I OWN NOTHING

After the participants of the S-class trial had been announced, Gajeel headed to his corner of the guild, after grabbing a beer. He slammed his body down into the chair, making it creak from his weight. He tipped the chair back, put his dusty boots up on the wooden table, and sipped his beer, looking around the guild at everyone. His ruby eyes narrowed in frustration. Why the fuck did the old man not pick me? He thought to himself, tilting the mug back, he swallowed the rest of the beer, slammed it on the table, and proceeded to pull a decently-sized iron cog out of his pocket, taking an angry bite out of it. I'm just as good as Juvia. As he sat there, stewing and eating, an argument reached his dragon-slayer ears. He turned to look, and saw Levy sitting on a bench, with her damn accessories behind her. He continued to listen.

"You're going to pick me as your partner, right?" He heard Droy ask. Gajeel growled and stood up.

"You instead of me?! I'm a hundred times faster than you!" Jet shouted. Gajeel started walking towards the trio, his face set into a scowl.

"Well, let's face it, I'm the better fighter." Droy said. Gajeel scoffed. As if either of those two losers could ever be a good fighter.

"Whatever. You've just got a thing for Levy." Jet proclaimed. Gajeel felt his blood boil.

"Oh, and you don't?" Droy shot back. By this time, Gajeel was behind them. When the two idiots felt his presence, they backed off. He crossed his arms over his chest, his mind made up. He was going to protect the little blue-nette. Whether she, or her fucking accessories, liked it or not.

"If ya really wanna become S-Class, you should pick me instead of those two clowns." Gajeel said, his voice grating. He could see the accessories in the corner of his eye, their jaws on the floor.

"Seriously?!" The little blue-nette said, turning her head to look up at him, surprise written all over her face.

"Sure," he said, a smirk settling itself on his face. "I'd get a chance to beat up on all those other losers if we run into them, don't I?"

She immediately turned back around, a frown marring her adorable features. "I guess there's going to be some fighting," she said sadly, "But I'm so puny and weak. We'll probably just lose right away."

Gajeel looked at her, all hunched over and sad. He picked her up by the scruff of her short, orange dress, and held her up in the air like a kitten. He held onto her with ease, even with her struggling. "Now don't go wimping out before the whole thing even starts, ya hear?" He said, still holding her up. She turned to look at him. "I'll make you bigger than you've ever been, little girl." Gajeel noticed the blush that colored her face, and grinned on the inside. Fricking adorable, he thought, as he set her down and stalked back to his corner, with Lily walking behind him. He noticed the accessories slumped on the floor, depressed, and had to hide a grin. When they got back to their corner, Lily spoke up.

"I see someone has feelings for a certain little bookworm." Pantherlily said with an all-knowing smirk, taking a sip of his kiwi juice.

"Shaddup, cat." Gajeel growled, as he plopped himself down in his chair, and resumed his iron snack. "Just didn't want a fellow mage to get hurt."

"Mmhm." The cat said, and dropped the subject. He'd keep an eye on the two in the weeks to come.