2. Coffee Shop AU (Gajevy)
Gajeel simply can't wrap his head around the short girl with the ridiculous, blue hair that comes in every morning at seven on the dot and orders a black coffee.
Black. Coffee.
No sugar. No creamer. Just straight black coffee.
Now, Gajeel considers himself to be pretty tough. He got into (and won) a lot of fights back in his rebel high school days, and he managed to not cry (a lot) at the end of that movie Marley and Me, or whatever it was called–Juvia made him watch it with her back when Bora cheated on her and that's not really a time Gajeel likes to remember—but Gajeel will not—will not drink straight black coffee and can't understand why anyone would subject themselves to something as disgusting as Satan's piss in a Styrofoam cup. That seems like the opposite of a good day.
And that's part of the reason he doesn't understand Levy—because contrary to what she may think, he does know her name, he just chooses not to use it—because she clearly doesn't like black coffee. She orders it, makes a face, and then looks like she's in actual physical pain when she drinks it.
Now Gajeel doesn't know a lot about coffee despite being a barista—please, he just pushes a button, it's not rocket science—but he doesn't think disgust should be the face someone makes after ordering the same coffee they get everyday.
There has to be some kind of ulterior motive.
The bell above the door rings and he doesn't need to look up to know who it is.
It's seven on the dot.
Levy walks up to the counter, an adorably (though he would never say that out loud) determined look on her face, just like every morning and Gajeel suddenly makes a choice. The manager might fire him for it, but he's made a choice.
Levy takes a deep breath and smiles, though it looks like a grimace. "One black coffee, please." She blinks her pretty brown eyes up at him and Gajeel—as stupid as it sounds—feels like he's just been punched in the gut.
"No," Gajeel replies, crossing his arms and leaning over the counter.
Levy looks completely taken aback. "No?" she repeats, sputtering a little.
"No." Gajeel shrugs and her eyes narrow—and holy shit did she just bare her teeth at him? What the fuck? Now, he's into some pretty kinky shit but—
"What do you mean 'no?' " she practically growls at him. He can see the smoke coming out of her ears.
Gajeel narrows his own eyes, frowning at her. "I mean, you obviously don't like it, so why do you keep ordering it?" he asks. Her eyes widen almost comically. "Are you trying to look more mature or something? Because honestly, Sweetheart, just because you're a short-stack doesn't mean you need to subject yourself to Sat—to this crap," he corrects himself quickly.
Levy just stares at him—which kind of freaks him out a little bit—and oh shit, did he break her?
Her lips part slowly and he's pretty sure that, yeah, he's going to lose his job, but then her lips quirk up into a smile that practically lights up the entire room. "One Peppermint Mocha, please," she says, looking happier than he's ever seen her. Gajeel smiles back and whips up the drink, his fingers brushing hers as he hands it to her.
She shoves it back into his hands a moment later.
Gajeel frowns again.
Levy just grins.
"You forgot to write your number on my cup," she teases. Gajeel quirks a brow and reaches for a marker, writing his number slowly so that she can read his crap handwriting—because he actually wouldn't mind if she called him sometime. He fumbles on the name though, because he simply can't process what's happening and just scribbles something down.
He hands the cup back carefully and she just keeps smiling as she flounces out of the shop.
It's not until she texts him later that he realizes he wrote "Gazelle" under his number.
It's not until their fifth date that Levy tells him she was only ordering black coffee to get his attention.
He doesn't need to tell her that it worked.