For some reason this really did not want to work the way I wanted it to so it's not up to my usual (low) standards. In all honesty part of this is a prototype to see how well you guys like this-a story like this has been bugging me for quite some time.

Happy holidays and the best of the new year to all of you.

Gajeel wasn't the type of person to 'Bahumbug' anyone. He was the type to stay silent until asked, then he would tell you that Christmas for him for the past 23 years was not kind. And with this being the first year he was having to take care of his little brother and sister it was harder.

You see, Gajeel had a rough life, at five his mom died of cancer and at 9 his dad remarried. The new wife was a saint and even took Gajeel in after his dad died when he was ten. When he was 13 she married again and had fraternal twins two years later. January 4th the parents had died in a wreck with a drunk driver who ran a red light.

To the twins, Natsu and Wendy, Gajeel was less a brother than a father figure. Gajeel worked hard at a smithy where handcrafted metalworks were the name of the game and he was one of the best so money quickly became a non-issue. The small little family often went to different places, the park, the zoo, wherever they thought fun would be (unbeknownst to the little ones their older brother often monitored the places before hand or planted the ideas in their heads).

Tonight he was taking them to a family friendly bar called "Fairy Tail" ran by the granddaughter of one of his dad's friends. Walking in he realized how good of an idea it was, he recognized Makarov, his dad's friend and saw several little kids running around. They looked up at him and he jerked his head over "Go play" they raced off and he muttered affectionately "brats"

Walking up to the bar he shook hands with the older man "Nice to see you again Gajeel. It's been awhile."

The younger nodded "Four years I think."

Makarov let go of his hand "Well, let me introduce you to these lovely ladies."

The two women giggled at that, the first was Layla Hearfillia who brought her daughter here every night to escape the trapping of their daily lives. The other was his granddaughter who ran the bar, Mirajane. Shaking both their hands he realized how out of place he was, his hands were rough from years of working with various metals and uncountable degrees of heat while both of their hands were smooth and soft.

Mira, as she declared that he call her, asked "What do you want to drink?"

Before he even had a chance to say anything Makarov cut in "Mira, I need to have a toast with him. The '64 if you please." what was set in front of them was an unmarked glass decanter and two glasses. Pouring a few fingers the old man sighed "I told your dad I'd look after the two of you. I failed. My son went insane and I had to stop him from ruining his own life as well as his son's, by the time that was over your step mom already remarried." lifting up the glass he said "To those we both love and miss"

Taking a drink of the smooth liquid Gajeel's mouth dropped "Holy shit, that's fuckin' amazing!"

The four adults were laughing lightly but it was the bartender who said "Yeah, it's Grandpa's favorite."

Layla's daughter, Lucy, was playing with Mira's little sister, Lissana, and Wendy and Natsu. He was quickly introduced to the two girls before they scampered back to playing pool with their new friends. It was interesting for the metal worker just to sit and listen to the other three talk, all of them were from old money and lived a very different life than him. As previously noted Gajeel was often quiet.

What started the issue was Layla asking "Gajeel, what do you think about gangs and the crime rate?"

Not hesitating he answered "Layal, I don't lie. You don't want me to answer that."

That caught Mira's attention "Come on you can tell us."

Meeting the three set of eyes he set down his drink "You're all decent people. I'd hate to piss you off."

Makarov smirked "Okay. I get that. But what do you think?"

Sighing he glanced over his shoulder to make sure the kids were far enough away "Gangs are the fucking scum of the earth. They take you in when you're weak, make you think they care about you. They dragged me around like chump change and dropped my ass when the cops came." he leaned on his elbow as his thumb and finger press into his bottom lip "I ended up getting 57 stitches and spending two weeks in jail. When my dad bailed me out they came waltzing back like they did me a favor." he snarled "If any of those assholes came up to me right now I'd punch their lights out, and if they tried to get Natsu or Wendy there's no doubt I'd fuckin' kill 'em"

The three were stunned, the venom they just heard was driven by a passion only Makarov had felt and only a few times in his life, it was an anger so deep and consuming that you couldn't feed it or it would take you over. The old man started "Which gang were you part of?"

The metal-worker replied "The Phantoms" and he rolled up his left sleeve where a large patch of healed scar tissue dominated his shoulder "When I got out I cut the tattoo off"

There was silence for a long moment as Gajeel slowly sipped at his drink and the children played on, oblivious to the turmoil that the adults were dealing with. It was close to ten minutes later before any of the adults spoke and it was only Mira asking "Gajeel, what do have planed for Christmas?"

Glancing at the watch and noting the date, November 20th he took a drink and said "It's a bit early to be asking that, but not much, gonna cook a few things, small thing for just me and the twerps"

Mira gave her best pleading smile "Well, we're having a party here at the bar."

His red eyes darted around her face as he tried to read her "Wait a minute, you're inviting a guy you barely know and who used to be part of a gang to a Christmas party that's probably going to have your friends and family?"

The lady of the Bar nodded "Yeah, but you're a nice guy. You love your brother and sister and you're Grandpa's friend. That's all I need to know."

Said grandfather nodded "Yeah, come on, it'll be fun!"

He pressed two fingers into his closed eye "Let me talk about it with Natsu and Wendy and I'll get back to ya'."

Layla sighed "I wish I could come but Jude insists on having that stuffy ball of his."

Makarov laughed "But I like balls, it's amazing the lengths that people will go to impress others, both in clothes and booze."

Mira noticed Gajeel was listening with interest and as he was taking a drink said slyly "What never been to a ball Gajeel?"

Coughing on his drink he looked at her in bewilderment "What? Me? A ball?" he chuckled "Are you serious?" the trio was looking at him with more questions in their eyes "No, I've never been to a ball. I don't like fancy things…" he looked at the bow his sister had in her hair "…most of the time. Never really had a chance to either. My family worked for our money, not saying their's anything wrong with being born in to it" he said placating "but people who work for our money typically don't go to things like that unless they're trying to prove something."

Layla, though very innocent and kind, was very sly and gave a sidelong glance at the kids still playing "I bet Wendy would like to go"

In his defense there was only a microsecond's hesitation "No. I'm not going to one."

The mother shrugged before looking at her watch "Goodness, it's already 10:30. I best be getting home."

The lady shook hands with her new friend "It was nice meeting you Gajeel. I look forward to seeing you again."

He sincerely said "The pleasure was mine" it was not often met someone he actually enjoyed listening to.

The kids groaned as Layla stole away their playmate but survived by moving on to darts, a game where Lissana was teaching the other two how to play.

Mira's interest was peeked by something "Gajeel, have you ever gone to a dance?"

The man sighed and set his now empty glass on the bar "No, in school they were pointless and after that I just didn't care enough to go, I never had anyone to go with and I had bigger problems"

Makarov grinned "You just haven't found the right dance partner yet!"

He pointed to the old man "Don't you dare, Juvia and Gray tried that shit in high school-nothing good came out of it!"

Mira stilled "You know Juvia and Gray Fullbuster?"

Gajeel nodded, not thinking about the consequences "Yeah, they're friends. What about it?"

What came out of her mouth was a squeal so loud that even the kids stopped playing to turn and stare at Mira who was bouncing around "You HAVE to get them to come! I love their music!"

He blinked "So that's why she had me songwriting again." he muttered, a bit louder he continued "I'll see what I can do."

Unfortunately Mira did hear him "You do their writing?" she said in disbelief.

He nodded "Did some back in high school but never got further than that, the writing and guitar was good but I can't sing worth shit. For them I work with them on everything but recording and they have a lot to say about it" he rolled his eyes letting her know they sometimes tried a bit too hard.

Before they had a chance to continue Makarov bumped Gajeel with an elbow "You may want to take the kids home, they look a bit sleepy." looking over the brother could see that Wendy was swaying a bit and Natsu had bags under his eyes, both of them acted like they had boundless energy left.

With an exasperated smirk he called out "Oi! C'mon, we need to get home."

There were 'awws' but soon the trio was in the car on the way back to the house.

It wasn't long after they left the parking lot when a stop light forced them to wait "What would you guys think about going to a Christmas party at Fairy Tail?"

Even though he sprung it on them when they were half asleep there was a resounding yes.

That Wednesday Gajeel and the kids came back to the bar, the kids immediately joining up with Lucy and Lissana as the elder slid into a seat. Looking up from the wood he came nose to nose with Mira and his head jerked back "What the Hell barmaid?!"

Giggling both at the nickname and the reaction Mira asked "So what did they say about the party?"

"They want to come. Can I get a scotch with water?"

Makarov watched his granddaughter with great interest, it was December 16th, after their first visit it soon became routine for the Redfox-Dragoneel family to come in twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, every other week they also came in on Saturday but this week wouldn't be one of them.

He started noticing that Mira was always a bit quieter when Gajeel talked but whenever she spoke to him she had more energy. It dawned on him, she was more attentive. Mira rarely showed interest in someone, usually she got hit on and blew it off.

Gajeel had gone to play a game of pool with the four kids when Layla caught Makarov's eye and he immediately knew she was thinking the same thing he was. Layla was running her finger around the rim of her wine glass "So little Mira has taken the bait of love…"

Said woman's face turned bright red "What? No! I haven't!"

Knowing Layla's mischievous and devious side was about to come out to a disturbing degree Makarov dismissed himself. That being said, he didn't know what the two of them discussed and he certainly wanted no part in it.

For some reason Gajeel felt a chill run up his spine.

December 25th. Christmas. D-Day for Mira.

Decorations had just been finished when she heard three "Whoa"s, the first two drawn out from Wendy and Natsu in admiration, the third from Gajeel almost in disbelief.

The entire bar was decked out in holiday decoration, a bright red runner ribbon ran across the length of the lip of the bar, a small tree sat at either end and holly reached every where possible. Everyone was dressed in heavy jackets and warm clothes as the frigid temperatures demanded nothing less.

Introductions were made for those who didn't know each other. The roster was actually very short, there was Gajeel, Natsu, Wendy, Lissana, Mira, Makarov along with a few others Gajeel hadn't met, Elfman, the sixteen year old brother of Mira and Lissana, and Laxus, Makarov's grandson from his other child, or rather, when the trio entered they were told that he was Laxus as he was currently throwing darts.

Juvia and Gray also were invited but they had to turn it down when Gray's dad decided that the entire family needed to get together, including his step mom-Ur, and her daughter.

Sliding into his customary stool Gajeel didn't even flinch when Laxus glowered down at him "You Gajeel?"

Elfman was watching in awe. Laxus was the manliest man he knew and he was going to confront the guy his sister liked! What a man!

Red eyes flickered up "Yeah. What about it?"

Laxus gave a smirk "C'mon, I gotta talk to you"

Gajeel sighed and put down his drink. Laxus made the mistake of looking at Mira who was sneering at him. Deep within his mind he realized the error of what he just did oh crap, she's gonna freakin' kill me! then he looked back at the now standing Gajeel.

Or rather, up. Laxus was a big man, tall and broad of shoulder. But Gajeel was bigger and he looked far more ready to rip someone to shreds "What do you want? I was enjoying my scotch"

The blond opened his mouth but what came to Gajeel's ears were Mira's words "Laxus, you snot nosed brat, you will be quiet or I will put you through the torture I did when you were eight." he stared at her in horror "Now that we're on the same page, why don't you go play pool or something?" the man in question quickly scuttled off.

She looked back to Gajeel to see the most unsettling smile she would ever witness on a human. "W-What?"

He looked more and more like a cat that ate the canary "So all it takes to get the soft and lovely Barmaid up in arms is a brat trying to step on her territory huh?"

She started to blush heavily "My territory?"

"Isn't picking on me your deal?" she nearly face-palmed but realized he wasn't that far off, she had razzed him quite a bit since he started coming here.

Trying to play nonchalant she waved a rag at him "Nope, Laxus can be a brat sometimes and I didn't get to meet Juvia and Gay so I'm a bit put out"

He pointed his glass at her "Hey, don't blame me for that one, his dad decided that they needed to do the whole family gig" he slid his now empty glass across the bar "Can I get another? I have a feeling that tonight I'll need to forget some things."

As he turned in his seat to warn Natsu to be careful with the pool cue Mira made her move. Over the rim of his drink she put her secret weapon. As he turned back he looked at his glass in question.

Across the rim was a small twig with two small berries and a few leaves "What's thi-" he stilled as he slowly felt the lips leaving his cheek.

For several moments it seemed like the world went mute. If either of them had cared to look around they would have seen Laxus pouting while throwing darts with his grandfather and Elfman playing pool with the little kids. But neither of them could look away from each other.

Against the white of her skin and hair and the black of her dress there were only two colors, the gemlike blue of her eyes and the warm blush on her cheeks. He didn't know what to think of in that moment.

Black seemed to overwhelm him, his clothes, his hair, his very aura leaked black. His skin was a very deep tan that seemed to make all the black, the harshness of his losses a bit more comfortable, more natural against him. But his eyes were fire. They were burning with questions at the moment but they would always be burning with something.

The glass was forgotten on the counter top as Gajeel stood "Want to get some fresh air?" he asked. But that one question broke the pause that they felt themselves in.

"Mistletoe is a bit outdated don't 'cha think?" she giggled at his statement, partially out of humor the other part was nerves. They had been out nearly half an hour before he had said something.

"Well, I wanted to do something traditional"

He put his hands in his pocket and looked at the sky, the white flecks of snow tumbling down slowly "Tradition ain't exactly my speed."

Moving next to him she asked "But you don't look down on it, why?"

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the bricks, she was afraid she offended him "I like tradition. I'd rather make metal with a forge and a hammer than all the lasers and specialty tools. I'd rather not have to sit in a classroom. I don't learn that way, take me out and let me do something and I learn. If I could bring back their parents I'd do it in a heart beat no matter the price. Tradition doesn't like me"

Swallowing the lump in her throat she asked "What about dating a very non-traditional girl?" she stepped towards him "I'm raising my little sister and brother even though my parents are still alive, they just like to travel, I run my grandpa's bar and have white hair and used to raise hell…"

He laughed his very distinct laugh "Gihihihi I don't think there's anything wrong with that!"

Those two steps to his side were the most awkward she had taken in longer than she cared to remember. He was warmer than she thought he would be and his lips were chapped but she really didn't care.

Inside Wendy and Natsu looked at Makarov with palms outstretched and grins on their faces and he realized that he would have to explain the bet…and how both of the kids suddenly got 100 dollars.

Oh God…