Gajeel sat down at his normal spot next to the reading Levy at their table in the guild hall. He tried to put his mug of beer down in the few allotted inches of table surface allowed him on the book covered table, but there was a small box in his way. It was a black paper box with a silver ribbon ties around it. A small card declared it was for Gajeel Redfox.
"What the hell is this?" He asked Levy as he sat his mug on the bench beside him, and cautiously picked up the box.
Without looking up from her book, Levy responded, "I believe most people refer to it as a gift."
Gajeel sniffed the box suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"Checking for traps." He raised his eyebrow at her, as though she was the one being illogical, as he shook the gift near his ear.
"Just open it, stupid Gajeel," Levy grabbed the box from his hand before he could lick it. She puled the ribbon loose, removed the lid and passed it back to the shocked dragon slayer. 'I can't believe you would go up against a dragon but won't open a present."
Gajeel took the bow, but held it at arm's length as he looked around the guild hall to be sure Flame Brain and Ice bastard weren't snickering somewhere. Finally, he peeked over the rim of the small parcel, and gasped in, well, delight.
Inside the box was a guitar pick. It was made of a shiny back material and etched in silver across the surface was "Iron Soul." He picked it up as gingerly as he could and inspected it more closely. It was amazing, a work of art.
He glanced over at Levy, who was now smiling broadly at him, "like it?"
He didn't know what to say it. It was perfect; he just stared at her.
"If you don't like it, it's okay, I mean, I thought you would like it, I hoped you would..." Levy was rambling, not sure how to gauge his reaction to the gift she hd spent so much time planning.
He found his voice at last, "I..it.." he coughed and tried again, "I like it, but what's it for? Is today a special day or something?"
"Well, it's the day you joined Fairy Tail. You said you couldn't remember exactly when your birthday was, so I thought we could celebrate your "joining day."
"We?" he asked, but before he could answer, Juvia walked up to him and placed a shining new bag of screws on the table in front of him.
"Happy joining day Gajeel-chan. Juvia is so glad you joined.
"Happy joining day!" Wendy squeaked before she turned red and ran away.
One by one, the guild members came to drop off a smal gift. Most brought small items, made of iron or scrap metal. Bunny girl gave him a new pair of black gloves, Flame Brain offered to fight him, and Ice Bastard made an ice sculpture of a dragon. Jet and Droy were the last two to give their gift, an action figure of Gajeel made with a special base that held a tiny Pantherlilly. "Happy joining day, " they spoke in unison as Levy teared up
Gajeel sat in silence, too shocked to say anything. He had never been given a gift before, not a sincere one anyway. He had certainly never had a birthday party. He felt his eyes began to sting. Pull yourself together. He stood suddenly, overwhelmed, slammed his fist on the table and screamed, "I'll write you a song!"
"We don't want it!" everyone screamed in unison, then they a broke out in laughter. Marijane and Master brought out a three layer cake that made Erza cry. Then in true Fairy Tail form, they proceed to drink, party, and fight well into the night.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Gajeel dropped a tipsy Levy off at the front gate of Fairy Hills. "I ave one last gift for you." Levy whispered into the dew-laden early morning air.
"Srimp, come on. You've done enough, already. You've done more that anyone has ever done for me. How can I thank you enough?" He could feel a blush creep across his face as he said the last, but was just drunk enough himself, not to care.
"Stupid Gajeel, you don't owe me anything." She stood on her toes and stretched as far as she could to kiss him on the cheek. "Happy joining day,"