Been thinking about this story for a while. It didn't turn out as long as I'd originally planned, but that's okay. Things rarely go like I plan anyway. lol Anywho...this story was inspired by a great country song, "I Don't Dance" by Lee Brice.

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

I DON'T DANCE

If anyone had told Gajeel a year ago that he'd be dancing in the middle of Magnolia with hundreds of people looking on, he'd have called them fucking stupid and probably knocked the shit out of them for good measure. And yet, here he was, spinning and twirling like some idiotic pansy in a three-piece suit. And it was all her fault.

He would have never believe he would be this guy, one who let his woman drag him into whatever she wanted. Hell, he hadn't thought it was even possible. He'd always been tough, hard as nails in most respects. He did his own thing, never intending to settle down. And for a long time, that had worked. Now though, he couldn't imagine his life any other way.

He was well and truly tangled up in her, her wants and desires his primary focus, her every need his own. She'd become his everything before he'd even had time to register that he cared for her. It had surprised him at first, scared the shit out of him soon after that, but before long, he'd allowed himself to go with it.

Now, he could see the irony of his situation. All those times he'd ridiculed those poor lovestruck saps, all the times he'd refuted the belief that he was next. In spite of all the declarations he'd made back then, he'd been helpless against her. He'd fallen and fallen hard for a pair of deep brown eyes and cute pouty lips.

Lucy held all the cards, and she knew it. The woman had him wrapped around her little finger, and though he bitched and cussed every time she flexed that dainty little digit, he wouldn't have it any other way. He'd lost all his pride, what he'd once thought to be his greatest possession, and in doing so, he'd gained a woman any man would be happy to have.

And she loved him. It blew his mind to think a woman like her could want someone like him. He was dark to her light, hard to her soft. As long as he lived, he knew he'd never understand why she'd picked him, but he'd be damned if he ever took it for granted.

She was his first and last, his one and only love. Before her, he'd never thought he could have such a life, never believed he deserved to, but she'd changed all that. She'd taken his broken soul and his two left feet and quite literally waltzed away with his heart. And she'd protected it with a fierceness he could only admire.

She'd transformed him into a new man, one that smiled and laughed. And danced apparently...in public.

It was ridiculous, he supposed, to anyone who knew him. He could see it on their faces as he and Lucy swept past them on the dance floor, but he it didn't matter, because Lucy was smiling up at him like he'd hung the moon.

The truth was he didn't care what they did together. It didn't matter that he despised dancing, because that's what she wanted to do. He'd go with her anywhere, do anything she asked because he loved her with every ounce of his being, with every cracked and shady part of his soul.

Yes, she had him in the palm of her hand. She knew it. He knew it. Hell, the whole damn world probably knew it, but Gajeel didn't give a shit. She was worth all the heckling he knew awaited him at the guild, all the teasing and jeers directed at his manhood. Because at the end of the day, those laughing men would be going home alone, and he'd be going home with the most beautiful woman in the world.