Dragon Club
Some time after Halloween, Levy was greeted with a peculiar sight.
Specifically, two unfamiliar students from Magnolia college - again based on the logos of their bags. A young boy with purple-tinted hair and a young girl with navy blue hair in braids had their faces plastered to the window of her shop and were looking around curiously. They seemed to be unaffected by the cold in their eagerness to find whatever it was they were looking for. Behind them, across the street, stood a mildly annoyed Gajeel, nose and cheeks red as a cold wind blew past.
Wandering over to stand in front of the window, she tapped on it gently, catching the pair's attention. She signalled them to come inside, despite the silent protests of Gajeel. Judging by the frantic head-shaking and the big X he was making with his arms, it seemed like he was against them coming into the shop.
"Can I help you?" she smiled at them as they made their way inside, glancing about as they did so. The purple-haired boy was a few inches taller than Levy herself, wearing a bright orange scarf that contrasted with his messily-dyed hair. He looked no older than sixteen. The girl looked about the same age, though she'd taken more care in her appearance, it seemed. Her hair was a dark, midnight blue, with lighter highlights blended in. Her braids were slightly messy from the wind, though they hadn't unravelled. Either way they seemed a bit too young for college.
"We're looking for a friend of ours, he hasn't been showing up to club activities lately." The girl spoke with a polite smile.
"His name's Gajeel," the purple-haired student made a motion with his hand, way above his head. "'Bout this high, frowns a lot, looks like he would bully you for your lunch money?"
"Gajeel's in a club?" Levy's eyebrows raised in surprise. She found it hard to picture the long-haired teen in a club and doing social activities.
"So you do know him?" the girl spoke up again, a hopeful look in her eyes.
Levy hesitated. "Well, I guess-"
"Hey guys! Look who I found standing around outside of here!" a third unfamiliar voice broke in, as well as the sounds of struggling and quiet grunts. The door was accidentally slammed shut in the process before all went silent.
"Gajeel!" the short-statured girl bounded over and hugged the rather annoyed-looking boy.
"Hey, Chicka."
"I hate that nickname Gajeel!" the blunette pouted, making the tall boy smirk and ruffle her hair. The third new person was another guy, slightly shorter than Gajeel but seemingly his age, or older. His hair was bright pink and he had a white, patterned scarf wrapped round his neck. He looked slightly familiar, but Levy couldn't imagine why for the life of her.
"Good afternoon, Gajeel." Levy waved awkwardly. "It seems your friends have come looking for you."
Said teen clicked his tongue and looked away. Levy could tell he was pouting, which amused her greatly.
"Yeah, he's skipped club activities a couple of times now," the pink-haired boy mentioned. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, by the way. I'm the Club President."
"I'm Romeo Conbolt," the shorter boy added.
"And I'm Wendy Marvell!" cheered the young girl with a grin.
"Hello," Levy smiled politely. "I'm the owner of The Inkwell, Levy McGarden." She paused for a second. "So, what club is this, exactly?"
"Oh yeah!" Natsu beamed, suddenly excited. "Believe it or not, we're actually a club about-"
"Dragneel!" Gajeel launched himself before the rosy-haired student could finish his sentence. He whipped around, hand on Natsu's mouth, to face Levy. "Ya know, I was plannin' on quittin' anyways, so it doesn't really matter.."
"Ehh?" Wendy gasped. "You're going to quit the club?"
"What?" Romeo's voice raised in anger. "But you're the vice-president!"
Levy's eyebrows raised. "Oh really?" she smirked, but quickly put on a sugary-sweet smile. "Why would you ever want to quit the club you're vice-president of?"
"'Cause..." Gajeel muttered. "It's embarrassin',"
"Why's that?" She quirked her head to the side curiously, watching as Gajeel's face went a funny shade of red. To the side of her, Wendy and Romeo watched too, quietly snickering and giggling.
Suddenly, Natsu used Gajeel's momentary distraction to rip the guy's hand from his mouth.
"Oh for god's sake, Gajeel!" To Levy, he grinned brightly. "We're in the Dragon Club!"
A snort of laughter escaped her lips before she could hold it in, and she slapped both hands across her mouth and nose in surprise.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, grinning under her hands. "It's just...Dragon Club?"
Evident by the annoyance palpable in Gajeel's glare towards his club president, it seemed that Gajeel found the club to be as ridiculous-sounding as she did.
"Well, it's just," Natsu started, scratching his head sheepishly. "We found this old book in the college library, ya see? And it has all sorts of dragons in it. They all have different powers and abilities, and some could even control the elements." Natsu grinned brightly. "When I told my friends about it, we all got pretty excited!"
"We each picked a specific dragon to claim as 'ours' too!" Wendy added excitedly. "I chose the aerie Draconis, the air dragon! They could eat air and control it! They also had healing powers!" The girl's eyes gleamed as she gushed about her dragon.
"I'm still looking at them, I can't decide what one I like best." Romeo muttered, looking shy.
"My favourite's the flame dragon!" Natsu announced. "One of the most powerful dragons to have existed, since he controlled fire and could eat it too!"
Everyone turned to a silent Gajeel. He glared back at them.
"No."
"Don't be shy Gajeel!"
"Your dragon is pretty cool, don't be ashamed!"
"I'll tell Levy about my dragon when I feel like it." He growled out angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. Levy tried her hardest not to imagine him as a stubborn child. "Now get the hell outta here!"
Whilst Romeo and Wendy pouted, Natsu smirked a little, as if he figured something out. "Alright, we'll leave you to talk with your girlfriend then, shall we?" He batted his eyelashes innocently, throwing a wink in Levy's direction. She blushed furiously as she sputtered in surprise.
Gajeel jolted suddenly, eyes wide. "Oi! She's not my-"
"Yeah yeah, whatever. See you in the clubroom after class tomorrow, Casanova!" Natsu grabbed Romeo's scarf as he walked towards the door of the shop, who in turn grabbed Wendy's arm, and the spontaneous conga line let itself out with cheerful waves and a chorus of flirty whistles.
As the door shut, silence spread over the room as Gajeel huffed into his scarf, trying to hide his face. Levy had no such protection, so she covered her cheeks with her hands.
"Y-you don't have to tell me," she blurted out quickly. "I mean, you're not obliged to tell me, anyway."
"Nah. It's... fine." Gajeel muttered. "My dragon is made of metal...or iron, something like that. It could eat iron and stuff and turn it's scales into an iron hide... stuff like that."
"I see." Levy smiled. "It suits you."
Gajeel scoffed and rolled his eyes. "'Cause I'm that badass, right?"
Levy laughed. "Of course. Badass Gajeel of the Dragon Club."
"Hey, that's not funny."
"Oh yes it is."
"Tch."
"Hey, Gajeel?"
"What?"
"You have some good friends." Levy looked out of the window at the falling rain. "To look for you as vigilantly as they did... not everyone does that."
"Yeah, I guess."
"You should bring them here more often!"
"Hell no."
"What? Why?"
Gajeel cleared his throat and mumbled under his breath. When he noticed Levy's confused expression, he repeated:
"I like being here alone, means I have ya to myself."
Levy couldn't form any words at the very honest explanation, so she did the one thing she could think of and started striding over to Gajeel, who took her rushed steps as anger.
"Hey I'm sorry I just thought-"
"Shush, you."
Once within arm's length she grabbed his coat and pulled herself towards him, wrabbing her thin arms around his waist. Sufficiently shocked, Gajeel's arms remained slightly raised for a moment, before relaxing enough for him to rest one hand on the petite woman's lower back and the other arm wrapping around her shoulders.
"Don't worry," Levy murmured into Gajeel's jacket softly, barely loud enough for him to hear. "You have my attention more often than not."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gajeel whispered back, ears red from the long time span of contact.
"It means you're interesting, Vice-President Gajeel of the Dragon Club."
"Goddammit, woman."
Development.
This took longer than intended but here have the next chapter. A slight continuation of That'sRidiculous's interactions request, and we'll see more of it in planned chapters! I'm leaving Natsu's age a suprise ;) ((Anon Miri all the ages have been figured out but aren't completely switched over, if that makes any sense))
I have about 4 chapters planned/prompted for this, and Rhythm of Love is slowly getting there. College has been really hectic so this is as much as I can do. It'll be a while before I can update again, I think.
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