Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Warning: This story contains rimming, corset!kink and asphyxiation!kink. if you don't like, the backbutton is your friend.

Lacing

Night was settling over Magnolia, its magnanimous veil of darkness covering the buildings, bringing a balmy coolness after the day's stifling heat.

Lights began to flare bright here and there to bring a golden glow to the streets, allowing the town's inhabitants to walk easily through the town.

People were milling around, some heading home, some to meet their friends.

Overall, a peaceful, gentle air permeated the town – and all that in spite of harbouring one of the rowdiest guilds there were. Fairy Tail stood imposingly but, strangely, even there the calm had settled.

There were some guild-members inside, yes, but most of them – especially the louder ones – had headed to their respective homes.

And that was where Natsu and Gray were, having just gotten inside Gray's house. They were in high spirits, laughing and muttering to each other words that were often cut by a snicker while they leaned heavily against each other as a means to stay upright. They weren't drunk even if outwardly they showed some signs of it. They sobered up some as Gray lit one of the living room's lamps. Its soft glow attempting bravely to do the same that the lights outside did to the night. The air between the two mages sobered even further.

Then they disentangled from each other's embrace and threw themselves to the nearest seat, landing heavily and falling in a mess of sprawled out limbs, as the furniture groaned faintly. There was a pregnant pause as both mages looked at each other. The giddiness they had felt before hadn't exactly left them but was now reigned in. Then, Natsu sprung up, sat straight and turned towards Gray.

"So. Do you think that you're up to try it tonight?" he asked, wonderingly.

Gray looked up at Natsu, a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Don't you think I am?" Gray shot back, arching an eyebrow as he stood up and walked to one corner of the room and retrieved a paper bag. He headed to the coffee table and placed it there. He turned towards Natsu and crossed his arms, posture saying 'and now?'. Natsu stood up and headed towards the bag, plunging his hand in it and feeling something satiny against his fingertips. He grabbed it and pulled it out. It was a corset. And, it was in a colour that surprised Natsu quite a lot. The body of the corset was silver with tiny blue flowers embroidered in it, here and there. The boning stood firm against his fingers holding the, for now, open garment. On the sides, laces in a blue of the same tone of the flowers were hanging. Natsu looked at Gray pointedly.

"Do I want to know how you got this?" he asked, amused.

"Shut up, you fire eating halfwit!" grumbled Gray, throwing his pants at the other mage's face. Natsu quickly got rid of them and looked at Gray. He started snickering.

"It must have been fun. Is all I'm saying…" Natsu shrugged with mock nonchalance.

Gray glared at the fire mage, crossing his arms – his shirt long gone.

"Shut it." Gray demanded with a growl as he kicked off his shoes and socks. "Now, give me that. Let's get this over with!"

"I didn't think a bet would affect you that much. But," he threw a pointed look at the remaining clothing in Gray's form, "don't you want to get rid of your underwear?" Natsu asked as he held the satiny fabric.

"And you call me a pervert!" Gray shot back with a smirk.

Natsu started walking towards Gray, caging him against the back of the armchair with his arms, clothed body close enough so that the ice mage could feel the warmth coming off of him in waves. The corset open and thrown carelessly over the rough fabric of the armchair.

Natsu leaned forward, lips at the barest distance from Gray's – who was starting to lean forward – before the warm hands got to the ice mage's hips and turned him around so that Gray's front was pressed against the rough fabric. Natsu made Gray straighten up so that he could splay the open corset over Gray's torso. Gray was laying his hands flat against the top of the armchair, breathing calmly. The fire mage, then, decided to start fastening the lacing, starting at the bottom.

"Nobody said I wasn't one." Natsu was pushing down Gray's boxer-shorts to rest dangerously low on his hips, and then he gave a hard pull to the bottom lacing. Gray gasped and held tighter onto the back of the couch.

Natsu plastered himself against Gray's back, hand splayed on the other's front as he nuzzled the back of the dark haired's head. "It's just that I don't show it to the world at large." He breathed against Gray's ear. "Should we continue?"

Gray nodded and braced himself.

"A bet's a bet. Do it."

Natsu gave a quick peck to the top of Gray's spine, stepping back and grabbing onto the blue silk of the lacing.

He quickly tied the strings up, tugging hard and knocking the breath out of Gray's lungs in tiny increments. When he finished, Natsu gave a bow to the top lacing and placed both his hands on Gray's waist, running his hands over the new-found curves. It felt so odd…

Gray exhaled softly.

Natsu took the opportunity to nibble playfully on Gray's left shoulder at the same time that, ever so slowly, he pushed Gray's underwear down until it slid past his legs and pooled on the floor. Natsu stepped back to be able to take in the whole picture of Gray, leaning slightly forward and holding onto the back of the armchair. The silver corset made Natsu's attention stray from the other's very male straining muscles of the arms and back towards the more delicate form. The blue ribbon from the lacings fell, still a good portion of it, and touched the top of Gray's buttocks just in the slightest.

"Wow," Natsu breathed. "You're something, Gray," he added.

In reply Gray shook his head and laughed.

"Whatever you say," he let out a snort, "but I could say that I'm finding quite a bit of new things about you, huh?" Gray retorted, throwing his head to the side and looking defiantly at Natsu. In the following moment he let out a gasp as he was pressed against the sofa, Natsu's hard body crowding onto his hotly. Another thing that pressed against him was Natsu's erection. Gray smirked and reached behind to rub against the clothed bulge.

"You're really getting off on this, aren't you?" Gray asked, a bit surprised at Natsu's reactions.

"L-like you aren't!" Natsu retorted weakly, although one of the hands that were on Gray's hips slipped down to curl around the ice mage's erection.

"What if we just take – ah – care of this?" asked Gray as he held onto the furniture in front of him with one hand and to the back of the fire mage's neck with the other as his body moved to the movement set by the other.

"That-that could be arranged…" Natsu replied, breathless as he stroked and moved against Gray.

And then, everything came to a halt. Natsu stumbled one step back, leaving Gray feeling bereft. The searing warmth was no longer at his back. Gray choked a whine in the back of his throat.

"Natsu!" he demanded, impatiently.

"Hold just a second." Natsu hollered as he ran towards the bedroom and back to Gray in no time. "There was something lacking." He lifted the small pot of oil they used. Gray just groaned and let some of his weight slump onto the sofa.

"Just, hurry." He breathed. (1)

They both lay slumped over the back of the furniture, Natsu on Gray's side so as not to squish the other. The Salamander took great interest in seeing his come slipping from Gray's hole and sliding on the insides of the other mage's thighs. They panted for a while longer, Gray taking longer to regain some control. Natsu stood and, slowly, started to unlace the corset, letting Gray adjust to the difference. When the thing was out, he threw it on the coffee table and gave a light massage to Gray's torso before leading them to the bedroom to do a quick clean-up and get ready to bed.

As they lay Gray suddenly turned to Natsu.

"The armchair. It's a mess!"

Natsu yawned.

"We can clean it tomorrow." Natsu felt an elbow dig on his flank at this.

"It's going to be in a miserable state tomorrow!"

"Don't worry, I'll burn it. That'll solve it."

"You're insane. But, sure. That armchair was in bad shape already. You'll buy the new one though."

"What? Nooo. Come on Gray!" Natsu whined. But Gray was unmovable. Finally Natsu gave up and huffed.

"Fine."

Gray laughed and got ready to sleep when he heard "But you were very hot…" being said in a low voice. He turned and smoothly replied.

"Don't worry, next time you can use it." he leaned forward to give a quick kiss on Natsu's lips and run a comforting thumb over the other's hipbone. Then he turned to the other side and was on the brink of falling asleep when he heard the reply. A quiet "Okay."

He smiled.

A/N: A quick PWP that I wrote to try to cheer up my dear friend Fullbusterrulesmyheart.

She was a bit down and there's nothing like a good PWP to cheer us up, ne? I hope you enjoyed this small piece, my dear. ^^

My thanks to Subkulture for the beta and for being the first victim.

As usual, because of the content, I cut part of the story. You can find it on my AO3 account, the link's on my profile.

Thanks for reading. As usual, feedback is appreciated.