Sure, it was definitely an unorthodox way to meet someone, and plenty of people looked down on these sort of friendships, but Levy McGarden just smiled as she walked home from school. Tonight, she had a date. An internet date.

It started 3 years ago, when Levy was a freshman in high school. Her fandom blog had been getting quite a deal of traffic, which surprised her. For about a year, one user kept popping up again and again in her notifications and on her feed: IronDragon. She'd followed him about 6 months into the madness of freshman year and she enjoyed his content. He posted a lot of fandom stuff, as well as audio of him singing. He got a lot of hate for those, but she enjoyed it, and she would anon message him plenty to make sure he knew. Sometimes he'd ask her about a picture she drew, or a cosplay she did, but that was sporadic and casual. There interactions usually went that way, until March of freshman year, when he PMed her:

IronDragon: Hey, I've been feeling kinda down lately. You posted that thing saying you were open if people wanted to talk?

It was the first time someone actually took up the offer. She'd seen pictures of him before, and his bio said 15 (at the time), so she trusted him enough to give him her Skype.

WordsAreMagic: My Skype is if you want to message on there. It's much easier :)

They hit it off after that, talking almost every single day for about a year. Last February, she remembered. Gajeel, she found his name was, had posted a song entitled "My Garden", and it was so obviously about her. She squealed when she heard it the first time, and played it on repeat for days after downloading it to her computer (and her flash drive...). They had been a little flirty in the past, but Levy was overjoyed. She didn't really have any friends in real life besides Lucy, who went to private school. Levy was so used to being alone until Gajeel came around. A few days after the song post, Levy asked to do a voice chat. They'd only been messaging up until then, and she wanted to hear him laugh. He accepted, and they talked for a few hours. They learned so much about each other during those late night talks, and they considered video chatting, but never committed. Until tonight, Levy reminded herself. She unlocked the front door to her mom's apartment. Her mother, a doctor, worked crazy hours, so she was never home. Levy ran to her room. She needed a cute outfit, and to put on some lipgloss. She had an hour before Gajeel would be online, since North Carolina time and Minnesota time don't match up.

Dropping her bag at the foot of her bed, Levy went first towards to the closet. She'd had a few thoughts at school of what to wear, but she had to think. It had to make her look cute, mature, and it had to go with her flowing blue hair. Levy stared at her clothes for a good 10 minutes before deciding on an emerald green top and the black jeans she already wore. She took her orange headband out so she could brush her hair quickly, before brushing her teeth and putting on some powder and light peach lipgloss. Adjusting the headband back in her hair, Levy switched her earrings to simple flower studs. She studying her face for a moment before shaking her head. She sat down on her bed, booted up her laptop. Skype opened automatically. She pushed the laptop aside, took the textbook and glasses from her nightstand, and did some homework. Only 25 minutes.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Gajeel ran off the damn bus. Of course, on probably the most important day of his life so far - save the day of his birth - there had to be traffic and engine problems and snow. SNOW! It was nearly APRIL! He stomped up the steps to his house, flung open the door and slammed it shut.

"Gajeel! Welcome ho-" His mother began, but was quickly cut off by a harsh glare as her son walked quickly through the kitchen into the hallway towards his room. "Okay, touchy today." His mom mumbled, going back to her book. Gajeel looked at the clock after he entered his room. 5 minutes. Okay, he could fix the mess of his hair, the stain on his shirt, and the blood from when he was slammed into the seat in front of him on the bus in 5 minutes. His bag fell to the floor as he took his shirt off and replaced it with the Fall Out Boy tee from his desk chair. He set his laptop to boot up before grabbing his brush and toeing off his shoes. He pulled at his hair roughly for a minute or two. Gajeel looked in the small mirror over his dresser. Shrugging, he went into the bathroom, grabbed a tissue, and blotted at the small amount of blood on his lip. He dared a glance back at the clock: 1 minute till 4:30. Shit shit shit. It wouldn't hurt if he was teeny bit late, right? He dabbed at the blood more while simultaneously making sure all his piercings looked right. He heard that his laptop was on, and quickly logged in. Skype opened up automatically. Gajeel went back to look in the mirror. The bleeding had stopped, which was nice, and he looked...like himself. Hopefully she'd be okay with that. Sure, they'd seen pictures of each other, but this was different. He could see when he made her smile. He could see her laugh, watch her body language, see when she got flustered. He sat down at his desk, checked to make sure his guitar was in sight of his webcam before clicking Levy's username.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

She sent him a smiley face when she saw he logged on. Levy put her book away, took her glasses off, adjusted her blouse. Across from her bed was a mirror, and she studied herself for a moment before looking back at her screen. He had sent a video chat request. Slowly, she breathed a small breath before closing her eyes and accepting. There was silence. She opened an eye and there he was: Gajeel Redfox. She smiled and could see the warmth spread to his eyes as he smiled back. He raised a hand, gave a little wave.

"Hey."

"Hey." She replied. They continued to smile at each other, study the other's face and surroundings. "I like your poster." She pointed at the Attack On Titan memorabilia on the wall behind him. Gajeel laughed and it was the strangest thing. She'd always enjoyed his laugh.

"Geehee. Thanks." He rubbed the back of his neck, the his hair falling gracefully over his hand.

"Your hair is so long!" Levy commented, leaning slightly closer to the screen. "It's really pretty."

"It's manly as hell." Gajeel corrected.

"It can be both." Levy laughed and Gajeel smirked.

"Hey." He said. She looked at him and he wanted to melt. Or hang up. Those big eyes, gorgeous hair, beautiful lips... "I wrote you something." He stood up, got his guitar. When he came back to the laptop, her eyes were lit up and she was grinning.

"Really? I love your songs!" She cheered, swayed a little. He smirked again.

"I know." And he sang her a song about friendship and love and feeling alone, about being saved and saving someone, about a back garden with a pond and the prettiest flowers. His voice was rough but Levy liked it. She was bright red when he finished, but she also had tears in her eyes.

"Gajeel.." She whispered. He was putting his guitar down next to him, but he looked up. They stared at each other for a moment before he slowly sat back up.

"You okay, Shrimp?" He'd gotten in the habit of calling her that after he found out her height. She smiled when he said it, though she didn't like the nickname.

"Thank you."

A/N: Okay, this was cute. I just had an urge to write fluffy fluff. This is inspired by MissyPlatina's story Virtual Flames (VF), which is my freaking life force, I'm not going to lie. Chrissy writes the best FT stuff, it's beautiful. Anyways, in VF, Gajevy is a more minor ship and their story isn't shown a lot (sadly. but we're getting there!). I know that this isn't how they went along, because in VF, Gajeel posted iron work and stuff, but I thought this would be cute. So, yeah...thanks for reading!