A/N – I really hope I can get this done in time for Christmas.

This will mostly be Gajeel/Levy centric, with other pairings throughout. Hope you enjoy.

Secret Santa

Fairy Tail was getting ready for Christmas.

Mages rushed about with various trappings, getting as much of the decorations onto the floor as they were supposed to be getting into the rafters. Brightly colored streamers and various blinking lights were being tamped into place all along the second floor and the bar looked glorious with its array of holiday wreaths, flowers and lights. An enormous tree, courtesy of the combined efforts of Droy and Laki Olietta, was sitting in a place of honor right next to the bar. People were already taking bets on how long it would remain standing as Fairy Tail cavorted around it. Bets ranged from gone within the next few days to Cana's creative "going up in a burst of flames on Christmas night." The majority gave it a scant week.

It was certain to be glorious while it lasted, Gajeel thought grumpily, watching mages decorating the huge tree. The only reason he was looking at all was because Levy was perched precariously on a ladder, hanging little baubles on the upper boughs, chattering happily with Lisanna and Lucy who were decorating underneath her. Jet and Droy were hovering nervously in the periphery, obviously as worried as he was about her tentative position (though he strongly suspected that they were also trying to take opportunistic glances up her skirt, and that made Gajeel want to beat them to a bloody mess).

Levy, finished with her armful of baubles, leaned back, surveying her handiwork and Gajeel closed his eyes, fighting the growing urge to go and support the ladder as it creaked perilously underneath her. Deciding that a little more zazzle wouldn't hurt, Levy raised an arm and spoke brightly as she cast a Solid Script incantation.

"Light!"

A multitude of small, glowing lights burst into existence around her, and for a second, Levy was gloriously illuminated by a cloud of glowing firefly text. She smiled, looking up at them before flicking her finger outwards, sending the tiny Solid Scripts flying into decorative positions all around the tree. Cries of appreciation at her handiwork went up all around the Guild and Gajeel swallowed weakly past the lump in his throat.

Shit. Why did she have to look so goddamn beautiful when she did things like that?

This brought him to the next order of things on his mind. Surreptitiously, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and stared at it. There was only one word on the note, printed in block writing. Levy.

He had gotten Levy for his Secret Santa partner.

He stuffed the paper viciously back into his pocket, blushing angrily. Of all the luck in the world...he couldn't decide whether he was ecstatic or furious. On one hand, this was the perfect opportunity to get Levy a great present, maybe even let her know how he felt. On the other hand - he glared daggers at Mirajane, who was humming and sweeping about behind the bar, preparing warm holiday drinks for the (already) drunken revelers - why did it feel like he was being set up?

Scowling, he watched the white-haired bartender with slitted eyes. He had absolutely no doubt that she was the one handling the whole partner exchange aspect of the Secret Santa. Deciding to confirm, he stalked over to where Natsu and Gray were scrabbling and fighting each other to put up a now hopelessly-tangled string of lights.

"Oi Salamander, Stripper."

The two looked up at him with fire in their eyes, angry at being disturbed and simultaneously yelled "What do you want?"

He took out his piece of paper and waved it at them, careful to keep it folded.

"What poor idiots got you two as partners for the gift exchange?" Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to say Secret Santa. It was just too...jolly.

Natsu and Gray stopped fighting, rummaging about for their own slips of paper. Gray had to find his pants in order to do so, angrily jamming himself back in before he fished the slip out of one pocket. Natsu held up his piece shamelessly.

"I got Lu-"

Gajeel shut him up instantly, clapping one hand across Natsu's mouth.

"Oi, shut your big mouth!"

Gajeel glanced back to make sure Lucy Bunny-girl was still occupied with Levy and Lisanna at the tree. Thankfully she was, and even though Natsu's voice was hopelessly loud, she hadn't heard him over the commotion the rest of the Guild was making. Turning his attention back to Natsu, he hissed "You're not supposed to let them know, you idiot! That's the entire concept of the stupid game, and I've never even done this before!"

He let go of Natsu with a yelp, shaking his smoking hand as the Dragonslayer belched, producing an impressive burst of flame. Snarling, Gajeel turned to Gray, who was shirtless again.

"What about you, stripper?"

Gray frowned at Gajeel, picking up his shirt again and putting it back on. Quietly, he murmured "I got Juvia."

"SHH, BE QUIET GRAY!" Natsu yelled, completely defeating the point as onlookers around them gawked and cocked their ears to listen in on their conversation.

Gajeel rolled his eyes as Gray and Natsu started a shouting match about who could be quieter. As he stalked away from the squabbling pair, his initial suspicions were confirmed. The only question that remained was...had the girls gotten their respective guys as their exchange partners too? He chanced a quick glance at Mirajane and twitched to see that she was watching the trio of Levy, Lucy and Lisanna like a cat, her eyes flicking to the girls and then to Natsu and Gray. Her cunning expression was instantly replaced by her usual pleasant smile as she caught his glance, and Gajeel returned her friendly wave with a halfhearted flick of one finger, shivering at the dark reach of her power.

There was no way that the girls wouldn't have gotten their guys as their gift exchange partner, Gajeel figured, not with Mirajane pulling strings behind the scenes, but he still had to make sure. Spotting Juvia peeking at Gray from behind the bar, Gajeel headed towards her. Halfway there, he suddenly realized that he was mentally referring to himself as Levy's "respective guy" and flushed irrationally at the stupid thought, kicking over a chair in a fit of rage? happiness? He didn't quite know himself either. He sank down onto his haunches next to Juvia, who was kneeling behind the bar and peeking at Gray through gaps in the legs of the high bar stools.

"Hey."

Juvia turned and smiled at her longtime friend.

"Hello Gajeel! Juvia feels happy that holidays here are so fun!"

He just nodded and got straight to the point.

"You got stripper over there as your gift partner, huh?" He punctuated his question by jabbing his chin at Gray, who was still arguing with Natsu. Their yelling match had reached epic proportions and both mages were red-faced from shouting. The crowd of drunken Fairy Tail members around them cheered and waved them on enthusiastically. Elfman, Nab and Alzack had their arms slung around each other and were singing a raunchy (manly) carol in horribly off-key tones, only pausing to take deep swigs from their tankards.

Juvia turned bright red at his question.

"H-How did Gajeel know? Juvia did not tell anyone that she received Gray-sama as...as a partner!"

She looked like she was going to faint from happiness and embarrassment at saying the words Gray and partner in the same sentence and Gajeel edged away from her uncomfortably as she brought both hands to her face and swooned dreamily, hearts in her eyes. He sighed, "Just a hunch," before slinking away, leaving Juvia alone in a state of blissful rapture.

Well now that THAT was taken care of, Gajeel turned his mind towards what sort of present he should get for Levy. He frowned, going over possibilities in his mind. He wasn't exactly good at this sort of thing, not having much opportunity for trivial things like mulling over presents during his tenure at Phantom.

A book would be the obvious choice, he thought, watching Levy out of the corner of his eye, trying and miserably failing not to be jealous as she laughed, twirling around with Lucy as they shared a tinsel scarf. Reluctantly dragging his attention back to the task at hand, he dismissed the idea quickly. Levy would probably be getting a book from every single Guild member for her other Christmas presents. Getting her another one on top of that would be overkill, and he'd be lost in the flood. He wanted to get her something special that she wouldn't be able to forget, something that she would know came from him and him alone. But what?

As he was going over other possibilities, Pantherlily jumped up next to him, sitting so that his paws dangled off the edge of the table. Gajeel hooked one arm around the Exceed and promptly smushed his chin into Pantherlily's head. Lily growled at him, pushing at his face, totally unamused.

"Get off of me, you big oaf of a dragonslayer!"

Laughing, Gajeel let him go, and the exceed returned to his original sitting position with an indignant huff. Gajeel grinned at his cat's fussiness, but soon enough, he fell silent again as he racked his brains for ideas.

"What's on your mind?" Lily asked, noting the pensive look on Gajeel's face. When the Dragonslayer had that expression on, usually he was thinking about darker things, but not today.

Gajeel took out his slip of paper and showed Lily the name on it. Lily looked back up with a sly smile.

"Ah. I understand."

Gajeel flushed at the knowing tone in his cat's voice.

"What the hell are you talking about? I-I'm just thinking about what to get her, that's all!"

Pantherlily just nodded sagely, unable to keep the smug grin off his face. Gajeel snagged the piece of paper out of Lily's paw and stuffed it back into his pocket, a blush creeping up his neck. "If you're not going to help then I'm leaving! I can't even fucking hear myself think in this stupid guild!"

He stomped out without a further word, ignoring the raucous festivities around him.

Levy turned at Gajeel's shout to watch him leave, a concerned expression on her face.

"Levy-chan?"

Lucy, who was tying a large bow on one of the lower boughs of the tree, turned to see her friend with that sad, tight expression on her face that she'd long learned was reserved for Gajeel doing something stupid.

"Don't worry about Gajeel, Levy! I'm sure that he's just annoyed by us being…us!" She grinned brightly at her friend, who blushed hotly.

"I'm not worried about him! I just think he's a party pooper for leaving like that, that's all! I-I mean, he didn't even help us decorate the tree!"

Levy turned back to the tree, her face bright red, jamming ornaments haphazardly onto various branches. Lucy covered her mouth with one hand, stifling the giggle that bubbled up.

"Did you WANT him to help us decorate the tree, Levy-chan?"

If it was possible, Levy turned even redder, and dropped half the ornaments all over the floor in her flustered state.

"N-No! I didn't say that! Stop putting words in my mouth, Lu-chan!"

Levy's voice was shrill with indignation and embarrassment and Lucy giggled helplessly as she bent to help her friend pick up the scattered ornaments. Anyone with eyes could see the mutual attraction between her best friend and the Iron Dragonslayer. Anyone except the two actually involved, that was! She had no idea how Levy could be so hard-headed when it came to things like relationships! Sidling over to her red-faced friend, Lucy grinned slyly.

"You got him for your Secret Santa, didn't you?"

Levy gave a mortified squeak and stared at her friend, open-mouthed with surprise. Lucy pumped her fist victoriously, heedless of the baubles that spilled back onto the floor.

"I KNEW it! How exciting! What are you going to get him? Do you know?"

Levy waved her arms frantically to shush her friend.

"Lucy! Stop! I-I don't know what I'm going to get him!"

Lucy tapped a finger thoughtfully against her cheek, thinking.

"Oh! I know! You could give him yourself! Boys always love sexy presents!" She cupped her boobs, shimmying and looking as sexy as she could manage, and Levy choked with embarrassment. "Just show up at his house wearing nothing but a bow and-"

Lucy abruptly found herself tackled to the floor by a tomato-faced Levy.

"Lu-chan! Don't say that kind of thing! Don't even think it!"

Lucy giggled at the outraged expression on Levy's face, her laughter muffled by Levy's hands clamped over her mouth. She knew that her friend was only this embarrassed because it was such a good idea!

Later, as Levy walked the familiar path back to Fairy hills, she sighed, slouching in a very unladylike manner, breath puffing up in a frozen cloud around her face as she pulled her coat a bit tighter around her. Lucy's idea notwithstanding (she felt her cheeks heat up just THINKING about what her friend and suggested), Levy had absolutely NO idea what to get Gajeel. She pulled out her Secret Santa slip, glancing morosely at the block letter name printed on the paper.

"What do I get you?" She asked with a frustrated sigh.

"Who're you talking to?"

Levy squeaked in surprise as a familiar voice jolted her out of her musing. Hastily stuffing the slip down the front of her shirt, she whirled to face Gajeel, who had appeared out of absolutely nowhere on the path behind her.

"Gajeel! What are you doing here?"

He shrugged and fell into step beside her. They walked in an awkward, if companionable, silence until Fairy Hills came into view before Gajeel abruptly turned to her.

"Who'd you get for your gift exchange partner?" He asked bluntly.

Levy felt her face heating up, and counted on the chilly night air and dimly-lit path to hide it.

"Um, Gajeel, I don't think we're supposed to say who we got until after Christmas..."

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah. No harm in asking though, right? Also, your bra's showing. See ya."

He took off with a huge smirk as Levy screamed something incoherent and furious after him, yanking the deep V of her shirt all the way up to her scarf to hide the slip of bright blue lace that was showing. She KNEW it was a bad idea to wear something like that today! Burning with embarrassment, she powerwalked the rest of the way to Fairy Hills and slammed the door shut behind her.

Gajeel watched to make sure that Levy got into Fairy Hills safely before sitting back and sniffing to plug up the nosebleed that had started when he noticed that her top was in disarray. Initially, he had barely managed to stifle the overwhelming urge to cover her up, reasoning that she wouldn't take too kindly to him suddenly groping at her chest. Now that she was inside the dorm, he figured that she wouldn't mind if he took a quick look about, just to make sure she wasn't really mad at him, y'know.

He snuck back to Fairy Hills, hiding in the cover of the woods near the dorm until he was behind the building. Crouching behind the wall, he tried to tell himself that it wasn't like he was spying on her or anything, just making sure she wasn't still fuming at him. Straightening, he took a few steps back and glanced up. He had memorized where her room was from walking her back several times before, and now he quickly counted the windows, three to the left and two up, eyes alighting on the curtains of her personal library. As he watched, a light winked on as she finally reached her bedroom, a dim glow barely visible through the multitude of books piled high against the frame, and he grinned as she opened her window, leaning out to toss the curtains aside and let her room air out. Perfect.

Glad for the cover of darkness, he took a running start and launched himself upwards, clambering the stone wall with ease and levering himself onto the sturdy stone windowsill before taking a quick peek into her room. It was empty, and he listened intently, inhaling deeply a few times to make sure that she had actually left before sticking his head in to look.

From what he could see, it was in the same wild disarray as before, and he frowned at the books tilting dangerously on creaking shelves, in disarray on her desk, stacked in ceiling-high piles next to her bed. It wasn't like he could judge her, since his own apartment had the unmistakable look of a bachelor pad, with dirty dishes in the sink and half-clean laundry lying randomly about, but Levy's room was a tornado-strewn landscape of half-open books and papers and scrolls.

He knew that she wasn't naturally messy by habit, but he also knew that she tended to forget little details (like no more room for books) when she was on one of her fanatical reading sprees. She wasn't exactly the type to organize her books either, preferring to jam them haphazardly onto shelves the moment she was done, or to stack them next to her bedside in orderly piles until they became too big and eventually wobbled and fell on top of her.

More importantly, her entire goddamn room was books, and it didn't give him a single new idea for her stupid present. Shifting on the windowsill in frustration, he gripped the window frame to hold his balance and accidentally bumped one of the stacks, upsetting the perilous balance and sending the books tumbling down. He winced at the uproar of falling books and fluttering pages, ready to hop off and hide in the shadows if anyone came to investigate, but the door remained closed and he blew out a grateful sigh.

Damn, if only she had some way to pack all these books together so they wouldn't fall everywhere, he groused silently. Then he stopped, jolting as the idea struck him. Shit, it was PERFECT. He leapt off the windowsill, landing as silently as a cat on the ground and took off at a dead run towards his apartment, holding the frail design in his mind even as his brain raced around plans to construct it.

After a long soak in the girls' bath, Levy was finally relaxing in her bed with a book and a candle. She felt loads better now, telling herself that Gajeel's single glimpse of her bra wasn't as bad as anything Cana wore on a daily basis anyways! After her initial embarrassment had faded, she was actually secretly pleased that the Iron Dragonslayer was sneaking looks at her lingerie. She didn't know whether to feel scandalized or appreciative at that traitorous thought. Snuggling into the silk-soft down of her plush comforters, Levy plumped the pillow behind her head with a happy sigh, settling in for a long spell of reading.

A few pages into her novel, she suddenly leapt out from the warm comfort of her bed.

"I got it!" She shouted, pumping her fist victoriously.

Hastily looking around to make sure no one had seen her embarrassing outburst, Levy crawled sheepishly back into her covers, but she didn't return her attention to her book. Instead, she ran both hands over the thick plush of her comforter, recalling Gajeel's horrible, single-layered, scratchy flannel excuse for a blanket from the night she had spent at his apartment.

That was it! She marveled. She'd get Gajeel a blanket so thick and comfy that he couldn't NOT use it, and it was such a strange idea that he'd never know it was from her! He'd probably expect something horribly cliche like a book from her. As if she would be so predictable! Fired up from her idea, Levy was ready to throw on a jacket and run to the local fabric store immediately, but she stopped, suddenly remembering that it was late at night and the store was most definitely closed. She'd have to wait until tomorrow to start.

Reluctantly sinking back into her sheets, Levy blew out the candle and fell back onto her pillows, but her mind was racing a mile a minute and she couldn't fall asleep. Finally, she sat up and re-lighted her candle, pulling out a much-used pad of yellow paper and grabbing one of the ever-present pens from the table next to her bed.

It wouldn't do to just get him a random blanket and call it a present, she thought, chewing her lip. It was so...so clinical! She wanted to put a personal touch on the comforter, just enough to personalize it to Gajeel's liking, but not enough that he would realize it was from her. But how would she decorate a comforter, she wondered?

Absentmindedly, she started doodling little patterns on the yellow pad, her mind going to all the possible things that Gajeel might like. He'd probably like to have some kind of iron on it, just because he was the Iron Dragonslayer and all, but whoever heard of putting iron on a blanket? She pondered it for a while, marking it down just the same. Maybe iron studs would work? Hmm, and since he was a dragon, maybe he'd like a dragon on it? She drew a fierce dragon on the marked square, giggling as it came out worse than she expected. Just to make it as comfortable as possible, the bottom should be made out of a soft, plushy material, she decided, jotting it down with firm strokes.

Sitting back, she surveyed her finished project, which looked remarkably like - her shoulders sagged – a child's toy. She let out a frustrated cry and smacked the notepad against her forehead before slumping back into her bed.

"Ahh, is this really a good idea?" She asked out loud.

She had absolutely no experience working with cloth, and she didn't know anyone who did, but she wanted Gajeel to have something comfortable in his dreary house!
Sighing, she blew out the candle before slumping into bed, pulling the covers up to her face. At least she had an idea. Now all that was left to do was to figure out how to actually make it.

Puffing out her cheeks in frustration, she closed her eyes and was drifting into sleep before she knew it, and her dreams that night were tinged a comforting shade of silver.

End Chapter 1- Gift ideas in the making! Oh the suspense, the drama!

edited to compensate for later chapter lengths.