The first time, her landlady approached her the following day with a cautionary jeer regarding the volume level in her apartment.
"Natsu, what are you doing in my bed?!" she shrieked, an accusatory finger outstretched towards all 165 pounds of offending dead weight that somehow infiltrated her bed. Her bed. Her cozy, four-poster, made for one bed.
She landed unceremoniously on her behind with a dull thud. Her face flared hotly. They had just returned from a quest the other day, and today was supposed to be her free day to catch up and run errands. She had deliberately avoided the magnetic pull of the guild today, knowing that once she stepped foot into the building, she would dawdle, linger to chat, and inevitably end up as collateral damage in yet another one of Natsu's brawls—effectively get nothing done. Anything within a five mile radius of Natsu spelled trouble, she concurred.
And now, here was trouble dozing amidst her clean sheets and pillows.
She sighed, smothering the irritation simmering inside her before it could get the best of her. He hadn't seen her all day. He was probably worried and stopped by to check on her, she reasoned.
Hesitantly, she slipped underneath her covers, only to recoil. Her nose crinkled—he most definitely had not taken a shower and remained in his day clothes. Gross, she turned her back to him.
Natsu, however, seemed to have other plans.
Without skipping a beat, she felt his arms drag her back into his chest, caging her to his body. She writhed against the grip, flinging her elbows back in a valiant attempt to create more space between them, to no avail. His sinewy arms curled around her waist and pressed her flush against his torso. It seemed to take paramount effort on her part to even begin to fend off this inadvertent attack, while he appeared to effortlessly bound her in his sleep-wrought stupor.
After struggling against him until she deemed sufficient, her body fell limp with the strenuous effort. Struggling with someone as pigheaded as Natsu? That was a battle for another day. In her strife, she had failed to notice how warm those arms around her body were. Her stiff muscles seemed to welcome the extra heat, even if her mind did not. Bit by bit, her eyes fluttered shut.
She fell asleep to the strong heartbeat drumming against her back.
This is the first part of a four-chapter story (my first multi-chapter fic on FF!). To be honest, I wasn't expecting the first part to be so long—I imagined each part would be a short drabble that I could string together and post as a one-shot. I guess my muse thought otherwise. This is based off of a prompt created by "Imagine Your OTP" on tumblr. I'll post the actual prompt at the conclusion of this story. Hope you stick around!