Sooooooo, oops. uummmmm, I have no good way to apologize. And I know the people that do follow this story might be pleased to hear that I never intended on abandoning any of my stories.

2020 was... chaotic to say the least. Last chapter I posted was quite literally a few weeks before shit hit the fan, and working at a grocery store sucked epically, even now aftereffects continue to be evident. So getting back into writing is one of my ways of doing something that makes me happy, for my mental health kinda situation. I wasn't able to finish this chapter until a few days ago.

But hey, I did get my Associates, I got two cute guinea pigs, still in the apartment with my honey, so yeah its nice to announce I'm doing good.

I hope this makes your days as it was mine to get through this block of a chapter.

"Table seven!" The chef called out to the servers that flew through the kitchen to collect the meals for the customers. Levy enjoyed doing the busy work of food service, especially because at Yajima's restaurant, the 8-Island, they are treated with respect. There are usually no problems with the customers either, while some come to oogle the mages that have modeled in Sorcerer's Weekly they can be quickly reminded of the power level these girls with her are at.

She has always loved that her friends can be the sweetest flirts, but if someone thinks that they are just pretty faces will see the demon side of any of them. And any unfriendly or overly friendly customer are kicked out quickly by whichever mage they wronged. What amused her was the fact the girls were keeping score.

When Levy and the girls take jobs like this, they usually share a room at a hotel near the restaurant, for the sake of convenience, plus it's always nice to have time where it was just their core group of girls without interruptions.

"I got these two," Levy called out as she grabbed the plates of sandwiches that were in the service window for the couple at table seven. She turned with the plates firmly in hand as her skirt swished about with her movements.

One other thing about working at Yajima's restaurant, he always had them wear uniforms that somehow accentuated the ladies's shapely features. Levy personally didn't mind it all too much, it wasn't far off from her usual wardrobe, but somehow men were a little bit more attentive of her when she wore the uniform.

"Here you go, one grilled cheese and one reuben, is there anything else I can get for you?" she asked after placing down the meals for the couple.

"Could you sign our copy of Sorcerer's Weekly?" the woman asked, she looked to see that it was a copy that wrote an article about Fairy Tail winning the Grand Magic Games, there were already a few signatures on the double spread photo of the whole guild after the Games award ceremony, so many of her guild mates were beat up and bandaged but they all were beaming their biggest smiles. It was a sweet moment, even in the picture she was under Gajeel's arm supporting his weight.

"Sure, I'd be happy to," Levy said as she pulled a pen from her apron to sign the magazine. It wasn't the first one she signed, nor the worst copy she had seen during this job, considering a few of her friends had modeled before for the magazine since they were very comfortable with their bodies on display. Despite the offer from the magazine after the Games, she had politely turned them down. She knew there would be more copies to sign before the shift was over as she headed to the kitchen area for a quick drink before her next lap of tables.

"Don't worry Blue, lunch rush is almost over," Cana comments to Levy, with everything that they have gone through in life; working customer service sucked sometimes, especially when your guild is famous and therefore making all the members celebrities by extension.

"At least we are getting to do a job together, it's been a while since our last job," Levy remarks, their last job had been of similar nature, but it was a quieter time of year for the town's tourists.

Gajeel and Lily were still working off the adrenaline from fighting bandits off a merchant caravan. Had to escort the merchants over the mountain and back, and got to fight on both sides.

"Did we have any food left Lil?" Gajeel asks and Lily shakes his head.

"We had finished it right before that last bandit encounter." Lily laughed, amused when he could hear Gajeel's stomach start to growl. "Though I think we are in the town with Yajima's restaurant, I'm sure we can find something there. Promise to not eat the silverware again?"

"Ya do it one time,"

"He did get mad and threatened to ban you if he caught you doing it again." All Lily got in response was Gajeel's trademark 'Tch' noise. "We should probably book a room so we can rest and get a ride back to the guild tomorrow."

"Sounds good, you do that, I'm gonna find some food." Gajeel parted from Lily in the direction he remembered the 8island being in. He walked the cobblestone streets for a bit, they reminded him of the ones back in Magnolia and in his head he could picture the Shrimp walking along them with her arms out while hopping from stone to stone. He kept thinking about their last conversation, watching her face as she explained how she felt being treated like a fragile bird. The mere fact that she was able to be so open and honest with him about her problems, gave him hope for himself. While at the same time it was a problem that he couldn't punch his way out of for her.

Which was the reason as to why he had grabbed a job posting that was going to have fighting shortly after their conversation. It wasn't like he wanted to get punished for fighting in the guildhall again with Natsu, and needed a more profitable way to blow off his aggression.

Even Lily had lectured him that it wasn't the healthiest way to deal with his problems, but his retort was that it made them money to keep their kitchen stocked.

He saw the restaurant sign from two blocks away and when he turned the corner a block away he saw a couple open the front door to leave. With them escaped the scents of some delicious food, as well as something that stopped him in his tracks.

Ink and citrus.

He stalked towards the restaurant trying to peer in without being seen. After a moment he spots her in the bright orange short dress uniform, and thigh high stockings. She was giving a customer their meal with a smile that he knew was only for customers but still wished he was on the receiving end of it. Something inside him stirred other than his stomach demanding food. He stood there for a moment contemplating if he should actually go in, considering as he pondered he also saw many of the other females from the guild in the restaurant uniform as well. He remembers hearing of the girls doing this before, they would spend a week or so helping out Yajima and making a girls' trip out of it. They must have roped Levy into joining them, which made him nervous as to whatever plot they were hatching. He shook his head, if he stood there any longer the girls would easily spot him standing there looking like an idiot.

He took a deep breath and moved to the door, upon entering the bell over the door jingled, alerting the hostess of a new customer. As she turned, to his luck it was Mira playing the hostess.

"Gajeel, what a surprise!" Mira donned her cheeriest smile, but he could see the she-demon's mind already plotting. "Will Lily be joining you?"

"Yea, he's booking a place to crash," Gajeel responded. With a nod Mira motioned him to follow to an empty table in the corner. After he squeezed himself into the chair, his stomach growled again as Mira handed him a menu.

"Your server will be over shortly," She stated as she also eyed the silverware laid out in front of him as an unspoken warning. To which he rolled his eyes, everyone held that small habit against him.

After she walked away he tried to focus on the menu, it did not help that her scent was hovering around the room, it was quite distracting. How did Yajima have so many dishes to offer when he seemed to always have a need for servers from Fairy Tail?

By the time he looked at everything on the menu his eyes were swimming, trying to focus on the menu with her scent around was proving difficult, if he didn't know better she was right in front of him.

"Have you decided on your order?" He looked up at the voice to see his blue headed server, of course Mira would put him in Levy's section. She seemed to be amused with herself as she had already filled his water glass while he had been entranced by the menu.

"I don't see anything metallic, any suggestions?" she giggled at the joke, which he smirked at.

"There are a couple of decent meat platters, if you are in the mood for that."

"I'll take one of those then." At the prospect of food his stomach growled even louder, she tried to hold back laughter at the sound.

"I'll put it in and see if I can put a rush on it, should I also put in something for Lily?"

"I guess a bowl of kiwis."

"Ok, I'll send that in," she turned around to head for the kitchen and couldn't help but watch her walk away. He surveyed the room, looked like many of the male customers were eyeing up their servers. He even saw a few customers glance at Levy as she walked past, which made him really want to punch those guys. He was tempted to chew on his silverware in replacement of fists, but he could sense Mira glaring at him from the host stand in warning, she saw what he saw and he had to hold his temper otherwise Yajima might kick him out. So for the moment gripping the tablecloth in his lap was all he could do as he waited for his food.

A bit of time has passed, while he waited he watched as she almost floated around the room to her other tables taking orders and bringing out dishes of food with that customer service smile. He noticed between customers she would glance his way. As she went about her work he saw how she also kept her hair tied up so he could see her piercing shimmer in the light, it's been a while since she got it but he still wanted to know what it tasted like, making him grip the tablecloth for all his restraint.

Then she came back out holding a large serving tray over her shoulder heading straight for him. He could smell the magnitude of the meat sitting on the plate, which took up most of the tray. She placed it in front of him as well as a decent sized bowl of kiwis.

"That's a lot," he stared at the plate bigger than his head filled to the brim with various cuts of meat.

"Dragon slayer sized, Yajima has a secret menu that's been Natsu tested, plus I had something special added. Let me know how you like it, I'll be back," she turned around to take the tray back to the kitchen while also checking on her other tables.

He went in to investigate this "something special" that she spoke of. His nose found it quickly enough, buried under a steak was her solid script magic in the form of iron, he looked up to see her smirking at him between customers. It had replenished his magic in the past, and she had made it to keep him from eating the silverware at the guildhall. At the moment he only took a piece so the rest could be dessert. So he dug into the rest of the food on the platter.

"Oh I guess you started without me," Gajeel looks up to find Lily in his small form sitting at the table in front of his bowl of kiwis.

"Just got the food," he grumbled as he began shoving the food into his mouth. Lily followed suit with his kiwis. They sat there in silence as they ate for a few minutes, Lily was watching the room as he saw the girls of Fairy tail working the tables.

Mira had whispered to him as he entered that Levy was here and this was her table, so he was waiting for her to appear.

Lily glanced at Gajeel and he could see his friend also keeping an eye out for their blue haired server, making Lily smirk in amusement. After most of their food was gone Lily looked up and saw her coming to their table.

"Hey Lily, finding everything ok?" she asked with her customer service smile.

"It is delicious, thank you Levy," Lily responded.

"That's great, let me know if there is anything else you need." She turns to check on her other tables, which have lightened up with lunch rush being over. Lily turns to watch Gajeel's eyes follow Levy as she walks around the room. Still watching Gajeel, Lily saw him grab the last thing on his plate, to his amusement it looked like iron that Levy had made in the past. For now he won't point it out.

Once they settled their bill at the restaurant, their full stomachs met up with their remaining adrenaline from the job to result in the need to crash in a comfy bed to recover.

"I'm gonna be dead to the world," Gajeel stretched as they walked to the hotel, stiff from sitting in the small chair until the restaurant had closed for the evening, it wasn't like they had anything else to do.

"As long as you don't snore too loudly," Lily joked. They continued to walk and were almost to the hotel when Gajeel stopped abruptly on the path. "What's wrong?" Lily can see Gajeel's nose twitch and eyes widen. From an intersection ahead of them turning onto the same path was a familiar group of ladies, who were heading for the same hotel at the end of the road as Gajeel and Lily. Despite being further ahead of them, their laughter was hard to miss through the cool air. "This will be interesting," he quietly said to himself while curious what his friend will do.

With his long strides he unintentionally catches up to them by the lobby of the hotel. Lily could see how Gajeel stiffened the very slightest when the pair came within hearing range of the ladies.

"Today was so long, I can't wait to get into bed," Levy spoke up.

"But the fun has yet to begin, Yajima gave me access to his booze collection, so we are gonna get drunk," Cana announced. Gajeel and Lily shared a glance, knowing how the girls get when they get drunk.

"I'm too exhausted, Cana, maybe another night for me." Levy responded, yawning as she tried to keep up with the group to the hotel room.

"All good, Blue. Another night you can join us." Cana spun around to face Gajeel while continuing to walk with her group, "sorry Gajeel, girls only invite for drinking." He grumbled at the fact even though they were distanced, for good reason, she still pointed out that he had been behind them. Gajeel also watch Levy hiss something to Cana while she smacked her arm.

"I know better than to drink with any of you," Gajeel called out.

"Don't try to sneak over to spy on us later, cause we are gonna be up til the late hours."

"Wasn't planning on it," Gajeel responded, passing them by to the elevator, glancing down at Levy curiously as he went, she looked up and locked eyes with him and gave a small smirk of her own. "Good luck sleeping through them," he whispered to her.

"Gonna need it," she chuckled lightly, "Goodnight, Gajeel."

"Night, Shrimp." In one last glance he could see her puffed cheeks from the nickname before leaving the group for the night.

Later on Gajeel had been trying to fall asleep, but knowing they were just down the hall also meant they were just on the cusp of hearing range and he could tell they were wasted.

Over focusing on trying to block them out he did not notice someone walk up to his door until they were knocking on the door.

"Gajjeeeelll, I know you're in there," He could hear a drunk Cana whispering from the hallway. He rolled out of bed and went to the door, swinging it open to see a swaying Cana.

"How powerful is Yajima's liquor stash to get you wasted?" He grumbled, but he could tell she had a moment of clarity when she was staring intently at his torso as if to memorize it for later, he just recalled he had been sleeping in only pants. She made a look as if she was impressed, then switched back to drunk Cana.

"I'm being the nice one going out of my way to help you out," She slurred a little as she sauntered into his room and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Help me with what exactly?"

"Giving you a heads up so you don't look like a clueless jerk next week,"

"And what's happenin next week?

"Levy's Birthday," she reinforced, "the whole guild is throwing a big party at the end of the week after we get back from this job. So you have time to figure out a present for our Blue bird."

"I don't remember anyone else getting big birthday parties,"

"Well, One; Levy has been with the guild since she was a kid and Makarov always went big for the kids, Two; Since you joined we've had big fight after big fight, then we had that thing with Tenrou for seven years, so they are making up for lost times, and three; only half the guild that grew up from childhood in the guild actually knew their actual birthdays, the other half would make the day they joined the guild as their 'birthday'." Cana had been listing off her fingers as she went.

"So Levy's birthday is a big deal?"

"Yeah, it is. I got a good present lined up, so you should step up and get something good. There was always a running pride contest as to who's present Levy liked the most. I'm sure this year is going to be no different."

"And what is your gift?"

"It's a secret, you need to figure out your own gift that she'll like." Cana was staring at his chest again, chuckling to herself. "Shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

"The hell are you talking about?"

She shrugged, disappointed that he missed what she was insinuating. "I can't make it any easier, but like I said it is a contest. And to win you gotta make Levy super happy with her gift." Cana's dirty mind is hoping he would either tie himself in a bow for the little mage, or at least make a move in the romantic direction, but then again, this is Gajeel we're talking about. "I'll take my leave, may the best gift win." She rose from the bed and exited his hotel room, pausing outside the room to hear him cursing in panic. It's his move now.

I hope you enjoyed it. Once it came, it flowed nicely. I hope to work on it more frequently, as with my other stories.

Give me present ideas for shout outs in the next chapter.

Lots of love and well wishes to my lovely and loyal readers.3

-greekgeekspywannabe

11/22/2021