WEIRDO BLABS: Went shopping earlier today with my mother and my shopaholic of a sister. We ended up walking from around ten in the morning to five thirty in the afternoon and honestly, I think I spent more time reading fanfics on my phone than actually enjoying the shopping. There must be something wrong with me, though. Anyway, my imagination took over while we went shopping so this is the fruit of my…shopping? Doing a GaVy this time because I think their pairing is just so darned pure!

PS: IRON MAN 3… Emmagawd!

SUMMARY: Why do girls love shopping so much? Gajeel finds out. GajeelXLevy | slight GrayXLucy

~GIRLS AND SHOPPING~

"Shopping is a woman thing. It's a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase."
― Erma Bombeck

Gajeel sniffed and stared suspiciously at the strangers who passed him by.

It was a particularly hot Tuesday mid-morning, the sun bursting with energy after a good night's sleep. Its invisible arms embraced the whole town of Magnolia and pushed away any chance of rain anytime that week (much to Juvia's dismay). The temperature was only rising and didn't please the Iron Dragon Slayer at all.

He craned his long and muscular neck all the way back to stare lazily at the cloudless blue sky, dark strands of hair sticking to his skin by the sweat. He stretched his long legs for what seemed like the tenth time since he came thirty minutes ago at the flea market. He closed his eyes and absorbed all the sounds around him: vendors yelling prices out to passers-by, girls' excited squealing at the 'cute blouse' and the 'pretty skirt' and their begging for lower prices, the dragging of wagons and carts and the footsteps—especially the footsteps. It seemed that Tuesday was a very busy day for the flea market, when new merchandise would get dropped off from all over Fiore. Thus, most of the shop-a-holics were simply high on Tuesdays, their hustling and bustling evident in the swift pacing and the tinkling of change in their bags.

The Dragon Slayer lazily put his gloved hand over his stomach and muttered incoherent curses to the thin air. What could have ensnared him that he agreed to go to that bloody place on that bloodily searing morning in his all-black clothes? What kind of potion, spell, has been used on him? What words from the mouth of the devil itself—

"Gajeel-kun!"

Ah, yes. That. The snare, the potion, the devil that was able to convince him to step out of his burrow to that place of sheer estrangement, in her sleeveless orange top and denim skirt cut two inches above her knees. Her wavy blue locks were pulled up into a messy bun, a black band adorning the circumference of the head like a crown.

Levy waved her hand and called out Gajeel's name gleefully, making the Dragon Slayer's ears perk. Head still craned to the back, he secretly smiled at the sound of Levy repeatedly addressing him in her voice, that sweet lullaby-like timbre. He could imagine her excited face as she ran to him: her huge beady-eyes, full of wonder, cute potato nose, her lips in cherry lip gloss split widely apart with a smile and her white teeth generously shown. This was Gajeel's second favorite look on Levy.

"Sorry I'm late. I got a little problem taking my money from the bank."

Gajeel collected himself, fought hard to pull the smile away from his face and looked straight at Levy with his eyebrow arched and his arms crossed on his toned chest. "I've been waiting here for half an hour, brat."

"Jeez, you! It's not like I have any control over who goes and takes a leave of absence at the bank." Levy said, hands on her hips for added effect. She pouted as she reprimanded him, her lower lip protruding cutely and flashing its pink flesh at Gajeel. Her eyes remained calm as the night sky but her eyebrows were creased together, almost forming a letter 'V'. Her nose was scrunched up in a decent manner, just enough for a few lines to form at the bridge of her nose. "I was also expecting for you to show up at my house—!"

Her voice wasn't going through Gajeel at all; he was busy staring at her, faking a frown when he so wanted to smile at her for making his day. Her look then and there, her annoyed look, was his most favorite look and thus the sly Dragon Slayer did everything to see that almost everyday.

"Gajeel," Levy finally said aloud, waving her small hands in front of the teen's face and breaking his train of thought. "Are you even listening?"

"No," he said honestly and grabbed Levy's wrist to put it away from his face.

The female mage simply pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose before smiling at him with understanding air. She shyly tangled the arm he'd caught around the one that grabbed it and pulled on it with her petite weight. "Let's go?"

"You buyin' a lot today?" he replied and pulled her up to stand straight beside him. This took little effort on his part.

"Not sure," she replied, "I'll never really know until I've seen everything… I'll have you know, though, that I'm very thorough…"

"You do have enough money for this, right?" Hope not, he mused as they started walking, arm-in-arm. He had wanted to buy her stuff without looking like a complete gentleman and thus ruin his image.

"Of course," Levy giggled and tugged affectionately on her lover's arm and leaning her head on it. The girl could smell the musky scent of his sweat as she did, "Saved up every bit of extra that I could."

"Energy?"

"Erm…"

"Yeah, I thought so," he smirked and stretched his neck. He'd expected to carry all of the bags Levy would be taking home. It was something he'd figured out from the observations he made on all the other couples in Fairy Tail.

"Don't worry because I usually don't shop a lot," Levy said. "Hey, look at that—!"

Tugging on his arm like a leash, Levy led Gajeel to a long line of blouses hanging on a make-shift clothesline. The girl took out a white piece of cloth sewn to make it look like a shirt. He marveled absentmindedly as Levy yapped on and on about every other shirt, skirt, pants, blouse and (ever so shyly) bikini that they passed. She would dive right in with other women who were practically fighting over a pile of clothes on a huge hamper; he would watch, amazed, at the onslaught of hair-pulling, hand smacking and grabbing of those who were ready to risks their lives for the sake of a good buy. Oftentimes, his companion (he was still too hesitant to think of Levy as his lover since he would still need to get used to that) would charmingly ask a vendor or a salesman for the price and beg with batted-eyelashes at them to have it lower. Gajeel silently lends a hand and glares at the poor businessmen: if it was a female, they would hesitantly put it on sale for Levy for fear of their lives; if it was a male, Levy would be sent away also for fear of their lives (the latter satisfied Gajeel more). Once Levy has bought something or isn't fulfilled with the store, they leave and transfer to another stall, and the same process would repeat.

At the first few minutes, Gajeel was still entertained. But the next few hours passed by and he was starting to feel his legs cramp and the weight of the shopping bags, though not much, have increased drastically as he carried them for a long period of time. He could feel himself sweating and sniffling in the sweltering heat of the cramped place, the dust and dirt coming up through his nostrils. Around a little after noon, Gajeel was exhausted and felt like a rag doll on a leash as Levy tugged him around the market, shopping bags on his hands.

"Oh, lovely!" Levy smiled, flustered as she looked at her purchase dangling from Gajeel's limp arms (and neck). "I absolutely love Tuesdays!"

"Yeah," Gajeel absentmindedly replied, glad that Levy finally stopped and hinting that shopping time was up. "So would you like to go home now or get something to eat—?"

"What are you talking about, Gajeel?" Levy asked, surprised. "We haven't even gone inside yet!"

"What…?"

The girl pointed to a huge tent that was surrounded by the small stalls and stores they had just been to. Gajeel was surprised, not only at the size of it but also that he didn't even know it was there!

"C'mon, c'mon! The really good ones are usually inside!" The girl excitedly tugged him along again and walked right into the huge shepherds' tent.

Gajeel gulped. It was like a maze of stores and stalls that spread widely to a nauseating degree, ten or twenty times the area they had just covered for the last four hours.

Oh, dear God, Gajeel thought inside his head in defeat. What is with girls and shopping?

"Oh, Levy! Where did you buy that skirt?" Lucy asked excitedly, eyes sparkling as she ogled over her best friend's new clothes. The two, aside from an intense passion for reading and writing, shared the same fashion sense and shopping habit.

"The flea market last Tuesday," Levy proudly replied, "I had it at a really good price, too! You should have been there, Lu-chan! It was just so ecstatic!"

"Oh! Too bad I was out on a job last Tuesday!" Lucy pouted and slouched back on her seat. Gray was beside her, his arms draped around the headrest of her chair.

"Let's just go this Tuesday!" Levy suggested excitedly, almost in a squeal, "Oh, Lu-chan we'll have a grand time!"

The blond girl clasped her hands together, "Really? That would just be divine!"

"You guys are going shopping?" Gray leaned over to join the conversation, his chin resting on Lucy's head. "I could go if you want me to, Luce… You never take me when you shop…"

"Of course, you can come, Gray…" both girls said in a harmonized duet.

"Besides, Gajeel could use some manly company when we're shopping… Right, Gajeel—?" Levy turned and stopped, surprised to see that Gajeel had immediately scampered from beside her, away from the table and away from the conversation.

"Oh, I guess that means he's not coming, then…" Levy said in resignation.

Huh, wonder why? Gray mused.

Needless to say, Gajeel didn't show up the whole week and avoided any conversation with Gray about the shopping trip the ice mage was so excited about. It seemed to him that Gajeel was horrified—traumatized, even—at the event.

And that Tuesday, Gray found out exactly why.

WEIRDO BLABS: The one-shot took a bit longer than what I had originally planned. Hm… What do you guys think, though? Yes or No?

PS: Shopping isn't for every guy, is it? *Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.*

Please support my collab fanfiction with WolfieAnne, The Last Celestial Mage, and maybe my other FT fanfictions: Another Shot at Love, Good Taste and Massage?