The Evil Stick welcomes you to a new short story! A virtual high-five to Hiro Mashima, who created and owns Fairy Tail! This short piece stems off of Gajeel's obsession to find a cat and explores Lily's suspicion of that obsession. Enjoy.
Litterbox
After watching the reunion of Lisanna with her brother and sister, everyone who came through the anima started parting ways and happily headed home. It was a rainy evening in the unfamiliar Earthland and it was getting dark fast. He had to find somewhere to stay before the thunder comes.
Pantherlily watched as Happy enthusiastically followed Natsu to Lucy's house after being promised a fish dinner. Erza escorted Wendy home after Carla insisted on getting her out of the rain so she wouldn't catch a cold and Gray quietly left toward his own home.
"You're my cat now. You can stay at my house." Gajeel gruffly offered to the misplaced exceed.
Lily crossed is arms over his small chest, "I will accept the invitation for tonight, but I'm not a cat and I'm definitely not your cat."
"Stay at my house longer. Salamander's cat stays with him and Wendy's cat stays at her house. It's fate." Gajeel answered a little annoyed.
"I don't want to intrude. If I like your house I will stay as long as I am paying rent, but I won't stay just because you have insecurities over being the only dragon slayer without an exceed companion," Lily clarified defiantly.
"Gihi! I guarantee you will feel right at home!" Gajeel puffed out his chest arrogantly.
Pantherlily followed Gajeel down a path that led into the woods outside of Magnolia. They came upon a log-like cabin that was made out of steel log structures instead of wood logs. Gajeel stopped the exceed about 15 feet from the cabin.
"This is my door. The cat door is on the ledge above." Gajeel pointed up to a ledge about 10 feet off the ground.
Lily looked at Gajeel, "How is a cat supposed to get up there?"
Gajeel shrugged, "I knew my cat would have wings. There is no lock on that door so you can come and go as you please."
Lily watched him as he entered the house through his large human size doorway. He activated his wings and flew onto the ledge. Sure enough, there was a small exceed-sized metal door built high up into the wall. Lily admired the craftsmanship and the thought put into adding a special door for an exceed. He turned the knob and entered finding himself on another ledge in the cabin's living room.
Gajeel was standing in the middle of the living room with his hands on his hips smiling proudly, "I knew it! I made it the perfect size!"
"You made this door?" Lily shut his custom made door behind him.
"Yup! I made this whole house, but I installed the cat door a few weeks ago," he puffed out his chest with pride.
"We've only known each other for less than a day" Lily pointed out.
"I knew you were coming," Gajeel plopped down on the single couch that sat in the living room and gestured Lily to sit on the side table next to him. "I have your throne right here, Buddy."
Lily raised an eyebrow at the tall metal table with a cat bed that sat on top of it. The Iron Dragon just seemed a little too excited to have him staying at his house and it was obvious that Gajeel had been preparing for the arrival of an exceed for sometime. He floated down to the cat bed and found himself sitting at eyelevel with Gajeel.
"Well? How do you like it? I made it for you a few months ago." Gajeel gave another proud smile.
"It's comfy. I can't figure out if this is creepy or if…" Lily paused trying to think of the right word.
"It's fate," Gajeel insisted with his most serious face. "You were always meant to be my cat. You are even my favorite color - black."
Lily sighed, "Lets get this straight. I am not a cat, I am an exceed. And if this is going to work, you have to treat me as a comrade, an equal. I will never be anyone's pet."
"You're my cat! Wendy and Salamander have cat partners! I'm the only Dragon Slayer that works alone!" Gajeel exclaimed.
Lily saw the passion in Gajeel's eyes, "You say the other two exceeds are partners with their Dragon Slayers?"
"Yes! I'm the only Dragon Slayer without a cat! I've never had a partner before!" Gajeel was tired of trying to explain himself.
"Fine. I'll be your exceed and you're my dragon." Lily realized that, to Gajeel, a cat to a Dragon Slayer is a partner or rite of passage.
"Gihi! I have everything you need here." Gajeel reached for his storage ottoman and started pulling out various objects that puzzled his new exceed.
*ring ring ring* Gajeel joyously jiggled a ball with a bell in the middle and held it in front of Lily's face.
"What the fuck is that?" Lily asked, unamused.
"Uh, it's a cat toy. Cat's love these things." He then pulled out a long plastic rod with a feathered flying fish toy attached to it by a long string and dangled it in front of Lily's face.
"Get that out of my face or I will morph back into my original body and tear you apart," Lily gritted his teeth.
"Ahem," Gajeel fake coughed and put the cat toys back into the ottoman and closed it. "So, you're a bit more mature than I anticipated. That's okay. Last week I forced a wood maker mage in our guild to make a scratching post for you." He pointed to a tall wooden structure in the corner of the living room.
"You want me to scratch that thing?" Lily was confused again.
"I'm just saying, if you ever want some exercise then that is there for you," Gajeel felt a little embarrassed again.
"I'm the First Division Commander of Edolas' Royal Army. If I need exercise then I'll pick up a sword and spar with someone," Pantherlily was clearly annoyed with his new dragon slayer.
"Well, Salamander's cat is a weak pansy. He doesn't exercise at all so I wasn't sure what you would need." Gajeel leaned back into his couch thinking. "Hey, maybe you should fight him to prove to the guild that you are the strongest."
"I won't fight Happy," the exceed was starting to get angry.
"Right. So how do you guys establish dominance? Do you spray your territory?"
"I'll say this again. We are exceeds! Not cats!" Lily's little fangs came out.
"Right, right. Well, Salamander's cat has a huge crush on Wendy's cat. Maybe you can be the leader of the pack if you steal her away from him." Gajeel got a wicked smile on his face.
"You fool! I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody! I will not allow you to use me to hurt Happy or his dragon slayer!" Lily was yelling in Gajeel's face.
"Okay. Well, the celestial mage has a little white snowman spirit so maybe if you kick it's ass then…"
"What the fuck are you talking about?! There's no need to pick a fight with a celestial spirit or whatever it is! If you just brought me here to just fight other animals then maybe I should just leave…" Lily opened his wings and flew to his ledge in the living room. Just as his hand reached the tiny door knob Gajeel called out to him.
"Wait! I just want everyone at the guild to know how strong you are. You don't have to fight if you don't want to. I have been waiting for you for a long time so don't let something like this make you leave," Gajeel's voice gave off a desperate tone that made Lily stop from turning the door knob.
Lily slowly turned around to face his immature dragon slayer. While he had many qualities that annoyed the older exceed, Lily could still see that Gajeel was good at heart and he would benefit from having a more experienced partner. The poor dragon slayer needed guidance and the exceed wanted to get into Fairy Tail, "Will you drop the subject?"
"Absolutely, Buddy! Besides, I have more things to show you!" Gajeel flashed his canines in another proud grin.
Lily groaned in frustration. He knew that prideful grin meant that Gajeel had crafted more items for him. "It better not be more cat toys."
"No, I promise no more toys," Gajeel arrogantly smirked.
With a sigh, Pantherlily followed Gajeel into the bathroom. He knew this wasn't going to go well.
"I already made a litter box for you, Buddy! So you don't have to go in the woods!" Gajeel put his hands on his hips and smiled in triumph.
Lily looked at the small metal box filled with sand, "Are you serious?! I am an exceed! Not a damn cat! I use the toilet like normal people!"
"Well… uh… you see… " Gajeel stammered and then picked up the box and discarded it in the trash bin.
"Does Happy use a litter box?!" Lily's fangs were bared.
"I… I… don't know…" Gajeel was red with embarrassment.
"You. Don't. Know." The small exceed growled in frustration, "I get the feeling that you didn't even bother to find out anything about him or Carla before you decided it was fate."
"I didn't mean to offend you, I just wanted everything to be perfect for when you showed up," Gajeel looked dejected.
"I know. I can see you went through a lot of trouble to make an exceed feel welcome in your home, even if you didn't know anything about exceeds." Lily rubbed his temples with his tiny finger pads, "I appreciate the hard work you put into my… assimilation."
"I don't know what that means, but it was no problem," Gajeel patted Lily's head. "Let me show you to your bed now!"
Lily followed Gajeel into the only room in the small house. He was interested in seeing the bed since he was tired and just wanted to lay down before the storm got any worse.
Lily's jaw dropped when he saw his bed sitting next to larger king sized bed. There was an oversized red velvety cushion that sat on top of a short metal pedestal. Behind it, there was black satin fabric that hung from the ceiling down to the floor as a backdrop making the small bed give off a royal appearance.
The exceed smirked, "Well, that's more like it. I've never been put on a pedestal before."
"Do you like it?" Gajeel asked with hopeful eyes.
Lily smiled, "It's adequate. I think I will go to sleep now."
Gajeel gave a genuine smile and lifted his new partner onto his new bed and then he flopped down on his own bed. He gave a low chuckle, "Sorry about the litter box."
Lily also chuckled, "That's okay. The custom door and the bed made up for the litter box."
"Glad to hear it. Goodnight, Buddy." Gajeel yawned.
"Goodnight, Gajeel," Lily closed his eyes and fell instantly to sleep after the longest day that he has had since his banishment from Extalia.
*Boom* About a half hour later, the thunder started striking.
Pantherlily startled and forgot where he was for split second. He dove under the covers next to Gajeel and covered his ears.
"Lily?" Gajeel lifted the covers and peeked in on the shivering exceed. "What's wrong?"
"No-nothing," he replied with wide eyes.
Just then the thunder boomed again and he cringed.
"Are you afraid of the thunder?" Gajeel raised a metal studded eyebrow at the cat.
"Sh-shut up!" Lily tried to sound threatening, but his voice quavered.
Gajeel reached under the covers and pulled Lily against his body "You're safe when you're with me. I promise."
"If you tell anyone about my fear of thunder, I will paint the guild red with you intestines," the little exceed growled while snuggling into Gajeel.
"Are you kidding? If anyone knew that Black Steel Gajeel cuddled with cute little kittens then I would never get a job ever again," Gajeel chuckled as he tucked the blankets around Lily.
Pantherlily's body slowly stopped shaking and his breath became deeper. Gajeel closed his eyes, satisfied that his new cat was asleep. The last thought that went through his head was who he would have to threaten to get plushy toy Pantherlily's onto shelves in the gift shop and to complete his figurines…
Well? What did you think? Gajeel and Pantherlily are one odd team. The Evil Stick couldn't end a story with sap so Gajeel's sweet dreams of threatening people had to be the end of the story. Review and check out my other stories!