With the rain woman's nagging voice still ringing in his ears, Gajeel headed towards the guild hall. He thought back on their conversation. Some stupid reporter was coming to do an article on Fairytail and she insisted he needed to be there and make a good impression. Show off his talent. Gajeel snorted. He doubted the reporter would be interested in his talent for war and destruction. The only other talent he had was singing. It was something he would have never shown the guys at Phantom Lord. And if it wasn't for Juvia stumbling across him playing in the woods a few years ago she wouldn't have known about it either. He groaned inwardly. How lame was he... the great Iron Dragon had even written a song about "best friends" just for his new crummy guild. He kicked a stone on the ground and watched it skip across the dusty road. He didn't know how else to get those fairy's to accept him. Being alone in a crowd was almost worse than being alone in private. He sighed and looked up at the towering guild hall. The building was as much a prison as it was his freedom. Now all he needed to do was keep Mira from out preforming him and everything would work out fine.

He tested the back door of the guild hall. Unsurprisingly it was still locked. It was early, so early that the sun was just barley waking up and mist danced around his ankles. But a locked door wasn't much concern for a man made of iron. He quickly unlocked it by simply shifting his finger into a key and slipped inside. In short order he made his way through the dark hall to the guild's store room. He ducked down, hiding his large frame behind barrels of wine and boxes of assorted produce. Now all he had to do was wait. It felt good. It felt like a real job, and he would wait for hours if he needed to.

Mira always arrived early to the guild. One of her responsibilities was to take stock of the guild's supplies and to order replacements when they began to run low. She walked into the storeroom and quickly got to work not knowing that something dangerous was hiding close by.

The guild was starting to fill up. Voices, excited about the arrival of the reporter, drifted into the back room. Gajeel silently slipped from his hiding spot and stood behind Mira. In one swift move he spun her around and pinned her arm to the storeroom wall. After a short scuffle he successfully pinned her left arm as well. The noise from the guild hall's main room kept anyone from hearing Mira's yells. Gajeel slowly drew out a white bandanna from his pocket. He watched as Mira's eyes opened wide in fright.

"Now I'll be back after my performance." Gajeel said securing the knot on his makeshift gag. "I can't have you trying to overshadow me now can I?" He said with grin. He stood back and admired his handy work. He watched Mira struggle against his iron. He had no doubts that it would hold.

"Gihi" He laughed as walked out of the back room and turned off the light. Now all he needed was to change into his outfit and impress the reporter.

ooOoo

Jason had finally finished interviewing Jet and Droy. Now it was Levy's turn. She swallowed nervously. What was Jason going to ask her? What if he asked about the attack? Or how it was having Gajeel as a member of Fairytail? She gulped. Those were questions she didn't want to answer.

"Levy!" Jason yelled. "You're so COOOL!" He never changes Levy thought.

"So what's your favorite part of being in Fairytail?" Jason asked. Levy was glad that the interview started with an easy question.

"My favorite part of Fairytail is the library. It houses a vast collection of books that cover a variety of subjects. I can do almost all of my research for any job request right here at the guild."

"That is so COOOL." Jason yelled making Levy wince. He quickly wrote down her answer and asked his next question. "If you weren't in Fairytail, what job would you like to have instead?"

Another easy one Levy thought. "I would have liked to be an editor for a famous magazine!" She said with her signature smile.

"COOL" Jason crooned. "Now my last question is for all three of you..." His voice trailed off for dramatic effect. "So Shadow Gear... is it true that you're part of a LOOVE triangle?"

Levy was mortified. Just what was Jason publishing to make his readers think they were part of a love triangle. She had made it quiet clear to both Jet and Droy that she wanted nothing from them except friendship. But the way they acted you would think it was all true. Couldn't guys and girls be friends without sex and romance being involved? She thought irritability. She watched Jason scribble furiously into his notebook. This would be tomorrow's headline for sure. Didn't she have enough on her plate with Gajeel joining Fairytail? And now there was this nonsense on top of it.

Her fingers aches for a book, to be able to turn its well worn pages and escape somewhere else. She stood up and began digging through her bag. She knew she had tossed a small book inside on her way out the door this morning. She hadn't looked for very long when she suddenly found herself sprawled on the floor.

"Sorry Lev!" Lucy yelled over her shoulder as she dashed down the aisle and jumped onto the stage.

"Lu?" Levy said confused. What was her friend doing on the stage wearing a bunny suit? Levy realized her mouth was hanging open and quickly snapped it shut.

"Everyone look here!" Lucy shouted. "I'm going to sing!" No sooner had she finished speaking when the curtains of the stage whisked open.

"Mira!" The guild cried enthusiastically. But it wasn't Mira who walked out to center stage. She watched in shock as Gajeel, dressed in an all white suit, sat on the stool and began to play his guitar. Levy didn't bother to shut her mouth a second time. She sank slowly into her seat as Gajeel began to sing.

"There ain't many guild's who would take a man like me" Gajeel began. "Even a wolf will come to like those who feed it. I'll show my enemies how I can sing as friends."

The man had no rhythm. But his lyrics... they weren't half bad. Especially for a man who would rather use his fists to fight than his words. And his voice... as much as Levy hated to admit it when he sang his voice took on a smokey metallic quality. If you could get past his odd rhythm and awkward choice of filler words he wouldn't be bad to listen to. She chuckled when he demanded that Lucy dance to his music. Her blonde friend did her best to follow the beat, but in her bunny costume, she looked ridiculous. Maybe a Fairytail with Gajeel wouldn't be so bad. If she could just get past her fear and anxiety anytime he was around. Who knows maybe one day it could even be fun.

                                      ooOoo

Once Gajeel's song was over Jason appeared in front of him. The foolish reported was practically foaming at the mouth in excitement. "BLACK STEEL GAJEEL!!! COOL!!!" He yelled making Gajeel's ears hurt. " Intentionally absurd lyric combined with top-notch scat vocals! That song is going to be this year's biggest hit!!!! My fans are dying to know the real you! So.... what's your favorite quality of Fairytail?"

Jason's notepad was getting dangerously close to Gajeel's face. His eyes narrowed as he tried to get ahold of his temper. "This crummy guild has no good qualities." He spat. "I'm just here for work."

Jason's face fell a little. "That's....COOL." He said a little less enthusiastically than before. "Uh...Well... What about your future? Do you have any big plans?" He asked with a hopeful smile.

Gajeel crossed his arms and focused on the reporter with cold eyes. Jason's face turned white as Gajeel growled. "I ain't got a future. So there's no use dreaming about it." Gajeel could feel his lips turning up in a snarl. What was with these pathetic questions?

Jason's mouth was hanging open. He didn't even respond with his trademark COOL. "Friends?" He managed to squeak out.

Gajeel was beyond done being questioned. "I have no friends." He stated as he pushed past the stunned reporter. He had bigger things to do.

On his way to the storeroom he ran into a livid Juvia.

"Juvia wants to know what you think you're doing!" She jabbed his chest with her finger with enough force that the drink in her opposite hand sloshed dangerously.

"Juvia went looking for Mira, only to find you tied her up in the back room!" Her voice started to rise and Juvia closed her eyes willing herself to calm down before continuing. "Do you want to get kicked out of the only guild that accepted you?" She hissed.

Exasperated, Gajeel hissed back at the bluenette. "Rain-woman, you're the one who told me to make friends around here and to try to fit in."

Juvia looked like she had choked on her drink. Her eyes grew wide. "You think that's how you treat your friends? Have you completely lost your mind? You better go untie her and apologize! The master might not be so forgiving towards you if you insist on restraining his family."

Gajeel groaned. "Does it even matter?" He growled. "I'm just going to end up on the streets sooner or later."   He growled as he pushed past Juvia. Now how was he going to convince Mira that he wasn't trying to harm her.

Sneaking into the storeroom was harder to do now that the guild was full of people. But somehow he managed it. Mira was still attached to the wall. She looked at him with confusion.

Gajeel walked toward the barmaid. "Mira" He said slightly nervous. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Im gonna let you down now... could you do me a favor and not cause a scene? I need to stay in Fairytail. I only did it so I could sing my song. And... I couldn't have you showing me up." He dropped his hand back down to his side. "I'm gonna let you down now." He said awkwardly. He undid the bolts holding her arms to the wall. He stepped back as Mira rubbed both of her wrists and slowly removed the bandana from her mouth.

"I'll forgive you Gajeel, if you do something for me in return." She responded devilishly.

Gajeel's confidence returned. Could it really be that easy? He could easily do whatever the barmaid had planned. "Sure no problem. What do you want me to do?" He asked.

Mira's grin grew even bigger. Let's begin Phase one! She thought gleefully.

                                    ooOoo