You all can thank Netflix for giving me the blessing of the first three Fast&Furious films and a nice, long weekend of re-watching.

Please Review, Follow, Favorite or help yourself with a snack! I hope this chapter fills your need of some things… I won't spoil what, so you'll just have to read this chapter and let me know c:

=xxx=

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Ride 'em Hard

Chapter Eighteen

Finding Juvia Lockser wasn't so difficult once Lucy and Natsu arrived back to the garage to find Levy checking over the blue haired racer in such a motherly way, but also fairly angered as she scolded Juvia lightly in Russian. It wasn't too difficult to find out that Juvia got Erza and Jellal to bring her to the race, being suspicious of why Gajeel was being so distant with her; having her back and accepting Levy's wrath at the same time Levy thanked them for keeping her cousin safe…

What was difficult was when Gajeel pulled in with Laxus, followed by Gray's car and Juvia practically dragged him out of the car, screaming at him while Mirajane began pulling out the First Aid kits and began tending to the three men who were involved in a dirty fight.

Lucy watched Juvia yell at Gajeel while he held his bleeding nose. Levy stood by the sidelines with Lucy and Laxus while the rest of the crew crowd around to see what was happening, patiently watching with a tired, sad gaze.

"Uhm...Levy-chan," Lucy whispered close to her friend. "What is Juvia-chan saying..? I can't understand her."

"It's difficult when she's speaking too fast and saying so many bad words," Levy said smoothly, crossing her arms as she watch Gajeel respond to something with a stuffy nose, only for Juvia to smack him on the head. "What I am picking up, though, I don't blame her for being this angry. Gajeel-kun should have taken my advice in the first place and told her who the hell tried to hit them."

"You mean -?"

"Trinity Raven," Levy finished sourly. "Juvia doesn't remember what happened after she was hit, due to her epilepsy and Gajeel hasn't really bothered to tell her the truth. Thinks she would hotwire one of our cars and turn everyone in that gang inside-out."

"Hearing what the kid did to Fullbuster's pops, I wouldn't be too surprised if she managed to do that," Laxus said boredly before Lucy boldly slapped his arm lightly. "What? If it was Mira or Erza, they'd do the same damn thing."

"Honey, how about you hush your mouth before I sew it shut?" Mirajane sang cutely as she dabbed her cotton balls with alcohol for Gajeel's face, making Laxus swallow thickly and excuse himself to take a seat at the bar.

"Still not happy you two took Ju-chan without telling me," Levy also added in, looking pointedly towards Erza and Jellal.

Erza was sitting on the counter by Levy while Jellal leaned against his wife on the stool, resting his head on her lap while she carefully rubbed his scalp. "Even if we told you, you wouldn't have let her go, would you?"

"Probably not," Levy whispered lowly.

Gajeel suddenly yelped in pain when his sister pinched the knife cut on his cheek, making Lucy jump and look at Levy worriedly. The petite woman shrugged. "He said something about how it wasn't any of her business to worry about him. We all know better than that."

Juvia yelled something at Gajeel to the point that Mirajane had difficulty reaching for his wounds, having him stand up tall. He towered over Juvia with fire in his eyes as he yelled something in Russian that made the other's eyes widen and catch Levy's attention in a snap.

"Gajeel!" Levy snapped in pure anger, having everyone notice the change in the atmosphere as Levy marched forward to her two favorite people and push him back down. Juvia and Gajeel didn't stop their intense stare at each other as Levy put in her two cents in the language, yet it didn't stop tears swelling in Juvia's eyes…

It didn't escape Gray, though, as he grabbed one of Mirajane's smaller aid kits and got up from his line at the bar for the woman's treatment and approached the three. Levy allowed Gray to touch Juvia's shoulder and whisper quietly.

"Come on, Juvia," he told her. "Come with me and help, okay? Don't push it."

A moment of silence passed before Juvia bit her lip and nodded, trying to keep in her tears as she broke eye contact from Gajeel and turned around with him wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Gray carefully led her away towards the elevators and away from everyone, while Gajeel watched with narrowed eyes.

"Ya better not do anything to her, Stripper!" Gajeel barked a snarl before Levy smacked him on the head hard. He groaned in pain and held his head. "What was that for, huh?"

"You do not say that infront of your own sister or me, Gajeel Redfox!" Levy yelled at him with the most dangerous look Lucy had ever saw her friend display. It nearly rivaled against Juvia's temper and scared the blonde woman enough to wonder if she should do her best to stay out of the situation. "Use your fucking head before you speak next time, you understand?"

Levy marched the other way, towards the mechanic station and most likely towards her tiny apartment room. Gajeel remained sitting in his spot, looking off to nowhere as Mirajane blinked and politely asked if she could finally tend to his cuts and bruises, waiting for him to only make a low grunting noise and close his eyes.

Lucy looked between remaining where she was or off to help Levy in her room, only for Erza to notice her mental plan and shake her head slowly. The blonde woman hesitated for a moment before sighing, taking a few steps over to where Natsu was sitting, unusually quiet and patient, and having him look her way and offer a small, comforting smile.

Despite not getting his with anything too bad, he did have a couple bruises and a small scratch on his collarbone with dirt. Lucy carefully rest her hands on the top of his head and tangled her fingers in his hair, watching him smile and rest his forehead against her abdomen.

"Mira, can I borrow the alcohol when you're done, please?" Lucy asked with a wet smile, feeling Natsu's strong hands hold on to her hips and his thumbs lightly brush the exposed skin above her jeans.

Mirajane smiled as she applied a bandage tape to Gajeel's cheek, ignoring how he winced. "Of course, sweetie. Don't use too much where the skin is broken, or it might irritate him. Natsu's is a bit picky about some products. Always says he wants it to scar, but no way in hell is he getting an infection on my watch."

Juvia sat on the counter by the sink and instantly began fiddling with the kit Gray took from Mirajane's box, ignoring how Gray was watching her pull out the antiseptic wipes. Tears were still holding up in her eyes and her brows furrowed, yet she was showing resistance in exposing her cries as hard as she could.

Gray didn't like that.

"Y'know, I brought you up so you could let it go with no one around," Gray spoke after a while, pressing his thumb briefly to his bottom lip to find that he had a nasty cut from one of Vidaldus' punches - probably from a bolt sewn to the gloves, he didn't know.

"You're bleeding," Juvia said and reached up to use the wipe on his mouth, holding him still when he flinched at the contact and uttered a curse word.

"As much as I appreciate your help over Mira's," Gray muttered in slurs against the pressure, "I want to know what you and your brother were arguing about."

"Gray-sama wouldn't understand."

"Well, obviously." Gray grimaced and remained patient as Juvia finished cleaning the cut on his lip, doing his best to not complain about the stinging. Once she was done, Gray let out a relieved breath. "But he did say something that is upsetting you, and I don't like seeing you upset. Was it about what happened at the race?"

"To put it pointly, it was Gray-sama who threw the first punch, not Nii-chan," Juvia said flatly and narrowed her eyes at him. "Gray-sama was certainly being stupid."

"Don't change the subject, Juvia," Gray told her seriously and she stopped in the middle of grabbing another wipe. He carefully held her chin and forced her to look at him. "Tell me what happened, please."

A hard blink and Juvia's tears fell down her cheeks. Shaking her head slowly, Juvia's shoulders hiccuped as she held her head in her hands while Gray's hand moved to her side. "Gray-sama doesn't know what it's like, okay? Juvia can't lose Nii-chan - he's the only family Juvia has left, and she doesn't want him to end up getting killed because of Juvia!"

Gray watched her rub her eyes with the heel of her palms, feeling helpless in watching her cry like this. "We promised each other after Dad left, that we won't leave each other behind on anything. We go one jobs together, we race together and we fight our problems together," she sobbed. "Nii-chan leaving Juvia when she was out cold and never telling Juvia who tried to kill us… He could have been killed and Juvia wouldn't have known!"

"Juvia, he left you here because you would be safe," Gray told her. "You were nearly bleeding your life out, you know that?"

"He never said where he was going, so Juvia could help him! Juvia thought he was gone forever, and she wouldn't have had a chance to say good bye!" Hugging herself tightly, she attempted to suppress her shivers. "Gray-sama doesn't get it. Juvia never got to say goodbye to her mother or her father, you still have Silver-sama and your own mother who still live and you know they love you!

"If Gray-sama were to do something dangerous, he would still think for a second about his parents, and how they would feel if Gray-sama left them forever," she went on. "Juvia would give anything to have her mother come back home from that car crash, or her father walking through the door after a race for dinner, but…

"Nii-chan still has chances to live, yet he risks them for things that I have caused and he gets hurt," Juvia trembled. "He promised that he would never leave me behind, even if it's something dangerous. No secrets from each other."

Slowly, Gray's arms found their way to wrap around her and step closer to the counter, letting her bury her face in his chest and cling on to his shirt tightly. His hands rubbing her back caused her to shake, yet hide her face more and let her tears stain him.

"H-he told Juvia th...that she should just give up on h-him. Th-that he's not w-worth for me to worry for," she cried. "He said, i-if he were to die, that J-Juvia should just forget about him and g-get away… I can't. I can't give up on him like that..!"

"He didn't mean that, Juvia," he told her quietly. "He doesn't want you to get hurt. He was really scared for you when you got hurt, you know that? He was actually scared of letting you go before he left."

Juvia whimpered against him and he cradled her head soothingly. "I was scared, too, when he brought you here that night. I thought I was going to lose you," he said honestly. "I couldn't think straight when I saw how scared your brother was. I had never seen Gajeel scared of anything before, but you know…"

Stepping back, Gray gently held her hot, wet cheeks and made her look into his eyes. "Seeing how scared he was told me how much he loves you, Juvia. He wouldn't leave you behind if he didn't think he could handle it alone, that's why he brought you to Levy - to us - because he knew that he could come back to you.

"You know your brother, Juvia," Gray told her. "He only wants what is best for you, always. Why do you think he kicks anyone's ass who smokes around you, or gets pissed whenever someone tries to hit on you? Hell, how many times has he chased me out of the bar just for talking to you?"

Juvia sniffed and glanced down, prompting Gray to take her hands and hold on to them firmly. "Gajeel most likely went to show Trinity Raven that he's not backing down from anyone who comes at him or you. Knowing him, he probably wanted to scare the shit out of Vidaldus and turn him into a pile of mush for what he's been trying to do."

"He shouldn't have gone alone," Juvia whispered.

"But he wasn't," Gray corrected her just as quietly. "Natsu, Laxus and I were there with him, didn't you see? Mira and Lucy were there as well, and Erza and Jellal were close since you were with them. It was me who started the fight, when Vidaldus started talking about you."

She nodded stiffly. "Juvia heard…"

"Gajeel knows that Fairy Tail cares for you two, so we wouldn't leave him to face those assholes alone. We wouldn't do that to you," he said and wiped a tear away from her face. "Besides, your brother would've had to chain me down to keep me from trying to rip Vidaldus' face off when he started blabbing."

"It wasn't Gray-sama's business to -"

"It was my business," Gray interrupted her. "And you wanna know why?"

Taking her left hand and tangling their fingers, Gray brought them up to his mouth and spoke against her fingers, locking eyes with hers. "As I have said before, it is my business if someone is trying to take you away. I ain't gonna stand by and let anyone treat you like you're nothing, Juvia, because you mean something more to me and you know that."

Juvia's eyes squinted at him as her brows furrowed. "You know Juvia isn't… She's done things that isn't right, Gray-sama. Juvia has killed people, and even sold herself for -"

"It never changed the fact that you mean so much more to me than I can say," he told her strongly. "I ain't a openly honest man either, but you haven't shut me out after discovering that all you've known about me in Fairy Tail has been a lie all these years, have you?"

Her eyes growing wide and a different type of pink staining her cheeks, Juvia slowly shook her head, refusing to look at him with embarrassment. His eyes softening, Gray kissed her knuckles and pulled her closer. "Everyone has flaws, Juvia, but it makes us no different from being human. What I see right now is still the same Juvia who hit me in the head with a rock, is still the same Juvia who is always so, so selfless for those she loves."

They were close, with her sitting on the edge of the counter and him pressed between her legs and his arm around her like a protective cage. The hand holding hers slowly slipped from her grasp and drift to her wrist, her shoulder and up her neck until he was cradling her cheek in his palm, feeling her pulse quicken against his fingers when his forehead touched her own. The hand he was once holding shakingly went to grip the collar of his shirt, and she bit the edge of her bottom lip.

"So, what is Gray-sama trying to say about himself..?" Juvia whispered, her voice cracking from her previous tears and crying and not yet regained her voice properly.

"I'm saying that I won't let anyone take you away from me," he confessed. "You're not like other women, that's for sure, but I wouldn't want anyone else to have my full attention but you."

A sniffled chuckle slipped from her lips and a shy smile. "Gray-sama is so bad with his words," she told him and he made a sour face.

"It's not -!"

"Juvia doesn't mind that Gray-sama is a stubborn man," she hushed him as she poked his cheek, making his face flush. She attempted to try and make light of the situation, and he knew it, as she tried to lean her cheek away from his palm. "Gray-sama is always more of a action-person than a talking-person. Juvia learned that a long time -"

Gray briefly pressed his lips against her mouth, just a simple, firm introduction that only lasted for a couple seconds before he pulled back. His stare at her bewildered expression was serious and somewhat nervous, yet his hold on her was secure and meaningful. With their chest pressed against each other, they could feel their pounding heartbeats and her surprised breathing.

"I'm serious, Juvia," he said in a low voice. "I don't want anyone else."

When she didn't say anything for a while, Gray swallowed took a deep breath. "I'm… Sorry, I-I shouldn't have done that," he said quickly, clearing his throat as he face grew even more hot with absolute embarrassment. "Your bro i-is going to kill me, if he finds out."

Tugging on the collar of his shirt, Juvia brought him back down so she could brush her lips lightly, as if asking him with closed eyes and pink cheeks. With that, Gray lost all thought and didn't hesitate to hold her properly and kissed her once more.

A couple, light and gentle kisses, with her responding to him with her own shy enthusiasm slowly formed Gray the confidence to cradle her head and deepen the kiss.

He could taste her kiss and how sweet she was whenever his mouth touched her, tasting the slight salt of her tears from her previous sadness melting away to a different passion that only he had dreamt about. The way her other hand tangled into his hair and held him close brought him to a dare to open his mouth and touch the tip of his tongue to the seam of her lips.

The softest noise she made and how she parted her lips for him to keep going, how she pressed herself even closer to him made his heart pound as he took over the kiss more properly and slanted his mouth. She whimpered softly against his lips in encouragement and he felt her thighs slowly rise against his hips and squeezed...

Having to balance himself with a hand on the bathroom counter, Gray lazily explored her mouth and attempted to learn what made her moan so cutely and hot gasp when he pressed his hips against her for a brief moment. He gently sucked on her lips and offered her a window to respond, which prompted her to carefully bite his lower lip.

"Fuck!" Gray hissed as he pulled away suddenly and pinched the wound on his lip. Mixing with the amazing flavor of Juvia was now the taste of copper, and Gray growled in irritation at the major mood-killer while Juvia gasped in absolute horror.

"Oh my God. I am so, so sorry, Gray-sama!" she spoke quickly and tried to help him by assessing the cut. Yeah, it was bleeding, but Gray could really care less about a simple cut on his lips when he had a very beautiful woman in his arms. "Ahh, let Juvia grab another wipe. Juvia shouldn't have done that - it's all Juvia's fault, and now Gray-sama is bleeding and..!"

"Really, Juvia, it's not that bad," he tried calming her down when she grabbed his extra roll of toilet paper and shoved it against his face while she dug in the First Aid. "Juvia, you weren't the one who got me hurt in the first -"

"But when Gray-sama and Juvia were making-out, Juvia bit you to try and be sexy," she kept going in her panic. "Juvia was getting into it, and she didn't remember at the moment that Gray-sama was hurt. Now it's all ruined!"

"Nothing is ruined, Juvia," Gray told her as he held her hips, realizing that her legs were still wrapped around him. He had to force himself to calm down while being close to her body, not wanting to freak her out any more than once she realized what they had done.

Which, became really evident by how red her face got and huge her eyes grew.

Holding her own face, Juvia tensed up and began speaking in Russian - well, he thought it was Russian. He wasn't too sure with how much she was stuttering and switching languages back and forth. What he managed to make out from what she sputtering also made his face grow red, such as "kissing", "tongue", and "feeling really hot".

Despite being clumsy to force herself to grab the wipe from the kit, Juvia froze when they met eye contact and both of them blinked for a long minute.

Becoming incredibly bashful, Juvia glanced down to her lap and spoke in a cute tone that always made Gray want to put his head down and take a few minutes. "C-can Juvia please...help Gray-sama with his cute, p-please..?"

Glancing to the mirror behind Juvia, Gray actually took the minute to look at the damage he had obtained from his fight with Vidaldus. A cut on his lip that was definitely more evident than the punch from Gajeel a while back; scrapes from his neck down to beneath the collar of his shirt and peppered across his arms. Now that he thought about it, when he wasn't distracted to what was happening around him or busy helping himself to Juvia, his elbows stung from the cement scrapes he got.

As much as he hated getting medical attention (doctors were not his favorite people to go see, even when he knew he was super sick or injured), he wasn't going to deny Juvia's help. Coming more to reality, Gray figured he was going too fast and hard on her with himself, making him feel guilty as he leaned away from her and carefully took off his shirt, just for her to get better access to them.

Tossing his shirt to the floor, Gray ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "I'm sorry, Juvia. That wasn't...it wasn't my place to kiss you like that, you know? You were upset, and I turned it on myself and…"

Shaking her head shyly, Gray didn't miss the little, sweet smile she attempted to hide. "N-no, it was… Juvia is really happy that Gray-sama did," she told him softly. "Juvia just wants to know if...Gray-sama wants to really have Juvia as -"

"Of course I want you as my girl," he grunted out with a fake cough, looking away when she smiled brightly at him like a giddy child with their first present of the winter holiday. "I just don't want your brother to kill me over it. There's a rule, or something, right?"

Juvia giggled and shook her head as she reached for him by the edge of his pants, pulling him closer. "Nii-chan and Levy-chan have been dating just fine with Master Makarov's knowledge, as far as Juvia can tell. Besides, Juvia is certain that Master Jose won't tell Juvia she can't, after everything she's dealt with."

Gray did a double-take. "Wait, your cousin and brother are -?"

"Nii-chan is Juvia's stepbrother," she corrected him. "As weird as it may sound, with their personalities and all, they're kinda the cutest couple Juvia has ever seen."

When she looked up to Gray, she frowned at seeing the horrified look on his face as he mumbled under his breath. "I'm going to give that short punk so much shit for all the times she's teased me about all this…"

The sudden sting of the alcohol wipe on his lip made him flinch again. It wasn't horrible as while Juvia held the wipe to the cut and leaned up on the counter to press a kiss to the other side of his mouth. Gray blinked before relaxing into the kiss, waiting until she finished cleaning his cut to turn his head a little and give her a proper one in return.

"If Gray-sama can behave while Juvia helps him, she promises that she will try to make it as painless as possible," she told him against his lips, and he smirked. "Juvia wouldn't cause too much harm to her Gray-sama."

"I'll be real and say that I really like the sound of that," he chuckled and nuzzled her affectionately. He stopped and became serious once more. "But, be honest with me, are you okay about...us?"

"If Juvia wasn't, Gray-sama would be on the floor bleeding for being so bold with Juvia, wouldn't he?"

Taking a moment to consider what she said, Gray slowly nodded and rolled his eyes, a half-grin on his face and he did his best to not to bother the cut on his lip again. "Touche."

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"So it was apparent that Trinity Raven was hired by the same investors as Gajeel and Juvia for the hit, and that Hades put a call in to them to have them take care of it," Jellal said casually beside his wife, who was sitting on the couch with Mirajane as Gajeel sat with an irritated look on his face by Makarov's desk. Luckily, his injuries didn't require any more stitches to his body, but the irritation and scratches to his skin were enough for Mirajane to add therapy cream to the cuts on his face and dab it to the scrapes that now had bandages holding it all underneath. The cut on his cheek had surgical skin tape and still wore his dirtied shirt and old jeans.

Makarov nodded in understanding of Jellal's given information, looking to Gajeel and offering him a polite look. "I understand you must be very irritated with them, but I am proud of you for not...well, you didn't kill anyone, so that's a good pointer."

"Thank Fullbuster for losing his cool, not me," Gajeel snorted and crossed his arms. "I was going to save all that pent up rage for when I rip 'em apart, but I guess Stripper had other ideas."

"Do you think Vidaldus was trying to cause a scene on purpose?" Erza asked.

"Woman, you were there with Juvia, weren't ya?" Gajeel grunted and slouched in his chair. "He wanted to know why I was hanging around with your posse."

"What he said before we had to bail was pretty colorful, too," Laxus joined in with Gajeel and picked at his ear. "Why the fuck does Trinity Ravel have so much beef with you in the first place?"

"Look, those pieces of shit have always been a pain in the ass, wanting to cause trouble with Jose for money or junk. Usual competition with racing in the streets and that oily mother fucker tryin' to get in my sister's pants with a price? That ain't nothing we're used to," Gajeel explained. "Although, what they pulled in the parking lot that night hasn't been done before. Like, sure, we've fought with them here and there and always kicked their asses, but ain't we ever dealt with them ramming their cars and physically try to kill us."

"There's a difference?" Erza flatly glared at him and Gajeel shrugged.

"Listen toots, I can sit on my ass all night and tell you all the stories of how we've dealt with Trinity Raven," Gajeel sassily responded to Erza, nearly making Mirajane giggle at the change of attitude. "Trinity Raven's never dared to try and kill us, plain and simple. Try to kick our ass in a fist fight because they think they're better than us? Average shit."

"Gangs in general don't try to kill each other just for the hell of it, even if you had done something to piss them off before," Makarov interjected. Rubbing his chin, the old man thought it over before asking slowly. "Have you ever met Trinity Raven's boss, Gajeel?"

Gajeel, in return, shrugged. "Those posers act so high-and-mighty by going with their own thing, but we've never got in contact with their boss before. Jose has asked us to get in contact with their gang at one point, but we've never got any callbacks, messages or even a damage bill for whenever we marked one of their guys up with something sharp. Person or car," the racer rubbed the top of his head. "Even with that snake-guy, Vidaldus, wanting to purchase, that's normally something discussed between leaders."

"No one runs a gang without regulations and communication, enemy or not," Makarov shook his head. "They can't all run it themselves and make it through with joining races through John's emails and secret messages."

"Could be Acnologia?"

Heads turned to Mirajane as the platinum blonde lightly shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, with the possibility of Acnologia running all of this with of hiring Gajeel and Juvia, the boss of Trinity Raven, all at once? He had Hades take care of Gajeel and Juvia, since you two never really met the original employer or know his name."

"Then why go to hire another gang to do some dirty-work in the first place? Those guys are dirty enough to take care of business, from my experience," Gajeel snapped.

"That's enough now, son," Makarov ushered him to relax more in his seat.

"That's not Acnologia's style anyway," Jellal put out rather simply, Erza nodding slowly in agreement. "With different areas that Acnologia runs, he wouldn't screw it all up when he hires new aid and then kill them...especially without seeing them die in person."

"He had a knack for that, from what I remember," Erza said lowly, not meeting anyone's eyes. "The boss would contact him and have to wait, so the person who was in trouble with Acnologia would have to wait until he 'made' time to come down and decide what he wanted done. Starvation and bad holding conditions was the norm for the gang Jellal and I were from."

"Unless he has gotten old enough or sick that he gave up that habit," Laxus tried and the married couple shook their head. The man sighed softly, yet accepted their conclusion.

"So, if it's not Acnologia, it's someone who likes to fuck around with other people's gang by hiring them, then trying to kill them, noting Trinity Raven as one of the gangs," Erza said sourly. Looking to Makarov, the redheaded woman looked at him somewhat pleadingly. "Isn't there anything that the base is sending you, Master? Any new cases or notifications of suspicious activity?"

"That's the weirdest part," Makarov frowned. "As much as this isn't being as secretive as we thought, the station isn't saying anything that they want us to look into."

"What's that mean?" Gajeel rolled his head towards the old man.

"It means that they're taking it as typical gang trouble," Makarov explained. "Lately, we've been instructed to wait for further material for our case of Acnologia and have been doing our own side-quest under the higher-up's noses."

"Sounds illegal," Gajeel smirked. "I like it. But...what does that mean for what's happening now, then? We tell the FBI or whatever 'station' there is, and attack Trinity Raven with guys with bulletproof shields?"

"No, we don't do that," Makarov smiled.

"And I thought the movies would get something right," Gajeel grumbled and kicked his feet up on Makarov's desk.

The old man didn't seem to mind it as much as everyone else in the office would have thought, yet he did seem to have a mischievous look in his eye as he stared at Gajeel. They waited until Gajeel opened his eyes back up, realizing what was happening and frowned at the old man's stare.

"What'ya want, Gramps?" Gajeel muttered, as if he knew he had to give in with whatever was going on.

"Mind if we have a little chat with Jose for a little while?"

Gajeel made a face that reminded everyone of a grumpy toddler, taking a deep breath and pouting. Makarov only grinned bigger. "C'mon, boy, I know for a fact that you memorized every number to get in contact with Jose from wherever he's hiding. Or, I could ask dear Juvia to help out."

"Don't wanna do that," Gajeel warned him. "If it's Juvia who calls Jose, then you'd have to wait a few hours of them chatting and he can finally realize where the caller ID is from."

Makarov shrugged. "I've shared prison cells and beers with Jose, it's nothing I can't handle. But you may not hear the end of it," the man gestured with a snap of his fingers and aiming finger-guns to him, which Gajeel growled at.

"Then you do this alone," Gajeel demanded sharply. "If he has a bone to pick, tell 'im to call me tomorrow when my face isn't so swollen."

"That's fine," Makarov nodded and glanced to his members with a softer smile while Gajeel grabbed a pen from his desk and a post-it note, scribbling the numbers down before pushing it away. "I'll call you if I need anything else. Until then, the rest of the night is for your relaxation. Make sure to keep the garage doors closed and pay attention for any alarms tonight."

Once they were dismissed for Makarov to make the call (Gajeel did mention briefly that Jose didn't have much of a sleeping schedule), the group descended the metal stairs to the garage area. Majority of the younger racers and members have gone off to their apartments, while the older members were huddled at the bar and helping themselves to beers and snacks.

Gajeel's head tilt at the sight in the distance, not noticing the retired racer approach him and touch his shoulder.

"Are you hungry at all, Gajeel?" Mirajane asked sweetly. "I can make you something to eat before you go back to the bar…"

Shaking his head, Gajeel crossed his arms. "No thanks. If it's not too much, I think it'd be best if I spent the night here, instead of the bar. Roads are gonna be crawling with pigs and I don't want to have to get cuffed again."

"Oh," Mirajane perked. "I will go see if we can bunk you -"

"The backseat of the old man's car is comfortable enough," Gajeel interrupted her. Realizing his tone, Gajeel's shoulders slouched and he properly faced the smaller woman. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that. But, you know...don't want to be anywhere I'm not wanted."

Glancing towards the mechanic station, Mirajane's blue eyes softened at the little light she could see hidden behind the brick wall of Levy's work counter and the entrance to her room. Placing a friendly hand on Gajeel's less injured arm, she smiled at him. "I'm sure there's a room where they won't mind you spending the night, if you talked to them."

When he didn't say anything, Mirajane only nodded in a silent encouragement as she went to her waiting fiance and held his arm sweetly, allowing Laxus to guide her over to the bar and proclaim their entrance, which the older men and her younger brother (along with his girlfriend) cheered and held up their drinks.

Gajeel sniffed and looked to the married couple conversing with each other at the bottom of the stairs quietly, yet it didn't seem anything too serious. Slowly, and with heavy steps, Gajeel walked towards them long enough for both to notice and look his way. Remaining still with his arms, Gajeel nodded in greeting to them before speaking.

"I just want to say that I don't hold anything against you for taking Juvia to the scrimmage," he started out slowly as Erza put her hands on her hips and Jellal blinked. "I'd rather have her around people I know can take better care of her in situations than I can.

"And, if I can say," Gajeel took a breath, "I was never aware that you two had ties with Acnologia in the past."

"Child enslavement," Jellal told him briefly. "The man you and Juvia killed, Zancrow, was the one who held us until we managed to escape."

Nodding slowly, Gajeel glared at the ground. "Zancrow had stalked me and my sister when we were kids, and my father did all he could to keep him away. Not the best memories of my childhood, but the kid doesn't remember."

"That's probably a good thing," Erza said lowly.

"If I had the chance and on better circumstances between us, I'm sure you would have wanted a hand to putting him out," Gajeel said, looking to Erza. "Don't take it wrong, but I can tell where some of your street smarts come from now, considering what y'all are on the inside."

"Everyone who is Fairy Tail comes from different stories, but from the similar material of concrete and pavement," Erza stated and Gajeel blinked. "As much as I know you're not openly willing to join us as Juvia is, we're a lot more alike than you realize, Gajeel."

"I'm startin' to see that now," Gajeel accepted with a confirming nod. "I just wanted to say, I want to try and be more on your guys' side from now on, but I don't expect any of ya to treat me any better."

Jellal and Erza glanced to each other before snorting a chuckle, small smiles on their faces as they looked back to the Phantom Lord man. "We never had anything against you to begin with, really," Jellal told him. "Whatever has happened back then doesn't have to define what we think of you now."

"Although, you can cause as much ruckus as Natsu and Gray can," Erza smirked bigger at Gajeel's stiffening face, yet he didn't snap back, "we know you're not a bad man. Criminal records don't mean jack shit here, so long as you have good intentions."

"It's all with the family, Gajeel," Jellal finished off as he swung an arm around his wife's shoulder. "Spend some time with us and relax, you start to kinda realize that we're just a unique family, rather than a gang or a secret organization."

Gajeel watched them walk away and towards the bar to join the other adults, leaving him to see how openly friendly and familiar they all were with each other. As much as Gajeel didn't know them individually, he has - at one point or another, he knew - crossed paths with them at the tracks.

Even now, when he was being treated by the retired race woman and had a crowd around him during his whole argument with Juvia, no one pointed fingers or got in his business about how he wasn't from their turf or relations. Since Gajeel and Levy agreed to keep their relationship as secretive as possible, saved for a couple of people they both knew would keep their mouths shut, he has never been on conversation terms with most people from Fairy Tail…

"Ah fuck," he groaned at remembering what had happened earlier, prompting him to force himself to go towards the closed mechanic area.

=xxx=

"So this is Fairy Tail's logo?" Lucy asked curiously, her finger tapping her boyfriend's right shoulder, tracing the tattoo with the tip until he began squirming from the tickle.

Trying to watch a movie upside-down is not what Lucy would call a smart move, but she didn't bother to judge him. All cleaned of his cuts and recently showered (after she showered first), they picked out a old musical film, but neither were really paying attention as she wrote in her notebook and he seemed to just listen to her pen scraping the paper with ink.

From her touching his tattoo, he slid further to the floor and flopped to the rug with a thud, snorting out his shivers. "It's not a logo, Luce. It's a symbol of our gang," he told her with a matter-of-fact grin, yet not teasing her at all. "You know how some gangs have tattoos to symbolize and represent their gang? We get 'em too, since we somewhat are."

"I noticed others having it, like Gray, Cana and Erza, and yours as well," she said, noting how often she has seen Gray stripped of his shirt and displayed his tattoo for her view - although, his color was dark blue, nearly black. Cana's was similar, yet on her hipbone, and Erza's was more blue and on her upper arm, similar to Natsu's. "Does everyone have it?"

"Most of us," Natsu said as he rubbed his nose with his pointer finger. "Jellal doesn't, but he already has a face tattoo that he got before he and Erza married. Gildarts has his on the same side as Cana, but on his chest, and Makarov got his own in the middle."

"Master Makarov has one?" Lucy raised a brow.

"Yeah, he designed it himself before he was taken in by the station," Natsu nodded proudly. "He says it's suppose to be a fairy, but no one can tell. Art isn't Gramps' strong suit, lemme tell ya."

"But why a fairy, of all things that could be possible for a gang symbol?" Lucy frowned as Natsu helped himself back onto the couch, using his arm to lay behind Lucy on the couch and looked her way.

"He said to me once, 'cause I asked all the time on why he wanted a little girl's thing for a badass gang," Natsu said. He chuckled when Lucy lightly smacked his chest in punishment. "He said that, fairies are mysteries and so are we: That, if the lowest of the low people - criminals, homeless and unwanted people - can make a major difference for the good of the world, fairies could possibly exist as well, if you try hard enough and believe."

Resting her head against the cushion of his shoulder, Lucy curled up against him and watched him speak with a proud tone. "So, fairies are like our own mascot, in a way."

"Yeah, although I think a dragon is more killer," Natsu said cooly. "Why do you ask anyway? Somethin' on your mind?"

"I just notice the tattoo and always wondered about it," she said simply as she got herself more comfortable. Swinging her legs over his lap and closing her notebook, she shrugged when he gave her a look. "I dunno, it kinda speaks to me…"

Natsu looked at his tattoo and looked back to her. "What'ya mean, Luce?"

"Call it stupid, but it just makes me feel good whenever I look at it," she giggled lightly and looked down to her lap in embarrassment. "Like, just by looking at it, it makes me realize that it's a familiar person and not a stranger. I see it and that's how I know I'm safe and happy."

"That's not stupid. I think that's pretty neat," Natsu told her and kissed her blonde head. "Kinda like my scarf. Whenever I wear it or even so much as see it, I know things are alright around me and it makes me happy."

Glancing to his scarf hanging on a wooden chair in the kitchen, both of them looked at it for a moment. Resting his cheek on top of his head, Natsu smiled softly. "It was my dad's scarf. He always had it on whenever he raced or went on a job, but whenever he came home, he'd wrap me with it to help me sleep at night.

"It was weird, because he wore it all day, and it'd get dirty sometimes," he went on quietly. "But, it still smelled like his soap and just hime. It was always warm when I had it on and it made me feel safe a lot, like a security blanket…"

Lucy glanced up to see how his lips twitched downward. "Until, one night, he tucked me in with his scarf for bed. It was the same as it always been: kinda dirty, but still smelled like my dad and was so warm, just like him. He left after I fell asleep and...just never came back."

"Natsu?" she whispered, her hand resting on his bare chest, right where his heart was. She felt it beat steadily against her palm.

"Still, whenever wore it, it never changed from feeling like my dad was right there with me," he continued, a half-smile on his lips. "It's like magic, you know? That scarf always got me through my bad days and healed any pain I had on the inside…"

Looking down to her, he smiled. "Like the time I had you wear it, because you didn't feel good."

She nodded a little, a shy of a smile coming on her own lips. "It actually did work something that night."

"If that's the same as how you feel for our gang tattoo, then that's a pretty amazing thing to have, Lucy," Natsu said to her. "I'm glad you can have that with us."

Resting his cheek on her head once more, Lucy cuddled herself closer to him. Even as she could barely see the tattoo from the angle she was in, she still got the glimpse of the tip of the "tail", as she called it. Her insides filled with warmth as she looked at it and her smile grew to a more relaxed and happy smile.

Just like the scarf and tattoo, Lucy felt the absolute same emotions and tingling sensation of feeling at home, just by being with Natsu as well.

.

.

.

=xxx=

AUTHOR'S ENDING NOTE - I wanted to bring up Lucy's thoughts on the gang tattoo, since I haven't spoken about it much in this fanfiction, but I hope every reader uses their imagination with our protagonists with the tattoos as well o:

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