This multi is based off of the oneshot "Rough Around the Edges." It got so many awesome reviews and I wanted to make you guys happy, so here you are!
A bright yellow taxi cub pulled up in front of a large apartment building, it had been easier-and quicker- to just go to her friend's place rather than spend another twenty minutes in the car with her current date. Levy let out a sigh of relief as she handed over her portion of the jewels owed to the taxi driver and stepped out of the car.
"It was a pleasure to meet you! I hope I can see you again!" Her date said as he hung out the window.
"Bye!" Levy turned heel and rolled her eyes as she hurriedly walked up the steps and punched in the code that would unlock the large glass door.
She took the elevator to the tenth floor and stepped out. She didn't feel it necessary to dig through her purse looking for the spare key, Cana was expecting her and would most likely have unlocked the door. Levy stepped up to the door with the numbers 1034 across the top and turned the handle, truth to her thoughts it was indeed unlocked.
"Levs! How was the date?" Cana jumped up from the couch to greet her blue haired friend.
"He wanted to meet my brother." Levy slumped into the living room.
"That's nothing new."
"He wanted to date my brother." She fell with her back onto the couch and covered her face with her hands.
Cana erupted into a fit of laughter, she sat back down on the couch clutching her stomach as tears fell from her eyes.
"Now that's a new one! You've gotta be kidding me?" The look on Levy's face was anything but joking. "Oh my Mavis you're serious! Ahh!"
Levy threw a pillow at her friend and then buried her face under[MS1] [MS2] another.
"I am never dating anyone interested or even remotely interested in hockey again. Mark my words!"
Cana stood up from the couch still wiping the tears from her eyes as she walked over to her bedroom. She walked back out into the living room a few moments later with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder and a smaller bag held out in front of her. Without moving much from the couch Levy reached out and grabbed the strings of the smaller bag and allowed it to softly hit the floor.
"Get up little lady! We're going out!"
"Hrrggg."
…
The familiar cool air and the smell of ice filled her senses and Levy smiled. She was in her own world and hadn't even noticed the two men who were taking up the entire ice rink currently playing hockey. She walked over to a nearby bench and pulled out her ice skates. Cana was already on the ice before Levy had been able to finished lacing up her boots. As she walked out onto the ice she spotted Cana talking with the two men she hadn't taken the time to notice earlier. She wasn't across the rink for long and before Levy was even able to finish her warm ups, Cana had returned.
"They're playing hockey but said they'd give us half the rink unless we wanted to join them. I told them no."
"Good. I swore off the sport and the men involved with it. I just wanna get lost in my music and skate."
"I brought us some water bottles, don't drink out of mine though!"
Levy stifled a laugh, she had snuck alcohol in with her again, she shook her head as Cana smirked back at her. She fished out her iPod, slipped her earbuds in and put her songs on shuffle. The first song to come on was Lola Montez by Volbeat and she soon found her rhythm as she danced across the ice.
She was lost in her own world once again; lost to the melody and the bass line pumping in her ears, as well the occasional sound of her blades scraping against the ice as she landed her jumps. She loved being on the ice, it was her place, her home. She had been scouted numerous times to skate professionally but she had no interest, she wanted to do it for solely for fun. She had watched how her brother had turned his love for hockey into his career and how more often than not it had turned into his job rather than his passion, she didn't want that to happen to her and the love she had for figure skating.
She didn't share her passion of skating with many people, but when she did they didn't find it at all surprising. They just thought her love for the ice came from a little sister's desire to be noticed by her hotshot big brother. They couldn't be more wrong. He had indeed taught her to skate when she was young and soon it came as easy as walking to her. She was close to her brother and watched him grow as an athlete, when they're parents passed away she had encouraged him to keep going and to not worry about her.
Her brother had been drafted by the Crocus Cyclones and after she graduated high school she was accepted into Crocus University; her brother had insisted on paying her tuition. She was thankful for him, even with his high profile sports career he still made time for her and made sure she was doing okay. After college she got a job in their hometown of Magnolia as a fourth grade language arts teacher.
After a few songs had come and gone Cana finally flagged her down and skated up to her. Levy pulled out her earbuds and draped them around her neck as Cana pointed towards the two men at the opposite end of the rink.
"Have you been watching them at all?"
Levy shook her head and turned to look at the men she was pointing at. They were both large, as Cana would say "muscle for days" and built beyond belief. The larger of the two was a dark skinned man and the other was a little bit darker than Cana's complexion; Levy was unfortunately the ever pale one.
"I've not been paying the least bit of attention to them, to be honest."
"They're good. Really good. Especially the one who has the puck right now."
Levy watched him as he moved the puck around the ice with ease, he was good, he clearly knew what he was doing. The dark skinned man was currently positioned at the goal and in the brief time she watched he had been lucky to block only two of his friend's shots even with his massive size as an advantage. She continued to watch them, paying closer attention to the man with the puck and that's when she finally noticed it.
"Cana. He has a man-bun." She said as she shot her hand out and gripped her brown-haired friend's arm.
"And the panties come off!" Levy glowered at her taller friend while smacking her in reply, "He also has a hockey stick and a puck and you swore those off."
"That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view!"
"You ladies gonna take a picture or just keep staring?"
Levy blinked and realized the gorgeous man-bun was yelling at them. She quickly turned around attempting to play off the fact she had indeed been staring but when she heard the shuffle of ice skates behind her she knew she'd been caught.
"Figure skating, eh?"
Levy turned around to look at the man, "Excuse me?"
"I saw you twirlin' around earlier. Yer a figure skater?"
"Oh, not professionally. Just for fun. You play hockey?"
Man-bun nodded in agreement at her and Levy soon realized this conversation was going nowhere.
"Where's your friend? The goalie."
"He went to the lockers. What about yours?"
Levy quickly looked to her right where she thought Cana had been standing but was shocked to see her friend had bailed on her, she spun around looking for her but didn't see her anywhere.
"I have no idea actually. Cana was just here. Oh! I'm Levy!" She held her hand out and smiled.
"Gajeel," reluctantly he returned her hand shake and then quickly dropped it, "My friend is Lily. Don't even comment on his name, he ain't no puss."
"I said nothing!" Levy held her hands up in the air in a defensive manner.
The faint sound of Levy's cell phone ringing broke up the awkward tension between the two and she excused herself to rush over to where her duffle bag was. She grabbed her phone and turned back around to see Gajeel was already back at the far side of the rink, Lily had come back from the lockers and they were talking. Without paying much attention she pushed the green button on her iPhone's screen.
"Hello?"
"Nugget! How was the date? I never heard from ya!"
Levy rolled her eyes, of course her brother would be calling. "He was more interested in you. Pretty sure he wanted to date you!"
"I'm sorry, Nugget! But that is pretty funny! Anyway, I wanted to let you know I've got you and Cana tickets to my next home game, they'll be at the box office. They're damn good seats too, you can almost smell the blood!"
"You're a hockey player, not a UFC fighter, that's kinda gross. Oh well, Cana will be excited."
"Don't even lie, you're excited too! Anyway, I have to go, I'll talk to you later!"
"Bye!"
"Later Nugget!"
The line disconnected and she threw the phone back in her bag. She looked back towards Gajeel and Lily and was disappointed to find they had already left. She started taking her skates off when Cana reappeared.
"Where were you?"
"Places. You done? Crashing at my place or heading home?"
"Mhm and I'm gonna head home, I have to work tomorrow."
…
Levy walked into her small house and trudged right into her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed. She had been able to save up enough for a down payment and bought herself a house just outside the main part of the city in a quaint little neighborhood. It was small, very small, but it was home and it was her's. She was so proud of it, even if her best friend's apartment could trump the place. It had two rooms, the second housed all of her books; besides her love for the ice she also had a strong love for books.
She managed enough energy to pull herself from the comfortable confines of her bed and change into a pair of pajama shorts and a loose shirt. She prepped her school bag for the morning and set the timer on her coffee pot. When she was all said and done she lazily walked back to her bedroom and climbed into bed, pulling the covers up under her chin and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, she awoke sore from her late night skate session, she popped an ibuprofen with her morning coffee, grabbed her bags and walked out to her car. The morning was fairly warm for February, and she was thankful she didn't have to thaw her car out. She hadn't set her alarm the previous night early enough to compensate for iced over windows and she breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door to her Toyota Camry and started the engine.
…
"I said hustle! I thought I was coaching varsity hockey not junior varsity cheerleaders!"
A loud chorus of grumbles could be heard as the high school boys' varsity hockey team finished up their end of practice suicide drills.
"Coach Redfox, are we done yet?"
"You were, but for asking two more sets then you can be done."
"UGH!"
Gajeel clapped his hands and shouted a few more "hustles" towards the team then stood back crossing his arms.
"Be easy on them, my boy! They're undefeated, they deserve a break!"
"If I give them an ounce to slack then they won't hold that title anymore Principle Dreyer. They're proud of that title and they've worked for it. They can take it easy after we win the championship!"
Gajeel was proud of his team, he pushed them to their limits and as much as they complained they were also appreciative of his dedication to them. The varsity hockey team hadn't been this good in years before he came to Magnolia High and took over as coach.
"Very well! I look forward to seeing that trophy in the front lobby!"
The small old man trotted away as Gajeel beamed back at him. He was looking forward to seeing that trophy as well.
"Alright guys, bring it in!"
So I'm taking a slightly different approach with this story versus the oneshot, and I hope you guys still enjoy it! Please let me know what you think!