A/N: This beautiful little one-shot was written for Ella Rose with her OC by the same name. I'm not really familiar with writing Gajeel as a main character, but eh. There's a first time for everything right? I'm going to do my best to catch the characters in their best potential! If you want to see Ella's character you can find her here - My Fairy Tail Character I hope you enjoy this story! Thanks for reading, Ella.
Ella sighed, resting her head on her hand. She was sitting at a table in the corner, about as far away from the other guests as she could get, just watching Fairy Tail's silly party. It was supposedly a "masquerade" party, suggested by none other than Fairy Tail's princess Lucy Heartfilia. Everyone else had jumped right on board, some of them not even knowing what she'd said. Ella thought it was stupid. Laughably so. The mask was itchy and Lucy had made her leave her fedora and glasses at home. The contacts Mira gave her were annoying, and the lighting was so low she doubted she'd be able to tell one person from another even without the stupid masks on.
Ella's head snapped up as the chair across from her snapped back. A man had sat down across from her, his face covered by a jet black mask. He was looking just as bored as she was, though she couldn't make out much in the dim light. All she could grasp was that he was considerably taller than her, was very broad, and sounded grumpy by the way he'd slumped into the chair.
"Wanted to find a corner to sulk in, huh?" She asked, swirling the straw in her lemonade.
He grunted in response. A sound that she surprisingly found familiar (who knows someone by the grunting they do, jeesh).
"Sociable, aren't we" She hoped her voice had more bite than it sounded like to her. The problem with being the Music Dragon Slayer was virtually everything came out in a sing-song voice that completely covered whatever snarky tone she'd intended it to have.
"Maybe I don't feel like talking to strangers" There was that voice. The one she wanted to know.
He was definitely Fairy Tail, she'd heard his voice in the guild. She just couldn't place a face to the owner, drawing a blank whenever she tried to remember anyone with a gruff voice and a permanent growl.
"You two should get out of the corner and dance" Ella groaned as a familiar figure stopped next to the table. Anyone could pinpoint Lucy's blonde hair and unusually squeaky voice. Ella was actually pretty sure that Lucy was the only blonde woman in Fairy Tail. A man was standing nearby, the frosty chill in the air telling her it was Gray.
"Fine, Lucy" Gray tensed when she spoke the name.
How did he mistake her for anyone else. Idiot. She thought to herself as Lucy flushed underneath her mask. She couldn't tell it was Gray? God, girl. Get a grip. Ella took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of the guild. If one thing could be said for parties, it was that they always smelled good. Maybe she could pretend to go dance and sneak into the kitchen for one of Mira's treats instead. After all, she could definitely smell Mira's butter cookies near the bar. Cookies were so much better than dancing with a "mystery" guy she could just identify by smell.
"Up, dance" Lucy seized Ella and the man with the black mask and dragged them toward the dance floor. God she hoped Gray could see the nasty glare she was sending his way. It was his fault for not keeping Lucy occupied enough to not be a pest.
Ella yelped as she was shoved into Black Mask. Lucy had reached the dance floor, pushing them into it and nearly causing them to trample Ever and Elf-oops, two random guild members that were totally not Elfman and Evergreen. Arms were suddenly strung around her, keeping her steady and somehow not causing them to fall over in the process. Ella was blushing as face was pressed into his chest.
Hmm. Smells like salt and cinnamon. And...was that the smell of...iron? Her eyes flared wide as she finally recognized the man in front of her. It couldn't be. There was no way it could actually be...It totally was. She had just been shoved into Gajeel Redfox by none other than Lucy Heartfilia. Screw Gray's crush on her. Totally going to kill Lucy. Totally.
Ella balked, pushing herself away and backpedaling to put at least a foot of distance between them. She collided with two others (who were not Lisanna and Natsu under any circumstance) in her rush. Ella could feel the hot flush of her cheeks as she processed what just happened. Gajeel was holding her. The Gajeel. The guy she'd had a crush on ever since he joined Fairy Tail. Him. Here. Now.
Maybe she could just pass out and pretend not to notice it. Or maybe not a good idea. Then he'd know it was her.
"Um sorry...yeah...gotta go" She turned on heel, rushing out of the guild as fast as she possibly could.
On Monday, Gajeel was still wondering who the girl he'd been pushed into was. She was in Fairy Tail, that much he could see by the mark that she'd somehow failed to cover up (Even though Lucy's specific instructions were to cover all guild marks). He hadn't recognized the way she smelled immediately either, something that would've undoubtedly happened if she was around the guild hall often (he was there an embarrassingly long amount of time.). And the vanilla and lemony smell wasn't something that he could forget.
He sulked at the bar as he pondered over who it could have been. He'd recognized the other smells at the party. Ash brain had been with Mirajane's "dead" little sister. Elfman and Evergreen still smelled like each other. He could smell ice all over Lucy and for whatever reason (he really didn't care to think about the reasoning) Freed smelled like electricity and smoke, a big change from paper and ink. But he still couldn't pinpoint the smell from that woman.
"Something wrong, Gajeel?" Mira had come down to his end of the bar, pouring him yet another drink.
He grunted in response.
"Did you meet someone at the party?" The bartender asked, leaning her elbows against the counter.
Maybe she would know. Mira had mentioned more than once that her Satan Soul gave her an enhanced sense of smell.
"What person in this guild always smells like vanilla and lemon?" He demanded, ignoring his drink for the first time since he'd gotten to the guild.
Mira looked pleased with herself as she tapped a finger against her chin. "Hmmm well there's Lucy, but Lucy doesn't like lemons. Levy smells like Lemon, but she never liked the smell of Vanilla. Then there's Ever but that's not really lemon so much as it is lime, and then you have-" She was cut off by the guild doors colliding with the wall.
Gajeel looked over his shoulder, searching for the culprit. He'd expected Natsu or maybe Erza. Instead it was the little music dragon slayer. A teeny little thing he'd never paid much attention to (it was Music. How do you even fight with music?). She was looking more than a little irked as she stomped to the bar, flopping into a bar stool; her cheeks puffed out in irritation.
"Hi Ella. Something wrong?" Mira left Gajeel to take her older, pouring the lemonade she asked for.
"Lucy is stupid" Ella rested her head on her arms for a second before looking up and down the bar. "Ah there it is"
She leaned toward him, reaching out to grab the little sugar container Mira had set out. It was just to his left, forcing her to partially lean over him to grab it (Why didn't she ask for the stupid thing instead of reaching for it).
"Oops, Sorry" Her fingers nudged the sugar away from her.
He rolled his eyes and grabbed it, sliding it closer to her.
"Thanks Gajeel" Her fingers wrapped around it.
"WATCH OUT ELLA"
Ella squealed as Natsu crashed into her. His momentum sent her sprawling forward, knocking her into Gajeel and tipping the stool he was sitting on over. They landed hard on the floor, her half of top of him as Natsu laughed from next to Ella's stool.
"Owww" Ella sat up, a bit of her long red hair brushed under his nose as he took a breath to yell at Natsu.
Wait. Gajeel sat up quickly, knocking Ella off him in the process. She puffed up, ready to protest when she saw the look on his face.
"You" He growled simply, still sitting on the floor.
"Me?" Ella squeaked.
The guild hall was focused on them, even Mira ignoring Happy's order to lean over the bar and watch.
"Yes you" He grabbed her wrist, pulling it toward him to get another good whiff of what he knew he'd smell on her skin. "You're the one who smells like vanilla and lemon"
Mira hid a squeal in her apron, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of the two Dragon Slayers.
"Um...so?" Ella was on the offense now. "You smell like salt and cinnamon with iron. Horrible combination if you ask me."
"No one is ask-" He stopped. "You know what I smell like that closely? Most slayers only catch the iron part"
She blushed. "S-Shut up"
"You shut up, Lemon"
From behind the bar Mira placed a check next to their names on her special list. Next up: Gray and Lucy.
A/N: I really hope it wasn't that horrible :3
