Chapter Text
Natsu and Lucy were best friends. They had been best friends since that faithful day in Hargeon when they were 16. They had each other’s backs. They protected each other and they protected their friends. Nothing happened with one that the other didn’t know about.
That’s what made this so complicated.
They were just on another job; Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza, in Akane Beach. They had just finished the job and collected their pay. Lucy recommended they take the rest of the day off before heading back to Magnolia. They grabbed a change of clothes and towels and headed to the beach.
Once they were set up, Natsu and Grey dived straight for the water. When he surfaced, Natsu turned to see Lucy helping Erza put sunscreen on her back. “Now you,” Erza said. Natsu watched Erza’s movements as she rubbed the sunscreen on her bare back. He found himself zeroing in on the freckles on Lucy’s back. He stared at them, wondering what they felt like and why he never noticed them before. He had no idea how much time had passed before Grey was calling out to him. “Oy! Flame brain!”
Natsu blinks himself out of his daze. “What do you want ice breath?” He’d barely finished the sentence before Grey dunked him in the water. When he resurfaced, coughing the water out of his lungs, he turned to Grey. “What the hell, Grey?” Grey laughed in his face. “Quit staring at the girls you pervert,” Grey said through laughs. When he settled, he got a good look at Natsu. “Not the girls,” he smirked, “Lucy.”
If looks could kill, Grey would be dead multiple times over. He simply rolled his eyes. “It’s been five years Natsu. You can’t seriously still be hung up on the breakup.”
What?
“This has nothing to do with that. We dated and it didn’t work. I’m glad we stayed best friends. Besides that was nearly five years ago. I’m not some lovesick puppy.” Grey gave him the look that deserved. “Then stop staring at her like one.”
Soon the four of them were playing in the water. Natsu kept finding himself watching Lucy. He watched as she broke through the water, her long hair hitting her back and the water coating her skin. He watched as a particularly large water droplet trailed down her neck over the swell of one of her breasts and down her toned stomach. Natsu found his dick hardening in his swim shorts.
What is going on with me?
Natsu got out of the water and headed to the hotel. He was trying to process what had been going on today. It’s not like Lucy wasn’t hot. She always has been! But they tried dating when they were 18 and it didn’t work. And they have been strictly friends since they broke up, no benefits, ever. So spending an entire afternoon staring at her and getting hard watching her do the most mundane things was, unusual to say the least. He didn’t know what was going on.
As soon as he got to the hotel room, Natsu headed for the shower. He stood under the cold spray, waiting for his boner to subside. After 20 minutes in the freezing water, he gave up. He turned up the heat and wrapped a fist around his dick. He started slow, building up to his orgasm. He let his thoughts run to where they’d been trying to go all day; Lucy. Her smooth neck, the swell of her tits and her ass, her toned arms and legs and her full lips.
Natsu focused on those lips. The way they felt on his lips, and especially around his dick. How warm her mouth felt when she would suck him off. How she would take care of his morning wood because she enjoyed it. How he would wake up to her mouth around his dick and two fingers in her cunt, before fucking her nice and deep to start the day. He increased the speed on his dick. He watched as ropes of his cum coated the shower wall before being washed away by the spray.
He finished cleaning up and stepped out of the shower. He wrapped himself in his towel and walked into the room. “Natsu are you ok?” Natsu looked up to find Lucy on the bed. She was still wearing her bikini top but she had a skirt over the bottoms now. Natsu found himself staring at her chest again. “Natsu?” Lucy called. He looked up at her.
“Yeah?” Then he remembered what she asked. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Lucy gave him a long look. “Are you sure? You’ve been really quiet since we finished the job and you keep zoning out. And then you just up and left us without a word. Something’s wrong.” Goddamn, he hated how observant she was sometimes. “Luce, it’s nothing.” She looked at him and nodded. “No, it’s not. But you’ll tell me when you’re ready?” she asked him. He sighed and nodded. “Ok,” she said and got up to leave.
In the morning, they gathered their stuff and headed for the train home. “I can’t believe we haven’t figured out how to deal with his motion sickness still,” Grey commented as Natsu got settled by Lucy, his head in her lap. Lucy rolled her eyes. “Leave him alone. You know it’s a dragon slayer thing. Besides, according to Levy, Gajeel’s worse.” Grey rolled his eyes. “At least we got the manageable one then,” he said sarcastically.
The train started. Natsu groaned and turned over so he was facing Lucy’s stomach. She slipped her hand in his hair and started to scratch his scalp, soothing him. Lucy pulled out her book to read on the train ride. It was another one of her trashy books. She opened up the page she stopped on and continued. Perfect, it was right before another sex scene.
By the time they got off the train, Lucy’s panties were soaked and she was in desperate need of a good fuck. All her best options for that seemed to be out of town.
Fantastic. Men, she thought rolling her eyes. Vibrator it is.
“Come on. We’re stopping at the guild,” Erza said to them. Lucy opened her mouth to argue before thinking better of it.
OK, 2 minutes at the guild then a 10-minute walk home and then orgasm. You can do it. Lucy took a deep breath and they got in the magic vehicle, Erza wearing the SE plug.
Lucy turned to look at Natsu. He had his forehead pressed on the glass. She was still worried about him but it’s not like he would hear a word she was saying anyway. She just resigned to talking to him again later.
He could still smell her arousal. Natsu spent the entire train ride smelling her arousal. What the hell was she thinking about that had her so wet? Who? He found himself wanting to be the answer. And again he was wondering why he was thinking like this. He could never smell her wetness before. He didn’t know why his sense was heightened all of a sudden.
And now he was in the car, the same thoughts running through his head. He was so distracted the motion sickness didn’t seem to affect him. As soon as the car stopped he hopped out and headed straight into the guild. “Where’s metal head?” he bellowed. Gajeel looked up from his table. As soon as he saw Natsu, a bored look settled on his face.
“What do you want Flame brain?” he asked.
“I need to talk to you and,” he paused, looking around before yelling, “LAXUS!”
“What the hell Natsu?” Laxus asked when he showed up. “We need to talk,” he said before walking off to find an empty table.
“What the hell is going on with me?” Natsu asked as soon as the three of them sat down. “The fuck are you talking about Pinky?” Gajeel asked. Natsu decided to ignore the jab for now. This was too important. “Lucy.” He watched as Laxus and Gajeel shared a look. “I notice everything, and I mean everything. So what the fuck is happening right now?”
Gajeel threw his head back in a full-body laugh. Laxus just smiled. “How long?” he asked.
“The last few days or so.” Gajeel finally stopped laughing so damn much. He managed to bring it down to a chuckle.
“How old are you again?” Laxus asked.
“22. 23 in a couple of months,” Natsu informed.
“Ok. It’s still early,” Gajeel said through his laughs. “Of course Blondies your mate."
Mate?
“My what?” he asked.
“Your mate Natsu,” Laxus responded. “You’ve almost reached maturity.”
Now Natsu was confused. “I already went through puberty so what the fuck are you talking about?”
Gajeel rolled his eyes. “Dragon maturity. Seriously what the fuck did Igneel teach you? You’re in heat- dragon puberty. Lucy is your mate. You need to claim her- fuck her, and bite her, and she becomes your partner for life. Dragons only mate once so it’s her or no one.”
“What? Wait why is this different from before? It’s not like we didn’t fuck before.”
Gajeel groaned. “You can’t be this dumb.” Laxus rolled his eyes.
“He is. We know that. It’s dragon maturity. That’s the difference. Before you were just horny teens. Now, if you choose to do this, it will be forever.”
Natsu was still processing this. “How do I know she’s my mate? It’s not like it worked before.”
“Like he said, horny teenagers, mature adults,” Gajeel reiterated. “You need to talk to Lucy. Figure it out between the two of you.” With that, the two of them got up and left him.
Natsu sat there for a few minutes, processing the new information. Lucy was his mate. He had to talk to her and, what, convince her to spend the rest of her life with him? He didn’t want to have to convince her. He wanted her to choose him. But she obviously can’t make a decision without all the information first.
And besides that, was this what he wanted? He loved Lucy. He always has and always would but spending the rest of his life with her. And not out of their own choice, because his dragon decided they had to. Gajeel said it was her or no one. Was that really the type of situation he based the rest of his life on? His happiness?
OK, before he started to spiral, he decided he needed to talk to Lucy. Natsu got out of his seat. He had a look around the guild. Lucy was nowhere to be seen
She’s probably home.
Natsu headed to Lucy’s apartment. He stood under her window, the scent of Lucy’s arousal assaulting his senses. Stronger this time. Natsu followed the scent, climbing up to the window and opening it. He groaned, his pants tenting.
Natsu dropped into her room, careful not to bother Lucy. He watched as Lucy pumped her fingers in and out of her pussy, while holding a vibrator to her clit. He watched her stiffen as an orgasm ripped through her, her body convulsing. Natsu groaned at the smell of her cum, his dick getting painfully hard. He watched as the wetness seeped out of her pussy. He listened to her breath slow down as her orgasm subsided. Her eyes shot open.
Fuck!
“Natsu! What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked, covering herself up.
“Sorry! Sorry!” he said turning around. “I came to talk to you,” he explained, as he listened to her move around, getting dressed.
“So you watch me masturbate instead? Are you fucking kidding me?” She asked, indignant.
“I’m sorry Luce! Really! But that’s kind of what I need to talk to you about,” he explained, scratching his neck.
“What are talking about?” she asked. “You can turn around.”
“Ok, firstly, I’m really sorry,” he said once he turned around. “Remember how you were asking what’s going on? And I said, well you said, I would talk to you when I was ready?” He asked. At her nod, he continued. “Well, I’m ready. Can we talk?” Lucy nodded again.
They went to take a seat in her living room, Lucy waiting for Natsu to speak.
He took a deep breath. “OK so I know you and Levy did a lot of study on dragons and dragon slayers, but I’m not sure how much you actually learnt. According to Gajeel and Laxus, the reason I’ve been acting strange is because I hit dragon maturity and I’m in heat.”
He avoided looking Lucy in the eyes while she digested this. “Of course! You turn 23 in, what, 2 months? You would be showing signs right about now. Makes sense,” she said.
Natsu looked at Lucy in awe.
Of course, she knows.
“Don’t look so surprised. You’re my best friend. Of course I learnt what I could,” she said proudly. Her face changed into a smirk. “So who’s your mate?” she asked.
OK breathe.
“Youare!” he rushed out.
“Oh!” Lucy said, shocked. Lucy needed a second to process it. "But we didn’t work before,” she said. “And I don’t want someone to be with me their whole life because they had no choice. I want to be chosen. I don’t know how I feel about this.”
Natsu nodded. “Trust me. I get it. If you need a bit of time to think about this, I get it. I’m still processing too. I just wanted you to have all the information. I’ll leave,” he said, heading for the door.
“Natsu wait!” she called. “We have two months. How about this? We meet at the guild tomorrow and we’ll talk about it then. Ok?” It was probably the best they could do right now.
Natsu nodded. “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow Luce,” he said before walking out the door.
Lucy stared at the door for a few minutes after Natsu left.
I'm my best friend’s mate.
How the hell was she supposed to even process that? Lucy grabbed her lacrima phone.
“What the hell Levy?” she said as soon as Levy picked up the phone.
“Is that Blondie?” she heard Gajeel ask.
“Yeah. I guess Natsu talked to her already.”
Lucy decided to ignore Gajeel’s laugh in the background. “You knew?” she asked.
“I just found out Lucy. I swear! But yes, you’re Natsu’s mate.”
“How did you do this? Decide to spend the rest of your life with Gajeel with two months’ notice?” she asked.
“I don’t know Lucy. Gajeel and I were already together. We had talked about his heat before he started experiencing any of it. We mated and that was that,” she explained.
“But Natsu and I aren’t together. We tried dating and it didn’t work. We both agreed we were better off as friends, Levy. I don’t know how this could work.”
Lucy heard a laugh followed by Gajeel saying, “You agreed.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Lucy asked.
“Gajeel fuck off!” Levy said. “But apparently, your mutual break up wasn’t exactly mutual Lucy.”
What?
At Lucy’s stunned silence, Levy continued. “Natsu told Grey and Gajeel that he wanted to stay together but he agreed with you because he didn’t want to lose you. So he let you believe the breakup was mutual and you stayed best friends.”
Lucy had no idea what to say to all that. She stayed silent for a beat before asking, “Why would he lie to me? We don’t lie to each other.” She was having trouble grasping the situation.
“Lucy in under two years you became one of the most important people in his life. He loved you. He still does. He wasn’t about to lose you because you tried to date and it failed. And I honestly don’t blame him.”
“Levy even if that’s true, it’s been almost 5 years. How do I know he still feels that way about me? What if being his mate is just an inconvenience to him?” she asked.
Levy sighed. “I don’t know Lu. What did he say when you talked about it?” she asked. Lucy told her their plan. “So do that. Think up a plan and talk to him tomorrow. That’s the best move right now Luce.”
“Ok... ok. I think I’m going to go to bed. It’s been a long day. Thanks, Levy. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lucy said.
“Bye, Lucy. See you tomorrow,” Levy responded before hanging up.
Lucy put down her phone and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower. She stood under the warm spray, running through the day’s events.
Natsu never wanted to break up with me.
Did that mean she broke her best friend’s heart? And everyone knew it except her. Some best friend she was.
Lucy wanted to do this. She really did. But she didn’t want to commit the rest of her life to someone because they had no choice. That sounded like a recipe for a very long and resent-filled future. And she didn’t want that for herself or to Natsu.
Lucy was still running through all the ways to sort this out as she got into bed and went to sleep.
When she got up the next day, Lucy threw on her clothes and headed to the guild. She still hadn’t figured out what to do about this whole situation but she wasn’t going to avoid Natsu. As soon as she walked into the guild, she took a look around and wasn’t surprised to Natsu seated in the back near the master’s office. She took a seat across from him. “Hey, Natsu.” He looked exhausted. “Did you get any sleep last night?” Lucy asked. At the shake of his head, Lucy sighed.
Honestly, he felt like crap, and he probably looked it. Natsu spent the night tossing and turning, worried he was about to lose Lucy forever. He kept Happy up for most of the night and he still wasn’t entirely confident in his plan.
Mavis! She’s going to hate me!
“Did you figure out what you want to do about this?” he asked.
Lucy shook her head. “No. I spoke to Levy. I just wanted to see how she dealt with it.”
Natsu just nodded at that. “I don’t want you stuck with me the rest of your life because of some base instinct.”
Natsu was taken aback. “Wait! No that’s not what this is. I mean yes you are my mate but it’s not just some base instinct, as you put it. It’s based on feelings I already have,” he explained.
Shit!
He cringed when he realized what he said. “Levy was right?” Lucy asked.
Did anyone in this goddamn guild mind their business?
“What exactly did Levy say?” Natsu asked. He waited as Lucy went through her conversation from last night. “Natsu why didn’t you just tell me the truth?” Lucy asked. Natsu sighed.
“Well, it was kind of pathetic honestly. And I didn’t want to lose you. Honestly being your boyfriend wasn’t worth losing you as a friend. And besides Luce, you didn’t want to stay together.”
Lucy opened her mouth to respond. Natsu raised a hand, a silent wait. “I always figured you were just scared and weren’t ready and we would find a way back to each other sometime later. That’s why I didn’t push. But, I don’t know, I guess I gave up?” he thought for a second. “No not gave up, lost hope. I could never give up on you Luce,” he finished, mumbling the last part.
Lucy felt tears well up in her eyes. She took a deep breath, releasing a sigh. “I was scared. I was scared so I ran. That’s kind of my MO Natsu. We were together for what 4 months? I was already in love with you. I didn’t want to risk getting hurt. It was easier to tell you that I just wanted to be friends than admit I was scared of rejection.” She wiped the tears that had been free-falling. “So yeah you were right. And I guess that fact that it was so easy for you to go back to being friends told me I was right. So I never wanted to bring it up again.”
“So what you’re saying is if we had just talked to each other instead of what we did, we would probably have been fine,” Natsu stated, a self-deprecating chuckle slipping free.
Lucy laughed right alongside him. “Classic miscommunication trope,” she added.
Once they stopped laughing, they spent a moment sitting in silence. “All of that aside Natsu, I don’t want the reason we try ‘us’ again to be because you're in heat.”
Natsu nodded. “I get that Lucy. But since I’m not technically in heat yet, why don’t we just try dating.”
Lucy was a bit dumbfounded. “What?”
Natsu shrugged. “I mean it’s not like it’ll be the first time we did this.”
Lucy considered it for a moment. “Ok. We go on a few dates. But if we’re doing that, no more sneaking into my room for surprise sleepovers. You and Happy! And the moment you start to fully go into heat you tell me!”
Natsu nodded. “OK! Deal! No more dropping off in your room while you masturbate.” Lucy groaned and dropped her head on the table.
Across the guild, she heard Levy yell, “WHAT?!”
Lucy let out another groan, refusing to raise her head. “Of course they were listening,” she mumbled. She suddenly remembered something. “Your senses are heightened now, right?” Lucy asked tilting her head to peak at Natsu.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m just more in tune with you.”
Lucy started to blush. “So on the train yesterday?” she asked. Natsu’s cheeks took on a pink tinge as well, as he nodded.
Lucy felt her blush spread down her neck. “OK, bye.” She said getting up to leave.
As she walked out of the guild, she heard Gajeel’s distinctly loud laugh. She groaned again, her pace quickening.