Yoooo. So this is a new fic I'm working on. Not much to say. I know the summary was kind of vague and terrible but basically it's an AU were Levy owns a book store and Gajeel is a mixed martial artist or a UFC fighter but he's rarely in any legitimate leagues. Gajeel has a nasty habit of causing problems for himself and sometimes those around him blah, blah, blah. You'll see as you read. This isn't going to be a short fic and I should warn you that there is a lot of reference to substance abuse in Broken Windows. Hope you don't hate it.
Fairy Tail and all of it's characters are owned by Hiro Mashima.
Levy McGarden stood, hands on her hips, broad smile on her face, gazing at a quaint, two story building. It wasn't all that impressive. A small plain little red brick structure, its most distinguishing feature being the massive bay windows located on either side of the door. At the moment each window sported a banner stating in large letters 'GRAND OPENING'. With a giddy little skip Levy walked up to the front door. She stopped before entering and brushed her fingers across the words that had been painted onto the door only days before. 'The Garden' the door said. In slightly smaller letters below that, 'New and Gently Used Books'. With a happy sigh Levy let herself in and flipped the open sign to closed.
Once inside she locked the door and shut the blinds, doing the same to the bay windows.
"We did it, Dad," she said to the empty shop. "We finally turned that dream into something good."
Levy couldn't keep the smile from her face and she remembered the long conversations she and her father used have about opening their own bookstore one day. The two would spend hours talking about how it would be. They discussed the books that would line the shelves and of how many customers they would have. Even after he had passed away Levy could remember telling him how she imagined the bookstore would look. She would give him every tiny, insignificant piece of information she could think of.
"We're getting close," she would sometimes whisper to the photo of him she had in her living room. Now she was finally there.
In the storage room there came a loud thump, followed by a muffled swear.
"God damn it Droy!"
Levy grinned and bit back a laugh before slipping into the storage room herself to watch her two friends and temporary employees bicker about the box of books Droy had just dropped. Any one who hadn't known the two for a long time would have a very difficult time believing the two were friends. Although both men were slightly above average height that was where the similarities ended. Jet was lean and had fair hair and light eyes whereas Droy was a pudgy man with dark hair and eyes. Day and night, Jet and Droy were, and not just in their looks.
"Shut up, Jet!" Droy was saying. "You shouldn't have startled me."
How the hell did I scare you. We've been in the same room for almost half an hour!" Jet snapped back.
"Startled!" Droy corrected his friend irately.
Levy decided to step in at that point before one of them stormed off.
"Alright boys, that's more than enough," Levy broke in, leaning down to help them collect the books off the floor. Both men started then blushed furiously.
"We didn't see you there," Jet mumbled. "You can be really quiet when you want to be."
"Sorry for dropping these," Droy said, waving vaguely at the last book still on the floor.
Levy grabbed the last book and took a look at the cover. It was just another bad teen supernatural romance novel.
Levy shrugged as she put it in the box."Don't worry about it. That thing has bad literature written all over it. You couldn't pay me to read something as silly as that."
Droy smiled at her, relieved that she wasn't angry, before picking the box up and placing it on on of the shelves.
"Had it been a good book like The Giver or The Help I would have had to fire you for sure though," she teased.
Both men smiled and let out a light laugh.
Levy rocked back on her heels and clasped her hands behind her back, gazing around the room. It was still a mess with boxes and loose books laying about, despite Jet and Droy's efforts. Later she would have to work towards organizing the room properly, but for now that could wait.
"So," she said, turning her attention to her friends. "Did we do okay today?"
"Of course!" Droy said.
"I'm not sure we could have had a better possible opening," Jet agreed. "The weather was perfect today."
"All the promoting we did really paid off," Droy added.
"I'm really glad Lucy was able to help with that."
"Shame she couldn't be here today."
"Well she'll be in tomorrow."
"Yeah but we won't."
The two bantered for awhile longer, chatting about the ridiculous amount of customers they'd each helped and how many books they had sold.
"You may want to order some more copies of The Fault In Our Stars," Jet said, "It's really popular since the movie just came out and all."
Levy nodded.
"You should also add The Maze Runner to that list. There's only four or five copies left and that's after only one day."
"Sounds good," Levy said. "It was the grand opening today so I imagine things will quiet down and steady out before long."
Levy turned away from her friends and walked back into the main store. Jet and Droy followed suit, closing the door behind them.
"So, do you guys want to join me for a celebratory dinner or do you have to get home?"
"Depends,"Jet said with a smirk, "Will we still be on the clock when you feed us?"
Levy laughed but Droy punched his friend, "Don't be such an ass. If you piss her off she may not invite us over for dinner again."
"Of course I would," Levy tutted. She rested her hands on her hips. "I could never turn away my best friends and most faithful employees."
Jet rolled his eyes at her playful sarcasm and started making his way to the spiral staircase near the back of the store that lead to Levy's apartment.
"Besides, who said I was the one cooking?"
Levy stood in front of the stove, stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce while Jet and Droy set the table. Jet was talking about how his girlfriend was going to Mexico for two weeks with her parents.
"Ya, her cousins getting married down their so her parents decided to make a big family trip out of it. Her brother and his wife are going too."
"Weren't you invited?" Droy asked. "I thought her parents liked you."
"Yeah, they like me fine and they did invite me but I just don't have the time to go. The wedding is in like a month. It's not enough time for me to plan anything at all. Besides, Levy doesn't have enough staff here yet for me to go."
Jet turned to Levy, putting his hands up.
"Not that I'm blaming you or anything."
"Of course not," Levy said. "I know what you meant. And you're right. Including myself I only have four staff members. I absolutely have to hire at least one more person, if not two."
"Well, you don't have to rush or anything. It looks like we can manage things for the time being at least," Droy put in.
Levy nodded and noticed that the water was boiling for the pasta. Before she could reach for it her phone began to ring. She asked Droy to take care of the pasta and went into her bedroom before answering her phone.
"Hello. Levy McGarden speaking," she said.
"Hey Lev, It's Lucy," came a cheerful reply.
"Oh hey Luce, are you back?"
"Just about. I'm in a cab on my way home. So how'd it go?" Lucy sounded excited to hear, like they were talking about Levy going on a date rather than her running a business.
"It went even better than expected. You should have seen it Lucy, I lost count of how many customers came in. And I already need to order at least three more titles in."
"That's great! I really with I could have been there," Lucy sounded almost mournful that she hadn't been at the store that day.
"It's alright," Levy said. "I know that the convention was important to you. How did that go by the way?"
"It was great!" Now Lucy sounded really excited. "There were workshops for every style of writing. They had, like, a million different seminars and you'll never guess who one of the speakers was!"
"Who?" Levy asked, genuinely curious.
"The one and only J.K. Rowling! In the flesh. It was amazing Levy! I thought I had a good handle on writing but the stuff that I learned was phenomenal!"
"That's great Lucy," Levy said. "You can tell me the rest of the details tomorrow, okay? I've got dinner on the stove right now. I'm pretty sure it's almost done. If you want you can come over and join us. Jet and Droy and I are just celebrating."
"I'd love to but I really need some sleep. Big day tomorrow and all." She punctuated the sentence with a yawn.
"Okay, sounds good. I'll be sure to save you some."
"Thanks Levy," Lucy replied, yawning again. "Well I'm just about home so I'm gonna let you go. See you tomorrow."
"Yup, see you then."
After she hung up she tossed her phone on the bed. The phone hit the blankets, then bounced back up and flopped onto the floor on the other side of her bed with a soft thump. Levy sighed and crawled onto her bed. She laid down on her stomach and peered over the edge. Since she lived alone she had pushed her bed so that it nearly hit the other wall. If not for the large base boards that produced the obscene amounts of heat Levy felt she needed come the winter months she would have it right against the wall. She laid down on her stomach and peered over the edge of the bed.
Her phone had disappeared in all of the random things she had sitting next to it. She sighed again and began picking through the junk, promising to clean it all up before winter. She grabbed some clothes and threw them in the general direction of the hamper, then pushed some sporting equipment she rarely used out of the way. Her phone was right next to a dejected looking base ball bat, half hidden under the bed. She grabbed her phone and shimmied off the bed before rejoining Jet and Droy for dinner.
In the dinning room, Jet and Droy were already sitting at the table, waiting for her.
"Sorry," Levy said as she joined them. "It was Lucy. She just wanted to let me know that she was almost home."
Droy nodded. "That's good. Did she mention how that writers seminar thing went?"
Nodding, Levy spooned some pasta onto her plate. "She had a fantastic time by the sound of it. Apparently J.K. Rowling was there."
"Cool," commented Jet. He was digging through his bag at the moment.
Levy cocked her head to the side before asking, "Jet? What are you doing?"
"Getting my congratulation gift," Jet murmured before pulling out a very expensive looking bottle of wine.
Droy stood up and went to the cupboard to get wine glasses.
"Oh, Jet," Levy said, trying to suppress a grin. "You really didn't need to get that."
"Oh yes he did," Droy said as he returned with the glasses and a cork screw. "After all the work you put into 'The Garden' you damn well deserve this."
Levy smiled at her friends, "I think that this has quite possibly been the best day of my entire life."
"Damn straight," said Jet, opening the bottle and pouring each of them a glass. Then he raised his glass and Levy and Droy followed suit.
"To Levy!"
Okay so chapter one. Not to much going on it was just meant to give you the basic run down on where Levy sits at the moment. We meet Gajeel in the next chapter so be excited. We'll also meet Natsu and possibly Gray and Juvia. Well that's all for now folks I would really appreciate it if you could give me a few reviews. Let me know if you like my writing style and the content so far. It's nice to know where I have room for improvement. So please please review and I'll have chapter two up as soon as I am able. Have a good one everybody!