A/N: I have literally no excuse for this, aside from wanting to add more. This is an added bonus for you guys, just because you're such an amazing audience. Come get your fill of cavity-inducing fluff with this completely unnecessary epilogue.

For those who are waiting for Day 7 of CoLu Week… sorry about the wait. I wanted to get this plot bunny finished up so I could focus on the next story. Day 7 of CoLu Week 2019 will appear in Paging Dr. Cobra. Now, let's see how this baby ends!

Epilogue

He didn't see her for three weeks after they'd silently agreed to start dating. That had been an awkward fucking meeting, completely by chance while they'd been on different missions. He'd only had a chance to see her for thirty minutes before he'd had to leave. And now it had been another five weeks, and he hadn't seen or heard from her. It left Cobra wondering, as he stared at the ceiling of his tent at sunrise, how this was even going to work while they were apart. Did she think about him? Probably not as much as he thought about her. She didn't love him. He knew that.

Why had he agreed to this shit, again?

Right, because it was Lucy, and she wanted to try dating again. With him. Because he was, according to her inner monologue when she'd been preparing to talk Erza down from a cliff as they walked back to his guild's camp, "handsome and sweet, and he was only following me so he could keep me safe, and I want to know what it's like to have a boyfriend who loves me."

Lucy hadn't needed to say any of those things. When they got back, Erza took one look at their linked hands, and just smiled.

He wondered if the real reason Lucy was even giving him a chance was because of his feelings for her, and not because she harbored any feelings for him whatsoever. Was it really enough for her that she thought he was handsome? And when the hell had she come to that decision? He'd never heard her thinking about anything remotely close to that.

They'd talked about how things could work, with them being apart so much. Well, it was more of Cobra telling her everything that could go wrong, and Lucy trying to use her silver lining perspective to work around his negativity.

Fuck, how was she even willing to deal with that?

He wasn't pleasant to be around. She was going to realize that pretty quickly, unless he started forcing himself to act differently when she was around. But that was what he'd been talking about when he brought up manipulating her. And Lucy didn't want him to be someone else. She wanted him to be himself with her, the good and the bad.

This wasn't going to fucking last.

"Ooh, visitors!" Meredy crooned from somewhere in the camp. He froze. "Lucy, Cobra's over there in his tent. It's still pretty early, so he's usually not out and mingling just yet."

"O-Oh," Lucy laughed. She sounded nervous. Cobra frowned. Why would she be nervous? "I don't need to go wake him up. I'll just wait out here."

Fuck. That was why? She didn't want to intrude on his space, and wake him up? Well, he could pretend to still be sleeping, or he could make his way out there. But then people would know he was awake, and they'd want to know why he hadn't come out sooner. He didn't want anyone knowing that he woke up early every morning and just stared at his tent while he got lost in thought, until his bladder begged to be emptied.

But if he pretended to be asleep, then he wouldn't get as much time with her.

But if he went running out there, he'd look too desperate to see her. Like some pathetic little lapdog with its tail wagging as soon as its owner came home.

But if he stayed in the tent, and she found out that he was awake… she'd think he didn't want to see her.

He did want to see her. So fucking badly.

It was other people he didn't want to be around. Not this early in the morning.

But if he didn't say something soon, then they'd wonder how he knew what was going on unless he was already awake. And then it'd be twenty fucking questions, and his whole day would be shot. "I'm up," he called out.

"See?" Meredy laughed. "He's awake, Lucy. You're not waking him up."

"B-But, Meredy - wait, don't push - Ack!"

Cobra sat up quickly and caught the blonde hurtling through the flap on his tent. Lucy crashed into his chest, face-first. He'd forgotten until he felt her skin against his that he was shirtless. The summer heat had come back in full force in the past few days - even though it was nearing winter already - so he'd been sleeping with no shirt on lately. It wasn't really the norm for him.

Of fucking course she was here when he was shirtless. The universe hated him.

"Oh geez, I'm sorry," she mumbled, scrambling to put a little distance between them. Except then she put her hands on his stomach, and he could feel her face heating up as realization finally clobbered her over the head. "You're u-um… Wow, and I…"

Cobra's hands moved to her shoulders and gently pushed her back, which was a blessing and a curse. Because now that she wasn't on him, touching so much of his skin, she was able to stare at him.

"Sorry," she squeaked, coming back to herself. Lucy threw a hand over her eyes, which just made this whole thing worse. Because he could hear her thinking about the color of his skin, and how much she liked it, and that she was being silly because he was a guy and she saw the guys at the guild shirtless all the time - except it wasn't when they were basically in bed, so this was much more intimate. But his brain kept telling him that she was looking away for a different reason. That she was disgusted by him.

This was stupid. Them trying to be together was stupid. He could hear what she was really thinking, but he still believed that dark void in his soul.

Cobra glanced around the small space to find his shirt - there wasn't much to begin with when he was lying down, and with Lucy here, it was starting to feel cramped. The black fabric of his tank top was the first thing he saw, so he grabbed it and threw it on as quickly as possible. He hesitated to reach up to her hand and pull it away from her eyes, but when he did he saw her blush receding, dulling to a gentle pink.

Her eyes opened slowly, meeting his gaze and not looking anywhere else. "Good morning," she breathed.

He couldn't stop himself from chuckling. "Morning."

"Sorry we showed up so early," she said. Lucy tucked her bangs behind her ear and winced. "Erza made us take the first train out at quarter to five this morning."

"You must be exhausted."

"Kinda," Lucy giggled. He didn't even know what time it was. He never really knew the actual time. Cobra just used a general approximation based on the sun or moon's position in the sky. Almost as though she'd read his mind, Lucy's fingers brushed across a silver key on her hip. "It's only six right now."

"That's way too early to be awake," he groaned. Fuck, had he been waking up around six every morning? No wonder he was always tired.

"I couldn't agree with you more," she sighed. "I don't like being out of bed until nine, at the earliest."

"Well, there's nothing happening today," he mused, frowning as he listened to the rest of his guild's souls. This meeting was set up by Jellal and Erza, and it would have been like any other time she randomly fucking appeared if she hadn't also dragged Lucy along. Because normally, Erza would show up on her own. But since he and Lucy were dating, Erza had made a point of bringing her.

"Seriously?" Lucy groaned. "Ugh, she made it seem like some dire emergency."

She almost made it sound like she didn't want to be there. Was that the case? Did she really not want to come at all?

'I was in such a rush to get going. I must look like a mess. Way to make a good impression, Lucy.'

Cobra blinked and stared at her. That was it? She didn't look bad at all in her black shorts and pale grey midriff shirt. He'd seen her looking much worse. Like the day she'd been running barefoot through town, trying to get to safety, with her hair a mess and a bruise already forming on her face from Darren bashing her head into a window. But he couldn't say that. He didn't want to keep bringing up bad memories, except… that was all they really shared. It was all they had in common. Pain and suffering, in different degrees. Was that really going to help make something work between them?

"Oh well," Lucy sighed, then reached into her bag. "At least I remembered to grab this." When she held a small black box out to him, Cobra was confused. What the fuck was that for? "Well, go on," she laughed. "Take it. It's for you."

For him? What the hell did she mean, it was for him? Cobra looked from the box still in her hand up to her face, then back to the box. "Huh?"

"It's a gift," she said gently. 'I remember he wrote in his journal that he's never gotten a gift. Maybe I'm overstepping… Was this a bad idea?'

"O-Oh," he said. He took the box from her and stared at it. Was he supposed to open it now?

"Go on," she said. "Take a look. I really hope you like it."

Cobra pulled the top off the box, then frowned at what he found inside. A smaller shining black box about the size of a Zippo sat nestled in the center of red foam, with two clear rubber plugs in their own little cut-out sections of the foam. Lucy reached forward and tapped the smaller box, and a screen lit up. "What is it?"

"It's a soundpod," she said. "This is one of the newer models. All the music is stored in this box, and then you put the little buds in your ears." Her finger swiped across the screen, and he watched the text change. "It holds about 15,000 songs. Oh, and the earbuds have a charm on them so if they're taken more than ten feet away from the soundpod, they'll fly back to it. Pretty cool, right?"

Cobra nodded, still staring down at the box. "So it… plays music."

It was a strange gift, that was for sure. Maybe she didn't know how his magic really worked, and that was why she got this for him. He was always listening to something. He could never get the sound to stop, actually. Putting these little things in his ears would only add more sound to his already mostly overloaded brain.

"It's probably kinda silly," she said. It didn't take an ounce of magic to hear the underlying 'he hates it' in her voice. "I know Laxus always listens to music, because it drowns out all the extra noise in the guild. Gajeel's always complaining about people being too loud, too. I figured it's probably a Dragon Slayer thing. And I didn't know what kind of music you might like, so I had the man at the shop put a little of everything on it."

'Oh my god, you're rambling. Shut up, Lucy. He doesn't like it, so stop trying to defend the stupid thing. I knew this was a bad idea when I bought it. I should've talked to him about it first. I'm so stupid…'

Cobra's frown deepened, and he plucked one of the earbuds from the foam, then put it next to his ear. He could barely hear a thing. The sound on it was so low, he had to put the little bit of rubber into his ear just to hear it. It wasn't too loud. That was something he'd worried about, in all honesty.

"I made sure to turn the volume way down," she added, her voice barely audible. "I didn't want it to hurt your ears from being too loud."

Cobra's nose scrunched as he listened to the music playing. He didn't know what it was, but he hated it. Something with way too much pep, that was for sure. "How do I change the song?"

Lucy's head lifted as he pulled the soundpod out of the box, her smile growing wide when she noticed that he was already listening to something. "Like this," she said. She leaned forward slightly and swiped her finger over the screen again. "And if you want something completely different, press down and wait for the menu to pop up."

Cobra pressed on the screen, watching as the text changed. He read through the options, and nearly passed one that said Nature. On a whim, he clicked on it. The text changed again to read Ocean.

There was a sudden rush of waves crashing on a stony shore in the earbud. Wind whistled by and seagulls cawed in the distance.

"Oh, I love those tracks," she whispered, reading the screen. Cobra looked up at her gently smiling face, then felt his cheeks heating up when he took the other earbud and carefully pushed it into her ear.

"Listen with me?" he asked.

"This is gonna put me to sleep, though," she giggled. "I listen to this stuff at night, sometimes."

"Then let's get some sleep," he chuckled.

Lucy blinked. "R-Right now?"

Cobra shrugged and set the black box off to the side, tucking the soundpod into the pocket in his pants. "Why not? We're both tired. And everyone out there can go fuck off. It's too early to deal with their bullshit."

Holy shit. He'd just invited her to sleep next to him. This was insane. Was she actually going to say yes? And where the hell had this bright idea come from?! He wasn't ready for this shit in the slightest! Oh, he was a moron of epic fucking proportions.

She snorted out a sharp laugh, then nodded.

Wait… she'd agreed? Fuck, she'd actually agreed to this. Cobra had to get his shit together, because this was moving much faster than he'd anticipated, and he wasn't sure whether to punch himself in the fucking mouth, or send his thanks out to the drunk gods who were letting it happen.

It took a little work to get themselves adjusted in the cramped space of his tent, but eventually they were lying side by side, with her head on his shoulder and her body pressed up against him. He nearly froze when her arm draped itself over his stomach.

Finally, when they were settled, he let out a slow, relaxed breath. This gift actually wasn't half-bad. It did help to cut out some of the background noise that was constantly buzzing in his skull. He wasn't sure he'd be able to use both earbuds at the same time, though, because he did have to stay on guard constantly. Especially when they were camping out in the woods.

Maybe he could try it the next time they splurged on a motel room.

'... can't believe I'm going to sleep with him… he's so comfy… never snuggled with someone like this before… feels nice…'

"Thank you," he whispered, turning his head to kiss her hair. "For the present. I'll probably use this all the time." When she smiled and hid her face in his chest, Cobra couldn't help but grin. He'd made her happy, just by being himself. She was so cute when she got embarrassed like this.

Maybe this dating thing wasn't such a bad idea after all.

It happened in an instant. One moment, she was perfectly fine, cutting up onions to put in the dinner she was making for Cobra, Macbeth, and Meredy. Their guild had been in the area, and she'd told Cobra to stop by if he had time, and that she'd even be willing to give him a nice home-cooked meal of meatloaf and potatoes and steamed broccoli. Meredy had heard him making the plans, and ended up inviting herself and Macbeth along - much to Cobra's chagrin, Lucy found out - but she was more than happy to cook for all of them.

Meredy was looking through her music to put something on that wouldn't put Macbeth to sleep, and wasn't too obnoxious for Cobra's tastes.

"Just put on some jazz," Cobra had said.

Everything was fine. Meredy put the music on, and turned it to a decent volume for everyone to be comfortable and still have conversation. Lucy smiled softly to herself in the kitchen. She hadn't listened to this CD in years. When she thought back, she'd been making meatloaf the last time she'd heard the soft double-bass introduction on this song.

And suddenly, it wasn't fine. The song skipped in the same place it always did from when Darren had scratched the CD while throwing it at her, and her breath stalled in her lungs. She wasn't paying attention, and the knife sliced into the juncture between her thumb and forefinger. Lucy hissed and looked down, and then it hit her.

She was bleeding. She was bleeding on the food she was supposed to cook. The meal was ruined. No… No, the meal couldn't be ruined. She couldn't be bleeding on it. He would hit her if he found out. She had to get another onion. She had to throw this away. She had to clean the cutting board and start again, and cut faster than before because if he found out that she was running behind, it would be even worse.

But Lucy couldn't move. She couldn't stop staring at the thin red trails running down her finger, into the palm of her hand as the singer crooned in the background. How deep was the cut?

Why couldn't she breathe? Was she crying from the pain? Maybe she could play it off as being a result of cutting onions. No one could know she'd cut herself. If it was too bad, he'd blame her for doing it on purpose to ruin his meal.

"Everything alright?" Cobra asked, frowning over at the kitchen doorway. Lucy didn't answer. She didn't hear him. She didn't hear the water boiling over on the stove behind her, but she smelled the water burning on the stove top.

No. No, not again. He'd hurt her if she burned something. He could taste it in the food if something got even slightly burned while she was cooking. Ruining the meal with her blood was bad enough, she had to go and burn it too? No… this couldn't be happening...

Macbeth's eyes opened slowly to look at Cobra. "Lucy?" he called out.

She trembled when she heard her name.

"Shit, is that blood?" Cobra snarled. He jumped up from the couch and rushed into the kitchen. And that was where he found her staring at her bleeding hand on top of the cutting board, the knife still in her other hand.

She heard the footsteps. Lucy knew what was coming next. He was going to hurt her again. She'd made a mistake, but that didn't matter. It was her fault. She was so stupid. She couldn't even do something as simple as cooking a meal, or cutting a vegetable without messing it up. Maybe she deserved to get hit.

Cobra came closer and touched her shoulder just as Midnight walked into the kitchen behind him. Lucy screamed and swung the knife, gasping a moment later when he knocked it out of her hand. The metal clattered to the floor and she stumbled backward until he grabbed her wrist. "L-Let go!"

Macbeth pushed past and turned down the stove, staring as Cobra let her hit him with her bloody hand. "What the fuck?!"

As soon as her hand connected, Lucy froze. She'd hit him. She'd really hit him. This wasn't going to end well. It was going to be even worse! Why had she done that? "I-I'm sorry, sir," she sniffled, closing her eyes tightly and turning her head away. He wanted her to make eye contact, she knew, but she couldn't look at him. She didn't want to see the hit coming. That always made it worse. "I didn't mean to… I just… I'm sorry!"

Cobra sighed softly and pulled her bleeding hand up in front of his face.

"I ruined the food. I'm sorry…" He couldn't be too mad if she promised to make it better though, right? That had to work! Maybe he wouldn't hit her as hard if she just fixed this fast enough. "I'll clean it up. I'll make new food, it's okay. It might take a little bit, but-"

"Midnight, get me a clean rag," he said. "She's bleeding."

"What the hell happened?" Macbeth asked, passing him a cloth from the counter.

Cobra shook his head, wrapping the cloth around her hand. He put a little more pressure on the wound. "Lucy, it's okay," he whispered. "It's okay, I'm here."

"- I'm such a klutz. I know, I am," she rambled. Her chest was tight with worry. Why wasn't he hitting her yet? Was he going to scare her with wondering how long it would be before he did something? "I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make a mess…"

"Cobra, what the hell's going on-"

Cobra scowled over at Macbeth, then pulled Lucy into his arms even when she struggled to get free of his hold. "He's not here," he said. "Lucy, I'm not him. It's okay. I won't hurt you."

Macbeth's eyes widened, and he took in how small she looked as Cobra's arms wrapped more tightly around her. Even through her vain attempts at getting free, he could see the fear coiling around her.

The dark spicy scent of him was what brought her back to reality. The warmth and strength of his arms around her, his chest against her cheek, the tender way his chin rested atop her head. The terror that clutched at her lungs hadn't dissipated, but she knew this touch. It was safe. It didn't give her pain.

"It's okay," Cobra breathed. "It's just me. I won't hurt you."

"C-Cobra?"

"That's right. It's just me, beautiful," he said, smiling down at her.

What had just happened? Why was he holding her like this? Why… Lucy's eyes widened in horror, and she looked up at his face to see a bloody handprint on his cheek. She'd hit him. She was bleeding, and she'd hit him… because he was trying to help her. Because she'd been stupid enough to imagine it was Darren there in her apartment, instead of Cobra.

Her lips trembled at the realization that, even though she'd hit him, he hadn't hurt her. He hadn't hit her back. He didn't tell her 'if you hit like a man, you get hit like one,' and then punch her. He'd stopped her from cutting him with the knife, but his grip on her injured hand wasn't tight enough to cause pain.

Lucy knew how strong Cobra was. She'd seen what he could do when going toe-to-toe with Natsu years ago, and she knew he'd only gotten stronger since then. He'd held his own in a fight against Erza, for goodness sake. But none of that physical strength was there when he touched her. He didn't try to incapacitate her. His touch was gentle. So gentle it brought another fresh wave of tears to her eyes that had no chance of being held back.

She cried and buried herself in his embrace. He didn't say a thing, but she didn't need him to. He just held her close, kept applying pressure to her injured hand. She just needed him so she could remember that all the pain in the past was gone, and she was safe and happy now, right there, with his arms around her.

Something within her shattered when he kissed the top of her head and finally spoke.

"Can I look at your hand?" he asked.

He didn't force her to show him. He let her choose for herself. But Lucy knew she couldn't look at it herself. She wouldn't be able to tell whether it would need stitches or just a bandage. She simply nodded.

Cobra turned and led her through the kitchen, past Macbeth who was keeping an eye on the stove instead of watching her. "Is there a recipe you were using?" Cobra asked her.

It was the bookmarked one in the open cookbook on the counter. She'd put her own notes in the margins for how she'd changed the recipe. She still had to mix the onions into the beef, then add the crushed wheat crackers. But she couldn't find the will to speak. She was too embarrassed now. Why had she flipped out like that? It wasn't the first time she'd cut her hand while chopping vegetables. So why had this time been different?

"On the counter, and follow her notes. Onions and crackers are where she left off," Cobra said to Macbeth. He led Lucy into the living room and helped her sit down on the couch. He looked at Meredy, whose eyes were wide and horrified when she took in Lucy's harrowed appearance. "Go get the first aid kit," he told her. "It's under the kitchen sink. And then help Midnight not burn the food."

Meredy nodded quickly and rushed out of the room.

It was just Lucy and Cobra in the living room. She'd made a complete fool of herself in front of everyone. As if it wasn't bad enough that she'd acted like this with company over in the first place, she'd attacked her boyfriend. Cobra loved her, and she'd tried to cut him with a knife. She'd hit him. How was she supposed to get through the rest of the night? Was she supposed to just pretend nothing happened?

"That usually makes it worse," he said. Meredy dropped off the first aid kit, pausing a moment and looking as though she wanted to say something, then returned to the kitchen to help Macbeth when Cobra shook his head at her. "Don't bottle it up."

"There must be something wrong with me," she laughed. It was easier to bottle it up, though. Didn't he know that? "It's just a cut… I shouldn't have gotten so hysterical…"

She cringed when he pulled the rag away from her hand, and fresh blood seeped from the deep gash. That looked really, really bad. Which meant she was going to have to go to a hospital, or call up Wendy, and then her whole night would be ruined. She wouldn't get to spend any time with Cobra. All of their plans would go right out the window, all because she couldn't stay focused.

She was so stupid.

"I can give you stitches right here," Cobra said gently. He already knew that Wendy had beefed up Lucy's first aid kit, in case of emergencies. Maybe he even carried some of his own. "Pretty sure Meredy keeps painkillers on her, too."

"You don't need to-" Lucy's mouth snapped shut when he frowned at her. Was he going to yell at her now? She froze. Was this the last straw for him with her talking back?

"Remember what I told you?" he asked, his voice gentle. "Speak up. Don't be afraid of telling me something's wrong."

"I just got distracted…"

He shook his head and set her hand on his leg on top of the bloody rag, then reached over to open up the first aid kit. He rummaged through it for a minute before finding the needle and thread Wendy had added for emergencies. "You can be honest with me," he said softly, threading the needle. "It's not my first go-round with panic attacks."

"I-I wasn't-"

"And flashbacks," he said with his own pain shining in his eye. She hissed when he punctured her skin and fed the thread through, then tied the first of her stitches. "I won't make you talk about it unless you want to, but just remember that I'm here, okay? I'll listen whenever you're ready."

"It's stupid," she sighed. She watched him hesitate a moment before pushing the needle into her skin again. She knew that she could talk to Cobra. He was the first person to know about the pain she'd gone through, and he'd been the one to put an end to it when she was too weak to do it herself. He could hear it from her soul anyway, so she knew that he was telling her to talk when she was ready for her own sake. He already knew exactly what had been going through her head.

She had to remember that Cobra was safe. Even with the cold dread snaking its way through her body, chilling her fingers and toes to near-numbness, she had to remember. Cobra meant safety. Cobra meant warmth and love. He wasn't Darren. They were nothing alike.

It was okay for her to be weak around him, to lean on him. She knew that. She just hated that she was always the one leaning on him. Lucy never did anything to help him when he needed it. She never knew if he actually needed help in the first place.

Still… talking things out might help.

"He's been gone so long now," she breathed as he flipped her hand over and continued stitching her wound. Wow, she'd really hurt herself this time. "I shouldn't still be like this."

"Do you know what caused it?" he asked. "If we can figure that out, then we can make sure it doesn't happen again until you can deal with it."

"I dunno…"

Cobra smiled tenderly at her. "Sometimes it's hard to figure out a trigger," he said. "It took me a long time to figure out mine." She was officially confused. What did he mean by that? "Do you remember what I wrote about the things I'm afraid of?"

"They bring back bad memories," she said, frowning up at him. Lucy bit her lips when he tied the next stitch and pulled too hard.

"Dripping water, sleeping without a blanket, and having anything on my wrists."

Lucy's gaze shifted down to his wrist to see that his sleeve had ridden up just enough to bare the scar wrapping around it. He'd written bracelets in his journal, from what she remembered, but she'd learned that he really meant anything on the sensitive skin there. He still hadn't told her what it was from. She didn't want to pry, though.

"Those things I'm scared of… Sometimes, I panic like you did just now. It's been more than ten years since… any of that happened," he said slowly. Cobra finished the final stitch, then reached into the kit for antiseptic wipes and ointment. "Still, I have flashbacks, and I panic. And if that happens to you with me around, just know I'll help you. And I won't judge."

That made her feel marginally better. Except Macbeth had seen it too. And there was no guarantee that he wasn't thinking she was off her rocker. It wasn't like she wanted him to be her best friend; it was just embarrassing. He'd seen her when she attacked her own boyfriend, because she'd been so sure he was someone else who would have hurt her.

"I can understand where you're coming from," Cobra said, nodding along with her train of thought. He took out the bandages and started wrapping them around her hand, then her fingers and down to her wrist to keep it stable while she healed. "Except Midnight's been the one dealing with my mountains of issues since we were kids. This isn't new territory for him, either."

When it was done, he put everything back into her first aid kit, used the rag to wipe the bloody handprint from his cheek, then tossed the rag on her coffee table. He pulled Lucy closer so she could lean on him. She reveled in the warmth surrounding her, even as she looked at her bandaged hand. Her lips parted to speak.

"Don't be sorry," he whispered. "It's okay. I promise."

Lucy pouted up at him. "No fair, reading my mind like that."

He just smiled and pulled her head to his chest again. "Habit. Now, you relax. Meredy and Midnight will cook, and we'll pretend to enjoy their botched attempt at feeding us."

"I heard that!" Macbeth yelled. "I'd poison your food, but you'd like that too much!"

"Damn right!" Cobra called back. He turned back and kissed the top of her head. Lucy smiled softly when he whispered against her hair, "I love you, Lucy."

She loved it when he said that. She knew it was true, and even though she wasn't at the same place as him, emotionally, that didn't mean that she wanted him to hide his feelings from her. She wanted him to always feel comfortable telling her how he felt. Especially because he'd kept it to himself for so long.

And sometimes, she needed that reassurance that there was someone who did really love her.

"Always, you goober," he chuckled.

Her smile widened. She hoped he'd always love her. She hoped with everything she had that he was telling the truth.

"I know I'm not great at talking about myself," he said after a silent minute. "If you want… I finished writing in that journal. I could… let you borrow it. You could use it to get to know me better."

"I'd like that," she said. "But only if you're really okay with it."

"Yeah," he said, his hold on her tightening briefly. "There's some shit I wouldn't ever tell you unless I was under extreme duress. But… you should know, I guess."

"Anything too nefarious?" she giggled.

"No," he laughed. "Just stuff I think about, shit I like. Random shit, really. And those things I'm scared of. I write about that a lot…"

"I don't wanna pry," she said, her brows pushing together. Her bandaged hand twitched, and she winced. Now that the adrenaline was dying down, that was starting to hurt like crazy. Maybe she'd need to get something for the pain from Meredy like Cobra had mentioned.

"I'm offering, so it's fine," he said. "I'll need the journal back though. It's got my maps for where I hid my shit."

"My precious little squirrel," she crooned, tipping her head back to look up at him.

"The blood loss has clearly made you delirious," he muttered, rolling his eye. A moment later, he smirked down at her. "But you're also making me want to call you that C-word."

Butterflies beat their wings wildly in her belly. "Try," she breathed.

Cobra adjusted so they were both lying on the couch, with her pinned between his body and the back cushions. His gentle smile widened as he cupped her cheek. "You're too cute right now," he whispered.

Lucy smiled back at him, then buried her face in his chest again to hide her brightly burning cheeks. If he wasn't careful, he was going to make her fall in love with him, too.

"You're absolutely hopeless, you realize that?" Midnight drawled from behind Cobra. Every step Cobra took put the rest of Crime Sorciere further behind him, but he didn't fucking care. Not now that they were in Magnolia. He was so fucking close. He could hear her soul so fucking clearly for the first time in a month, and nothing was going to slow him down.

The only reason he wasn't all-out running was because his pride couldn't take the fucking hit. But speed walking? That was just exercise, really.

"Fuck you, asshole," Cobra said over his shoulder. He hiked his bag higher and put a little more pep in his step. "I still haven't forgiven you for that shit you pulled."

"I think it's kinda sweet that you're so excited to see your girlfriend," Meredy said.

"You should forgive me," Midnight cut in before Cobra could yell at Meredy to mind her own damn business. "If it wasn't for me, she never would've known you liked her. Because you were too much of a bitch to just tell her. So you're welcome."

He didn't care that Midnight was technically right. He'd given Cobra multiple opportunities to sac up and tell Lucy how he felt in the past. And Midnight was the one to put Cobra in a trance when he'd heard her team coming from Hargeon and heading toward their camp. Cobra had been trying so hard to get everyone to pack up their shit, until Midnight hit him with that spell. And he'd held Cobra in it until Virgo's chains wrapped around him, waking him up.

"Y'know," Cobra spat, "You've become a real sassy bitch lately."

"I've always been a sassy bitch," Midnight shot back. "I'm just awake enough for a change to call you out on your bullshit."

"This is true," Racer mused. "Why are you awake?"

Cobra smirked and set his attention on the road before them. At the next block, he needed to turn so he could walk up the steps to the Fairy Tail guild. He was so close. But if Midnight wanted to play this game, then Cobra was more than willing. "Meredy gave him a blowjob this morning."

"No way!" Angel shouted, rounding on the suddenly blushing Reflector mage beside her when he stumbled.

"Don't act so surprised," Jellal chuckled, speeding up to walk beside Cobra. "Macbeth isn't exactly quiet."

"Unless you sleep like the dead," Cobra laughed. "Angel, be glad you couldn't fucking hear it. I'm gonna have nightmares."

Thank god that got Midnight off his ass. Sure, he was happy in retrospect that his friend had given him the opening to just tell Lucy how he really felt about her. But reading his journal to everyone could have backfired in a major way. Cobra had been shocked to find out later that afternoon, when everyone returned to Crime Sorciere's camp, that Midnight had been trying to play matchmaker for some time. It had been his meddling that put Lucy at the hot spring when he knew Cobra had gone there to soak in the middle of the night.

"I won't lie," Jellal said quietly as they rounded the corner and the guild hall loomed before them. "I'm happy you and Lucy are together."

"Because it gives you more reasons to come see Erza," Cobra snorted.

"That's a definite bonus," Jellal said, smirking over at him. "But it's more than that. She's good for you, Erik."

His eye narrowed half a second before he elbowed Jellal in the side. "What have I said about calling me that?"

"Does she know your name yet?" Jellal coughed.

"... No." He left it at that. They'd been an item for a year, but he'd only been able to see her a few times. This was only his third visit to Magnolia in the past year. Regardless of how often they talked - because he'd caved when she mentioned that he should get a lacrima phone so they could talk to each other - he wasn't ready to tell her about his real name just yet. One day, he would. Just… not yet.

He wasted no time at the doors to the guild, pulling them open just enough so he could slip inside. He scanned the crowded main hall until he spotted her sitting at a table off to the side with Erza and Bickslow. Lucy took a sip of her shake, nodding along with what Bickslow was saying. Cobra grinned and wove between the tables separating him from her. Once he was close enough, he swooped down from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

Lucy shrieked at the sudden assault, then relaxed when his lips brushed across her cheek as he sat straddling the bench. It was the soothing scent of his jacket that gave him away. His stomach roiled with something like giddiness at the thought.

"Hey, cutie," he chuckled against her cheek.

Lucy melted back into him, grinning as his arms wrapped a little more securely around her bare waist. Fuck, he loved her tube tops. "Hey, you."

When she turned to look at him over her shoulder, he captured her supple lips in a quick kiss that left her wanting more. He couldn't get enough of holding her when they were together, and she knew that. She readily accepted his need for affection. It was strange for him though, because he'd never thought this would be something he'd crave. But with her, it was just so easy to latch on and never want to let go.

"I missed you so fucking much," he breathed against her smiling lips.

"I missed you, too," Lucy giggled. He buried his nose against her throat and breathed deeply. Fuck, she smelled like heaven on earth. Had she used that lilac body wash he'd found in a little shop by Crocus? The one that came in a set with shampoo and oil and fucking bath salts? Lucy had been a stammering mess when he gave it to her, and he really hadn't been much better. Because he'd smelled it, and it reminded him of the shampoo she had that he liked. One that complimented her own natural scent so well.

"You guys are too precious for words, y'know," Bickslow said, drawing Lucy's attention back to her previous conversation. She found him simply staring at both her and Cobra as he took off his visor and ruffled his mohawk, trying not to laugh. But this was completely normal for them.

Because every time he saw her after a prolonged absence, Cobra couldn't help but latch onto her like some kind of fucking leech. It didn't matter where they were. He loved the reminder that she was all his, and he was all hers, and that even though they didn't get a lot of time together, these moments that they could steal were worth it.

Lucy rarely reciprocated in public. Like she'd told him, all she needed was being able to hold his hand while they were out together. As Cobra had come to learn about himself, he was a needy bitch.

Oddly enough, she loved this about him.

But he already knew that she was excited for him to be there, and that she'd become the spidermonkey later on when they were all alone at her apartment. He'd accepted that. Granted, her clingy ass was always mostly clothed - last time, she'd gotten down to her bra and panties before the snugglefest started, and he'd had a field day with all the brand new skin to explore. Of course, she'd had to wait until Meredy and Macbeth left after dinner.

He'd stumbled back to his guildmates the morning after that with the dumbest fucking grin on his face… Mostly because she'd surprised him bright and early by burying her face in his lap and treating his dick like the most delicious lollipop in the universe. If Jellal hadn't threatened to come to Lucy's apartment and bust down the door to make him leave, Cobra was sure he would have stayed forever.

"I love you," he whispered, nipping at her earring.

"- And then, I swear to god, you should've seen Freed's hair when Laxus' lightning went haywire!" Bickslow cackled. "It was all standing up, Cosplayer!"

Lucy laughed as well. Cobra knew she wouldn't say it back to him. She still wasn't there, and that was okay. He also knew for a fact that she wanted him to tell her just how he felt whenever the mood struck. Because she wanted him to feel comfortable saying it, and there was no reason for him to hide it from her. Even when he wondered if he sounded stupid for saying it too often, she just smiled and kissed him and said that it made her happy to know he loved her so much.

This was the first time he'd ever said it while they were around other people, though. The thought alone should have terrified him, but he didn't fucking care who knew how he felt about her.

God, how could he have missed her so much? They saw each other just last month!

He was pathetic, that's how.

Lucy sighed as Bickslow's babies whirled through the air, drawing his attention away from the story he'd been telling her about his team's latest mission. She smiled while burying her fingers under Cobra's sleeve so she could gently touch his scarred wrist. That definitely got his attention. But she knew to be careful with his wrists. She'd told him when she finished reading his journal a couple weeks back. Because they hadn't been face-to-face, he was a little more comfortable talking about what he'd gone through as a kid, and then with Brain. He'd told her how sensitive his scars were, and that he was uncomfortable when most things touched them.

Cobra glanced down at her hand, his eye honing in on the fresh, pink scar wrapping around the juncture of her thumb and forefinger. Good, it was healing fine. He'd been worried as hell that his stitches hadn't been good enough.

He lifted his head to look into her eyes when she turned toward him slightly.

"I love you too, sweetheart," she whispered back. She was the only one who noticed how his eye widened, how he smiled wider than before and buried his nose in her hair, how he held her just a little tighter for a moment.

She said it back. She really said it.

'And now that I've officially told him, I think I'm ready. Checked that box, and now he can check my box. Okay, that was a horrible pun…'

"Oh, really?" he chuckled, inching closer to her so her body was flush against him. He hadn't realized that she'd held off on getting more physical until she felt like she loved him. "Should we leave right now, then?"

"Really, you big ol' perv. And no, now I'm making you wait just so you can suffer."

"That's just cruel," he rasped. His nose slid down the column of her throat, bringing the most delicious little goosebumps to her flesh.

"Honestly, last time I saw you, I just about gave up and let you fuck me."

"And what would I have had to do to make that happen?" he asked. Sure, it was already in the past, but he was curious. And if she wasn't careful, he was going to have a raging fucking boner here in the middle of the guild. He was already thinking back to the last time they'd been together. How she'd surprised him with a blowjob in the morning, and how she'd been thinking about the way he'd taken care of her the night before when she'd had a flashback.

Fuck, he was getting way too excited. He wanted her. Every inch of her. Right then and there. He wanted to lay her out and have her whimpering his name just from using his lips and tongue. He wanted to see her fall apart. He wanted to hear the way her soul opened up for him when he brought her to the brink of ecstasy again and again.

"Sucked on mah tatas. Om nom nom."

Cobra laughed loudly, doubling over and taking her with him when she mentally made lewd suckling sounds that were so obnoxious, he was sure she would have run away screaming if he'd actually sounded that way. And she called him the pervert! He knew for a fact that she'd had one or two wet dreams about him in the past year.

'I love making him laugh like this… If the hell I went through with Darren is the price I had to pay for having Cobra in my life now, it was worth it.'

The errant thought deep in her soul was unexpected. More than unexpected. He was downright floored by her thinking that she deserved that sort of torture. She'd never deserved it. He wished more than anything that he'd stopped her suffering sooner.

He wouldn't even entertain the thought that maybe she was right. Because she couldn't be more wrong. She didn't need to have lived through that hell just to be able to understand him better. Sure, she was able to look at his issues from her own perspective, using her own experiences as a jumping off point to understand where he was coming from. But she'd always been empathetic. She could have done that without having to suffer through an abusive boyfriend.

"You're wrong," he breathed. "Please don't ever think like that."

"Like what?"

"There's no price to pay," he said. "I'm pretty sure I was always meant to be with you."

When he saw her blinking back tears, Cobra questioned whether he'd said something wrong. But she turned in his arms and hugged him so tightly, those doubts were washed away in an instant.

"You two are so sappy, it makes me sick," Midnight said, plopping down on a bench at the table next to theirs.

"Better get another blowie from Meredy then," Lucy teased.

Cobra and Bickslow laughed when Midnight went red in the face.

"Cobra, seriously?!"

"I didn't say shit, man," he cackled.

"Nope. She called me asking for pointers last night," Lucy said. "She saw Cobra's face that one day. Wanted to know what I did to turn him to putty."

"Wait, what?" Bickslow laughed, holding up his hand for a high five that Lucy happily returned. "Damn, go Cosplayer!"

"So fucking worth it," Cobra hummed. "You can make me your bitch anytime."

"You're so whipped," Midnight muttered.

"Macbeth, come over here!" Meredy called out from the table she'd commandeered with Angel and Gray. Midnight perked up, and darted to the other table.

Cobra smirked. "What a fucking hypocrite."

He didn't give a shit what anyone said. He had Lucy in his life, when he'd been resigned to living a loveless existence. She pulled him out of his comfort zone every chance she got (within reason), and he'd yet to regret taking a chance with one of her crazy ideas. Even her cockamamey plan to get him to go to the guild's pool with her later that day - something he never would have agreed to in a million years before Lucy came along - didn't sound all that bad.

'... got that oil from Bickslow… I wonder if he'll let me try giving him a massage…'

She loved him - a hopeless former slave whose solution to dealing with her abusive boyfriend was a brutal murder. And he loved her with everything he had. Maybe Jellal was right, though. Maybe it really was time for him to tell her the name he'd been given at birth. Maybe he could open up just a little more, and actually let someone call him the name that he hadn't wanted anyone to know in years.

'... get oiled up myself, and then we can practice Boscan Oil Wrestling… naked… hehehe…'

He questioned her sanity a lot over the last year, but she was his everything.

Cobra wouldn't have it any other way.

.The End.