It's WAY too late for this mama to be up, but I just couldn't convince myself to go to bed without finishing my edits for this one. Hopefully it's worth it for you guys.

I was also kind of waiting for a message that has not come yet. This chapter has the requested scene from my winner! I was not given permission to share their name, but I will share the prompt:

Natsu touching himself to the thought of Lucy. Bonus points if he steals her panties.

This of course means there's a NSFW version of this that will contain the actual scene, but I wanted to at least share the request with the rest of you.

I'm also trying to come up with one more contest style thing for the final arc. There should be details in my next chapter, so look for it then if you're interested!

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


"So how many contracts have you complete?"

"Not sure." Natsu turned a little in his seat. "Why do you ask?"

"You said that level of the realms you live in is hard to get to. How many contracts did you have to complete to get into it?"

"Oh, I didn't. I went there to live with my dad when I was born. All the hybrids did."

Lucy rolled onto her side, smiling a little as Natsu's eyes darted down to her hips. "So you guys just get to stay there because you're part dragon?"

"As long as we do our job and respond to summons, complete our contrats, all that nonsense, we get to stay. The demon kings agreed with my father that they would be better off being raised with the dragons there." Natsu continued to stare as he slowly lowered his hands over the side of his lounge chair and crawled her way. "Even if they hadn't, the dragons wouldn't just let the demons keep us away."

Lucy sighed as Natsu leaned towards her and kissed the skin along her waist, up her hip and down her thigh. As he moved back up her body, his hand slowly followed. He stopped at her naval and then pressed his face against her chest, rubbing in circles as he pulled her closer.

"Natsu…"

"Mmm." Natsu rolled her onto her back again and then kissed his way up her neck. When he finally reached her mouth, he pulled her closer and kissed her.

Lucy's arms wrapped around him as she kissed him back. His lips were unhurried as they met hers, his tongue slowly twirling with her own as he tasted her. She gasped when he tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth, causing him to growl in response.

"What do you do to me?…"

Lucy wasn't able to ask him what he meant as he resumed the kiss, pulling her up against him. Her back arched and when he began to trail kisses down to her neck, Lucy's head fell back on its own, overwhelmed as she was by his touch. Natsu nibbled lightly on the skin at her neck before pulling away, the string of her bikini top held firmly between his teeth.

"Natsu, you should probably stop that soon."

"Why? Is that what you want, master?" His purr sent a wave of heat through her body but Lucy did her best to ignore it.

"They'll be bringing us food soon," she reminded him, hoping the mention of food would help rein him in.

It seemed to have the opposite effect, as his gaze became even more intense. "Then perhaps I should wait until it's here so I can eat it off you."

"Natsu…" Lucy sighed, feeling a little guilty. "I think I need a break from that," she said.

Natsu leaned back, the heat immediately leaving his eyes as surprise took over. "Oh. Ooooohhh." He rubbed his face with both his hands. "Of course, why didn't I think of that? You're a human with human stamina. And here I've been- I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean to be so pushy about it. That's not usually my style."

Lucy smiled and sat up to retie her top. "It's okay, really. I would have said no if I had a problem with it sooner, but I think I'd like a break. Between the massages and other pampering, it's not like I haven't had enough time to rest it's just… it gets kind of exhausting after a while."

"It's okay, really, I'm alright." A loud knock on the front door sent Natsu to his feet. "I'll go get the food and bring it out here. Don't move a muscle."

Lucy smiled as she watched him go, and then leaned back in her chair.

He really was spoiling her.

She should find some way to pay him back.


Natsu paced back and forth as he waited for Lucy to return. When he'd insisted that she try out all the resort's amenities, he hadn't thought about how much time she would spend away from him. He'd considered joining her, but had felt weird about other humans having their hands on him.

Not that he'd expected to be this agitated over her not being around. That was a new, and frankly frustrating, development.

When he'd first arrived in the human realm, he'd gone hours between seeing Lucy where he'd been more than content to just hang out at her home and wait for her to get back, but lately he'd caught himself eagerly awaiting her return any time they were apart. He could blame the threat of her being kidnapped constantly looming over them, but he knew it was more than that.

It was Lucy.

He just wanted to be around her, all the time. She was like a drug, and he was an eager and willing junky. He had no thoughts about quitting, no desire to give her up, and the thought surprised him a bit. He'd never been so clingy with anyone, even his own father, and he had loved Igneel with a zeel that persisted even after his death.

Annoyed with himself, Natsu went into their room and threw himself on the bed, burying his face in the Lucy's pillow. The scent wasn't as strong as it was in her room, but it was enough to help calm him a little. Natsu opened his eyes and looked around their room, noting the articles of clothing that had been flung all over. It had been him that did the flinging, of course, and now that he was looking at it, he was surprised that Lucy hadn't cleaned any of it up yet. She was usually much neater than that.

With a grunt, Natsu got to his feet and began to clean up the room. It was his fault it was a mess in the first place. Lucy was probably too tired to clean up after him, and it wasn't like he had bothered to clean up anything since they'd arrived. As he put her dirty clothes in a pile, he made sure to fix the rips he found in them.

Natsu frowned as he realized just how greedy he'd been since they'd arrived, and how aggressive. Had he really torn all of her clothes when he'd pulled them off her? And she hadn't said anything, just allowed him to play with her body, and played with his in return.

He really needed to find some way to apologize for that.

When he finished fixing her red lace underwear, he paused when her scent hit him. He lifted the garment to his face and took a deep breath, his body hardening as her smell filled his nose.

Natsu looked down his body at the erection clearly trying to push through his pants. Perhaps if he took care of his own needs he wouldn't be so grabby with Lucy. He'd never done it before, but he was sure he could figure it out.

Natsu checked the clock to make sure Lucy wouldn't be back any time soon before he allowed his clothes to melt away and then laid on the bed.

He had plenty of time.


Lucy laughed as Natsu continued his Happy impression, but for the life of her, she had no idea what story he was telling anymore.

All she'd been able to think about since the previous day were his whispered words against her skin.

What do you do to me?…

Over the course of their trip, Lucy had come to the conclusion that Natsu still didn't know that she was his mate, but he was fully aware of his inner dragon. He no longer seemed to get panicked or tense when the gold leaked into his irises. From what she could see, he didn't seem to respond at all, he just continued on with whatever he was doing or talking about.

She was curious if that meant he was close to figuring everything out, or if he'd come up with some other explanation for the dragon's presence. She'd brought up mates again the previous night, hiding it amongst other dragon questions, but he hadn't reacted at all, leaving her to believe he was still clueless about her.

That left her thoughts to be continuously brought back to his question. She wondered if she brought it up and had him voice those thoughts out loud, whatever they were, if that would help him.

She supposed she could always go with Plan B, which was to finally have sex with him, but after learning that she was his mate, she wasn't sure if allowing their relationship to go that far was a good idea. The little she had been able to research about the mating habits of the creatures in her world led her to believe that neither of them was going to get passed their contract unscathed. For the creatures that mated for life, it was very difficult for the animals to get over the loss of their mate, and she knew humans fared no better when they were in truly loving and committed relationships.

Lucy couldn't help but think that going all the way with Natsu would inevitably leave him in a lot of pain once they could no longer spend every day together. She hadn't asked, so she wasn't sure what the policy was on having multiple contracts with the same human. However. there was the chance she could just renew their contract every year, but she wasn't sure that was the right choice either. If he was around for too long without aging, there was no doubt questions would arise with her friends that she wouldn't be able to answer. Not to mention the fact that she herself would get old while he would remain as young and handsome as he was now. She believed that eventually he'd grow old, but she also believed there was no chance of that happening in her lifetime.

And then there were her concerns over Natsu not figuring everything out before he went home if she didn't sleep with him. Sex seemed like the kind of thing that would cause his dragon to force him into the realization, so perhaps it was the best way to make sure he put two and two together before he went home. She just wasn't sure how she should decide when to do it, or even if they should.

"Luce, you okay?"

Lucy's eyes snapped his way. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"You were staring awfully hard at your glass. Do you want some more to drink?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thank you though."

"What were you thinking about so hard then?" Natsu had been leaning against the headboard while Lucy was cross legged at the other end of the bed. While she sought the right words to answer him, he moved forward to lay on his belly with his head resting on one of her knees.

"I was just thinking about what you said yesterday," Lucy finally said. She'd try the new Plan A and see how that went before she thought about Plan B too much more.

"Which thing?"

"Before lunch, you asked what I do to you."

Natsu's cheeks instantly went red as he averted his eyes. "What about it?"

"Can you tell me what you meant? What do I do to you that you question?"

Natsu cleared his throat as he rolled a little to get comfortable, keeping his eyes on her other knee. "I'm not sure how to describe it."

Lucy ran her fingers through his hair, causing his eyes to flutter shut as his body relaxed. "Take your time. Use whatever words you need to."

Natsu hummed in the back of his throat and then was quiet for a while. Lucy began to worry he'd fallen asleep before he finally spoke again.

"When I'm away from you, all I can seem to think about is when you'll be back again. Even when I know where you are, or I know you're busy, all I want to do is go find you and spend time with you. Even if it's just to sit in the same room as you, I'd prefer that to staying at home or anywhere else without you.

"When I'm with you, I just feel… I feel whole. It doesn't matter if we're watching TV or eating or doing our own thing quietly in the same room, hell, even sleeping, I just like being around you.

"I've never felt that with anyone else.

"I loved Igneel. I loved learning from him and making him proud, but I never felt that need to be around him all the time.

"With Happy, we spend time together and apart no problem, and I've never felt dependant on him being around to be happy.

"You are completely different. I want to be around you all the time. I feel happy when you're happy, I feel sad when you're sad, and it's more than just what I should feel from the summoning tag. My entire being craves your presence, and my biggest desire is to give you whatever you want and be around you as much as possible.

"I don't know what that is," Natsu said, obviously frustrated. "I don't know why that would be, especially with you. No offense," he hurried to add, "but as the human I'm contracted to, it's an odd feeling to have with you."

Lucy smiled reassuringly at him. "Well, we are friends you know. Perhaps that's what it is. I'm the new friend and you just want to get to know me."

"It's more than that." Natsu shot up, his frustration leaking into his movements as he gripped his hair with his hands and then ran them over his face. "My thoughts revolve around how beautiful I think you are. How wonderful you are as a person. How lucky I feel to have met you. How much I would give up just to spend time with you. Lately I've been thinking about the end of my contract and wondering if I can somehow convince you to make another one with me immediately after this one ends so I don't have to go even one day without being around you."

Natsu reached forward and pulled her body flush with his and then buried his face in her hair. "My body, my emotions, my thoughts, my- my entire being doesn't feel complete without you around. I shouldn't be so dependent on you, for any reason. For my magic, for my happiness, for my sanity, and yet that's what it feels like. If you were to drop dead tomorrow, I feel like my life would end and I don't understand why."

His voice grew rough and Lucy was certain he was on the verge of tears.

His confusion and obvious unhappiness tugged hard on Lucy's heart.

All her doubts about sleeping with Natsu leaked away, one by one, until all she felt was a certainty that she couldn't go even one more day without having him. If she was right, and with all the time she'd spent thinking about it, she wasn't sure she'd ever been more sure about anything, he needed it. Not in the way men did when they claimed they 'needed' sex, but in the way that his life seemed to be slowly unraveling and he needed answers so everything could be set right again.

Lucy gently pulled away and got up on her knees enough to kiss him. Natsu kissed her back, but with much less confidence and fervor than usual. His lips trembled slightly and she could taste the salt of his tears when she kissed his cheek. "I want to try something," she whispered.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think you're thinking too hard about everything." Lucy stood up and moved to light the candles on the bedside table. "How about you put those thoughts out of your mind for a little while? Just for tonight, allow yourself not to fret about everything."

"Lucy, I don't know if-"

"I'll give you something else to focus on," she said as she moved towards the dresser and lit the candles there as well.

"What am I supposed to focus on instead?" Lucy didn't answer as she put the last candle down. "You know I could have done that."

"I know," Lucy said with a smile. She opened one of the drawers and pulled something out. Natsu didn't look any less upset, but his eyes couldn't seem to move away from her hips as Lucy walked his way. "I want you to just lay back and relax, okay?"

"Luce-"

"Please."

Natsu eyed her a little, mostly her arms, which were folded behind her back. "What are you hiding?"

"Lay down and I'll show you." Natsu sighed but moved to lay down with his head on his pillow.

Lucy smiled and then pulled the blindfold out from behind her back. It had been one of the few presents she'd accepted from Cana before she'd left. It had been one of the less intimidating toys her friend had offered her, and she'd always been curious about being tied up or blindfolded. After what had happened with those men, that curiosity had vanished, but with Natsu… she thought she might be willing to try.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" he asked.

"I'm going to blindfold you," she said as she leaned forward and began to tie it around his head. "Then I'm going to change into some different clothes. Once I'm ready, I'm going to come over here and distract you with the one way women have always been able to distract men- with sex."

"Lucy, you know we could do that without the blindfold, right?"

"This will be more fun." Lucy finished knotting the fabric and then checked to make sure he couldn't see around it. "Besides, this will help silence those pesky thoughts in your head."

"If you say so. I don't see how it woooooould." Natsu's breath left him in a rush as Lucy's hand ran over the front of his pants. It was obvious he was already more than willing to play. "Luce…"

"Just be patient," she whispered. "I'll only be gone for a minute. Just sit tight, and don't remove that blindfold, got it?"

Natsu grit his teeth. "Fine, but hurry. Please. I don't like this."

"And I haven't even tied you up yet," Lucy teased as she moved towards the dresser again.

"... What? Is that part of the plan?" Natsu's nostrils flared as he tried to find her through her scent. "Lucy? What are you getting?"

"Calm down, I won't be tying you down." She grinned. "Yet."

The way Natsu's body moved in response to her words made her think that she would not find much resistance if she did decide to tie him up.

She shook her head as she dug into the very bottom of her clothes pile and pulled out an outfit she'd been saving for this very thing. With a deep breath, she began to switch over to the new outfit.

It was time, she decided. If it would help Natsu, she couldn't keep trying to talk herself out of it.

She was putting Plan B into action.