A/N: So, I'm kind of obsessed with CoLu, and most of the (far too few) stories for this ship were written for CoLu Week last summer. I wasn't reading or writing Fairy Tail fanfiction at that time, so I totally missed the boat on it. However, I dig the prompts, and I decided to write stories for them anyway to add to the CoLu love. Each story is linked (sometimes very tangentially) to a song. I hope you like it!

Day 1: Language

Body Language (Kid Ink)

This was so not her scene. Why had she let Erza drag her here again? Oh, right. It's because Erza is a monster, and Lucy was a tiny bit curious about how her relationship with Jellal was progressing.

Lucy slouched on her bar stool trying to look as unapproachable as possible. They'd been in the club for maybe 15 minutes, and she'd already had to fend off multiple unwanted advances. All of which had been in the five minutes that Erza had left her alone at the bar while she searched for the blue-haired ex-criminal. The pounding music was giving her a headache, and all she wanted to do was lay her head on the bar and cover her ears, but that was probably a bad idea. For one thing, the bar was covered in Mavis knows what. For another, she couldn't cut off a would-be Casanova in advance if she didn't see him coming.

Mavis, this sucked. And where the hell was Erza?

"She's in the VIP section with Jellal," a voice yelled in her ear. "I don't know why she couldn't fetch you herself, but come on."

Lucy turned to follow her rescuer. In that moment she didn't care who he was. She didn't recognize his voice, but then, she'd barely heard him to begin with over the thump of the music. She followed a head of spiky hair through the crowd. It was impossible to tell the color through the strobe lights, so there were no clues there. He seemed to be wearing a trench coat, color also unidentifiable. Lucy spared a moment to be really glad she wasn't on a job in this place. Her hearing and vision were so impaired that she probably wouldn't accomplish anything.

"I found your blonde," the man announced as they stepped up into a lounge area. Lucy felt a shiver of magic down her spine as she passed through a rune wall. The sound of the music dimmed to a more manageable level. Oh thank Mavis.

"You should really be thanking me," the man who led her there said. "I'm the one who insisted on the noise-reduction runes."

The VIP section was still very dimly lit, but at least the light was constant. Lucy finally got a good look at her guide, and she was pretty sure she stopped breathing for a second. Damn he was beautiful. His red pants and black v-neck shirt clung to him under the white trench coat, which left far too much to the imagination as far as she was concerned. Then again, she didn't mind filling in the blanks really. His spiky maroon hair fanned around his tan face and slightly pointed ears. Even the scar in place of his right eye just made her want to pounce on him more.

"I can hear you, you know," he said softly, almost like an invitation.

But that statement was enough to make Lucy realize just who she was ogling: fucking Cobra, former member of the Oracion Seis, a group that had tried to kill her on two separate occasions. What was he doing—?

"I'm a member of Crime Sorciere. Too long a story for now. Maybe some other time, Top Heavy." With that, Cobra took the seat next to Jellal, and Lucy slid in next to Erza. Lucy was a bit miffed about the new nickname; why couldn't people just call her by her real name?

She shook off her thoughts enough to tune into Jellal and Erza's conversation. Lucy didn't know what she was expecting to hear, but logistics and tactical strategies for dealing with a Zeref cult was not it.

"I thought this was a social call, why the hell are you two talking about Zeref?" Lucy interrupted irritably.

"Is there a reason we can't mix business and pleasure?" Jellal asked. Lucy assumed the comment was directed at her, but he was staring at Erza while he spoke. One-track freaking mind. Well, two-track: Erza and Zeref. That thought conjured up some disturbing images and she heard a strangled sound from across the table. Glancing over, she saw Cobra giving her a horrified expression. She tilted her head at him in confusion, but then it clicked. He could still hear her. Lucy grinned at him, and if possible, he looked even more terrified than when he'd caught a glimpse of her X-rated thoughts on Erza and Zeref, with some Jellal thrown in.

Cobra narrowed his eyes at her. He seemed to be thinking about what her guts would look like decorating the tabletop. Although that particular idea held exactly zero appeal for her, using the table for another purpose with him sounded just fine. Wait. No. What was she thinking? This was freaking Cobra!

But he was with Jellal's guild now, and didn't everyone deserve a second (fine, third) chance?

Lucy was so lost in her musings that she hadn't realized that a) she was still staring at Cobra and b) Erza was speaking to her.

"Sorry, what?" Lucy said as she desperately tried to reel her mind back from the gutter.

"I said we should head back to the inn soon. We'll be helping out Crime Sorciere in the morning to gather more information on Black Lightning."

"Okay, sure." Lucy was on her feet before it actually registered what Erza had said. She sat down again immediately. "Hold on a minute! I didn't volunteer for this. You said meet Jellal at a club and hang out for a couple of days. There was no mention of dark guilds when I signed up for this trip."

"Admittedly this was not part of the plan," Jellal said. "They have been rather more active in the last few days. But we really could use your help, Lucy."

"How?" Jellal looked suddenly nervous at her question, and Cobra snorted.

"Erm, I think it's best if Erza explains it to you at the inn," Jellal said. He refused to meet her gaze.

Now thoroughly suspicious, Lucy started to argue, but somehow both Cobra and Jellal managed to hustle out of their seats and away from the lounge in a matter of milliseconds. She really needed to find out how they did that; it could come in handy at some point. Resolving to think more on it later, Lucy turned to Erza.

"Alright, spill it. How bad is it, and how much am I not going to want to help?"

This was so not his scene. Strip clubs gave Cobra the creeps. Sure he appreciated a gorgeous woman, but most of the women here were not enjoying themselves in the least. Granted a couple actually liked the work and the attention, but most of them just wanted out. The thoughts of the men were no better to listen to, so he tried to just tune everything out. He tried to focus on the sound of a specific soul. It sang clearly through the smoky atmosphere even though he couldn't actually see the soul's owner. The song of her soul stayed strong, but he could also hear a note of pure terror and a shrill tone of embarrassment.

Jellal really owed her one for this.

As if his thoughts conjured her, Lucy appeared on the stage in front of him. She wore a barely there black dress. It hit just below her ass and held onto her shoulders by two thin strings. She stood in the center of the stage, legs slightly spread and one arm over her head gripping the pole behind her. Then the music started; it was some hiphop song like they'd heard at the club the night before, but he honestly didn't know how she was finding the beat in it to dance the way she was. The music was a mess, but somehow she made it look like the swaying of her body was exactly how the song was intended to affect someone.

Cobra dug his claws into his leg and reminded himself that he was on a mission here. Still, he remembered the images that had flashed through his mind the night before when Lucy wanted to lay him down on the table. Of course, those hadn't been the only images, but they were much nicer than the ones of— Fuck. Well, that helped at least. He didn't know if he should thank the blond for giving him instant boner-killer material or not.

Lucy (or "Diamond" as Jellal had code-named her) worked the stage like she'd been doing this for years. Hell, for all Cobra knew, maybe she had. He seriously doubted it, though. He kept his eye on her as he let his hearing soak up different sounds in the room. It was difficult to concentrate on any one person in an environment like this, but Cobra had a lot of practice. It helped that he could sift through most people just because they were all stuck on the blonde onstage. She really didn't deserve to be subjected to the thoughts some of these guys had. Cobra tried to shake off the wave of disgust, especially since he knew he was in pretty much the same boat.

But job. There was a job to do. Shit it was hard to focus with her showing off just how athletic that gorgeous figure was while mouthing the words to something about 'body language.' He really should have made Jellal do this part.

His eye flicked to the right quickly before returning to the stage when he caught the sound of something interesting. Jellal's favorite word: Zeref. He tried to get a lock on the sound of the soul who was thinking about the dark wizard before he tried to find him with his eye. There. Lanky purple hair. Too many muscles. Face that looked like it took a few too many hits over the years. And an aura of magic power, though it was too far away to tell how dangerous. He caught a name from the souls around the man: Markus.

Cobra pushed up his sleeve a bit and started tapping out a code just below the sensory link that Meredy had placed on his left arm. Lucy didn't flinch, but she turned her attention in the direction he told her to. Her dancing seemed to get even more tantalizing, and her attention was subtly but certainly focused towards the purple-haired brute.

Maybe 30 seconds later as the song was ending, Markus gestured to a hovering manager, and Cobra heard him instruct for "the girl" to be taken to the usual room. He listened to the manager for a moment to find where the usual room was before slipping away. He snuck into the adjacent room and waited.

He could feel the blonde's anxiety as she was led to the room. He tried to send soothing feelings through the sensory link, but he wasn't sure if she was actually receiving any of that. He'd listened to Meredy's thoughts about her magic, and she'd even actually talked to him about it when he asked, but it was kind of beyond him in a lot of aspects. Cobra pressed his ear to the wall and waited for the signal. He heard two people's heartbeats in the hallway outside the door. There were three heartbeats in the room. One was Lucy. Cobra cursed softly. They hadn't expected Markus to have an audience, particularly when their informant had mentioned that he wasn't interested in a mere lap dance.

The poison dragon slayer forced himself to take deep breaths as he figured out a way to take out the two guards in the hall quietly so the two in the room wouldn't have any warning before Cobra burst in. Luckily, poison was a lot quieter than fire or really any of the elements the other slayers used. Rogue was probably the only one who could do this better than Cobra. But it would take a little finesse.

Cobra laid himself flat on the floor and exhaled a steady stream of poison through the crack under the door. He had learned over the past few months that with enough concentration, he could bend the poison like a solid thing and move it where he wanted. This would be easier if he could see his targets, but then, with his hearing, he very nearly could. After a few agonizing moments, Cobra heard two muffled thuds.

Two down; two to go. And he couldn't just poison the other two without risking the celestial mage getting caught in the stream.

Suddenly, Cobra's heart started beating frantically and he knew it was from the blonde in the other room. A sharp pain nearly crippled his right arm just as he heard a scream. Cobra swore and barreled through the door before bursting through the other one. The sight in front of him nearly made him forget that they needed Markus alive.

Lucy hung in the center of the room by one arm. Crackling black tendrils wrapped around her wrist, holding her in place. She dangled limply with her toes inches from the floor. The black dress was gone, though she still had on her undergarments. The two men had been laughing when Cobra came in, but now they were staring at him with surprise that quickly turned to anger at the intrusion.

"What do you think you're doing to my girlfriend?" Cobra snarled.

Poison flowed across Cobra's skin, and he tried to tamp down on his rage. He couldn't risk killing her. And Jellal would be pissed if he killed Markus. The other bastard could die, though. Cobra's arms had shifted to scales and talons without him noticing, but it came in handy when Markus's buddy attacked. Cobra dodged his clumsy blows and brought his clawed hand up to rip out the guy's windpipe. Jellal would give him a lecture later about all life having meaning or some shit, but right now, Cobra didn't care. Especially when Markus was still holding Lucy by one arm with whatever the fuck his magic was.

Cobra felt the skin of his right wrist melting slightly, but he knew it was an illusion from the sensory link. At least, for him it was. He needed to free her pronto, but Markus was keeping his body slightly behind the blonde so Cobra couldn't get a clear shot. Lucy whimpered as the electrified rope tightened. Cobra was about to rush him, when he felt his palm burning, and he realized what the crazy Fairy Tail chick was about to do.

She grabbed onto the magic line holding her off the floor and yanked on it. Markus just thought she was trying to tear it out of his grip, but Cobra knew she was smarter than that. As he pulled back on the magic line in an attempt to thwart what he thought was her plan, he set her body swinging, and as she reached just the right position, a delicate foot came up to hit his jaw with devastating effect. As soon as the force got him far enough away, Cobra let loose a perhaps overly enthusiastic poison dragon roar to make sure the fucker stayed down.

As the blow knocked him unconscious, his magic disappeared, and Lucy dropped. Cobra caught her easily and lowered her gently to the floor.

My keys, Lucy thought as she couldn't quite get her mouth to form words. Cobra handed them over to her. He wanted to tell her that this could wait until later, but it actually couldn't. This was the whole reason for the undercover job. Lucy summoned Gemini without a word. Cobra hadn't realized that she could do that. He'd never seen Angel summon a spirit without speaking when she had still used celestial magic.

Gemini seemed to know exactly what Lucy wanted, too. The tiny blue creatures floated in front of the unconscious Markus for a moment before transforming into him. Lucy gave a nod of thanks and they vanished.

Let's get out of here, boyfriend, Lucy thought. He could hear her smile through her soul. Even though it was just another part of Jellal's plan so the dark guild wouldn't realize someone was after them, Cobra had to admit that he sort of had felt like he was rushing in to save his girlfriend from some thugs. He even had to admit that it felt nice holding her as he carried Lucy out of the strip club.

Not that he'd ever admit that to her.