Woo! Sorry for the reaaaaaaaally long span between chapters- its like a mini unplanned hiatus- Ive been working on cosplay like a mad woman! The con I'm going to is in early April, so im rushing! Luckily, I got inspired and can get down to writing! Once this cosplay stress is over, i'll write you guys a really long chapter to make up for it, don't worry! Thanks for reading! ~Hana

"Just park near the front, it's closed anyways, so the fire lane is fine," Mira mumbled as she scrolled on her phone aimlessly.

"But, Mira... That's illegal," Freed said sheepishly.

"Oh, it'll be alright," She shrugged as she crossed her legs rather awkwardly within the tight confines of the passenger seat. "Besides, I'll only be a second, I'm just running to the break room."

"If you say so..." He sighed as he pulled into the familiar parking lot.

"I'll be as quick as a bunny!" She winked before she grabbed the door handle.

"Hold on," Freed said as he looked out his window.

"We can't be late to Gray's- Erza might start without me!" Mira pouted and crossed her arms.

"Look," Freed moved his head back so Mira could look at what he saw. The parking lot was empty. The tall street lamps shone down on yellow rectangles with nothing to see but vacant lots. That was, except a small black sports car towards the back with tinted windows that gave off an unsettling vibe.

"Its just a car," Mira said.

"What if someone is in the gym?" Freed whispered, as if the intruder could hear him.

"Then I'll beat him up," Mira said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You cant be serious-"

"Need I remind you, when we wrestled back in high school, and I won?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but you were also the manager of the wrestling, football, and baseball teams so that wasn't really a fair fight," He sighed.

Mira shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanted to look after Elfman, and if that meant managing his sports, then that's what I did."

"Yes, but-"

"I'll be fine!" Mira leaned over the center console, awkwardly, to kiss him on the cheek before opening the door and rushing into the gym so Freed couldnt get another word in.

"Don't be too long!" Freed called with a slightly worried look on his face, even though she had already entered the gym. He rubbed his hands together as he looked around the parking lot. Juvia was still sound asleep in the back of the car, so he couldn't put on any music. He sat alone, and listened to his thoughts. "I should go in there..." He thought aloud. "No, then she'll think I don't trust her..." Settling for doing nothing, he lifted his hips in order to slide his phone out of his back pocket. When it was wiggled free, he unlocked it and began playing a game.

"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat... wouldn't you think my collection's complete..." Mira sang lightly as she bounced through the gym toward the break room. She was trying to hurry as not to worry Freed, but she had seen the car the moment they pulled into the parking lot. It was Gajeel's car, no doubt. He didn't use it often, as Magnolia was sunny three out of the four seasons. However, in the rainy season he didn't like to ride his motorcycle and opted for his black sports car.

The only thing that struck her as odd was how she didn't immediately see him lifting weights, or running around the track angrily to vent his frustrations. After all, the last time she caught him at the gym was at one in the morning because his girlfriend had broken up with him and he needed to get out his sadness through adrenaline rushes. Because that's just how men cope.

She followed the dim lights of the gym to the back, and stopped as she rounded the corner. The light was coming from the dance room, and thanks to the glass walls, Mira could see exactly what was going on. Gajeel was sitting against the wall of the room. He wasn't running. Or lifting. Or stretching. Or dancing for that matter. He had a soft look on his face, and Mira followed his eyes to their point of interest. There, standing next to the barre, was a little blue headed girl.

"Hold on," Erza mumbled as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She was currently helping her boyfriend support a very drunk raven haired man.

"Can't it wait?" Jellal sighed before she began to roll Gray into his arms.

"Its from Mira," She said, almost like that meant it was automatically more important than what they were doing, which was coincidentally following one of Mira's plans

He rolled his eyes. "Oh sure... take your time." Jellal shifted his weight to accommodate all of Gray's weight.

They had just arrived at his house, and Gray was beyond dead asleep in the back of the car by the time they arrived. It took all of Erza and Jellal's combined strength to get him out of the car without jostling him, or smashing his head against the car by accident. They had made it to Gray's apartment door before Erza paused to check her phone.

"Mhmm... Mhmm..." She breathed out lightly as she read the text. "Okay, Mira said she stopped by the gym to grab something." She pushed her phone back into her pocket before helping to support her drunk friend once more.

"So?" Jellal asked as he watched Erza wiggle her hand into Gray's front pocket in search for his keys. This wasn't the first time the two had to help a blacked-out drunk home. After all, Laxus and Cana could not care less, and Natsu couldn't be trusted to not accidentally set something on fire when no one was looking.

"So we'll just wait until Mira gets here with Juvia," She shrugged before making a face that read victory as she jingled Gray's keys out of his pocket.

"What are you two doing here?" A voice said.

Levy could feel her skin crawl and tears form in her eyes as panic struck her. Not only was she caught dancing in an empty gym illegally, but she was about to hug the crap out of her man crush.

"Hey Mira," Gajeel said calmly, as if he broke into the gym all the time.

Levy forced her neck to turn so she could look at the white haired girl. "H-hello, M-Mirajane..." Her body automatically cringed unintentionally at the fear of confrontation. She brought her arms up to wrap around her stomach in a desperate attempt to hide herself, her legs clenched together, and her head sunk down.

"We we're just borrowing the studio," Gajeel said as he placed a hand on Levy shoulder, causing her to unintentionally tense more. He squeezed on her shoulder, silently reassuring her of his existence next to her.

"I-I'm really sorry Mirajane... I... It wasn't... I mean... I just..." Levy stammered over her words as she tried to cling to a reason why she broke into a gym at this ungodly hour to dance.

"Its no problem," Mira smiled as she walked towards Levy. She wrapped her arms around her little bluenette, and brought her in for a hug. "You looked very happy, and you're a beautiful dancer," Mira whispered as she petted Levy's head, begging her to calm down.

"Th-thanks," She breathed out a sigh of relief. She should have known better, Mira was a sweetheart and would never hurt a hair on her head, she would never even dream of her raising her voice.

"But, I can't let you stay here," Her eyes were filled with regret as she forced herself to say the next sentence. "Its against gym policies to allow civilians in after closing. I know how much you want to dance, but as much as I want to let you stay, I really can't."

Levy shook her head. "No, that's alright," She smiled. "I understand, and I was just about done anyways."

"Okay," Mira said as she rubbed Levy's arm lightly, comforting the still slightly frightened girl. "I have to run, but have a good night," She smiled before waving her hand and exiting the room.

"Cmon Shrimp, I know what will cheer you up," Gajeel said lightly.

"This place is great, no one can be sad when they come here," Gajeel said as he held the door open for Levy to walk through. The restaurant was bright, however any facility would be bright after one had sat in the car for ten minutes in almost complete darkness. A sweet buttery smell wafted through her nose that gave her a sense of warmth through her.

"Its just IHOP." She said blankly.

"Its not just IHOP. It's the International House of Pancakes. International, shorty," He stressed the name of restaurant.

"I think that they self proclaimed themselves the international house. I don't think you can just win a title like that, or really earn it for that matter..." She thought as she stopped in front of the hostess podium. She turned to face Gajeel and the workers finished what they were doing before rushing to seat them.

"You just have to believe," He shrugged as he followed the hostess to the table.

"Believe in the pancakes?" She giggled as they slid into a booth, Gajeel on one side, and her on the other.

"Yeah," He gruffed.

"Hi, I'm Rukia and I'll be your server."A waitress said. She was short, no taller than Levy, and had black hair that sat perfectly on her head aside from one strand that fell down the middle of her face and landed to the side of her nose. She wore a classic black on black waitress outfit, however she had on brown shoes from a prep school. Gajeel assumed she was in high school by the looks of her.

"Can I start you two off with some drinks?" She asked.

"I'll get a hot tea please," Levy smiled lightly as Rukia jotted down her order.

"I suppose you ain't serving beer at this time," Gajeel sighed. After all, it was almost one in the morning. "I'll just have a pepsi."

Rukia nodded and rushed off the the counter to get the drinks. Levy noticed her talking to the cook behind the open window. He leaned over the counter to talk to her, and by the looks of Rukia's red ears, Levy could assume the orange haired boy was teasing her.

"What're you thinking?" He looked over the top of his menu down at the little girl across from him.

"I'm feeling waffles..." She trailed off as she felt Gajeel's eyes boring into her. "What?" She said as she met Gajeel's thinned eyes.

"We came to the International House Of Pancakes, and you want waffles." He stressed.

"Yeah, I do," She raised an eyebrow. "Got a problem with that?" She asked.

"You do you," Was all he said before going back to his own menu.

"Man, I haven't been there in forever," Gajeel sighed as he stretched his arms after leaving the restaurant. Their late trip to IHOP had been relaxing yet exciting as ever. The conversation had switched back and forth between Game of Thrones and other Netflix shows, Levy argued strongly on the importance of reading the book before watching the series. Gajeel gruffed back his retorts, but in the end he had to admit that she had some pretty strong points. But of course the night wasn't complete without shameless flirting.

"Considering the fact that you know the total before the bill came, only because you've memorized the menu, really suggests otherwise," Levy laughed.

"Maybe I'm just really good at memorizing things," He looked at her.

"Yeah, alright then. What are the digits of Pi?"

"Its like... 3.1415926... something," He shrugged. "I haven't been in the eighth grade for a long time, Shorty. Unlike you," He smirked.

"Hey!" She punched his arm playfully. "I'll have you know that I too have not been in the eighth grade for a long time."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," She placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks defensively.

"Alright, don't get too worked up there," He let out a light laugh. "Lets get you home."

"Hmmm, okay," She said and she turned to get into the car. She stepped off the curb before she felt an arm around her bicep. "Gajeel?" She asked as she looked back.

"Sorry, you have a little something," He said as he pulled her back. He bent down enough to look her in the eyes.

"It's probably just syrup," She said absentmindedly, attempting to turn away. His hold, however, was stronger than she thought, and she felt a blush creep across her face from the close proximity of his body.

"Hold still," He said as he brushed his thumb over the side of her lip, feeling the soft flesh on the pad of his hold. His other hand had grasped her neck, his fingers lightly tangled in her hair.

"I don't think you can rub off syrup," She whispered. "Its much too sticky."

"You're right." He said, and before either of them knew what was happening, Gajeel's mouth was on hers as his tongue ran across the spot where the breakfast condiment once was.

Levy had never been kissed this way before. It was rough, but there was a certain passion to it that she'd never felt while kissing someone. It became desperate as they continued to kiss, nip, suck and bite at each others' lips. Gajeel ran his tongue across Levy's bottom lip, asking for entrance which she would grant. She allowed him to explore the insides of her mouth. Her hands instinctively crawled around, while one found comfort in Gajeel's hair, the other fisted his shirt, trying to pull their already flushed bodies somehow closer. They didn't pull away until they needed to breathe. Levy panted heavily against his lips and Gajeel did the same. She stared at him through hooded lashes, her body felt like fire, as it burned with a desire she had never felt before. He looked at her face, blushed yet blissfully happy. Her lips were shiny and slightly swollen, which did nothing more than add to his ego.

"I... um... I should really go," She whispered.

"Yeah, you should," He breathed. However neither of them made any effort to move.

"I have, uh, work in the, um, morning," She stumbled out in between heavy breaths.

"Me too," He said.

"And, its only a ten minute walk from my house,"

"Its five from mine," He said against her lips.

"That would be... easier."

"It would be," He smirked.

"Maybe we could... go there?" She suggested.

"Its a five minute drive from here..." He said as his hands roamed over her small frame.

"That's five minutes closer than mine," She breathed out.

"Lets go then," He kissed her once more before forcing himself off of her, and into the drivers seat.

Woah. Romance. MY BABIES ARE FINALLY GETTING TO KISSY KISSY. So, hope that chapter was something to lighten your day and make you laugh. I snuck in another rather easy reference in this chapter, so lets see who can spot it! As always, thank you so much for flowing, and favoriting, and just reading this creation of mine! Well, have a lovely day, and stay cool. ~Hana

P.S. My original editor (From like a year ago) Came back to me ;-; Ive missed her. So this chapter is dedicated to that wonderful lady. Thanks, Aili- you da real MVP.