So before we start this one, the person to correctly guess who the speeches are was ladyAlyafaelyn :) While a lot of people came really close, you were the only person to get all four them. However, the only person to get all three of the spirits (or even guess the spirits at all) was Astrona Pyra. I feel like there should be a prize involved, since quite a few people took a guess, so...fic rec, I guess? I'll write any pairing you want, you name it, for both of you. Nice job :D
For anyone who guessed, the answer was 1. Gray, 2. Elfman (obviously everyone got that one), 3. Cana (still pretty obvious), 4. Mirajane and for the spirits 1. Loke, 2. Aquarius, 3. Virgo
Alright, here's NaLu week prompt 3: Cuddle
"And I'm here to stay, nothing can separate us. And I know I'm okay, you cradle me gently, wrapped in your arms, I'm home." -"Wrapped in Your Arms," Fireflight
A little known fact about Dragon Slayers: no matter how loud, brash, or all around rude they were, they were always gentle and affectionate with their mate.
Natsu knew this. He'd known this since before he knew how to read, because as dumb as he acted sometimes, Igneel taught him well, at least in Dragon matters. He'd noticed that Gajeel was oddly gentle with Levy, he'd seen Laxus slip an arm around Mira's waist when the blond male thought no one was looking, and he knew that Sting, Rogue, and even Cobra, annoying as they were, would eventually find a girl who would put up with them and they'd be all over her. However, Natsu did not actually know the true extent of this fact.
As far as he knew, Natsu did not have a mate; however, he did have a questionable relationship with one Lucy Heartfilia. He'd never really thought much of it, except that he did have some feelings for his partner that he chose not to act on, because there was always a chance that Lucy wasn't his mate, and he'd rather not take that chance. Until he talked to Gajeel and Laxus about it, Natsu wasn't sure he ever would find a mate, and that was fine by him.
"So what you're saying is," Natsu inquired, his face set in an uncharacteristically serious expression. "All Dragon Slayers subconsciously act differently toward their mate…before they even know that person is their mate?" Laxus nodded, his arms folded across his chest. "That's exactly what we're saying, twerp." Natsu narrowed his eyes at the other two suspiciously. "That doesn't make sense. You were never any different with Mira than you were with any of the rest of us." Laxus glared at him, and Natsu bit back a laugh at the slight blush on the older man's cheeks. "Maybe that's because no one said there was anything between me and Mirajane in the first place, brat! Anyway," He huffed, jerking his head toward Gajeel. "I'm done here. He'll explain the rest." And with that, Laxus stood up and left, mumbling something about "crazy demon woman" and "no way in hell."
"So…you're nicer to Levy than you are to everyone else…because she's your mate?" Natsu questioned. Gajeel shrugged, chewing on a piece of iron. "Well, I don't think I'm particularly nice to the shrimp, but you get the gist. Good job, Salamander. Gold star fer you." Natsu was about to retort when Gajeel continued. "But there's something Sparky over there didn't mention." Natsu perked up, suddenly curious. "Yeah? What?"
"Metallicana told me that Dragon Slayers are real…touchy-feely with their mate. Apparently, we like physical contact." Natsu nodded slowly. "Okay…so are you saying we're perverts or cuddlers?" Gajeel cringed. "Don't use that word, it makes it sound all fluffy and stuff. But…the second one, yeah." Natsu blinked, taking in this new information. So he was a cuddler…by instinct? Weird, he'd never thought of himself as one. "Okay. Is that all?" Gajeel nodded, still crunching on the same piece of iron. "Okay. Cool." Natsu didn't wait for a response, but got up and made his way to the guild doors.
Cuddling, huh? He'd never thought about that. He'd always known that Dragon Slayers were naturally protective, gentle, and affectionate with their mate, but being affectionate on that level had never crossed his mind. Natsu shrugged, disregarding the fact. Until he found his mate, if he ever did, it wasn't something he was going to have to deal with.
(That was a lie and he knew it).
That night, Natsu broke into Lucy's house through her bedroom window like he knew how and slept in her bed as per usual. Even if he said her bed was more comfortable than his, he wasn't entirely sure why he did this on a regular basis. Maybe, he thought, it was protective instinct; he knew Lucy could handle herself, but if some creep broke into her house (a bit hypocritical of him to think, he knew), he'd be there to bash their face in before they could figure out that the house belonged to a pretty young woman who happened to be asleep and therefore had her guard down.
All the same, he'd done it so often that Lucy was past the point of caring. He wasn't really sure why he crawled through her window at this point instead of just walking home with her (wait, no, he knew why; that would make people suspicious…not that sneaking through her bedroom window didn't). In the beginning, he'd fall asleep beside her, bracing himself to be yelled at in the morning, but instead woke up to Lucy smiling at him and asking, jokingly of course, "you didn't try anything while I was sleeping, did you?" (despite his best efforts, that question never failed to make him blush redder than Erza's hair). Now, they somehow ended up strangely close to each other overnight, but pretended like it didn't happen and went on with their day. She didn't seem to mind his presence in her bed anymore, either that or she'd given up on telling him off, and that was fine with him. Actually, he liked sleeping in her bed with her. It was kind of nice.
That said, Natsu should have been prepared for what he woke up to the next morning.
He woke at around five thirty am, thinking that he should go back to sleep and wait for Lucy to wake up, when he noticed. Somehow, overnight, he and Lucy had ended up in a rather compromising position. They were facing each other, and both his arms were wrapped securely around her waist. Lucy's face was buried in his shirt, his in her hair, and their legs were…well, very tangled up. Natsu glanced down at her sleeping form, careful not to move too much and wake her up (that would be extremely embarrassing, as they'd never been that close before). She looked peaceful, content. Actually, he thought, she looked kind of pretty. Well, she was always pretty. But the sight of her looking so serene brought a soft smile to his face.
This had happened before, which was why he hadn't been particularly surprised, but never to this extent. Usually, he just had an arm draped around her waist or something much less…intimate. Perhaps Lucy was cold during the night and had unknowingly moved toward the first source of warmth she could find. Or maybe she thought he was a pillow. Still, that didn't explain how their legs had ended up like that, or why he was holding her and not the other way around.
"Dragon Slayers are real…touchy-feely with their mate."
…..Oh. Well then.
Gajeel's words came back to Natsu, and he felt heat creeping up his face. So that was what had been happening. It must have been. Dragon Slayers were cuddlers, apparently. Now that he knew that, he realized that this was why lately, he'd been waking up just a little too close to his best friend. Funny, he hadn't even snapped earlier. Why that was, he didn't know, but he did know that he didn't plan on moving any time soon.
Unlike the other Dragon Slayers, Natsu realized, he was not ashamed of being an instinctive cuddler. Gajeel and Laxus could deny it all they wanted, but now that he knew that he was, in fact, cuddling with Lucy instinctively and not just keeping her warm on the multiple occasions they'd woke up very close to each other, he would gladly admit that cuddling was nice. And he liked it. A lot.
But there was one other question.
"…real…touchy-feely with their mate."
Their mate.
Natsu bit his lip. Did this mean that Lucy was his mate? Not that he hadn't thought about that possibility before, but what if she didn't want to be his mate? Dragons mated for life, and if he was correct, so did Dragon Slayers. But Lucy wasn't a Dragon Slayer, was she? So if she left him, or didn't want to be with him, where did that put him? Alone, that's where. Not having a mate at all was one thing. Finding his mate and not being allowed to be with her was a different scenario entirely.
But, he thought, maybe Lucy would want him. Natsu looked at her again, watching as her chest rose and fell as she breathed, taking in her appearance. Well, she certainly waspretty. Smiling ever so slightly, he brushed her hair away from her face, still lost in thought. She cuddled up closer to him in her sleep, and, careful not to wake her, he pulled her closer as well. She seemed happy with him while she was sleeping at the very least, trusted him enough to let him sleep in her bed, and was surprisingly okay when they woke up just a bit too close for comfort. Maybe that counted for something?
Now that he thought about it, he was kind of affectionate with her. He hugged her a lot, held her hand sometimes, and liked being close to her. He liked everything about her, and wouldn't reject the idea of them being together. And she was surprisingly good at putting up with his obnoxious self, so maybe…
Huh.
"Did I just find my mate?"
This may be the fluffiest thing I've ever written. Oops? Ah well. I've always had a headcanon about Dragon Slayers being cuddly for some reason, because I talked about this sort of topic with my friend and that was what we came up with. And I'd seen the "Dragon Slayers mate for life" theory multiple times and I liked it so I sort of decided that it was my headcanon. Heh. Okay, well, this is the last of the fluff, unfortunately (not really I like angst). Thanks for reading! :D
