Gajeel sat at a table in the corner, sipping his drink. Pantherlily was seated opposite of him, chewing a kiwi. The two of them sat in a companionable silence. Gajeel looked around the guild. After the new members had settled in the members of Fairy Tail had gone back to what they usually did; fighting, drinking, and yelling. A long time ago this would have bothered him, but now Gajeel was used to the mayhem. Gajeel observed Natsu and Grey's latest argument before glancing away. His eyes landed on Levy, who was in a heated conversation with Lucy. Both girls were gesturing wildly; Gajeel guessed they were talking about a book they had read. He let his eyes linger on the blue-haired girl before looking away.
Gajeel turned toward the stage and frowned. Should he give a performance? Absently, Gajeel pulled at a few strings on his guitar. He had pulled the instrument out, hoping to convince Lucy to dress up as a bunny and perform with him, but the new members had entered before he could try. Speaking of the new people…Gajeel turned again to look for them. Three of them-Arthur, Ivan, and Feliciano, he guessed-were at the bar. Five-or was that six? Gajeel squinted. He thought he saw a man carrying a bear, but he seemed to have disappeared. So did the loud man, who wore glasses. Alfred, was it?
"Hey, man, what's up!"
Alfred appeared in front of Gajeel, causing the iron dragon slayer to jump.
"Oh, yeah, hi, cat dude!" Alfred smiled and nodded at Pantherlily, who muttered a greeting.
Gajeel gathered himself and scowled at the hyperactive man in front of him. "What do you want?"
"Hey, my name's Alfred, but you probably knew that already! What are your names?"
Pantherlily frowned. "My name is Pantherlily, and I am not a cat, I am an Exceed. This is my companion, Gajeel. If you don't mind, could you please calm-"
"Hi, Pantherlily and Gajeel! I couldn't help noticing you had a guitar! That's totally rad, man! I have a guitar, too!"
Gajeel bared his teeth. "I don't-"
"Actually, my magic is centered around my music ability! Because of my great musical abilities, I'm also great at magic too! I'm a lot better than Ivan and his ice, or Arthur and his silly black magic!" Alfred grinned. "Hey, dude, do you have music magic, too?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Gajeel said, "I'm an iron dragon slayer. Of course I don't have magic that stupid!"
"Gajeel," Pantherlily said. "Don't be rude."
"Pfft, my magic isn't stupid," said Alfred. "Music magic is the best, just like me! I bet I'm a better musician than you are."
Gajeel snorted. "I doubt it."
Matthew cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but please listen to me..."
Gajeel and Pantherlily shouted, startled. Alfred faltered, and then smiled again. "Hey, Matthew," Alfred said.
"Have you been there the whole time?" said Pantherlily, bewildered. Matthew shouldn't have been able to sneak up on them-he should have detected the man a lot sooner.
"No," said Matthew, "not the whole time. I followed Alfred. I kept trying to say something, but you wouldn't listen..."
"Do you have an invisibility power or something?" Gajeel frowned. This guy and his bear were weird. The power of invisibility was the only explanation, right?
"Yes, actually," said Matthew.
"That's not the reason we didn't know he was here," Alfred interjected, "Matthew just isn't noticeable. Like, at all! If even I forget him, and I have the best memory ever, something's up."
"Uh, right…Um, I was saying you two should have a competition? Put on a performance, maybe, and let the people in the guild decide who is better…or you could not do anything at all, this fight is rather pointless…"
"A performance?" Alfred whined, "Aw, come on, bro! I don't need to prove how awesome I am!"
"You don't have to, but thank you for listening to my opinion…" Matthew turned to Pantherlily. "Hey, do you guys have any maple leaves? Or syrup?"
Pantherlily ignored him. "A performance might be a good idea," he said, "though, Alfred might have the advantage, as the guitar has to do with his magic…"
Alfred beamed. "Pantherlily is right! Of course I'll beat you! I'm the hero!"
Pantherlily sweat dropped. "That's not what I meant…"
"This will be awesome!" Alfred continued, "we should do it this evening! I'll let everyone know, they're probably want to choose sides-mine, really, I always win-"
"Shut up," Gajeel snapped. "I'll have this competition with you, just to make you be quiet. We'll do it this evening."
"Right, bye!" Alfred waved before turning and dashing away.
"How abrupt," Pantherlily muttered. The black Exceed jumped down to the floor and started to walk in the direction that Alfred had gone. "Come on, Gajeel, we should get ready…"
Gajeel growled and quickly downed the rest of his drink before following Pantherlily, muttering under his breath. What had he gotten himself into?
"Bye…" Matthew murmured.
"Who are you?" Kumajirou said softly, peering up at the man who held him.
"I'm Matthew Lewis."