Author's Note:
First of all, lemme just say sorry about the late post, AGAIN. This time though I had a good excuse, my computer was down till today, so I couldn't post. Thank heaven for IT repair people.
But anywho, I hope this chapter makes up for the wait. ;D It's gonna be pretty fun.
As always, a humongous thanks to all my wonderful, amazing, fantabulous reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: tataland, TheJSmooth, Sunnie Dayys, quidditchChick6, Donthedarkdragon26, valerioux, Firefly9917, Lucinda, Lunar13, Leomae2.0, and moeruhoshi. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewer: ThatWriterGirl715.
Alright, you've waited long enough, on with the show! And you know the drill, keep an eye peeled for the sneak peek at the end. ;D
~A week into training ~
"Ah! I'm gonna fall! Natsu! Stop!" Lucy screamed, pinwheeling her arms and then falling forwards to grab him tight.
"Stop freaking out already. You're doing great."
Currently, Natsu was flying through the air with her riding piggyback on him, but she was only holding on with her knees. It was one of the many, many ideas Natsu had thought up to help her train for aerial combat. They had done all sorts of terrifying things that she was simply not comfortable with, like having him fly around with her dangling from his ankles or hands. The only comforting thing was that Happy sat on a nearby hill, ready to snag her out of midair if she fell. So far he hadn't had to, but his presence was the only thing keeping Lucy from panicking.
She'd been flying with Happy for years and years, and she was perfectly comfortable with him, but Natsu was still terrifying to fly with, more often than not. He was just way too aggressive about it, going too fast or doing maneuvers that made her feel like she was going to be thrown off him.
Thus, the need for training.
"Come on, let go. Just hold on with your legs." he urged, while doing a pinwheel through the air that did nothing to make her want to let go with her arms.
"I will if you stop doing that!"
He groaned but straightened out and hovered. Slowly she released him again with her arms and sat back, tightening her legs around him firmly. "Alright…now let me get used to it before going crazy okay?"
"But that's no fun…" he whined, but thankfully wheeled in broad slow circles.
She'd already gotten somewhat comfortable riding him during the whole Tenrou incident, it was just his wild unpredictable maneuvers that still scared the bejeesus out of her. As long as he stayed steady like this, she could handle it just fine.
"You ready yet?"
"Alright…fine. But not too wild okay?" she groaned, squeezing her thighs.
He shot a grin over his shoulder, and then arched, one wing folding tight to do a barrel roll. At the apex of his barrel roll – when they were upside down – his other wing tucked in and they went nose down, straight at the ocean. He dove, and her stomach was left behind somewhere in the clouds, making her produce a very squeaky scream. Then with a loud pop that sounded like a firecracker, both wings snapped open and he curved back up, while the velocity shoved Lucy down. It was only with a great deal of self-control that she didn't grab on with her arms again, but instead just pressed her palms to his back and pushed back up as he straightened out over the water.
They zoomed around a bit more, and then he pulled up and stalled, slowing down a bit. "Hey Luce?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you always ask Happy to sit nearby?"
"You know why. So he can catch me if I fall."
A dark eye looked over his shoulder. "So it's falling you're scared of? Are you seriously worried that I wouldn't catch ya?"
"Well I mean, you're fast but…"
A sharp fang showed as he grinned. "You really have no idea how fast."
After a long moment, he shot straight up, and this time she did have to grab onto his shoulders so she wouldn't end up tumbling off. "Natsu! What are you doing?!"
At an insanely high height, he stalled out and then turned to her. "You're going to practice falling." he said with a smile that was way too gentle for the words coming out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry…what?"
"You're going to fall, and I'm going to catch you. Simple. We'll do it over and over until you get used to it and stop freaking out."
Logically, it made sense – but it was a crazy Natsu sort of sense that Lucy just wasn't sure she could get on board with.
"Um…" She glanced over his side and stared at the water far, faaaaar below them.
On the upside, there would be plenty of room to fall and plenty of time for Natsu to catch her, but on the downside…it was terrifying. She couldn't even see Happy from this high up. She was sure he would zoom over and catch her if Natsu couldn't, although she honestly didn't have any doubt that he would catch her…in theory at least. It was an entirely different prospect to test it out in reality though.
"So…you want me to just let go?"
"Yep. And I'll catch you."
Really, it came down to whether she trusted Natsu, and the answer to that question was, of course, yes. Still…she wasn't exactly ecstatic at the idea of jumping off into oblivion.
Leaning to the side again, she peered down and pursed her lips. "Yeah…I'm not liking this plan."
"What's wrong with it?" he asked in a tone used by someone oblivious to how it felt to fall through free space without wings.
"Look, you've got wings. I doubt you'd understand how scary it is to jump out into thin air without a pair."
"Actually I do. It's how my dad taught me to fly."
"You mean he…dropped you?!"
"Yeah. Until I could figure it out." He laughed, not sounding disturbed about it at all. "Besides, you do have a pair of wings. Mine."
The broad happy grin he flashed her over his shoulder somehow soothed her nerves somewhat. After a long pause she finally decided there wasn't getting around it, and she shouldn't even try.
"Okay…" she finally said, taking a deep breath and holding it. "I'll do it."
"Alright! I'm fired up now! And don't worry, I'll catch you."
"Right." She nodded and then took another deep breath. Gritting her teeth, she let go.
"Here we go!" Natsu said happily and flipped upside down in another barrel roll, dropping her off his back.
She couldn't help but scream a little as the first sensation of gravity clenched her gut like a clawed fist and twisted her insides all up into a little knot. Her eyes squeezed closed and she remained stiff as a board, trying very hard to not cartwheel her arms like an idiot. That would only result in smacking Natsu when he tried to catch her.
"Oi, Luce! You doin' okay?"
At the sound of his voice bellowing over the wind in her ears, she opened her eyes and looked around wildly to find him. When she saw the idiot free-falling right next to her, she did indulge in a little flailing.
"What are you doing, Idiot?! Catch me already!"
He glanced down, considering. "We've still got some time! I took you pretty high, and the longer you drop, the more you'll get used to it!"
The grinding of her teeth was audible over the roaring wind. "Just catch me before I have a heart attack over here!"
Her pulse was pounding so hard and fast it felt like a panicked bird was stuck in her chest, beating her insides with its wings to get out. A slightly concerned expression crossed his face, and he immediately swooped in and wrapped his arms around her. His wings opened and dragged them to a halt wayyyy too fast, and she felt every single organ in her body relocate to her toes all at once, making one heck of a traffic jam.
"Isn't there some way to do that a little more gently…?" she asked weakly after catching her breath, which had also flown out at the abrupt aerial stoppie.
"Geeze…first you want me to catch you, then you complain when I do it. You can be so whiny sometimes."
A flash of fury singed her rattled nerves, and she reared back in the hold he had on her so she could look him in the eye and give him a piece of her mind. As soon as she got a look at his teasing expression though, her irritation melted away to almost nothing.
She was still ticked enough to pout though. "Yeah, keep teasing me, Natsu Dragneel, and see what happens in bed tonight."
An eager gleam lit his eyes. "What?!"
That was almost too easy, and she couldn't hold back a subtle smirk. "Big fat zero."
The gleam and corresponding grin on his face lingered for half a second and then dropped to be replaced by a frown. "Hey!"
Now it was her turn to laugh as he pouted. Unable to resist, she used her grip on his neck to drag herself up far enough to give him a kiss. He gasped, obviously surprised for a moment, and then his lips curved up against hers and she felt the slight sharp poke of a fang press into her bottom lip as he grinned. When she pulled back, he pressed forwards to keep their lips together.
She was absorbed by the kiss for all of a few seconds, but then the constant wingbeats and the airy sensation around her feet once again made themselves known and reminded her that they were airborne. A surge of adrenaline rushed through her, and she gasped, pulling back as a dart of fear zipped up her spine. It couldn't be a good idea to get wrapped up in a kiss while in the air. That had to be about as smart as making-out while in a moving vehicle – which is to say, not at all.
Natsu sensed her fear and questioned her with dark eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have kissed you while flying. That was stupid!" she gasped, glancing back down at the water, which had gotten much further away again. Natsu must have flown upwards while they were kissing, and it looked like they were even higher than last time if that was possible.
"Why's it stupid?" he asked, and buried his head in her hair, kissing her shoulder.
"Because it's dangerous!"
At that, he busted out laughing. "What?! What's dangerous about it?"
"B-because we could fall! Or we could run into a mountain or something! Or end up super far away from the island! Or…I don't know! But it doesn't seem safe! That's for sure!"
He just cocked his head at her and grinned. "Dragons make love in the sky all the time. It's not dangerous at all. There's no way I'd fall, flying's like second nature to me. And…do you see anything for us to crash into up here?"
She looked around to see nothing but clouds as they rose up so high that they entered the cloudbank. "Well I can't see anything right now." she grumbled in response, sneezing as a little mist tickled her nose.
It had been overcast today, so there was plenty of cloud cover to go through, and she ducked her head into Natsu's scarf to guard her face as the clouds pushed water droplets into her eyes. She continued to mumble protests into his chest though and remained convinced that kissing while flying was a bad idea. Suddenly the coldness of the clouds fell away and she risked a peek, only to gape at the sight that met her. She had never once been this high before, and the sight was breathtaking.
Clouds rolled out under her in all sorts of spectacular shapes, creating a magical landscape she never could have even imagined.
"Woah! It's so pretty!"
"Yeah it is isn't it?" Natsu snuffled into her neck and nuzzled her. "But you're prettier Luce."
"B-wha?" She whipped around to get a look at him, shocked by the unexpected compliment. He caught her surprised mouth with his own and deepened the kiss easily since her lips were already parted from shock.
She attempted a protest, but this time he didn't let her pull away. Instead, he pulled her closer and sealed his lips over hers, kissing with a passion that easily overwhelmed her. By this point, he knew all the ways she liked to be kissed and knew how weak she was to the fire that was already trickling out from between his teeth. That made it pretty much impossible for her to deny him, and she shivered, her arms clenching around his neck as fear spiked her in the butt again. It was an odd mix, lust and fear making crazy amounts of adrenaline that forced her heart to get on a treadmill and run at a super high setting.
He must have been able to feel her pulse against his own chest, and probably the way her muscles quivered as she latched onto him. And if he missed those signs, there was no way he could have possibly missed the way both of her dangling feet tried to find purchase on his feet, ankles, and shins – what with the way she was unintentionally kicking him and all. There was something really disturbing about just dangling in the air like this while kissing.
When one of his supportive arms let go from around her waist, she yelped loudly into his mouth, squeaking out a protest that only made him chuckle. That hand slid down to her thigh and hitched it around his hip, gripping her firmly and taking some of her weight that way, but when her other leg tried to do the same, he knocked it off with his tail. The red appendage twined around her hips tightly and then down that leg, tying it so tight to his leg that she suddenly felt glued to him. It also abruptly took most of her weight, making her feel like she was standing on solid ground again.
When she pulled away for a second to stare down at it in surprise, Natsu nipped her ear and chuckled. "Better?"
"Yeah actually…I don't feel like I'm gonna fall anymore."
He just rolled his eyes. "We've still got some training to do."
In direct contrast with what he said, he just kissed her again for a long moment and poured so much fire down her throat that, by the time they separated again, she was clutching at his hair and had basically forgotten they were airborne at all. She was reminded though when a particularly tall cloud drifted by and gave them a cold shower as they passed through it. Gasping, she pulled back, completely befuddled and in heat, and it took her a long moment to remember what they were doing up here in the first place.
"Um…we should probably get back to training…" she suggested, her eyes stuck on his lips while she chewed on her own, really just wanting to kiss him again.
His eyes were dark as he licked his lips. "You don't really look like you wanna train."
She groaned. "No. But we should."
He flashed fangs in a smirk that just increased the heat still simmering inside her. "How about we just have sex up here instead? That'd be plenty of training."
That suggestion had two very different reactions clashing strangely inside her. On the one hand, she was already aroused enough to be intrigued and fired up by the idea, but on the other… it terrified the dickens out of her. The inner conflict served to sober her up a bit at least.
"What exactly do you mean by 'plenty of training.'" She was highly suspicious of the way he'd worded his proposition.
"Well, from what I've heard, doing it in the sky is half flying and half free-falling."
She blinked at him, in a state of shock once again. "What? Free-falling? There's no way in hell."
For a second he pouted, but then a mad glitter sharpened his eyes in a way she didn't like. "How about this then? We train, and if I can get you to like falling with me, then we'll have sex up here tonight."
She could feel the unimpressed look all over her face as she scoffed. "Sure. Why not? There's absolutely no way you're going to get me to like falling. I mean, not being afraid of it is one thing, but liking it? Not gonna happen."
"What about it don't you like besides the fear?"
"Well, for one, I don't like the sensation of my stomach tying itself in knots."
"Oh that?!" he laughed. "I'd forgotten about that! Just relax."
"How can I relax when my stomach's trying to escape?!"
"No, I mean you have to relax your stomach. That'll help stop the discomfort. Part of it is all your muscles clenching up."
She wasn't sure she believed him on that, but she was willing to give it a try. "Well…we'll see."
"Alright! I've got a fire in my belly now! You ready Luce?"
"What?! Now?!"
"Yep!"
Before she'd given a reply, his tail had unwrapped from around her and he'd let her go. She went down with a screech and a few choice words that she normally wouldn't have said to him.
She hadn't realized her eyes were closed until something tapped her on the nose, and then she jerked and her eyes snapped open, to show Natsu on top of her. She gasped and looked around to see that she was plummeting back-first towards the ground, with him directly above her. It felt like they were both motionless because they were falling at the same rate, but she could feel the wind whipping at her and the swooping sensation in her gut that told her they were definitely falling.
"Relax!" he called, sounding slightly exasperated.
At the reminder, she did her best to force her muscles to go lax, realizing that he was right about one thing at least. Her stomach was clenched hard enough to protect her from a punch. It took a really long time, but eventually she somehow managed to unclench a little when nothing else happened for several minutes. Immediately she felt some relief from the unpleasant sensations inside her, and sucked in a deep breath, amazed at the lightness she now started to feel. As her tension eked out, the falling started to become much more pleasant as the sensation of complete weightlessness started to come through.
That changed though when Natsu reached out and slipped his arms around her, looping his tail under her butt too, and started angling them down. His wings came out but they continued to fall because of how he'd angled them. Then, he started to pull up, and she felt gravity pressing her down again, gradually increasing this time as he led them into a gentle swoop – which passed insanely close to the waves, judging by the sea spray that caught her back as they evened out. They were going so fast that he didn't have to flap his wings even once as he pointed them up again and swooped back into the clouds. Somehow the velocity was invigorating instead of terrifying though, maybe because she could feel his arms and tail around her like steel bands – which she knew could literally lift mountains, so her weight should be insignificant.
As they popped out of the cloud cover again, she managed to catch her breath and gasped out something that sort of resembled a laugh. That had still been terrifying, but it wasn't all bad. Towards the end there, it was actually pretty nice if she was honest.
"You ready to go again?"
Somehow she wasn't surprised that he wanted to do it again right away, and nodded, figuring she wasn't going to get a say in it anyways. Sure enough, they were already dropping. She clenched up again but was able to relax relatively quickly this time around. That might have had something to do with the fact that Natsu hadn't completely let her go. He'd relaxed his hold on her, and didn't do diddly to support her weight, but his hands were still on her back and his tail tangled lightly around her legs as they fell. That feeling of weightlessness once again overtook her as she relaxed more and more, and it was amazing as she sunk into it. The sensation was comparable to floating in water almost, in a weird way…but with a lot more G-force and wind.
Her eyes were open this time, and she was able to see the smug grin that started to work across Natsu's lips as he watched her. Immediately, she pursed her lips and forced a frown, because undoubtedly a look of wonder had been stamped across her face. As much fun as this was turning out to be, she was still positive that sex was not safe when free-falling from above the clouds was part of the equation. He laughed out loud at the abrupt change in her expression, and she could feel it sour further.
As before, they stalled out above the water and then swooped up again using the momentum of the dive. Unsurprisingly, as soon as they'd peaked above the clouds, Natsu was letting them fall again. But this time, a wide swing of his tail rotated them so that he was the one falling backwards, which freaked Lucy out a little. She didn't like the idea of him not knowing how far away the ground was.
He rolled his eyes at her expression and bellowed, "Don't worry! I can sense our height by the scent of the air! I'll know when to flip us!"
She pursed her lips, once again feeling a little foolish for doubting his ability – a situation she was growing more and more accustomed to as this training progressed.
They repeated the simple exercise a few more times, and then he started introducing her to other sorts of maneuvers, like flipping, spinning, and twisting through the air as they fell. Then they worked on getting Lucy more comfortable with falling by herself while he flew around, though he always swooped back in to catch her with plenty of time to spare – knowing that she was more nervous about it when he wasn't right beside her. He also showed her how to angle her own flight through the air so she could actually fall towards him. By the end of it, she really felt like she was flying too, not just Natsu. Even though she couldn't go back up.
It was exhilarating, and she suddenly knew why people liked to go sky diving. It was something she never would have been interested in before, but now she got it. It was so fun that she completely forgot about the agreement they had made.
Later that evening, after they'd all finished training for the day, they convened back at the cabana for dinner and discussion. Often they talked about what they had worked on and accomplished that day, as well as anything that was giving them trouble. It was a good way to keep everyone on the same page, which was important since they were all on the same team. Of course their conversations weren't just about training, they also talked about other random interesting things that happened during the day.
Today, Erza mentioned that she and Gray had made progress on unlocking his Second Origin, and Juvia and Lucy both congratulated him. Erza had been helping them all with that, once she gained access to her own Second Origin within the first few days of training…which didn't exactly surprise anyone.
Of course, training with the redhead was extremely hard work. Lucy simultaneously felt happy for Gray, a little jealous, and also extremely grateful that she hadn't been doing Second Origin training today. Flight training with Natsu might be utterly terrifying and exhausting, but at least it wasn't painful. For most mages, until you got the hang of it, you practically had to be in a life or death situation to access your Second Origin…which was not fun to say the least.
Meanwhile, Juvia gushed about how amazing Gray had been, while also fussing over his lingering injuries from the training session. He would obviously be taking a few days off to recover…as they all did after a training session with Erza.
Then, after a moment, Happy spoke up to complain. "Well I was bored stiff all day long!"
"Oh yeah? What did you do today Happy?" Gray asked, turning to the whiny cat.
"I just had to watch Lucy and Natsu fall over and over and over and over and over and over…"
"Fall? Out of the sky? What kind of training is that?!"
"Natsu's trying to get me used to flying with him. Since I'm scared of falling, he's trying to break me of it by dropping me over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…" Lucy jokingly mimicked Happy, messing with him and Natsu at the same time.
Natsu took the bait and scowled. "Hey! You were having fun by the end of it!"
She just pursed her lips.
He squinted at her and leaned in. "I saw you laughing and smiling…don't lie."
With a long-suffering sigh, she finally admitted, "Okay…so maybe it was a little fun."
Juvia frowned worriedly and seemed very surprised and disbelieving. "Um…how could falling be fun? It just sounds frightening to me…"
"At first yeah, it's absolutely terrifying. But eventually, once you get used to it…it's actually pretty amazing. It's like flying! Once you get over being afraid of hitting the ground, you just…I dunno…it's kind of like you're floating or weightless or something. But it's definitely very windy. I don't know how I'm going to get these tangles out…I'll probably have to summon Cancer."
She hadn't realized how much she admitted to liking it, and when she glanced over and saw Natsu's exceptionally smug grin she felt like smacking herself. Originally, she hadn't intended to admit how much she eventually ended up enjoying the exercises today…mainly because they really had scared the bejeesus out of her to begin with. And even after learning to like it, the whole thing was still pretty scary and nerve-wracking. If he discovered how much she liked it, he'd undoubtedly push for even crazier training.
But it was obviously too late for that.
His smug grin sharpened and widened even more, showing off plenty of fang. "Good to know…."
…
Later, after they had all retired for the night, Lucy was getting ready for bed in the bathroom. But when she turned to head into the bedroom, she encountered a wall of unmovable dragon – which she promptly ran into since she wasn't expecting the roadblock. Natsu was leaning against the doorjamb… and was taking up the whole doorway really.
When her nose, chin, and chest came into unexpected contact with hot skin, she jerked back and nearly fell over backwards in surprise.
"Natsu! What the hell?"
Natsu jumped a little in surprise too – probably from her overreaction – and then started to snicker. "Wow Luce…watch where you're going…"
She scowled. "It's not like I was expecting you to suddenly be there! You're a freaking dragon! Huge fire breathing lizards are not supposed to be sneaky!"
He laughed and bounced aside as she walked into the bedroom – shoving her way past him with probably more force than was strictly necessary. She stalled though when he wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her back flush against his chest. His thin sleep pants and her sleep shorts did absolutely nothing to hide his interest as it pressed into her rear.
Suddenly it made sense why Happy was sleeping downstairs on the couch instead of in their bedroom.
Smiling, she leaned back into him, arching her back so that she pressed harder into his erection and ground against it. He rumbled a mixture of chuckles and growls against her shoulder as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss there, letting his fire lick and his fangs nip. She sighed and reached up to wrap an arm around his neck as her head fell back to rest against his shoulder. When his mouth left her, and his chin nudged her cheek, she responded appropriately and cranked her head to the side so she could kiss him.
Hot hands slid up under her tank top, finding a very happy home on her breasts, and she gasped into his mouth and arched even more to push her chest into his touch. Fire and tongue slipped into her open mouth and she happily welcomed both, groaning softly and eventually turning to face him so they could continue the kiss without her neck cramping.
He herded close, pushing her with his body and forcing her to walk backwards. She stumbled a little as she tripped, but his hard arms around her kept her upright – though their teeth did clink together a couple of times. Burning thumbs hooked into the waistband of her shorts and they got yanked over her hips to drop down and tangle around her ankles. She gasped and fell against the chest of drawers with a crash, with Natsu following close behind. He pinned her against the large piece of furniture, creating yet another loud bang as his hands slammed against the drawers on either side of her body.
Lucy clumsily freed her feet from the clinging sleep shorts, while simultaneously dealing with Natsu's clinging mouth. She sighed into the kiss when she finally untangled herself. Her full attention returned to where it should be…and she more actively participated, her fingers running through his hair while her other hand slid down his overheated chest and stomach to the waistband of his pajama pants. Slipping under, she reached down to grip his length, stroking it a few times, and he growled into her mouth and sent a flash of heat through her. Fire poured into her belly and stoked the coals already burning hot there, making her v-zone pulse.
Her fingers in his hair deftly found a horn, and soon she was gripping a second hard length and stroked both in rhythm. That got a reaction from her dragon, as she knew it would, and a blast of heat shivered over her skin. The quick thought that they might set the dresser on fire ran through her mind, but was quickly displaced by the touch of claws pressing into her ass as he gripped her hips. The shockingly sharp touch surprised her, as did the heated sensation of scales instead of skin as his palm slid over her. He'd never actually gotten scaly before while they were having sex, and she didn't know what had riled him up so much to do it now.
She didn't have time to figure it out though, because they were relocating again. One hand fisted into her tank top and used the grip to pull her to the side with him as he pushed with the other still on her hip. She followed easily enough as they started walking backwards again, but when her back was suddenly pressed to cold glass instead of a soft bed, she stiffened.
Her hand yanked out of his pants, and she pulled her lips from his so she could look around and see where they were in the room. Sure enough, they were plastered against the glass door leading out to their balcony.
"What the…Natsu?"
He flashed a grin and reached for the doorknob. Lucy's free hand shot out and grabbed it first, holding it still.
"Natsu what the hell?! We're not going out there."
"Sure we are…how else are we going to fly?"
"Fly? What are you…" And with all the clarity of a bucket of ice water being dropped over her, she suddenly remembered the agreement she'd made with him earlier. Which also explained his partial transformation. "No way. Not happening."
"Luce…you promised we'd have sex in the sky if you had fun falling with me today, and we both know you had fun…so…." Judging by his confident tone and the gleam in his burning gold eyes, he wasn't going to let this one slide.
"I said no! Having fun while training is one thing, but…!"
He cut her off with a kiss that seared every one of her senses and made her go blank long enough for him to get the door open. When the support from behind her slid away, she fell back with a yelp that he swallowed, and then he was shoving her back while keeping his lips sealed over hers. Her fingers dug into his shoulders to keep herself upright and also to try and shove him back – and she absentmindedly noted that she was touching scales, not skin.
Still staggering back a little, she managed to yank her mouth from his and protested again. "I said no! We are not flying!"
Another blast of heat and his wings spreading with a snap said otherwise, as did the nearly evil grin he now sported.
With a growl of her own, she somehow managed to separate from him, and stumbled back to put a few steps between them. One of her hands ended up braced against the railing of their balcony, and her other came up to point at him. "Don't you even think about it! I'm telling you, this is nothappening. Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"
Something told her 'no,' based off his expression and the way he was stalking towards her.
Usually she could talk sense into him, but from the looks of things he was dead set on this. Looking around wildly for something to stop him, she met two pairs of shocked eyes, and all her brain functions came to a screeching halt as she realized she was staring at Gray and Juvia on the balcony next door.
Well… this was awkward.
She didn't even have a chance to say anything, because Natsu had already pounced. One clawed hand had slid into her hair, pulling her head around so he could latch onto her mouth again and fill her with his fire. The fingers of his other hand latched onto her thigh and yanked it up around his waist. Then a familiar snake-like appendage coiled over her hip, down the crack of her ass, and between her legs, where it wrapped securely around her other thigh.
Simultaneously, she felt his wings spread, and then they were airborne. She screamed, latching onto his neck with her arms in a death-grip.
The wind whipped her skin as they flew up fast, and then a shower of cold told her they had passed through the cloud line. She shivered and clung to him, but as soon as the wind died away and his wing beats became steady, she yanked her head back and fixed him with a glare.
"Natsu! What has gotten into you? No means no!"
He pouted. "Aww…come on Luce…just give it a chance please? If you don't like it, we'll go back down, okay?"
That was more like the normal Natsu, and she felt her momentary panic simmer back down to a normal level. She was still aroused enough that it was hard not to consider it, and she glanced down as she licked her lips, eyeballing the cloudscape around her. Above them was a ceiling of bright stars, and a full heavy moon dangled so close that it felt like she could reach up and touch it. Below, the fluffy white clouds made amazing mountains and valleys that were truly magical, and she couldn't help but be entranced. It was probably the most romantic sight she'd ever seen, and it wooed her a little.
Still…she looked back at Natsu who was waiting not-so-patiently next to her. The clawed fingers of both hands had landed on her butt and were kneading her like a cat – thankfully not in a way that hurt – and his tail was fidgeting, shifting its grip on her constantly as it coiled and uncoiled and gave her a massage in the process.
Uncertainty still beat hard behind her breastbone, but as she met his heated stare and he licked his lips – a little flick of fire following his tongue – she decided it might be worth trying.
"All right…" she sighed. "But if you scare me then we stop-"
He barely let her finish before he was saying, "Deal!" and his lips were sealing over hers.
She moaned softly as fire once again slid down her throat, and her fingers dug into his shoulders. She'd already scratched herself up pretty good when she clung to him on the ride up, thanks to the spikes now lining the back of his neck, and she wasn't interested in doing any more damage to herself. Normally he could retract them so she could ride piggyback, but he was fully transformed right now, so he couldn't pick and choose what to keep.
Meanwhile, most of her mind was caught up in the heated kiss going on and tangling her tongue with his as she swallowed his fire – and all while still breathing – but never once did she forget that they were airborne. The constant up and down shift of his wing beats wouldn't let her forget, nor would the breeze all around her. She couldn't even properly wrap her legs around his waist…not with those spikes running down his back. She could only hitch her knees over his hips and sort of cling to him – but couldn't lock her ankles. His tail helped hold her weight, as did his hands on her butt, but it was still nerve-wracking.
The adrenaline ran thick and hot in her veins alongside lust, and once again she felt like she was running a marathon … but strangely it added an edge to the excitement thrumming through her. She'd heard that having sex in public places was thrilling because of the danger of being caught, and she supposed the danger of falling was acting in a similar sort of manner. The adrenaline, lust, and anxiety was a potent mix, and she quickly found herself having trouble catching her breath.
Eventually she had to part her lips from his to try and gasp in some extra air… but ended up expending it on a surprised yelp and moan instead as his tail did something totally unexpected. It shifted so that it was lying directly in between her legs instead of just in the crease of her panty line – carefully keeping the spikes facing away from her of course. She squeaked when it started up a rippling motion that felt shockingly good pressed up against her like that.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" she asked breathlessly, for some reason a little shocked that he was doing something like that with his tail.
"Trying to make you feel good. Why? Is it bad?" he asked, chuckling a little at her surprise.
"No…but…I just, uh… you've never done anything like that with your tail before…"
"It's been all over you, ya know… even your boobs. So why's this different?"
"I dunno…I guess you're right."
To be honest, she couldn't really continue the line of thought anyways, because she was a little too busy trying to decide if grinding in midair was okay to do. What movements were safe? And how much exercise could her legs take and still keep her grip on him?
Of course she didn't really have to grind…his tail was pretty much doing all the work for her.
And Natsu knew it too. "Fuck Luce…I can feel you…all wet and pulsing against me…my tail must feel pretty good, huh?"
As usual, he spoke whatever happened to be on his mind – which was obviously sex right now. By this point he had also started to grind himself into her pelvis and his own tail, which answered the question of whether that was safe or not.
Soon, things started spiraling out of control, quite literally. After pressing a hot kiss to her lips, he said, "Trust me…" and then let her go with his hands. She dropped a few inches until his tail cinched tight around her hips and she got locked into place. She still screamed though, especially when he knocked her hands off his shoulders so he could drag her tank top over her head.
He rolled his eyes when she screeched, and then as if to prove a point they dropped about a hundred feet, which made her scream yet again. Her scream got swallowed though when his lips latched over hers, and he suddenly filled her with so much fire she didn't have space to scream. It also wiped away all her fear and turned it into pure adrenaline and pleasure. They stopped falling gradually and then swooped back up.
"Loosen up Luce…we're gonna be falling every now and then, and a lot once we start actually having sex."
She just groaned in response, but it turned more into a moan of pleasure as he took her mouth again.
Her underwear was disposed of during a free-fall as well. For that, he let her go entirely, and they started dropping together as he slid down her form and yanked her underwear off. They came to a halt again with him holding her upside down by her ankles, which prompted quite a few protests from her.
"Now wait just a minute! Turn me right side up this instant! I don't like this!" she shrieked at him and grabbed onto his knees.
"Oh I dunno…I think it's a great view."
"What?!"
She craned her neck to look up and immediately saw that he was staring down at her netherlips with a broad grin. That prompted her to scowl – although she also found it kind of funny to be honest. Still, the principle of the thing was that he was ruining the mood a little.
"That's not very romantic you know…" she pointed out, deciding to just let go of his knees and cross her arms in irritation – letting him take all her weight. He could easily hold her with one hand, so she wasn't worried. And right now irritation had taken over her fear.
He rolled his eyes and smirked. "Okay fine, how about this then?"
Suddenly they dropped again for a split second, and he yanked her up so he could grab onto her hips instead. When they stopped, Lucy abruptly found her nose tip to tip with his still-clothed penis, which didn't bother her in the slightest…. However, she did have an issue with his mouth being equally close to her lady parts.
At the first brush of his breath, she freaked out, not happy at all with the threat of orgasming in this particular position. She just didn't feel secure at all, even with his hands tight on her hips holding all her weight easily. Her legs instantly snapped forwards so that her knees could hook over his shoulders and give her some sort of stability. Then her thighs clamped down on his neck to hopefully immobilize him somewhat, and she made her displeasure known by lightly clunking the heel of one foot down onto the back of his head – careful to avoid his horns.
"Natsu! There's no way…don't you dare! I can't…you can't possibly think that…hey!" she sputtered, but cut off when he completely ignored her words and kicks. Instead, he just buried his face in her thighs and proceeded to move his head in a side-to-side motion that made it possible for him to worm his way up between her tightly clamped legs until his mouth ended up where she didn't want it to be.
When his tongue and fire licked across her private bits mercilessly, she didn't really have a choice in the matter. She continued to shriek protests and call him every name she could think of, alongside cussing in ways she normally never would and threatening to bite him in some very sensitive places, but it was all for nothing as her body quickly seized up. The sensation of dragon fire paired with the slick boiling heat of his tongue felt too good, and when he latched onto her clit she was done for.
Her fingers dug into his hips, clawing a little for purchase, as her orgasm hit her and she jerked in his grip, convulsing helplessly. It was mildly terrifying to be so out of control while probably thousands of feet above the ground and dangling upside down, but weirdly that only seemed to make the orgasm stronger.
"Damnit Natsu…" she finally growled as it tapered off.
He pulled back and nipped her thigh, "Sorry Luce, I couldn't resist."
She snorted and thunked her forehead into his hipbone. Something next to her cheek twitched, and she chuckled before sighing in acceptance and affectionately nuzzled her face into his groin area. She was still mildly irritated with him, but she couldn't stay really mad after an orgasm like that. A lot of her fear had been washed away by the mind numbing pleasure…leaving her somewhat limp and a lot more relaxed.
He was ridiculous, and she honestly should have expected this.
"Alright fine…" she sighed, chuckling again as he continued to twitch under her cheek, nose, and mouth.
She unclasped her nails from his hips and grabbed onto his waistband instead, shimmy his pants down over his hips. She gasped when they started dropping again, and a shot of fear stung her, but she relaxed pretty quickly and finished dragging his pants off – with his help – and they righted themselves once again face-to-face.
"What? You didn't want me to give you an airborne blow job?" she questioned with a teasing grin. "That's kinda hypocritical of you…"
He snorted and grinned at her. "You wanna flip again? I don't mind, but I'd kinda rather be inside you here…" He emphasized what he meant by 'here' with the tip of his tail slinking inside her.
She jerked and her fingers dug into his shoulders in shock as she felt the appendage enter her for the first time ever. Only the very tip could though, because after that it had small spikes that would be way too dangerous for delicate tissue.
He seemed irritated by that and sighed, saying, "Damnit…if I wasn't so fucking excited I could control my form better and withdraw my spikes…maybe I can shift back after cumming a couple of times…"
"I'm sorry…what? Did you just say a couple of times? Just how long do you plan to be up here?!" she protested, already tiring from the somewhat extreme exercise.
"A while, but whenever you get tired we can relocate to the bed if you want…" he mumbled, pouting a little at the thought. It was obvious he wanted to be up here probably a lot longer than she did.
She contemplated it for a moment, but was distracted when he shifted, his tail slinking around both thighs in a tangled assortment of figure eights and coils. It also slunk around his hips and thighs to keep her locked to him, and the entire set up took most of her weight. If she didn't have to hold onto him with her legs and arms, she would undoubtedly last a lot longer… which he had probably just figured out, explaining why he'd tangled his tail so thoroughly around her.
And then one of his hands was sliding down between them and lined him up, while his other hand braced her back.
"Ready Luce?" His voice was little more than a growl against her throat and she responded with a pleasured sigh.
"Yeah…"
By this point she wasn't really afraid anymore – or if there was any fear still in her, it was just being channeled straight into excitement.
When he slid up into her, she groaned and then sighed again into his mouth as she sought out his lips with hers. He started rocking, a motion assisted by his tail which pulsed in time with his hips, and she just thrusted to the best of her ability. What started out slow and deep got faster and rougher by the second, and with it, his flying got more and more erratic.
He flipped over backwards, loosened his tail till she had almost disconnected, and then looped it back around her completely differently. Then he did a barrel roll till he was on top of her. His hands pressed her close, one on her upper back, the other on her tailbone, and she braced her elbows on his shoulders and bracketed his neck and face, gripping his hair with her fingers.
Constant words and growls that were starting to sound more and more feral spilled from his lips, and fangs bit into her shoulders and neck almost painfully as he edged into more animalistic territory. Perhaps it was because they were up in the sky, mating like dragons apparently did, but she'd never quite experienced him like this before…and it was strangely thrilling. Even his bites felt deliciously good, despite the sting – or maybe because of it.
His claws raked her back, and she knew she'd probably sport some scratches, but none felt deep. If anything, she might end up leaving him with deeper scratches, considering how she constantly had to scramble for purchase on his body as he kept rearranging their position. She had already gotten him pretty good more than once across his chest when he rolled backwards, and a few times she got skin instead of scales on his neck or back. He hardly seemed to mind… if anything, it just apparently aroused him more.
His thrusts were a bit disjointed – especially whenever he switched their positions – but they were powerful and more than enough to drive her nuts. She was definitely clawing at him for more than one reason. Plus, now, every time they free-fell, she felt a thrill go through her, until it was almost pleasurable in the weirdest possible way – like the trembles in her stomach got translated to her vagina instead. Not that any of the falls were particularly far. This entire time, they had stayed above the clouds.
Still, it felt like she was having sex with a roller coaster.
Eventually he finally stuttered to a halt and fire washed over him, signaling the start of his orgasm. They had slowly been spiraling up even further above the clouds, and then when he finally seized up and roared, they fell. Lucy swallowed his fire and scrunched her eyes closed, arching into him too as his orgasm and the subsequent blast of fire sent her into her own. His wings clamped around them like a tent, blacking out the sky as they plummeted towards earth.
They plunged thousands of feet in what felt like a death spiral, but Lucy couldn't care as she experienced one of the fiercest orgasms she'd ever had, and she left it completely up to him to pull them out of it. Eventually, with another roar, his wings snapped open, and she felt what she could have sworn was sea spray on her back as they pulled up sharply, nearly disengaging for a second before thrusting him deeper inside her than he'd ever been before. That set them both off into another mini-orgasm that they barely stayed airborne for.
They eventually started to slowly drift back up, but before they got too far Lucy had to gasp, "N-Natsu…how about we go back to the room now…? I don't think I can do that again so soon."
As her orgasm faded, she could feel a wave of exhaustion washing over her, and she didn't think she was up for round two in the sky.
He seemed mildly disappointed, but still headed back down towards the cabana.
"That's fine…we'll work up to it." he told her with a grin, and she just rolled her eyes at him. How she had found herself 'the energizer bunny' as a mate, she wasn't sure.
Thankfully Gray and Juvia weren't on their balcony when Lucy and Natsu made a touch down – stark naked now – and they hurried inside. Natsu wasted no time in initiating round two in bed, and Lucy happily went along with it.
The next morning, they had some awkward explanations – particularly when shredded and burned clothing was discovered scattered across the island.
Sneak Peek
Capricorn nodded at her question. "Yes, Lady Lucy, with enough practice you can cloak yourself in all of our magics and gain our powers temporarily. But it will take intensive training with each spirit."
After that, naturally she added, 'mastering more Star Dresses,' to her list of goals. She spent her days switching back and forth between training with Erza, training with her spirits – starting with Aquarius, and training with Natsu on flight and fighting alongside him when he was in his other forms.