(A/N): Now before I get murdered for not updating, nor posting any stories in awhile. I've decided to post my seventh and second story of Gale, "Ironically Sweet" This is a story that's been living in my head for quite a long time. So what became of this story was the inspiration of an author who goes by the name of "Princess Kitty1" and her wonderful story and AU, "Beautiful Stranger." That, and I believe I fell completely in love with the couple while being hooked on this archive for weeks. (I practically have it bookmarked, and great stories btw!) Now this should be my third AU fic. I apologize the OOC-ness, and the random idea of posting the story in the first place, *Heat of the moment*

So right now, I'm sick and delirious (Thank you, flu) And I have tried my very best to make the situations believable. Again, if anyone notices something that feels off, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it or do better in the future. Thanks and happy belated New Year!

Levy was scared.

Okay, okay, scratch that.

Levy was scared… out of her goddamn mind.

A gulp automatically went down her throat as she caught the same guy who she hardly sees every six weeks or so, was now sitting at the very last table by the edge of the balcony, alone. There he was, looking at the small menu that was placed underneath the bouquet of colorful cupcakes she's spent her time decorating on for weeks.

The blunette didn't care that the store had many other customers hoping to catch her attention, but she couldn't help it.

He was there. The man with strangely long ravenous locks that seemed to be a spikes of oblivion; piercing red eyes that made her legs melt right underneath her, a smirk that had her heart pumping abnormally, and lips that looked slightly cold due to the small metal studs embedded on his chin. Well she had to give him that. To her, he truly was strikingly handsome, despite the large amount of piercings implanted around his body and the dark clothing he'd constantly wore; but…for some reason…she didn't care.

Levy was infatuated with the pierced, intimidating man and she didn't know why.

Ever since he walked in the café two months ago, her eyes widened not of horror, or of disgust, but of familiarization. It was as if she found a connection to him, or something weird had blossomed within her bodily structure once he strode in with three men who looked weak and terrified to be around him. Unlike her she was fascinated as if he was an ancient sculpture. Though she was busy in the small, sweet restaurant, her brown eyes couldn't remove themselves away from the overly dark man who seemed to have men peeing by one simple glance at him. Back then, Levy figured he was arrogant, selfish, smart-mouthed, and loved to start problems.

Eh, but then again maybe it was her. She always had a bad habit of trying to identify people's personalities; and to be frank, that wasn't right at all. The first time she did this was when Lucy came in for a job, and Levy automatically thought she was a blonde bimbo who was plain stupid with no sense of direction and probably had the breast size of her failing grade.

And surprisingly; she was none of those things. Totally opposite matter of fact.

Unlike Lucy, she realized that maybe her habit wasn't that bad after all. Because not even less than two minutes passed and she found out she was completely right. From the way he cursed naturally and the way he seemed to sneer excessively, he was violent than most men who were in prison.

But other than trying to find out personalities and such, there was something about him that drew her like honey to a bear.

Levy wanted to figure out why so many questions would pop inside her head the first time he walked in.

It wasn't like her to judge people, and it definitely wasn't like her to want to know so much about a person.

And for the first time in her life, Levy wanted to know who he was. She wanted to know why someone as dark and frightening as him would go to bakery of all places. Why she felt like a missing piece of her was found…and why whenever their eyes met, her heart would beat frantically for no apparent reason.

It was a series of interrogations that bothered her to no avail.

A small impact was made on her shoulder, the aquamarine blinked as she faced an irritated blonde who seemed to be stressed and fatigued for some unknown reason. For the first time, her best friend practically looked like she was on the verge of collapsing. The bakery shined and sparkled around the room, and Lucy seemed to be the only oddball having a dark aura of frustration and anger emitting around her. "Stop zoning out Levy! We have a full house and the children in table five are killing me. Just go and handle table twelve and take the order." She huffed before grasping the platter of cupcakes and a sundae onto her hand.

Levy felt a blush come onto her cheeks as she realized who was sitting in table twelve at the very moment, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt as if she were going to break down. "But Lucy—"

"No buts!" The blonde shouted; scurrying onto the next table as she served there sweets.

Levy rolled her eyes before stomping a foot in frustration; her tongue sticking out quickly before snipping it back in. Just who in the world made her boss?

Soon after feeling the anonymous strength of victory pulse within her, Levy felt her small body weaken instantly. How can she quickly forget that she was in a state of anxiety, "Oh no…"

The young adult didn't want to take his order, all she wanted to do was just look at him from afar, no contact, no speaking, nothing. As long as she stood really…really, far away from him. She wanted to scold herself for having a mental breakdown at the moment, and of all times, the horrid month of winter heading into spring; Valentine's Day. The restaurant that served sweets and sweets only was now practically filled with teenagers and children of their preteens wanting to try sundaes and fresh chocolate truffles that Levy just happen to make this early afternoon. The sweet aroma of cakes and delicacy's had always filled her nostrils, and the warm sensation of the large oven; nicely decorated pink and red lanterns, peach colored walls, white marble floors that were so clear that many can witness their own reflection.

Levy loved her job.

Now in her final year of high school and in winter vacation; she can finally gain some time to bake and make some new home-made creations to herself, other than having to murder herself with books and essays to get prepared for many long excruciating hours of exams.

The teenager threw a sigh.

She didn't know him that well, and she didn't want to meet him face to face. But then again it wasn't like she was going to do much. She was just going to offer new sweets and question what he wanted. It wasn't like she was going to speak to him about his age…and why he's not accompanied by his scrawny buddies today or if those piercings hurt, or his name…

"Great, now I feel like a stalker..." Placing a blue stand of hair behind her ear while fixing her large black framed glasses, she took a deep breath.

"I. Can. Do. This." The full-time worker mumbled underneath her breath. Her fist tightened against the palm of her hands as she tried to calm down her beating heart.

As soon as she turned around to face him; doe coffee eyes met crimson instantly.

"Oh god I can't do this."

A shiver ran down her spine as if his horrifying glare had shot her down like a gun, piercing straight through her body making her feel all jittery inside. The more she made eye-contact with him the more her heart felt like it was pumping so hard that it fell into the pit of her stomach. It was weirdly satisfying. Like all her bottled up emotions were released with one look of that garnet stare that reminded her so much of blood, lust, and hatred all at once.

It felt like hours the way their gaze never broke until she found herself walking to him robotically; as if she were being hypnotized or pulled into him like a magnet to metal. She didn't like tension and each dainty step she took, she felt the intense pressure add onto her being as his stare never faltered away from hers. The loud mouth of customers was ignored and darkness seemed to surround them but only the two were visible in each other's sights. It was something you'd put as 'Love at first sight' but from the look in his eyes, there was no 'love' just a simple, plain 'first sight'.

Levy wasn't insulted or anything, but she was purely stunned at how horrid the tension broke through her skin. Truthfully she can feel herself sweating bricks and she didn't like it.

Nope. Not one bit.

As soon as another gulp ran down her throat she noted something vaguely surprising about the guy. She found fangs that weren't all that big, but hardly small either. Not the typical vampire fangs, but something you'd actually put in the category of 'not normal'. Levy only spotted them for a quick second when she found a smirk form on his lips while she stood a mere few yards away from his being.

Her blood was rushing automatically, and this made Levy want to switch into cashier shift starting tomorrow.

Right after she arrived right in front of him, her lips parted in a sigh as if she was holding her breath for a quite a long time. The blunette felt her face deepen with the color of his eyes when she found him roaming her features as if he wanted to recognize every little part of her. Levy bit her bottom lip as his gaze went from serious into amusement. It was a smug look that Levy wanted to smack right off of him.

Cocky.

Yeah. He's definitely one hell of a cocky person.

"Levy." The young adult gritted her teeth so hard to prevent from squealing in glee… and in terror.

Glee because his voice was so surprisingly soothing to her.

Terror because he knew her name…

Wait…just why in the world did he know her name?

Her eyes swelled in astonishment as another fresh rosette flashed onto her cheeks. Her lips parted in awe as he just sat there; gaping at her with such a focusing gaze she thought she'd faint at the amount of heat in dwelling within those deadly but blooming orbs.

Her fingers twitched slightly as she felt a large amount of anxiety play with her thoughts. "Um…Ho-how do you… know my name...?"

Levy wanted to smack herself silly as he just merely pointed at her employee name tag.

Another gulp went down her throat as silence danced between them. The more he stared at her; the more she questioned if there was something wrong with her face because for some strange reason; the pierced…dangerous— Levy gulped. The staring buffoon was practically gawking at her if she were the plague!

Or something much, much worse than that.

But this made her wonder…

"Jeez… am I ugly or something?"

"You're not ugly." Her heart felt like it just got trampled and stepped on and had suddenly came back to life to repeat itself all over again. Levy couldn't believe she had said that out loud. And what embarrassed her the most was that he actually heard it throughout the loud children throwing cupcakes in the background.

But what seemed to have her heart hammer to her chest and onto her ears…

Well that was a first, though she had her fair share amount of boyfriends, none really said anything about her appearance. Sure they said she was 'cute' 'adorable' and the most common, 'beautiful.' But the crazy thing was that he didn't say she was ugly. Sure it was pretty plain, and if she were picky stuck-up chick then she would've asked for 'then what am I?' But Levy just left it like that, because him actually saying something, a compliment at that…

This made her want to give him a gigantic teddy bear hug for no reason.

The blue-headed female bit her bottom lip tightly as she felt her face turn into the color of his orbs.

Just why did she feel so happy all over a sudden?

Why should she be excited over a guy who's barely comes to her store?

Levy was confused, she hardly felt like this with any other guy she's dated in the past…Not with Jet or Dory…so why him?

Once her innocent brown eyes made contact with his once more, Levy felt as if her heart shattered into euphoria.

He was completely grinning at her.

Never had Levy felt like she was struck down by something hard and ferocious as this.

The petite female gasped slightly as he stood over her within mere seconds; she was surprised at how large he was compared to her. However she wasn't disappointed because half of the population of her high school was taller than her abnormally short height.

Levy gaped at him as his large body seemed to shadow over her, and she noticed that he was observing her so intently that she wanted to just grab him right then and there and just full on kiss him. Never had she felt like a teenage boy going through puberty, and this terrified her because she was absolutely sure she was no boy!

She noted the look in his mug; and both cherry eyes had a combination of amusement, but mostly of purpose. It was as if he wanted to say something so bad but didn't know how to put it. That's when Levy felt like she got the wind knocked out of her when she felt his large hand brush against her waist slightly before leaning a few centimeters before leaning into her ear.

"Maybe next time you can take my order without blushing."

Levy felt her face redden heavily as heat poured throughout her body. His smoldering gaze was literally entertained before placing his hand back onto his pockets. Smirking at her once more, he walked out the door in what seemed like slow motion to her.