Natsu and Lucy sat at the table and ate breakfast like two normal people. This was something new and unique. Lucy privately wondered how long Natsu eating like a person would last, but it was not foremost among her thoughts. They had spent the morning in bed, barely dressed, kissing and touching. His hands had roamed over her arms, back, sides, and hips, but had studiously avoided anything more untoward. Even the kissing had been calm - soft and sweet, even heavenly, but not demanding. She was a little confused as to why he hadn't tried something more, why he had called it off when things started to escalate, and where exactly they stood now.

For his part, Natsu was carefully eating and thinking. He really wanted to go back to kissing Lucy. He couldn't, though, and was trying to figure out a way to tell Lucy why that wouldn't upset her and would ensure that they got to do more kissing in the future. He really hoped she wanted to. He was pretty sure today was just about the best day of his life so far, second maybe to the day Igneel found him, and wanted more days like this. Natsu decided that he was just going to tell Lucy everything as calmly as possible. He didn't really have a strategy and wasn't having any luck coming up with one.

Natsu stood and held out his hand to Lucy. She took it somewhat warily. Natsu flinched a little at that. He led her to the couch and sat, pulling her onto his lap. He tried to cradle her like he had last night when he had sang to her, but she was too stiff. Damn, he really needed to touch her to keep it together. She calmed him. Finally, he whispered, "Please Lucy. I... need to talk to you, and I need you to listen, and I really want to hold you like last night while I do."

Lucy slowly relaxed into him. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Please, listen to me and let me finish no matter how bad I screw this up. I probably will screw it up, because I'm not good at this... stuff. I've never cared about anyone as much as you and it makes me... unsure, I guess."

Lucy smiled. He was blushing and flustered and cute. She guessed that this wasn't going to be a "this whole thing was a huge mistake" talk, which relieved her greatly. The idea that Natsu might have regretted this had been giving her fits. "Okay, I'll listen," she said, snuggling into him.

Natsu sighed in relief. Lucy agreeing to listen didn't mean she wouldn't stop him and yell at him, but it did make it significantly less likely. "I guess first I need to ask you something. I like you a lot, and I like kissing you a lot, but I know that sometimes that that doesn't really make any real difference, but to me it does, at least with you, so what I wanted to know was if you wanted to be my girlfriend?" Natsu reviewed what he had said. He sounded like a complete idiot.

Lucy smiled. He was tongue tied, and it made her heart melt a little. He looked like he might continue, but she cut him off. "Yes. I would very much like to be your girlfriend." She felt a little silly, more than a little giddy, and very happy.

Natsu grinned broadly. "Thank goodness."

Lucy had to giggle at that. "Sorry," she said when Natsu looked questioningly at her, "I guess the happy is just kind of leaking out."

Natsu squeezed her.

"Eep, too tight!" she squeaked.

"Eh, sorry." He looked a little abashed, but still grinned at her. "Um, the rest though, there's more. I've never actually had a girlfriend, never even wanted one, don't really want one, just want you. So there's a lot of stuff I don't know, but there's a lot of stuff that I've heard about dragon slayers and mating and how they act and stuff, so I'm just going to tell you what I've heard, and it may or may not be true.

"We absolutely cannot have sex until you're one hundred percent sure that you want to stay with me forever. Mating is forever, maybe until death or maybe after, and I don't even know what counts as sex for this; I'm sure kissing is okay but there's stuff between kissing and, you know, and I don't know what's going to trigger it."

Lucy was looking slightly uncomfortable, but Natsu decided to rush on. Screw it all up in one giant crisis, it was the Fairy Tail way.

"I'm sure I want you forever, but there's a good chance that mating will make me into kind of a jealous, overprotective asshole for a while, but pretty sure not forever, just until I feel like I've let everyone know that you're mine or some time limit is reached or something. I don't want you to hate me because I end up acting like an ass for a while; I know you're strong and proud and capable and you probably won't like me acting like that, and if you decide to hate me I don't know if I could take it, and if you decide to hate me and leave me after the whole mating thing I might even get violent with you and hurt you and I really couldn't live with that.

"Please don't dump me already." Natsu winced as he finished.

Lucy remained silent. Natsu carefully lifted one eyelid to peek at her. She hadn't hit him, so it couldn't be all that bad. Lucy was running her hand across his chest, tracing the outline of the muscles. He flexed a little. Lucy looked up at him.

"It seems to me, this means that I have to be prepared for the possibility of ending up stuck with you. Honestly, I can't imagine a future where you don't play a part, so the risk seems reasonable. It seems a lot like mating is the equivalent of getting married, and it does seem kind of sudden for that kind of commitment. Of course, some people don't even get a say... but that's beside the point.

"I accept the fact that I may end up with you forever. I accept the fact that at some point you are going to go through a macho asshole phase, and promise to give you the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible during it. I accept the fact that 'no sex until marriage' is a hard and fast law for dragon slayers."

Lucy stopped talking and started using both hands to rub Natsu's chest. "So, um..." Natsu muttered.

Lucy giggled. "It means I'm not breaking up with you. You are very important to me, and I am willing to risk a temporary transformation into an ass if it means I get to keep you."

Natsu relaxed. He began to appreciate just how nice it felt to have Lucy touching him like that.

"You know," she said, "we should ask Levy about this, she reads a lot. And you should ask Gajeel, he is older than you, maybe his dragon told him more because of that."

Natsu shuddered. "I tried asking Levy and Gajeel. Gajeel caught me by surprise, pinned me, told me if I ever talked to Levy about that stuff again he'd kill me, and knocked me out. When I came to, Levy said that she had no idea really but that she was looking into it extensively and she'd let me know if she found anything. She also said I should make sure Gajeel was away on a mission before asking her about it again."

Lucy smiled. "Well, I'll ask Levy. Now that we're a couple, it seems we have a pretty valid reason to be interested." Lucy frowned. "Unless you don't want to tell people at the guild?"

Natsu squeezed her again, eliciting another eep. "I want everybody to know. You are mine and that has got to be just about the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Lucy laughed. "One of, huh? What's better?"

Natsu looked worried. This was one of those trick questions he had heard girls ask. He couldn't give an answer that would upset Lucy, but he couldn't think of something that he was sure wouldn't.

Lucy laughed again and pulled herself up so that she straddled Natsu, running her fingers through his hair. "It's okay love, about the only wrong answer is something to do with another girl. You can tell me."

"Finding Igneel, finding Fairy Tail, joining Fairy Tail, finding you," he whispered. He was glad she had mentioned not talking about other girls, because finding out Lisanna was alive and pulling Erza out of the etheron were both pretty big ones as well.

Lucy kissed him. His answer must have been okay. He leaned back and pulled her so that she was laying on top of him. He kissed back, but mostly just let himself be kissed. It was different than being the one doing the kissing. It made him feel like he belonged to her, completely. He moaned and rubbed her legs through the fuzzy pants. Those fuzzy pants with rainbows that made him think of that silly song. Man, he loved those pants.

A/N: aww, they're still being cute and cuddly. Patience isn't really Natsu's strong suit, it can't last.