Author's Note:
Alright! It's Sunday! And that means I get to throw a brand new chapter up on here. ;D
As always, a HUGE thanks to all my FANTASTIC reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: illleashya, SistershoOK, Glitterybugs, aliciacevbra, valerioux, NebelTeddyBear, Andria Justus Haynie, waiting-for-you443, Freckles, Lkityan02, iamanimefreak13, Lucinda, dani-yell10, Katnibal94, stranger1999, FireShifter, alleycat1138, Starstruck-MJ, nightfall252524, , Heavenlyeclipse, Konasuki Profitt, Karmitara, NaLuAlways26, CrazyZaika, Miss Darkqueen, PandoraJ, Leomae2.0, quidditchChick6, and Catleana! You're all superstars! :D
Also, extra kudos to all of you who picked up on my little 'Celestial Dragon' easter egg. ;D
Alrighty! On with the show! I know you're all eager to see what happens next. ;D And be sure to check out the sneak peek of next chapter at the end.
"Natsu! Don't do that! You're going to get…you're getting the lines tangled up! Hey! Are you listening to me?!"
Currently, Lucy found herself dangling from a ridiculously tall indoor rock-climbing wall while her boyfriend zigzagged all over the place and got the lines attached to their harnesses completely tangled. She didn't even know how he'd managed it, aside from simply having magical abilities to make a mess like no one else could.
By this point, she wasn't even sure how they were going to get down… but she doggedly kept on climbing up because it seemed like the thing to do. If she were smarter, she might have started heading back to the ground by now, but she had the burning desire to reach Natsu – who was laughing at her from what felt like miles ahead up the wall. She wanted to smack him for being such an impulsive, over excitable, hyper, crazy person.
"Natsu! Get back down here and climb next to me! What's the point of being on a date if I'm just staring at your ass and can't even talk to you?!"
A burst of laughter heralded his response, and he quickly trapezed his way down the wall to park next to her. "What's wrong with staring at my ass? You're my girlfriend now, you can do it as much as ya want."
She flushed, not meaning it that way – which he very well knew. He was just being an ass in a different way now. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I was talking about how much higher up the wall you were. You were leaving me in the dust."
"It's not my fault you're so slow."
"If you weren't crawling all over my lines, maybe I could pick up the pace! But you've nearly knocked me off the wall at least five times by now."
"It's only been three."
"Oh, I'm sorry. What a horrible mistake on my part. You've only nearly knocked me clean off a fifty-foot wall three times."
He completely ignored her and changed the subject. "Come on, stop talking and start climbing! I wanna get to the top already!"
"You've already been to the top plenty. I vote we rappel down."
"But you haven't reached the top yet!"
"I don't need to! I'm perfectly fine getting almost there. I'm tired and hungry Natsu." she complained, throwing a good whine into the mix to get him going.
He heaved a big sigh and finally gave in. "Alright, fine. If you're gonna be that way about it…. But I'm gonna actually climb down instead of using the lines."
"Fine with me. You'll probably get there faster than I will." she grumbled.
However, when he started to descend she felt a tug on her own line, and before she could yelp a warning he'd tugged her off the wall. Her line went taut immediately of course and caught her, but the whole experience was quite jarring as she went from wall climbing to swinging in the air by her harness. It was made even more bumpy when her fall yanked on Natsu's lines – which were indeed now thoroughly tangled with hers and were the reason for her fall in the first place – and he was also yanked off the wall. They ended up plastered together dangling from the ropes.
"See, I told you that you were tangling the ropes." she grumbled into his chest – where her nose was currently pressed.
He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back as far as their weight and the ropes would allow. "Oops?" he offered by way of apology, and she huffed at him in irritation as he shot her an awkward smile.
His eyes darted all over her face, neck, and chest and then glanced away as he tensed up a bit. He took a large gulp of air and then swallowed so thickly she thought he'd better drink some water as soon as they got to the ground – which thankfully still seemed to be happening fairly smoothly despite their tangled lines. The assistants below were apparently able to manipulate the ropes enough to slowly lower them, though she clearly heard them laughing - probably at them - as they did so.
And the whole way down, Natsu was rigid and kept her pushed back as far as he could. He also seemed to be holding his breath for most of the time spent airborne.
This behavior was nothing new though. For the past couple of weeks that they'd been dating, his personal bubble had apparently inflated to a shocking size. Even the few times they'd kissed – which had all been amazingly short and uneventful so far – he had kept what seemed like an unnecessary amount of space between their bodies. It had gotten to the point where she was starting to become quite concerned.
…
Meanwhile, Natsu was having a rough time trying to ignore the feel of Lucy's soft body pressed up against him. He'd been doing a really good job of keeping his distance the past couple of weeks, and so far those dumb leftover mating instincts had been pretty controllable. Right now though, not so much. It was impossible to ignore how close she was, and he ended up having to hold his breath and silently yell at the guy lowering them to hurry the fuck up.
Heat built up in his gut and he closed his eyes, doing his best to shove it back down where it should be. That damn mating urge was rearing its ugly head and started whispering things like, 'fuck her already!' and, 'if you don't take her, you're gonna explode.' None of that helped him to stay calm, and by the time they finally reached the ground, he was desperate to put some space between them before he lost control and did something unforgivable again.
He shed the harness and ripped free of the ropes within seconds, ignoring Lucy yelling at him to, "Let the technician do it! You're going to break something and we'll have to pay for it!"
Somehow, he didn't actually break anything, so she didn't have anything to complain about.
"You worry way too much, Luce." he hummed as they walked to the next attraction, stopping by a kiosk to grab a snack on the way. And for some reason Lucy insisted he drink some water…
"No, I worry just enough. It was sheer luck that you didn't break anything this time." she grumbled back, and he couldn't keep his laugh quiet. She was too damn cute when she got all grumpy.
"Okay Weirdo."
She huffed some more and sulked until they got to the next booth full of harnesses. This one was in front of a giant jungle-gym obstacle course thing mostly composed of stuff way up high in the air. All sorts of rope bridges, platforms, and things to climb on hung above them, and a rail ran over it all so that you could be locked into a harness and wouldn't fall. This time, Natsu refused to be strapped into another of those death traps, 'cause it hadn't turned out too well last time.
This harness was different, it had a lacrima beam coming from it that was literally just made of light unless the person attached to it fell – then it'd get solid and keep them from falling – but he still didn't really wanna mess with it.
He had to sign some piece of paper saying he wouldn't complain if he got his ass hurt while doing it, but then they let him into the fun looking place without a harness.
"Natsu! Wait for me!"
He glanced back to see Lucy still getting rigged with belts and shit, and he forced himself to a stop on the first platform to wait for her. This was a date after all, and even though he had to keep a little distance between them, he still wanted to spend it with her. So, he plopped down cross-legged on the wooden perch and watched as she started climbing up the rope net-ladder-thing that led up to where he was at.
She wasn't as strong as him for sure, but she was still stronger than she gave herself credit for. Hell, she was probably stronger than most people in here, and this was an activity center aimed towards people that liked to get out and do strenuous stuff.
The entire way up, she proved him right by loudly fussing at him without getting out of breath once. Then, she got to the middle of the ladder where it separated from the start and finish in a weird way. The first and last bit of the rope ladder were connected to the wooden platforms, but the middle part was totally separated except for a single rope… kinda like a hammock. As soon as she got onto it, the thing flipped around and she was suddenly hanging upside down.
Natsu busted out laughing at her loud list of bad words that she sprayed everywhere.
"You doin' okay down there, Luce?"
"Oh shut up, you stupid dragon slayer!" she shouted back, which just made him laugh harder.
She kept climbing, hooking her calf or heel through the netting to keep her lower half attached to the bridge. Then, when she reached the upper half of the connected ladder, she very awkwardly climbed up onto it.
"Good job." he praised as she crawled up next to him and collapsed onto her back.
She was breathing heavy, but not panting, and she still had plenty of breath to snap, "Thanks for the warning by the way. What's up with that middle part?"
He chuckled. "Dunno, but it's fun! I like this place!"
It was true. He was having a blast, and the physical activity was helping to work out all that extra energy that he had bundled up inside lately thanks to the mating urges he was ignoring.
"Yeah…I guess it was kind of fun. It was certainly a surprise."
"That's the spirit! Let's keep going!"
With a groan she got herself up and then eyeballed the different paths branching off from the first platform. There were three: a tightrope bridge that led to a giant ball, a rope ladder like the one they'd just come up that lead to another platform, and a pole going up to a platform directly above them.
"Let's do this one. That thing over there looks interesting." Lucy pointed towards the big ball thing that Natsu had already noted.
He let her lead the way and then did his best not to bounce the tightrope around too much as he stepped on too. There were two ropes about belly level that they could hold onto, but none of the ropes were attached to each other and they weren't really tight. So, everything wobbled as soon as he stepped on, and Lucy ended up bobbing and almost lost her balance. When she tried to fix it with the side-ropes, they just splayed out wide, which tipped her forwards and gave him a great view of her butt.
She eeped and yelped, "Careful Natsu!"
"Yeah, yeah, I am."
She grumbled some more, but eventually got herself back upright and this time obviously kept her hands close to her body to keep the ropes from spreading apart again. Once she was steady, they stepped forwards together, and he also kept his hands tight to his body.
Like that, they wobbled their way to the end of the rope and then crawled into the hole on the side of the giant sphere thing. When they got inside, Natsu whistled, feeling pretty damn impressed. The inner walls were covered by loops that were obviously supposed to be handholds and footholds, and they went all the way up to the center of the ceiling where there was an opening up into a vertical chute. To get to it they'd have to scale the walls - which curved in of course, 'cause they were inside a ball - and at some point they'd either be upside down or just hanging by their arms.
"Ya think you can do this Luce? Or do ya wanna try a different route?" he asked, not sure if she wanted to attempt it.
"I'm good."
He turned when her voice came from higher up than he thought it should and was surprised to see her already more than halfway up the wall. With a grin, he hurried to join her and soon caught up. He was the first up into the chute – which he quickly discovered was deeply ridged to make it easy to climb.
He got up into it by freeing his heels from the loops and swinging his lower body around and up into the chute. Once his feet were propped on a ridge, he released one of his hands and reached in to grab the lip, then shimmied the rest of his body into the tube. He'd probably done it in the most difficult way possible, but it was the first thing that'd come to mind and it worked out in the end.
Lucy had a whole lot more trouble though, and hung at the lip of the tunnel for a long time peering up into it. She had her forearms and calves hooked through the loops to hold her there and could only free one hand to reach up into the tunnel and grab a ridge. When she stalled out again and looked distressed, Natsu wedged himself in tight and then reached down to help her out.
She glanced up at him when he latched onto her wrist.
"Let go, I'll pull ya up."
A look of relief washed over her face and she didn't hesitate to free her other arm and both legs so that she swung loose, now held up only by his grip on her one hand. As always, he was a little stunned and amazed by how willing she was to trust that he'd never drop her. Of course he wouldn't, but that was besides the point. Even though it had happened so many times, his heart still skipped a beat when she put her blind faith into him.
With a grunt, he heaved her up and she grabbed at the ridged wall with her free hand.
What he hadn't considered though, was how he was going to pull her up into the chute. He couldn't really move out of her way because he had to keep his wedged-in position. So, to get her high enough for her feet to reach the wall, he had to pull her up until she was lodged between his spread legs. She hooked an elbow over his right thigh to pull herself up, and her other hand was on the wall next to his left hip, which put her head right around his belly button and her chest way too close to his groin.
A shot of fire turned his insides liquid, and as soon as she was wedged in under her own power he squirmed up the tunnel and away from her at top speed. Thankfully, it took her a little longer to climb up the chute, so he had a minute to cool down. By the time she'd made it up, he was mostly under control again.
…
After the jungle gym thing, they'd investigated an adult bouncy castle room where Lucy had spent most of the time sitting or laying on the floor while Natsu bounced around like a Ping-Pong ball. She didn't have to put in any effort, because he bounced her around plenty. Besides that, staying in one place seemed the safest bet, otherwise she was worried about a midair collision with Natsu.
It was actually surprisingly fun though… and it was also something that she quickly realized she'd only be comfortable doing with Natsu. He could land inches from her and send her somersaulting through the air, but she fully trusted him to never actually land on top of her – or if he did, that he wouldn't hurt her. With anyone else, she would have probably spent the entire time worried about getting crushed.
Eventually though, he got tired of her doing nothing and engaged her in a bouncy battle – which was instigated when he picked her up and flung her across the room. That got her onto her feet, and they ended up in a shoving contest. Thankfully there were plush pillow-type things that could be held and used to bounce off each other – sort of like bouncy boxing gloves but were held like a ball – and she used that to push Natsu around. If she'd used her hands, like Natsu was doing, she probably would have broken a wrist with the force they were hitting each other. As it was, she ended up winded more than once, but thoroughly enjoyed herself.
"Take this!" she yelled, bouncing for momentum and then leaping into Natsu with her plush shield held in front of her.
He just laughed and blocked her with crossed forearms, and she recoiled off him like a ball against a wall. Thanks to the bouncy floor though, he also got thrown backwards and they both slammed into the springy walls, which just threw them back together. He met her with his palms and smacked her shield to push her back again, but this time she managed to get her feet under her before she bounced off the wall.
They'd been playing bumper cars for long enough that she was ready for a new tactic, so instead of launching herself at him, she wobbled over with slow careful steps. He just cocked his head and shot her a confused grin.
"Ya done already?" he asked when she finally reached him.
"Yeah…but first…"
Without warning she brought the shield down on his head and smacked him good, going with a time-honored pillow fight technique instead of the uncoordinated ping-ponging they'd been doing. He yelped and then laughed as he rubbed his head and squinted at her.
"Alright, ya got me good that time Luce."
She laughed and handed over the shield when he grabbed it from her. Then she turned to exit the bouncy room, thinking they'd agreed to be finished. However, a hefty swat from behind landed on her rump as she walked away, and she spun back around with an indignant squawk.
"Natsu!"
"You're the one who turned her back to an opponent. Not a smart move Luce." he said unrepentantly with an evil grin, waving around the offending shield.
She hmphed. "I thought we were done!"
"Sure, if you wanna."
Narrowing her eyes at him, she started heading to the exit again, but backed up to it this time to make sure her behind wasn't left unprotected. Her boyfriend got a real kick out of the maneuver and dissolved into a fit of snickers, which increased in volume when she promptly tripped over the threshold and tumbled out of the room on her ass.
He sauntered out after her and then stopped to stand over her and grin down at her. She glared up at him as she rubbed her butt, and then stood with a sulky huff.
…
After that, they'd tried out a couple of the outdoor activities, like the zipline and an obstacle course built out of haybales, tires, barrels, ropes, and all sorts of other random stuff. So, by the time evening finally rolled around, Lucy was definitely ready to get some food and then head home, take a bath, and hit the bed.
On the way to the train station, they stopped for a quick bite to eat, and thankfully Natsu had an hour to digest as they waited at the station for the next available train… otherwise, Lucy's legs would have been in some serious danger.
An hour was more than enough time for him to fully digest – a fact she knew through experience – but he still grumbled and griped as they got onto the train headed for Magnolia. In response, Lucy pointed out that it would only be an hourlong ride – and with a combination of cajoling, complaining that she was too tired to walk, and threatening to make him piggyback her the whole way home if he didn't get on the train, he finally conceded.
So now they were sitting in a compartment with his head in her lap and her fingers in his hair as they trundled along. As she smoothed his hair off his face, she wondered not for the first time why he only allowed this sort of contact now when transportation was involved. One would think that after becoming romantically involved, their touching would increase… not decrease.
Her lips ended up between her teeth as she grew more anxious about what she'd planned for tonight.
Yesterday had been another sleepover, and amongst all the different topics that had been brought up, she'd mentioned that nothing had happened between her and Natsu. When the girls had asked for details, she had admitted that they'd kissed a few times, but the experiences had been awkward and quick.
At the memory of what had happened next, Lucy flushed. She'd made the mistake of saying that she was starting to think she just didn't like kissing… and Cana had taken it as some kind of challenge to prove her wrong. That woman had no shame. Really, she reminded Lucy a lot of Natsu in that way – they both just went and did whatever they wanted without worrying about the consequences. Still, she'd never expected Cana to actually kiss her to make a point….
The card mage had said, "Just pretend I'm Natsu." And then she had proceeded to thoroughly show Lucy that kissing could be very nice indeed… downright great in fact. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised that Cana would be an amazing kisser, since she was the most experienced out of all of them, but it had still come as a shock. Or maybe the real shock had been how much she'd enjoyed it despite herself. Oh sure, it had been awkward as hell since it was Cana, but the physical sensations had still felt amazingly good… especially when she'd followed Cana's advice and pretended she was Natsu.
After showing her what a good kiss felt like, Cana had proceeded to teach her how to do it, as well as how to teach someone else to kiss…. and now Lucy was very eager to put all the tips she'd been given to the test. She wanted more than what she and Natsu had had up to this point. She wanted to actually kiss him and make some progress on their physical relationship.
So, when they finally got home, she left Natsu on the couch to finish recovering from his motion sickness and then hurried through her nighttime routine – including a very quick shower. This was the perfect moment to put her plan into action, and she didn't want to waste any time. Happy would be spending the night with Carla and Wendy, so it was just the two of them alone in her apartment.
She was both anxious and excited as she exited the bathroom and walked over to sit next to Natsu, who was now finishing up a snack and had obviously recovered completely from his queasiness.
"Yo. You done?" he asked as he licked his fingers clean of whatever he'd been eating. She supposed if everything went the way she wanted, she'd probably be tasting it too. Hopefully it wasn't anything nasty like onions or garlic.
"Yeah…"
"So what's up? You headed to bed now?" He glanced at the clock, which did read the time she generally tucked in. But she had other things in mind.
"Not yet…um…I'd like to try something, if that's okay with you."
"Sure. What?"
He turned to sit facing her, his knee bent and resting on the couch while the other dangled off the edge. That worked just fine for her, and she assumed a similar position and scooted forwards until her knee brushed his.
"So…you know that I have a sleepover with the girls every other weekend right? Well, we talk about a lot of stuff. And… sometimes interesting things come up. Uh, yesterday, we sort of got onto the topic of kissing…and…I'd like to try some of the stuff I learned. With you."
He blinked. "So you wanna kiss?"
"Yeah, but different from what we've been doing. I want to take our time with it."
His lips pursed and there was a cautious but curious look in his eyes. "Okay, I guess we could try that. Sounds interesting."
"Great, then um…" she leaned forwards awkwardly, not really sure how to go about initiating the kiss.
He leaned forwards as well until their faces were close, though there were still a couple of feet between their torsos. Then, it was up to her, and she struggled to dredge up all the tips Cana had given her before her mind fried under tension.
"Right…so, first…" she mumbled to herself, and brought her hands up to rest on either side of Natsu's face, flushing a little as she did so. Cana said this was a good way to increase intimacy, as well as make sure he didn't pull back before she was ready. The next step would be to move her hands up into his hair, but that was after they started kissing.
Then she licked her lips to moisten them, took a shaky breath, and leaned forwards the last couple of inches to brush her lips over Natsu's. It was just a test, and she pulled back a few seconds later to gauge his response. Weirdly enough, despite being as brief as the other kisses they'd shared, this one had felt different. There was some extra tension in the air, maybe anticipation that there would be more to come. It was similar to their first kiss, where her stomach had felt like it was tied into knots with nerves and excitement. The more kisses they'd shared, the less she had experienced that, since she had come to expect the slightly rough brief peck and had gotten used to it.
He seemed to be feeling the same thing, because when she pulled back his eyes were glittering a little more than usual and he seemed more intrigued than before. Once she had determined he was okay with it, she ducked back in for a longer peck, letting her lips stay against his for at least ten seconds… not that she was counting.
Despite still being brief, it was longer than any lip-to-lip contact they'd had before, so she was able to perceive things she hadn't with their previous brief pecks. For instance, she noted that his lips were rougher than Cana's, more chapped, and they were also a lot hotter. However, his mouth felt too firm – probably because he was puckering too much – so, after a moment, she pulled back again and watched as his mouth quickly relaxed to its normal state.
"Relax your lips. It feels like I'm kissing someone that just ate a lemon." she gently teased.
"Oh, alright." He blinked, as if the request surprised him. "But isn't that how you're supposed to kiss?"
"Sure…if you're kissing a kid on the forehead. But this is a different kind of kiss and it requires more than just puckering. Here, relax your mouth and I'll show you what I mean, then you try. 'Kay?"
He nodded slightly, and when he was done she ducked back in to kiss his now soft mouth. Kissing him this time felt totally different and so much better than before. When her lips pressed to his, she felt them give under the pressure and was surprised by how soft they were – not texturally, they were still chapped – but their plushness was hugely different.
Once connected, she gently pursed her lips just a little, and then relaxed, pursed and then relaxed, over and over just like Cana had showed her. She varied her force, pressing her lips to his more firmly when she pursed and pulling back just a little when she softened her lips, which gave the kiss that push and pull feel to it that she remembered. For this first little kiss, she kept her lips closed, figuring it would be easier for Natsu to try imitating.
When she pulled back, her lips were left feeling pleasantly hot and a little tingly from his slightly dry, overly heated mouth. Her breathing had also picked up, and it took her a second longer than normal to reopen her eyes and see how he had responded. Personally, it had felt pretty good to her… though it was also probably extra exciting simply because it was their first real kiss.
His eyes opened a hair after hers and seemed a tiny bit fuzzy and dark, which she hoped meant that he'd liked the kiss.
After clearing her throat, she whispered, "So? How was that in comparison?"
He licked his lips and blinked. "Good…. Really good."
She was a little surprised by the slight rasp in his voice and it sent a little shiver down her spine.
Before she could ask if he wanted to give it a go, his eyes darted down to her mouth and he licked his lips again. "Can I try now?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure."
He was leaning in almost while she was saying the last word and she had to cut it off short. His lips pressed to hers a little hard, but he eased up on the pressure a second later as if reminding himself that wasn't how to do it. After a moment of stillness, his lips started moving like hers had, pressing close and then pulling back, over and over until he'd actually gotten a rhythm going.
Once he seemed a little more comfortable with it, she responded, moving her lips against his gently.
His rhythm stuttered as if she'd surprised him, and then he eagerly restarted… a little too eagerly in fact. He got a little too rough, so Lucy did what Cana had suggested in such a situation and pulled back just a bit, though she made sure to keep kissing him so he would know she was still okay with that. But by leaning back a little, it naturally reduced the pressure.
She had to do that a couple of times before he seemed to get the memo.
Separating their lips just enough to talk, he mumbled, "Am I doing something wrong? You keep pulling away."
"Sometimes you're a little rough. When I pull back, it just means to lighten your pressure a little."
"Oooh…that makes sense." he breathed against her mouth, then gave her a little kiss before seeming to think of something else. "So I guess if you press closer, it means you want more?"
She nodded just a little, letting their noses rub. "That's the idea. And if you pulled away, I'd know I was getting too rough."
He huffed a laugh, which puffed over her face. "Like that'd ever happen."
"Mm." she hummed her agreement, then murmured, "Now I want to add something new to it… so I'll kiss you again."
"There's more to it?"
"Well yeah, of course."
After a brief chuckle, she closed the distance between their lips again. This time, she started the same, but quickly began parting her lips to mold them better to his. By parting them she was also able to drastically increase the range of motion in her kissing, till it was almost like she was whispering words against his lips. The bonus to that – as Cana had put it – was that the more movement you can get with your lips, the better you can rub them against your partner's.
It was true… by parting her lips, she could explore his mouth in a whole new way, and she quickly found several things that felt very good. In the end, she wound up doing something similar to before and got a rhythm going that felt good with pressure and lip movement. Generally, she parted her lips a bit when she pressed closer to him and then closed them as she gently pursed… each time trying for slightly different motions and contact.
He didn't even wait this time for her to pull back, he simply responded in kind after she'd done it long enough for him to get the idea. With him doing the same sort of thing, Lucy quickly found herself in what felt like a conversation, or a dance…something with giving and taking and pushing and pulling.
Often one lip would end up between the other's for a short time, and at one point when Natsu's bottom lip was between hers, she decided to try gently sucking on it for a second. He grunted and nipped her top lip in retaliation, which made her squeak and let him go. Then he sucked on her bottom lip a little, which surprisingly felt pretty good, though she did pull back when he got a little too into it.
By this point, she was so into the kiss that she didn't even consider pulling back to ask permission for the next step and instead just went for it. Her tongue sneaked out and poked between his lips, which he immediately noticed judging by the way he froze. When he didn't pull away, she prodded at him with her tongue some more but came to a stop when she ran into his teeth.
It took a little convincing, but eventually he got the idea and - with a small surprised sound in his throat that was way cuter and hotter than it should be - he opened up enough for her tongue to enter. Of course Natsu, being Natsu, leapt on board a little too eagerly and his jaws suddenly opened too wide as his tongue came out to play too – which really meant that he was no longer kissing her, so much as eating the lower half of her face. That definitely had her pulling back and wiping her nose and chin free of slobber.
His questioning eyes clearly said, 'what did I do wrong this time?' and before he could say the words she was already answering him. "I'm glad you're enthusiastic about trying tongue kissing… but it's still kissing. Try and keep your lips here…. not here." The first 'here' was indicated by tapping her lips with her fingers, and at the second she widened the gap between her fingers and tapped her nose and chin to get the idea across.
His eyes widened and he made a small 'o' with his mouth.
When she leaned back in to reseal her mouth over his, he actually did a fairly good job of following her instructions. Then came the problem of wrangling his tongue – which had gotten totally out of control – back into the semblance of a normal tongue. She made her point with a well-placed nip that was accompanied by a displeased grunt so he knew that she wasn't play-nipping him. He immediately froze and let her take charge for a while, and she was able to demonstrate what she liked by gently and slowly moving her tongue around his mouth… mostly focusing on his tongue. Once she'd set up a slow sliding rhythm of her tongue against his, he gingerly started to respond again, trying to mimic her this time instead of running wild with the idea.
After kissing who-knew-how-long, they separated with a gasp, their foreheads pressing together as they panted in each other's faces.
"So…how exactly did you learn all that stuff again?" Natsu huffed after a while with a small chuckle in his tone.
"Um…well…Cana sort of…demonstrated." Lucy replied with equally heavy breaths.
"Really?" he laughed. "Remind me to get her some good wine. 'Cause damn…"
"So you liked it?"
He snorted. "What kinda stupid question is that? Actually, can we do it some more?"
"Sure." she agreed, and was still laughing when he locked their lips again.
It was even better this time around, since they quickly settled into the rhythm they'd started getting into last time. However, it was still a little bumpy from time to time with them trying to figure out how to work both lips and tongues at the same time. It seemed like what worked best – at least at first– was to just lip-lock when tongues were involved and then go back to moving their lips against each other when the kiss wasn't french. And eventually, they switched back and forth enough that the two sort of ended up meshing together.
It was hot thanks to Natsu's insane body temp – which seemed to have gone even higher – and humid from their breath, and probably a little too wet, but it was damn amazing. Her fingers ended up in his hair at some point without even thinking about it, and she discovered he really liked it when she tugged at the pink strands and scratched at his scalp a little. Meanwhile, one of his hands ended up on her knee and the other cupped her shoulder, pulling her closer as he slanted his lips over hers repeatedly.
It felt amazing and she never wanted to stop. Actually, she wanted to get closer to him, and that space between their bodies got more and more frustrating. However, when she scooched closer, it seemed to trigger some kind of abort mechanism in him, because he suddenly used his hand on her shoulder to shove her back almost roughly.
They separated with a gasp and Natsu lunged backwards away from her, panting harder than she thought he should be.
"Natsu, what…? Are you okay?" she asked while reaching towards him.
"Don't!" he snapped, his hand intercepting hers and grapping her wrist to keep her from touching him. "Stay back…just…give me a minute…"
His eyes glanced at her for half a second, and the burning gold depths instantly made her freeze in her tracks. She'd seen a look like that before, but it had been a lot less human then.
After a long moment, he finally breathed a deep sigh, and she could see him visibly relax and go back to normal. Only then did she risk moving and pulled her hand back.
"What just happened?"
"Um…well…" He grimaced and scrubbed his fingers through his already very messy hair. "I kinda still have some, ah… mating instincts that I've been keeping under wraps… so… yeah…"
"Wait, I thought you were completely over being in heat?!"
"Yeah, I'm definitely not in heat anymore. But, um…we didn't really…finish when I…you know. Uh…usually there would have been a lot more…and we stopped after the first time…so…"
Lucy had never seen Natsu look so uncomfortable as he did right now. He seemed worried, embarrassed, ashamed, and just downright awkward - as was shown by the stilted way he was trying to explain the situation. He was stumbling around his words so much it took her a while to figure out what he was getting at.
"So, let me get this straight. Are you saying that when a dragon slayer goes into heat, there's generally a lot more…er…sex involved?" she asked, flushing a little.
He nodded, glancing off to the side and looking even more uncomfortable.
"But…you aren't in heat anymore right? So why would that still be affecting you?"
"Since we didn't…do it enough…my instincts are still telling me that I didn't properly claim you as my mate."
She absorbed that information for a moment, and then gathered up her courage to ask the obvious question. "Alright. And what does that mean exactly?"
"It means I have to keep some space between us, or I might lose control of those instincts…and I'd go into a mating frenzy."
That's what she was afraid of. The memory of that night flashed through her mind's eye for a second before she put it away again. It hadn't been all bad, but it had been distressing enough that she didn't want a repeat performance.
Without thinking about it, she summarized her thoughts dryly. "So if you get too aroused, you'll lose control and fuck me over and over whether I'm on board with it or not. Does that about sum it up?"
His eyes flickered to gold for a second and he tensed and grimaced. "Uh, yeah…maybe don't say things like that… 'cause…"
Okay, so Natsu liked dirty talk. Good to know so she could avoid it for the time being – not that she'd been intending to dirty talk, she was just fed up with it and being blunt. Still, her belly tightened and she had to try and think about non-sexual things to keep her mind on track, because the discovery was surprisingly distracting.
After a moment, she had to chuckle, and when Natsu sent her a questioning glance she said, "You know…I've noticed how you were keeping extra space between us. I'd actually started to think that maybe it was because you didn't want me like that unless you were in heat. Guess I was wrong."
"That's what you thought?" he sputtered, laughter also slightly threading his voice alongside incredulity. "Wow…yeah. You couldn't have been wronger."
She huffed another laugh and then sighed. A few silent minutes passed, and then she quietly asked, "Will it always be like that? Every time we…you know…will you go into a frenzy?"
"Nah. It'll just be the first time I think. As soon as that instinct to claim you has been satisfied, we won't have to deal with that anymore."
That was a relief. At least it was only the first time that would be super rough and fast… though it did depress her to realize that they wouldn't be able to progress their physical relationship in the way she'd expected. She had always imagined that once she got a boyfriend, they'd go on a few dates, hit the bases in stages, and then eventually have sex… but it looked like that wasn't going to be the way it would transpire. With this frenzy business, it would probably all happen at once.
Just to verify, she asked, "So…I guess I'd better be ready to go all the way before trying anything physical with you, huh?"
"Pretty much."
"And uh…if you do go into a frenzy…um…I guess slow and gentle is out of the question?"
He grimaced and looked a little ashamed. "I…honestly don't know. But…probably."
That was basically what she'd expected. She leaned back against the couch and sighed, trying to come up with options. "And would waiting lessen the urge at all?"
"I doubt it. It's been weeks already, and my instincts haven't got any easier to control. If anything, they've been getting worse."
"Oh."
She thought a little more and then flushed when another idea came to her.
"Um…this is an awkward question, but…would it lessen the urge if you…uh…relieved yourself before we did anything?"
It seemed to take him a second before he figured out what she was saying and then he flushed. "Oh, er…no. I have a very short recovery time…it's probably another dragon slayer thing."
'Talk about a porn-ish talent,' she thought to herself and stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, then shook her head and tried to clear it out. The last thing she needed right now was to take another little trip to the gutter. The important thing was that yet another idea had been shot down… which meant she was running out of options.
She chewed her lips, worried and wondering how they were going to do this. It obviously wasn't going to happen for a little while at least…not until she was comfortable with the idea of going all the way with Natsu. She wanted to be mentally ready when it happened, even if she'd probably still have plenty of nerves thanks to their history and the whole situation.
After a bit, Natsu reached over and lightly poked her cheek. "You okay? Did I scare you too much?"
When he pulled back, she reached up and grabbed his hand, pressing it to her cheek as she turned her head to face him. "I'm worried yes, but not scared. It just means we have to wait until I'm totally ready right?"
"Yeah." he replied, his eyes darting all over her face and finally settling on her lips.
To her surprise he leaned in, careful to keep his body as far from her as he could. She raised her head to meet him when he gave her a small kiss on the lips, and then he leaned his forehead against hers.
"Sorry about all this Luce…"
"It's okay. We'll figure it out."
They stayed like that for a long moment, and then Natsu finally pulled back with a sigh. "I should probably go cool down…"
"Okay. Will you be coming back?"
"Yeah, in a bit. Ya don't have to wait up for me though."
"Alright, just wake me up to let me know you're back."
"Sure."
And then he was hopping out the window, leaving her a mess of emotions and thoughts.
Sneak Peek
She still had some nerves and embarrassment about it all, but she knew good and well that those emotions wouldn't be going anywhere until she got used to sex…. which would only happen by actually having sex.
There was only one last issue that held her back…. namely, the physical situation and how she was supposed to deal with him going into a mating frenzy without getting torn up again. She held little hope that there would be much foreplay once he lost control, so she wanted a backup plan in case she couldn't get in the mood with just kissing. The last thing she wanted was a repeat performance of their last sexual encounter.
She'd been attempting research in different ways – reading romance novels, sex help books, etc. – but nothing really covered her situation. Eventually she'd given in and brought up her quandary at the most recent sleepover… which was how she'd ended up in her current predicament.
She was currently in a store, which she had been dragged to by Cana and Mira... and for all her love of shopping, this was one particular kind of retailer that she had never stepped foot into before.