C if for Cockroach

Alternate Title- In Love and War

Dedication- To my crazy mind, who decided the middle of the night was the perfect time to remind me that running out of my bathroom in terror doesn't actually make the bug go away.

Disclaimer- Fairy Tail is from Hiro Mashima

"Not only was he an amazing kisser, but an cheap bug exterminator."

There was a schedule for the mornings. Lucy would wake up to her alarm set for 7:30—yes,even on weekends—and promptly unhooked the latch that locked her window at night, already knowing full well Natsu and Happy would use it to climb into her apartment and quite frankly she was tired of wasting her rewards on repairing it every time they decided to stop by in the mornings. From here she would walk to her kitchen to start the coffee maker and only after her first cup would she deem herself able to function properly enough to make breakfast. At 8:00, she would set her leftover aside (there were always leftovers) on two separate plates, one next to the glass of milk and the other with a bottle of Tabasco sauce, and she would retreat to her bathroom for a much needed shower. Shortly after, the window would squeak open and a two familiar shadows would slip in and head towards the mouthwatering aroma. Lucy would emerge later, towel wrapped in her hair with another wrapped snuggly around her body, bid her new arrivals a good morning and remind them to put the dishes in the sink while she retrieved her clothing from the dresser and withdraw back to the bathroom to change. From there Natsu and Happy would finish their breakfast and wait for Lucy to come back out, all the while contemplating if it was worth it to raid her fridge again.

This was their schedules. Every day. Seven days a week. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Yet, this particular morning was marked different than the others. Maybe it was because Lucy had hit Snooze, opting for an extra ten minutes of sleep, or quite possibly it may have been because she had gone for tea that instead of coffee in an attempt to break her caffeine addiction. Whether it had really been triggered by her actions or of another, her morning definitely wasn't going her way.

This only became apparent after she had locked the bathroom door and Natsu— Happy was to come later after stopping by the guild for a quick, fish related errand—had just dug into his food and the highest pitched scream pierce through the air. Natsu had already shot to his feet and was running before he even realized the sound had come from the bathroom. He raised his fist to knock the door literally off its hinges only to have it slammed into his face by the same blonde he thought was in mortal danger.

"IT TOUCHED ME!"

Only momentary stunned, the fire mage managed to get his bearings back enough to notice Lucy was now pressed into the farthest corner of her room and was pointing a shaking finger towards her bathroom.

"Get rid of it!" she commanded savagely.

Without missing a beat, Natsu lit his fist on fire and raise it, fully prepared to slam it into the jaw of Lucy's bathroom attacker. The steam from the hot water was beginning to clear and Natsu was itching for a good fight. He hadn't expected one so early as before finishing his meal, but he would take whatever he could get.

"ACK! It's coming!" Lucy screamed shrilly, "Hurry up and get rid of it already!"

Confused, Natsu narrowed his onyx eyes and peered through the mist enough to finally noticed at tan cockroach of reasonable sizing, flying through the air with graceful ease considering its wings were damp from the water. While Natsu regard the pest with disappointment that it wasn't in fact an axe murder with 56 years of training in all forms of hand to hand combat, Lucy took one look at the bug and screamed bloody murder.

"WHY IS THAT THING STILL HERE?!"

Natsu's flames extinguished as he frowned at the buzzing cockroach, who was now making lazy circles in the air above his head, "Maybe it smelled the waffles." His face then twisted into a glare. "You can't have my waffles."

"Forget your stupid waffles, Natsu! Get rid of it already!"

He smirked at his wide-eyed girlfriend.

"You know the deal." he replied, casually striding over and plopping down next to the quivering girl.

"No way!" Lucy protested immediately, sliding away from him before quickly noting that the action only brought her closer to the hovering cockroach and she scampered right back to her position.

"Too bad." Natsu sighed, eyes lowering in mock defeat as he stood up, "I'll be in the kitchen finishing my breakfast if you need me."

He hadn't even taken a step before his arm was caught.

"Fine!" she agreed quickly as the roach flew increasingly closer to the pair, "You win! I'll do it. Just get it out of my apartment!"

Natsu's eyes brightened, "It's a deal then." He moved in front of Lucy and rubbed his hands together, "Four."

"I'll give you one." Lucy countered, momentary forgetting her fear and slipping back into their usual banter.

"Three."

"One."

Natsu scowled, "That's not fair."

"All's fair in love and war."

Natsu pouted, "Fine. But from now on I am raising the payment to three."

Natsu walked over to her desk, picked up her cup full of freshly sharpened pencils, and proceed to dump them all on the floor. Now armed with the empty cup, he stood under the still airborne roach and waited for it to fly within reach.

"Don't hurt it!" Lucy reminded him because despite her fear she didn't actually want physical harm on the bug.

"Will do." Natsu replied, watching the insect with an unblinking gaze. Suddenly, his arm shot up while his other hand slammed to the bottom of the cup.

"Caught you!" Natsu cried as the cockroach buzzed angrily from inside his container. He marched over to the window and threw the insect outside before replacing the pencils back in the cup and on the desk.

Before Lucy could sigh in relief that her home was now pest free, Natsu leaned over her and crushed her to mouth to his.

All thoughts flew out of her head as Natsu's other hand snaked around her back and lifted her to her feet, bringing them closer together. Her eyes slid close involuntarily as she eagerly responded to his actions; even her body beginning to warm up from the heat of his body.

At the beginning of their relationship, such acts would have ended with bruised noses and red chins. This was obviously during the time before Natsu realized the intent of kissing wasn't to have the other person come out with a bloody nose. Yet when he did, Lucy found out just how passionate he could be.

"Breathe!" She roughly broke their kiss to greedily take in gulps of air before she nearly suffocated.

Natsu grinned, only slightly out of breath, and bent down to nuzzle her neck, waiting for her to regain her breath.

"I swear some days you are trying to kill me." Lucy muttered under her breath, separating herself from Natsu's arms to return to her shower before all her hot water ran out.

"One more thing!" Natsu called causing Lucy to pause, "You got a piece of lint in your hair."

"I do?" Lucy remarked, her hand automatically going to search through her hair.

"You do." he affirmed, "Right there!"

Lucy let out a yelp in surprise when Natsu suddenly sealed her lips for the second time.

"We agreed on one!" Lucy cried flustered as she pushed him back.

He simply laughed cheerfully in response, "All's fair in love and war."