Disclaimer: I been doing this at least once a day for the last... five days, and I still don't own Fairy Tail. (It's worth it anyway!)

Desire

Fuck. Boats. Natsu received a reminder with each lurch of his stomach how much he loathed transportation, and how much he hated the necessity of them to help his friends. He took part in a duet of verbalized agony with Wendy in the ship's cabin. He hoped that shore showed up soon so they could find gramps. He wondered if he imagined that sound of the door opening.

"Natsu?"

The dragon slayer moaned. Unless he was in the midst of some fever dream, his favorite blond had come to check on him. He had mixed feelings on the idea; he cherished every second he got with Lucy, but he knew that there would be consequences rivaling Erza's wrath if he hurled anywhere near his more-than-job-partner.

"How are you doing?"

Natsu reached a sweaty hand out to his side from the cot he lay on. He gave several pathetic swipes of his arm before it came in contact with soft skin. Words were hard for him, so instead he turned his fuzzy gaze toward where he thought Lucy was and groaned.

"Okay then," Lucy said. "Lift your head up."

Natsu did his best to comply, his cheeks bloating at a rather violent sway of the boat. The fire mage tried sitting still while upright.

"Natsu, you can lie down again now."

More than happy to oblige, he plopped his head onto some kind of angel pillow that fit the curve of his neck just right. His senses began functioning closer to normal when delicate fingers ran through his hair and pressed gently against his scalp. After a few minutes, his breathing evened out, and he saw Lucy's delightful brown eyes peering down at him.

"Yer a beautiful person, Luce," he said, a half-cocked smile tickling its way onto his face. "I could do transportation for days like this."

He let his eyelids droop, listening to Lucy smile- somehow he had picked up an ability to hear it.

"You act surprised every mission that transportation is involved," she said. Natsu hummed, nuzzling his head against Lucy's thigh. How was it even possible for a person to be so comfortable? Not that he had a ton of experience putting his head in laps. Apart from Lucy, Erza was the only one who ever allowed it, and he shuddered; because he didn't want to know what Erza would do if she caught wind that he preferred Lucy to her. The redhead would get the wrong idea and punish him for having impure intentions. "Did you really expect us to swim to Alvarez?"

Natsu started sticking out his tongue before his stomach reminded him that wasn't a great idea. He settled for pouting.

"A guy's allowed to fantasize, right?"

He felt himself falling into his dream palace- a place he visited on rare occasions. The fire mage couldn't get there except when he crashed after a great fight or when he was half-conscious and surrounded by Lucy's scent. He turned his head toward her tummy, rambling somewhere between lucid and incoherent.

"Hell, I got more'n a few 'bout you."

The fingers halted in their tracing patterns on his head.

Shit. Did he say that out loud? He pulled out of his haze to listen to Lucy's pulse- yep. She heard him. His eyes snapped open, and he looked up at her face. The dragon slayer knew somewhere in his mind that he ought to backtrack; but a nagging voice wondered if maybe he should let Erza punish him a little. Because damn if Natsu didn't enjoy the view of Lucy from his position- he had a special appreciation for that particular deep shade of red running up her neck to the tips of her ears. It looked so enticing and went well against her blond hair.

A whimper of discomfort from Wendy brought him back to reality. He feigned relapse of his motion sickness- which proved easier than he would have liked- to divert attention from what he'd let slip.

"Luce," he garbled, "Dragon needs help."

"Right," Lucy said, resuming the massage. Natsu saw her turn her face toward the wall of the cabin and she placed her other hand over his eyes. "Sorry."

He'd made it awkward. He didn't want to make things awkward. Natsu needed to talk about something else and why did he feel a surging desire to know what her hand tasted like? Was he turning into Mest? No. Bad Natsu, do not pull her hand from your eyes. Do not sniff it. Don't- okay, rubbing her knuckles and tracing all the nuances of her skin feels nice. Oh, wait, stop, don't put that in your mouth, she's going to revoke all your lap-laying privileges. Hell, that's the least she's gonna do, put your damn tongue back. Dude, it's a hand, just her hand, so what if it smells good- sweet Mavis could it even be legal for Lucy to be so delectable?

"I wonder how Master is doing."

"Buh?"

Natsu was saved from his trip to a private heaven of temptation by Lucy's voice breaking into it. Rather, he'd been saved from taking any sort of alienating action based on what he saw during his daze. The dream palace held such allure that it took all his willpower to keep from sinking back into it.

"You mean Erza," he asked, hoping to lighten the mood. He also hoped to distract himself from the burning sensation of his insides now that he was a trifle more lucid. "Pretty sure she's fine. Was last I seen her."

Lucy rolled her eyes. Natsu felt relieved that much of the red had receded in her face. Disappointed, too, but relieved for the most part.

"I mean Makarov, Natsu," she said, using the hand that had covered his eyes to flick his ear. Natsu swallowed, wondering if Lucy knew how much he felt she was teasing him. A sudden cessation of the boat's swaying told them they had reached shore. The dragon slayer felt an instant improvement in his ability to function, and, giving one more, fond nuzzle to Lucy's thigh, he leapt up.

Natsu looked at his favorite celestial spirit mage. The fire breather knew from the last few days that Lucy didn't feel comfortable with intimate physical contact when they weren't sharing a bed. He didn't understand why, since he enjoyed it just the same in or out of the bedroom. He stretched and shrugged. He didn't mind. He just attributed it to Lucy being weirdo Lucy. And Natsu liked his weirdo Lucy. He smiled at her and took her wrist to pull her up.

"'M sure he's fine. He's gramps, after all," he said, running out of the cabin. He had little immediate want in his life beyond getting off the cursed form of transportation and bringing Lucy with him. "If not, I'll burn this empire to the ground until we find him!"

Everyone on the team had taken to the idea of trying to blend in with the locals of the island without complaint. Beach attire for an island made sense to everyone. It brought up just one, though nonetheless potent, problem. A certain celestial spirit mage was distracted to all hell because of it.

Lucy wasn't shallow. Since she had joined Fairy Tail, she spent most of her waking hours in the company of numerous very attractive men of different shapes and sizes. And she hadn't been one to ogle any of them beyond what was appropriate; one of her teammates had a stripping habit, after all. Hence her confusion regarding why she had to fight to keep her eyes above Natsu's bared stomach and chest.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't seen them before- though he didn't have Gray's problem, Natsu seemed to have an occasional issue getting through a fight with his shirt or vest intact. He had a tendency to wear his vest open all the time anyway. Why did she feel the heat exuded by Natsu so much more acutely just because he didn't have anything covering him from the waist upwards?

Her saving grace seemed to be that if her favorite fire mage noticed her more than occasional lingering glances in his direction, he didn't comment on it. Lucy should have been more worried about whether any of the rest of the team would say anything, but after what Natsu said on the boat, her mind had overclocked.

Her partner harbored fantasies that didn't involve fighting, food, or the lack of transportation inside his cute pink head? More to the point, he had fantasies about her? Lucy hadn't forgotten the implications of the flirting they'd traded the night before he left a year ago, but something about the word fantasy said more than that. As far as she understood, it often meant thoughts about the explicit; mutual heavy breathing, lewd noises, the exploration of sweaty bodies and the stimulation of sensitive-

"She ain't a ride, jackass!"

Lucy was rescued from the fate of having her brain liquefy and spill out of her head by the very source of her momentary overheat. She came back to reality to see Natsu decking some tourist in the jaw and sending him crashing into the sand. The fire dragon slayer's nostrils flared and he fixed the poor guy with a glare that could pierce Gajeel's head. Further on, Gray must have heard the impact because he came running toward them. The others continued on their way.

"What the hell, Sakura blossom?"

Lucy tilted her head, perplexed, before she realized the ice mage was referring to Natsu's hair color.

"The guy was"

"I got a pretty good guess what the asshole did, candlewick tits. Just be glad I caught you and Erza didn't."

Gray picked up the victim, now unconscious, and walked off toward some heavy foliage inland. He called over his shoulder.

"You two keep walking on ahead," he said, never breaking stride. "I'll dispose of the evidence."

Lucy shivered at Gray's last comment before Natsu took her hand and pulled her forward. The celestial spirit mage forced her eyes off of the dragon slayer's back and walked to keep pace with him.

"What was that about," she asked, hovering between confusion and concern at the dark expression Natsu wore. Her favorite fire mage grumbled.

"Nothin'," he said, refusing to make eye contact with her. "Just didn't like his face."

"Not even you go hauling off on people like that for no reason," Lucy persisted, pulling ahead of him to try slowing him down. She ended up walking backwards for several paces before her strategy showed any signs of working. "What's bothering you?"

Natsu stopped in the sand, still keeping his gaze above Lucy's face. The blond had to pull his head down before he relented and looked at her. His tense jaw relaxed as she skirted the curve of his neck with her fingers. She struggled to keep her eyes from wandering, but taking care of Natsu held priority. The fire mage took her hand in his and brought it up to his face. He sniffed and closed his eyes. When he sighed, Lucy felt goose bumps follow the path of his breath.

"He was sizing you up," he said, opening his eyes and tracing the pattern of her guild mark with his thumb. "An' he was doin' gross things to you with his eyes. Didn't like it, so I put a stop to it."

Lucy felt a combination of exasperation and fondness for her dragon in response to his explanation. She convinced her eyes to focus on the way his scarf held up his hair, pretending that was the most interesting feature of his on display.

"Natsu," she said, resisting the urge to hug him for fear of what it might do to her ability to form sentences. "You can't go knocking out every guy that looks at me."

The dragon slayer took this as a challenge. He flashed her favorite grin at her and answered in a low, rumbling tone that made her shiver.

"Sure I can. Watch me."

Lucy wrestled with the fire building in her veins and the rising temperature in her face. She rolled her eyes, trying to at least feign irritation.

"I'm sure you can," she said, running her other hand along his shoulder in an attempt to satiate her want for contact with him. She made an internal groan when she only managed to make it worse. "But that doesn't mean you should. It's more trouble than it's worth. And I can handle myself, Natsu."

She put as much indignation and firmness on the last part as she could muster in her flustered state. She brought her eyes back and locked them onto his onyx orbs. She watched the thoughts tossing and turning in his mind, smiling at the contortions of his eyebrows while he considered things. She almost turned to mush when he made a sudden motion to hug her that she was powerless to resist.

"Was just protecting what's mine," he said into her hair. Lucy felt immense relief and a little frustration that he kept his arms above the small of her back. "Being a dragon and all."

The spirit mage smiled against his chest, reveling in the subtle difference between the warmth he put out and the heat her feet picked up from the sand they stood on.

"And you're doing fine," she said, placing a quick kiss to his collarbone. "The princess is very pleased."

She could feel that Natsu was about to reply when the sound of footsteps approaching prompted them to break apart. Gray appeared none the wiser.

"All right, volcano top, I took care of it," he said, not waiting for any sign of thanks from Natsu. "Just don't pop off prematurely again."

Lucy stepped behind Natsu to avoid being seen by Gray. Her face felt hot enough to cook eggs on. She did not need to hear the term 'premature' in relation to Natsu when said fire mage was so close and shirtless. Gray gave a sarcastic chuckle.

"Though, I can only imagine that's really hard for you not to do."

Natsu evidently understood the implication, because he stormed away from Lucy toward Gray.

"That tears it, glacier brain! Let's go, right here!"

"What does that even mean, sulfur sucker?"

"I'm saying you're slow, Popsicle perv!"

"Are you two fighting?"

Needless to say, they got back on track after that, Lucy's flush notwithstanding.

Lucy learned something about Natsu's perspective later on, after their encounter with one of the Spriggan twelve had forced them to look for an alternative means of finding Makarov. Mest had teleported everyone to the temple of Olympia underwater. Lucy had been willing to let bygones be bygones when she found out the spy they were meeting was Sorano, despite the history between them and the grief she had caused Leo.

All bets were off when the white-haired... Lucy resisted using a certain word that she saved for the worst of people- began coddling Natsu during the ride to wherever Makarov was. Lucy fumed while Sorano played with and teased the fire dragon slayer, taking advantage of his weakened state to act the shameless flirt. She even used the same method to ease his agony- that was Lucy's job!

"I didn't notice you were such an intriguing specimen last time we tussled," she said, using one hand to draw imaginary maps and diagrams on Natsu's abdomen. "I suppose I should be glad I failed killing you."

To the fire mage's credit, even though he seemed a bit more conscious thanks to Sorano's treatment, he didn't have much of a reaction to her advances. Lucy felt a smidgen of comfort in the idea that maybe he only registered sexual undertones if they came from her. But still, she couldn't understand why Sorano was being allowed to have her way with him!

Lucy looked over, not without a bit of frustration, toward the rest of the team, who seemed oblivious to the proceedings. They were discussing strategy for extracting Makarov, which she knew was important, but no one else felt bothered by this? It didn't strike anyone as odd that Sorano tended to Natsu and leered at him when there was another, younger dragon slayer that could use comforting and assistance just as much? The last straw came when Sorano wiped some of the sweat off Natsu's brow and licked her finger. Lucy almost retched.

The blond spirit mage called to Charla in a voice so sweet it bordered on excessive. When the transformed Exceed answered, Lucy posed her request with the most unassuming face she could muster.

"Would you mind covering Wendy's ears?" She asked. Lucy wasn't exactly a Puritan, but she knew the younger dragon slayer had a heightened sense of hearing, and she still wanted to protect her innocence. When Charla questioned her reasons, Lucy let a bit of the mayhem in her heart flicker into her expression.

"Because I asked so nicely."

The female Exceed, who didn't intimidate easy, shivered before complying. The second Lucy was certain Wendy wouldn't hear her, she snatched Sorano's wrist in her hand.

"Hey"

"Not too loud, now," Lucy said, maintaining her pleasant expression. She never thought she'd be thankful for all the practice with faking a smile from her days as a Heartfilia, but it proved quite useful sometimes. "I just wanted to say, I really do appreciate you helping us, Angel."

Lucy put extra emphasis on Sorano's former moniker. She tightened her grip on the other woman's wrist and leaned in closer.

"But," she continued, letting her malice break into her smile when she was sure no one but Sorano- maybe Natsu- could see. "Don't presume that means you can get cozy with my dragon. I'd advise you tread carefully."

Sorano, who, to Lucy's satisfaction, was sweating, nonetheless scoffed.

"Or what?" She asked.

"No," Lucy said, leaning in close enough to almost whisper. "No threats from me, just the advice. If you want one, though," Lucy giggled without any trace of levity. "Use your imagination."

Lucy held Sorano by the wrist for another minute before she released her. Though she managed a nice facade of turning up her nose and walking away, Lucy noticed the way she massaged her wrist and moved in a bit too much of a hurry. She gave a small pump of her fist in victory and took her rightful place by her favorite dragon slayer.

"Wow," Natsu said, looking up at her with eyes that Lucy thought were filled with awe. "I didn't know you had it in ya, Luce."

Lucy suppressed the smile that took root on her face and put on an air of nonchalance.

"I just don't like when people try doing my job for me," she said, cupping Natsu's jaw with one hand while she stroked his hair with the other. "You're my dragon to take care of."

Lucy felt a bit of pride at the blush that stung Natsu's cheeks, and reveled in the sound of his laugh.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side."

The celestial spirit mage giggled.

"You," she said, tracing the scar on his neck with her fingertips. "Would have to do much worse than anything I could imagine to end up there."

Natsu rewarded Lucy with the grin she loved so much.

"Um, may I uncover Wendy's ears now?"

A/N: Back again! I put in a bunch of implicit stuff about suggestive things in this chapter. And I started it with an F-bomb! Do I get my T rating certificate now?

This one was seriously fun to write! I loved exploring this side of Natsu and Lucy's relationship, probably because I have only a very vague idea of what I was doing. I hope it's also fun to read! Thanks to everyone whose read the previous chapters, and to those who haven't but read some of them and... ended up here some way or another, thank you too! If you felt a little bit of joy while reading this, leave a review! If you didn't, tap out a rhythm on your keyboard and post whatever you've typed up as a review!