Hi!
First of, I want to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted, and faved my story. THANKS SO MUCH, it means the world to me.

I have to confess I had originally thought about this story as a one-shot, but I forgot to label it as 'complete', and after I got all of your reviews, I just felt like I had to give you what you wanted. So, I sat down and started writing. And, I'm glad I did! This chapter might be a little bit more emotional, since I wanted to show how these two guys, as crazy as they are, have real, serious feelings for their girls. You know, I like to have that sort of complexity in characters. I tried to keep Gajeel and Natsu in character as much as I could, but I'm pretty sure there might be moments where they may not look that way.

So, this chapter goes out to all of you who reviewed and encouraged/forced me to see this through to the end, cause if it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be a second chapter...

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

"A Favor"

Chapter 2:

Natsu made his way towards the guild. His team had just returned from what he liked to call "another job well done." His teammates would probably disagree with the label he'd given it, but, hey, he was Natsu Dragneel, disaster and destruction were bound to happen whenever he was involved. That was just a fact of his Fairy Tail life and his "professional" career as a mage.

Technically, the mission should've only taken two days to complete, but since Natsu had burned three of the main buildings down – which Lucy had kindly referred to as "collateral damage" –, they had to stay another day to help clean the debris. Erza was fuming and Gray was yelling insults at him. Meanwhile, the town's major, Lucy, and Happy silently watched the scene developing in front of them with an amused smile. He knew the last two didn't actually condone his behavior, but they accepted the fact that extravagant destruction was part of Natsu's way of doing business. He had actually begun to suspect that Lucy secretly liked that side of him, but would rather eat one of Happy's dead fish than admit it out loud.

The situation only escalated when Gray, exasperated with the fire mage's carefree attitude to the whole thing, decided to send an Ice Make: Cannon at the dragon-slayer. Natsu, possessing those quick reflexes, dodged the attack easily, which ended up landing on the town's fountain, pulverizing it in the process and causing a small flood. Sadly for Gray, the fountain he had just destroyed was the town's "pride and joy," and had been there since the town was founded close to three hundred years ago. Erza's anger reached a new level of intensity that day, and Natsu was glad not to be in the receiving end of it. He winced at the horrible sounds of pain that escaped Gray's mouth. He felt sort of sorry for him. Erza is scary, definitely.

After the little spectacle, the Fairy Tail mages worked expediently to clean up their mess (meaning Natsu's and Gray's), and donated a third of their reward to pay for the damages. They had gotten back to Magnolia rather late in the evening, all pretty exhausted from their activities. They had decided to head home and report to the guild in the morning; Lucy was craving a bath, Erza was still mad at Gray and wanted to cool off, and Gray needed to go home, or to Porlyusica's, and get his wounds treated.

Natsu walked Lucy home and said goodnight. He told her he needed to stop by the guild for a drink, and was glad when she didn't make any further inquiries. He could tell she was tired and needed to rest, and no bed in all of Earthland was as comfy as Lucy's. This the fire dragon-slayer knew well.

Natsu took a whiff as he approached the guild. He had to make sure Gajeel was actually there, if not he would just go home and wait to talk to his guildmate in the morning. He picked up the iron mage's smell, along with the scent of alcohol and blood, making him smirk. Ah, good to be back. When he entered the building, he rapidly spotted the other dragon-slayer sitting in his usual corner, so he walked over to his table.

"What the hell happened to you?"

This wasn't exactly how Natsu had intended to start the conversation that day, but when the iron dragon-slayer turned to look his way, he noticed the mage was pretty beat up and he was sporting a black eye that ranged from deep black, to yellow, and all shades of purple in between.

Gajeel looked up at the fire mage and scoffed, "Fucking demon woman…" Natsu was shocked. Everyone at Fairy Tail knew Mirajane was really strong and could get Erza-scary sometimes, but the amount of damage Gajeel was showing… that was not your usual Mirajane. "What did you do to get her that pissed off? Natsu asked as he sat across from Gajeel.

The iron mage explained in his annoyed tone, "Long story short, I might have told her something along the lines of 'fuck off' and 'mind your own damn business' after you left for your mission. Let's say she wasn't happy about it and when I refused to tell her anything the next morning, the woman entered psycho-mode and went all Sitri Satan Soul on my ass. Lucky for me, Erza and Laxus were out on missions and her siblings were out shopping, so I had to wait for Makarov to snap out of his perv-daze to stop her." Guess I learned my lesson the hard way. She's definitely not someone you want to piss off.

Gajeel noticed the gaping mage in front of him wearing an "I can't fucking believe I missed that epic battle" look. Typical Salamander for ya. "She's not really happy with me right now, and the only reason she hasn't tried to even out my other eye is because the old man threatened to fire her from her bartending job."

Natsu couldn't believe what he had just heard. It wasn't that hard to picture an angry Mira, but he had never seen her go all out on anyone from the guild before, not even Erza prior to Lisanna's so called "death." Damn, what's with the women in this guild? Lucy kick, Erza knock-out punch, Mira rainbowed black eye…

"Fuck, man, I'm sorry." Natsu said, as he scratched the back of his head apologetically. "So, perhaps, we shouldn't talk about things here. Should we go to your place?" he asked. The iron dragon-slayer didn't even flinch, "What makes you think you're welcomed there?" The fire mage nonchalantly replied, "Well, we need privacy, right? The guild's clearly a no, and my house is out too. Unless you want Happy to know, who, as you might have noticed, isn't the best at keeping secrets." Natsu watched as the iron mage's face momentarily displayed a crooked smile, probably reminiscing about the little stunt Happy put on last time he was at the guild. Ah! That reminds me, prepare for hell, little furry traitor…

Gajeel was definitely not happy about the situation, but that idiot had a point, "Fine, lets go before that woman decides to interrogate you too." He stood up and walked towards the exit, limping a little as he made his way out of the guild. Natsu felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the retreating mage, imagining Sitri Mira giving him a beating that equaled Gajeel's. He shrugged the thought off and followed the iron mage shortly after, deciding that if the two left together it would only arise suspicion. When he exited the guild, he followed Gajeel's scent and caught up to him a few blocks down. "This way, Salamander," he heard the man say.

Both shadows disappeared in the dark of night.

The dragon-slayers had been too immersed in their conversation to notice the blue fur ball that entered the guild ten minutes after Natsu. Happy didn't bother to approach them; he was, in fact, looking for Mira. He had originally intended to stay at Lucy's for a while before going home, but it wasn't until the stellar mage had gotten into her tub that he realized her fridge was all out of fish – The horror! –. He had almost suffered a panic attack. The Exceed was hungry, so he said his goodbyes to Lucy through the closed bathroom door and left for Fairy Tail in search of food.

"Mira! Do you have any fish? I'm starving!" The bartender looked down to find Happy sitting at the counter top wearing the cutest face he had in his personal arsenal of emotional manipulation techniques, the one he used when he really, really, really wanted something. "Sure I do Happy, give me one second." Happy smiled brightly, "Aye!" and then watched the mage disappear into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Mira reappeared with a medium-sized, chubby looking fish. The Exceed's eyes sparkled, and the second the fish left the bartender's hand and reached his, he put it into his mouth. He looked around the guild as he ate his tasty dinner, his eyes landing on the two dragon-slayers. Is that Natsu and Gajeel again? What are those two up to? After swallowing his first few bites, Happy called Mira over, "Mmm, Mira, do you know what is up with those two? he said, pointing at the dragon-slayers with the tail of his half-eaten fish. "They were talking about something before we left for our mission... It's weird."

Mira's gaze found the mages they were speaking of, "I don't know Happy. I tried listening to their conversation before," she confided, "but they were whispering, and Gajeel refused to tell me anything when I asked him. The bastard had the nerve to provoke me... but I showed him right!" The cat had paid close attention to the mage as she spoke. He noticed the evil smirk that appeared in her face at the mentioning of Gajeel and of her "showing him right." He could guess what she was referring to, and he really didn't want to know the details.
He heard her speak again, "Hasn't Natsu told you anything?" The blue creature's ears deflated, "No. Do you think he doesn't trust me enough to tell me?" The white-haired girl's countenance changed again, reverting to her cheerful, usual self. She was curious about the two dragon-slayers' out of the ordinary conversations, but she didn't want to make Happy doubt his friendship with the fire mage. "Of course Natsu trusts you, Happy! You're his closest friend next to Lucy," she answered with a kind smile. Happy returned her reassuring gesture with a small grin of his own and continued to eat his fish in silence. When he finished, he thanked Mira and left the guild to go back to Lucy's; perhaps she knew what was going on with Natsu. Lucy's weird, she should know all about weirdos and weird situations.

Before, Natsu would have said that being dragon-slayers and an always-craving-battle attitude were the only things Gajeel and him had in common, but after entering the iron mage's house he had to add "way of living" and "philosophy about life" to the list. Gajeel lived in a small, one-floor house just outside of Magnolia, and just like Natsu's, it was packed with what he liked to call "memories." There was a rather large couch to his left with a small coffee table in front of it and a large bookshelf behind it (filled with all sorts of things except books, of course). The kitchen was to his right and, aside for the nice stack of dirty dishes piling out of it with a note that read 'It's your turn to do the dishes –Lilly', it was rather clean. Past the kitchen was a small empty area with a few boxes lined up next to a wall that was, to Natsu's surprise, filled with posters of what he presumed to be all the missions Gajeel had done in the past. It was official: both dragon-slayers were hopeless romantic hoarders of the first class.

Gajeel moved towards the couch and, after throwing some dirty clothes onto the floor, took a seat and signaled the fire mage to do the same. Natsu followed and sat on the other side of the couch. "Do you know already what you're making?" he asked. The pink-haired dragon-slayer examined his guildmate's empty-eyed expression as he answered, "I told you, a necklace."

"I know what you said, Metal-face, but what kind of necklace?" came Natsu's reply. He knew the iron mage was still uncomfortable with the whole notion of asking him for help. He had to admit the situation was rather awkward, to say the least. Although they were both guildmates and respected each other's magical abilities, they rarely interacted outside of guild brawls. Their relationship was nothing like the one he had with the Ice-freak. He knew that behind all their fighting and rivalry stood a solid friendship, one that had started once they became a team. Yes, they were a team, ever since Erza had randomly appeared that fateful day and asked for their help to find that weird flute, with Lucy (and Happy) tagging along to keep the two males in check.

Natsu knew they weren't exactly friends but they weren't strangers either, and he had noticed Gajeel had changed after joining Fairy Tail. He didn't know the details of the encounter between him and Makarov, but he knew it had been decisive for Gajeel. The iron mage was a proud man, but he was also willing to accept his own shortcomings and learn from them. He really wasn't "bad at heart," just like Master had put it. He had tried in his own way to amend for his mistakes: He proved he could be relied on when they fought Laxus together, or when he protected his partner and the guild's pride at Tenrou Island. Natsu was glad the iron mage was a part of Fairy Tail, and looking at him now, supposedly not afraid of anything, quivering about a girl, proved to the fire mage that he had judged Gajeel correctly the first time they met. He really was a big teddy bear, all soft in the inside.

"Common Gajeel, I'm trying to help here."

The black-haired man looked at his guildmate. It's not that he didn't trust the guy; he knew the fire idiot was reliable and would keep his word. He didn't know exactly when it happened, but sometime after Makarov offered him a chance despite of his past actions, he realized that life was not only about the things you achieved, but also about who you shared those achievements with. For once in his life, he felt like he belonged somewhere, that people accepted him for who he was and didn't judge him. Heck, he found himself among a group of people where he could be considered "normal." Still, he had never been a people's person, unlike the cheerful idiot in front of him, who seemed to trot jollily through life, changing his demeanor to 'serious' for short periods of time of which you did not want to be the cause of (he had experienced his anger firsthand, and the fire mage had only gotten stronger since then). He had always preferred to stay by himself, but the Fairy Tail way had crept up on him, and next thing he knew, he was forming partnerships with cats, he was trying to help others, he was willing to show other sides of himself (like sharing his fantastic musical talent), and – dare he say it – he was making friends. Above all that, he had allowed himself the opportunity to love and be loved. He didn't know when it happened, but now that it had, there was no going back. He was Gajeel Redfox, the proud mage of Fairy Tail who had fallen in love with Levy McGarden.

The iron dragon-slayer sighed, "I don't know yet. I was planning on visiting some jewelry shops to get some ideas befo…"

"You do not wanna do that, trust me," the fire mage interjected.

"What do you mean?" Gajeel asked.

"Have you forgotten what I asked you to do for me, already?" Natsu replied, and after looking at the quizzical look the other dragon-slayer was giving him, he decided to elaborate, "I've been looking for rings for over a month. Trust me, you won't find anything on those stores."

"To how many have you been?" Gajeel couldn't help but ask, his curiosity taking the best of him. It's not that he couldn't believe the fire mage wanted to settle down with Bunny Girl and claim her for good. No, that part he could understand perfectly. The problem was trying to picture the loud, destructive, I-can't-lie-for-shit fire idiot actually keeping a secret for so long, or actually being that careful, methodical, and caring in his planning. True, it shouldn't really surprise him that much though. It's not like he hadn't noticed Natsu was extremely protective of the girl, or how he acted like a tamed puppy around her, but Gajeel still had a hard time imagining him covering up his tracks so well that no one had caught up on it, not even his cat.

"Too many. If I said over thirty, would you just take my word for it and avoid wasting your time?" the pink-haired man said, and without expecting an answer he continued, "It would be best if you just go with whatever you think the necklace should look like. Isn't that what that ability of yours is for, anyways?" Gajeel stared at him wide-eyed. Once again, the fire-breathing idiot had proved not to be a total idiot. "Tch, guess you're right. I don't think I could take more than three salesmen trying to force me into buying something anyways," he nonchalantly replied. He was still, however, rather shocked that Natsu had willingly put himself through several train rides from Hell to look for rings. He knew the latter had to be the case, since there were only two jewelry shops in Magnolia. Blessed were the days when I was oblivious of the effects of dragon-slayer motion sickness, he momentarily sidetracked. Apparently, he had misjudged the fire dragon-slayer's determination, but he had to admit he would have done the same for his girl. Perhaps, the two had more in common that he had originally thought.

After another brief pause, Gajeel broke the silence again. "I… I overheard her talk to Bunny Girl about receiving some old piece of jewelry from her family a few days ago. I wanted to make a necklace that could hold whatever it was she got, so she could wear it every day," the iron mage confessed.

Natsu would be lying if he said he hadn't been surprised by Gajeel's admission. Entertaining the idea that the iron dragon-slayer had a considerate and loving side to him seemed entirely foreign to the fire mage – his cat excluded. Then again, who would've guessed he had one too before he met Lucy? The fire dragon-slayer didn't need Lucy to point out to him the growing tension between his two guildmates, the attraction was so obviously, painfully there. Aside from their awkward stuttering and blatant blushing whenever they were around each other, as a dragon-slayer, Natsu could smell Levy's pheromones whenever Gajeel approached her, and he could sense Gajeel's testosterone oozing out whenever another male came close to the girl – whether the iron mage was aware of it or not. For a second, Natsu wondered if that had also been the case with him and Lucy. In fact, now that he thought about it, he noticed Gajeel's actions resembled his own before he had dared to claim his mate a lot.

Natsu was a creature guided by impulse and instinct, he was passionate, fierce, noble, ...wild. Untamable… until she came along. Lucy complemented him in every possible way, personally and magically; that was the reason why they made such a good team. The blond never tried to restrain him, but she possessed an almost mystifying power that never failed to calm him down. Her sleeping body next to his guaranteed him the most peaceful rest at night; and waking up with her form tangled with his own fueled him with the most vibrant of energies to face the upcoming day. No one understood him better that she did, and he wondered why it had taken him so long to stop fighting something that had always felt so natural. But now that he sat across from the uncharacteristically fidgeting iron dragon-slayer, he recognized it. Levy did for Gajeel what Lucy did for him, and he couldn't help but smile at the realization. They both brought the best out of each other, they were comfortable with yelling at each other's face when needed, and they worked well as a team. Heck, the iron dragon-slayer was as secretly protective of the script mage as he was openly protective of his stellar mage. We really aren't that different after all.

Natsu chuckled and looked at him, "Gajeel, a sucker for romance? Who would've thought?" The iron mage was about to turn his left arm into an iron sword and blast the idiot out of his house and forget he ever asked for help in the first place, when he heard the fire mage finished his sentence "…Man, we are so whipped." Realization hit him like a bucket of ice-cold water. This idiot was really not that much of an idiot at all. The amused look that now adorned both mages' faces told them everything that needed to be said to one another. Unlike their mates, they didn't read books and novels, but they were proficient at reading people. Gajeel smirked, "Gi hee! That we are Salamander!"

After a few more minutes of laughter and talking about Gajeel's "Hall of Fame," Natsu brought the conversation back to its original subject, "Say, Gajeel, Levy doesn't like to wear a lot of jewelry, so I think the necklace should be simple and not too… extravagant."

"'Extravagant'? Seriously? You're spending too much time with the Bunny Girl. At this rate, we'll have an obnoxiously loud, weird-clothed blond brawler and a pink-haired, second-rate backup dancer at Fairy Tail in no time," Gajeel finished his taunting comment with a matching mocking smirk.

"You really think I'd let my woman walk around in one of my old vests anywhere outside my bedroom?" the pink-haired man replied amusedly with his own proud grin. Fuck, does Lucy look sexy in my clothes. No fucking way I'd share that image with a-ny-one. "Besides, you're one to talk, you weird-clothed, 'I'm in dire need of a haircut' Metal-freak. And, yes, I said 'dire', deal with it."

Both mages started laughing again, clearly enjoying the newly found way of making fun of each other. They'd just need to add some kicks and punches to the mix, and it'd be perfect. "Yeah, the Shrimp doesn't wear much. A simple, long chain should do the trick. The problem is finding a way to hold an object I haven't actually seen up close." Gajeel said, once he was done laughing.

"Wouldn't a simple hook kinda do the job?" The fire mage said, now completely serious. He watched as the other dragon-slayer straightened himself in the couch and turn to look at him with an "I can't believe I didn't think of that before" look. "You know something, Salamander, you're not as big of an idiot as you pretend to be," Gajeel said, as he stood up from his seat. "Wait here," he continued, as he walked into what Natsu assumed to be the bedroom. A few seconds later, the mage came back out with a small bag in his hands. "Here," he said, tossing the bag towards the fire mage, "start warming them up." Natsu caught the small purse, entertained by the mage's sudden return to a more typically Gajeel-like demeanor.

It didn't take Natsu long to melt the coins completely, Gajeel had gotten him a small copper pot to drop the coins in earlier, which facilitated the job due to metal being a heat conductor. The iron dragon-slayer had been intently staring at the golden liquid as it moved around the pot, when he finally said, "Let's get to work."

Lucy stared at the sleeping cat on her pillow; it hadn't been that long since the Exceed had come back to her apartment feeling kind of down. She smiled as the little creature turned to its side; Happy could be really annoying when he wanted to, but he could also be the most caring of friends. Sometimes, she forgot he was just a little kid who needed extra pampering once in a while. She tugged herself into bed as well, bringing the furry cat closer and hoping their little pep talk earlier had helped her blue friend.

Both dragon-slayers stared proudly at the object in front of them. Apparently, they worked well together outside of the battlefield as well. Natsu's extremely hot fire had melted the coins in minutes, and they used that time to discuss how to shape Levy's necklace. It had taken a focused Gajeel and his pink-haired assistant close to three hours to mold to perfection a delicate golden chain that resembled intertwining vines. The design was simple but elegant, and the complex interconnecting set of chains made the piece uniquely the dragon-slayer's. The seven-laced chains melted together at one point to form a vine leaf, and underneath the leaf, Gajeel had placed the small hook that was meant to hold Levy's family heirloom; that way, the hook would be concealed and her jewelry would blend naturally into the necklace. They were definitely proud.

"She'll love it." The fire mage finally said, breaking their self-praising silence. Gajeel smirked, "I think so, too," he whispered, as he continued to eye his new creation. A few moments later, he placed the necklace inside a white carton box and took it into his bedroom. Natsu waited for him to come back, sitting in the same spot and sincerely happy at the turn of events. Guess I could call Metal-face a 'friend' now, he smiled.

Gajeel came back into the room and startled the fire dragon-slayer who seemed strangely, or idiotically, happy about something. "So, Salamander," he said rather loudly, successfully gaining said mage's attention, "what's this ring we're making gonna look like?" The iron mage watched his guildmate's expression change at the mention of the circular object. At that moment, that Natsuesque smile of his made its presence into the room, adorning the fire dragon-slayer's face, where it stayed for the rest of the night.

"You'll see."

So, how was it?

Next chapter we'll see the boys interacting with their mates - the proposal and the confession. I've already started writing this chapter, so there's a chance it'll be up faster than chapter 2 was. I'm still brainstorming about the Gajeel and Levy scene, but the Natsu and Lucy one is almost all pictured in my head and partially written.

And, in case you're wondering, Natsu's "unbelievably cute and adorable" underwear is making a second appearance. I just LOVE to imagine a half-naked Natsu for some (pervy) reason.