II: situations

Characters: Lucy, Levy, Gajeel and [brief mention of] Mira

AN: I really liked this idea/theme, and I'm glad that I changed my mind and had Gajeel cast as the music teacher - I originally had him down as the third - grade math teacher or one of the PE teachers (Natsu and Gray were the other ones). In case you're wondering, Erza was cast as the lunch lady, with Cana and Juvia to help her out. Mira was listed as the nurse. Wendy was her assistant. Unfortunately, they had to be cut because it would have been too long. Sorry :( You can commence your reading now.

II: situations

"HEY, LEVY, want some coffee? I just brewed a new pot. Oh, and Mira brought in some donuts, too," said a curvy blonde from behind the office desk.

"That sounds great, Luce. I'm starved. Haven't had time to go grocery shopping. Just barely managed to make it it on time today." A short, wavy - haired woman plunked her purse down. She looked to be fairly young - in her early twenties or so. The same could be said about her blonde companion.

They both worked at Magnolia Elementary as school secretaries. They filed information, kept track of attendance, etc. They were like the human databases.

...well, not Lucy. Lucy had pretty much only taken the job for three reasons:

to get paid

to find a boyfriend

and to work with her best friend, Levy McGarden.

To put it simply, Lucy was lazy. So the only human database there was in the office was really...Levy.

Not to say that Lucy wasn't smart - she most definitely was. But laziness was not an attribute that was conducive to work (in case you weren't aware). She was perfectly content to flirt with every single guy in the building - and get paid to do it.

Levy filled her coffee cup thoughtfully, reflecting back on the novel she'd finished the night before. It had been about a guy falling for a girl he couldn't have. In the end, she'd left him in the dust for a rich jerk. Levy had closed it with a violently disappointed snap and threw it across the room. She winced as she screwed the lid onto the cup. Probably not her best course of action.

She turned round, ready to step out of the teacher's lounge and back into the office - only to run into someone and spill her hot coffee everywhere.

"Oh, my gosh - ! I am so sorry!"

She looked up to see none other than the infamous music teacher himself, Gajeel Redfox. She'd never met him in person, only heard others praise his teaching techniques.

His mouth opened, and the first thing he did was mutter a string of expletives. "That hurt," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Haven't even known ya thirty seconds and you're already tryin' to kill me, shorty?" SHe blinked, taken aback by his tone of familiarity. "No, I - I'm really sorry! Honest!" He grunted, hands grasping for the napkins. His hands bumped the donut box, causing it to topple precariously. Levy dove for it, in turn knocking Gajeel to the ground. She landed on his chest, donuts gripped firmly in hand like a rare animal. His eyes - which she had previously assumed were a rich brown like hers - stared up at her, allowing her to see that they were, in actuality, a dark crimson. "Uh…."

Lucy skidded in just then, eyes wide. "I heard a yell. Is everyone - " She stopped halfway through her sentence. "Oh." Then she grinned sneakily. "Wow, Lev. Way to boyfriend - hunt super skillfully." Levy blushed. "Shut up, Lucy, and help us," she responded tartly. Lucy snickered and helped Levy clamber off of poor Gajeel (who was currently rather bewildered at their banter) and back onto her feet. They both leaned down and offered Gajeel a hand, but he waved them away. "I can get up on my own," he snapped. "Yer lucky I just happen to have a spare shirt with me, kid." His brow furrowed. "I thought students weren't allowed in the teacher's lounge." Levy's mouth pressed into a firm line. "I'm not a student," she said icily. He brushed off his dress slacks. "Then what the heck are you, huh?" She glared up at him over her baby - blue rimmed glasses. "I'm a secretary." He snorted. "Yer an office lady?" Her eye twitched. "Don't you have a class to teach, Mr. Redfox? I'm pretty sure that's what they're paying you for, after all."

"What's it to you?"

"I'm simply asking," she said, struggling to keep her facade of calm. "You shouldn't get so worked up over such a small thing, you know," she quips carelessly. His jaw tenses. "Don't flatter yerself. Not too many people get too worked up over small things," he spat before striding stoically out of the lounge.

She narrowed her eyes in anger, then turned on her heel. Jerk. There's no way he's a good teacher.

"We have work to do, Luce. Let's go." They hurried back to their desks, Levy wallowing in angry silence.

What is this stuff, tar? Gajeel scrubbed furiously at his shirt, attempting to get the stain out. Then he paused. Might as well be, he thought. I've tasted it before, after all. Somebody needs to teach Blondie how to make coffee, he complained mentally.

Suddenly, his mind went to the short one. Her ferocity had surprised him. She didn't strike him as the kind to get so angry. He had seen her before, come to think of it - she'd passed his classroom once or twice. But she had seemed kind of shy then. He chuckled. Clearly, she had more feist than what meets the eye.

Huh.

The next day, Levy threw her purse down in her chair and went to go fill her coffee. As she reached for a lid, her fingers brushed a piece of paper. She glanced down to see a note laying next to the coffeepot.

You need to drink real coffee at least once in your life. Below was a number and underneath that was a name. But she didn't need to read it to know who it was from.

She grinned. Challenge accepted.

AN: I know it's greedy to ask for reviews, but...reviews? ;)