Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed, followed, and favorited! I've been in a writing frenzy with this one. The ideas are just flowing! Hopefully it stays that way.

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Gajeel was not worried about Bunny Girl. He definitely hadn't been thinking about her. At all. He's just an observant guy and noticed she hadn't been in the guild lately. It's not unusual to notice people and their absences. The slayer had also noticed her teammates weren't back from their job, yet. He'd overheard Makarov sending out Erza to track them down and drag them back to the guild after destroying an entire forest. Why hadn't he sent Lucy with Erza, though? Was the old man not worried about Bunny Girl not being around?

If she hadn't been dealing with insane, stalker-like fans, Gajeel wouldn't have thought about the blonde once. He was sure of it. And even now, he's not worried her most recent stalker may have done something that's keeping her from showing up at the guild since Gajeel walked her home two days ago. He just doesn't want to deal with a bunch of unhappy guild members if the blonde ends up murdered.

The idea of his Bunny Girl being murdered had the dark haired man up and out the guild doors before he even realized his legs were moving. He'd forgotten about his half full mug of beer sitting at the table, but his quick departure hadn't gone unnoticed by Mira. The she-devil got the odd look in her eyes that always came over her when she found a new ship. Gajeel wasn't the only observant one. She'd noticed how Gajeel watched Lucy and how the blonde seemed to be speaking to him more than ever before. The white haired woman nodded to no one in particular with a dazed smile on her face. She was determined to make her newest ship a reality.

When Gajeel realized he was already standing outside of Lucy's apartment knocking on the door, he wondered if her place had somehow migrated a little closer to the guild. It had taken at least twice as long to get here two days ago. Before his imagination could get completely out of control with images of the blonde lying dead in her apartment, she opened the door.

"Oh, hey Gajeel." Lucy looked pretty shitty, in Gajeel's opinion. He could smell sickness lingering on her and realized his fears had been completely unfounded. Before he could come up with an excuse for being there, she asked, "Is everything alright?"

He had no idea what to say to that. Clearly his mind had been playing tricks on him. Maybe he needed more sleep. Gajeel definitely wasn't going to tell Bunny Girl he'd been worried about her. "I noticed you hadn't come to the guild and wanted to make sure nothing bad had happened."

Well, damn. His mouth and brain weren't on the same page.

He tells himself the smile she gives him, even if its brightness is dimmed by not feeling well, doesn't affect him one bit. "That's sweet of you. You can come in if you want."

Gajeel followed her inside while scolding himself and mentally thanking anyone listening in on his thoughts that she hadn't noticed his blush. He's the Iron Dragon Slayer, damn it. He shouldn't be blushing at all. Definitely not just because she said he was sweet.

"I was about to make myself some tea. Do you want some?"

Assuming his shrug and grunt were a 'yes', Lucy walked over to her kitchen to fill up the teapot.

"What the hell are you sick with?" Gajeel asked as he followed her. He couldn't really let a sick woman make him something without at least offering to help.

"I don't know, but I think it's just a cold. I've been sneezing and coughing like crazy and just feel really tired."

It was quiet while they worked together to pull out cups and add loose leaves to the teapot. When the tea was ready, Gajeel poured the warm liquid through the strainer into both cups, impressing Lucy with his knowledge of preparing the drink. The first time she'd asked Natsu to make tea, he'd brought it to her with leaves floating the cup.

They stood in the kitchen sipping the warm beverage in companionable silence. It wasn't awkward like Lucy expected it to be. They were just two friends silently enjoying a tea together. When she was finished, Lucy said, "The tea has me feeling pretty relaxed again. I think I'm going to sleep for awhile. You can stay, if you want, and watch a movie or something."

Gajeel nodded, accepting her offer and walking over to look at her movie selection while she went to her bedroom. He didn't really want to leave her here all alone. What if she started feeling worse? Her crazy teammates wouldn't be back until at least tomorrow to help her out and he wasn't about to go ask Shrimp to keep an eye on her. Staying would be the right thing to do.

Finding one of his favorite movies, a classic older than him, he started it up and got comfortable on her couch to watch it. During a boring scene, Gajeel looked around the apartment to see what the place was like. It was decorated and homey feeling, even if he wasn't a big fan of pink. There were pictures all over the places of Bunny Girl with her teammates and other members of the guild. One item caught his attention more than the others, but he wasn't sure he was supposed to notice it. The door to the coat closet was open, though. How badly could she really want to hide something in an open closet?

Gajeel wasn't snooping. Definitely not. He just wanted to make sure no stalkers were hiding out in the closet, using it as the perfect way to spy on the blonde. It had nothing to do with what looked like a guitar case hidden towards the back. Upon closer inspection, the slayer deemed the closet free of any intruders but definitely containing one guitar case. That was odd. He never knew Bunny Girl could play. Maybe he'd try bringing it up in conversation, but without mentioning he'd noticed a guitar case while not snooping through her closet.

About an hour into the movie, he heard Lucy's breathing change as she woke up. Before long, she'd joined him on the couch and immediately started laughing after realizing what he was watching. "The Sound of Music? Really, Gajeel? I never would have guessed you'd pick that one. It's one of Natsu's favorite movies."

With his eyes narrowed, he turned to her and grumbled, "Well, what the fuck would you have picked?"

Lucy stood up from the couch and knelt in front of her movie rack until she spotted the one she wanted. "This would be much better."

The slayer was shocked when the opening credits started rolling for one of the most action packed 007 movies ever created. This wasn't something he would have thought Bunny Girl would be into. There was hardly any romance and definitely no girly shit. He wouldn't have believed she actually liked it if he wasn't right here next to her witnessing the way her eyes were glued to the screen.

About halfway through the movie, during a scene with a lot of talking, Gajeel felt Lucy's weight settle against him. She wasn't cuddled up to him or anything, just kind of slumped over in her sleep. From the way she was breathing, she seemed to be pretty out of it and he didn't know if he should move her. Sick people needed their rest. But her breath was pretty nasty, with that weird tangy smell from whatever virus she'd caught. The slayer was considering just pushing her away gently when the blonde shifted to lay her head fully on his shoulder with a hand resting on his forearm. She looked pretty comfortable now, and at least she wasn't breathing in his face anymore. Maybe he'd just let her sleep while he finished watching the movie.

He must have failed his last test of patience, or maybe he passed it and was being tried again by whatever deity was toying with him. Maybe he was being punished for past crimes. That was the most likely answer for this hellish day.

Things had been going well lately. Well, better than they had been. He just returned from a kick ass mission with Pantherlily and thought he would continue to have good days from there on out. They'd bagged three dark mages and gotten more reward money than he'd seen in awhile. Turns out the trio had been terrorizing a small town by hoarding all the crops and selling their livestock. The town offered up a hefty sum to rid themselves of the nuisances.

The slayer had come to the guild today to celebrate a little by having a cold mug of beer, trying Mira's latest iron, and maybe starting a fight with some idiot. Instead, he'd been stuck sitting here listening to Shrimp whine for the last hour. Apparently, she 'missed him' and wished he would talk to her. Gajeel wasn't fooled by her anymore. He couldn't smell a trace of Jet on her, meaning he hadn't touched her in awhile. And now she was trying to talk to Gajeel again? He knew what Levy was up to and he wasn't having anything to do with it.

No matter what anyone thought about him, he wasn't cruel or cold heart. Well, not anymore. He wished he could tell her to just shut the fuck up and go away, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. They'd had something good for awhile and he refused to kick her while she was down, even if she hadn't cared much when she did it to him.

"Gajeel, please," Shrimp touched his arm gently and looked up at him with pleading eyes full of unshed tears. Damn, it was hard to hurt her when she looked at him like that, and the way she said his name like some sort of prayer was giving him flashbacks to other times she'd said it that way. Her eyes and body language offered a closeness he'd been aching to find again, making it hard to stick to his guns.

He was saved from having to respond by the sound of the guild doors slamming into the walls, followed by shouted greetings announcing the arrival of Fairy Tail's rowdiest team. Erza strolled in first, looking like a warrior maiden on a mission to find the nearest strawberry cake and devour it. She was followed by Gray, who immediately looked around the guild for his stalker. Somehow he failed to notice she was hiding behind a pillar nearby waiting for him to inevitably fling a piece of clothing away. Happy flew in just ahead of Natsu, who was carrying a very bubbly blonde on his back who shouted, "Hey! We're back!"

Before Lucy had even fully climbed down from Natsu's back, he was off and running yelling, "Where the hell is Laxus? He said he'd fight me when I got back!"

The blonde stumbled and laughed as she fell on her butt when her partner took off. She couldn't be mad at Natsu for his childish enthusiasm; it was one of the things she loved about her best friend. Lucy stood up and righted her clothing before making her way over to the bar and ordering a smoothie.

While she waited, Lucy turned around to wave at Gajeel with a big smile, and then seemed to notice Levy, so waved to her as well. He kind of doubted she had waved at him specifically. She must have been waving at Shrimp. Apparently, Levy thought the same because she waved back without hesitation. Shrimp didn't have his eyesight, though. He could see exactly who Lucy had been looking at, which was making it pretty hard to convince himself he hadn't seen what he did.

His suspicion was confirmed as the busty woman made her way over to his table with barely contained excitement. "Gajeel! You're never going to believe what I brought back for you from our mission!"

Her exclamation confused the dark haired man. Why the hell had she thought of him while on her mission? And why the hell did she bring something back for him? Levy must have been sharing his thoughts because when he didn't speak up she asked, "What is it?"

"Iron!" The grin on Lucy's face couldn't have gotten any bigger. Its glow was about equal to Gajeel's look of confusion.

"Ok. Ya gonna give it to me?"

Suddenly doubting whether or not this was a good idea, Lucy's excitement dimmed and she looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I could but it's kind of big. It's also pretty heavy, so I doubt you'd want to tote it around. I seriously doubt you could even eat it all right now."

The slayer nodded his head, waiting for the odd woman to go on. She was being kind of annoying, but the promise of iron had him interested. He could hear her mumbling under her breath while she stared at the floor and tapped her lips with a finger, though she was being pretty quiet. Shrimp probably couldn't make out what she was saying.

"I could ask Virgo to bring it out here but it's pretty heavy and I'd feel bad if I asked her to bring it out twice. I know they're both pretty strong, but I doubt she would want to do that and Gajeel probably wouldn't want to carry it all the way to his house."

Tired of waiting for her to make a decision and getting a little impatient to see this mysterious piece of iron, Gajeel stood up from his seat and started walking as he said, "Well, come on Bunny Girl. You can just summon your spirit at my house."

Levy watched the two of them leave, not missing how excited Lucy was to go with Gajeel or how carefree he'd been about inviting her over. Were they an item now? In all their time together, he'd never invited Levy to his house. She knew it was his safe haven and he rarely showed anyone where he lived. So, why did he invite Lucy? Levy didn't know the answer to that question, but she wasn't going to just sit back and watch Lucy sneak in and take Gajeel from her. He may have called things off between them but she knew he still cared. She wasn't ready to let a good thing go without a fight.

It didn't take long for the duo to get to Gajeel's house on the outside of town. He lived in the most adorable little cottage she'd ever seen, complete with small porch, white shutters and a flower bed. "Oh my stars, Gajeel! Your house is so cute!"

"Don't ever say that shit again. Nothing I own is cute." The slayer spat the last word like it tasted bad on his tongue, which made Lucy laugh. Her laughter made him turn his glare on her.

Lucy reached over to poke him between the eyebrows and teased him saying, "You're wrong about that. Even your scowl is cute."

The irritated man rolled his eyes at her but let her follow him into his house, reminding himself there was free iron involved. When they made it inside, he could just feel Bunny Girl building up to say something about his handmade furniture. "Don't you dare call any of this cute. I'll have to destroy it all."

Lucy's grin gave her away. That was exactly what she'd planned to do, but she didn't want to push his buttons. Just as she was about to summon Virgo, she noticed a guitar on the wall and momentarily forgot about her reason for coming. "Is that the limited edition Mashima Telecaster?!"

Gajeel turned to look at the guitar, shocked that she knew what it was until he remembered she probably played. "Uh, yeah. I got it after moving in here. You wanna see it?"

Eyes wide with wonder, Lucy nodded and walked across the room to stare at the amazing instrument. When he handed it to her, the blonde pulled the guitar against her body and strummed a few chords then whispered, "Beautiful."

Gajeel couldn't agree more, though he wasn't looking at the guitar.

"What edition is it?"

"It's a second edition but was supposedly played by Mashima himself. I don't know if that shit's true or not, but it's a nice guitar. Nicest I've ever owned."

Lucy handed it back to him as she said, "It's way nicer than the one I have now. I had a first edition Telecaster before I left home, but all of that is gone now."

He placed the instrument back in its resting place and said, "You gotta show me what you can play later, but first I wanna know what you brought me."

Reminded of the reason she'd come, Lucy pulled out Virgo's key and summoned her trusty friend.

The crazy maid showed up dressed very differently than usual. Instead of her maid uniform, she was wearing the armor Lucy had commandeered. Her pink hair barely peaked beneath the horned helmet and her eyes were barely visible beneath the part that should have rested against her forehead. The chest plate seemed to swallow her up and the arm guards were clearly too long for her short arms.

"I didn't think you'd actually put it on, Virgo." Lucy said in disbelief. "Wait, did you polish it?"

Virgo nodded, "It's actually very fashionable in the Celestial World. Would you like to punish me for wearing it?"

"Uh, no thanks. So, Gajeel, this is it. Our mission was to stop a bandit from robbing people traveling through a forest. The guy wore this. He was pretty slow with it on and couldn't keep up with our attacks, but it probably worked well for terrifying civilians."

Gajeel didn't say anything in response, too caught up in how thoughtful this gift was. He couldn't remember anyone ever giving him something like this. Sure, Levy had given him a gift on his birthday but it had just been a nice bottle of whiskey. This was something he could use, whether he would eat it or wear it he hadn't decided. From the smell alone, he could tell this was high quality metal.

Misunderstanding his silence, Lucy said, "If you don't like it, I'll just let Virgo-"

"No. I want it."

Bunny Girl beamed at him in the way that did strange things to him and turned to Virgo. "Thanks for bringing it Virgo. Do you need help getting out of it?"

"I can manage, Princess."

Gajeel noticed the subtle shift in the spirit's tone and body language. He thought she'd been wearing the armor as a joke, but it seemed like she really wanted it. Looking at it closer now, the slayer could tell she'd actually polished the metal well, making it gleam the way armor should. He couldn't bring himself take this from her, even if it was meant for him. There was other iron out there and he could always get some armor made custom to fit his body if he really wanted some.

When the maid pulled off the helmet and tried to hand it to Gajeel, he pushed it back towards her and said, "You can keep it."

Virgo sucked in a breath, shocked by the man's generosity. She looked at her owner to see if she would allow the gift. Lucy smiled sweetly at them, nodding her head. The pink haired spirit was elated as she put the helmet back on her head. "If you'll allow it, Princess, I'd like to get something from my home and bring it back to your kind friend."

"Go ahead, Virgo." Lucy was curious what she could possibly bring back that would interest Gajeel. When Virgo returned a few seconds later, she was carrying a large pile of metal bars.

"This is iron from the Celestial World. The high amount of carbon in the air there makes it strong but too brittle to be used for many things. It is my gift to you in exchange for your kindness." The maid passed the load off to the wide eyed slayer, glad to see how excited he looked about it. With a mischievous look, she asked him, "Would you like to spank me?"

"Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed while forcing the spirit's gate closed. Her friend could be as perverted as Loke sometimes. "Sorry about that last bit."

"Don't worry about it." He murmured, still a little awestruck at the events that had played out since arriving at his house. The iron slayer carried the metal over to the side of the room where it would be out the way until he decided what to do with it, and then picked up a piece to taste. Its flavor was familiar, but different. Definitely pure stuff. After crunching on just a few bites, he could already feel the jump in his power level. This would be great just before a fight.

When the loud sounds coming from Gajeel's mouth died down, Lucy asked, "So, you like it? You don't mind not keeping the armor?"

Remembering he wasn't alone in his house, he turned back to face Bunny Girl and said, "Nah. It was cool and all but she really wanted it. This is better iron, anyway."

It was a strange thought for Gajeel, but he realized he didn't want her to leave. He never wanted anyone in his house, hardly anyone even knew where he lived, but he liked having Bunny Girl here in his living room. "Do you want to watch a movie or somethin'? Pantherlily should be here soon with some food. He always gets way too much. You could hang out, but only if you want to."

"Yeah, that'd be great!" The blonde looked towards Gajeel's TV and noticed a movie already sitting out. "But we aren't watching the Sound of Music. I don't see how you watched it again so soon."

"Don't hate on a classic. You don't have to worry about watching it because I finished it before we left on a mission a few days ago. Couldn't leave it unfinished after starting it at your place."

Lucy laughed at her dark haired friend while she perused his movie selection. After picking one and starting it, she got comfortable on his couch. He sat down too, not close enough to touch but also not so far away that it was weird. They sat that way until Pantherlily got there with two large bags of take out.

The exceed had been surprised to see Lucy there but it hadn't been an unwelcome shock. He didn't know the blonde well but knew enough to know he liked her. As Gajeel said, he had indeed bought too much food and had enough extra to feed a third person. The three of them ate, talked, laughed, and watched movies late into the night until Lucy fell asleep on the couch. Not wanting his Bunny Girl to get cold, Gajeel covered her with a throw blanket before heading to his room for the night. He hadn't gotten her to play anything for him, so maybe he'd get out his guitar in the morning and ask her to.

He didn't notice Pantherlily observing the whole thing, and definitely didn't see the gentle smile on the exceed's scarred face. Pantherlily had been worried about Gajeel over the past few months. He'd watched Gajeel's self destructive behavior become nearly out of control after his relationship went bad with Levy. The exceed didn't hold a grudge towards the blue haired woman, though. Matters of the heart were rarely ever simple things. Nothing could be done about the past, so he was glad to see his normally difficult friend allowing someone else to get close to him. He wasn't yet sure if there was something romantic developing between the Celesatial Mage and his partner, but he was glad to at least see a friendship forming.

Pounding on the front door woke Gajeel with a start. A frightened squeal coming from his living room reminded the slayer Lucy had slept on the couch. His irritation grew when he heard his front door slam into the wall, meaning the idiot stomping into his house seemed to take her noise as an invitation to enter. Gajeel stalked out into the front room, ready to punch the flaming idiot in the face for waking him up like this.

The scene he walked into had the slayer wondering if Natsu would even have a face left to punch once Bunny Girl was done with him. The other slayer had Lucy tossed over his shoulder, but she wasn't going with him without a fight. Her legs were kicking in the air and she had one fist full of pink hair while the other was pounding at his back. "What the hell is your problem, Natsu?! Put me down!"

"No! I went to your apartment this morning to get breakfast and you weren't there. I followed your scent and found you here! With the metal head! Why are you with him? Are you making him breakfast now, too?"

All the fight in her died when Lucy heard the last question. She hung there limply, unable to believe Natsu was so stupid. "Seriously, Natsu? You find me sleeping at another man's house early in the morning and you assume I stayed over just to make him breakfast?"

Figuring his partner was done fighting him, the fire slayer put her down and said, "Well, yeah. Your omelets are awesome! Why wouldn't he want some, too?"

"Fuckin' moron" Gajeel muttered and turned around to go into his kitchen. It was too early for this shit, but now that he was up, he was hungry.

Lucy sighed, accepting her fate as Natsu's partner and the inevitable responsibility of explaining the birds and the bees to him. Again. Apparently, their last conversation hadn't been clear enough. It wasn't like she and Gajeel had done anything, but she couldn't let her best friend go barging in on people like this. "Let me just say bye to Gajeel and then we can go eat at my apartment."

"Yosh!" Natsu exclaimed with a fist pump as he ran out the door.

"Hey, I'm-" The words died in her throat when Lucy turned the corner to enter Gajeel's kitchen. The iron slayer was standing there shirtless, dressed in only baggy shorts, with a glass of orange juice tipped back in a long drink. As he swallowed it down, Lucy couldn't help but drink in the sight of his muscular body on display before her. How had she never noticed how hot he was? Sure, she'd seen his muscular arms, everyone had, but this was different. His body was on full display, not to mention he looked so relaxed here in his home, and just so delicious. When he set the glass down on the counter and turned to look at her, Lucy blushed deeply, knowing she'd been caught red handed.

"You were saying somethin'?" Gajeel asked with a smirk. He'd never seen Bunny Girl so flustered before but he liked it, especially since he'd caused it. He hadn't meant to walk out without a shirt, but he couldn't find it in him to regret it now.

"Oh yeah," Lucy shook her head and took a deep breath to clear her head. "I was just going to apologize for my idiot partner and tell you we're leaving for a job that will take a few days. Gray and Natsu destroyed too much on the last one for us to have time off and still afford to eat. I'll have to show you my guitar skills when I get back."

Glad she'd thought of the same thing he had the night before, Gajeel smiled and said, "Alright. See you when you get back then.

Lucy made her way out of Gajeel's house and in the direction of her apartment in a bit of a haze. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts of the dark haired man. She felt a little bad for the way she was starting to feel about Gajeel, but she'd learned a long time ago that feelings weren't something that could be controlled. There was no way she'd pursue anything with him if he was still with Levy, though the blonde wasn't really clear on what their relationship was anymore. With the exception of the day before, she hadn't seen the pair together much lately. Levy hadn't even been spending much time hanging out with Lucy and their group of friends like she used to. Her blue haired friend was usually out on a job or doing things with her teammates when she wasn't in her home library. Shaking off the depressing line of thought, the blonde picked up her pace to get home faster so she could feed her hungry partner and get packed for another mission.