Don't worry, you guys aren't the only ones unhappy with the memory wipe.
As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!
Natsu continued to pace the hallway as Lucy slept peacefully in her room. Virgo had been gone for hours, but he still couldn't wrap his head around everything. Lucy had been kidnapped by Zalanoon's minions again. Not only that, they'd managed to somehow pull his demon side out and use it to hurt his allies. And that Lucy had risked herself to somehow pull his dragon side to the forefront of his mind.
Just the thought of it made him crazy. He was glad he couldn't remember it.
Not only that, they didn't even know for sure if they'd gotten the bastard! Whatever magical mythical being the Leezar had summoned had disappeared before the angels could return to the Dark to check. They had found evidence of bodies in the leftover rubble, but there was no way to know whose, even with magic, because of how thoroughly they'd been burned.
The thing he wondered about most was how Lucy had managed to help his dragon blood overcome the demon. He'd had one incident in the past where his demon side had taken over and it had taken a great deal to pull him back out, which was why he was so careful about keeping his scarf on him. Going too long without it risked his mean side coming out and he didn't want to be that kind of demon. While he embraced his dragon blood, good and bad, he hated the entirety of his demon heritage.
Besides that, he hadn't even begun to try and process what had happened before she was taken. The moment they'd shared, the kissing that had nearly happened before she'd been ripped away. That felt like a whole lot to unload and he was pretty sure he was too fried to think about it, but knew he should.
He paused outside her door once more, holding his breath until he had listened to her soft, even breath for a full ten seconds. Even such a short time had him feeling much more relaxed, so he slid silently into the shadows of her room to stand next to her bed and continue to listen.
He felt his inner presence enter the edges of his mind. It didn't try to overpower him this time; instead it seemed to share the space with him so it could listen too.
I wish I could talk to you, Natsu thought. It would be nice to know who or what you are.
He didn't receive a response, not that he was expecting one, but he had a strange feeling that it had heard and understood him. The presence continued to remain just barely there, content it seemed to use Natsu's senses to observe.
Natsu noticed that with that additional strange presence, his desire to get close to Lucy had at least tripled. She looked so warm and inviting curled up in her bed that he wanted to slide under the covers and join her.
He wondered for a long time if he could manage to do so without waking her, which was silly. He was a supremely stealthy person when he wanted to be.
Decision made, Natsu adjusted his clothing so he was just wearing a comfortable pair of shorts and his scarf before sliding silently into the bed. He wiggled one arm under her pillow and then wrapped the other around her waist as he pulled his body flush with her back and legs.
Her bed was extremely comfortable, so much nicer than any other he'd been on, and the fact that the entire thing smelled like her just made it even better. As he worked on getting comfortable, he couldn't stop himself from burying his nose into her hair. It was intoxicating being this close to her, even if she was asleep.
He had planned on just laying beside her for a bit to calm down, but after a while he found himself drifting off. As he fell asleep, he thought he felt the now familiar fade, but before he could think too hard about it, he was out cold.
When Lucy awoke, the first thing she was aware of was how warm she was. During the winter, she often had trouble staying warm enough while she slept, but that was certainly not the case this particular morning. She sighed and tried to roll over but found that she was unable to move. There were two legs wrapped up in her own and an arm wrapped tightly around her middle.
She felt her heartbeat start to race as she realized that there was a hand wrapped around one breast. She could hear soft snores coming from somewhere near the top of her head and hot breath fanning across her hair. Lucy tried to remember what she had done before coming to bed, but all she could seem to remember was a brief conversation with Natsu, about what she couldn't remember, and then tripping when she left the kitchen. What had happened after that?
She appeared to still be in the clothes she'd worn to work, and Natsu appeared to be at least wearing bottoms. Lucy sighed. At least she hadn't slept with him and forgotten. That would have been terrible.
Slowly, Lucy began to twist in his arms to face Natsu. When she'd finally managed to make it on to her back, she turned her head to she could finally see him. His hair was sticky up even more than usual, and there was a thing trail of drool from the corner of his parted lips down to the edge of her pillow.
Lucy attempted to remove his hand carefully from her breast, but as soon as her fingers slid around his, his eyes flashed open. Bright gold irises were exposed and as they looked at her, they widened. He looked panicked as he looked down to where his hand was and then up again. After he slid his hand down to her stomach, he closed his eyes again and the emotion faded from his face.
"Natsu?"
His breathing grew louder and then he slowly stretched out his body. When his eyes opened again, the gold had faded to a thin outer circle. "Good morning, Luce." His voice was low and rough from sleep and completely lacking any worry.
Lucy wondered for a moment if she still saw some of his other side's panic, but decided to ignore it for now. As long as Natsu was still in control, she didn't see a reason to acknowledge it. "Good morning. Um, why are you in here?"
Natsu blinked slowly as he looked around them. The longer he looked, the more his eyes widened. He suddenly pulled his arm away and then scrambled to unwrap himself from her blankets. "I'm so sorry Lucy. I didn't mean… I was just trying to keep an eye on you. I didn't mean to stay or… nothing happened I was just… oof!"
Lucy flinched as Natsu fell off the bed, pulling both the sheet and blanket with him. She moved towards the edge of the bed and looked down at him. "You're rather flustered this morning," she pointed out.
Now that she thought about it, why wasn't she more upset? She'd lost time again. She was getting rather tired of it…
"I'm sorry I was just…" His eyes snagged just below her neck before he shook his head and looked away. "I was just trying to keep an eye on you."
"Why?" she asked. When she looked down, she saw that her shirt had been pulled down in the struggle, so she quickly pulled it back up.
His words ran together as he answered her. "You were acting funny, and when you fell over you hit your head. I kept you awake for a while, but you eventually fell asleep. I've been trying to keep an eye on you all night, but I guess I got tired and got into your bed. I'm sorry…"
"It's okay," Lucy said. "I don't think I mind."
"Oh." Natsu looked surprised. "Well that's good then."
Lucy blinked as she finally processed his words. "Wait a minute… I hit my head?"
"Yeah. You tripped when you were walking out of the kitchen and I didn't manage to catch you in time." Natsu's gut twisted as he spoke. He'd never lied before in his life, but after what Virgo had done to Lucy, he couldn't tell her the truth. And when she eventually found out… she would hate him.
Even if it had been for her own good.
Natsu shook his head a bit and stood up, continuing to avoid her gaze. "I'm just going to go. I'll make you some breakfast."
As he quickly left her room, Lucy wondered why he had seemed so upset. It hadn't been his fault that he didn't catch her. She was human, she was bound to get hurt occasionally, so he had nothing to feel so bad about.
She quickly changed into something more comfortable and went into the kitchen. Natsu had eggs and hashbrowns out and the bread was open next to the toaster. As she entered, he set aside the whisk and began to add other things to the egg bowl.
"Natsu-"
"I thought about what you said." Natsu kept his back to her, not sure he could face her. He needed to change the subject, before he said something really stupid.
When he'd woken up, in those few short seconds when he had been half asleep and staring at her, so soft and warm in his arms, he had decided that there really wasn't anything else to think about. It was obvious that he wanted what she had offered, no matter what that entailed.
And in the end, he would go home, and she would stay here, and they could hopefully maintain a friendship, because if there was one thing he didn't want, it was to lose her in the end.
He cared about her a great deal, and the thought of them not being friends after everything was over… hurt.
"My offer?" Lucy asked, confused.
"From a couple nights ago," he answered.
Lucy was still half asleep and concerned about what had happened the previous day, not to mention what was going on with Natsu, so she had no idea what he meant. When he glanced over his shoulder, he could see the confusion in her eyes. With a small smile, he set his spoon in the bowl and moved towards her. In a move so smooth he wasn't sure it was him, he slid his hands along her jaw to tilt her head back while simultaneously pushing her back with his body until she hit the wall.
Lucy's eyes widened as his mouth came down on hers before fluttering closed when it made contact. His lips were soft, and as he kissed her, his thumbs, featherlight, rubbed against her cheeks. He tilted his head and opened her mouth with his own so that he could slide his tongue between her parted lips.
She sighed when his tongue left her mouth after flicking at her own and his teeth tugged on her bottom lip as he pulled away. As he smiled down at her, she watched the gold in his eyes fade to a thin line again. "Does that jog your memory enough?" he asked.
"Do you think… if you did like doing that with me… do you think that maybe… you and I… could… try other things?"
"Well, I don't know if it's a thing demons or dragons do, but… you know, maybe while you're here, we could… date. Or, you know, do things that… dating people… do…"
"Oh…" Lucy audibly swallowed as Natsu's fingers continued to rub lightly across her skin. "That."
"Yes, that." The gold completely faded and Natsu became visibly nervous. "I, uh, I was thinking that I would like that. To do whatever it is dating humans do together. You'll have to tell me what that is, but I think I would like that.
"As long as… it's with you," he finished quietly.
Lucy could feel her heart expanding as her dragon demon hybrid stood before her looking so unsure of himself. That he was as nervous as her seemed to make her feel silly for worrying so much about his response. He seemed even more uncertain than her, and he was decades, even centuries older than her.
Lucy cut that thought off immediately, not sure she wanted to ponder the length of his life. She'd gone this long without asking and she planned on sticking to that.
She smiled and lifted her hands to lightly tug his face her way. When his eyes met hers, she gave him a big smile as she said, "I'm glad." Then she stood on tiptoe to give him a firm kiss on his lips.
"I have one condition," Natsu said as she pulled away.
"What's that?"
"No matter what happens, we stay friends after the contract is up."
Lucy cocked her head to the side as she frowned. "I thought demons usually wiped-"
"I would never wipe you," Natsu said vehemently. "You are too important for that. I want you to always remember me and what we have together, and I always want to be friends… for as long as we can be, anyway."
Lucy found that those words made her want to cry, but she fought them back as she nodded at him. "I want that, too. I promise," she said, "we can stay friends."
Natsu sighed as he pulled away. "Good. Uh, so does that mean I'm your… boyfriend? I think that was the term."
Lucy's cheeks pinkened. "Well I… I mean, we could be boyfriend and girlfriend if you want. We don't have to use labels or anything. It's up to you. It might be too soon?…"
"I like you having a claim on me," Natsu said with a grin. "You're already my master, would that be a suitable label?" he asked as he tilted his head.
Lucy's eyes shot open wide and she shook her head. "No!" Her voice was high and squeaky when she answered so she cleared her throat before continuing. "That label means something completely different in this context."
Natsu shrugged. "Okay, then let's stick with boyfriend." He glanced over his shoulder before turning back towards the counter. "I'd better get your food finished. You still have to go to work today."
Lucy blinked as she looked at the clock. She had less time to get ready than usual, but what surprised her was that she'd forgotten it was a work day.
"Crap, you're right. I completely forgot what day it was." She laughed a little. "Hopefully this head thing didn't make me forget too much. I'll be back after I'm ready." She moved forward to give him a quick hug before leaving the room and heading for the hallway.
Natsu felt the demon inside him rise up a little as he slowly became more angry with himself. By the time he had everything cooking, the itch was back under his skin and he had to wrap his hands up in the dish towel hanging from the stove to keep himself from scratching his skin raw.
He hated this. He hated lying to Lucy. After all this time, after all the effort he'd put in to making himself more than the sum of his parts, and now he was no better than the demon blood that ran hot and black through his veins. He couldn't protect his charge on his own, he couldn't maintain control over his own mind, he couldn't even make it through one contract without picking up a new hobby- lying. How could he be good enough to be her protector or friend when he continued to fail so horribly?
It was that damn angel's fault.
If Leo would just tell Lucy what was happening, she could be more prepared, and he wouldn't be forced to resort to such… abhorrent tactics. Even if it had been Virgo who had wiped her and made up such a crappy story to cover it up, she'd done it for Leo.
That damn angel…
Unfortunately, until the angel was back, Natsu was forced to stick to this charade. Maybe if he could just keep busy and not think about it, things would be okay, at least until everyone came clean.
Because they would, whether Leo wanted to or not. Natsu couldn't lie to Lucy again, he just couldn't. Every part of him that wasn't demonic felt sick and achy over his lie. He refused to do it again.
Natsu barely managed to pull himself together before Lucy returned to the kitchen. As she helped him set the table, he couldn't help but notice how much more comfortable she seemed around him. She kept subtly rubbing an arm or hip against him as she stood next to him to reach into the cupboards, or slide a piece of toast from the stack. Every time he would look at her face and she would just give him a small smile before looking away. And while they sat and ate at the table, one of her legs slid over to rest against his as they spoke and planned their small Christmas gathering.
When Lucy left after breakfast, after having to be bodily removed from the kitchen because he could handle the dishes, thank you very much, she made sure to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving with a big smile on her face.
Natsu felt rather light, so light that the black tether at the bottom of his soul could barely keep him held down. With a bright smile, Natsu decided to wait to clean up the dishes.
If she wanted a boyfriend, he'd be the best damn boyfriend she ever had.
He had some research to do.
"Are you kidding me?! This is almost the exact list Happy gave me! Sneaky Exceed…"
"Of course I'd treat her with respect. She's a freaking person, not a thing. What a stupid thing to list…"
"Are human men stupid? Why do they have to be told these things!"
"I think that one might be better upside down. Might have to try…"
"How on earth am I supposed to know how much is too much and how much is just enough? That is very unhelpful advice."
"Dear gods… how does it even fit?!"
"Woman have an organ that's only purpose is to make them feel good? Dear gods, I wonder what the succubi would think of that."
