"Gajeel! Come fight me!" Salamander roared and charged. A quick step to the right left him smashing into the wall behind me. Across the room Gray snickered and commented, "Fuckin' Natsu. He can't even attack Gajeel. The guy's a brick wall!"

"And how could you miss the fact that you just stripped right next to Juvia?" Cana called from the bar.

"Eh?!"

"Haha! Perverted stripper!"

"Gray-sama!"

"Tch,"I muttered and moved my way over towards the back of the guild. As expected Gray and Natsu got into it leaving me completely out of it. With a quick nod to Mira I sat at a table in the corner and drank the beer provided by the devil bartender. If the people in this guild weren't such damn good people, I'd be out of here in a heartbeat. Dealing with little kid bullshit wasn't, and isn't, at the top of my to-do list.

"Natsu!" Bunny girl stomped her way past my table in her famous short blue skirt and tight white top. Speaking of "to-do" list. I chuckled to myself as I downed the beer. I watched as she found Natsu and immediately "Lucy-kicked" him right in the nuts. Whatever he did, he didn't deserve that. I cringed at the thought. No, Bunny girl wasn't on that particular list for that particular reason. Well, that and the fact that I'd beat her senseless less than a year ago-technically it's been seven years since Tenrou, but that doesn't really count for us now does it?

"Can you bozos shut the hell up? Take it outside if you've gotta fight about this stupid shit this early." Cana grumbled. That's more like my kind of woman. Can drink beer, loud, funny, strong and definitely not hard on the eyes.

"Yeah, leave my precious little girl alone!" Gildarts cooed as Cana slapped him away. A second inward cringe. Not messing with that family.

Mira approached the table with another beer in hand. She's pretty damn hot, strong, independent….

"So Gajeel, who ya thinking about?" She winked as she set the glass down. I was tempted to say, "you" but I didn't really feel like joking around today. Mira may be a sweet little girl most days, but if you pissed her off somehow it was bad news. Not to mention the pissed looks Freed has been giving me….

"Tch," I settled then looked away until she left. Nope, not her either. My beer disappeared within seconds. This thought process was going nowhere. There's no one in this guild I would ever consider in a romantic way-or really for fear of physical safety a sexual way either. I heard a chair scrape to the right of me.

I looked over to the Shrimp sitting down, book in hand.

"Oi! Shrimp watcha doing at my table?" She raised an eyebrow at me with a serious expression.

"Shut up Gajeel. I am trying to read a book and I needed silence. Jet and Droy won't leave me alone, unless I'm with you. They're scared of you ya know." She smirked at the end and turned back to her book. My grin matched hers.

"What makes you think it's quiet over here? Who's to say I won't bug ya?" She snorted but didn't deign to answer me in any other way. Fair enough. Mira came back holding another beer in hand for Levy as she eyed me with a mischievous look. Levy glanced up to see Mira setting the stein down and she smiled politely, "No thanks Mira, not today." I raised studded brow at her and snorted.

"What can't handle an adult beverage Levy-Chan?" I mimicked Lucy's girly nickname for the Shrimp and she huffed.

"I can handle it Gajeel! I'm not a child!" She nodded to Mira who giggled and walked back to the bar to retrieve a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. My eyes widened.

"Whoa, whoa, I wasn't looking for a drinking contest Shrimp!" She smirked and waved Mira of in a manner most would be too frightened to use. She poured both shots and then leaned back against the chair appraising me.

"What, afraid that I will beat you in this game? Don't think you can handle a few adult beverages?" With a cheeky grin she shot back her glass and returned to judging me with her eyes. I snorted and drained my glass. If Shorty wanted to play with fire I'd play along. With a chuckle she poured the next shots and looked up thoughtfully, "What should we toast to?"

I rolled my eyes. Damn chicks and their toasts. "How 'bout a toast to getting as fucked up as we can at 3 pm on a Saturday?" She smiled and shot back her glass.

"You're so poetic Gajeel," she muttered as I slammed back my second drink. The burn of the whiskey tingled its way down and my face warmed a fraction. Shrimp had a light blush and was a bit more smiley than before, but we were both far from done. I wanted this little game of ours to last a while so I decided to try a game.

"How about we play two truths and lie and if I guess correct you take a shot, if I guess wrong I take a shot?" Levy nodded and poured the next drinks.

"Alright Gajeel. Since you brought up the idea of a game you go first. Tell me two truths and a lie."

"Gihee." My smirk widened as I thought over which direction to take this game. Did I want to play normal or embarrass the Shrimp? Obviously embarrass.

"Alright. I've had sex with twenty girls," Her eyes widened marginally at this, though she didn't look too surprised, "I am twenty two years old," she nodded somehow already knowing that one though I'd never told anyone, "and my favorite color is blue." She leaned back and eyed her drink as she thought.

"I'm calling bullshit on twenty girls. I'd say fewer than ten." My eyebrows shot up and I feigned a look of hurt. "Only that many?" She continued to stare me down until I cracked and sighed.

"Damn." I picked up the glass and drank it down. Smart little girl.

"Ok, my turn!" She adjusted herself on the seat so that she sat meditation style and leaned forward. "I have two brothers, my favorite genre of book is action and," she paused before a wicked grin lit her face and she finished, "The carpet does match the drapes." My eyes bugged from my skull at that. She burst out laughing and I chuckled with her.

"Damn Levy, I didn't think you'd bring anything fun up!"

She scoffed. "Gajeel, I may look like an innocent little kid but honestly I'm not. I'm twenty years old dammit! I've had sex! I swear! I have fun!" She slammed her fist on the table and threw back her glass.

"Why did you drink? I didn't guess yet!" She smirked.

"Doesn't matter, I knew which one you'd focus on and that on is the lie." Confusion settled over me.

"Wait, the carpet isn't blue?" She shook her head. "What color is it?" I asked without really meaning anything sexual at all.

"Nope! You're gonna have to wait for that one!" she waggled her finger at me and leaned back to her chair waiting for me to take my turn. I smiled and mirrored her posture. Suddenly something else about her confessions struck me. "What're your brother's names?" She raised a brow before answering, "Jet and Droy." I took in her completely serious face and felt the confusion and disgust settling deep inside.

"Wait WHAT?" Suddenly she burst into laughter.

"I'm kidding Gajeel! They aren't my blood brothers. Jesus Christ that would be weird. Our families have known each other forever and about three months before Tenrou happened their dad married my mom. They were pretty upset about that." I felt like an idiot sitting there staring at her, but what else was I supposed to say?

She grew impatient with my transfixion and clapped her hands together once. "C'mon Gajeel in order to play the game I need you to take your turn!" She poured the next two drinks and leaned back waiting eagerly.

"Uh…alright…ok, so I had a girlfriend in Phantom Lord, I think Panther Lily is a stupid name and," I wracked my brain for one more truth and without thinking tossed out, "I'm attracted to all the girls here in Fairy Tail." Even I winced at that last one, but Levy just laughed again.

"Well I know which one isn't a lie…"She trailed off suggestively and then thought for a moment before she looked over to me with a smug grin. "You love the name Panther Lily." I sighed.

"I know." My head grew a tad bit fuzzy after I took the next shot. I wasn't drunk just yet but a nice buzz was setting in. I could tell by Shorty's cheeks that she was nearing the threshold too and I paid close attention to facial features during her next list. I was going to win this game and Shrimp was gonna get plastered.

"I play the violin, I beat Jet in a race once and I am only attracted to three Fairy Tail men." Logic told me that no way she beat Jet, but based on her facial tells that one was somehow true. Which meant…

"Violin." She groaned.

"Damn, I thought the Jet thing would've got you," She swallowed the drink and then explained, "It was before he perfected his magic so he still ran pretty slowly." But Jet wasn't what was on my mind.

"So who're the three men?" She spluttered a bit on that and I was confused to see a light blush dust her cheeks.

"Fucking alcohol. Forget I said that ok? I'm not telling you," she leaned in and whispered, "Especially not while Mira is here." My laughter bellowed through the guild and several pairs of eyes flashed to us in our corner. Based on the clock it was nearing 4 pm, so people shouldn't be surprised to see Fairy Tail mages getting hammered. Shrimp's eyes widened and she got up from her chair and put her hand over my mouth.

"Shh! Baka Gajeel if Mira hears you she is gonna come snooping!" My attention drifted to the dainty hand covering my mouth and the proximity of Levy's chest. She noticed the direction of my gaze and crossed her arms.

"Gajeel, really? It's not like there aren't a bunch of better boobs to look at around here." She said it so matter of factly, so simply like it wasn't an insult to her at all. It upset me to think that she wasn't proud of her chest when I so clearly liked it so before I could control myself I blurted out, "Who says it's not your boobs specifically I wanna look at?" She paused at that then smirked. "Oh really?"

Realization hit me and I turned my head petulantly, "Tch, shut up Shrimp." She muffled a laugh and without warning sat right beside me on the bench. She nudged me with her elbow and whined, "C'mon Gajeel it's your turn!" I sighed and scooted slightly away from her warmth.

"Fine. Erza doesn't scare me, I'm not ashamed of anything and I actually enjoy Natsu's company." I glanced to my right and saw her thinking away before she lifted a fist in triumph.

"I've got! The lie is that you like hanging out with Natsu." I chuckled but made no move to drink. She stared at me dumbfounded.

"Ok, I'll drink but you've got to explain all three of those." Shrugging my shoulders I handed her the glass. I pointedly waited for her to drink before I opened my mouth.

"Erza doesn't scare me. All she can do is physically harm me and I've had enough of that in my life to know that physical pain eventually ends. And Natsu, he's an ok guy. He makes me feel better knowing that even a big scary Dragon Slayer can have friends and a family." She smiled softly at the last one but her expression quickly clouded over with thought.

"You didn't explain the shame one yet." I had been hoping she wouldn't have noticed that. My hand reached for my still full glass of whiskey and without looking at her I muttered, "I'm ashamed of a lot of things I've done, not the least of which was hurting you Shorty." Alcohol burned my throat as I downed the glass and without another word I stood, ruffled Levy's hair and headed out of the guild. It was nearing 5 pm and it was a bad idea for me to stay and drink with her.

"Gajeel wait!" I didn't turn around to see what she wanted I just pushed on through town, ignoring the stares I was getting. I was tired of pretending everything was ok. I was tired of acting like I hadn't fucking crucified her to a tree. I was sick of looking into her eyes and not seeing the hate that I knew I deserved and most of all I was done with being happy about it. Levy deserved better than me for a boyfriend-yeah I said boyfriend. Truth was I've known since Tenrou that Shorty did it for me. I've known but, being her friend was more than enough for me and I knew the way people would look at me if we were together.

"Gajeel please!" I felt a small soft hand grip my bicep and pull me to a stop. I sighed and turned to face the music. She looked at me like her heart was breaking for me and I hated it, hated the pity.

"What do you want Shrimp?" She crossed her arms defensively and glared up at me in defiance.

"What the hell are you doing leaving during our game?" I raised my brow at her and laughed.

"I figured I ruined the mood with that last one there Shorty." Her face softened into acknowledgement.

"No reason for me to keep stringing this along," I mutter, "I like you Shrimp." She blinked up at me owlishly. My hand wen to the back of my head and I continued on, "I've liked you for a while now, but I know that's a bad idea and so I've tried to avoid you. But it's hard when you plop yourself down and we get to talking and I realize that I like what you say. I can't help it Shrimp." She remained silent and stared at me. It was getting uncomfortable and I shifted where I stood.

"And now I've said my piece and I'm going home," I turned to walk away and was surprised to feel her hand on my arm once more. She walked to the front of me and looked up at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"You think you get to just go home after that?"

I rolled my eyes. "There's nothing to talk about. What would happen if we were together? 'How'd you two meet?' Oh I fucking beat her senseless and nailed her to a tree for fun!" She winced at my shouting and I pulled back from her. She smirked.

"You know, I was mad at first about the whole thing I can't lie. But, somehow you've changed my mind. Somewhere along the line you've done enough things or helped enough people or shown basic human caring enough times for me to realize that what you did was a mistake. One we can't take back, but definitely one we can move forward from," She looked up at me through her lashes and my heart stuttered as I took in what she said, "I like you too Gajeel and I'd like to see where this goes. I need you to let go of what happened and move forward. All I will say about our past is that if you try to hurt me or my nakama ever again I will take care of you myself. I know you won't though. You're a good person." My eyes widened in wonder at what she was saying to me.

This little 5' nothing of a girl was both confessing to me and threatening me in one. If that wasn't my ideal woman I don't know what was and despite my hesitancy to just forget our past, I found myself willing to try to do just that. She broke me out of my reverie with her giggle. She laced her fingers through mine and began to pull me in the direction of my house.

With a wink she turned and shot back over her shoulder, "Wanna find out what color the carpet really is?"

Boy, did I.