Heyyy! Kay here guys. I just wanna say… I love you all! Here's why: I've posted this story on two other sites. I get pretty good feedback from one and radio silence from the other. As an author, I can without a doubt say that the readers of are far superior to all the others.

Now to address some concerns of my reviewers.

For Savwayfair: Now I know you weren't questioning it, but I must clarify this for you. Lucy was dancing with Laxus out of pure chance. Call it serendipity. Pair that with the fact that she was drunk off her ass, that's how those two ended up getting it on, on the dancefloor. Thank you so much for your review. It tells me that I need to be clearer and to remember that I'm the only inhabitant of K.P.'s headspace. XD

Wolf957 (guest): I see you were wondering about draconic knots and such. I am too. Haha, I have a general outline for the rest of the story, but all of it hasn't been written as yet. You've made me seriously consider the mechanics of a dragon's mating. Thanks!

Now I can't talk about everyone's reviews but just know that you all give me joy!

Thank you to: Bs. trinkets, ItsJ Gacha (Such eloquent reviews!), OrcaDM, Nalulover31, zooeyandvincy (my heart soared at this review!), Ohta Suzuke and Yuki MC. I wish I could mention everyone, but alas I must get on to actually writing this chapter.

Warning: A very lemon-like scene (not a full one, just the barest hints) lies ahead. I didn't know how to filter it out without ruining the quality of the story. Sorry. Also, please note that this is a very angsty chapter, but don't worry, we'll have some humor back in the next one!

Please do enjoy, you lovely people!


Chapter 4: Temperament

The guild hall was uncharacteristically quiet. Not a soul moved or spoke. It seemed everyone was waiting with bated breath for Natsu to react in some way.

When he finally did, the building seemed to sigh in relief. The pink-haired man strode out after Lucy with his head down, fists clenched tightly. He was wound tighter than a two dollar watch but managed to keep his explosive personality in check as he exited the guild hall.

Erza and the rest of his team moved, maybe to stop or join him, but they were surprisingly prevented from leaving the building by Gajeel of all people.

"What is the meaning of this, Gajeel? Move!" Erza demanded. Happy tried to fly by sneakily but was caught by his tail by the iron dragon slayer.

"None a ya' busybodies are going anywhere. This is private business between a slayer and his mate. Ya got that?!" Levy meekly nodded in agreement beside him; her face suffused in a rosy blush.

Gray stepped forward with a narrow look, "Explain."

"I ain't gotta tell you squat, ice princess. If Natsu wants any of you to know, he will. Now but out," the long-haired raven took on a defensive stance as he got into a stare-down with the ice-make mage. Neither man was backing down. They both seemed to be trying to cow the other into submission with the mere ferocity of their gazes.

"Leave 'em be," Laxus spoke up. The attentions of both fighting parties turned to him. "I don't know what exactly has Salamander's panties in a twist but I know that you do not want to get in his way right now. Trust me."

"Why the hell should we?" Gray countered, "Besides, wasn't he trying to tear you a new asshole just now? What's up with that?"

The lightening dragon slayer seemed to contemplate the question. "I'm not sure but I know this," he met Gray's eyes with a stare that dared the other man to challenge his words, "He smelled like a desperate, cornered animal. Unless your name is Lucy, you don't want to be there when he finally lashes out."

The seriousness and confidence in his tone left no room for argument. They all worried over their friends' well-being, but saw the merit of staying the hell out of it- for now.


Natsu's feet had carried him from the Guildhall at a slow pace, but once his shoe hit the pavement he took off at a dead run. His instincts were going haywire, but he somehow knew exactly where Lucy was going. He caught whiffs of her scent here and there in the cool Magnolia night air.

The woman hadn't gotten far seeing as she was walking. He caught up to her right as she turned the corner to head towards the East Forest.

The dragon slayer opened his mouth to call out to her, but resisted at the last minute. There was no reason to warn her before he could explain himself.

He was right on top of her before she noticed his presence. Her eyes narrowed in such disdain he almost turned back. But no, he couldn't leave things as they were. He didn't know how to explain it, but he would.

"Lucy."

She at least gave him the courtesy of stopping and facing him. Her eyes were red and puffy, and he could make out mostly inaudible sniffles. Tear tracks marred her skin, and he felt the pain in her eyes like a punch to the gut.

"Lucy I'm… I'm so sorry!"

The celestial mage straightened her back and balled her fists as if preparing for battle.

"Sorry for what, Natsu? For treating my heart like a toy or for embarrassing me tonight?"

Her arms shook, but her gaze was as steady and unwavering as Fiore's bedrock.

"You don't understand. I don't get why I lashed out like that. I don't understand why I can't stand it when anyone touches you. I don't get… these… dreams. Dammit!" He was confused and hurting his friend, but he didn't know how to fix it. By the look on her face, he was making a mess of things even more.

Lucy turned away and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Natsu, I love you."

Sage green eyes widened in shock. His mouth moved, but no words escaped.

The blonde smiled disparagingly. "So, you really didn't know, huh?" When the man remained quiet and unmoving, she flicked her eyes in his direction, "I've loved you for almost as long as I've known you and now you're telling me I belong to you… like some trinket. But I'm not allowed to have you?"

Her already feeble smile wobbled, and she bit down on her lip harshly to hold back the oncoming torrent of tears. "I understand, Natsu. I'm family, but I'm not a woman to you."

He finally reacted to that. "No, no, no, no! You're not getting it, Luce!"

At the end of his rope, he walked over and folded her into his arms. Her hands pressed against his chest, trapped as they were between their bodies. The man held her hip in one hand and her hair in another.

"This is how I feel about you."

Then he dipped his mouth and ravaged hers like a beast. He didn't have any experience with kissing, but he just knew that he wanted to taste her, to map out every crease and crevice of her body and commit it to memory. He plundered her mouth like an invading barbarian. Then took her gasp and licked along her own tongue lewdly. Natsu's fangs bit and bruised her lips as he took her like a starving man.

They pulled apart, breathing heavily, only for him to dive back in before Lucy could get her bearings. His hand tightened in her hair as he pulled her head back to better access that soft, plush mouth. The dragon felt starved the more he kissed her. It felt like a curse. To continue eating this delicacy but never truly be sated.

The blonde apparently decided to join in. She gripped him by the edges of his vest and pulled his body into hers even more. Her kiss had considerably more finesse. Though, Natsu was sure it wasn't due to practice. Some latent part of himself had made sure that no one had gotten close enough to touch her so intimately. Regardless, she kissed him just as fiercely.

Lucy moaned sweetly when he nibbled at her lip and ran his hand up her side to brush his calloused thumb over the soft top of her breast. The moan emboldened him, and the said hand squeezed the entire mound brutally. She gasped and undulated against him.

The fire mage felt a flame like no other boil in the base of his cock as she raised a leg to hitch onto his hip. The hand in her hair quickly abandoned the task to grasp at her bare thigh. He was so close to the heat between her legs now that he was actually sweating.

Another squeeze of her breast and she bucked into him. Her core collided with the hardness concealed in his pants and the move brought a groan from the pit of his belly.

"Mmm… Fuck Lucy," he murmured against her lips.

"Natsu," she moaned. Her hazy eyes met his and he could see the love and devotion there. It knocked him back to his senses and reminded him what it is he wanted to show her.

Natsu walked her backwards until they hit a tree at the beginnings of the East Forest. As soon as they stopped, he placed his other hand into the crook of her standing leg and pulled it up on the other side of his waist. The blonde tittered off balance for a moment, but quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. The new position squarely placed his groin between her legs, so it only took a small thrust for him to bump into her rapidly wetting pussy.

That set him off. He thrust against her once more and received a soft cry for his troubles. "N-Natsu, mm… please."

The request made him mad. Here he was trying to show her the kind of animal he'd become, but she was enjoying it.

The pinkette growled and rammed his hips into hers so hard the tree shook and leaves rained down on them. Lucy cried out. He thought she was finally realizing how terrifying his desires were, but she only leaned in to lick his lips and rocked into him.

"Natsu… more."

Fuck! Why was she so freakin' sexy!

The dragon slayer repeated the action and kept going. To any outsiders it would look like they were frantically fucking with how ferociously he was thrusting against her cunt. The celestial mage let out a steady stream of yes, yes, fuck yes 's and met every one of his brutal thrusts with equal fervor.

He slid his hands from her thighs to ass and used this new leverage to pull her into him. By some devil's luck his hands had slid up underneath her skirt, so he was met with the feel of her warm, soft skin. His fingertips brushed against a line of cloth trailing between her round ass cheeks. Curious, he followed the line down until his fingers started slipping in a copious amount of slick fluid.

Her breath stuttered, and despite this being his first time, he instantly knew what that fluid was.

"Fuck, you're wet."

The words aroused and confused him. She was that turned on by his barbaric display just now?

She blushed and caressed his face. "Why wouldn't I be? The man I love says this is how I feel about you and then tries to screw me through our clothes. Natsu, I couldn't be happier."

Shit, he really was mocking this up. He needed to explain before he completely lost himself.

The dragon stepped back from his mate and allowed her slide down into a standing position. She turned questioning eyes up at him as he fought not to stick his still damp fingers into his mouth.

"Lucy, I was so out of control just now, doesn't that scare you at all?"

She tilted her head, confused, "Why would it, Natsu? It's not like you'd ever hurt me."

He took another step back and valiantly wiped his fingers on his pants. No doubt, he'd try to eat them later.

"That's just the thing, Luce. I don't know that anymore. I lose my mind when I'm around you. I don't know that I won't hurt you by mistake."

"You'd never hurt me." She seemed more convinced of that one thing than him and everyone else in the world. It was frustrating. She wasn't getting it.

He barreled back into her space and grabbed her by the shoulders. "No! Listen, dammit!" A dark look settled on his face. "I spend my nights thinking about doing things to you. Awful things just so I can see you cry. Because that's the kinda shit that turns me on these days." His hands tightened. "I dream of fucking you till you cry and beg me to stop and in the best of these dreams I don't. I keep going, and you cry, and scratch, and kick at me, but you're also so fucking wet and delicious that I can't. I think about biting and bruising your pretty skin all the time. I think about leaving my handprints all over your body. Your thighs, hips, ass, waist, anywhere. Everywhere."

Her face was a frightening shade of red. She almost looked feverish. He could hear her heartbeat picking up with every word, but it didn't sound scared. If anything, with her eyes dilated like that and the sweetest aroma permeating the air, he could see that his little explanation only made her wetter and even more irresistible.

"I still don't think you'd ever hurt me. It just sounds like you l-like wild love-making."

"Fucking," he corrected.

"Huh?"

"It's wild fucking. Not love-making. Because there wouldn't be any love involved." Now that seemed to scare her. Finally, it was getting through.

"I love you, Lucy. You're my friend so of course I do," he'd only reminded her of his affection to soften the coming blow but by the look of abject despair on her face, it only did the total opposite.

"You're my best friend, but suddenly my body is telling me that you're not. I don't see a friend when I look at you now, Luce. I see someone to be owned and coveted like- like fuckin' treasure or some shit. It's stinking biology, nothing more." He rose his nose to the air, trying to describe the effects of her scent on him as best as he could. "You smell like… like if I fuck you, you'll get pregnant more easily than anyone else in this world. Like ripe fruit. And that has been fucking with my senses for months now."

He was a known idiot, but even he could tell that she was embarrassed.

"So, I'm like an object of lust for you now… nothing… more?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I think so. I definitely don't think of you the way I did before. I'm sorry, Lucy."

The pretty blonde pulled away from his grasp. "No, I'm sorry, Natsu. For throwing myself at you just now, like some… harlot. When you're trying so hard not to disrespect me as a friend." She stepped back even further and presented a watery smile.

"I really do get it now. I'm sorry you've been struggling like this for so long. Um, maybe talk to Gajeel. See if he can help?" she offered him some hollow kindness. "I'll just stay out of your way until you do."

"No way!" he grinned boisterously. Lucy finally got it, and she wasn't mad. She was the freakin' best! "I'm not asking that metal head for squat. I'd rather at eat Juvia's cooking."

The female mage smiled and gave a quiet chuckle. "Yeah." She turned away, "Well, I'm going home now. See ya."

The scent of saltwater lingered in the air. But he couldn't tell if it was just leftover tears from before. She seemed pretty chill, now right?

"Hey Luce?" his expression sobered up. "We're good, right?"

She laughed and waved as she walked off, "So good, Flamebrain. Bye, Natsu."


The next day started just the same as all the others had that week. Bright. The sun was shining, and the birds sang sweetly by Lucy's windowsill. She could hear the friendly fishermen nearby shouting neighborly greetings to the land folk. Magnolia was alive and thriving. All of this could be heard from her little second-floor apartment. But none of it brought the usual smiles and happiness it used to.

Her place felt as tired and bone-weary as she was. Inside those four walls, the celestial mage existed in a whole other plane by herself. And that was okay, really, because she had no intention of leaving that room for the foreseeable future. She didn't think she could be strong anymore. Not for a very long time.

The blonde uncurled from her sitting position by the front door. She'd collapsed there last night as soon as the door closed and just couldn't find the energy to get up. So, Lucy spent the night with her head tucked between her upraised legs, not crying, but she hadn't slept either.

Joints protested with loud creaks and groans as she stretched out to her full height. Further stretching eased the stiffness some. Still numb legs took her into the bathroom, where she undressed quickly and quietly and took a shower. The water felt too hot and too cold all at once. Nothing could cool the strange heat in her skin this morning, and nothing could warm the ice-cold feeling underneath it. Boy, this heartbreak sure felt like sickness. She managed a chuckle. Imagine that, her body got sick from her heart being broken. She'd never been able to do anything half-assed, but this sure took the cake. Another sardonic smile. Then a weak congratulations, Lucy.

At least now she was clean. The woman dragged on the first thing in her closet upon leaving the bathroom. It just so happened that it was her regular nightwear of a white t-shirt and a pair of blue pajama bottoms with little brown teddy bears all over. Just as she finished dressing, her eyes caught on a sheer pink lingerie set in the back. Lucy pulled it out and inspected the miniscule gown. Her clenched fists wrinkled the material as she realized which one it was. She'd bought it for her plans to sway the immoveable Natsu Dragneel. It'd done its job at the very least. Though from what he'd said the night before, he hadn't needed much swaying.

And just like that, she ripped the material right down that middle. Shhripp! The sound felt cathartic, and for the first time in the last eight hours, the knot in her heart unclenched just a little. So, naturally, she pulled out the next piece of revealing clothing she'd purchased to catch a man that sorely did not want to be caught.

Rippp! Another knot loosened. Again!

Sshrippp! Another piece demolished.

Damn, that felt good!

Rip! Rip! Rip! She tore through many lingerie sets, even the ones that were bought just for her, with no one else in mind. They were just so easy to destroy.

When they all laid in tatters by her feet, she briefly turned to the regular clothes in her closet. Strong as she was, the mage found that they wouldn't rip as easily and worked herself into a red-faced frustration.

"Ughh!"

She swung around angrily and painfully knocked her elbow into the chest of drawers beside her closet. The force of the blow made her joint throb, but it also sent one of her snow globes tittering off the edge and to the floor. For a split second, she entertained the idea of trying to catch it, but the item landed with a loud crash before she could make a move.

The knot loosened.

This set her sights on all the other breakables in her apartment. First it was the vase beside where the globe used to be. She sent it careening into the wall with a strong-armed throw. The glass shattered, and a few splinters caught her neck and cheeks. Adrenaline, or maybe losing her fucking mind, made her numb to the cuts. She decimated the perfume bottles next. Their sickly sweetness mixed together to make a repugnant concoction that caused her to stagger back in a fit of sneezing.

As soon as the smell cleared, she noticed her eyes were watering but disregarded that to swing at the plentiful breakables in her line of sight.

"Hah!" a potion bottle.

"Agh!" a figurine.

"Gah!" Gray's face.

"Lucy!" She jumped at the loudness of his voice as the white noise in her head gave way to sound.

The decorative pot previously perched on her night-stand slipped out of her hand and rolled over to the man, whose face she almost smashed in with it.

"Gray? What're you doing here?"

Midnight blue eyes took in the state of her home. From the shards of glass collecting by the far east wall -where she'd been throwing shit, to the strips of destroyed fabric sitting at the foot of her still open closet. Having made a full circle, those bewildered eyes settled on her.

"I could ask you the same thing." He took a single step towards her.

"Please leave!" the shout came out before she could stop it. Before considerate Lucy Heartfilia could filter her words so she didn't hurt anyone's feelings.

The surprise on Gray's face only lasted a moment. He continued walking towards her.

"I'm sorry, Gray. But could you please leave? As you can see, I need to clean up around here," a weak chuckle left her lips.

He finally stopped. But he was already in her space and could see the cuts on her arms and legs and the long slash in her right cheek. The ice mage spent a moment cataloguing those wounds before he enveloped her in his arms in an unyielding hug.

She wiggled in his hold but found that it wouldn't relent.

"Gray…?" more struggling. "Can you please let me go?"

"No."

The woman struggled now in earnest. She turned and twisted and even smacked and pinched his sides where her arms were trapped.

"I don't want your pity. Let go, dammit!"

He held firm.

"I'm sorry, Lucy" this was enough to make her pause.

"What?"

He buried his face in her still wet hair, so his voice was muffled but his words were clear.

"I'm so sorry you were hurting for so long. I'm sorry he's a fucking idiot."

She flinched. She knew who he was. But how did Gray?

"But most of all, I'm sorry we didn't notice it."

All at once, the knots tightened in her chest to the point that it felt like it would kill her. Her throat burned something fierce and her eyes got blurry.

"You weren't meant to. I made sure of that."

His hold got tighter. "Anything that hurts one of our friends so much, should've been noticed."

There it was. The straw that broke the camel's back.

She let out a loud wail and clung to him like white on rice as she bawled and bawled and bawled. His cool skin felt exceptionally great on her heated one, so she snuggled even deeper into his embrace and cried so more. The dam just broke and no matter how hard she tried, the tears wouldn't stop. She choked on her own hiccups and attempts to speak. To defend her selfish actions.

"Gr-Gray… It h-hurts. I-it hurtsss so fucki-ing much!"

No doubt his chest was drenched in snot and tears. But the man held on. He held onto Lucy like his life depended on it. And he kept holding until her loud bawls became hiccups. He held on until those hiccups became cries. He held onto his family until her heart didn't feel so tight anymore.


When she'd finally calmed down, the blonde couldn't meet Gray's eyes. Over the last several moments, he'd told her multiple times that it was all right, but Lucy still felt like a petulant child for losing it like that. She'd been through fights with demons and dragons, spriggans and fairies, but lost it so completely over a man. That man was Natsu, so he was pretty damn special, but still, as a Fairy Tail mage, she was embarrassed.

"By the way Gray, how did you know?"

He didn't bother asking about what. The situation in question was already heavily implied. "I didn't… not really. I suspected something when you went on your last mission, but I didn't truly know. I just knew what I saw last night in the guildhall and what I saw this morning here. I put two and two together."

They were sat side by side on her bed. Given the proximity, she knocked into him playfully.

"Thank you."

His grin was infectious, nothing like Natsu's, but a rare and beautiful sight all on its own.

"No problem, Lucy." He got up with a dramatic stretch. "Anyway, I should probably tell you that a few of the girls are coming over."

"Huh?" the blonde sat up straighter, "Girls? What girls?"

"Well, Mirajane and the others were saying something about coming over to check on you today. I figured I should see if you were up for company first." She saw the question in his eyes and nodded slightly. There was no doubt in her mind. If she'd said no, he would keep them away, any means necessary.

For the millionth time that morning, she thanked him.

"I'm pretty fortunate, huh?"

He rose an eyebrow in question. Considering the situation, that was a rather odd thing to say.

"How do you figure?"

"I'm fortunate to have friends like you, Gray"

The demon slayer pinked at the praise and brushed it off.

"Not friends," he murmured, "Family."