Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I'm posting a little early for those who are surfing fanfic for some sweetness instead of going out tonight. If that's you, don't despair... the day after Valentine's is even better. In fact, it's arguably the best day of the year. Why? Because the day after Valentine's is when you can get your chocolate for half off! And you could say that the same thing happens after Halloween... but I think Valentine's is better, because this was the good chocolate for people you actually care about! XD LOL.

I actually can't take credit for that one. It's just something that I remember one of my professors saying back in undergrad. Sadly, one of the few things that I retained from my school years... ;)

- K. Chandler

Levy rested her elbows on the table, pushing her empty glass aside. She and Hibiki had grabbed one of the tables that dotted the perimeter of the dancefloor. They had both long since finished their drinks, but she was enjoying herself far too much to worry about a refill.

"I disagree," Hibiki was saying. "Why wouldn't you have used Andoullouie's Method? Granted, it would require the use of a cipher, but it would have simplified the translation process."

"See, I thought of that," said Levy. "But I ruled it out pretty quick. Based on the structure and the order of the words, I could tell that we were dealing in ancient Valeish."

"You can tell that just by looking?" asked Hibiki, clearly impressed.

Levy grinned. She leaned towards him, lowering her voice. "The give-away is all the double 'd's," explained Levy, holding a finger up. "When you see that, along with all the 'y's that are used, there's no way it could be anything else."

Hibiki nodded, his lips pulling into a smile. "That's… very clever," he said.

"I'm glad you think so," said Levy. "Actually, nobody's ever told me that before," she admitted.

"Are you serious?" asked Hibiki, his brows drawing together. "That's kind of genius."

Initially, Levy had been hesitant about her blind date with Hibiki. But now she was glad she'd come. Not only was Hibiki an excellent conversationalist, he knew more about syntax and cyphers than anyone she'd ever met.

Levy had never met anyone so fascinating.

"It's not that strange," said Levy. "Script magic tends to be underappreciated. By the way, how do you know so much about scripts and written enchantments?" she asked. "It's not exactly a common field of expertise."

"I dabble in it from time to time," he said modestly, steepling his fingers.

"I think you more than dabble," said Levy. "It took me years to get the difference between Oiruss and Galek figured out."

Hibiki flashed her a secretive smile, his eyes scrunching in embarrassment. "You caught me. So… is it weird that I'm kinda into this stuff?"

"Not at all," said Levy. "It's what I do, right?"

"You should totally hit me up the next time you want to geek out! Might be fun," said Hibiki, a glimmer of excitement lighting his eyes.

"For sure!" A wide smile stretched Levy's face. "You have no idea how hard it is to find someone who speaks the same language," she said.

"Pun intended?" asked Hibiki, grinning crookedly.

"Of course!" she laughed.

"Hey, Levy. So, I wasn't going to say anything, but I just figured…" Hibiki shrugged. "You know they're having that scripting convention in downtown Crocus next month, right? Well, I've got tickets and—"

"You got tickets to LinguaCon?!" squeaked Levy. "How?"

"I have connections," joked Hibiki. "One of the perks of being a guild recruiter."

"They'd already sold out when I looked. I was so bummed!" Levy had never imagined that tickets for something as obscure as a scripting convention could sell out so quickly.

"I've got an extra ticket, if you want to come with," offered Hibiki.

"That'd be awesome!" said Levy.

"That sounds like fun. Can I come too?"

The gravelly voice from beside her made Levy jump. Turning, Levy found Fairy Tail's Iron Dragon-Slayer perched coolly in the chair beside her.

"Gajeel? I thought you weren't coming," she said.

Gajeel leaned back in his chair. "Who told ya that? Heh-heh."

"Does it matter?" asked Levy, narrowing her eyes.

"What are you so mad about?" asked Gajeel. "If you wanted me to take you, Shrimp, all ya had to do was ask," Gajeel said, shrugging.

"Who says I wanted to go with you?"

"Eh?"

"I never said I'd go with you, and I didn't say I wanted to," snapped Levy.

"Want me to sing ya another song? I can sing ya another song."

"Oh, Gajeel, please, no."

"Listen up everybody," said Gajeel loudly. "I just wanted to—"

"Be quiet! People are staring," Levy hissed.

"What's wrong? Are you embarrassed?"

"No. I'm sick of you turning everything into a production. Is this just a PR stunt to you?"

"Well, no…"

"You only seem to know how to talk to me when you've got the whole guild watching," she complained. "All the other times, I'm not sure what your deal is."

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm not embarrassed by it or nothing'," said Gajeel, running a hand over his slicked back hair. "Even though we don't always talk about it."

"Gajeel…" sighed Levy, shaking her head. "I just—"

"I think, maybe, I like you, Shrimp," Gajeel interrupted quietly.

"Maybe?" asked Levy, tapping her nails on the table impatiently.

"I think, maybe, I like you a lot," he said. "And we don't gotta talk about it all the time, but sometimes I can't keep it to myself anymore. I want to shout it from the rooftops, Shrimp. I want to let everyone know that you're my girl. You will be my girl, right?" Gajeel asked.

"What?"

Levy's brain swam. Was he asking her out? Or was this another one of those caught-up-in-the-moment gestures that kept her hoping, but left her with nothing?

"Shrimp?" asked Gajeel, his grin starting to waver. His eyes were trained on her face expectantly.

"Gajeel, I… I…" she mumbled. Her face was hot, but her hands had gone cold. She shook her head dumbly, still trying to process Gajeel's words.

"Is that a yes?" Gajeel asked desperately, his voice low.

"Gajeel…" she whispered. Levy blinked, nodding slowly.

Gajeel let out a huge breath, a studded hand coming to rest against his chest. He grinned. The he stopped, his eyes wide. "Wait. It's not real until you say 'yes.' That's what Lilly says," he told her sagely.

"What?"

"You have to say it. Say 'yes.'"

Levy let out a breathy chuckle, her forehead scrunching in exasperation. "…Yes. Of course, it's a yes."

"Shoo-be-doo-bah!" cheered Gajeel, pumping his other fist in the air.

"Don't do that!" laughed Levy, swatting Gajeel in the arm playfully.

"Why not? The smartest girl in the room just said she'd be mine!" shouted Gajeel, tucking a large arm around her shoulders.

"Stop that!" giggled Levy, leaning into his side.

Behind her, someone cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Are you guys okay if I…" Hibiki nodded towards the opposite end of room. "I think I saw somebody that I wanted to say hi to."

Levy cringed, guilt numbing the pit of her stomach. "Oh, Hibiki… I'm sorry… I—"

"No, don't be." Hibiki shrugged. "Today's just not my day, apparently."

"I'm still up for LinguaCon, if you want someone to geek out with," she said. "But don't feel like you have to or anything. I don't want to make it awkward," she added quickly.

"No, that sounds fun, actually," said Hibiki

"You sure?" asked Levy.

Hibiki grinned crookedly at her. "There aren't enough geeks in Fiore not to be friends with all of them, am I right?"

"For sure!" said Levy. "Gajeel, you're okay with that, right?" she asked hastily.

"As long as you keep your hands to yourself and bring her back by curfew," said Gajeel.

Levy pouted, crossing her arms. "I'm a big girl, Gajeel."

"You're small enough for me to lose," said Gajeel. "And I ain't about to let that happen."

#Endgame

Yay, Gale!

But now that I've done this, I'm sort of liking the idea of Hibiki x Levy. I'd like to do them as a pair in another universe. I enjoyed writing them, but I think I'd have to do a modern AU or something where their area of expertise is something I have background in (like engineering or math or something). I really had a hard time nerd-festing with them here because I'm not a linguistics person, and I feel like I can't technobabble convincingly without some sort of subject-knowledge.

Next time, in [Mazeverse] Victory Gala, so what happens to Hibiki now, seeing as he's 0 for 2 (got ditched by both Jenny and Levy): With a guilty squirm, Lucy approached him, hoping Hibiki wasn't too upset. "I guess my blind date blew up on you, huh?" she asked, her forehead scrunching ruefully.

Stop back next Friday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.