Next time he saw her, she was passed out on the ground in the alleyway behind a bar.

Cobra was shocked to find the petite blonde in such a place. Shock turned to appall when rifling through her soul showed him the events leading to her unusual napping place. There were details missing since an inebriated person's soul was harder to work with, but he managed to grasp enough of the last few hours to know what Lucy had been up to.

He knelt and rolled Lucy over carefully, then lifted her into his arms to carry her somewhere safer. He hadn't decided where he would take her, but nearly anywhere would be better than where he'd found her. As Cobra walked toward the residential area, he thought about everything he'd heard from her soul. It wasn't news to him that she was lonely in a way that friendship couldn't reach, but that didn't explain her behavior. Casual, drunken sex behind a bar was definitely not something he'd expect from the seemingly pure-hearted Celestial Mage, but the part that really shocked him was how she wanted to be treated. She wanted it rough and dangerously so.

Cobra shook his head to dispel the disturbing images conjured up by his imagination at the knowledge. He was no stranger to rough sex and even enjoyed it most of the time, but there was something off about this. Lucy wasn't looking for a good time. The round of sex, if it could really be called sex, she'd participated in bordered more on violence than an enjoyable level of pain.

After walking for several minutes, the ache in his arms made the decision of where to take the unconscious woman. His own apartment was much closer than hers and while he could have taken her to one of her friends that lived nearby, he didn't want to be bothered by the endless questions that would undoubtedly follow their arrival.

A few minutes later, he was shifting her weight around to open the door, kicking it shut behind him, and then laying her on his bed. He briefly wondered if Lucy would be uncomfortable waking up there but then decided he didn't care if it bothered her. It didn't seem right to lay her down on the dirty floor and it wasn't as if he had a couch for her to sleep on.

Cobra lay down next to Lucy, again uncaring if she would mind his close proximity. He sure as hell wasn't sleeping on the floor when there was plenty of room on the bed. It wasn't long until a deep sleep came over him, the fatigue of a long mission catching up with him now that he was bundled up on his soft mattress.

XXXX

The all too familiar pain of a hangover hit Lucy before she even opened her eyes. She kept them shut for a few more seconds, knowing the light of morning would only make the aching in her head worse. Only water, food and time would help, and maybe some pain medicine.

When she did finally open her eyes, it was to the sight of an unfamiliar room, but the situation was one she was becoming accustomed to. She turned her head to the side to see who she was next to, wondering if seeing the man's face would stir her memory. It took a few seconds for her eyes to focus and then the ping of recognition to register, but once it did, she was overcome with dread.

How the hell did she end up in bed with Cobra? He was one of the biggest gossips in the guild, using his magic to entertain himself by spreading around any juicy secrets he came across. Damn. Her entire team would know of her late night activities by the end of the day. Erza would never let her live it down and Natsu would get all dragon-y on her, trying to protect her from anything with a penis. Gray's reaction would either be the same as Natsu's or disappointment that she hadn't come to him for 'relief'. Ugh, the one and only time she'd gone to him, things between them had been extremely awkward for weeks.

Lucy looked back at her unexpected bedmate and sighed inwardly. At least he wasn't ugly. It was always disappointing to wake up next to the ugly ones.

"I'm flattered," his gruff voice made Lucy jump, which made her groan as she pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes in an attempt to stop the increased throbbing, "but could you shut the fuck up and go back to sleep."

Before she could answer, Cobra went on, "You didn't have to say anything. Your thoughts are so fucking loud they woke me up."

Unsure of what to say and equally unwilling to try talking with her throat so dry, Lucy wondered how she could make her thoughts be quiet. Was that even possible? It wasn't like her brain had a volume button.

"Oh my fucking god," Cobra growled as he threw back the covers and stood to his feet. "It's even worse now."

He stomped towards a closed door that Lucy assumed was a bathroom while saying, "We did not have sex or even touch each other after I dropped you on the bed. I found you passed out in an alley and brought you here."

The door slammed shut but Lucy could still hear him muttering something that sounded like, "I'm starting to wish I had left you there."

Thoroughly shocked and unsure of what to do, Lucy decided to just lie there awhile longer. She was relieved to find out they hadn't slept together, but that also stirred the question of who she had sex with and why she was in an alley. Something told her she now owed the dragon slayer. Deciding to deal with all that later, she turned onto her side and pulled the blanket back up around her shoulders. By the time Cobra came back out of the bathroom, she was asleep again.