Author's Note:

Hey all! Wow... well, it's been awhile. Heh... (nervous chuckles). Sorry!

As always, HUGE thinks to all my wonderful reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to: Byrd3-13, Melga92, valerioux, FairyTailxFainGirl, Natsulover89, sakshishetty3003, Moon'n'Tide, MillennialStargazer, Blueupdate, SistershoOk, stranger1999, Copperreign12, Cino2K, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, Bookwork129, and guys are the best!

Also, hope everyone has had good Oct. Nov. Holidays so far, and continue to do so!

Well, let's get to it shall we? ;D

Thankfully, eating a full dinner solved the problem of her dizziness, and after they'd stuffed themselves, she was back to feeling mostly normal. So much so in fact, that by the time they had returned to her room, she was actually feeling romantic.

When she'd said that she wanted to go back to her room after dinner, she hadn't even bothered to ask him if he wanted to come with her or wonder if he planned to. She just assumed that he would… and she was right. After all the time they'd spent together lately, he didn't need an invitation to join her wherever she was going – with a few exceptions of course.

However, on the flipside of that, she also hadn't thought about what they would do once they got back to her room. In the main hall, she'd had the indistinct idea of practicing her harp or resting a little more, but those plans became less and less firm in her mind as they walked down the hall.

Instead, her thoughts shifted to the ones that she'd had during and after treating her wounds – specifically, the romantic ones – and as they passed through her bedroom door, she decided that she would rather spend some time kissing Natsu.

"So… uh… what do you want to do now?" she questioned once they reached the middle of her room – feeling a little flushed and not sure how to broach the topic.

"Didn't you say something about wanting to play your harp?"

She winced and then licked her lips, thinking about how to counter that.

"Well… yeah. I did say that, didn't I? But… that seems like it usually leads to us kissing… doesn't it?"

He blinked, and his eyes glazed over like he was trying to remember. After a minute, he grinned a little (it was actually more of a smirk) and said, "Heh, you're right! Guess I must really like your music, huh?"

His compliment made her blush with pleasure, but that wasn't exactly what she'd been aiming for. It looked like she was going to have to be a little more blunt – which wasn't exactly surprising, considering this was Natsu.

"That's great! I'm really glad to hear it! But anyways… uh, I was thinking… maybe we could skip that part tonight and… go straight to kissing? Maybe? If you'd like to, of course."

It took a lot of starting and stopping to get out what she wanted to say, but she finally somehow managed it without imploding with embarrassment. It was the first time she'd ever made this kind of proposal to him, so of course it was going to be awkward for her, but she'd like to think that she did a fairly good job of it and was proud of herself afterwards.

His reaction also made her efforts worth it, because his eyes went wide with shock and then started to sparkle as he grinned brilliantly.

"Sure!"

He didn't waste any time after that and immediately closed the distance between them. His hands landed on her shoulders, pulling her the last few inches forwards, and their lips connected on a muffled squeak from her. Even though she'd been the one to suggest it, somehow he'd still managed to catch her a little off-guard with the swiftness of his response.

However, she quickly warmed up to his kiss and responded by looping her arms around his neck, bringing their fronts into closer contact. He really was an amazing kisser, despite all the signs pointing to him not having the patience for it. Honestly, she'd always wondered where he had learned to be so gentle.

Though, tonight he was definitely less patient and a little rougher than usual… maybe because they hadn't seen each other for a few days… or maybe because he was remembering what had happened at his house. That had been the last time they'd seriously kissed, and as far she was concerned, it had gone fairly far and had been more than a little exciting.

Actually, just thinking about it caused her insides to twist and flutter in a very interesting way… especially as she remembered thinking, 'Next time, maybe I'll be able to do more.'

Well, now it was 'next time,' and she couldn't help but wonder if she did have the courage to take things even further.

She was thinking, 'yes,' by the time Natsu's tongue had started playing with hers. The kiss quickly heated up…. Their noses rubbed as they swapped whose was on what side, their tongues took turns exploring each other's mouths, and their breath made the space between their faces humid and muggy. She could taste what he'd had for dinner, and she was sure he could do the same – which was a little strange, but not unpleasant. Thankfully, neither of them had eaten anything with garlic or onions, though the intense spices in his mouth made hers sting a tad.

When he pulled back just a little and asked, "Wanna sit on the bed?" she didn't hesitate to respond, "Sure," even though beds still made her slightly nervous.

Her heart squeezed when they started awkwardly shuffling backwards while still kissing – which caused their teeth to clink together more than once. That didn't seem to bother Natsu too much, but it grated on her nerves a bit, and she was just about to suggest that they stop kissing while moving when they finally reached the bed.

At that point it was moot, and she didn't bother to bring it up when he pulled back again.

He hopped on the bed and scooted back, lightly tugging her along with him by her hands until they were both sort of kneeling in the middle… where he shifted into a comfortable, cross-legged position. Meanwhile, she didn't really know what to do with herself, and ended up staying awkwardly on her knees as he reached up and cupped her face, pulling her in for another kiss. That tipped her forwards, and she had to brace herself with her hands on his knees or risk toppling over onto him.

Just kissing on a bed – even the one that they'd been napping on not too long ago – made her heartrate increase. Though, happily, that was only partly from nerves, and the larger cause seemed to be excitement.

Of course, it wasn't long before the awkward position got in the way of her enjoying his (very enjoyable) kisses, and she naturally shuffled forwards to try and relieve the strain on her neck. When her knees bumped into his, he ducked out of the kiss for a second and reached behind him for her pillow, which he plopped in his lap.

"Wanna get in my lap?" he asked, his hands landing on her hips and lightly tugging her towards him – not with enough force to actually pull her, but just to suggest.

She bit her lip and eyed the situation, thinking about it.

Yes, sitting in his lap would be more comfortable, and the pillow was an excellent work-around to this particular instance, but… she also felt like it might be time to take another step forwards. If she didn't keep pushing herself, (little by little, whenever she could) then these types of lingering feelings and worries would never go away.

So, she took a deep breath and gingerly removed the pillow by one of its corners – which made Natsu blink and cock his head.

"Guess not, huh? That's cool, we can keep kissing like this."

"Um, no… that's not it…" she hesitantly said as she awkwardly scooted even closer to him. "I just… um… I'd like to try… getting used to your… 'boner' situation."

It took a moment for Natsu to process that, but after a few seconds of silently blinking at her – and the cogs almost visibly working in his head – he suddenly grinned and said, "Oh! Okay, how about this?"

His hands gripped onto her hips more firmly and pulled her with him as repositioned so that his back was braced against the wall – which meant that she had to shuffle awkwardly on her knees to follow. It wasn't the most graceful maneuver, but it ended up with his legs straightened out between hers, and her straddling his lap, directly over his very obvious boner. A strong sense of deja vu from the last time they'd done this struck her over the head, but that was overshadowed by her temporary panic.

She squeaked, tensing with anxiety for a split second… but when that was all he did, she relaxed again… though, with a slightly faster heartrate.

"There. If you wanna get comfortable with it, how about you say, 'hello?' Shake hands and stuff. Well, not really hands… but whatever," he chuckled, releasing her hips and settling his hands onto her thighs instead, rubbing up and down.

"Say, 'hello,' huh? That's a funny way to put it," she muttered absentmindedly and also a little breathlessly, her legs shaking ever so slightly from stress and indecision.

It was obvious what he was suggesting, and it was actually quite similar to what she'd been imagining… but even so, she had to pause and think about it for a moment, now that she was actually confronted with the reality of the situation.

Honestly, this shouldn't be that big of a deal… they both had clothes on, and if it triggered her too badly, she knew that they could stop immediately. There was very little risk. She could try it, see if it was something that she could push the envelope on, and if not, they'd just have to go back to using the pillow for now.

"Right… no problem. I just have to sit," she eventually said, mostly to herself, and then added as an aside, "Actually, maybe I should have started by shaking hands with it… that might have been a better idea. But, oh well. We're already here, so let's just go for it."

He chuckled again and the sound was strangely soothing… as was the warmth of his palms on her legs as he kept stroking them.

That helped calm her nerves a little, and after taking a deep breath and bracing her hands on his shoulders, she gingerly lowered herself to sit directly in his lap.

He winced and his hands spasmed on her thighs, but she barely noticed. The sensation of his 'boner' against her private parts had sent a shot of anxiety through her body, and she froze. Her fear was a little overwhelming for a minute, but it wasn't so strong that she felt the need to abort just yet. Instead, she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to try and ride the wave, hoping it would be over quickly.

Closing her eyes was a bad idea though, because images of another face immediately came to mind, and her eyes snapped back open to reassure herself that she was with Natsu.

Without thinking, she gasped his name in the form of a question – at the same time that their eyes met – and she saw his eyes grow a little darker and serious as he obviously noticed her discombobulation.

"I'm here, Luce. It's me… so ya don't have to be scared. We can stop whenever you want."

That was exactly what she needed to hear, and she took a deep breath and nodded, just focusing on his face for the moment. As usual, he was shockingly good at reading her when it came to these things, and right now she was extremely grateful for that.

It took several minutes of just sitting still before her emotional situation calmed down enough that she felt it was safe to gingerly shift her attention south.

Obviously this was very new to her, and one part of her mind was simply curious – which was definitely better to focus on. So, this time, she tried to approach things more logically and analyze the sensation with a different mindset (one that was more interested in gaining information).

She'd seen the outline of it, but actually feeling his erection against her was a completely different matter entirely. It had gotten a little smaller and softer – unless she was imagining things – and she suspected that getting scared had been a bit of a mood killer for Natsu. But still… it was definitely bigger than she was comfortable with, and she couldn't help but try to mentally compare it with the only other one she'd seen.

That didn't really help her feel better about things, since she was fairly sure that Natsu was probably just as big… if not bigger. It was still difficult for her to believe that it wouldn't hurt, even though Natsu had told her otherwise, but she did her best to just not think about that.

Looking down was a little unnerving, but it also helped to remind herself visually that they were both fully clothed. And as she looked at their hips, she realized there actually wasn't a lot to see. The folds of their clothes and the way she was sitting on him covered up just about everything interesting.

"How you doing?" Natsu asked after a moment, startling her into looking back up and flinching against him.

Of course, that sudden movement jerked her slightly against his groin as well, which apparently woke up his flagging interest. He sucked in a sharp breath, and to her shock she felt that part of him twitch against her – which started a short chain reaction. Feeling his 'dick' actually move on its own was enough of a surprise that her thighs unconsciously spasmed a little, squeezing his legs and hips, and that apparently further aroused him. If she'd had any more doubts about him getting softer before, they disappeared now as she felt him stiffen against her again, with a few more of those strange kicks along the way.

Thankfully it was more fascinating than frightening. The thought that such a little movement on her part could get this kind of reaction from him was a little unnerving… but it also made her stomach flutter in the telltale way that she'd come to anticipate from kissing him. A ball of warmth came back to life inside her, letting her know that the short spat of anxiety hadn't completely killed her desire from their previous activities.

After a minute, Natsu interrupted her train of thought again to ask, "… you okay?"

That reminded her that she hadn't answered his previous question, and she quickly nodded. Licking her lips and clearing her throat, she managed to say, "Um… yeah. I'm fine… I think I'm getting more used to it. Though… I was a little surprised when you moved it. I didn't know it could… twitch like that."

"Oh, yeah. It kinda does that on its own when I'm really turned on," he said with a mildly choked chuckle.

And then he added, "But I can do it on purpose too… wanna see?"

Not sure that it was a good idea, but curious nonetheless, Lucy bit her lip and then hesitantly said, "Uh… sure…."

He grinned, and then she felt his dick pulse under her, kicking up even stronger than it had before. It also seemed to get just a little harder too, and she blinked, wondering how anything without a bone could be that stiff. The thought that she now understood why he called it a 'boner' caused a tiny chuckle to come out of her throat, though it was a little strained.

She didn't bother explaining why she was amused though. Instead, she just licked her lips again and commented, "That's… very interesting."

He cocked another grin at her, and his hands rubbed up and down her thighs again, making her shiver.

"Cool…"

The tension in the air seemed to kick up another few notches, and she had to take a deep breath to try and get enough oxygen. Her heart was pounding so hard she wondered if she was going to have a heart attack… but she honestly didn't know if it was more from anxiety or arousal. The combination of the two was making her a little dizzy, but not in an entirely bad way this time.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one feeling it either, because the expression on Natsu's face was intense. He looked… hungry.

She gulped and then held her breath as his hands gripped her thighs for a second before one started traveling up her body. It slid over her hip, the curve of her waist, and then up her back, shoulder, and neck… until he was caressing her cheek. The long stroke had been gentle, but there'd been enough pressure and tension in his heated palm and fingers that she had clearly felt his tightly controlled desire. She'd never known a single touch could feel so loving… and at the same time possessive and demanding.

"Hey, Luce… can I kiss you some more now?"

All she could do in response was nod, because she felt too breathless to answer with words.

Within a split second, his hand had tightened on her face and pulled her in for a kiss that almost literally blew her mind. Their lips met, and she had a moment to notice that his felt even hotter than usual, (as if his body temperature had risen significantly) before she was being devoured. The kiss became open-mouthed almost immediately, and then his tongue was inside her – definitively proving that his internal temperature was positively feverish.

Between his mouth, breath, and hand on her face, she felt the back of her neck and forehead start to prickle with the beginnings of sweat – which would have been uncomfortable if she hadn't been so absorbed by the kiss. It was even muggier than before, and definitely hotter, but she couldn't get enough even though her air seemed to be in short supply.

As usual, they'd quickly fallen into a rhythm of pressing close and then pulling back, but ironically this more passionate kiss was both harder and slower…. And that slower pace gave him enough time to thrust his tongue more deeply than he had before, stroking completely new places inside her mouth.

If someone had described it to her, she would have expected this particular kiss to be disgusting or at least overwhelming in a bad way… but it somehow wasn't. Even though the thrusting aspect definitely reminded her of another act, it didn't scare her the way she would've imagined. Instead, it sent a thrill through her every time his tongue slid against her own and the roof of her mouth.

It felt shockingly good.

She was so absorbed by the kiss in fact, that she didn't notice both his hands relocating to her hips… at least not until he gripped and pulled her hips against him even harder. A little zip of anxiety went through her at that, remembering another hand yanking on her hip, but a second sensation almost completely wiped that worry from her mind.

She gasped as his fingers pulled and his thumbs pushed, tilting her pelvis backwards. As her lower back arched, her weight shifted forwards and put pressure on a spot that sent pleasure shuddering through her. It was a completely unfamiliar sensation as the entire front of that place between her legs almost… ached, but in an insanely good way. She'd never felt anything like it before.

Her gasp had dislodged their kiss momentarily, which let her sputter a very confused and startled, "Wha… what are…. Wait… what's…?" against his mouth.

Natsu pulled back a little so he could look at her, and asked, "Does it feel good? Or bad?"

Lucy flushed, feeling just a little flustered as she admitted, "Good…"

"Good," he said with a quick grin, and then leaned forward and caught her lips again.

She felt more questions bubbling up, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away from his kiss. He was doing that thing with his tongue again, and her brain had short-circuited.

Her mental processes melted even further when his hands lightly tugged on her hips, pressing that sensitive part of her down against him while bucking his hips up against hers at the same time. Another shard of strange pleasure went through her, and she couldn't help but jump a little – her hips jerking against his automatically.

That happened a few more times, and whenever it did, she usually squeaked and flinched in surprise – somehow never expecting it and being shocked by the snap of sensation.

In the back of her mind, with the little bit of brain power she had left, she tried to recall some of the private research she'd done – in an attempt to figure out what could be causing such an intense feeling. With her attention mostly focused on Natsu's kisses though, that was easier said than done, and it took her much longer than usual to finally remember something that seemed to match up. The book she'd read had been a simple textbook that covered human anatomy and biology, so the reproductive section had been short, to the point, and medical, but it had contained a helpful diagram of female genitalia. And, if she remembered correctly, there'd been a small, labeled body part at the top of the genitals… right about where she was currently feeling those incredible sensations. It had a strange name that she couldn't quite bring to mind under the circumstances, and there hadn't been any explanation about what it did or what it was for, but she wondered if maybe that was what felt so good.

If so, then she'd need to do a little more research or ask Natsu about it later, because it was definitely worth further investigation. But for right now, she decided to put those questions on the back-burner and let herself just enjoy what they were doing without overanalyzing everything.

Several more amazing minutes passed, (during which time, Lucy completely lost herself to the sensation of Natsu's warmth, kisses, and touch) until they finally disengaged.

The way their contact ended though was a bit abrupt and surprising, as Natsu suddenly gripped her shoulders and pushed her back without any warning. He was gentle about it, but the movement was strong and fast enough to surprise her, and when she blurrily looked at his face, he seemed a little tense and uncomfortable – which made her think that there was a good reason why he'd put such an abrupt end to their kiss.

"Um… what's wrong?" she asked, worried that maybe she'd done something wrong.

He shook his head and pushed her again, this time to the side and off his lap entirely, and she let herself flop over onto her hip so he could slide out from underneath her.

"Nothing," he replied as he did that, and then kept going and scooted all the way to the edge of the bed, where he paused and sighed, scrubbing his hands through his hair. "But I've gotta stop, or I'm gonna end up pushing you too far."

Meanwhile, Lucy had stayed where she'd landed and stared at him with confusion.

The only part about his explanation that she understood was that he was reaching the limit to his self-control… which was concerning.

"You mean, if we kept going you would want to try to have sex?" she huffed, still feeling a little out of breath.

He turned and gave her a look over his shoulder. "Sure, I'd want to, but I wouldn't try that yet. I was talkin' about something else."

"What?" she asked, even more curious now.

Her question made him roll his eyes.

"Sheesh, Luce. Probably dry humping you till I came in my pants."

It took her a minute to translate what he was saying. Of course, by now she knew what cumming was, though she'd never experienced it for herself or seen him actually finish. However, she didn't quite know what he meant by dry humping. It seemed semi-self-explanatory, but she still wanted a little more clarification.

"Is that what we were doing just now? Dry humping?"

"Yeah, sorta. But it gets a lot rougher, and there's a lot more grinding to it."

"You mean, like, rubbing our… um… parts together?"

"Uh-huh…"

In her current state of mind – which was still very fuzzy and aroused – she didn't necessarily think that it sounded like such a bad idea. What they'd been doing a moment ago hadn't particularly triggered her…. In fact, it had felt really, really good, and there was a large part of her that wanted to continue. The only thing she could see being an issue, was if he started thrusting his hips against her, because that might still be too much for her.

"Um, wait!" she quickly said as Natsu started to get up. "Do you think… would it still work if I was the only one who moved?"

He had paused and looked back over his shoulder when she called out to him, and she could clearly see in his face that he was surprised by her suggestion… though that didn't last long. The shock was quickly replaced by an eager grin and hungry eyes.

"Yeah, that'd work… but I dunno if I could keep myself totally still."

It was obvious he wanted to try, so she was impressed that he still cautioned her.

"I think it'll be okay… if you only move every now and then. From a response that you can't control…."

She took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts a little better. It was important that she clearly told him what to avoid doing, so that they didn't accidentally trigger her.

"The main thing is that I don't think I'd be okay with you thrusting against me consistently. As in, you know… having a rhythm and moving your hips back and forth. I'm definitely not ready for that yet. But I think a few single thrusts, just when you can't control it… I think I'd be okay with, as long as I'm mostly in control of moving."

Her face was bright red by the end of her statement, but she felt extremely proud of herself for calming down and explaining her thoughts so clearly.

While she'd been talking, Natsu had flipped back over so that he was kneeling on the bed in front of her again. He'd also been nodding and grunting affirmatives the entire time, so she was already fairly sure of his answer even before he said, "Okay! I think I can do that!"

He was obviously excited and eager, because he very quickly shuffled right back into the same position he'd been in before.

"Let's try it!"

For some reason, the way he patted his lap in an obvious invitation struck her as funny, and she couldn't help but chuckle as she carefully rearranged herself. Once she was hovering over him again though, her amusement flew out the window as it really struck home just what she had signed up for. For a second, she was unsure and nervous and wondered if maybe they were going too fast, but one look in his dark eyes made her head turn back into a sauna – complete with fog, heat, and humidity.

She settled back down onto him without thinking about it and sucked in a sharp breath when they reconnected. This time, the tiny zip of anxiety was much, much less than before, and she had just enough mental prowess to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment over partially conquering her fear.

"How is it? Still okay?" Natsu asked, probably feeling her tense up for a moment.

"Yeah… it was a lot better this time," she hummed, adjusting herself a bit and feeling her stomach flip over when he made a small sound and his hands gripped her thighs.

"That's great, Luce!"

His smile looked genuinely happy for her, but his voice was slightly choked and raspy, which she assumed was from being turned on.

After that, there was a short, awkward moment, where he seemed to be waiting for her… and she wasn't quite sure what to do next.

"So… um… how exactly am I supposed to do this?"

"Just sorta rock a little to start, I guess. Get used to it, ya know?"

"Like this?"

She hesitantly shifted her weight a little and blinked as the sensations in her groin altered.

"Eh… kinda. Here…"

His hands landed on her hips again, with his thumbs on her hip-bones, and he pushed and pulled at her in a way that caused her pelvis to tilt and rock against him.

She sucked in a sharp breath as the feeling of pressure and friction shot through that spot between her legs. Just like before, it felt surprisingly good, and something deep inside her clenched in a way she was still unfamiliar with.

"You okay?" he asked, probably because of her gasp, and she flushed a little.

"Yes… it's just… still a little unfamiliar, but… um, it feels good, so…"

His eyes narrowed and his lips curled up in a smile that almost looked smug – but also genuinely happy – as he said, "Great! I wanna make you feel good."

That just made her even more flustered, and she could feel her face and neck warm up with an even brighter blush… though a good part of that was arousal as well. Who knew that such a simple statement could make her heart race so quickly?

"Um… yeah… me too… with you… I mean, I want you to feel good as well…." she awkwardly managed to mumble after a few seconds of being tongue tied.

After that, she couldn't think of anything else to say, which was a little awkward, but she tried to just focus on moving and not let herself get embarrassed. With a deep breath, she attempted to rock her hips against him on her own, doing her best to imitate what he'd shown her. His fingers twitched where they still gripped her hips, and his breath hitched… both of which she took as a good sign.

It took her a few minutes to establish any sort of rhythm. At first, her movements were disjointed and jerky – clumsy to put it mildly – but eventually she grew more accustomed to the rocking motion and was able to smooth it out into rhythmic pulses of her hips.

Every time her pelvis tilted forward, that especially sensitive area ground down against the hard ridge of his erection, and a strange, deep pleasure came to life there… as though it reached all the way into her pubic bone somehow. It almost felt like a bruise (the way pressing on one caused a deep ache), but this was almost entirely made of pleasure with only a hint of pain if she put too much of her weight on that spot.

It was all so new and slightly overwhelming, that she might have started to feel self-conscious about it… but thankfully, she wasn't the only one feeling those sorts of things. Natsu definitely seemed like he was also enjoying their current activities – based on his ragged breathing and the way he was squeezing her hips.

She still couldn't help but wonder though, if she was successfully 'dry humping,' and after several minutes, she asked, "Is this… right?"

It was slightly embarrassing how her voice croaked and came out sounding a little breathy and tight, but she honestly couldn't help it.

"Feels great, Luce…" he huffed back, and a zing of pride traveled through her at the fact that his voice was just as rough as hers.

Then, a few moments later, he added on a groan, "'M gonna need more, though… can we take it up a notch?"

She had absolutely no idea what to do to 'take things up a notch,' but she was happy to give it a try for him if that's what he needed.

"Sure… how?"

"Move your hips more… like this…."

Once again, his hands took control of her movements, this time tugging her forwards and then pushing her back instead of just angling her hips, which made him slide against her and caused a lot more friction. She could feel her clothes moving back and forth over her crotch, which alerted her to a distinct squishy feeling down there. But before she could wonder too much about it, Natsu's lips had caught hers in an extremely heated kiss that made her toes literally curl. Her fingers tightened in his shirt as his tongue started slipping in and out of her mouth, matching to the rhythm of her hips – which he was still controlling with his hands.

Her insides clenched again in that strange way they'd been doing, and a snap of pleasure went up inside her. It was a different sort of aching from the spot closer to her pubic bone… more like a squirmy sort of restlessness that made her want to keep clenching those new muscles.

She gasped when he angled her hips forwards, putting more of her weight towards the front and grinding against the spot that felt so good. A small noise came out of her throat without permission, and she made a second sound of surprise and pulled back.

"Wha… what was tha- ah!"

A sudden buck of his hips had caused an explosion of sensation that made her yelp, and she wondered why in the world she couldn't control her voice. Of course, she knew that moaning was a sign somebody liked something, (like when she hummed while eating a tasty treat), but she'd always been able to control those sorts of sounds before if she wanted to.

"Hmm? Wha'was'wha?" Natsu mumbled, barely intelligible with his mouth tracking kisses up and down her neck.

"What's my… why is… my voice… what's wrong with it…?"

Somehow he understood her choked question, because he pulled back and gave her a slightly confused look. "Uh, you mean the moaning and stuff? Doesn't that just mean you're feeling good?"

She flushed… once again blown away by how his candidness was both embarrassing and arousing at the same time.

"Well… I mean… but… aren't you supposed to be able to control those sounds and not make them if you don't want to? Why can't I control them?"

He shrugged and ducked back into her neck, his hands suddenly forcing her against him again, and as though to illustrate her point, she gasped and another small sound came out. After the initial squeak though, she was able to clamp down and keep herself from making any other noises.

A few seconds later, Natsu's lips had found hers again, and then he pulled back with a huff and said in a very gravelly voice, "It's probably 'cause ya don't have any experience with these sorts of feelings… so ya don't know how to keep it down. But that's cool with me… I wanna hear you. It's super sexy."

"Darn it, Natsu… why do you have to say things like that…." she mumbled, her stomach fluttering and her heartrate kicking up another notch thanks to his words – yet again.

He utterly ignored her and went back to kissing her neck and then her lips. After that, of course, the dry humping resumed, and Lucy almost forgot about her newly discovered vocal range… aside from whenever one of those sounds came out her throat. She still wasn't entirely comfortable with it, but since it was apparently normal, she did her best to try and not get too flustered by any stray noises.

Likewise, she also tried to control her embarrassment whenever Natsu made a random comment – which started to happen semi-frequently as they continued. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that he was so completely unabashed and said whatever seemed to pop into his head during sex, considering that that was how he acted about everything else, but it somehow never stopped catching her off guard.

Like when she made a particularly loud squeak, and he told her, "Damn, Luce, that was hot. Do it again…" and proceeded to roll his hips again in the same way that had pulled the first sound out of her.

Or when he let his head thunk onto her shoulder and panted, "Shit… you sure are good at this. Feels amazing…."

Every single time he bluntly said something about what they were doing or how he was feeling, she felt her blood heat up and her breath catch.

Of course, she was already sweaty and out of breath from their activities, so it was just a drop in the overall bucket of this particular experience… but still, she couldn't help but think that it was going to take her a while to get used to the fact that he was apparently a chatterbox during sexual activities.

Though, most of her attention was taken up by just trying to keep pace with him. By that point, his hands had forced her into a faster and harder rhythm, and his hips bucked up into hers more and more often as he started losing control of his body. That didn't bother her too much, thankfully… but the pressure did start to actually hurt her sensitive parts, and she had to angle her hips backwards a little to relieve the weight.

His temperature had soared through the roof – which was a little uncomfortable and a big part of why her entire body was beaded with sweat – but she was too focused on him to care very much about that. It aroused both her excitement and curiosity to see him like this… sweaty, flushed, and breathing heavily… with pitch black eyes that pierced her through whenever he pulled back from his kisses. There was an intensity and single-minded focus to him that she rarely saw outside of eating and fighting… though, if she'd had a spare moment to think, she would've realized that it made sense for him to act the same way about sex. All of those things were based in the same sort of 'animal instinct' that Natsu seemed to have an overabundance of.

From there, the intensity of everything just continued to amplify, and his words started devolving into completely random cusses and extremely short phrases which were just as arousing – if not more-so – than his previous statements.

She flushed and almost swallowed her own tongue when he bit her throat and mumbled, "Shit… so good…."

Then she did choke a little when he followed that up a few minutes later with, "Getting close… ah, fuck… love this… feels… haaa… amazing… holy crap…."

Unsurprisingly, he also drove her to grind against him even more intensely, and his hips bucked up to meet hers almost every other time. In fact, all of his movements became increasingly frenzied and urgent… but luckily, right when she started to feel like it was all getting a little too much for her, a sharp groan ripped out of his chest. That was quickly followed with an equally harsh gasp, and then he seemed to stop breathing entirely as his hands gripped her tightly – holding her in place as his hips ground up against her spastically a few times before suddenly freezing up. All of his muscles seemed to lock and tense, and unless she was mistaken, the hard ridge digging into her groin felt as though it pulsed and kicked against her several times.

After a minute of tension, he finally started beathing again (very heavily), and his head thunked down onto her shoulder, while the rest of his body went limp against the wall. His cheek stuck to her neck with sweat, which wasn't the best feeling in the entire world… but she was too distracted by what'd just happened to be bothered much by it.

"Did you…?"

He responded with a breathless chuckle.

"Oh yeah… that was amazing, Luce. Wow…."

After huffing a few more laughs under his breath, he sighed and unstuck his face from her neck so he could rest the back of his skull against the wall instead. From there, he gave her the most relaxed, sensual smile she'd ever seen in her life… his half-mast eyes looking sleepy and heated and seductive. Her stomach fluttered in a very interesting way, and she flushed, feeling warm in more ways than one.

Honestly, the completely sated aura he was giving off made her even more curious about just how powerful and wonderful an orgasm must feel, but that wasn't enough for her to accept his offer when he asked, "Want me to help you cum too?"

As intrigued as she was, after seeing his responses and the way he'd reacted, she knew it had to be an extremely intense experience to make him lose control like that… and Lucy wasn't as unabashed as him. This was all still very new to her, and if just moaning a little bit had flustered her as much as it had, she didn't think she was ready for something like that. She couldn't even imagine completely losing herself and acting so strangely… just thinking about it made her a little embarrassed and nervous.

Besides that, she actually couldn't help but be a bit wary and scared of the unknown. The things she had experienced today had been a first for her, and even though it had all felt good, it had also been a little overwhelming, and she honestly didn't know how much more she could handle – physically or emotionally.

"Wha- oh… Oh! Um… no, I'm good, thank you!" she sputtered, waving her hands around between them.

Suddenly feeling a little awkward and shy, she quickly slid off his lap and put some distance between them.

That must have raised some red flags for Natsu, because he stared at her curiously and asked, "Uh… what's up, Luce? You're acting kinda weird…"

She bit her lip and thought about how to answer that coherently – which was difficult when her mind was such a mess.

"Oh, um… I'm just feeling a little… awkward, I guess? It's hard to believe that we just… did all of that."

He sat up a little straighter and abruptly looked worried, his dark eyes almost piercing through her as he asked, "Do ya wish we hadn't?"

"What? No! I'm glad it happened… it's just a bit of a shock."

"Okay, well, that's fine then," he said with one of his usual happy-go-lucky grins and immediately relaxed again. Then he stretched, grimaced, and got up off the bed.

"Ugh… I gotta go clean up, be right back."

She blinked at him and stuttered some sort of affirmative as he shuffled over to her bathroom and shut himself inside… which left her alone with her thoughts… on a bed that she'd just done things with her boyfriend on.

It took her a second to realize what he meant by, 'clean up,' but when she did, it only made her more flustered as she recalled what she'd read in her medical textbook and the vague description Michelle had given her about ejaculate and sperm.

Honestly, the research she'd done had definitely helped with understanding what had just happened biologically speaking, but at the same time, it hadn't prepared her at all for the emotional side of things. Her face was already flushed, but it became even hotter as she replayed what had taken place in her mind, and her heart pounded even faster in her chest. An enormous mess of feelings and reactions bombarded her from seemingly every angle: anxiety, excitement, shock, disbelief…. and after a minute or two, she started to wonder if maybe they'd moved just a little too fast.

Naturally, considering her history, that quickly transformed into the worry that she might have accidentally triggered herself and potentially taken a step backwards in her healing process – which was the last thing she wanted to do.

Luckily though, after a few moments of analyzing her emotions, she decided that the way she currently felt was completely different from the way she usually experienced being triggered. Her anxiety and nerves were more of a jittery, shocked sort of nervousness than panic and fear. In fact, once she calmed herself down just a little and forced more logical thought processes through her brain, she determined that this was probably a fairly normal response for someone who was experiencing sex-type activities for the first time… especially someone like her, who didn't have a lot of previous knowledge to depend on.

Every new thing she experienced with Natsu was like an adventure of discovery, and maybe she had gone a tiny bit further than she should've today, which left her feeling slightly rattled from the overload of new information. It was very much a, 'Wow! What was that?!' sort of feeling that she assumed would get easier and easier the more she experienced these sorts of things.

All of which helped her feel better about everything, though she still couldn't help the jitters and fidgetiness that seemed to have permeated her down to her core – making her feel like a swarm of butterflies were flying in speedy circles around her insides. No matter how hard she tried to relax, her heart kept pounding and her skin was still much too warm… which of course wasn't helped when Natsu came back out of the bathroom.

As soon as she saw him, her stomach tried to leap into her throat, and she made a quick getaway into the bathroom he'd just vacated, squeaking something along the lines of, "Oh, uh… I've got to… take care of something too. Be right out."

Almost without thinking, she sat on the toilet (largely out of habit), while she kept working to take deep breaths and cool off.

Thankfully, her hope that a few more minutes to herself was all she needed to normalize turned out to be mostly true. Her heart rate gradually slowed down, the heat in her skin dissipated, and the prickliness all over her body eased to a tolerable level. At which point, she realized that she was sitting on the toilet with her pants down, and she should probably clean up and exit.

However, when she went to do so, she made a second strange discovery… in the form of wetness that took more than one go round with the tissue to mop up. At first, she wondered if she'd started menstruating without realizing it, but when she checked, the mystery substance definitely wasn't blood. In fact, it wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced before, which was alarming for a minute, until she remembered another useful bit of information that she had gotten from her research. According to the textbook, women produced a certain amount of 'lubricant' during sex to make it easier.

If this strange substance was that, then it would certainly explain the damp sensation she'd experienced between her legs while they were kissing and grinding earlier… but there was a lot more of it than she had expected. In her imagination, she had thought that it would become damp inside, but that it wouldn't come outside her body or make a mess (like this obviously had). A large part of her wondered if this was the usual amount or if she was just abnormal, but as embarrassing as it was, she couldn't imagine any other explanation for the current situation she found herself in.

Of course, that was just another reason to be hesitant about going further with Natsu, and she was doubly glad that she hadn't taken him up on his offer to help her 'finish' earlier. Becoming weird and losing herself to unknown sensations was unnerving enough, but now she had to worry about him discovering this… and even if it did turn out to be normal, she still thought it was strange and therefore felt shy about it.

But, for the time being, she decided not to worry too much about that whole mess. Really, it was just one drop in the bucket, and there were bigger things she had to figure out… like how in the world she was going to leave this bathroom and act normally around Natsu (especially without underwear, considering it was so squishy and uncomfortable that she'd had to take it off).

In the end, she couldn't come up with any good plans on that account, and she just had to wash up and make herself walk out the door.

"Yo! Took ya long enough!" he greeted from a sprawled-out position on her bed – unsurprisingly acting as relaxed as usual.

Meanwhile, her jitteriness had returned, and it was all she could do to stand in one place without fidgeting. Weirdly, she didn't know what to do with her hands and ended up lacing her fingers together to keep herself from messing with her nails or fiddling with her clothes.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess it did," she stuttered nervously, trying to keep her voice level.

Apparently, her anxious energy didn't stay as contained as she'd have liked it to, because he propped himself up on his elbows and gave her a long, searching look.

"Hey, Luce? You're still acting kinda weird…. You sure you're okay?"

"Haha… is it that obvious?" she chuckled uncomfortably. "Um, yeah, I'm fine… I just still feel a little embarrassed and awkward, but that'll go away in a bit I'm sure."

"Okay… if ya say so."

He shrugged, and then immediately changed the subject with one of his happy-go-lucky grins. "So! Can I stay the night?"

That shocked her into gaping at him for a minute, and then amusement overrode that, and she burst into startled laughter. Leave it to Natsu to ask if he could spend the night after everything that'd happened.

"Uh… not tonight. Since I'm feeling so self-conscious, I don't think I'd be able to sleep if you stayed," she eventually managed to sputter in response.

At that, he whined and sat up, giving her a plaintive look. "Aw, that's no fun."

However, before she could combat his puppy-dog eyes, he shrugged again and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Makes sense though."

Stunned again – this time by how understanding he was being – she couldn't find anything to say besides, "Um, yeah…?… Good?"

Everything came out as a question, thanks to her confusion and amazement at his easy cooperation. Normally, she felt like he would've put up a much bigger fuss to get her to let him stay.

He stood and stretched for a moment, but then he suddenly stopped and froze in place as though a thought had just occurred to him. That notion was strengthened when he grunted a little, "…huh…" under his breath and then turned to face her with his arms crossed and a small frown between his eyebrows.

"Do ya think we went too fast?"

It almost felt like de ja vu, as though they were repeating the same conversation over and over again as he kept checking to make sure she was all right… but even though it was a little embarrassing to have to explain herself several times, she was okay with it. After all, it just showed that he was looking out for her, and if she'd had any major doubts or concerns, that knowledge would have assuaged them.

"… Maybe a little, but not in a bad way. It was just a lot to digest all at once… but like I said earlier, I'm happy we did it."

After several moments of obvious thinking on his part, a grin once again replaced his somewhat concerned expression, and he said, "Yeah, I get ya. That probably was a lot to take in."

Then, he bounded over and planted a firm kiss on her lips – making her freeze in place with surprise – and before she could figure out a response, he was leaving.

"Alight! I'm gonna head out then and give ya a little space. See ya later, Luce!"

As far as Lucy could tell, he was on cloud nine, and it didn't seem like very much could bring him down. He left with an enormous, goofy smile splitting his face, and a lot of her remaining nerves and flusteredness disappeared in the face of his unrestrained joy.

Sneak Peek:

"You… what are you doing here?" she asked coldly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, hey there to you too, Aqua Grass. Long time to see," he greeted, and Lucy suddenly found herself stuck between horror and hilarity at Natsu's botched name for her old maid.

He didn't even stop for air though, and kept on saying, "I've come to help Luce out!"

Aquarius's eye twitched, and Lucy flinched back, mentally preparing herself for the typhoon of rage that was about to be unleashed on her boyfriend.

"What did you call me?!"

"Huh? Uh… Aqua Grass? That's your name right?"

"No! It definitely is not!" she roared, and even Natsu twitched a little.

Post Note:

...OOF!

Let's just hope that Natsu survives next chapter... XD