AN: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and all its characters.

And so, I give you the final chapter of From Amongst the Rafters:

Chapter 7 – Innocence and the Devil

Lucy sat at the bar talking to the girls, Natsu's arm around her neck while he glared at Gray who was sitting on a bar stood with Juvia on his lap, her arms tightly around the neck of her 'Gray-sama'. Lucy gave her new boyfriend a peck on the cheek as Erza and Mira asked about how the two of them had finally gotten together. Her answer simply being 'Natsu got drunk' while she waited patiently until her best friend arrived at the guild to join the noisy group of Fairy Tail's gossiping girls at the bar.

About three o'clock in the afternoon Levy finally appeared in through the heavy wooden guild doors. Lucy spun around on her barstool, hoping to finally let the out the wonderful information she'd been holding in all day. She looked at Levy, surprise in her eyes. Levy was wearing a long sleeved yellow top and matching pump shoes. That wasn't the bit that surprised her. It was what was matched with her black leather skirt – the black material of Gajeel's black bandana against her blue hair, the black bandana that he'd been wearing just the day before!

"Levy-chan!" Lucy exclaimed as she seen the bandana.

The little blue haired mage flushed a deep pink colour as she walked over to the group, grinning like crazy at the sight of what looked like 'Natsu and Lu-chan' at the bar among their group of friends .

"What happened?" she nodded at Natsu while questioning her friend. Natsu blushed various shades of pinks and reds, causing Lucy to take the hint to start her tale.

"Natsu got a little drunk last night and climbed in my window," the others looked at her clearly thinking 'well, what's different about that? He climbs in your window everyday', "He, eh-hem, climbed into my bed and...put his arms around me...I woke up and was about to kick him out the bed and shout at him but he was already falling asleep – he looked so cute! And then he...he mumbled quietly to me 'I love you Luce'...and he fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning..."

"Luce said 'I love you too, idiot!' and kissed me," Natsu finished for her, kissing her full on the lips.

The group of girls cooed, awed and sighed over their friends' story, calling to the rest of the guild that they needed to celebrate the happy new couple. Levy grinned at her best friend and her best friend grinned back, unbelievably happy. The rest of that afternoon and most of the evening was spent in the usual Fairy Tail celebration style – lots of booze, dancing, singing, shouting and fighting, breaking most of the chairs in the guild as usual. Later in the evening when everyone was starting to pass out drunk on the guild's tables and floor, Lucy pulled Levy across to a table in the corner by the fire, neither of them really having drunk much.

"So, Levy-chan, why were you here late today?" the blonde asked innocently.

"I slept in and decided to make brunch instead of breakfast, Lu-chan" Levy answered just as innocently, but completely truthfully.

"And what about your interesting choice of bandana?" Lucy asked, slightly annoyed that her friend was keeping her in suspense.

"Huh? Oh! Gajeel seen my skirt and said I could borrow it since it would go well with my skirt," Levy replied with a grin on her face.

"And where is said Gajeel today? He missed mine and Natsu's party!"

To that Levy just grinned and pointed up into the rafters above them. Lucy looked up to see the iron dragon slayer sitting up in the rafters, grinning down at them both, chibi Lily by his side.

Gajeel dropped down from the rafters and landed next to the two mages sitting by the fire.

"I like to keep an eye on my mate from a high vantage point. Even if she's with you, Bunnygirl."

"MATE?!"

Yonde kurete arigatō, min'na! (Thanks for reading, everyone!)

Hehe, I know it was a short chapter! This story when I sat down to write it two and a half weeks ago was supposed to be a one-shot of between 3500 and 5000 words – oops? It ended up taking me a week to write, writing 2-3 chapters at a time, with 2 days of writer's block in the middle... I'm really happy that so many people enjoyed it! So, now I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself, other than revise, so if you have any suggestions – just let me know! Thank you so much everyone!

(Oh, and the point of the 'cute little NaLu' story was for contrast, Gajeel being older, he seemed less likely to do the 'cute teenager stuff' – well, he's already living with her! So Lucy is Natsu's 'girlfriend', Levy is Gajeel's 'mate'! i.e. title of the chapter. The title of the story comes from the when we met Gajeel - in the anime - he attacked Fairy Tail from the rafters of Phantom Lord, and I, genuinely, accidentally had Gajeel drop from the rafters to protect his little Fairy. Also some of the points from the first chapter - of this story - come around again at the end ;) )