Series: Fairy Tail

Pairings: Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

Title: Love Bites

Prompt: Hanging out with Friends

Rating: T for Teen

Word Count: 1730

AN: Mentions of NaLu, Gruvia and Gajevy

Evergreen sat comfortably upon the couch in her living room. To her right sat Levy McGarden; the petite girl petting Pantherlily, who was fast asleep in her lap. One the floor, at Ever's feet, sat two large cushions, one blue in color, and the other pink, both belonging to her other two guests.

"Juvia is done! Juvia has finished first!" The water mage called in third person from the kitchen.

"Same here. " Lucy's voice followed, "Juvia, this isn't a competition."

Evergreen could hear something that sounded like Juvia blowing a raspberry at the blonde, and then they two women came out of the kitchen laughing. Juvia had a plate of bread rolls in her hands, and Lucy had a pan of cookies. Levy lifted her hand from her exceed friend, up to her lips as she giggled at them. Evergreen rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Juvia is very happy that everyone is allowing her to test the new and improved Gray bread on them!" The bluenette cheered, and placed her plate on the stand next to the couch. Evergreen took a glance at them to find that only one of the "Gray Breads" actually had Gray drawn on it. There was one with Natsu, another with Gajeel, and one with Elfman drawn on it too.

The brunette narrowed her eyes, Elf-Bread? She thought, and held in a chuckle.

"Yes, and thank you for trying my lava cookies." Lucy said, and placed her tray next to Juvia's treats, "It's been a while since I tried to make these… they might be a little spicy though."

Evergreen eyed the cookies. They were black on top, and orange on bottom. In the lighter area of the cookies, little dots of red spices could be seen mixed into the baked dough. She made a mental note to avoid those for as long as possible.

"The uh, 'Gray bread' first then." She said. Ever had made it clear during her last shindig that, when she was host, her word was law.

The other ladies nodded their heads. Levy leaned past Evergreen and picked up the roll of bread with everyone's favorite steel dragon slayer doodled on it. Lucy and Juvia both grabbed up the snack with their respective soul mates on them, and then Ever was the last to lift the final roll with her boyfriends mug printed on it.

Evergreen hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a bite into the bread. It was sweeter than she imagined, though not too much so. Its texture was soft and it didn't stick to the top of her mouth. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

The fairy mage opened her eyes to take a look at the other ladies around her. Levy looked quite serene, nibbling quietly at her bread, crumbs falling past the patterned fabric tied around her neck—which oddly enough appeared to be a headband of Gajeel's—and onto the head of the sleeping critter on her lap.

Lucy was smiling and taking big bits of her roll, her crumbs gathering in the pink scarf she had wrapped multiple times around her neck.

Then, of course, Juvia could not contain her excitement of seeing Gray on her treat, so much so that she was having trouble taking the first bite. Evergreen rolled her eyes as she saw the young woman give the bread a little kiss, before wiping her kiss mark away with the handkerchief tied around her nape.

Evergreen raised an eyebrow once she had finished her observation. She took another bite of the bread, and then spoke up. "Hey, what's with you ladies' neckwear? Is this some new fangled fashion trend?"

All three of the ladies suddenly gagged on their bread,

Levy started coughing roughly, surprising Pantherlily and causing the cat to fuss over her. Lucy was trying to help Juvia, who had decided to shove the entire bun into her mouth at just the wrong moment.

Evergreen wore a puzzled, but almost disgusted look. "What was all that?"

Juvia had just started breathing again and didn't have the air to answer, so Levy started.

"Well, you know…" She mumbled, holding a hand over the right side of her neck, her cheeks stained red. "It's not really because we want to show off the scarves…"

"It's just embarrassing, you know." Lucy said, before the smallest girl of the group had finished.

Juvia took a deep breath, "Juvia would not cover them, but Gray insists."

Evergeen stared at all the women with narrow eyes, "And by them you mean…?"

"Love bites." Levy mumbled blushing.

"Kiss marks." Juvia sang.

"Hickies." Lucy stated, rather matter-of-factly.

Evergreen made no attempt to hide her embarrassment; partially from their bluntness; partially from taking so long to catch on.

"Gray's are very cold—like snowflakes. Sometime's they turn Juvia's neck blue." The water mage said proudly, holding one hand to her cheek with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"You're got it lucky." Lucy groaned, "With Natsu, I run the risk of getting burn marks if he doesn't control himself." She ran her fingers under her scarf with a sigh. "He's just lucky I love him so much."

"Gajeel doesn't really know… when to stop." Levy said shyly, running her fingers down from her neck, and over the gray sweater she wore, hiding the rest of her torso. "I may never be able to wear deep necked shirts again." The sold script made gave a sigh, and ruffled the fur on Lily's head in irritation.

The three ladies looked to their host with wondering eyes. Juvia was the first to speak, "Doesn't Elfman give them to Ever?"

"What?" Evergreen asked with dusty red cheeks. She reached up and put a hand to each side of her neck, "Tch. Like I'd let that idiot mark my beautiful skin." She glared in another direction, "besides, the oaf is rarely ever home before I go to bed anymore anyway."

"Elfman has to do a lot of extra work now that Evergreen cannot work." Juvia said, before gaining a twinkle in her eye. "Those are the joys of motherhood."

"Tch." Evergreen sucked her teeth. "I didn't ask to be pregnant."

"Well you didn't try that hard not to be either." Lucy mumbled flatly.

"What was that?" Evergreen growled, glaring at the blonde with her fingers on the rim of her glasses.

"N-nothing!" Lucy laughed nervously, "Hey! Why don't we try the lava cookies?" The stellar spirit mage jumped to her feet, quick to change the subject, and picked up her pan of cookies. She gave one to each of the women in the room—and one to Pantherlily, though he was barely conscious—before taking one up herself. "Alright everyone, on one, dig in!"

"3… 2…1!"

The screams of fire and need of water filled the house, followed by Evergreen promptly kicking the other young ladies out of her house, outlawing "lava cookies" from her residence indefinitely.

Evergreen's room was dark with night when the sound of keys at the front door brought her out of her slumber. She continued to pretend to sleep as she heard the footsteps of her beloved trek through the living room, and held in a chuckle when she heard him stub a toe against something and softly cry "Ow ow ow… that was very unmanly…"

When Elfman opened the bedroom door, she heard him sigh. A happy sigh; it made her smile, though she faced the other direction, and was able to hide it. She listened to the sounds of him shuffling off his jacket, and then stepping closer to the bed.

The mattress shifted as he kneeled on it—it shifted to much. To Evergreen's surprise, she found herself tumbling over to him as he weighed down the bed with both his hands and knees on it.

Evergreen glared up at him with a pout, as he smiled down chuckling. "I knew you were awake." He whispered.
"Idiot. Do you know what time it is?" Ever grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized, and removed one knee from the bed. The weight shifted again and Evergreen moved herself to a more comfortable position, before she saw Elfman leaning in for a kiss.

She let the hulk of a man lay soft, caring kisses on her lips. Evergreen reached her hand up and ran her fingers through his sideburns, moaning into his mouth as he deepened the kiss. As she tangled tongues with Elfman, she felt his hand run down over her stomach, and felt him smile into their kiss.

Evergreen tried not to chuckle at his softness, and she then broke off from his mouth with a sigh. Elfman smiled upon her, before crawling into bed beside her, pulling her blanket over his shoulder. Ever cuddled closer, as her lover's mass tended to hog the blankets, and then stared upon the corner of his neck.

"Hey Elf." She whispered.

"Yeah, Ever?" He responded, in just as soft of a voice.

"Do you own a scarf?" The brunette asked.

"Yeah. But why? It's almost summer—" Elfman's words were cut off by his own surprise as Evergreen pressed her lips softly against his neck, before nipping him softly. She opened her mouth wider upon his flesh and sucked at his neck. The man let out a grunt, and ran his hand up her back, bringing her closer to him, before she nipped him once more and then let go.

"…What was that for?" Elfman asked, wincing at the waning pain of her nibbles.

Evergreen rested her head against his chest as if she had done nothing. "I just wanted to mark you as mine." Her arm wrapped around his chest.
"I don't think you have to worry." Elfman laughed self-conciously, "No one else wants a manly guy like me."

"Don't talk about yourself like that." Evergreen spat, and dug her nails into his back, making sure he groaned before she let go. "You're perfect, and I love you."

Elfman blushed lightly, always surprised when Evergreen peaked out from under her pride to remind him that she adored him.

"Sorry. I love you too, Ever." He whispered softly, and then ran his hand over the young woman's face as she dozed off in his arms.

The End