I own nothing.
Cristoff woke up in an unfamiliar bed. Under normal circumstances, that might not have been particularly strange except that he knew that it had been a full moon the night before. If anything, he should be waking up with other people in his bed.
Instead, he smelled stardust and strawberries which he recognized as Lucy's scent. And heard the sound of a page of a book flipping.
He sat up and looked at Lucy who was curled up in an armchair with a book in her lap. She looked exhausted but not in a satisfied, I-had-sex-all-night kind of way.
"What happened?"
She glanced up, blushed, and quickly looked back down at her book. "What do you remember?"
He glanced down and realized that he was naked. "I only ever remember the beginning of the moon haze."
"The eclipse started about an hour after moonrise. About thirty minutes before totality, you changed. Got aggressive. Next thing I know, I'm getting kidnapped by your brother. Not a fan, by the way. Apparently, Farron thought that since my family raised dragon slayers, I might have a few tricks."
"What did you do?"
"For techs, y'all have a decently stocked potions cabinet. You might feel a bit out if it for a while. I didn't know your exact weight and I had to substitute a few ingredients that you didn't have."
"You created a tranquilizer?"
"Pretty much. Normally, I have other things that I can do it but on such short notice." She shrugged.
"Are you going to look at me?"
"Sure… When you have clothes on."
He chuckled. "Thank you, but how can I stop that from happening again?"
"It happened because the full moon was in Libra. Because of your connection to the moon, you were knocked off balance. It was a perfect storm kind of situation. Luckily, it won't happen for another ten years roughly. Hopefully you'll be mated by then." Flipping the page, she muttered, "Guess his stupid app couldn't predict this."
Cristoff stood and hugged her.
"You're still naked," she squawked.
"Are you a virgin?"
"No, but I'm not sleeping with you," she said, blushing and trying her hardest to keep her eyes on his face.
"If you asked, I'd say yes," he said huskily, resisting the urge to laugh since he was fairly certain steam came out her ears.
"I'm gonna go get some water to eat," she said before scampering out of the room.
He walked down the hall to his own bedroom and got dressed. While not everyone was placed into the category of kin or mate, he was surprised that his magic hadn't put her into one of those categories. People who spent a decent amount of time in close quarters with dragon slayers were always classified in some way.
He was walking down to the kitchen when he heard Lucy and Kaleb arguing.
"That's because magic is an art. It can't be turned into ones and zeroes," Lucy yelled.
"It can be."
"No. Otherwise, it's like music without soul. Without heart."
"Could you two just have sex already?" Vander asked from the breakfast nook.
"I don't think she could handle me."
Lucy scoffed. "Pretty boys like you rely on their looks to get girls instead of actually being good in bed."
"Honey, I'm Boscan. We're taught to be good lovers."
"And I was taught calculus. You don't see me using it."
Cristoff chuckled. When Lucy's attention turned towards him, he asked, "Why don't I feel an impulse to claim you as kin or mate? You're around dragon slayers often enough."
"I know. It's part of why Heartfilias raise dragon slayers. We're- I guess the right way to say it is immune. Technically, I'm not any of the slayers' kin. But I've known them so long that I was friendzoned." She glanced at the clock. "Shit. I'm late." She ran out the front door then a minute later walked back in. "Where the fuck am I?"
Vander stood from the table. "C'mon Stardust. I'll take you home."
"On second thought-" Before she could refuse, Vander hugged her and Void jumped her home.
"You're interested in her," Kaleb said to Cristoff.
"Aren't you?" he replied. His brother didn't respond but Cristoff didn't really need him to.
That ended up pretty long.