Prompt 1: Blanket

It was late afternoon on Valentine's Day, Gajeel was exhausted beyond measure, and the only coherent thought he was able to keep in his mind was that he wanted to visit Levy.

He'd taken some stupid job that looked like it paid well, and had suffered several hours on the stupid train after Levy convinced him (back at the guild, when Lily had announced their request) that there was no way he could walk that far, only to find out that some jerk had also taken the job AND the entire request was a hoax. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find the offending person who'd put up the request, but he was able to find a certain fire dragonslayer. Due to some stupid misunderstanding, both he and Salamander (who'd have known? Stupid Salamander) had set out for the same job. Naturally, being just as stupid as himself, the fire dragonslayer had let himself get dragged into the horror that was transportation. But then again, when Gajeel had demanded what had possessed the dumb guy to do such a thing, he'd moaned pitifully, "Lucy made me, she said she'd treat me to dinner later." (Translation: he was indirectly going out on a date with the girl. Smart of her.)

Right. Bunny Girl. Her name was… was… Luigi, or something. Natsu's Achilles's heel. That often happened to be the case, Gajeel thought reflectively. There was some sort of saying about that. Like, 'men do stupid stuff because of their women.' Or something.

His face flushed red at the thought of him referring to Levy as his woman, and Natsu's remarked (a little stupidly), "Ya still confused about the request? Your face has gone all blotchy and pink. Maybe you should use that head of yours more often. It's gotta be big for a reason, you know."

And then they'd started brawling, and then Lucy and Lily dragged them apart. But that was a minor detail, because what they had to do next was to take the train all the way back to Fairy Tail. And that was a great blow to his health, both physically and mentally, if he should say so himself. Transportation was the bane of his life. Why couldn't everyone walk, for goodness' sakes?

So he'd gone to see if Levy had any spare time on her hands - or spare plates of her cookies. Those were darn good. She always put an extra teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of cinnamon, and more than enough chocolate chips. He didn't have a sweet tooth, but there was something that made him crave them every now and then.

Not that he wanted to see her, or any of that sentimental crap. Not that he was visiting under the pretense of craving cookies. Nope. Not at all. Not on your life.

Stupid self thinking up stupid excu - things.

When he stepped into the little corner of the guild that had been claimed by Levy he paused and inhaled slowly, feeling the exhaustion in his bones creak like metal against metal. It had been some anonymous idiot's idea (not his, of course, that was just plain dumb) to build a window seat by one of them huge windows so the Solid Script Mage could sit and read in peace without fear of ruining her fine eyes. Accompanied by a handmade bookshelf nearly as twice as tall as Levy herself (one of the works Gajeel prided himself on - not that he'd tell anybody, of course), it sat, tucked away, in a small nook where the usual hubbub and occasional shouts of laughter from the guild were muted and less distracting. Mirajane (who'd recently begun to wear a glint of devious plotting in her eye that made Gajeel queasy) had presented her private 'room' to the horizontally-challenged girl on her birthday, claiming that it had been crafted by a person who'd wanted to remain nameless.

Didn't stop Salamander, Ice Pants, Bunny Girl, Juvia, and basically the entire guild from waggling their eyebrows at him every time he wandered within five yards of Levy, though.

The fabric-covered folding separating Levy from the guild was half-open when Gajeel peeked around it. He sighed through his nose when he saw the mess within. Obviously she'd tried to stack her books again, as there were volumes strewn all over the floor, bookmarks falling out of their pages, dust rising lazily in the air. He tried to take a step in, and nearly stepped on some collection of stories. Growling (and hastily pulling back his foot), Gajeel was about to change his mind about visiting her at all when he saw an angel.

Sunlight spun its way lazily around the strands of Levy's wavy hair, playing with it through the lane of glass and making her look as if she wore a halo. One hand rested on her chest, and the other hugged a book to her side fiercely, possessively, like she thought someone would take it away from her. Her soft pink lips were slightly parted, revealing a gleam of white, and her slender shoulders rose and fell with ease as she wandered deeper and deeper into dreams.

Gajeel was not a man of many words. He couldn't spout poetry off the top of his head even if he tried, and if you asked him how to compare a lovely woman to a rose in full bloom, he'd scratch his head for a few moments, scowl in frustration, then shout to mask his helpless irritation, "What kinda question is that, punk? Trying to start a fight, or somethin'?"

But when he saw that tiny figure curled up, slim fingers still gripping her book with a ferocity he'd come to acknowledge, his mind somehow turned into some sappy melted mess, and disconnected phrases like 'beautifullest creature I'd ever seen' and 'even prettier than my ugly mug in the morning' began to swim lazily around in his head. He suddenly felt his legs turning to jelly, which was stupid, because hypothetically speaking they were made of iron…

"Hair like blueberries," he babbled incoherently, struggling to form a proper sentence.

(Granted, most of these thoughts weren't exactly romantic rambling, but then again, he wasn't a poet by nature, so he didn't give two turds about sounding pretty.)

Lily snorted, and he snapped back to reality. Scowling (and forcing back the ever-darkening tinge on his cheeks), he squeezed his eyes closed, then opened them again.

Well, anyway, seeing as Levy was fast asleep, and it was only late spring, he figured leaving her there without anything to protect her against the cold except her short-sleeved blouse was neither decent nor gentlemanly (again, he didn't really care about this part, but Mirajane insisted that it was an important part of treating women, and he wasn't about to contradict her - that woman was creepy).

"OI," he bellowed as quietly as he could - which was still not quiet, even though he put in the effort, "ANYBODY GOT A SPARE BLANKET?"

Mirajane looked up from polishing the wine glasses and smiled a smile that made the insides of his stomach turn colder than ice. Instantly, she began to swish her cloth so hard that the glass sparkled unnaturally in protest. Even Elfman looked up, eyebrows raised, and that guy usually spent half his time making cow eyes at Tinkerbell. Or whatever her name was.

"Your mistake," Lily said unnecessarily from his shoulder.

He didn't need to be told that. The smug grins on nearly every mage in Fairy Tail's faces were already making him regret speaking so loud - or speaking at all, for that matter.

But he sucked it up, growling deep in his throat, and he'd stomped downstairs to the basement to get a blanket, and when he pounded his way back up to the first floor, cheeks flushed pink and brow creased in a tangled knot, even the Master was hiding a pleased grin behind his tankard.

Stupid mages.

Pressing his lips together, Gajeel pulled back the folding door and realized to his chagrin that Levy was nearly slipping off the window seat. He slammed the folding door behind him to keep away unwanted eyes, waded through the books, and unfurled the blanket awkwardly. Gently, carefully, he tucked it over her shoulders, and shifted her into a sitting position with hesitant hands. Gradually, the usual noise and banter returned to the guild, but Gajeel realized grumpily that there was a lot more sniggering than there ought to be. And above all the voices he heard Salamander's the loudest, cackling gleefully like a half-drunken chicken.

He started clearing up the ground after grunting in irritation at Lily's knowing grin. Her books are smooth against his hands, their covers care-worn and their pages smoothed out by her fingers thousands of times again and again. I really do need to make another bookshelf for her, she has too many of these, he told himself distractedly.

When Gajeel finally came to the last book and picked it up, distantly wondering if she would mind having stackable bookshelves, he flipped it open out of pure curiosity. His furious glare softened a little - it was a guide to writing love poems, and though his hands fumbled clumsily with the small, stocky volume, he wondered why Levy would own such a thing. Maybe for the sake of knowledge. Like how he bought little watches and wind-up toys to see how they worked on the inside.

The left corner of his mouth tugged up when he saw Property of Levy McGarden scrawled in careful handwriting within - the letters were firm and bold. And underneath: Elfman, if you want to borrow this, you've got to ask my permission first, I knew you took it for reference! And go look at 'Romantic Ballads Through The Years' after you read this. You need some background information, too!

Gajeel found that he was fully grinning now. He could almost see her frowning up at Elfman reprovingly, sticking about ten other books into his hands. Was she this… caring towards everyone in the guild?

It was slightly frightening, that he thought he knew her: books, smiles, cookies, and all. But the truth was, that was only one small corner of the guild - so to speak. There was so much more, and he wanted so badly to learn everything there was about her that it made his chest hurt. What parts of her were so beautiful it would feel as if his eyes were being burned out? What parts of her would mesmerize him again and again? Gajeel saw life in black and white. Either you were a good fighter and brave, or a weakling and a coward. It was either one thing or the other. But Fairy Tail had taken his stubborn philosophy and turned it inside out, upside down. Salamander had a soul of violently flaring fire, but he became calmer than a campfire at night when he was around Bunny Girl. Ice Pants had some serious problems (his… habit, for example), and some serious strengths (like his ice-hard determination), and whenever Juvia came within four miles of him he'd jump up and run for it. But Gajeel was pretty sure he wasn't the only one who noticed his affectionate glances. And the Master. He'd been painted black by Jose, but it had taken Gajeel mere days to see that he was so many colours all together - loyal, caring, responsible, clever, strategic, calm, passionate - that it was impossible to tell the shades apart.

But Levy, to him, was the most brilliant of them all.

He suddenly noticed two large cloth-wrapped packages that he hadn't seen before. A large gift tag sat on top of it, the name Gajeel written on it in fancy golden handwriting. For some reason, Gajeel's heart did a little flip, and he strode over to look at it. He snuck a look in Levy's direction - she was still sleeping - and carefully undid the fabric knots.

There was something that twinged in his stomach when he saw that the first box was a box filled with dozens of still-warm cookies. He took a deep breath and blinked rapidly to keep the dust out of his eyes; they were beginning to sting. And the second -

It was a book. Of course.

He flipped open the cover, and traced the cheerful words with a finger.

Happy Valentine's Day, Gajeel! Here are some chocolate chip cookies and a book for you. I hope you enjoy reading it! I have about twelve more like it in my room, so tell me if you're interested. I'll make sure to dig them out for you! -Levy

He sucked in his breath quickly at the gilded title that stared back at him. The History Of Metalcraft.

Once again, that girl had made his train of thought falter, screech to a stop, and fall off the tracks. Slowly, slowly, a sentence formed in his brain, like a blurry picture turning clear. Gajeel stared at Levy's peaceful form, fishing around for the right words -

"So, you gonna go home and rest, or are you gonna make moony faces at Levy until she wakes up?" Lily said drily, breaking into his thoughts, not for the first - or last - time. "'Cause even though I'm pretty sure she won't mind, the folding door's about to collapse."

Gajeel glowered upwards, not really that surprised to see dozens of faces peeking over and behind the folding door. Stupid people. Stupid curiosity. Being the nice, pleasant, well-mannered person he always was, he bared his teeth like a hungry wolf and pretended to lunge forward.

Of course, some people fell right off the chairs/other people they were standing on from fear. Gajeel chuckled darkly at their expressions. Serves them right.

Several of them laughed sheepishly. Several of them gulped in apprehension. Most of them leapt down and ran for their lives.

"WE'RE DEAD MEAT," someone shouted shrilly, and everybody stampeded back to their seats and pretended they hadn't seen a thing.

But Gajeel, giving Lily a reproachful look, wrapped his presents back up, tucked them under his arm, and strolled out the door. Seeing as it as Valentine's Day, and he didn't want the cookies to turn cold, he decided not to jump in and fight every last one of those smug losers. Besides, he knew Levy wouldn't like it if he beat up all those stupid idiots. And stupid they were - the moment they realized he wasn't going to crush their skulls against the guild floor, they grinned at each other.

"Ya goin' soft?" called Natsu cheerily.

Gajeel thought about happy things. Midnight-black, strong tea with no sugar or milk. Iron against his teeth. Chocolate chip cookies. Levy's smile.

He straightened, tried to ignore all the teasing words following him all the way to the door, and tried to slacken his tightening grip on his Valentine's Day present. He wasn't a coward. But he wasn't stupid, either. Those cookies were calling his name.

So he stalked out of the guild, the last shreds of his nearly-nonexistent dignity rapidly dissipating behind him as wolf whistles and cat calls reverberated through the streets.