AN: This took forever and I'm sorry lmao Be sure to drop a review at the end and tell me what you think!
Benefits
Chapter Two: Walk of Shame
It's two in the morning and they're halfway through Guardians of the Galaxy when Lucy realizes what they've done.
She's sprawled across him, the pair of them curled up on the couch with Natsu lying on his back and Lucy curled against his chest, drawing lazy shapes against his side while dozing, not really paying attention to what's playing on the screen. He has an arm tossed around her back, fingers splayed across the bare skin of her back where his shirt has ridden up. His hand is hot against her, fingers ghosting across her skin in nonsensical patterns: shapes and words she can't quite make out. Lucy shivers beneath his touch, both from his light caress and the cool night, the open window in her bedroom sending the chilly air creeping right into the living room. She curls closer to him, chilly despite being cuddled up against her best friend's very bare chest.
Her hand stills against his side, the weight of what they've done hitting Lucy full force. She had sex with Natsu. She had really good sex with Natsu. Well, shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. That's something they really weren't supposed to do. Lucy is fine with casual sex on occasion—and she knows from one very awkward walk-in that Natsu doesn't seem to have much of an issue with it either—but with her best friend? That feels like a crossed-boundary. A boundary she's now straddling like she was Natsu's hips only a few hours ago, hearing him moan in her ear and—
She blinks, cheeks going a bright red as she realizes the extent of their activities. By all means, things should be awkward as all hell right now. She should have freaked out and locked him out of the apartment and called Levy while sobbing about how she's ruined everything. And Natsu should have high-tailed it out of her apartment as soon as they finished going at it like the Energizer Bunny, because Natsu hates confrontation, especially with her. He once accidentally burned a book of hers back in high school and avoided her for two weeks because he didn't want to see her upset.
That, of course, failed absolutely miserably, with Lucy being more upset about her best friend avoiding her than the slightly charred book and hastily scrawled apology note sitting on her bed. That had been the worst few weeks of Lucy's life. She was absolutely miserable without him, moping around during the high point of summer and unable to find her best friend anywhere, only to learn that he left on an out of town trip with his father without saying a word to her.
That was what upset her the most, that he'd rather run and hide than just tell her the truth. Lucy knows he never quite forgave himself for disappearing on her, that's why he's constantly around. Natsu fractured some of their trust back then, only a little, but she knows neither of them will ever forget it, even if they can't fix it now.
However, them being perfectly content to just lie on the couch as if nothing happened, simply basking in the post-coital bliss—or whatever the fuck they're supposed to call it—isn't what surprises Lucy, at least, not entirely. No, what surprises her is that they would have ended up like this anyway. Perhaps a bit less sticky and self-satisfied, but they would have ended up wrapped up in each other regardless of whether or not clothes came off. They always cuddle during movie nights, much to their friends collective amusement.
They've gotten ribbed for it plenty of times, sure, but they never really cared. It's just how they are. Lucy likes being pressed against his chest, cheek smushed against his shoulder while he traces silly shapes on her back, tickling her skin or whispers corny jokes in her ear to make her laugh. And Natsu certainly seems to like holding her just as she does him, usually being the one to drag Lucy into his lap during group movie nights, the two of them making fun of the shitty, poorly acted action scenes in whatever movie Erza picked, or Natsu softly—and badly—crooning in her ear during musical nights, knowing all the words, but not having the music prowess he should have been born with.
So, no, the cuddling isn't new. Lucy would be more concerned and hurt if they weren't cuddling right now. That's how she'd know that something was wrong, that they'd really fucked up their friendship, because they always cuddle. Despite the teasing and lewd jokes, nothing short of a hurricane would ever be able to tear them apart during movie nights, or just any nights in general, if she's being honest with herself.
She has a rule that he isn't allowed to sleep in her bed, but it's moot because half the time he doesn't listen and half the time Lucy ends up passed out on the couch with him. At this points, they're so beyond the point of being embarrassed about it, that neither really care anymore. They cuddle, it's a thing, so what? It's just what they do.
Lucy frowns slightly, confused by how unaffected she is by them just having mind-blowing sex—at least, it was in her opinion; Natsu seemed to enjoy himself, so she figures the feeling is mutual—with her best friend. She should be freaking out right now, or at least have a response that's not just "yeah, okay, whatever." Things like this don't just happen. No one slips and accidentally has sex with someone, like "oops! I tripped and fell on my best friend's penis! Silly me!"
Her brows furrow, Lucy more confused and a tad excited than she should be, feeling Natsu's fingers slide down the curve of her spine, dragging over each vertebrae slowly, dragging a shiver from her. Natsu appears not to notice, gaze trained on the T.V. Despite this, he seems hyper aware of her, shifting to better accommodate her whenever she gets restless, stroking at her hair whenever she's startled by a loud noise from the movie.
She isn't sure if he's actually paying attention, or if Natsu is just incredibly in tune with her after so many years together, but he's always attentive when it comes to her body-language, knowing exactly what to do.
Lucy figures she's a bit the same. It happens, after knowing someone for roughly six years and counting.
Ignoring the explosions and talking raccoon on the screen, Lucy shifts, propping her chin against Natsu's chest and nosing at his jaw until he peels his eyes away from the screen and blinks down at her, a smile immediately lighting up his features when his green eyes take her in. His free hand comes up to brush her messy bangs out of her eyes, shoving a strand of hair behind her ear, thumb brushing against her cheek as he does.
"We just had sex," Lucy tells him, fingers drumming against his side in thought. She bites her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she tries to figure out what the fuck they're supposed to do. They didn't teach her this in Sex Ed. Granted, they didn't teach her much of anything in that class besides telling her to just not have sex.
She learned most of her knowledge on sex from Cana and very awkward conversations with her cousin Laxus, which Lucy really could have done without, if she's being completely honest. That was probably the worst experience of her entire life, right behind her mother's funeral.
Her blasé statement surprises him into a laugh, Natsu's entire body shaking beneath her as he throws his head back against the arm of the couch. Lucy glares, her hand sliding up his body to pinch his neck until he sobers up. This is not a laughing matter. His laugh turns into a squeak when she catches the thin skin at the base of his neck between her nails, giving a sharp squeeze. He pouts down at her, squirming away from her dastardly fingers.
"We did," he agrees, quirking a brow at her, head tilting to one side in confusion, unsure what she's getting at. His hands slide lower on her back, fingers squeezing around her hips gently, testing the waters.
She squirms against him slightly, flushing as she remembers where those fingers have been—where his mouth has been. Though, she supposes she isn't much better in that department, though she can't say she regrets any of it, especially not getting such a good look at Natsu's face twisted with pleasure, his eyes squeezed shut and lips parted as he gasped for breath.
Yeah, Lucy isn't going to forget that for a very long time.
Biting her lip, Lucy shifts her weight against him slightly, panties sticky against her core in the best way. A thrill shoots through her, her toes curling against the worn fabric of the couch, her feet tangled in the rumpled blanket at the other end. "And it was good sex," she notes, wetting her lips and glancing away from him, her entire face feeling hot.
Again, he laughs, voice low and rough from their earlier activities. Natsu has always been a talker, she knows, but she was never aware of just how loud he could be at times. "Well, I would hope so," he jokes, grinning down at her. He smile slips away when he sees her nervous expression, his gaze immediately going hard, a seriousness overtaking him. "You okay?" He presses up on his elbows, unwinding from her and sitting up just enough to get a better look at her. "Lucy, if I did something you didn't like—"
"No!" Lucy snaps, cutting him off and sitting up on his chest so she can look down at him. "God, no!" She slips into his lap, catching his face in her hands when she sees the flash of panic in his eyes. Lucy smiles down at him, stroking his cheeks to reassure him that she's fine and isn't mad at him at all. "It's nothing like that," she promises, straddling his hips and letting her hands trace the curve of his jaw. "Just—we had sex," she repeats.
He smiles up at her, flopping back down as the tension slips from his shoulders easily, Natsu relaxing beneath her. "I think that's been established," he murmurs, sending her a familiar fond look, the same one he has when she starts ranting about words with the same spelling but two different meanings or when she wins at silly board games.
Lucy nods, drumming her fingers against his chest, hands slipping to his shoulders to help prop her up. "What now?" she asks him, worry flickering in her eyes. She catches her lips between her teeth, pinching down until the pain makes her release the skin, not wanting to make herself bleed.
Natsu frowns up at her, eyes narrowing in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Lucy shifts on his lap, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. It's not everyday she tries to talk to her best friend about sex, especially when she's just had sex with said best friend. Her life has suddenly become a bad sitcom, it would seem. "Like, do we pretend it didn't happen, or…" she trails off slowly, waving a hand in the air between the. "Do we do it again?" She meets his gaze shyly, taking a deep breath before making a rather bold move.
She rocks above him, grinding her hips against his and delighting in the startled hiss she drags from Natsu. She leans in slightly, lips skimming the shell of his ear. "Because if I'm being honest," she breathes against him, hips still gyrating slowly, "I'd really like to do that again."
"Yeah," he replies, voice thick with lust. Natsu's hands come up to latch onto her hips, thumbing at the bare skin. He peeks up at her through his lashes, swallowing thickly when he meets her gaze. "Yeah, we can do that."
Lucy sits back up, expression serious as she looks down at him, fingers drumming nervously against his chest. "No strings attached, right?" she asks, voice cracking slightly. She has to make sure they're on the same page—has to make sure she isn't getting her hopes up for something more than that. Lucy squishes the stray thought down, ignoring the slight burn in her chest and the sick, twisting feeling in her gut. They're just friends—all they'll ever be is friends.
And if her thoughts are a bit bitter, well, Lucy would deny it.
Something like hurt flashes in his eyes, but it's gone before Lucy can be sure it was there at all. It's two A.M. and maybe she's just seeing things after a long day, because she blinks and Natsu is simply grinning up at her, nodding slowly. "Right," he agrees, swallowing thickly. His eyes aren't nearly as bright as before, but she chalks it up to a long day.
Lucy nods in return, looking more sure of herself than she really feels. She squeezes his shoulder. "So we're just two friends—"
"Best friends," Natsu cuts her off, eyes narrowing just the slightest.
"—best friends," she corrects, smiling down at him fondly, a hand coming up to brush his bangs away from his eyes, "that have casual, really great sex." The word casual hangs between them, almost like a lie, but Lucy tries not to think about it. Could they even do casual?
Yes, she thinks, they can. She knows that Natsu can do anything if he puts his mind to it, and Lucy is just as stubborn as he is. Between the two of them, this friends with benefits thing should be a breeze.
He smirks up at her, eyes flashing with mischief. He yanks her down against him suddenly, making Lucy at the sudden shift in balance. his arms coil around her tightly, Natsu pressing his lips against her temple in a chaste kiss. "Sounds good," he mumbles against her skin, squeezing her in a tight hug that makes her giggle.
"Yeah," she says against his ear, twisting to press a wet, sloppy kiss against his cheek. Natsu wrinkles his nose, sending her a dramatically disgusted look, but she only laughs and wiggles her way down into her original position, feeling lighter all of a sudden, not as burdened with nerves.
How could she ever think she would just lose him like that? She knows Natsu better than she knows anyone else, including herself. She knows he's not going anywhere, not so long as he can help it. He would never leave her behind.
They laps into a long bout of silence, simply enjoying each others presence and watching the rest of the moving, Lucy growing drowsy after her long day. Fridays always leave her exhausted, but Saturdays are her day off, so she knows she can stay up for as long as she wants, though Monday morning will be a bitch. Granted, Mondays are always the worst. They just suck a tiny bit more when she hasn't gotten enough sleep.
Natsu's hand runs along her back, touching anywhere he can reach, and Lucy's eyes slip shut, her entire body feeling heavy with sleep as she curls against him, letting her arm dangle off the edge of the couch, fingers drawing shapes against the smooth wood of the flooring. She cringes when she feels something sticky against her hand, groaning when she realizes there's still a mess of popcorn on the floor.
That's certainly going to be a bitch to cleanup tomorrow, though, Lucy decides that's a problem for her future self.
After several minutes tick by, Lucy huffs and raises her head to look at him, noticing the movie is coming to an end, though the credits aren't yet rolling. Not that it matters, Lucy thinks, rolling her eyes fondly. Natsu's only seen this movie a good dozen times already.
"Hey, Natsu?" she slurs, voice thick with sleep. She wriggles against him, suddenly wanting nothing more than to just crawl into bed and curl up with him, the long night finally catching up with her. She's going to be sore in the morning, she can tell, and as comfortable as Natsu is, she knows she'll sleep a lot better in her own bed just a few feet away. They can happily resume things there.
He turns back to her, so close she can feel his warm breath against her lips. "Yeah, Luce?" he whispers back, fingers pattering against her spine and tickling her, making Lucy giggle lightly. He peeks at her through the darkness, light from the screen illuminating only half his face.
She props her chin against his chest, blinking up at his when he raises a brow, silently asking what she needs after it takes her a moment to respond. "Wanna go to bed?" she asks him. His eyes widen and Lucy suddenly feels horribly awkward for asking, wondering if maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut. Having sex with him on the couch is one thing, inviting him into her literal bed is entirely different.
Though, Lucy finds she doesn't really care.
He frowns, but it's more teasing than anything else. "I thought I was only allowed on the couch?" he jokes, sighing as he sits up, Lucy groaning when she's forced to move with him. She huffs, tossing her arms loosely around his neck and shifting so that she's straddling his hips.
"Well, you also just gave me a screaming orgasm," she reminds him, gasping when he shifts his grip on her and stands, Lucy becoming airborne. She squeaks, grip around him tightening as his hands curl around her thighs, Natsu wobbling slightly before steadying himself. "So I think I can allow you to sleep in my bed," she finishes, legs squeezing around him.
She can feel his grin against the side of her head, his hand shifting to squeeze her ass suggestively. "I can give you another, if you ask nicely," he says hoarsely, pressing her hips tight against his.
Lucy thinks she might just take him up on that offer.
Lucy wakes up to an annoying beeping sound. She groans, rolling away from the incessant chirp and curls closer against her bedmate, pressing her face into the crook of Natsu's neck to block out the sunlight slipping in from between her curtains. He mumbles something sleepily in response, pulling her tighter against his chest, arms tight around her naked back. Their legs tangle together beneath the sheets, one of Natsu's legs wedged high between her thighs, his knee bumping against her still sensitive core with every shift of his body.
She groans, wincing slightly at the burning in her thighs. The soreness is expected, of course, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to be a pain in the ass later. She supposes it won't last long, it won't be bad if she just relaxes for a little while, but she doesn't know if she'll get the chance. Between the two of them, Lucy doesn't think she and Natsu are going to catch much of break in the sex department, considering they jumped each other pretty much as soon as Natsu kicked her door shut and tossed her on the bed.
Sighing against his neck, Lucy curls her arms around his back, nails raking down his spine gently, making him squirm against her. He murmurs something sleepily against her, Lucy hesitating only a moment, nosing at her collarbone before leaning up to press her lips against the side of his throat, placing a series of slow, soft kisses along the length of his neck. Natsu groans in response, stirring against her.
He doesn't seem to have any complaints about her rude awakening, Natsu growling at her before rolling the two of them so that he's settled on top of her. Lucy giggles as he nuzzles into her neck sleepily, whispering a rough version of her name against her throat. He shifts against her, morning wood pressing against her thigh as he rocks against her lazily, lips trailing along the length of her neck.
Natsu presses his lips against her jaw, just shy of her lips. Natsu pushes up on his elbows, raising a brow at her when Lucy grins up at him, her hips wiggling against his slowly. "Are you trying to seduce me, already?" he asks, narrowing his eyes playfully. His fingers play with a loose strand of her hair, winding it around his finger before leaning down to bump his nose against hers gently.
"Maybe," she murmurs, barely getting the word out before Natsu's lips seal over hers, the kiss hot and wet as he immediately parts his lips, tracing his tongue across her lower lip before taking it in his mouth, nibbling at her gently. Lucy sighs against him, tangling her fingers in his hair instantly, giving a gentle tug.
Huffing a laugh, Natsu smiles against her, sucking on her lower lip gently, moving far slower than the previous night as his fingers drag along the curve of her waist, touch softer than anything she's ever felt before.
They stay like that for some time, simply locked in each others arms, stealing soft, sloppy kisses, content to trade lazy pecks and breathy laughs.
Natsu grinds down against her suddenly, hips pressing into her thigh, and Lucy gasps against him, pulling back to suck in a ragged breath. The sound is cut off by the sudden ringing of her alarm, this one louder than the last. Groaning, she reaches for her phone, Natsu shifting to press sloppy kisses against her neck, finding a particularly tender spot from the night before and suckling her skin. Lucy shivers beneath him, swallowing a moan when he nips at her skin, darkening the hickey he's left behind.
Her phone reads eleven-forty-eight, quite a bit later than she usually wakes up, but she supposes that Natsu did keep her up for quite a while. That, however, isn't what makes her pause. No, it's the notification bubble below that, a simple message that reads "Erza is coming."
"Shit," Lucy swears, tossing her phone back down on her side table. She scrambles beneath him, shoving at his chest in a panic. She forgot about girl's day. How could she forget about girl's day? Erza's going to fucking kill her. "Natsu, get up!" she barks at him, giving him another shove.
He backs off immediately, ripping away from her with wide, panicked eyes. "What?" he gasps, glancing down at her with a wild expression, concern clear on his face. "What's wrong?" he repeats, checking to make sure she isn't hurt. "Lucy, hey—"
"Girl's day!" she snaps at him, scrambling out from underneath him as she dives for her closet, scooping up his discarded shirt on the way and slipping it over her head, nearly tripping as she does. "Natsu, it's girl's day!"
Shit, if Erza shows up to find her not ready—not to mention tangled up in her sheets with Natsu, of all people—Erza will have her head. This is not how she wants them to find out about this, not even in the slightest. Fuck, she can't believe she forgot about girl's day. They had to have exhausting, amazing sex right before girl's day, of all things.
Natsu groans, rolling his eyes as he flops onto his back, giving Lucy a very nice view of his very naked body. She sends him an appreciative glance, but only for a moment before going back to her task of getting ready. "So what?" he asks her, huffing. "Just skip it and come back to bed."
She levels him with a stare, horror in her eyes. "Natsu," she starts gently, wondering if he's lost it, "it's girl's day. Erza's coming." she reminds him.
He's out of her bed in a flash, grabbing his discarded pants and yanking them up over his hips, struggling with the zipper. "Fuck," he growls, "Lucy, I'll see you later," he promises, grabbing her in a fierce kiss that makes her toes curl, her back arching into him.
He's gone without another word, Lucy feeling lightheaded, though she can't be sure if it's from that kiss, or the fear gripping at her heart.
Honestly, Lucy is fairly surprised that the day is going as smoothly as it is. No mishaps, no awkward situations, no deaths by bludgeoning in her apartment. Lucy would definitely call that a win, especially the no death part. She thought Natsu would be a goner there for a second.
He wasn't gone by the time noon came around, which put them dangerously close to the potential of having Erza storm in on them. Somehow in the midst of Lucy fighting with her hair and Natsu searching for his left sock, they ended up making out against the bathroom counter—Lucy with her legs coiled around Natsu's hips, hands in his hair, on his neck, tugging at his belt, and Natsu with his hands everywhere, hips slowly rocking against Lucy's. As such, when Lucy's final alarm went off to tell her Erza was probably literally at the door right now, they both panicked, parting with a quick, sloppy kiss before Natsu left her apartment for real, sans sock and all.
Erza rather politely, for once, knocked on her door exactly fifty-eight seconds later, apologizing profusely for being late and informing her that an accident had occurred just down the street. She assured Lucy that it was nothing terrible, just an old man—who probably shouldn't be driving in the first place—running into a vendor's stall on the sidewalk. No one was hurt, luckily, but the vendor wasn't happy about the loss of his cabbages.
If Erza ran into Natsu on his way out, the girl didn't say.
Not that it would have been such a big deal if Erza did. Natsu regularly sleeps at her place, all of their friends know that. They've been teasing the pair about it for years, much to Lucy's annoyance. It's just that Natsu usually doesn't stay over until the PM, typically leaving earlier so he could work out. He occasionally stays over later, but only after a night of heavy drinking, which only happens when one of them needs to blackout wasted. That only happens maybe four times a year, at most, in the wake of death-days and being miserable over shitty exes.
If Lucy had to guess, she would say Erza wouldn't have thought anything of it, however, Lucy really didn't want any of them finding out about what happened from anyone but her. She loves Erza, she really does, but the girl can't keep a secret to save her life. She always ends up blurting them out at the worst possible times, like back in their first year of college when Lucy made a wayward comment about Gajeel having a nice ass and as soon as Erza got a decent look herself, she had loudly commented that "Wow, Lucy! You're right! Gajeel does have a rather magnificent butt!"
She died a little that day.
Luckily, the morning went without incident. Natsu managed to sneak out of her apartment without getting caught—totally not a walk of shame—Erza didn't find them going at it on her bathroom counter, and no one noticed—or had the balls to comment on—the rather obvious hickies littering Lucy neck. She didn't have time to cover them this morning, what with Natsu's mouth being in the way, so she settled with keeping her hair down, silently wishing it wasn't summer so she could get away with wearing a scarf. Be that as it may, the girl's had the decency not to ask about it in the middle of their favorite café.
Though, that wouldn't be the strangest thing they've talked about here.
"Girl's Day" is really just a glorified lunch that extends at least three to four hours, nothing fancy, just enough time for all of them to catch up at least once a week, discussing anything that's come up recently. It's not that they never have time for each other, it's just that it's hard for the six of them to all be in the same space at the same time, what with so many conflicting schedules.
She's been debating telling them about what happened for the last half-hour, their time slowly running out. Sure, she could simply tell them all individually, or just wait until next month, but she knows now is the best time to do it, partly so she only has to explain things once, but also because she's pretty sure they'd kill her if she waited the extra month to tell them.
Lucy doesn't really feel like dying, if she's being honest, so that means she'll probably just have to spit it out within the next ten minutes and hope to God the world doesn't implode.
"I had sex with Natsu last night," she blurts, drawing the conversation to a screeching halt. She can practically hear the gears turning in their heads, all of them slow to process that bit of information. They've been joking about her and Natsu hooking-up for years, now that it's actually happened they don't know what to do with themselves.
It's very satisfying to see the bewildered expressions on their faces, five pairs of eyes blinking at her in utter silence, varying looks of surprise crossing their faces, a slow realization coming to them, Lucy able to pinpoint the exact second it really hits them.
If Lucy had known this is how they'd react, she would have fucked Natsu ages ago.
Lisanna, surprisingly, is the first to snap out of it. She blinks at Lucy slowly, mouth moving, but no words coming out. A slow, elated look crosses her face, Lisanna having been on Lucy's case since high school about how perfect she and Natsu would be together, going so far as to set up strategically placed mistletoe on Christmas one year, only be faced with crushing disappointment when Lucy had instead ended up kissing Elfman, much to her disgust. "You had sex with Natsu," she repeats, slowly, like she's still coming to terms with it.
Levy and Erza slowly seem to be coming to the same hard realization, Juvia and Cana not far behind.
Lucy nods, taking a long drink from her lemonade and leaving her friends to their confusion. "That's what I said, yes," she tells them after a moment, smiling at them, feeling very much the cat that got the cream. There is literally nothing that could ruin her good mood today. She got some last night—this morning?—and frankly it was incredible. She and Natsu are fine, nothing awkward between them, considering how quickly they tried to jump each other this morning. She's feeling pretty good about herself right now!
She pretends not to hear Cana's gasp or loud questioning about how "big" he is.
Lucy suddenly feels several pairs of eyes on her, only half of them coming from her table. She shoots Cana a nasty look, but her friend merely smirks in reply, entirely cheeky about shouting something so crude in the middle of a café, of all places. There are old people here and they will judge her.
There's an excited babble of questions from the girls, varying from innocent enough to personally invasive and she will never answer that out loud Juvia. It's Erza that manages to quiet them, her friend staring her down from across the table. "So you're dating now?" It doesn't sound like a question, but Lucy decides to pretend it is.
Shaking her head slowly, Lucy glances down at her glass, tracing the rim with her finger as she bites her lower lip. She's not sure if they'll be disappointed or not, but this part of the conversation is what she was dreading. "No," she says simply, peeking up at them through her lashes. "No ,we're not."
A little voice in her head tells her that they could be, but Lucy squishes it down before it can fester, not wanting to deal with that right now.
Erza slaps a hand onto the table violently, their glasses shaking with the force and Juvia nearly spilling her ice tea all over Cana. "Lucy, were you drunk?" Erza whisper-shouts, her eyes narrowing in a way that makes Lucy think someone's going to die. "Did he take advantage of you? Because if he did, I swear I'll—"
"No!" Lucy yelps, cutting her off. More eyes turn towards the group, Lucy ducking her head as she continues, quieter this time. "No, God, no!" She sends Erza a fierce, disbelieving look, unable to process where that came from. "Natsu would never do something like that, and you know it!" she snaps, feeling defensive over her friend. She doesn't like the implication there, not even a little.
Juvia frowns, evidently not understanding the concept of friends with benefits. Not that Lucy blames her. Juvia is about as innocent as they come, never dealing with having a horrible string of relationships like Lucy or Cana, God bless her. She remembers one time in college when they were playing Cards Against Humanity, it was a wild night for all of them, but Juvia's blush lasted for two days.
"So you just had sex?" she asks curiously, blinking at Lucy slowly.
Again, she nods. It's a pretty simple concept, though she figures they're just in shock. "Yup!" she tells them, popping the p. "We talked about it," amongst other things, "and it's just going to be casual." Well, as casual as they can be, what with them spending the majority of their time off together and all. Completely casual.
"So, fuck buddies."
Lucy wrinkles her nose, sending her friend a nasty look. "Don't say it like that!" she snaps, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You know he means more to me than that, Cana." Honestly, she's a bit offended by the statement. Natsu will always be more to her than just some warm body. He's her friend above all other things.
Erza sends her a confused look. "Why don't you just ask him out?" she asks calmly, more curious than accusing, for once. Erza says it like it's an obvious suggestion, like clearly it's just that easy. Lucy can't blame her, she's been with Jellal for five years and counting, so she likely doesn't understand Lucy's problem here, though not for lack of compassion.
"Because Natsu doesn't like me?" she replies, confused.
Cana scoffs, rolling her eyes. "I'm pretty sure he likes you, considering apparently you two banged last night," she jokes, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hand, wiggling her brows at Lucy.
She makes a face at Cana, wrinkling her nose. "Finding someone attractive doesn't mean you want to date them," she argues. "If it did, I would be happily married to Loke." She shivers, just imagining the look on the manwhore's face if Lucy ever did agree to marry him.
He's asked her before.
Twice.
Lisanna giggles, smirking as she shares a look with Lucy. "I don't think anyone could be happily married to Loke," she jokes. The girl had also been one of Loke's many objects of affection until Elfman managed to chase him off.
"This is stupid," Levy snaps suddenly, chair screeching as it scrapes across the floor. "You're both stupid." Lucy starts to protest, hurt, but Levy cuts her off. "No, listen to me!" She glares at Lucy from across the table, expression more stern than Lucy has ever seen it. "This friends with benefits situation never ends well." Lucy bites her tongue to keep from asking if Levy's speaking from experience, considering she hasn't seen Jet for a long time. "You two are going to burn each other out and someone's going to fuck it up."
Lucy is already shaking her head by the time Levy is finished. "We won't," she snaps back, eyes narrowing. She's never fought with Levy before, and she really doesn't like it. "It's me and Natsu," she reminds the girl. "We'd be friends no matter what."
Levy laughs in response, shaking her head. "Yeah? Well don't come crying to me when you get your heart broken." She storms out without another word, gone before Lucy can call her back.
Correction: there's one thing that could ruin her good mood.
Natsu can't believe he's doing the walk of shame, and from Lucy's house, no less. Sure, he's done the walk several times in the past. Not many, but enough to know how awkward it all is. It's like everyone just knows what happened last night as they pass him, somehow knowing that he's just woken up after a night of mind-blowing sex with his best friend. Natsu's pretty sure he has a stupid look on his face, so that's probably a giveaway, if he's being honest with himself.
Though, frankly, he doesn't feel as awkward as he should about what happened between them or even spending the night—a regular occurrence between the two of them, considering Lucy is a cuddler and somehow they always end up wrapped up in each other no matter what they're doing—no, Natsu doesn't feel awkward at all. If anything, he feels more relaxed than he thinks he should, lighter, almost. His limbs and head feel heavy, but in a good way. It's the same feeling he gets after winning a fight, once the adrenaline is gone all that's left is pure relief, some sort of satisfaction.
He just hopes he doesn't fuck it all up.
Of course, the walk of shame didn't come without some incidents. He'd nearly been caught by Erza on his way out of Lucy's apartment, and she probably would have walked in on them if Lucy's phone hadn't have gone off at the worst possible time. He'd been working his way down Lucy's neck when it happened, grinding against her and so close to making her sob his name, her toes curling against his back.
That's something he'll have to make up for later. He can't very well leave Lucy hanging like that, and he's pretty sure he's suffering from a mild case of blue-balls. There's also a rock in his shoe that keeps poking at his toes, much to his annoyance. He hadn't been able to find his sock, but he's pretty sure it'll turn up at some point.
He'll just have to go back and find it tonight.
Natsu sighs, running a hand through his messy hair as he comes up to his apartment complex, not for the first time wishing he lived closer to Lucy. Usually, he doesn't mind the walk, but it always makes him a bit nervous knowing she's so far away. There's always a what is nagging at him. What if something happens? What if she's hurt? What if he can't make it in time? It's not something he likes to think about, but he always does, secretly terrified with the fact that she lives all by herself halfway across town. Lucy can handle herself, he knows, but that doesn't mean he likes the thought of her being alone all the time. It's part of the reason he's over so often. Natsu will be damned before he ever lets someone hurt her.
And that includes himself. Natsu would never forgive himself if he did something to hurt Lucy. He's pretty sure he would hate himself for doing anything like that. There was a moment last night where he thought he did something she didn't like and it scared the shit out of him. He promised himself a long time ago that he'd take care of her, always, and Natsu's not going to let his damn libido fuck that up.
His dick means a hell of a lot less to him than Lucy ever has, and that's the way things are going to stay. The day he starts putting sex above Lucy's happiness is the day he asks Gray to shove him into oncoming traffic.
The stairs creak beneath him as he jogs up the last flight, his apartment on the third of four floors. It's a pain in the ass, at times, but he supposes it's better than living on the ground floor and having people look in at him. That happened once when Gray was still living with Cana and Natsu was visiting. He nearly pissed himself when he saw someone peeking through the window, trying to get a good look at a severely underdressed Cana.
Turns out, it wasn't just some random pervert. No, it was an entirely familiar pervert, Loke knocking on the window and sending Cana a very suggestive look. Unfortunately for Loke, Cana turned him down.
Granted, he's pretty sure he's never seen anyone fall for Loke's quote unquote "charm" as he likes to put it.
The problem with Loke, he thinks, is that the other man thinks girls are stupid and would fall into bed with any guy with a pretty face, whereas most girls probably wouldn't give two shits about a guy with about as much personality as a wet paper bag laying in the middle of the road on a Tuesday.
He's not trying to be mean, really, but Loke has all of two settings: womanizer and dudebro. Sometimes they overlap, but usually it all depends on whether there's a female within a twenty foot radius. The guy can be perfectly normal—almost too normal, in fact—or the most smarmy person Natsu has ever met. And that's saying something, considering he knew this guy named Bora in high school. The dude was a self-proclaimed sex god and kept a journal of all the woman in the school that he had or "would" sleep with, rating them and writing graphic and disgusting things about them.
Natsu may or may not have lit it on fire after finding out that Lucy was Bora's next big score, and if Bora woke up one morning to a pile of flaming dog shit on his front lawn, well, he had no proof that it was Natsu.
Natsu kicks open the front door, yawning to himself and stretching his arms over his head, joints cracking loudly. He slams the door shut behind him, knowing that he's most likely alone, what with Gray probably being out with whatever booty call he had last night. Not that Natsu is one to talk, but still.
Gray never has been one to settle down, preferring the emo-lone-wolf to dating. The theater major is weird that way, but Natsu figures that's not his business.
He hurries into his room, yanking off his belt before he even makes it inside, wanting to change fast and head back to Lucy's as soon as possible. She probably won't be home until later, but he doesn't mind waiting. Maybe he'll bring Happy with him, knowing Lucy would be elated to see the little cat again. His brow furrows in thought, Natsu yanking his shirt off over his head and searching for a clean one. He considers just bringing an extra set of cloths with him, but doesn't know if Lucy would mind or not.
"I'm surprised to see you here," a voice drawls from behind him, Natsu jumping slightly in surprise. He whirls around, wide-eyed, only to come face-to-face with Gray, his roommate staring at him curiously, as if knowing something is off, but not knowing what. He quirks a brow at Natsu, head tilting to one side in thought, but doesn't say anything else.
Natsu bares his teeth at his friend, sending him a nasty glare. "Holy fuck, Gray," he snarls at the other man, more annoyed than mad. He was hoping he would be able to slip out again without any questions, but he doubts that's going to happen now. "You scared the shit out of me!"
Gray frowns, head cocking to one side in confusion. "Usually you hear me coming," he notes, an edge of suspicion in his voice. He looks like he wants to ask if something's wrong, but they both know he won't, not unless Gray thinks it's something serious.
"Yeah, well…" Natsu trails off, shrugging. He considers telling Gray about what happened, but ultimately decides not to, both because he doesn't want to have the conversation about how good Lucy is in bed—the answer would be "absolutely fucking fantastic" but that's beside the point—but also because he has no interest in getting lectured by Gray about how dumb he's being and how in love with Lucy he is and how this isn't going to end well and how Natsu better not hurt her or else.
Like Gray, of all people, has the right to lecture Natsu on taking care of Lucy. He's been doing that since they were sixteen and Lucy was the new girl in school, everyone ignoring her until Natsu finally decided she needed a friend.
Yeah, because he's totally going to hurt Lucy in any way.
Frankly, Natsu thinks he took pretty damn good care of Lucy last night, if her breathy little moans were any indication. Or how she jumped him a second time this morning.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?"
Natsu blinks at the question. "I'm not thinking about anything," he says. Well, nothing beside how good Lucy tastes and how he'd really like to bend her over his table and—He shakes the thought away, blinking twice. He's pretty sure he's only making his blue-balls worse, but he can't help but think about her. Lucy has always been a lot of things: smart, funny, pretty, but he never really considered sexy as fuck until she was peeking up at him through her lashes with her lips wrapped around his cock.
He should probably stop thinking about that.
His response must come out meaner than expected, because Gray doesn't reply with something snippy, only frowns, concern flashing in his eyes. "What's got you so crabby today?" he asks, pushing off from the door frame and stepping further into Natsu's room, coming to stand only a few feet away. "Usually spending the night at Lucy's puts you in a good mood." Gray has no idea how good of a mood Lucy puts him in. "Seriously, Natsu, you okay?" he asks.
"I'm fine, Gray." His balls feel like they're about to low-key explode, but other than that he feels fine. Better than usual, if he's being honest. "Just got a lot on my mind." An understatement. Or maybe an overstatement. He's not sure. All he's really thinking about is the best ways to touch Lucy to make her scream for him. It's a long list. Lucy is pretty vocal and Natsu can't say he doesn't appreciate that.
Eyes narrowing, Gray nods slowly, lips pressed into a thin line. His disbelief is clear, but Natsu isn't going to tell him anything. Not yet. "Well," he starts, shoving his hands into his pockets after shoving his dark hair away from his eyes, "if you need to talk…" he trails off.
"I know where to find you," Natsu tells him, grinning slightly. He'd never admit it out loud, but Gray is a pretty great friend, even if he is an asshole ninety percent of the time.
A beat passes, the pair of them twiddling their thumbs and trying to pretend things around weird all of a sudden. "So!" Gray asks him, too bright and obviously fake. Gray is only a good actor when he's trying to be someone else. "How late were you two up? Usually you're home before noon."
Natsu swallows, unsure how long the two of them were actually awake last night. It was hard to tell between hazy kisses and the feel of Lucy's lips on his neck. He wasn't exactly checking the time when he was kissing his way down her stomach. "We passed out around three," he guesses, shrugging. "long night."
Gray nods in response. "What'd you watch?" he questions, it sounding more accusing than curious, though Natsu can't for the life of him understand why.
"Nosy," he grumbles, mostly joking. Gray glares at him and Natsu rolls his eyes, not knowing why it's important, but knowing if he doesn't respond Gray will just bitch at him until he does. "Marvel universe," he says simply, not wanting to list all of them. The movies weren't exactly the important part of last night, after all.
Snorting, Gray shakes his head, quirking an unimpressed brow. "Did she fall asleep?" he jokes. They both know Lucy isn't the biggest far of superhero movies, mostly because she's annoyed with the obnoxiously frequent Spiderman remakes. Lucy is a fan of practically everything else, funnily enough. She likes everything from romance to horror and everything in between, even if she does fall for the jump-scares every single time.
Natsu laughs in response, giving a quick nod as he goes back to looking for a shirt, yanking on one of his favorites over his head, black with a pattern of red dragon scales creeping up from the left side. "Twice," he tells Gray after a moment, frowning slightly. "I think. It's hard to tell." After all, Lucy's never been much of a talker during movies, not once she actually gets into them.
Not that he can blame her for being tired last night. He was pretty exhausted himself. The only thing really keeping him awake was Lucy fidgeting every so often. Every time she moved her hair would tickle his chest, touch light and teasing, even if it wasn't on purpose.
Gray gasps in mock surprise, leaning back against the wall as Natsu tosses a few clean shirts onto his bed, wondering how long he can avoid doing laundry. Maybe he can ask Lucy for help. Her clothes are always so much softer than his, much to his annoyance. Granted, he does enjoy playing with the hems of her shirts, enjoying twisting the fabric around his fingers, feeling how soft them are. He just wishes he could make his clothes that soft. Though, Lucy never seems to complain about how soft they are or aren't, constantly stealing his shirts and sweaters to wear at night.
He thinks they look better on her anyway.
"You leaving again?" Gray asks him, chin jerking towards the pile of shirts. He raises a brow, seeming to note Natsu's eagerness to leave so soon. His eyes alight with understanding and Natsu bites back a groan, rolling his eyes. Gray sends him a smirk and Natsu considers punching him in the face. Punching Gray makes everything better, after all. "Heading to your girlfriend's?" Gray snickers at his own joke.
For a moment, Natsu's temper flares, but he shoves down his immediate response of screaming and throwing a wild punch. He's more mature than that. Sometimes. He would pick a fight with Gray, but he has a fight this weekend and can't afford to screw around. Maybe two years ago he wouldn't care, but he likes to think he's grown up a little bit.
"Lucy's not my girlfriend," is all he says, reaching down to scratch Happy under the chin when the cat finally slinks out of whatever hiding place he's been napping in.
"It's adorable that you can't go more than two hours without seeing your not-girlfriend," Gray tells him, sarcasm bubbling on his tongue. "You know, if I didn't need the help paying for rent, I would tell you to just move in with her." Natsu doesn't think it's a joke, but it's slipping into dangerous territory, so he pretends that's all it is.
"Fuck you, Gray," he says simply, sending the other man a nasty look.
Gray sneers. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
It's not until he's sitting alone in Lucy apartment and waiting for her to come back home that it finally really hits him what they did last night. They had sex. Great sex. That isn't the problem though. Sure, they probably shouldn't have just done that without a second thought—though, he's pretty sure there was ample time for one of them to stop things if they really wanted to. It's not like either of them were being forced to make out with each other—but that's not the concerning part.
Nothing's changed. Things aren't awkward, not even in the slightest. He would have thought things would a bit weird for them, all things considered, but everything is perfectly normal. He's pretty sure that's not how things are supposed to be, but they've never been the most conventional of people.
He used to climb in through her window every night during college and Lucy had never protested much, at least, not in a serious way. Sure, she'd yell at him a bit, but that was more because he was scaling a three story building, more so than the breaking and entering part. Usually by the time she got around to yelling about that she'd be laughing too hard to sound serious.
Regardless, things don't feel weird, which kind of makes things weird. The lack of weirdness, that is. He thinks that's a paradox, but he isn't sure—paradoxes confuse the shit out of him, and Natsu wouldn't be the least bit upset if they all just fucking went away—either way, Natsu thinks things should have been more awkward this morning. He's had his fair share of hook-ups in the past and they've always been weird as all hell and, for the most part, not worth it.
Things were always tense in the morning and usually one or both of them would end up leaving in the middle of the night or right after, there was never any cuddling involved. Not intentionally, anyway. He remembers one time he ended up traipsing down a two story fire escape in the middle of winter, still buzzed and half-naked. He'd made it all the way to Lucy's apartment before remembering that he'd forgotten to put on his shoes and nearly froze off his toes.
He didn't go back for the shoes.
It was awful and weird and probably not worth it, but he can't say the same for what happened with Lucy last night and into the early hours of the morning. Nothing changed between them, something he isn't sure if he should be happy or bitter about. He's glad things aren't weird between them. He cares about Lucy far too much to let something as stupid as spur of the moment sex ruin what they have. Though, he's also disappointed that they're the same as they've always been. He's not entirely sure why that disappoints him—a lie, but he would never admit it—but something about the easy way they fell into things makes his stomach twist painfully.
The word "casual" echoes through his mind and he winces, the word tasting bitter in his mouth. His lip curls slightly, but he shakes it off, nose wrinkling. The word stung, cutting him deeply in a way he hadn't expected, but it's not her fault. Lucy was nervous, he knows. She's always been a worrier. Even when they were younger she's always been the voice of reason, the proverbial angel on his shoulder reminding him not to do stupid shit like pulling the fire alarm to get her out of her speech class when she was freaking out about speaking in front of everyone—he didn't listen to her that time, but she didn't seem too upset with him.
Lucy's never liked change, it's always scared her, at least a little. He knows she needed to make sure they were okay, that everything was fine between them and they weren't going to break. Something about his relationship with Lucy has always seemed fragile, not their friendship, but something else, something deeper. Ever since high school it's like they've been wavering on a thin line, and if either of them moved too fast things would snap.
He isn't sure what would break, but the thought scares him. Lucy is his best friend and he doesn't know what he'd do if he lost her because of something like this. He doesn't think he'd be able to handle that, having her so close but so far away from him emotionally. He's always tried to be the one person she can trust when everyone else keeps failing her. He won't fuck that up.
Sighing to himself, Natsu shakes his head and leans back further into the couch, head tilting backwards as he squeezes his eyes shut. He doesn't want to think about any of it right now. He would rather them just figure things out as they go, rather than worry himself to death and panic over nothing.
It's the two of them, what could go wrong? They've always worked things out, moving passed any hiccups along the way. Granted, if things go wrong this time it'll be more than just a hiccup, but he thinks they can handle anything. Between his positivity and her fierce determination, he thinks they could withstand anything.
Opening his eyes, Natsu stares up the ceiling, smiling to himself before glancing down at his phone, the screen lighting up with a text from Lucy letting him know she'll be home soon, girl's day apparently ending a lot sooner than it usually does. There are some days where it's lasted well into the night, but he supposes everyone's been too busy lately.
Right on cue, Natsu hears footsteps outside the door, knowing immediately that Lucy is home. He grins to himself, excitement flooding through him as he hears the key slip into the lock, Lucy jiggling it just right to force it open.
The knob always sticks, much to her frustration. Natsu tried to fix it for her once, but he thinks he may have only made things worse. He's never been much of a fixer, if he's being honest with himself. Natsu's always had more of a destructive streak when it comes to anything but cars. He tries, of course, but he just can't seem to put things together as well as he can take them apart. Despite this, he's always the first person Lucy calls when she needs help putting together her new IKEA furniture, rather than Gray or Erza—both are arguably better choices, but they can suck it.
The door is shoved open roughly, but Lucy catches it before it can hit the wall, stopping the ear-splitting bang that was sure to sound through the small apartment. Sound carries through the building, he knows. The walls are relatively thin and Lucy's filed several noise complains against the obnoxious potheads next door who love to sing terrible renditions of 80's classics at three in the morning.
Hopefully they weren't too loud last night. He'd hate for Lucy to get in trouble over something like that, especially when he's partly to blame for any noise. Though, if things get too bad, they can always spend the night at his place. Gray's hardly ever around anyway, so it's not like they'd be disturbing anyone. Well, his grouchy neighbor Jose might be disturbed, but Natsu doesn't give a shit what Jose thinks. The old man has made one too many dirty comments about Lucy's ass. Loud sex seems a hell of a lot better than assault charges or some shit.
Natsu maintains that if Jose gets hit, he fucking deserved it.
Lucy steps through the door, sending him a small smile when she sees him sitting on the couch waiting for her. It doesn't reach her eyes and Natsu immediately knows that something's wrong, nothing major, most likely, but she's upset about something. He knows Lucy well enough to recognize her upset face.
Instead of asking what's wrong he just holds out his arms to her, beckoning her forward for a hug. Not to brag, but Natsu totally gives the best hugs. He prides himself in being able to make Lucy smile when no one else can. Maybe that makes him a bit conceited, but he only wants to make her happy, keep her smiling.
Lucy dumps her bag on the floor and walks up to him, flopping onto his lap without a second thought, her arms coming up to curl around him face buried against his neck. He laughs at her dramatics, looping his arms around her waist and giving her a squeeze. "So," he breathes against her hair, nosing at her ear and tickling her, "how did girls day go?"
She groans and Natsu realizes that something must have happened. A fight, if he had to guess. The girls can be vicious when they want to, and it scares the shit out of him.
Lucy presses her cold nose against the side of his neck, but then pulls away just enough to look at him, letting him know that it's something serious. Her eyes flicker to his nervously, and Natsu squeezes her hip reassuringly. "Well," she starts slowly, swallowing, "I told them about, this." She gestures between the two of them, gaze dropping to his lips for only a moment.
"Oh?" he whispers, trying to keep the panic from seeping into his voice, "and how'd they take that?" Not well, he'd imagine. He loves the girls, he really does, but they're some of the nosiest people he's ever met, and judgmental too, even if they try to pretend they aren't. They always try to insert themselves into things that don't involve them and want everything to go their way.
Well, that's more of an Erza thing, but whatever.
Her nose wrinkles cutely, Lucy pulling a face as she thinks about the conversation she must have had. "They said we're being stupid and someone will end up hurt," she says, turning to prop her chin on his shoulder, mouth hovering just an inch from his when Natsu turns to face her.
Natsu stiffens slightly at the implication, bristling at the idea that someone would accuse him of hurting Lucy, of all people. Hell, she's the one person he would rather die than hurt. "I wouldn't hurt you, Lucy," he promises, scoffing at the thought. He leans in to press a chaste kiss to her temple. "Not ever."
She giggles, arms curling around his neck as she pulls him down into a tight hug. "I know," she breathes against him. "I know you'd never do anything to hurt me," she coos back at him, fingers carting through his messy hair. "Not on purpose," she tacks on, making him stiffen slightly. "It's just that things like this don't always end well." Her voice dips into a whisper at the end, testament to her nerves.
"Hey," he breathes back, tilting her head up, coaxing her to look at him. "I'm always going to be your best friend," he reminds her. And he means it. He would never just let her slip away from him like that. "Nothing is ever going to change that. You already know that, Dummy." Lucy laughs and Natsu dips his chin to press a quick kiss against her smiling mouth.
AN: The next chapter will be done a lot sooner! I'm planning for next week, but it's been a hectic time with a new job and bleh.
Be sure to leave a review folks!