Sparks

Mornings in the Guild were, as always, eventful and very noisy. Gray was used to this noise, really. That morning, however, as he made his way downstairs to grab some breakfast before heading off to work, he heard his name in a conversation between two very familiar voices.

“…Gray, really? OUR Gray?” — that was Lisanna.

“Yup, the bastard. And y’know, the girl’s hella cute too.” — and that one was, without a doubt, Natsu.

“You think he likes her?”

“Not sure, but I think she liked ‘im. Keeps blushin’ and asked a lotta questions when we were walkin’ her home yesterday.”

“Awww! I wish I could’ve met her!”

Gray was not awake enough to deal with their teasing. He needed some breakfast first. So as soon as he knew he was within earshot, he declared — “For the last time, I just helped a girl out because she needed it. Not ’cause I’ve got plans to date her.”

“Good morning, Gray!” Lisanna greeted him cheerfully and innocently, as if they weren’t just gossipping about him. She held her cat, Happy, in her arms.

Beside her, Natsu was smiling smugly. “Hey, I’m just tellin’ it like it is. Also, I gave her your number.” — someone made a coughing sound — “I mean, Levy gave her your number.”

Gray looked towards Levy, and she just smiled cheerfully at him. “Hey, she was really fond of you!”

There were several sounds of agreement from the others.

“Nice one, Levy.” — Warren.

“That’s our girl.” — Droy.

“Good job.” — Max.

“Don’t be so hard on her, Gray.” — Laki.

“Are you guys trying to set me up?” Gray asked, glaring at his housemates. When no one answered, he looked unimpressed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Because the last time you tried to set me up with someone, she ended up with Natsu.”

“You said Lucy was cute!” Lisanna pouted. “Everyone heard it. Including Lucy!”

“And how did that turn out?” Gray huffed as he sat with them.

“Meh.” Natsu shrugged. “How was I s’posed to know she’s gonna end up likin’ me while I was tryin’ to get her to like you?”

“Yeah, that one kinda didn’t go as planned.” Lisanna mused. “It just… went elsewhere.”

“Look at the bright side.” Levy piped up. “At least you made two of your friends happy!”

“After like a hundred mixed signals from BOTH of them, yeah. Maybe.” Gray deadpanned. God, just thinking back about it gave him a headache. (He endured a month of awkwardness until finally cracking and just shouting at them to ‘Please FOR MY PEACE OF MIND, just GET TOGETHER and YES it’s okay I’m not in love with either of you anyway!’)

But instead of sympathizing with him, Lisanna almost spit out her coffee as she tried not to laugh. “Oh my gosh, I remember that! When you thought Natsu was about to confess to YOU!”

Natsu didn’t hold back, though — he just cackled. “I fucked up big time, but it was sooo worth it! You shoulda seen your face!”

“I SAW MY FACE, YOU GOT IT DOWN ON TAPE!” Gray snapped, then glared at Warren, who raised his hands with a ‘I-was-just-following-orders!’ expression on his face. “The point is, you guys should let this shit go. We don’t even know if Juvia’s ever gonna reach out again—”

“We told her she can come back anytime.” Levy said.

“Uh-huh, and I told her where you work!” Natsu added. Gray swore he popped a vein watching the idiot share a high five with his partner-in-crime.

“Unbelievable.” was all he mumbled as he finally sat down with them.

“But you do like the girl, right?” — that was from Evergreen. He didn’t even notice that she was present. Well, to be fair, his housemates’ girlfriends and boyfriends just popped up in the Guild at random times and nobody really noticed it anymore.

Except Jellal, because he always brought food with him so everyone always makes him feel extra special.

Gray just sighed and said, “I’m not gonna answer that. All I know is I saw that she needed help, so I offered help. I was just doin’ the right thing.”

There was a chorus of “Awwww!” from everyone.

“Now lay off me already.” he said, starting his meal.

To their credit, they did lay off on him. Everyone went back to their own meals and conversations. It was peaceful.

For a full five minutes, maybe. Because then Erza sat on the empty chair beside him. “Hey, Gray. Mira told me about it—”

He groaned. “Goddammit, can’t I get a moment of peace—”

“Calm down.” Erza cut him off, looking amused. “I was just gonna say that it’s such a shame — you could have used my room for the night. More comfy than the couch. I was at Jellal’s that night anyway.”

“Oh.” he blinked. “Well, uhh… Yeah, maybe? But I was slammed from work. Didn’t have the energy to ask around. Thanks, I guess.”

Erza just shrugged and nodded. “…That’s all for me, actually.”

“Really?” — he really could always count on Erza to be the mature one.

“Yeah-… Ah!” a look of clarity passed by the red-head’s face before she beamed at him proudly. “Good job, Gray! Are you planning on dating this girl? Everyone told me she’s really nice…”

With that, Gray just brought his hands to his face and rubbed his temples. Yep. It was too early in the morning to deal with this.

---

Levy was used to watching everyone leave after breakfast. While she sometimes went out with Jet and Droy to perform on the streets for some extra money, her primary source of income was still her home-based writing jobs, so she often stayed at home while her housemates went off to work.

That morning, after breakfast, she went out to grab something at the nearest convenience store. As she made her way back home, she assumed that everyone would have already left. But as she arrived in the garage, she saw Mira just about to leave.

“Hey, Mira.” Levy greeted. “Off to work? It’s later than usual.”

“Oh, hey.” Mira greeted. “Well, my sessions start late today, so I thought I’d clean up a bit upstairs before leaving. Anyways, gotta go now! See you later!”

“Yeah, later!” Levy called out, making her way up the stairs.

But then she heard Mira call for her again. “Levy?”

The younger woman stopped in her steps and looked back. “Yes?”

“I found a sketchbook on the couch. I didn’t have time, but I put it in the dining table. Will you take it upstairs, please? I know that Freed slept over, and I think he hasn’t left yet.”

“Sure thing. You sure it’s Freed’s?”

“I think so. Who else is there?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“That’s all, really. Going now! Bye!”

Levy waved back and watched Mira left before she made her way back up.

The Guild was a six-floor building. It wasn’t a very big building — just tall. It was old, too — so there were no elevators, just a set of staircases on the leftmost side of each floor. The ground floor had the garage and what served as the living quarters of the Strauss siblings: Mira, Elfman and Lisanna. The Strausses were family friends of the Dreyars. Mira, at 26, was the eldest of their household, along with Laxus. She had already been standing in as her younger siblings’ parent since she was a teenager. Now, she was everyone’s big sister and maternal figure. She basically looked out for everyone.

Elfman worked as a delivery guy for a courier company. Mira was a ballroom teacher and choreographer in a local dance studio. Together they could easily move out and maybe manage loans for a house and car, but all they earn they reserve for Lisanna’s tuition fees — she was a student in the city’s best performing arts school, honing her talent in lyrical jazz dance. They wanted their sister to have the formal training that Mira couldn’t afford for herself.

The entirety of the second floor was their dedicated practice area. It was just a huge dance floor. Everyone pitched in to have two walls lined with a mirror. The other two walls were filled with colorful spray paint graffiti care of Bixlow and Gray. There were tons of old cassette players and broken speakers on one corner, Some props and supplies on another: a trampoline, several tap boards and some chairs among others.

When Levy got there, she was surprised to find Cana in the middle of the dance floor, stretching and warming up. She was wearing her tap shoes, and was tapping experimentally on an old tap board.

“Cana, coming up with a new routine?” she asked.

Cana turned to face her and shrugged. “Nah, it’s my free day today. I figured I’d chill out doing some tap. Y’know, all I’m doin’ lately is broadway and singing. Don’t wanna get rusty.”

Levy nodded, considering it. Cana’s schedule, outside of the shows and concerts, was usually packed with rehearsals, guestings and other events. On her days off, she usually just hung around the Guild, went out with some friends, or spent the day with her dad.

The brunette rested her hands on her hips as she asked, “Wanna join me? Tap jam session?”

Levy smiled. She was in a trio with Jet and Droy, but she also knew that besides the three of them, Cana was the only other person in the guild who danced tap. It would be a nice change of pace. “Sure thing. I’ll just finish up some stuff upstairs and get my shoes.”

“Great.” Cana nodded, turning back to her warm up. “Well, I’ll be right here.”

Levy continued her climb. The third floor was the other common area — it was just divided between the kitchen and the living room, with a small bathroom to the side. It was quite spacious, but considering the number of occupants of the house, it was just right.

It was also the tallest floor of the building — and it had a loft area that everyone just considered as floor 3.5. Levy climbed up the spiral staircase that led up to the loft. Floor 3.5 belonged to Levy, Jet and Droy — their areas separated neatly by portable dividers. Levy almost always had the loft to herself, anyway. Jet and Droy were retail workers for a department store in the city’s biggest mall, six days a week.

Levy boot up her laptop and checked her emails quickly. There was no job to do today — perfect for just chilling out. So she put her hair up in a ponytail and grabbed her practice tap shoes before going back down again. She set her shoes down first to pick up the sketchbook that Mira left in the dining table, deciding to deliver it to Freed first before returning to Cana.

The fourth and fifth floors were the same: A hallway, three bedrooms on one side, and on the other, two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Not all bedrooms were occupied — some were still empty — with broken windows, walls or pipings that they couldn’t afford to fix. Anyway, the fine rooms were just enough for everyone.

The fourth floor had Cana’s, Gray’s, Laki’s and Natsu’s rooms.

Laki was, like Lisanna, a student of the performing arts school. She was on a scholarship, coming from a strong ballet background and now practicing contemporary.

Gray and Natsu both worked for a famous catering service company — so their schedules were erratic. Sometimes Levy could spend a whole day hanging out with them. At times, they left really early in the morning. There were also times when they come home just as everyone else were starting their day. When they first met Lucy, she always stayed over at Cana’s room. Now she shared Natsu’s.

Today the fourth floor was empty. Everyone was at work, so Levy went ahead to the next floor.

The fifth floor had Max’s, Warren’s, Alzack and Bisca’s, and Erza’s rooms.

Max worked a 9 to 5 desk job in an accounting firm. Warren’s hours weren’t as fixed, though — he worked in a call center with shifting schedules.

Meanwhile, Alzack and Bisca were Mira’s teaching assistants. So usually they left and came home the same time as the woman. The couple didn’t announce it, but everyone knew that they were saving up for the wedding.

Erza was also a dance instructor and occassional choreographer, but she often switched dance studios. Her gigs ranged from leading middle-aged ladies in zumba lessons, to coming up with choreography for dance competition contestants. She never settled with one style, but she was good at basically everything, so the switching didn’t affect her performance.

The building’s walls were thin and so the rooms were not soundproof. From the staircase, Levy heard the loud music coming from Erza’s room. The red-head must be cooking up a routine. Not wanting to disturb her friend, Levy decided to continue her climb.

The sixth floor. Finally. Three-fourths of the floor was Laxus’ domain. It was the only real sound-proof area in the building. He had a big activity area — a library of magazines, records and films, a big table for his DJ equipment, his laptop, PC and two extension monitors, another table where he and Bixlow tinkered with gadgets and electronics, a couch, and a coffee table. Then there was his bedroom and a storage room filled with everyone’s old stuff. The remaining space in the floor was Bixlow’s room and a bathroom.

Why was Laxus’ activity area sound-proof? Well… because it was always loud. Case in point: as soon as Levy turned the knob and stepped inside, she was met with the sound of a hit Fall Out Boy song from the speakers on full-blast.

It took her a few more seconds to realize it was a remix. No, it was a mashup. With Imagine Dragons.

Levy was impressed.

Laxus was, as usual, sitting in front of his computer and frowning at the monitor. He was probably nitpicking his latest work again.

“It sounds great!” Levy perked up, voice loud so he could hear her above the music.

Laxus took a short glance at her, adjusted the volume control, and then swiveled his chair around to face her. “Hey.”

“What’s the mix for?” she asked.

The blonde shrugged. “Nah, was doing it for kicks. Turns out it sounds like shit though.”

Levy frowned. “I think it sounds badass. No work today?”

“Took the day off. To make up for the whole week I’ve been doing overtime,” he yawned. It was obvious that he hasn’t adjusted his body clock yet.

“Great, more people in the house! How about Bixlow?”

“Still out cold. I think he’s in the 2 to 10 PM shift today.”

Laxus and Bixlow worked in the same big-shot IT outsourcing company, but from what Levy knew, Laxus was on a more managerial position while Bixlow was more of a coder/programmer. They both worked as part of a 24/7 support team so sometimes, like Natsu, Gray and Warren, they stayed up crazy hours too.

“What brings you here anyway?” Laxus asked this time. “Finally got bored downstairs? Gonna ask me to cook lunch?”

“Actually, I’ve got a tap jam session with Cana.” she answered, then lifted the sketchbook. “I just brought this up here. Mira found it downstairs while cleaning. Is Freed around?”

“Yeah, one sec.” he adjusted the volume again before calling out, “Oi, Freed! Levy’s here, says she’s got somethin’ for you!”

Levy gaped. “Oh my God, please don’t tell me you woke him up.”

Laxus chuckled. “No, he’s just in the bedroom. Turnin’ my closet upside down, says his favorite shirt should be in there somewhere.”

Levy sighed in relief as she walked over to sit on the couch. On the coffee table was a mess of art stuff: watercolors, paintbrushes, pens and pencils, and various papers with unfinished fashion sketches. Freed must have taken some of his work home.

He had a costume and fashion design job in various threatres in town. He had his own apartment but lately he had taken to staying at the Guild because it was nearer to the threatre district. This also meant he could spend more time with Laxus, so that worked as well. Their often conflicting schedules made it difficult enough to make time for each other.

Levy didn’t spend much time in the sixth floor. It was usually Laxus, Freed, Bixlow and Evergreen’s domain. They were a tight-knit bunch. Evergreen, who was also Elfman’s girlfriend, often slept over at the Guild as well. Practically part of the family, she was the girls’ go-to person for their make-up and cosmetics emergencies. Evergreen often worked with Freed in the threatre district. She was a make-up artist and hairstylist.

In speaking of Freed, the man just emerged from the bedroom, looking very disgruntled. “I swear I put it in your laundry basket, Laxus. Are you sure you didn’t misplace it when you washed clothes?”

“I swear. But you should try Bixlow’s closet next.” Laxus said. Levy agreed with that. Bixlow sometimes still did his chores even while he was drained from work. One such incident resulted in one of Cana’s dresses ending up in his closet. So the incident wasn’t entirely unheard of.

Freed just rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll do that.” Then he finally turned towards Levy with an accomodating smile. “Hey, Levy. What can I do for you?”

“Mira found this while cleaning up a while ago. She asked me to bring it up here for you.” Levy said, handing the sketchbook to the man. When Freed raised an eyebrow at the item, she asked, “It’s yours, isn’t it?”

“Actually, no.” Freed said, frowning a bit but taking the item anyway. “All my sketchbooks are bigger than this.”

“Maybe it’s Bixlow’s.” Laxus suggested, wheeling his swivel chair towards Freed to take a look at the contents of the sketchbook as his boyfriend flipped it open. He paused. “Okay, not Bix. It’s Ever’s, then.”

“No, Ever’s sketches don’t look like this.” Freed remarked. The sketchbook was filled with sketches of some scenery, lots of flowers and butterflies, and girls in dresses. He handed it back to Levy before absently resting his elbow on Laxus’ shoulder. “You should ask the girls. Wait, have you checked for labels? A name or something?”

“Checking…” Levy mumbled, flipping through the book. “No name. But here in the inside of the front cover. It’s just a letter. J.”

Laxus did a quick survey of the names of his housemates. “Jet?”

Freed looked at the blonde with an amused smile before suggesting a more likely option. “Maybe Jellal? When was the last time he was here?”

“I think it’s Juvia.” Levy said, looking up at the two.

“As in the girl Gray took home few days ago?” Laxus asked. He had to listen to everyone gushing about it over dinner. “Do you even know where to find her?”

Freed nodded at that. “Mira told me the girl’s phone was busted.”

“Don’t worry. I know where to look.” Levy smiled, standing up. “Maybe I’ll bring it to her later, after lunch.”

She excused herself then. They told her to be careful going downtown, and she simply nodded. They were like her big brothers, never failing to look out for her and the others. As she left, she heard Laxus sigh as he agreed to help Freed look for the missing shirt again. She simply smiled to herself as she closed the door behind her, the last sounds of conversation disappearing behind the sound-proof walls.

Levy hugged the sketchbook to herself as she climbed back downstairs. Later, she’ll go out — back to the record store. It would be nice to get some fresh air for once. She could check up on Juvia — how she was doing, if she was getting by fine… She could send everyone’s regards.

But for now, Levy would leave the book in the dining table and pick up her tap shoes instead.

She might be a home-based freelance writer, but Levy was, at her core, a dancer. Far off as it may seem, she’s looking forward to having a career. Cana was right — she couldn’t afford to get rusty in her own art.

---

Lunch in the guild was eventful that day. For the first time in a while, Levy had a lot of company — Erza, Cana, Laxus, Freed and Bixlow.

There was a discussion about the upcoming big dance contest again. Everyone was determined to join, but it’s mostly still rumors. Max said that it’s very likely though — and Max is good at scoops like these, so they all stood by. They’ve joined many contests before, even bagged some wins, but never first place. They’re mostly street dance contests. Their members don’t have enough training for contemporary or tap, but everyone had a decent hip-hop background.

Levy hoped this time they’ll bag the first place award. According to Max’s sources, there was a possible contract at stake. That could get the whole group started on a professional track — something they’ve always wanted.

They’ve been running around trying to prove themselves for too long. They can’t keep up on their day jobs forever, keeping their passion as a side hobby.

---

After lunch, Levy grabbed the sketchbook and headed downtown. The record store was easier to find this time. The shop’s name still made her giggle a bit.

When she entered, the store was empty — again — but this time she only found a bored young teenager by the counter, busy tapping away at his phone.

“Um, hello.”

“Yeah, hey. ’Sup?” — was the bored reply.

Levy frowned for a beat because the teenager was obviously not doing his job properly, but she mustered up a polite smile anyway. “Is… Gajeel-san… around?”

It was a bit awkward to say, but what other name could she call him? She didn’t know his last name. Just ‘Gajeel’ seemed impolite, while ‘Gajeel-kun’ sounded too familiar (and she got the feeling it was reserved for Juvia), so ‘Gajeel-san’ it is.

The teen just shrugged at her and jabbed a finger towards what Levy recognized must be the… stock room? “He’s at the back. Sortin’ stocks or somethin’.”

“Thanks.” she said. When the guy didn’t move, she looked around warily. What was he waiting for? He’s not calling Gajeel so… Could it be that that was a go-ahead? “Um… I… can go there?”

“Yeah, whatever. Door’s not locked anyway.”

Levy just nodded tentatively. “Uh… thank you, I guess…?” She eyed the ‘ONLY EMPLOYEES ALLOWED’ sign by the door before deciding to just get it over with. Hey, the employee told her to go ahead, right?

As the kid said, the door was not locked. Levy quietly slipped inside the room and looked around. It was indeed a stock room of the shop — with stacks of CD’s, vinyl records, headphones, players, speakers, other gadgets and whatever supplies the store sold. It wasn’t a big room and Gajeel was a large guy, so she saw him right away, standing in the middle of the room, back turned towards her.

She was about to speak up to try and catch his attention when she noted the phone he held against his ear, a split-second before he spat a harsh curse to whoever was on the other end of the line.

“You son of a bitch.”

Levy flinched at that, because even if several of her housemates regularly used that kind of language (and to one another no less), she knew they didn’t really mean it. But here, Gajeel’s tone of voice indicated that he meant every word he said.

He kept talking, pausing every one in a while to wait for replies: “Are you fucking serious? Look, I don’t give a shit if you want to bail out or quit your half-assed band, but don’t take me down with you. You know we have a gig tonight. You know I’m countin’ on this gig. You know I need the cash — and now you cancel because, what, some chick invited you to a party? FUCK-… WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT YOUR PROBLEM, FUCKER IT’S YOUR FUCKING BAND! — D’you have any idea how hard it is to get a goddamned gig in this shithole of a city? — Yeah, of course not because we’re the ones who work for it while you do shit! — Out? What d’you expect us to— FINE. LEAVE, QUIT, THAT’S EASY FOR YOU TO DO! — You and your shithead drummer can’t play for shit anyway! — AND YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU’RE A PRETENTIOUS DICK AND YOUR SONGS ARE SHIT. There, I said it. — WELL, FUCK YOU TOO!”

Levy jumped and stepped back when he slammed his phone down on the table. Because of this, she almost toppled over a stack of small boxes nearby. She yelped, but managed to straighten the stack safely again.

Gajeel whirled around and stopped when he saw her. “You’re-… I forgot your name.”

“Levy.” she said, smiling uneasily. “Levy McGarden. I’m… uh, Juvia-chan’s—”

“Yeah, the guys who helped her out, you were here the other day.” he nodded, still frowning a bit. “What’re you doin’ here? Only employees allowed in here—”

“Um, the guy at the counter said you’re here and I could… come in.”

“That little piece of—” he cut himself off, sighing. “He shouldn’t have done that.”

“He’s busy with his phone…” Levy said, looking down and fidgeting.

“I oughtta get him fired, never does anythin’ right anyway.” he grumbled. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, eyeing his guest. “Anyway, if you’re lookin’ for Juvia, she’s out right now. Lookin’ for a job.”

“Oh. That’s good. I hope she finds one right away.” she tried her best to smile as genuinely as possible. Not that she found his company unpleasant, it was just that… he was looking at her in a strange way. Like he’s trying to… figure her out or something. ‘Well, actually I think she might’ve left something at the Gui-… at our house. This one.’ Levy took out the sketchbook from her bag and handed it to the man. “Would you happen to know if it’s hers?”

“Yeah, it is.” he answered in monotone, flipping through the book shortly. “I’ll give it to her. Tell ‘er you dropped by and all. Anyways, she wants to go back to your place after she’s done sortin’ her stuff out. Won’t stop talkin’ about her Gray-sama person.”

Levy couldn’t help but giggle at that.

He continued, “Thanks for bringin’ this back. She lost a lot of stuff, she’ll be happy to have this one back.”

“It’s nothing. Please tell her we look forward to her visiting. And Gray’s doing well. I’m sure he’d like to see her all fine and settled.” Levy said, patting down her skirt and adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “Well, I’ll get going now. Can’t stay too long in the employee area.”

She laughed jokingly, and didn’t wait for his prompt to turn to leave, but as she was just stepping out, he called her, “Hey, uh-… you, err—”

“Levy.” she repeated. Boy, he was bad at names. It was kinda endearing-… Wait, what?

When she looked at him, he was looking very closely at her, his gaze dropping from her face to her… feet? It made her feel smaller than usual.

“Yeah. Uh, d’you go ’round here often? You-… you look familiar.”

A look of realization crossed her face before she smiled at him. “I’ve done some gigs around here before, if that’s what you’re pertaining to.”

“Gigs, like…?”

“I’m a street performer. I do tap with two of my friends. Maybe you’ve passed by while we were performing?”

Now it was his time to have the moment of realization. “Ah. Hell.” — he chuckled, shaking his head and crossing his arms across his chest. “You’re the little tapper girl. With the two guys, the tall one and the fat one. No offense, it’s an adjective.”

She laughed a bit. “None taken.”

“I’ve seen you move. You guys are great. That… uh, tap-clapping-acapella cover of White Winter Hymnal you were doin’ last winter was somethin’ else.”

“Gee, thanks! We’re-… we’re not that good…” Levy said, clearly not expecting the compliment.

“You guys don’t get paid enough by those hats.” he shrugged now. “That’s it, really.”

“Oh. Well. I’ll… get going. Just… um, tell Juvia-chan.”

“Got it.” he nodded.

She couldn’t help but give a little wave when she exited the room.

Levy skipped on her way home. It was a little thing, she knew — to be complimented by a stranger on a single performance he saw. She didn’t care.

It made her day a bit brighter anyway.