound surrounding them. His eyes glazed over with a ferocity usually saved for the heat of impossible battles.
Grey frowned, seemingly unrattled by the sudden outburst.
"Let go," he said coolly. Natsu came back to himself, looking surprised at what he had done. He complied and they climbed wordlessly back into their seats.
Grey gulped down the rest of his drink. He looked to his guildmate. They fought regularly, but never had the man sitting next to him looked that downright bloodthirsty before. If he was being honest, he'd have to admit, that was pretty damn frightening. "That bad, huh?"
Natsu nodded. He should have just talked to Gajeel.
"Usually I can control it but..." he sighed, "It's instinct, y'know. Like every cell in my body just wants to keep her away from every other person."
"That's..." Grey considered it for a moment, "super creepy."
Natsu groaned, "I can't stop it. She's my mate, Snow Cone. Something's gonna give sooner or later."
"So, what, you're going to force her into wedlock?"
The pink haired mage looked down in shame at the snarky question. He sighed, running an exhausted hand down his face, "...or something," he breathed into his palm.
"God..."
"Shes my mate," Natsu said again, like the word would make the situation less horrible. Like saying it again would make him understand. Like saying it again would relieve Natsu of his conscience, help him overcome morality and take destiny by the horns. But it's just a fucking word.
"And what if she doesn't want it?" Grey asked defensively, "What then?"
Natsu didn't know how to answer that. Obviously Grey didn't want to hear the truth, but the pink haired Salamander figured that a lie would heed similar results.
"I dunno' " he settled on. It wasn't a complete lie.
There was very little Natsu really knew about dragon slayers and their mates. He knew they mated for life. He knew most slayers knew their mate upon first sight. He knew that if a mate refused a slayer, something bad would happen. He knew Lucy better accept her role as his before he snapped or exploded or worse. That was what had sparked this little heart to heart in the first place. He'd been struggling through this mess for years. He really was going to snap; this was the most he could handle. Something was going to give.
He wished he had listened more closely when Igneel was speaking, but he was young and not all that interested in the opposite gender at that point. He didn't really have the capacity to pay attention to anything, actually. He was kind of a brat.
"So, what now?" Grey wondered. There was a warning edge to his voice, like he was on the verge of a decision. Natsu wasn't sure if he was relieved or mortified that someone else knew what was up.
"... I dunno' "
Grey's eyes narrowed, "That's not gonna cut it this time, flame head."
Natsu had never felt less capable in his entire life. He wasn't used to strategy and thinking things through. It should be simple, anyway; no thought required. Claim your mate. Make lots of babies. Live happily ever after. But Lucy wasn't just some girl to be claimed. She was his best friend. His confident. His partner in crime. It was Lucy. Lucy was not a simple matter.
"I know," Natsu breathed, "I know."
"This is torture," Lucy groaned as they limped back to their hotel.
"Yeah," Natsu agreed. And good god it was.
The rain was viscous. They'd left the morning after Gray and Natsu's little pow wow. It started the moment they were out the door. Hadn't let up since.
This should have been an easy job (like everything else). Catch the bad guys, return some stolen goods and head home with minimal damage done. Unfortunately, they had been graced with a storm of biblical proportions, and that complicated things a bit.
It's not just that water is Natsu's opposite element, that being in a constant barrage of it had him feeling pretty crappy in the first place, it wasn't that his nose didn't work so great in the rain, which made finding these dumb thugs about ten times more difficult. It was that Lucy, beautiful, brilliant, stupid Lucy, was walking right next to him, drenched down to her pelt. Her clothes were nearly invisible. Through her white tank top, he had a clear view of her bra (pink with white lace, predictable) and he had to do everything in his power to hold himself back as he imagined peeling that wet nuisance off her, throwing her up against the nearest wall and...
Torture. He clenched his fists, making a mental note to buy the girl a decent shirt sometime in the near future. Or maybe a winter jacket. Something thick and padded and androgynous. Yeah. That'd do it.
It's gotten so much worse lately; everything she does just tears him apart. He knows he's slipping but he's got no idea how to deal with it.
They make it back to their hotel, drenched and thoroughly miserable. The man behind the front desk eyes them warily as they limp past him, getting mud and second hand rainwater all over his nice clean carpet. At least they caught the badies. At least they didn't destroy the entire town. The front desk man should be thanking them profusely for their good deeds.
When they get to their room Lucy immediately flings herself on her bed, not caring about getting things wet, "We should leave early, before the sun rises and it get's too hot."
Natsu thinks deciding the sun would shine the next day was a bit premature considering the disgustingly long storm they've been subjected to, but honestly he wouldn't mind it. They could both use a little sunshine after all this rain. He agreed anyway. The sooner they moved on from this hell hole the better.
She took a shower first and came out smelling like soap and cleanliness and a bit unlike herself. Natsu can almost feel her dreamy smile. He enjoyed being clean himself, but he was never as big a fan of the feeling as Lucy. She reveled in her cleanliness. Bath time was sacred to her.
He watched as she emerged from the bathroom, looking like a fairy princess or something equally as magical and mystifying surrounded by all that fresh steam. She looked down at him, sitting cross legged on the floor, dumbstruck by how simply beautiful she was. Lucy was always beautiful, but it was emphasized when she smiled at him like that, tired and relieved and exhausted and glad. He wanted to kiss her.
"Do you think Happy will be exited to see us when we get back?" she wondered, sinking down to sit on her legs in front of him.
Natsu frowned. "That traitor can spend the rest of his life alone with Carla, for all I care." Leave it to that dumb cat to ditch him with the object of his woes and the desperate urge to take her away and do things to her.
It's really, very frustrating. Because he liked Lucy, not just what she's hiding under her clothes. He liked to talk with her and laugh with her and tease her a bit and yet there's always this underlying craving distracting him from all of that. Was it always going to be like this? Was he always going to be this insane? Was he always going to want her like this?
"Oh go easy on him- he really likes her, you know that," she said.
He laughed, breathlessly, "Yeah," he said. And boy did he know what that's like. He figured he should have at least some sympathy for the exceed, but, nope, he was feeling pretty annoyed with the furry little idiot at the moment and that greatly hindered his empathy skills. He rose to his feet, stretching so that his back popped in a way that made Lucy cringe. He laughed at the sight before heading into the bathroom for his own shower, ready to wash this whole crapshoot of a mission away.
When he get's out, he makes himself a little nest on the floor out of a few spare bed dressings. He didn't trust himself to be in the same bed as her anymore. He'd stopped his nighttime visits to her home weeks ago. Having a roof over his head was good enough- at least it kept out the rain. Besides, that dingy hotel bed could never be as good as Lucy's.
For a moment, he considered that maybe the reason he liked Lucy's bed so much is because she's in it, but immediately dismisses the thought, not quite ready for such a pathetic epiphany quite yet.
They get back to the guild late in the evening, when a new night of partying is just getting started. They talk to a few people, just so word gets around that they've come home in tact and okay (for the most part). Lucy slipped away to chat with Levy. Natsu finally had a chance to drop his guard. No more missions alone, he tells himself, No more Natsu-Lucy-alone-time.
He feels a weight lift as he slumps into a barstool and calls to Mirajane for a glass of water. Gajeel flops into the seat next to him. Natsu glares. "What?"
"Bunny girl smells like you."
"So? We shared a room," Natsu was really not in the mood for Gajeel. Neither of them were really known for their patience. Natsu's eyes narrow in suspicion, "Why do you care?"
"Have you claimed her yet-"
"Don't say that! Just shut up!"
"Cool it, Hot Head. No one's gonna hear us talkin'," he considers the other dragon slayer for a moment, "You haven't made her yours yet, have you?"
Natsu was pretty sure he wasn't ready for another one of these conversations. He picked up the cup Mirajane had slid down to him, twisting it absently in his hands. "How did you find out?" he whispers.
"It's pretty damn obvious," Gajeel said, "What with the way you're always starin' at her. Everyone knows you've got blueballs for the girl."
Natsu sips his drink carefully, fighting through the welling anger, "Shut up."
"Just take 'er. She's pretty much yours already."
"It's not that simple," Natsu hissed, trying to put his cup down gently. Some water sloshes over the slides anyway.
" 'Course it is."
Natsu gaped at him, affronted, "Yeah? Could you do that to... to..." he said, fishing for a name, "Levy?"
Gajeel gave him a pointed look, then sighed at the blatant shock Natsu sported.
"No way," Natsu said, scanning the guildhall for the resident blunette. He spotted her, speaking animatedly with his own mate, "You didn't... break her?" He wrinkled his nose, trying to dispel any mental images of those two together.
Gajeel ignored the question, "It's gotta be done." He gets up to leave throwing one last shot over his shoulder, "Something's gonna' give."
Natsu vaguely remembered saying something just like that a few nights prior. He sighed as he watched Gajeel swagger over to Levy's table, throwing an arm around her shoulders as he sits down like it's the most natural thing in the world to do. Natsu looked to Lucy on the other side of the table, wondering if it really could be that simple.
AN: So I love love love fics about the dragon slayers going into heat/ finding their mates and I thought I'd take a crack at it myself. This may or may not be continued, depending on if you guys would like to see more and if I have time between everything I've got going on this summer. Leave a review or hmu me if you'd like a continuation! If not, that's cool too. Thanks for reading!