On the home stretch now! Thank you to all the guest/anonymous reviewers!

"That where you go to school?"

Levy snapped her head up from the desk. She'd been comparing a row of Gajeel's notes to see if she could determine his mood when he wrote them. Over half had letters tightly grouped together. Judging from some of the content, this was the style when he was annoyed.

Gajeel had paused in his work to look over his shoulder, arms holding something up above his head. Maybe it was the distracting way he posed—dark mane falling down his back, piercings gleaming, muscle flexing as he twisted—that made his question go right over her head. Why was he so exotic?

"Huh?" she finally managed, tilting her head.

"Magnolia. You take classes there?"

She tried to ignore the amused glint in his eyes. On the other side of the shop, Lily coughed.

"Oh, yeah. Part-time." Levy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I work at the library in town most days."

Gajeel finished whatever he was working on and rubbed the back of his neck, holding his thick hair up for a second as the fan blew air around. She almost missed it, but he snuck a glance at her when he reached up to scratch his ear. Was it a little red? Or was it just the heat?

He slid tools around on the cart next to him, almost absently. If she hadn't been watching him so intently, she would've missed the second look he gave her. He seemed to be hesitating. Dilly-dallying. Did he actually want to talk to her?

The sudden rush of butterflies in her stomach shouldn't have been so nice. His sudden shyness was adorable.

Levy nibbled on her lip before getting up and hovering closer, hands clasped behind her back. From the way he rotated just a fraction, she knew he noticed.

"Do you take classes too?" she asked him.

Gajeel grunted his affirmation and seemingly remembered what he wanted the cart for as he picked out a tool. Levy held back her smile as he tried not to pay attention to her. It was a little surprising she hadn't seen him around her uni really—but he wasn't one of those she could forget.

Encouraged by him actually responding—sort of—she asked him more questions. Despite the sometimes lengthy silences and pausing to make repairs, she found out that he took mechanic classes in Magnolia. She asked how long he'd been working there (six years, since he was sixteen—which made him the same age as her) and if he planned on taking over the business ("Well I ain't runnin' off to join the circus.").

Beyond the fact that getting personal answers out of him was like pulling teeth, he was decent conversation. His snarkiness made her laugh, and if she asked the right questions, he was willing to explain how stuff worked.

After a short while, Metalicana let her know her dress was dry. Excusing herself, she went to change, though she kept Gajeel's handkerchief since she didn't have another headband.

Back in the shop, the orange dress felt weird. She was much more aware of the fan at least. The air kept blowing her skirt up if she stood in the wrong place—Lucy often complained about this problem.

She turned to ask Gajeel something else but trailed off when she noticed him staring. After a second, he blinked and looked up at her face, much higher than he had been. His ears were slightly red.

"You always ask so many questions, Shrimp?" he roughed out, fiddling with something on the cart.

Levy tried to hide her smile. "I like to know things."

"Hadn't noticed," he said dryly.

But, she thought, as she folded her arms behind her back, he did notice some things about her. She swung back and forth slightly as she looked at more awards plastered on the walls.

And if Levy chose to stay in his line of sight in case he wanted to notice other things, that was her business.

.

.

Fuck but that dress was short.

She hadn't put her jacket back on, leaving that seriously tiny orange scrap on view for the shop to see. It stuck out glaringly—maybe that was why he kept looking over there.

Except that was a lie. If she bent over at all, he was going to get a good panty-shot. It barely covered her ass as it was.

And short or not, it emphasized other... features about her. Sure, she didn't have much of a chest, but her legs weren't bad at all. They didn't go for days, but he bet she was a runner or something. Legs didn't get that nice by themselves, especially when she was so shrimpy. They were toned and curved in all the right places, leading his eyes up to her—

His pops strode in then, knocking on the wall to get his attention. That bastard was still grinning.

"Brat," he called, and the curve of his eyes set Gajeel's hackles straight up. "We all enjoy Miss McGarden's company, but you got three more jobs to finish by the end of the day. Stop starin' at her."

"You fuckin' with me, old man?"

Three more jobs when it was past noon? The hell was that. He purposefully ignored the other part of his old man's spiel. The laughter as the bastard trailed back into the main room was getting on his nerves, though.

"Language, Gajeel. Lady present," Lily shot from the other half of the garage.

Levy waved him off with a flash of a smile, focused on scribbling something onto a note. She didn't say anything about his old man's words either.

Gajeel was really pretty close to being done with the car. And maybe he was working a little slower than normal—even if his pops could go to hell.

Tightening the next bolt on the car was a bitch. He swore, sharply, two more times until it finally cooperated with him.

Under the hood of a truck that had a dent in the driver door, Lily shot him another look, narrowing his eyes.

"Power words," Gajeel defended, shrugging. Then, he glanced at Shorty. She was biting her lip as she stared fiercely at whatever she was reading. She didn't notice that she was kneading it, but Gajeel sure as shit did.

"'Sides," he added, wishing he couldn't see that bare skin. The halter top wasn't much better than the coverall. "Short stuff here's got a thing for language, yeah?"

His voice carried over to her enough to make squeak at first. But then she grinned. She was a little red in the face too, bringing a smirk to his face.

When he turned back to the front passenger wheel-well, Lily had both eyebrows raised. Then he got a devious grin, which Gajeel would've normally been happy to get in on. He had a bad feeling about this one.

"Gajeel Redfox, are you flirting?" he asked, low enough that Shorty didn't hear.

Gajeel scoffed. Lily acted like it was hard to believe. It's not like he did it often, but he knew how. But that wasn't the damn point.

"Ain't."

"Uh... huh," Lily said, but the look he gave said he wasn't buying.

Gajeel's stomach about dropped out when Lily flashed his teeth in a fierce grin, like a cat in the cream.

"Well, then," he started, and every muscle in Gajeel tensed as Lily raised his voice. It echoed. "When you're done not flirting, come here, would you?"

And Gajeel knew she heard because the pen in her hand dropped and went sliding across the floor.

Thanks for reading! This story is nearly done.