Summary: Who knew cooking was also a science?

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail

Gajevy Week Day 1: Cooking

The Properties of Iron

"Levy, are you trying to burn the kitchen down again?"

With a jump, Levy whips her head around almost too quickly, her expression a mix of shock and guilt. Pantherlily shakes his head lightly at her slightly comical appearance – a cook book in one hand and a suspicious bottle of seasoning in another, with an apron in her favourite shade of orange carefully covering the front an oversized shirt. Lily was sure he'd seen the black t-shirt somewhere in his flatmate's wardrobe, but he wasn't going to point it out and embarrass the poor girl even more.

"Oh, Lily, it's just you…" Levy breathed, the tension visibly bleeding out of her shoulders as she turned back to the stove. "What are you saying? I've never even burned the kitchen down before!"

The exceed only smiled knowingly as he flew onto the kitchen countertop, watching as his partner's girlfriend expertly adds an adequate serving of soya sauce into the pan of rice. Tilting his head in confusion, Lily could only watch as Levy mixes the fried rice carefully. "I was told by a certain dragon slayer that your cooking was horrifying, and that, I quote 'the whole damn kitchen was gonna explode', but…"

The Solid Script mage blushed at his words, hurriedly sprinkling a pinch of salt into her cooking. "Gajeel's just overreacting! It's just that the one time I tried to cook for him, the food accidentally caught fire…"

"…accidentally caught fire?" Lily asks skeptically. Levy's blush only darkens as she flicks the stove off and reaches for an empty plate, lifting the pan and emptying her masterpiece. The duo head out into the dining room, and Levy gently places the dish in front of the waiting exceed. "This smells delicious."

With wide eyes screaming anticipation and excitement, she quickly hands him a spoon and watches as he takes the first bite.

Accompanying the explosion of flavor in his mouth, Lily whips a thumbs up in response, eyes shining with content. "It tastes delicious, too! You're such a great chef Levy, I don't know how Gajeel could tell me otherwise."

"Talkin' shit bout me again, Lily?"

Both exceed and human look to see said dragon slayer entering the kitchen, his wild, long hair kept out of his face with a homemade orange headband and his outfit comprising of a metal-studded jacket and dark jeans, casually munching on a piece of iron. He nods appreciatively as he notices Levy's state of dress, a smirk forming on his tanned face at the familiar black shirt that was oversized on her small body.

"Gajeel!" Levy gasps, her actions a blur but her embarrassment apparent as she tries to cover up her previous activities, reaching for the plate of fried rice.

But Gajeel was one step ahead of her as usual, a spoonful of rice already on its way into his mouth. The young chef could only gulp as she watched him chew and swallow, his thoughtful expression serving to raise her nervousness.

"This is really good," he finally comments, tossing the spoon back onto the plate. "Ya made this, Lily?"

"As a matter of fact," said exceed grins, looking between the two mages mischievously. "I did not. It was your beloved Shrimp who made it."

Gajeel's gaze immediately shifts to the shy bluenette, disbelief and suspicion written on his face. He eyes the dish in front of him before snapping to look at his girlfriend again, his glaring burning holes into her downturned head.

"…no way."

"Yes way," Lily smirks.

"No way in hell did Shrimp make that! She ain't supposed to be good at cooking!"

"I think the evidence is speaking for itself, Gajeel."

"Shut-"

"Actually!" Levy all but shouts over the quarrelling, the look in her eyes a determined one as she stares into Gajeel's own ruby irises. "Actually, I'm a decent chef, and the only reason I failed at cooking for Gajeel was because I couldn't find any recipes that included iron in their dishes!"

"…What?" the iron mage intelligently splutters, but Levy ignores his confusion and the burning in her cheeks and ploughs on.

"Valentine's Day is coming, and I wanted to do something special," she confessed, her hands unconsciously forming small fists by her side. "I searched everywhere for recipes, but none of them ever explained how to cook iron, so I took it upon myself to experiment... but… but it was a disaster…"

"And ya almost destroyed my kitchen." Gajeel's gaze softens as he understood her sincerity, a hand coming to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. "Look, there ain't any fancy 'recipes' for iron, Shrimp. C'mon, I'll teach ya."

Lily's grin only widened as he realised that both of them had long forgotten about his existence, caught in their own bubble of each other as the headed into the kitchen.

"Iron's gonna rust if ya expose it to oxygen, ya know."

"I'm not dumb Gajeel, I know that!"

"I'm ain't the one cooking up infernos."

"Stop talking about that! Stupid Gajeel! And where did you even learn that word…"

The small exceed chuckles as the kitchen door slams shut and the couple's bickering fades, picking up the plate and the spoon and hopping off of the dining table. Taking one last look at the closed door, Lily could only give himself a pat on the back for another successful matchmaking run, before joyfully padding out of the house to continue his meal in peace.