"Passion is the spark that ignites the flame of love; to burn brighter and hotter."

― Deborah Brodie

The lips were cold, slightly chapped, but getting warmer, wetter, more supple with each kiss. Natsu wanted those lips to be the same heat as his own. Or maybe those lips were cooling off Natsu's own mouth. He didn't know and didn't care. He just wanted their temperatures to match, mingle, and become one. Somewhere between hot and cold, summer and winter, flames and ice, somehow they met on equal ground, but only when they were this close together.

The body under him writhed and twisted, sometimes moving away from the pleasure, sometimes arching up into it, as if there was no way to decide which was better: to resist, or to give in.

Natsu liked both. He liked when the limbs and torso resisted, because then he could get forceful, dominating over the reluctance. However, he absolutely loved when he heard a moan, a whimper, a gasp, and that body pressed needfully into his caressing hands.

"Nnngh ... Natsu!"

He felt a chill at the name whispered in the darkness. His name, uttered by his mate. Natsu's mouth moved down, sucking, sometimes biting just because he wanted to hear a cry, and licking, licking, licking! Everywhere! He wanted to claim every piece of flesh on this body.

His tongue dragged slowly over the nipple of a taut pectoral. He let his tongue slap the tightening nub, getting soft noises of pleasure turning into insane cries.

"Stop teasing!" The shout was accompanied by a full-body shiver. "Please!"

Begging ... how sweet. How could he possibly resist?

Natsu pulled the small teat with his lips, suckling and nipping. Arms wrapped around him and fingers dug into his flesh with erotic pain.

"More!"

"How much more do you want?" Natsu asked.

"Inside. Now. I need you."

He gripped his arousal, and blue eyes gazed up in the darkness, pleading to be filled.

"Do you really want it?" Natsu teased, rubbing just the head of his arousal against the small opening. "Do you want my cock?"

"Yes! Please!" he shouted, trying to lift his hips.

Natsu placed a hand down and held him still. "I'll take care of it." Slowly, with shivering cries of pleasure under him, Natsu slipped in. "So warm inside."

"N-Natsu ... more."

"Oh, don't you worry," he smirked slyly. "Just because you're an ice princess doesn't mean I won't fuck you like a beast."

The man under him gasped and shivered at the dirty words. Oh yes, he liked it rough and crude! He would never admit it, but Natsu knew what drove him crazy. Cold hands reached down to stroke himself, but Natsu snatched his wrists away.

"Not yet. You have to pleasure me, first. Then you're allowed to come."

He went slowly, thrusting in, gently pulling out, savoring the feel. It was so tight, so smooth, and those groans ... oh God, listening to the whines and whimpers was pure heaven. So sweet. So erotic!

"Talk ... more."

Yes, he loved when Natsu said those dirty words.

"You ass is mine. All mine," the Dragon Slayer growled. "I'm going to mark you, every bit of you, my little prey. Outside," and Natsu leaned over to bite into the side of the neck. "Inside." He slammed his hips in and listened to the shout of pleasure. "You like it rough, don't you?"

He pounded in hard, with long and full strokes that crashed again and again. Every thrust led to a moan, pain and pleasure mixed, discomfort and erotic thrills blending just like their bodies that were now one. Natsu knew it was selfish, but he wanted to be pleasured without giving back, at least for a few minutes. He felt one of the hands pull again, a desperate need for stimulation, and he squeezed the wrist just a little harder, not enough to bruise, but tight enough to show he was not going to let his lover have his way just yet.

"Natsu ... please, let me come."

"Not yet. You don't smell like you're ready."

"I am! I'm gonna ... I'm ... ahhh!"

"Fine. But I'll do it."

Natsu reached down and stroked an erection already dripping and trembling with need. Instantly, he felt rigid stiffening in the body under him.

"Natsu ... nnngh ... Na- ... aaaaah ... Natsu!"

He watched the pleasure on that face, felt the pulsing surges within his grip, and saw the arches of creamy white shooting out, ropes of cum showing the culmination of their love. Natsu could hardly help but follow him, plummeting over the edge. He slammed in hard, his nails clawed into the pale hips, and he groaned as he filled him ... filling up that body ... marking inside that ass ... claiming his beloved mate.

His. All his! His alone!

"... Gray ..."

Natsu jolted awake. His heart was racing, and it hurt his chest. He could hardly breathe fast enough. He felt exhausted, although he had just been asleep. What a dream!

Then he felt the inevitable wetness on his crotch. As he slowly peeled back the tangled sheets, he smelled the rank odor of semen.

"Dammit," he whispered.

He grabbed the covers in his fists, feeling angry, disappointed, and frustrated that his subconscious mind was giving him these sorts of dreams, fantasies of things he wanted so badly, things he desired more than anything—more than food and flames—but it was something he could never have.

In reality, Gray only tolerated him. Just because he had been a little more kind than usual today, just because he canceled his date with Juvia to stay by Natsu's side and keep him cooled off ... just because he showed a smidgen of kindness, Natsu was having these dreams again.

"Dammit! Stop it!" he cursed under his breath, trying to fight the tears away as he rested his head on his folded knees. The smell of lust and the feel of that sticky wetness slowly drying were both shaming and blatant proof of the feelings burning in his heart.

Feelings he could never express.

Not when Gray now belonged to another.

"I can't have him, so don't torture me, dammit! I can't be with him." His voice cracked in a low whisper. "So just stop it already. I don't want these dreams. I don't want it if I can't have it." His shoulders shivered as he buried the tears. "I ... want him ... need him ... so much. Gray..."

In the darkness, Happy watched Natsu as he sobbed and called out that name. The Exceed wished he could do something, but he had met Rei-chan in the hospital on her visit. She took him out to lunch the next day, bought him a fish, smiled pleasantly as she listened to him prattle about Natsu, questioned him about Natsu's friendship with Gray, and that was when he secretively told her about hearing Natsu sobbing Gray's name on nights just like this. Happy told her that seeing Natsu cry like this made him want to cry also. She consoled him, got him another fish—two fish! He liked her already—and warned Happy that he should not interfere. When it came to matters of love, the two individuals had to work things out for themselves. Outside interference could destroy absolutely everything.

Happy really hoped these two were not totally hopeless idiots. Lucy said she had a plan, but he wondered if she should really get involved.