Let's talk sex, kids.

Not really, but I think I have to up the rating for this story. I'm not sure at what point a story goes from T to M, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. A few swear words and mentioning a naked body feels T to me, but I think this chapter toes the border, so I'm upping the rating with this installment. Also, I'll be adding a little message at the end looking for some feedback. Please give it a quick read before you move on to your next story, if you can, and take a moment to respond if possible.

This is a little shorter than I like, but it was a good spot for a break.

Also, I went through for funsies and added up reviews and wanted to give a shout out to my top reviewers!

Aliciacevbra

Sereneserious

Ushindeshi

CathJorda

You guys are all stars. And thank you to everyone else who's reviewed! Each and every one of them make my day, so keep them coming!

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!


Lucy quickly grabbed the robe from the counter and pulled it in front of herself. "Natsu, what the hell are you doing?!" She couldn't help but be embarrassed and angry. When he'd told her the food had arrived, she had immediately gotten out of the tub, her stomach reminding her that she hadn't eaten nearly enough in the last twenty-four hours. The thought of eating in the tub had been a nice one, but she was plenty warm now and didn't want him to bring it to her while she was naked. Why on earth had he come in?

She studied him as she made sure she was completely covered. He was completely frozen, his eyes glazed over and unfocused somewhere in the vicinity of her chest. Even his breathing seemed to have stopped. As she watched, his whole demeanor seemed to change. Without doing more than letting out a long breath, he went from shocked to something much more intense. His eyes suddenly flared, changing to a bright gold as they roved over body. His muscles seemed to bunch up and his grip on the door tightened enough that the handle whined under the abuse. He looked ready to jump and Lucy was instantly worried about what he would do.

"Natsu," she said again, quieter this time, "what are you doing?"

As his eyes met hers, he seemed to break out of whatever trance he'd fallen into. Immediately he covered his eyes with the hand not holding her food and turned his back. He curled up into himself a little, no doubt waiting for her to throw something at him like she'd done every other time he'd interrupted her bath. "I'm so sorry! Why did you tell me to come in?! I only came in because you said you wanted your food!"

"What are you talking about? I told you it could wait." Since his back was turned, she pulled the robe away from herself and quickly pulled it on.

"You… said it could wait?"

"Yes, I did."

"Oh…" He rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled quietly. "I thought you said it couldn't wait. That's why I was going to bring it in. I didn't mean to see anything." He continued to ramble on as she tied the robe and leaned down to let the water out of the tub. "If it makes you feel any better, a naked female isn't anything really that weird to me. A lot of demons choose to roam around back home in the nude, so it's nothing I haven't seen before." He seemed to hesitate. "Not… that… you're not… nice to look at? Shit, Luce, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do right now. Please don't Lucy kick me again and just tell me what I have to say to make this better."

When Lucy looked up, he had turned a little so she could see his profile. He was still carefully holding her food in one hand with his other firmly over his eyes. Even with only half of his face exposed, she could see how uncomfortable and sorry he was, and she couldn't find it in herself to be upset with him. "It's okay, Natsu. I know you didn't mean to walk in on me. Next time, maybe just open the door a little bit and ask again, just to make sure you heard me correctly, okay?"

"Yes ma'am." He nodded his head eagerly as he reached behind him to grab the door handle again, eyes still squinted shut. "I'm just going to close this now. Your food will be out here." With that, he closed the door and Lucy was left alone to contemplate what had just happened. Not the part where he'd misheard her, but the part where his eyes changed color and he looked like he was going to jump her if she breathed funny. The thought made her insides clench. He'd looked ready to eat her where she stood, and that thought was not at all a bad one to her.

She stared at the door as she worked on drying the hairs that had fallen into the water, her thoughts running away with her. Sure, she was a human and he was a demon, but he'd told her before, demons could sleep with other races, and it was obvious that he'd liked what he saw. Even if she was embarrassed about it, she could admit to herself that it was the first time she had thought about sleeping with Natsu. It had been a long time for her, and even if she was still pretty inexperienced, she had a feeling he was, too. Maybe they could learn a thing or two from each other?

Still, there had been something weird about how he'd acted during those few moments that he'd stared at her. It had felt like he wasn't quite himself as he studied her. Then again, she didn't know how demons or dragons reacted when they were attracted to someone else. The eye color change might just be something that happened to them when they were… excited.

Lucy wiped away the steam from one of the two mirrors so she could study herself.

If she was completely honest with herself… she could admit that she was attracted to the dragon-demon hybrid. While she'd never imagined herself entering a purely sexual relationship with a man, she found that a growing part of her wanted exactly that with Natsu. Well, not exactly that. They were friends, and she hoped they would remain friends passed the end of their contract. However, that didn't mean that she wouldn't be willing to test the waters a little bit by being physical with him. The memory of his eyes on her made her body heat up in a way a good bath never could, and she quietly cursed herself.

This was nonsense. Those kinds of thoughts were just silly and she needed to get a grip on her libido. It was becoming increasingly obvious that she needed to get a boyfriend. All these thoughts about her contracted dragon-demon hybrid roommate were going to get her in trouble, and she needed to get them under control.

Maybe when she got home, she'd talk to Cana and the girls about getting her a date. It had been a long time, and it was probably half the reason she couldn't seem to stop thinking dirty thoughts about her attractive, temporary roommate.

Once she was sure she had herself under control, she grabbed her dirty clothes and left the bathroom. Natsu was sitting on his bed surrounded by plates but he wasn't eating. Her plate sat with its cover still on on the desk. He watched her warily as she moved towards her bag to switch out for some clean clothes. "What's wrong, Natsu? Did you not get the right food?"

"No no, it's fine. Probably. I haven't had any yet."

She straightened, her clothes in hand. "Why not? Usually you'd have that gone in a heartbeat."

"I know I just… I feel funny. Like I shouldn't eat without you."

Lucy blinked, not at all expecting his answer. "Oh. Well, how about I go change quick and then we can eat? Does that sound like a plan?"

He nodded, looking happier with her suggestion. "Maybe I can find something to watch while you change?"

She gave him a big smile. "That sounds like a great plan. I'll just be a minute."

Natsu carefully hopped off his bed, avoiding knocking over his dishes, and went to the TV to turn it on and grab the remote. Lucy closed the door behind her, changing quickly as she wondered over how she wanted to approach the question she wanted to ask Natsu. Once she was in her comfy pants and shirt, she fixed her bun and hung up the robe before leaving to join Natsu again. He was on his bed again, flipping through channels with a smile on his face.

"I found an animal documentary about the ocean. Can we watch that?"

"Sure, that sounds fun," she answered, grabbing her plate and moving to sit on Natsu's bed. His eyes widened for a second, but he quickly moved over and adjusted his plates so she had enough space. "Thank you," she said with a smile.

"No problem," he answered, his tone careful.

Before he could turn the show on, Lucy reached over and grabbed his hand. "You know I'm not mad at you, right?"

He nodded. "Well, I think I do anyway. I think I'm still waiting to be hit. You don't often get mad without retaliating and I think I'd feel better if you just punched me or something so I quit waiting for it to happen."

Lucy sighed, but picked up one of the pillows and swatted him with it, making him grin. "Better?"

"Yeah, I think so." He grabbed his silverware, grin still in place, and pulled a plate closer to him. "Time to eat, I am starving. I could eat a whole herd of cows right now."

She laughed as she turned on the show. "Good thing there aren't any around then. I'd hate to have to keep reminding you not to eat the bones."

As he argued about the difference between cow and pig marrow, she found herself relaxing more than when she'd been in the bath. She could wait, she decided, to ask him about what had happened. Maybe it wasn't a big deal, or maybe she hadn't actually seen anything. At any rate, she decided they deserved this time just to unwind after their trip across the mountain. So she continued to eat her food, laughing at Natsu's evaluations of the different meat bones he'd tried, and his newfound desire to find out if he could outswim a whale.

He was pretty adorable when he got excited about something.


"Are you sure you wanna go down?" Natsu asked again.

"Yes, Natsu, I think it'll be fun. Plus, they gave out free drink tickets! Why wouldn't we go? We're heading home tomorrow, I think this will be a good way to top off the trip." Lucy touched up her makeup as she listened to Natsu grumble on the other side of the wall. "Is there some reason you don't want to go?"

"It's not that I don't want to go, it's just… nothing." He appeared in the doorway. "It's nothing. Is this appropriate for whatever kind of party this is?"

Lucy glanced over and saw that he was in the same button down shirt, vest and pants combo he'd worn the first day he arrived. "That looks great," she said, looking away quickly. After a quick glance at the mirror, she closed her cosmetics bag and turned to face him. "What do you think of this?"

She'd had to improvise, having not brought anything nice to wear. She'd put on the skirt she'd worn to the airport and added a tight, long sleeved black shirt. She didn't have much for jewelry, but she'd put on the necklace Loke had gotten her long ago, a golden key with the symbol for Leo the Lion of the zodiac. He'd been so excited to give it to her, especially when she'd shown him the one she had from her mother, a nearly identical key with the symbol of Aquarius the Waterbearer. Paired with her long black boots, she thought she looked pretty good for the party the hotel was hosting that evening.

Natsu gave her a quick look and grinned. "You look great, Luce." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Are you ready to go then?"

"Almost," she said. She turned off the light as she passed him and headed for her purse. She grabbed her ID, a credit card and some cash and put it all in her pocket, then rejoined Natsu. "Now I am. Let's go!" Once they were in the hall and the door was locked, Lucy hooked her arm through Natsu's and they walked together to the elevator, chatting the whole way to the lobby. They followed the signs through a few hallways until they made it to a large room in the back of the lodge. Lucy paid for their tickets with the host before they entered the room, where they found themselves in a beautifully decorated space.

It was at least two stories tall with large glass windows opposite the doors that had a great view of the scenery. A long bar was set up against one wall, with a long table covered in food on the opposite side of the room. There was a dance floor in the middle with a few rows of tables on either side between the food and bar. To the left, there was a small stage set up with a few people setting up instruments, no doubt for the band. There were about half a dozen people already milling around, getting food and chatting with the bartenders. Lights had been strung up at even intervals across the ceiling and each table had a small vase filled with flowers.

"Wow, this place looks amazing," Lucy whispered.

Natsu merely nodded as he watched her looking around the room. The room was nice, of course, but he much preferred watching Lucy, especially when her face lit up like it was at that moment. When she suddenly turned his way, her eyes bright and smile wide, he felt his mouth get a little dry. "Hey, you're going to dance with me later, right? I'm a terrible dancer, but I really enjoy doing it anyway."

Before he could answer, an unfamiliar voice called out. "Hey, it's you! Lucy!"

The pair turned towards the bar as a large man started to jog their way. He was wearing a pair of black pants with a nice white shirt and backwards ballcap. He waved as he approached, and Natsu saw the glint from a piercing hanging from his nose.

"Long time no see! I had no idea this is where you were going when you told me about your trip!"

Suddenly, Lucy's face lit up with recognition as she moved to shake the man's hand. "Stier! It's so good to see you again!"


HE'S BACK!

A/N! So I'm thinking ahead and I would love some input from my readers! Lucy and Natsu's relationship is more than likely going to hit a point where they become physical with each other and I'm curious how in depth you all would like me to go. I can write the smuttiest smut that's ever smut, but if most of you would be uncomfortable with that route, I can certainly skirt over the more intense scenes. I would love some input and will do my best to accommodate as many as I can. Let me know in a review or a PM (if you don't want to publicly ask for your smut fill - kidding,) I read each and every one! Thanks in advance!