I'm back with another story ~ I came up with this idea a while ago, but completely wrote this up until now. There is a prequel that I've already started writing that I'll post as chapter 2. I'm still freaking out over the GaLe moment in the most recent anime episode, so I decided to post this to somewhat spread my fangirling.
As usual, I have not read this through yet, since it's 11:30 pm and I'm really tired. I'll edit it later, so there will be grammatical errors and/or spelling mistakes, so bear with me!
Pairings include: GaLe, NaLu, Jerza, Gruvia, Mira x Laxu, slight Happy x Charle
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, all characters belong to Mashima ~
Charle stretched her arms and yawned in a rather dainty manner, covering her mouth delicately with her two front paws. She gazed around her guild lazily as she sat in front of her dragon slayer on a crowded table.
And currently, she was resisting the urge to whine and throw a tantrum about how bored she was.
Charle was an exceed of many descriptions, but childish was most definitely not one of them. She turned around to give her companion a subtle pout.
Wendy, on the other hand, couldn't care less. Her face was scrunched up in concentration, putting all of her attention into the small strips she held in her hands. With a defeated sigh, she tapped the shoulder of the girl next to her -Lucy.
"Lucy, I need help again." She said sheepishly, "There are so many rules, they get all jumbled in my head!" The blonde mage patted her head reassuringly.
"Don't worry, I'll just go over them once again -," She was abruptly cut off as an arm shot out and promptly yanked her away.
"Hey, Luce! You can't help the opposing team!" Natsu yelled obnoxiously, waving his own cards in the air.
"Good job, Salamander, you've just given yourself away." The iron dragon slayer, sitting on the other side of Wendy snickered. "Didn't have a good hand anyway."
Charle shook her head disapprovingly. "Wendy, it's obvious. You should fold, of course. Your hand is absolutely worthless." The young mage looked down at her exceed.
"Ah, that's right, isn't it? I thought that having five numbers in a row was a good thing; I guess I'm just being silly again. Sorry you guys, please continue!" The flustered girl quickly said, about to dispose her cards.
"Wait, five numbers in a row?" Levy's eyes widened. "You mean you have a straight!" She nearly fell out of her position in Gajeel's lap in excitement. "Wow, that's a great hand, Wendy!"
The said girl looked once again at her cards. "I have a three and a six, and there's a four, five, and seven up there...Is that what's called a straight?" She cocked her head in confusion. Charle scratched her head.
"Geez, Shrimp, who's team are you on, anyways?" Gajeel tsked at her, flicking her head with his free hand. The petite blue haired girl turned around briefly to stick her tongue out at him.
"Come on, it's Wendy's first time! It's our duty to help her out as the more experienced players!"
"Youguys may be experienced players. I can say differently for Natsu." Lucy groaned, as she and Natsu folded for the tenth time in a row. "So far, he's burned more cards than I've seen! Next time, I get to hold them, alright?"
Gray snickered. "Well, here's another deck. Can you find out which ones he burned?" Lucy shrugged as she took the new stack of cards from the ice make mage.
"I might be able to make out some. I swear there's five aces floating around somewhere though; Anyways, Wendy, Levy's right, you do have a straight. Looks like you win the hand!" Lucy gave her a reassuring smile.
"Aw, that was my best fish!" Happy groaned from on top of Natsu's head. "But then again, if it's Charle who eats it, I don't mind it at all!" He grinned happily at the white Tom cat, who ignored him in return.
"It seems that Charle doesn't know how to play either, though. Shouldn't we add someone else to their team?" Gray asked thoughtfully, noting the remark the she cat had made earlier about Wendy's hand.
"What, that's ridiculous!" The exceed snapped back hastily, "I just wasn't paying attention because of Natsu over there!"
"Well, it would be more fair if they did get another person to just help them..." Levy trailed off, looking around at the group of players.
"Fine, but we get to pick." Charle sniffed. "Who would you like, Wendy?" The young girl scanned the teams cautiously.
Natsu clutched Lucy's arm protectively, whistling innocently. Happy fluttered around, attempting to woo Charle into letting him join her team. Gajeel held Levy closer to him, causing the petite solid script mage to blush. Pantherlily sat in her lap, making the trio look more like Russian nesting dolls than anything. Erza and Jellal were greedily eating the cheesecake that Wendy had supposedly won, their mouths too full to utter any sounds. Gray was -well, alone. Juvia was nowhere to be found.
"Where's Juvia, Gray?" Wendy asked curiously. She didn't necessarily want to split the team, but she was curious as to where his partner was.
"Juvia? Well, she was here just a few seconds ago..." He scratched his head. "Oi, Juvia! Where are you?"
"Juvia is down here, Gray-sama!" The group simultaneously peeked under the table to find Juvia, who had made herself useful by being a bench for Gray.
"J-Juvia!" Gray spluttered, immediately getting up. "Just get back up here!"
"But this is more comfortable than a chair, Gray-sama!" She protested, refusing to move from her position.
"Well, I guess I'll pick...Mira and Laxus!" Wendy pointed to the two unsuspecting mages that had just happened to walk past. "You guys will be on my team, won't you?"
Mirajane's eyes visibly glinted. "I never back down from a competition." She said gleefully, pulling her companion's arm with her. "Well, let's see, what are we playing?"
"Strip poker." Natsu said without missing a beat. "Wendy won the last hand, but we need some pros to help her." He grinned.
Laxus nodded. "Should have guessed." He mumbled. "Looks like your team's losing, huh?" Natsu grinned unabashedly. He had lost all of his clothes besides his pants so far. Luckily, his other team member, Lucy, had worn socks and earrings, amidst other jewelry, leaving her in her a modest tank top and skirt.
"But they're not doing any better!" He pointed accusingly to Gajeel's team, startling Levy.
"We're doing fine, Fire head!" He growled back. Natsu's words were quite true though -not everyone dressed nearly as extravagantly as Lucy, who had taken the fall for her team. Gajeel had only allowed Levy to remove her hairband and shoes, along with the two sleeves of her typical attire. He on the other hand, had been unsuccessful in bribing Pantherlily to take off his pants, and was left in a similar position as Natsu.
Gray had lost all of his clothes and Juvia lost her hat, shoes, and fur covered shrug, leaving her in a navy blue dress and long black stockings
Erza and Jellal, who were still eating at the moment had not bothered to acknowledge the two newcomers. But unlike the other players, they looked quite normal. In reality, Erza requipped her clothing everytime she took something off, which in a way, was cheating, but a single glare from the mage had silenced all protests. Jellal on the other hand, was wearing just a cape, which he had completely wrapped around himself, making himself look more like a blue caterpillar than anything.
Wendy and Charle were spared from the chaos of this game -plus, the other members were more interested in embarrassing the other couples.
"Well, what are you guys going to take off next?" Mira asked sweetly, though her eyes told a complete different story. Wendy quickly scooped her new possessions off the table before a shower of clothes were flung around like confetti.
"Well..." Natsu looked down at himself and then stared intensely at Lucy.
"What? Wait -don't you dare! What am I supposed to take off next? It's your turn anyway!" The two surveyed each other before sighing.
"Wait, Lucy, you still have your hair tye!" Happy pointed to the ribbon holding her hair up, before getting swatted away by an irritated Natsu.
"No, she doesn't!" He yelled, pulling the offending object off of the blonde mage's hair and burning it with his fiery fist.
"H-hey! That doesn't count! I chose to put that down before he burned it!" Lucy yelled. "Your turn, Levy." She grinned at her best friend, relieved to have found a solution and desperate to turn all of the attention away from herself.
The blue haired mage looked at herself, then at Gajeel.
"What are you looking at me for? I even took off all my gloves and shoes!" He yelled, turning a bit red.
"What about your piercings? Can you take them off?" Levy asked curiously, touching the metal objects carefully with her hands.
"No, I can't take them off. It'll take me forever to get them all in again." The two frowned, before Gajeel seemed to get an idea. Resting his head on Levy's shoulder, he grinned down at his exceed. "Hey, be a good sport, won't ya, Lily?" The cat balked, slowly backing away from the two. Levy giggled and snatched him up. Off came Lily's shorts.
"Well, we got that done with." She said cheerfully while a black cat tried unsuccessfully to hide himself in Gajeel's long hair. "Gray's turn!"
"Eh, Juvia, you got anything?" He asked his partner who had reluctantly gotten up again. The former elemental four mage nodded, removing her belt swiftly.
"Juvia has many tricks hidden up her sleeve." She said with a rather straight face.
"Come on, Erza. Let's see what you two have." Mirajane grinned. Jellal let out an inaudible groan caused from the excessive consumption of cheesecake while Erza appeared unfazed.
"Well, I guess these can go." She took of a ribbon on her gothic lolita attire before quickly re -equipping to her favorite bunny outfit.
"Aw, how boring." Laxus muttered, sitting beside Wendy on a bench. Mirajane sat beside him, giving him a sharp jab with her elbow while maintaining a cheerful grin.
"Well, let's deal." Lucy turned around and yelled at Cana, who quickly dealt out the cards with a flourish and returned to drinking behind the bar.
Charle looked at Wendy's cards carefully. She would not make the same mistake again. The young girl held a pair of twos. Mira's eyes narrowed darkly and Laxus moved ever-so-slightly away from her.
"Hey, Luce! Look at these!" Natsu held up a pair of blackened cards in front of his partner's face.
"Natsu, for the hundredth time, show me the cards before you burn them! Or better yet, don't burn them at all!" Lucy massaged her temples, but couldn't help but let a grin slip out at Natsu's antics to cheer her up again.
"Folding, huh?" Erza snickered, slapping a rather expensive looking bag on the table. Gasps went up collectively from the female players. "That's right. Heart Kreuz's limited edition hand bag."
Levy turned around on Gajeel's lap and tugged at his arm. "Gajeel, I want that!" She whined rather childishly, blushing as she remembered that there was an audience. "I really want it!" She added, looking at him rather pathetically. The tough iron dragon slayer cleared his throat.
"I'll just beat up whoever wins it." He stated matter of factly, getting an excited squeal from Levy, who hugged him tightly.
"Ah, no fair! We shouldn't have folded. Who knows, it may have been a pair of aces!" Lucy complained, glaring at her partner. "You owe me a bag."
"What's so great about that thing anyways? I could make something better than that!" Natsu huffed, annoyed at all the attention the single object was receiving.
"Juvia only wants Gray-sama." The water mage fluttered her eyelashes at the ice mage, completely ignoring both the purse and the astonished looks the other girls shot her way.
"Wow, that's so awesome, Mira!" Wendy said in awe. It was an extremely pretty bag, and she immediately knew that she wanted it all for herself. "I want to put Charle in it!" She declared decisively. The white exceed did a double take.
"W-what exactly do you mean by that, Wendy? You can't be serious! And there is absolutely no way I will have you prancing around with such a flashy object. It's for the older girls, I say we step out for this one." Charle said, disregarding the disappointed look on the young dragon slayer's face.
"Absolutely not. I will have that purse no matter what." Mirajane said dangerously, sandwiching Laxus further between herself and Wendy. "We will call." She slammed quite a large amount of jewels on the table.
"Us too!" Levy rummaged around in her pocket before producing a piece of paper. "Ah, will this do?" She held out the slip for the group to read, and Erza nearly fainted at the sight.
"B-buy one get one f-free for life! Where did you get such a thing?" Erza exclaimed as her eyes quickly scanned through the cake coupon.
"Gajeel and I saved the bakery a few weeks ago and they gave us this as payment. All we have to do is show them this coupon, but by now, they recognize us, so it's practically useless. They only ever gave three out, but they don't know what happened to the other two." Erza's eyes glinted.
"Is there any possibility of having a side trade?" She asked hopefully, only to be rebuffed by Mirajane.
"No way. We are going to battle this out fair and square." Gray folded with a toss of his hand. He didn't want to be caught in the middle of a battle with these women -he would find some way to repay Juvia later. He slowly and cautiously backed away from the scene, before full out sprinting away with his partner.
"Hah, good luck. Looks like we're going to win, Shrimp." Gajeel gave his trademark laugh as he gave a quick glance at his cards.
Erza desperately shook a knocked out Jellal, "The cards, the cards! We cannot lose to them!" She had become a monster now that cake was on stake.
"Aaaggh." The man groaned, looking quite pale. "W-wait -Erza, I'm going to get sick. I don't want anymore -," He couldn't even bring himself to say the offending word.
"Come on Cana, just deal out all the cards!" Mira yelled at the girl behind the bar. Cana threw away the top card and tossed five on the table top, not even bothering to put them all out one by one.
"Five of hearts, ace of spades, queen of clubs, five of clubs, and two of hearts." Erza slammed the table in anger. "Come on! We were so close to a flush!" She discarded her two and king of clubs, moaning pitifully in Jellal's arms.
"Triple twos!" Mirajane cackled evilly, preparing to grab the purse.
"Four of a kind." Gajeel smirked, tossing his cards down for everyone to see. Levy clapped her hands in glee, scooping her spoils.
"Thank you Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, immediately observing the purse. "This is high quality! As expected of Heart Kreuz! Wow, this is really good fabric. And the the cross stitching on the sides!" Grinning at Erza, she handed her the coupon the red headed mage had been after. "You can have this anyway. We don't need it anymore."
Erza immediately brightened up. "Really? You mean it?" She grabbed Jellal's hand and tore out of the guild in pursuit of the bakery, shouting her thanks for Levy and ignoring the wails her companion made due to his lack of clothing.
Mirajane pouted, pulling Laxus away. "This is boring." She muttered. "Laxus, you'll buy me that handbag, right?"
"Mira, I don't think you get the meaning of 'limited edition'..." The lightning mage began, but stopped as he saw the glare on her face. "But um, sure, we'll find that bag somewhere." The two promptly went outside, towards where the Heart Kreuz headquarters were located.
"Well, everyone's leaving, so I guess we'll go too. Besides, I got what I want!" Levy said excitedly, standing up and linking arms with Gajeel. "Come one, let's go. Oh, right -we should put on our clothes first."
"Levy~ There's my best friend!" Lucy cooed, in the midst of putting her jewelry back on herself.
"Sorry, Lucy! I'm not ever going to part with this bag." The solid script mage gave her a wink, before skipping off with the iron dragon slayer.
"Aw, that's no fair! We never even got the chance." Lucy groaned. "Well, Natsu. You did say you could make a purse better than that one, didn't you? Time to show me your skills." She dragged the helpless boy away, disregarding his yells of despair.
"Well, Charle. I don't think I'll ever understand that game. It's pretty entertaining though, isn't it?" Wendy grinned as she watched her friends leave one by one.
"Indeed, it is a strange game. Though it lacks the...how should I put it...class of more refined games."
The next day...
"Hey guys!" Wendy ran over to a group of a few older mages consisting of Kinana, Evergreen, Elfman, Fried, Bixslow, and Lisanna. She looked up at them, eyes shining brightly.
"Let's play a round of strip poker!"
That's it for now ~ Feel free to leave a review!
Yura