And within shall be contained: angry!Gajeel (someone's not getting their way ~); Lucy baiting Gajeel (good ol' fun); take-charge!Lucy (or at least she tries); failed stakeouts (Gajeel is impatient); more romantic entanglement (of the less romantic kind; AKA Gajeel is an ass); Gajeel shutting up Lucy (there are better things to do with her mouth);

Song by Artist vs. Poet. So, so Lucy and Gajeel, that song.

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Chapter 10 – Adorable

Lucy didn't think that she had ever seen Gajeel so angry before, but she thought this was hilarious. That made her sound like a really horrible person, but out of all the things they had been expecting, dreading and preparing for, this was certainly not something they were ready for.

They had boarded the early train to Clover, 7 o'clock in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed and Lucy was wound up to tight that the four hour train trip crawled by excruciatingly slow. Gajeel had looked as laid back as ever, but Lucy could see the subtle tick in his jaw and eyebrow, and the not so subtle tick when he heard a loud noise. On a smaller, brighter not, his arm didn't need bandages now, even if some of the cuts on his arm weren't quite healed and scabbed over yet. But it looked a hell of a lot better than it had when Lucy had fixed it up, and that was all that really mattered, even if his arm was going to gain a few more scars.

They had brought no luggage, because, really, Clover wasn't all that far away, and who brought baggage on something as clearly sketchy as this job?

The meeting place where they were supposed to meet their client was in the industrial part of the city, where the busy factories and businesses ran their wares. But it was oddly quiet for late morning in Clover, and if Lucy was on edge, then Gajeel was over it. The Iron Dragon Slayer looked ready to snap someone's neck with his bare hands, Pantherlily was poised to activate his Battle Shill at any moment, and Lucy had a very tight grip on her keyring. Loki had already had his foray into the real world for the time, and she wasn't quite sure she'd like him and Gajeel to interact on an extended basis, so she had Taurus at the ready. Expecting one of the bigger fights of her life, Lucy all but glued herself in between Lily and Gajeel, nervous as hell but ready nonetheless.

And then the client had shown up. No Tartaros mages showed up to try and kill Gajeel, no dark guild arrived to pounce upon them; instead, a very enthusiastic Fairy Tail fan had called them out.

"Coooool!"

Gajeel twitched. Lucy hid her snicker.

Out of all the possible requestee's, this one had come from none other than the very eccentric Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason, personal Fairy Tail fan and professional at pissing off Gajeel. It wasn't really Jason's fault at all, really; Gajeel had been geared up for a fight, and this was quite possibly the most anti-climatic ending to a very stressful morning. Lucy herself was personally quite happy with the way it had turned out, even if Gajeel was about to commit bloody murder and that Pantherlily was trying to look as little as possible to stay out of the limelight. It was a good idea in theory, but Lily clearly didn't take into account that then all attention was diverted to Gajeel.

And he was not amused. It was a little disappointing that Jason had only paid her cursory attention - Lucy was used to be foreshadowed by Erza and Natsu - but she was the only girl now, so it was a little disconcerting. On the plus side, Gajeel was very irritated and there was nothing that he could do about it. Well, he could always walk away from the job, but Gajeel's pride would not allow him to, not to mention his mile-wide stubborn streak. But either way, Lucy was going to have to divert Jason soon before Gajeel snapped, and then snapped his neck, because having a dead client did not work if you wanted to get paid.

"Um, Jason-san?" Lucy asked, prompting both men to stare at her, "About the job…?"

Gajeel's jaw twitched, and she had no idea what that was about, but Jason did this odd little scuttle over to her.

"Ah! Lucy Heartfilia-chan! Cooool!" Jason squealed.

It was quite alarming that a full-grown man could make a noise that high, but nevertheless Lucy preened under the attention. The blonde man had grasped her hands and was now rhapsodising all her achievements, which were either grandly embellished, or backlash from Natsu's destructive capabilities. Even if they were horribly fallacious, Lucy enjoyed the subtle ego-stroke that came with being the centre of the paparazzi attention - even if it was only one reporter.

But what was more amusing than Jason was Gajeel, because the Iron Dragon Slayer was now looking more sour than he had before, and it was just a bonus that she managed to wipe the usually-smug grin off his smarmy face. Lucy wasn't quite sure what had the Slayer quite so pissed off - the attention was off of him now, wasn't it? - but Lucy thought that he was closer to blowing his top now than before. He really did get angry over completely random things, and Lucy didn't want to agitate the already volatile Dragon Slayer further.

So, putting aside her new favourite kick of Gajeel-baiting, where he wasn't amused by it, Lucy let Jason round off his gushing soliloquy before interrupting him at what she thought was a decent enough point. Of course, she did draw it out a little just to see the little thunderclouds form over Gajeel's head.

"What was this about a missing item, Jason-san?" Lucy asked politely.

That seemed to snap Jason out of his obsessive gab-fest and into a slightly more sober mood - only slightly, though.

"Someone stole my ultra-special one-of-a-kind camera!" he explained. "I have no idea who did it, and I want it back!"

Ah, so that explained why there were no bright flashes in their faces when they had first met Jason in the Industrial district - Lucy had known that something was wrong, but just couldn't put her finger on it. It also explained why Gajeel hadn't levelled the blonde man out of the window yet head-first. Either way, it was probably a good thing that Jason was without his trademark camera; while Lucy wouldn't mind the publicity (publicity = jewels), Gajeel was wanted by a third of the Balam Alliance's dark guilds. It was probably best that the Iron Dragon Slayer lay low for a while, even if he was the definition of obvious.

Still, it certainly was a hell of a reward to issue for a missing camera, of all things, even if it was ultra-special one-of-a-kind. Even with a reward that high, it was probably best for Gajeel if he turned Jason down - but that infallible Dragon Slayer pride and stubbornness of his kept him from doing so. Lucy wouldn't mind the cash to restart her rainy day fund, which only had a few hundred jewels to it right now, and Gajeel could - huh. What the hell did Gajeel spend all his money on anyway? The Dragon Slayer only went after the high paying requests, or the jobs that would piss people off - so where did all the money go?

Lucy eyed the Dragon Slayer discreetly while Jason prattled on about his one-of-a-kind special camera. He sure as hell didn't spend all those reward jewels on clothing, what with his ratty dark tunic and well-repaired pants. She couldn't really see him spending it on house-hold items or lavish accessories; from what Lucy had seen over the months, he was a very 'basics' kind of man. Lucy had only ever seen him in two different sets of clothes, and never with anything new - Erza spent all her money on cake and armour, Gray on his own rent, and Natsu on finding his dragon-daddy. She couldn't really see Gajeel going out of his way to find his own dragon father like Natsu did; Gajeel never said anything about Metalicana outside of that initial conversation with Natsu when he was still with Phantom Lord.

"How do you know it was stolen?" Gajeel asked roughly.

Both Lucy and Jason blinked at the Iron Dragon Slayer, who was completely non-fussed about the attention now - Lucy rarely saw anything rattle the older mage. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good question. Jason could have just misplaced it and jumped to conclusions - it happened more often than you could guess with these kinds of jobs. She and Natsu had once spent a full day 'hunting' a stolen necklace, only to find it had fallen under the client's bed. That had been fun.

"I locked it in my office while I was interviewing a possible new employee, and when I came back, WHAM! The door was off its hinges and my camera was gone!" Jason cried.

Okay, so definitely stolen. They had likely cleared up the office by now, so that made the odds of Gajeel catching a scent in there damn near zero, which meant that they would have to be a little more creative here. Gajeel would probably just want to beat everybody up until someone coughed up information; again, it was up to Lucy to formulate their cunning camera-finding plan. Hmm, where to start?

It could be an employee, sick of the blonde's crazy antics (Lucy was a little, just because he was hard to handle). Maybe a rival magazine had taken it to cripple Sorcerer resources? Maybe his last photography session hadn't gone well and the models wanted retribution against Jason; Natsu claimed that Jason had ruined him, even if everything he printed about the Fire Dragon Slayer was completely true.

Well then, first thing's first.

"Jason-san, what were to photographing before your interview?" Lucy asked

Jason looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "A corrupted mage guild on the other side of town."

Well, shit.

"They've been taking assassination requests," he added

Double shit!

Gajeel seemed to be thinking something similar, if his sardonic expression was anything to go by, and shot a very sarcastic look to Lucy. Lily was shaking a little in her arms in an effort to keep his invisible veneer up, but it was clear that the little exceed wanted to weigh his two cents in. Anything to deter Gajeel from accepting this job, but pride go-eth before the fall, and he had a hell of a lot of pride to fall through. Maybe that was something that he had inherited from Metalicana, because she had never met such a proud and stubborn person before; even Natsu was easier to handle than the Iron Dragon Slayer, and Natsu was unpredictable. Gajeel was predictable, but there was nothing you could do to stop him either way.

"Tell us where this guild is," Gajeel 'politely requested'.

Jason looked thrilled at the sound of force in Gajeel's voice, and not for the first time, Lucy wondered if the man had a few screws loose. Actually, he'd probably be perfect to join Fairy Tail, if only he had magical powers.

"It's down on the south side, near the edge of town. I'll show you!" Jason announced.

Oh. Dear. God. No. The last thing that she needed, that anyone needed, was Jason there to 'help' their job progress and infiltrate the dark guild. What the hell was it with Gajeel and attracting dark guild activity anyway? Lucy thought that she could throw a stone in the Dragon Slayer's presence and hit a dark guild lurking nearby. Even Natsu and Erza didn't have this kind of luck, and their luck was pretty crummy.

Dark guilds, Gajeel and a tag-along Jason - Lucy wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry at the outcome. Instead, she buried her face into the top of Pantherlily's fur, and begged to any and all gods out there that this went as smoothly as it could.

If only.

XXXXXXX

Lucy grabbed onto the back of Gajeel's collar and tugged with all her might. The Iron Dragon Slayer made a noise that came out slightly choked and ended very angrily. He rounded on Lucy, and for a terrifying yet amusing moment, she thought that he might actually hit her; all she got was a very irritated and angry glare instead. Lucy glared back at the older mage, and placed a rather indelicate stomp to his instep, making the Dragon Slayer hiss angrily and glower ever darker than before.

It wasn't something she had particularly wanted to do - Lucy thought she had wrenched her arm on his bulk - but the moron was about to kick in the door. It wasn't just any door he was rearing to kick in - it was the door to the only-recently-turned-dark mages guild on the edge of Clover Town's southern district. The Dragon Slayer just seemed to have a compulsion to kick anything in his way, especially anything remotely door-shaped, and that was beginning to irritate Lucy. A stealthy approach to the mages who didn't know they were coming would be the more intelligent thing, as she had told Gajeel, but his response had been a rather derisive snort.

The jackass.

Lucy had never wanted to hit someone so badly, and stomping on his instep did make her feel a little better, even if it did piss off the already-hostile slayer. A little under a week ago, and that would have concerned Lucy almost as much as the dark guild they were going to fight over a camera, but now she knew that he wouldn't intentionally hurt her, no matter how much he projected otherwise. There was no way that Lucy would ever really call Gajeel harmless, but that's exactly what he was to her at the moment; as long as she was loyal to Fairy Tail and didn't betray him (not that she ever would on either counts), she had nothing to worry about. Actually, she was expecting to get an earful on the train home after this, if he didn't decide to just sit on her and suffocate her right out.

He really needed to stop concocting defunct plans of action without consulting her and then launching them - and expecting her to play along. It was about time that he listened to her very good plans, and without snorting or grunting or just plain-out ignoring her.

Egotistical jack-hole.

"You need to listen to me, Gajeel," Lucy hissed.

They were outside the guild building now, the Dragon Slayer not two steps from kicking the door in before Lucy had intervened. She was so damn close to just summoning Loki and telling him that Gajeel had touched her inappropriately - let's see how the angry Slayer goes up against an enraged Leo. But that was a threat best saved for another day.

"We have Jason-san to worry about as well," she reminded him.

Jason was a few steps behind them in the company and guard of Pantherlily, who had come out of his silent reverie to pitch in the battle. Jason had been so thrilled and excited to see another exceed that he was currently questioning the black cat, and Lily was looking a little disconcerted over it.

There was a definite plus to the battle that Gajeel's arm had healed up better and he had more mobility from his not-really-bruised-anymore ribs. But, Jason was insisting to tag along, spare camera in hand, saying that he wanted to capture their victory or some-such, but either way, he was a liability. Even with Lily playing the rear guard, Jason had no attacking or defensive capabilities, which put him firmly in the camp of useless. Gajeel did not seem to realise this, because he still was acting like a man-shaped battering ram, even after the vigorous explanations (read: bitch-out) that Lucy had given him.

"You need to start listening to my input," Lucy ranted. "Don't just ignore me like mmph!"

It took a few heart-beats for her brain to catch on why she couldn't speak anymore - it was because Gajeel's mouth was very firmly over hers. His eyes were locked onto hers and she could smell him and his tongue was pressing against her teeth and her knees were threatening to give out and she couldn't breathe! Gajeel drew back and Lucy's knees decided to give up on her, so she plummeted to the ground, and would have hit if Gajeel hadn't of grabbed her arm to keep her upright. Lucy could only blink blankly at the almost flummoxed expression on Gajeel's face, and as his red eyes widened with realisation, Lucy's embarrassed reflex kicked in.

With a well-placed slug to his jaw, Gajeel instinctively let go of her arm, and Lucy was deposited very roughly on the ground. She made an embarrassing squeaky noise when her rump bit the concrete, but her mortification was all overruled by one particular thing. Gajeel Redfox had kissed her.

And he was looking down at her, studded eyebrow raised and a fairly perplexed look on his face, and Lucy hoped that the ground would swallow her up. She probably looked like the proper, victimised young lady at the hands of the brutish male from any other perspective, but other perspectives didn't matter. Gajeel had surprise on his face, but knowing in his eyes, and Lucy now knew that Gajeel knew, especially after her reaction to something as little as a kiss - Lucy was a virgin.

Between her mortification and shell-shocked horror, she wondered what the odds of her killing the Iron Dragon Slayer were. Good at the moment.

"Lucy-chan?" a voice sounded behind her.

Oh dear stars above. Jason had rounded into her eyesight, standing just off of Gajeel, and the Iron Dragon Slayer was eyeing the blonde man like he was a dark mage. Why Gajeel would see the reporter as a threat was beyond Lucy, but it was the last thing on her mind. What was first and foremost was that Jason, Sorcerer Weekly reporter, had just seen Gajeel kissing her. She couldn't even tell where her emotions were right now, all she could do was stare ahead blankly as Jason lowered himself down to her level with worry in his pale blue eyes.

What would she do, if the world found out that Gajeel Redfox had kissed her when they were trying to bust down a dark guild? It wasn't like that was Lucy's first kiss - she had pecked plenty of people before, most of them Fairy Tail nakama - but this was the first time that anyone's tongue had been anywhere near her own mouth. Lucy wasn't an idiot; while she may not had kissed anyone like that, she was well aware of what it meant, and how to actually do it - years of novel writing and reading had taught her more than she needed to know about romance and smut. But what had probably back-fired her brain was the fact that it had been Gajeel who had kissed her, rather abruptly and without warning or reason, and her mind decided that it would be a good time to shut down.

"Lucy-chan, you okay?" Jason asked. "We heard this thump and then you were like this."

Oh thank you, whatever deity was up there. Jason had been too distracted with Pantherlily to have seen that display, and Lily himself was standing by Gajeel, pinning his Slayer counterpart with a very questioning gaze. Well, she'd rather Lily of witnessed that than a reporter like Jason, and as it was, maybe she didn't have to kill the Iron Dragon Slayer. Yet.

Lucy let Jason help her up, and even though her cheeks were probably a very vibrant red colour, she brushed it all off and took her place near the door to the guild, ready for the accompanying fight. She had objected to Gajeel's brutish tactics before, but now anything to take her mind, and subsequently Gajeel's, off what had happened was the only thing she wanted.

And in true Fairy Tail style, what was better to take one's mind off of things than an out-of-scale vastly-outnumbered battle?

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A/N: Well, I didn't say their 'romance' would be romantic in nature, did I? (Please ignore the oxymoron). Don't worry, they kinda get dragged into it kicking and screaming in a few chapters from now ~

Ave ~