Ch 3
Before I jump into the friendly teasing:
Shout out to KicsiChii, midnightreader, and the mysterious guest for reviewing! Knowing what people think really helps me write, so thank you so much for reviewing. PSA for my readers: if you like it please rate or review, or even (if you're feeling generous) do both so I can get some feedback.
On to chapter 3!
It felt like a repeat of movie night. Except, instead of everyone cooing over Jasmine and Aladdin, they were prying into her life.
NOT.
COOL.
As soon as mister tall-dark-and-handsome had disappeared, Erza and Cana both whipped out their phones, summoning the entire group – plus a few extra – back to the apartment for interrogation.
And, of course, Cana was perfectly willing to spill every detail of the encounter, with added commentary by Erza.
"Aaaaaaand then, Erza was like 'dude who are you?' and the dude was like 'I gots her cat' and then Baby Blue totally flipped and glomped the kitty" Cana tipped her head back and took another swig from he bottle.
Mira looked horrified. "Why didn't she glomp him too? Perfect excuse!"
"Actually~" Cana leaned towards Mira conspiratorily, grinning like a maniac. "Y'see, she was a bit busy starin' at him… and we haven't even told you the best part!"
This meeting was all hands on deck. The Strausses had closed down their clothing shop early, and dragged 3 more with them: their sister-in-law, Evergreen; assistant, Kinana; and Laki, the co-owner of the shop selling wooden dolls and trinkets next to their store. Lucy had stopped to pick up Wendy, her boyfriend's younger sister, on her way to the house. Juvia was still on her date, but had texted them and promised to meet up later. Erza and Cana, of course, were already there. And the entire group was positively reveling in making Levy squirm.
Lisanna was practically bouncing in her seat in anticipation while Kinana tried to calm her down. "What is it what is it what's the best part?" she shrieked excitedly.
Erza took up the reins of the story. "Well, do you all remember the circumstances around Levy getting Jeel?" Most of the room nodded, but Wendy shyly raised her hand, whispering "Uhm, I don't know what happened…"
Erza smiled warmly at the youngest bluenette of the group. "That's right, you and your mom hadn't moved here yet." She opened her mouth to start the story, "Well-" but was immediately cut off by an increasingly inebriated Cana.
"YA SEE, the lil furball had gotten out and that stupid dog that used to live near here – not sure if you ever met the thing, but it was a nasty mo-" "CANA!" "-er, uh, thing, and it tried to attack fuzzy! But then outta nowhere this other giant black furball leapt in and saved the day. Looked really mean too, all long shaggy hair and scars and a scowl-" Oh no. Levy's eyes widened. She knew where this was going. "-but then lil bluey melted the guy and Baby Blue over here ended up with a new family member."
Mira looked like a cat that had caught sight of a fat, juicy bird with a broken leg. Snipers had NOTHING on Mira's ability to lock on and target. "Hmm… and remind again, what did this stranger look like?~" she purred, her grin identical to the one that Cana had given Gajeel.
"Hmmm… let me seeee~" sang Cana. "Giant, had dark messy long hair, had a couple of scars – that I could see, and girl, he was wearing a long sleeves and long pants – plus piercings, was scowling till Levs the tiny appeared out of nowhere-" "Hey!" "-not his fault he couldn't see you hun. OH, and, to top it all off, he was the big bad scary guy that rescued the itty bitty blue princess~" she finished with a triumphant smirk as she tossed back the last of her alcohol.
Levy wanted to hide. She started surreptitiously scooting away, but Erza dragged her back, practically giggling.
As Cana held the bottle over her mouth and shook it, hoping for another drop, Erza jumped in, still keeping a tight hold on Levy. "Oh, but Cana, you forgot the best part!"
"But that was the best part!" she pouted.
"Well the best part of the best part, then."
"Which part was that?"
"Well, it involved his name…" Levy whimpered at Erza's gleeful tone.
"ERMEHGERD HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THAT" she cried, clutching the bottle to her chest.
"ABOUT WHAT?" shrieked the rest of the girls, who had been watching the exchange in fascination.
Erza rubbed her hands together. "Levy's cats are named Gail and Jeel, correct?"
They all nodded, staring at the red head.
"Guess what his name is?~"
"What is it what is it?" cried Lucy excitedly.
Cana suddenly leapt up from the floor, thrusting her empty bottle into the air.
"Introducing…"
She struck a dramatic pose.
"GAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL REDFOOOOOOOOOX!"
3…
2…
1…
Right on cue, every girl in the room aside from Levy began leaping around and shrieking – even the normally calm Evergreen.
"OHMIGOD THAT'S SO PERFECT!"
"GAIL PLUS JEEL EQUALS FUTURE HUBBIE!
"THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE THE CUTEST CHILDREN!"
"IT'S SO PERFECT!"
"IT'S SO PERFECT, YOU COULDN'T EVEN USE IT FOR A MOVIE PLOT!"
"MY EDITOR WOULDN'T LET ME PUBLISH IT, IT'S SO PERFECT!"
"I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEDDING!"
"LEVY REDFOX! CUTEST NAME EVER!"
"I WANT TO BE AN AUNT!"
"ME TOO!"
"ME THREE!"
"OR A GODMOTHER!"
"I WANT TO NAME A KID!"
"NO, I WANT TO!"
"HAVE ENOUGH BABIES THAT WE CAN EACH NAME ONE!"
"OR TWO!"
"OR SEVEN!"
"Guuuuys, come on" Levy whined, her face rivalling Erza's hair. "I'm probably never even going to see him again!"
Lucy suddenly stopped in front of her, bearing such a wide grin it looked like her face would split in half.
"It's a fated love, Levy! Just wait, you'll totally see him again – probably really soon too!"
Mira jumped in. "The sooner the better! You'll need to get started on all those babies soon!"
Levy groaned and buried her face into a pillow.
This story is so much fun. I was planning on having them meet again this chapter but ended up saving it for next chapter (which, as of writing this note before publishing this chapter, has not yet been started – but I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen in ch 4. Afterwards however… no idea. I'll wing it!).
Before I bid you all goodbye, though, shameless plug time: check out the other story I'm working on between classes (though that one is harder to write so I won't be updated as often), called Fairy Riders of Pern. It's a crossover between Fairy Tail and the Dragonriders of Pern series of books, but you don't need to know the original Pern series to enjoy the fic. Okay, shameless self promotion over.
I'll try to get the next chapter out sometime this week.
