Pumpkin Spice Latte


"You serve tea in here?" Gajeel asked suddenly, not looking up from the book he was 'reading'.

Said man was currently sat cross-legged on the floor behind her L-shaped mahogany desk, hidden from sight due to its admittedly large structure. He sat there on most days, and Levy had begun to assume he was skipping classes in order to sit here with her. Next to him, the blunette swivelled side to side in her cushioned deskchair with the use of one shoeless foot on the counter next to the till. There was a small basket under the desk where, on the occasions when Gajeel brought his cat, Lily would sleep in a pile of scarves that Levy kept in case the heating broke; which happened every once in a while.

"During the lunch hours, yeah," Levy murmured, flicking to the next page of her magazine. Today's outfit consisted of multiple tank tops in black and purple, a thick white wool cardigan which was falling slightly off one shoulder, thick grey leggings with a snowy pattern from the knees down, and plain grey socks. Instead of a bandanna or ribbon, Levy had worn a black woolly hat to the shop, and so her fringe was a loose mess on her face, the rest of her hair in an untidy side ponytail over her left shoulder. Her usual red glasses were perched on her nose.

"How much for one? I can't seem to warm up,"

"First one's on the house if you tell me how old you are,"

Gajeel smirked. "Yer still on about that? What ya worryin' for?"

"Wondering whether or not it's illegal for me to hide you away from the classes you're obviously skipping." Levy rolled her eyes at him with a grin of her own. "Want to be sure I get my statement just right."

Gajeel snorted at the remark, then seemed to think about it.

"I'll tell you my age if you tell me yours,"

"I don't need you calling me old lady names, or worse. Besides, you're getting free tea out of telling me."

"Tch, fine. I'm nineteen." He threw her a cheeky grin and a wink. "Definitely legal."

Blushing at the horribly obvious flirt, Levy laughed loudly to cover the sound of her heart beating far too noisily for its own good. Getting to her feet and leaving her magazine on the desk, she slipped her feet into the fluffy slippers she kept in the shop and trudged lazily through the beaded door curtain that lead to the back room. Spare copies of books littered the bookshelves in here, as well as a small counter with a sink and a kettle next to it filled the room. She opened a cabinet door and called out what was available.

"Ginseng, Lemon, Lavender, Peppermint, Green Tea, Earl Grey, Nettle, or plain ol' black tea."

"Which do you recommend?"

"Depends how adventurous you're feeling."

"Like, five?"

"Out of ten?"

"Yeah,"

"Peppermint, then."

There was a grunting noise, then silence. Levy grabbed a packet of peppermint for Gajeel and plain for herself, then boiled the kettle.

"Ya gonna tell me yer age then?" An amused grumble called from a few feet away. Levy sat herself on the stool by the counter, getting her phone from her cardigan pocket.

"Nope," popping the 'p', she flicked away a friend request from a guy called Dan Straight, then tapped on the new message from her friend, Lucy, who was a well-established author despite only being 26-years-old. In fact, Levy had several of her friend's best sellers in stock in her shop, and they sold out frequently.

The blonde girl in question was asking if 'Crazy Cat Guy' was there again. Giggling to herself, Levy tapped out a reply, certain that if Gajeel ever found out her nickname for him to her friends he would stop visiting her completely.

The kettle clicked, alerting the petite woman to it being done and she put her phone away, pouring hot water into both cups. Stirring and pressing the peppermint one first, she took out the little teabag and dumped it in the bin next to the counter, then stirred, pressed and dumped her own teabag. From the cabinet she opened the mini fridge inside and grabbed the carton of milk, pouring some into her cup. Returning it, she grabbed the sugar and spooned several heaps in with a gentle stir and closed the cabinet. Keeping the spoon on her saucer, she grabbed both drinks and walked carefully backwards out the back room, turning only once she was out of the beads.

"One peppermint tea," she announced, handing it over to the lounging student. Settling into her chair with her feet tucked underneath her, she sipped her sweetened drink appreciatively as she watched Gajeel hesitantly sniff his own.

Nose wrinkling, carefully blowing at the steam, hesitating lips.

Taking a small sip after a few moments, the teen seemed surprised. "S'good."

Smiling, Levy told him, "Peppermint's good for waking up. So drink it on the way to your morning classes or something."

"Ahh," Gajeel nodded, seemingly interested, if only a little. "What's yours do?"

"It's an antioxidant,"

"That's...er..great?" His confused look was one she'd begun to see often when she used big words on him.

"It has a kind of...healing effect, so to say," she simplified. Gajeel shrugged and went back to sipping his own tea.

"Is it yer favourite?" Abruptly asking another question as usual, Levy thought.

"I like it as my usual one, yeah. But I like hot chocolates and coffee too, as long as it isn't plain coffee."

"So ya like all that fancy mumbo-jumbo the coffee shops round 'ere sell?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes," she stuck her tongue at him playfully. "I'm not too old as to not enjoy such things."

"Dammit, Shortstuff, just tell me how old ya are already!" Gajeel groaned, knocking his head against the desk in frustration.

"Hmm, you seem really anxious to know," Levy grinned, amused. She gasped when his head suddenly shipped around towards her and he had a gentle expression on his face.

"Please... tell me?"

Rolling her eyes, she sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Fine. You win. I'm... twenty-five."

Having a sip of his tea at that precise moment was not very well thought out, and the long-haired boy nearly choked. "S-six years older than me?!"

"You seem surprised," the smaller woman drawled sarcastically. "I wonder why."

"Well, it's just..." Gajeel mumbled into his cup, refusing to meet her gaze. "Ya look really young, yaknow? Younger than twenty-five, anyway."

Levy blushed. Heavens above, this boy was adorable sometimes.

"And also, yer really, really short, so-"

"Get out right now Gajeel Redfox or I swear to God-"

"Gihihihi! Catch ya later Shrimpy!"

Sometimes.


Three days later, Levy had a sense of deja vu as the door crashed open again. This time, the customer was not carrying a cat in his coat - thankfully; in this weather she'd have killed him for dragging his poor cat along - but rather, a branded Styrofoam cup of coffee.

"Here," He set the cup down. It was branded with the logo of a coffee shop she'd heard Lucy mention as her 'lifesaver' often enough, so cautiously she picked it up and sniffed it. It smelled wonderfully sweet and had a nice spice to it too.

"What's this?" She asked quietly. Looking up at her regular stowaway client, she noticed him shuffling awkwardly on his feet as he looked anywhere but at her.

"Pumpkin Spice Latte, or some shit like that. The barista said that chicks seem to dig it, and it's the season's special, so I thought..." he cleared his throat. "Yaknow.. cause I made you tell me yer age when ya didn't wanna, and then I pissed you off... ya mentioned ya liked them sometimes, so I just..." he kicked at the carpet and shrugged. "Tell me if you like it?"

Levy hid her smile behind the cup, but she was sure that if he looked at her he would see it straight away. Gratefully she took a long sip of the quickly cooling beverage, holding back a moan at the delicious taste that quenched her thirst.

"It's delicious, thank you, Gajeel." She beamed at him happily, and he smiled back.

There was a moment of silence before Gajeel glanced at the clock hanging up on the wall behind the desk. Cursing, he turned his gaze back onto the blunette.

"I gotta go, there's a class I actually like goin' to in ten minutes and I don't wanna be late," he ran for the door, swung it open, then stopped.

"Hey, Shorty!" he called, gathering her -annoyed- attention. "Six years isn't that much of a difference, I won't mind it if you won't!"

Giving her a cocky smirk and a wave, he dashed out the door and down the street, passing by red-faced pedestrians and leaving an equally red-faced book shop owner behind.


I couldn't help it, I really really wanted to write about their ages and pumpkin spice latte.

Seriously, this is it for now, unless I get a prompt/idea for this story - so let me know if there's an event you want to have happen! :)

Check out my poll if ya want, leave a review if you can :)

Bye Bye~