Alright. I could do this. I had this totally under control. With the grimoire open on my kitchen counter, I had a sudden realization. My knowledge of many things upon many things extended over a variety of topics. However, I knew next to nothing about cooking. I didn't even know what I was going to make tonight. Gajeel did strike me as the type that would eat anything, so I'll count that as a blessing in my favor. Aside from that, I drew a blank. Luckily for me, I knew someone who forgot more about cooking than I could ever know. This may be one of those times where I needed to call for help. Would that count as a job to put on the request board?

Of course not. This would just be asking for a favor from a friend. I locked my door behind me and headed for the guild hall. Although, I had two options when it came to cooking help. One of those options was Natsu. It's a surprising thing to learn, but Natsu can cook like a dream. Lucy told me all about it once. Especially when they get a job out of town. Lucy goes in search of herbs and berries and Happy gets their fish. But it's Natsu who manages to throw them all together. According to Lucy, she'd put Natsu's cooking against any of the chefs who cooked for her growing up.

However, I'd like for my kitchen to still be standing by the end of the night, so option two, it is. Even though, it'd be pretty entertaining to watch Natsu cook. When I got to the guild hall, some of the usual cast of characters were here. By the looks of things, Natsu and Lucy just came back from a job, so they were having their post-work celebrations. Gray stood in front of the request board, scanning it for a job of his own. Cana…Oh, poor Cana…She's already had her limit for the night. And she was out cold on a table already. Sleep well. But I wasn't looking for any of them.

"Hey, Mira," I took a seat at the bar.

"Hi, Levy," Mirajane chimed like every other time I came in here, "Did you need something?"

"Can I steal you away for a bit?" I asked, "It's kind of important."

"Sure," she nodded, "Is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine," I made sure to keep my voice down, so I wouldn't worry anyone else, "It's just that I'm about to start making dinner and I know nothing about cooking. Plus, I just got this new grimoire and I wanted to try it. And…"

"And?" Mirajane wondered, grabbing the door, "Levy, are you sure everything is ok?"

"I…" I bit the inside of my cheek, hiding my heated face, "I have someone coming over tonight."

"Oh," she let it go. Or so I thought, "Is it Laxus?"

"No!" I squealed, "God, no! I don't want Laxus in my house. And there's no way I'd be making him dinner!"

"Relax, Levy," Mirajane settled me, "It was a joke. I know better than that. If I could be nosy for a minute, who is it?"

"It's Gajeel," I confessed, "Master Makarov's sleeper agent."

"I heard about what happened with you two this morning," she remembered, "I'm guessing this is your way of apologizing for what happened."

"In a way," I nodded, "Yeah. Sort of. But it's more than just an apology. Besides, he kind of knows I got the grimoire. I went to go check on Jet and Droy."

"How are they feeling?" Mirajane asked, just as concerned about those two as the rest of us.

"They're not too worse for wear," I giggled, "They're not completely healed up yet, but they're getting there. They're in good spirits at least. Their doctor says they should be out of the hospital by the end of the week. Then, I'll give them another week to recover and we'll be back out into the world in no time."

"That's good to hear," she smiled sweetly, "Now, back to what happened."

"So, when I left the hospital this afternoon," I went on, "I thought I'd go to the bookstore. Hospitals are so depressing, so I could stand some cheering up. The lady that runs the place said she had a new grimoire on the second floor, so I was holed up there for a while. Then, I found Gajeel peeking through the bookshelves and he caught me with the grimoire in my lap. And now, I'm making dinner for the two of us. All because I wanted to try it out. And now, you're all caught up."

"You know what they say, Levy," Mirajane giggled, "Feed them once and they'll never leave."

"Oh, come on," I rolled my eyes, "That's not true."

"Really?" she gave me a look, "Would you like an example?"

"That's not a thing, Mira," I brushed her off, "It's just going to be one dinner."

"If you say so," Mirajane rocked back on her heels, "But if that's really the hill you're willing to die on, I'd suggest looking at Natsu and Lucy."

In that moment, my heart sunk to my feet and probably fell out on the other side of the world, "Oh, no…"

"When Natsu and Lucy met," she pointed out, "I remember Lucy saying she bought Natsu and Happy lunch and…Well…They've been practically inseparable ever since. I'm not saying the same will happen with you and Gajeel, but we'll call this your fair warning."

"No," my rational thinking came back, "Gajeel's not going to stick around just because of me cooking for him this one time."

"Depends on how good it is."

"Mira!"

"Alright, alright," Mirajane dropped it, giggling some more to herself, "I'm done. I'll stop teasing you about Gajeel. But I do have one question, though."

"What's that?" I had a feeling I already knew what it was. And I braced myself for it.

"What are your thoughts on Gajeel?" Yep. Just what I was afraid of.

"Well…" It wouldn't be a half bad idea to vent to Mira, but even I wasn't sure what to think about Gajeel. This whole thing about me making dinner for him was more of a thank you than an apology. He saved me from Laxus and chances are, Laxus is never going to attempt to hit on me ever again. And I couldn't be more thankful for that. After a while, it gets kind of predatory.

"Ok," Mirajane stopped, "I'm done being nosy. Let's get to work. What did you plan on making tonight anyway?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, "I figured I could look in my fridge and see what I had. Make something out of that."

"Oh, Levy," she sighed out, "If that works, I'll be amazed."

"I think it can."

"And I think we need to find the market before it closes," Mirajane checked my cabinets for anything she could scrape together, "There's no think about it. We need to go to the market before we go any further. Because the first thing I show you how to make requires things you don't have. Come on."

I didn't expect to make a trip to the market today, but apparently, I needed to. Although, I did need a few things. I didn't have any milk. My eggs were looking low. When was the last time I got any groceries? Honestly, Levy. You live this way? Well, in my defense, I didn't cook very often. When I'd get hungry, I'd go to the guild hall and there was always something to eat there. I'm still disappointed in myself.

By the time we got back, Mirajane had gone a tad overboard on my grocery shopping. Eight bags between us seemed excessive. Whatever she needed, I wasn't going to stop her. I want this to turn out good. And if that means Mirajane doing my grocery shopping (for the next month, by the looks of it), so be it. Alright. Now that we had that out of the way, I was beyond ready to do this.

"Ok, Levy," Mirajane chirped, "Are you ready? Because this first thing is going to be hard to mess up."

"I'm ready!" I sang, "What are we making?"

"We'll start with a loaf of bread," she got the flour out, "Do you know anything about how to make a loaf of bread?"

"Walk downstairs," I thought, "Go to the bakery two blocks down, get sidetracked, get a few cupcakes and a loaf of bread, give the baker some money, and go home?"

"Close, but no," Mirajane laughed, "I need a bowl. Then, we'll take some warm water and that yeast I got. Where was that?"

"Here!" I got the packet of yeast from one of the bags, "What next?"

"Warm water," she walked over to the sink and turned the water on, waiting patiently for it to warm up. Mirajane ripped the packet open and dumped it into the water, "If you want something to do, can you put a little bit of oil into the bowl? That's what our bread dough is going in."

"What's that for?" I wondered, doing as she asked.

"It'll keep the dough from sticking," Mirajane explained, "And it'll make the outside all nice and shiny, too. It'll take about five minutes for the yeast to get started. What does your grimoire have for bread?"

"Bread…Bread…" I thumbed through the pages, "I have reviving stale bread and…Ooh…This could be useful."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's basically instant bread!" I squeaked, "You put all the ingredients into a bowl and read the incantation! We didn't even need to do any of the other stuff!"

"Really?" Mirajane pouted, "I was kind of looking forward to making bread. It's been a while since I got the chance to do any baking and here you are with your grimoire."

"Mira," I felt an ache in my chest, "Don't be like that. This isn't going to be the only thing we make tonight. You'd know that better than I do since…Well…You did do most of my shopping. The grimoire doesn't do everything."

"Alright then," she perked back up, "Let's see what it can do. You make the bread."

"Ok!" I opened the grimoire to the right page and started reading, "Lardo panis dulcis. Faciens panis dulcis. Accipere aliqua lardo. Et ponet illud in dulce panem. Lardo panis dulcis. Hoc illud est quod est iens ut. Lardo panis dulcis!"

A bright flash came from the bowl and a warm smell overcame my kitchen. Oh, wow…That was fast. Practically instant. Both Mirajane and I looked on in disbelief, "Congratulations, Levy. You just made bread."

"And it smells incredible," I swooned, "I wonder what else this grimoire can do."

"Let's find out!"

For the next few hours, Mirajane and I were holed up in my kitchen, cooking anything that wasn't nailed down. I must admit, that grimoire was completely worth the eighty thousand jewel I paid for it. Yes, it was pricey. Yes, that's almost as much as what Lucy's rent is. Yes, I should probably be saving my money in these trying times. And yes. It was completely and one hundred percent worth it. Although, along with this grimoire being a blast to use, I was exhausted. Between the cooking and all the magical energy it took to work the grimoire, I earned the beautiful spread on my kitchen counter. Fortunately, in the back of the book, there was a spell that would clean all of this up, too.

"It's too bad I'm not the one that gets to eat this," Mirajane chuckled to herself from the table, "You did great, Levy. You didn't need me."

"But it was nice to have you here," I admitted, "Thank you for doing this, Mira."

"You're welcome," she smiled, "Happy to do it. Anytime you want to do this again, you're welcome to ask. That grimoire is fun. It's too bad it's not my practice, but it's still fun to use."

"Yes, it is," I totally agreed, my stomach growling. Hopefully, Gajeel's on his way. I don't want this to get cold before I get to eat it.

"Good luck with Gajeel tonight, Levy," Mirajane got up, "I hope it goes well."

"Thanks, Mira," I walked with her to the door, "Hey, if you could do me a favor and keep this our secret, I'd really appreciate it. I'd hate for…certain people…to get the wrong idea."

"In other words," she assumed, "You don't want Lucy finding out and freaking out over it, right?"

"Exactly," I nodded…vigorously, "I love her to death, but ever since she and Natsu started dating, they've become more and more alike and I'd hate for her to have a Natsu style freak out in the guild hall. I know I hounded her when they started dating, but I don't even know if that's what's going to happen with us."

"I understand," Mirajane promised, "I won't say a word."

"Thank you."

"See you later!" Mirajane walked out my front door and I could've sworn I heard her voice talking to someone outside. I checked myself over in my bathroom mirror before the voices could get any closer. Cute as a button as per usual.

"Hey, Shrimp, are you home?" my heart stopped. Why? Why did it do that? It's not like this was a surprise. I knew he was coming over tonight. That's why I actually cooked tonight, "The pretty receptionist from the guild hall said I could come in. I didn't know you had a roommate."

"She's not my roommate," I walked out, holding it together to the best of my ability, "Mira just stopped by. But…Hi."

"Hi," Gajeel's eyes drifted over to the kitchen table, "Did that grimoire do all that?"

"For the most part," I confirmed, "Yeah."

"And?" he wondered, "How was it? Was it as magical as you thought it'd be?"

"And then some!" I squealed, "But…I haven't tasted anything yet, so there's a chance it could all be trash."

"Nah," Gajeel shrugged, "You don't seem like the type who could make bad food. With or without your magic cookbook."

"And you know the type?"

"I've met the type," he admitted, helping me move things from the island to the table, "Bitter, constantly angry at something, so high strung that if you said you liked their shoes, you'd probably be eating their fist. There's no way someone like that can cook. You, on the other hand? You could probably cook. And you used that grimoire. I thought you said that was guaranteed good cooking."

"That's what the lady at the bookstore said," I remembered.

"What if she was just trying to make a quick sale?"

"Are you really that cynical?" I giggled.

"Depends on the day."

"Come on," I insisted, "I've been working on this all afternoon. It'd be a shame if we let it get cold."

"There has to be something in that grimoire for that," Gajeel assumed.

"Actually," I bit my lip, "There is."

"Told you," he pulled out a chair for himself and kicked one out for me. Wow. And they say chivalry is dead.

Although, with that first bite of lemon peppered chicken, I'm pretty sure I saw Gajeel get teary-eyed. Color me concerned, "Gajeel…? Are you ok?"

"It's…" Gajeel choked out, "It's so good. I need the name of that grimoire."

"You don't seem like you use word magic," I told him, "Kind of like how you said I don't seem like the type who can't cook."

"How do you know I can't use word magic?"

"I know the type," I assured, "It takes a word mage to know a word mage. You don't know word magic."

"You caught me, Levy," he continued to shove his face, "I'm not a word mage."

"Then," I wondered, "What kind of wizard are you, Gajeel?"

"Really?" Gajeel put his fork down long enough to have a civilized conversation, "The metal arm this morning didn't give it away?"

"I wasn't really focused on the metal arm," I admitted, "I was more concerned about having to deal with Laxus than I was with you. I'm sorry to tell you that, but it's true."

"That's reasonable," he let it go, bringing his metal arm back, letting it slowly take over the rest of his body, "I'm an iron dragon slayer."

"Really?" I gasped, "So, you're kind of like Natsu?"

"Not quite," Gajeel corrected me, "I'm more like me. Yeah, the whole dragon slayer backstory, but instead of fire, I got iron. It's pretty great. Especially when I'm…Well…We can save that for another day."

"Come on," I begged, "Tell me! Please?"

"You know," he pointed out, "Even though you're a killer cook, you can be kind of annoying. Did you know that?"

"I like to call it being relentless," I tried not to take offense to that.

"You really want to know?"

"Yes, please."

"Well," Gajeel went on, "I like to break out the metal hands when I play guitar. It gives the strings a different sound and the distortion on it is really nice."

"I didn't know you played at all," I listened closer, "Do you play often?"

"Just to keep the muscle up," he nodded, "Sometimes, if I'm lucky, when I'm out on a job, I'll get a side gig and play a little club here and there."

"I've always wanted to learn an instrument," I stared down at my food, "But I'm always buried in a book. That's ok. It's cozy in there. Sometimes. Depending on the story."

"You're so weird…" If I didn't know any better, I'd think I caught Gajeel smiling, "But I can let that slide, I guess."

"I already told you my philosophy on that."

"Yeah, yeah," he brushed me off, "Better weird than boring. I know."

"And yet," I teased, "You said my name was difficult to remember."

"I've only called you shrimp once tonight," Gajeel defended, "I remember what your name is."

"I know," I dropped it.

"You know, Levy," he looked away from me, "We should do this again sometime."

Mira was right. I didn't want to say it out loud, but Mira was right, "What do you mean?"

"This," Gajeel explained, "You and me like this. It was kind of nice not eating by myself for a change. But if it's alright with you, I could stand to repay the favor. Besides, I did kind of invite myself over tonight."

"No," I shook my head, "I made the offer and you took the opportunity. I could've told you to kick rocks, but I didn't. Here we are."

"That doesn't mean I can't still repay the favor," he decided, getting up from the table, "How about after we both recover from tonight, you come up to my place? Yeah, it's kind of a hike from here and it's just down the road from the Phantom Lord guild hall, but it'd be worth it. I promise."

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled, walking with him to the door, "Are you already leaving?"

"I need to," Gajeel nodded, "If I don't, I'll end up staying here all night and I'm pretty sure you're not letting me crash on your couch."

"Sorry," I winced, "But you're more than welcome to come over anytime."

"Well…" his cheeks started turning color. Actually…It's kind of…adorable, "I'm going to head home. Good night, shrimp."

"Good night, Gajeel." I needed to think of something to call him for retaliation. It's not like I can call him shrimp back. He's twice my size! But tonight…He had a point. Tonight was nice. And with Jet and Droy still in the hospital, it was nice not having dinner by myself tonight. It's so weird. I didn't think I would've been so relaxed around him, considering the unfortunate circumstances we met under. And then, there was our fight this morning. And him stalking me in the bookstore. But there was something in him tonight other than my cooking. Something…different. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but there was definitely something.