Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Aren't you tired?
‘Cause I will carry you
On a broken back and blown out knees
I have been where you are for a while

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The walk back to the camp was silent, with Levy concentrating all of her effort on supporting Gajeel’s weight and guiding them in the right direction, and Gajeel too exhausted to say much of anything. Levy tried her best to keep a steady pace, anxious to get to the camp as soon as possible to warn the others and so that Gajeel’s wounds could be tended to. Gajeel would never admit it out loud, but Levy knew he had taken considerable damage to defeat the two soldiers from Grimoire Heart on his own.

Eventually, Gajeel noticed that Levy was slowing down, sweat beading on her face and her breathing getting heavier. He knew that she wouldn’t stop until she collapsed from exhaustion - she was stubborn like that. No, he thought, not just stubborn. Determined, driven. It was one of the qualities he had noticed about her almost immediately, when he was still in Phantom Lord and he’d attacked her and her teammates. Those qualities were one of the reasons why he knew that she had been chosen for the S-class exam in the first place, even if she didn’t seem to think that she was the most qualified candidate.

When he heard Levy’s breathing get even heavier, he decided to intervene. “Oi,” he said quietly, “Stop and rest for a minute.” He nodded his head toward a large group of rocks nearby.

“I can keep going,” Levy insisted. “We have to warn the others.” She tried to keep walking but Gajeel dug his heels into the ground.

“We won’t make back it to the others if ya pass out, a few minutes won’t matter,” he replied, starting to pull away from her. 

Not wanting him to try and walk away on his own, Levy had no choice but to follow, pouting slightly. She helped him get settled on the ground, leaning against one of the rocks, then settled herself next to him, her eyes down. She had to admit, it was nice to stop and sit after supporting Gajeel’s weight all that way. However, she was upset with herself for not being stronger. If she had been stronger, she would able to get them back to the camp without stopping... No, they wouldn’t even be in this situation, since she would have been able to actually fight those Grimoire Heart goons alongside Gajeel. Instead, she had needed to be protected, again, and the only thing she could do was to leave him with some iron after he sent her to go find the others. She was so weak and –

A sharp poke to her forehead broke her out of her thoughts. She whipped her head up to glare at him. “Hey! What was that for?!”

Gajeel poked her forehead again, not at all intimidated by her angry stare. He actually found it very amusing and slightly adorable, not that he would ever admit the latter of those things out loud. “Yer getting depressed again. Cut it out.”

Levy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Stupid Gajeel,” she muttered, turning away slightly.

They sat in silence for what seemed like ages. Then...

“Just ‘cuz you ain’t physically strong doesn’t mean yer weak, Shorty,” she heard him say quietly. “Yer one of the strongest people I know.”

She turned to face him then, her eyes wide and a slight blush coloring her cheeks pink. “But....I couldn’t even help you fight those guys,” she said sadly. “If I was stronger, you wouldn’t be hurt.”

“Hmm... that may be true, but that just means you’ll have to work hard to get stronger so you can kick some ass next time,” he said with a tired smirk.

She couldn’t help but smile, determination crossing her face. “Yeah, you’re right! I’ll just have to keep getting stronger! Come on,” she said, standing up, “let’s get back to the others!” She held her hand out to him. 

Gajeel grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling himself up. “Gihee, that’s the Shrimp I know.”

Chapter Text

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When angels fall with broken wings
I can't give up, I can't give in
When all is lost and daylight ends
I'll carry you and we will live forever
Forever

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They were out of options and out of time. Their all-out attack against Acnologia had accomplished nothing, and they had no remaining magical power. Now, during what may have been their last remaining moments, they could do nothing but join together in a circle and pray for a miracle. 

As she stood there, waiting for their inevitable demise, she found her hand grabbed by a much larger one and looked up at its owner in surprise.

“Like I said before, don’t leave my side, Shorty.”

She smiled and replied, “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” then tightened her grip on his hand, ready to face whatever fate awaited them.

Chapter Text

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When it gets dark we’re falling far tonight
Under the moonlight chasing fireflies
If I’d ask you, do you think you want to?
Just say yes without feeling like you got to
It’s the way that you looked at me
That night when the butterflies
They came to life by your side

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As Gajeel and Levy slid down the water slide, the only thought that Gajeel was capable of entertaining was of the sheer amount of nausea he was experiencing. He had spent his whole life never having to deal with motion sickness, but for the second time in the span of a few days, he was suddenly cursing his dragon slaying magic. He just hoped the stupid thing would end soon. He was aware, even in his state of illness, that Levy was currently wrapped in his arms, clinging to him, and thought at least that part wasn’t bad. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

Before the two of them could reach the bottom of the slide, however, that damned Salamander apparently had to destroy everything in sight, so they were launched off the slide and hurtled toward the ground. Free from the nausea-inducing slide, he regained his senses just before they hit the ground, and was able to twist the two of them so that he landed on his back, protecting Levy from the impact. His back hit the floor with such force that they bounced once, flipping over in the process. 

When he slowly opened his eyes, all he could see were the red and white stripes of Levy’s bikini. Eyes widening when he realized exactly where his face had landed, he quickly moved off of and to the side of her, hoping she wasn’t aware of the awkward position they had landed in. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like she was. He sighed in relief.

When he noticed her starting to stir a moment later, he asked quietly, “You okay, Shorty?”

Blinking, she sat up slowly, taking in the devastation caused by Natsu. He overdid it this time, she thought. “Yes,” she replied to his question. “What about you? Feeling better?”

“Yeah, now that we’re off that damn thing,” he scowled, glaring at the remains of the slide. “Remind me to punch Salamander next time I see him.”

Levy giggled in response as she stood up. However, her laughter was soon cut short. “Gajeel! Your back is bleeding!” She moved behind him to get a better glimpse of his back. “You have scrapes all over your back! Come on,” she grabbed his hand and started walking away. “We need to get these cleaned up.”

Gajeel let himself be led from the area and back inside the aquarium. “They’re probably fine; you don’t need to worry about them,” he said.

“When it comes to you, I always worry,” Levy mumbled quietly. 

Had it not been for his advanced hearing, he wouldn’t have heard her. Smirking, he said nothing as they continued to make their way inside.

Eventually they found an employee, who directed them to a first aid station. While Levy grabbed some things from the kit, Gajeel brought a chair over and sat so he was straddling it backwards, allowing her to access his entire back. Levy worked in silence, first cleaning all of the scrapes, then applying ointment, and finally wrapping them in bandages. Gajeel also didn’t say anything - he was secretly enjoying the feeling of her hands on him and the fact that she was taking such care with him. It was... nice. 

“There,” Levy announced when she was done, then put everything away.

Getting up from the chair, he turned to her and ruffled her hair. “Thanks, Shorty.”

Puffing her cheeks out in feigned annoyance, she reached up to fix her hair. 

As the two of them made their way back toward what remained of the pool area, Levy said shyly, “I enjoyed our trip to the aquarium today. You know, minus the part where we got eaten by a fish. Maybe we can do something like this again some time.”

Gajeel noticed her cheeks were pink and felt his own warm. “Y-yeah. That’d... be nice.” He mentally facepalmed. Why was it so hard to just say to her what he actually wanted to say? He tried again. “Do you have plans after this? We could, uh, grab something to eat, you know, if you want.”

Levy looked up at him and smiled. “I’d like that. Mind if we go back to the inn to change first?”

“Oh? You don’t want to go on a date in a bikini?” he teased as they walked through what was left of the pool area to head toward the changing rooms where their stuff was located. 

“Oh? Is that what this is? A date?” she teased back. 

They came to a stop when they reached the entrance to the men’s and women’s changing rooms.

“Uh, I mean... well...” Damn this tiny woman and her ability to make him forget how to talk.

Giggling, Levy placed a hand on his arm. “I’m just teasing you, Gajeel. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be a date.” Lowering her arm, she turned to start walking inside. 

“What if I want it to be?” Gajeel blurted at her retreating form.

Levy looked over her shoulder, a smile lighting up her face. “Then I guess it’s a date then,” she replied. “Be back in a minute,” she said, then proceeded to skip inside the changing room.

Heading inside the men’s area, he mentally cheered as he grabbed his stuff from a locker. When he got back outside, Levy was already waiting.

“Mind if we find Lily first so we can let him know we’re heading back?” he asked as he approached her. 

“Fine with me,” she replied cheerfully.

Eventually the two of them were able to locate Lily, who was once again drinking kiwi juice. It seemed the refreshment stand, at least, had survived the explosion that was the Salamander. They informed him that the two of them were heading back to have dinner, Gajeel ignoring the obvious smirk and raised eyebrows on the Exceed’s face when he realized that the dinner was just the two of them. He could already imagine the smug bastard teasing him when he got back to their room later. 

As they headed back to town, the two of them chatted about the events of the day, both at the Grand Magic Games and at the water park. When they reached the inn where the guild was staying while in town for the tournament, they went their separate ways so they could change out of their swim clothes. Gajeel was ready first, opting for a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows and a pair of dark denim jeans. 

As he waited for Levy outside the inn, he realized he was actually really looking forward to that evening. Since joining the guild, his feelings for the tiny script mage had transformed without him really realizing it. At first he had felt like he needed to protect her, to make up for what he had done to her and her team while part of Phantom Lord. Mavis knew those two teammates of hers certainly weren’t suited for the job. It was also why he had offered to be her partner for the S Class Exam. During the weeks leading up to the exam while they had been training, the two of them had formed an unlikely friendship. But it was while they were on Tenrou Island that he had realized the true depth of his feelings for her. After she had run from him, upset by something he had said, she had encountered two soldiers from Grimoire Heart. He had heard her scream and remembered feeling fear. He had actually been afraid that something bad had happened to her, something he hadn’t felt since Metallicana had disappeared all of those years ago. That’s when he knew, that somehow that tiny woman had weaseled her way into his heart. Not that he was in love with her or anything, his inner monologue adamantly said. But he definitely liked her more than he would someone who was just a friend, and certainly he cared a lot about her... 

A voice broke through his thoughts. “Hey Redfox, what are you doing out here?”

He looked up and saw Cana approaching the inn. “Oh, hey. I’m just waiting for-”

At that moment, Levy walked out of the inn. “I’m ready! Sorry if you were waiting long. Oh, hi Cana!”

Levy was wearing a flowy, gray skirt that came to just above the knee and an emerald green tank top trimmed with white. Her hair was pulled up in a headband that matched her shirt and black sandals adorned her feet.

“Ohh, and where are you going looking so cute, doll?” Cana asked, a smirk on her face. “Not somewhere with this guy I hope.” She winked, nudging Gajeel with her elbow. 

“Oi!”

Levy blushed. “Um, actually…” Her eyes flicked to Gajeel, unsure how he felt about people knowing about their plans since he was generally a private person.

“Actually, we were about to go on a date,” Gajeel said. “And we’d like for that knowledge not to be shared with the entire guild if you don’t mind.” He fixed her with a pointed look, crossing his arms in front of him.

Cana waved her hand at him dismissively. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Drinking buddy’s honor and all that. You’re lucky it was me who came along just now and not Mira.”

Imagining exactly how this interaction would have played out had it been Mira instead of Cana in front of them right now, Gajeel and Levy both secretly thanked Mavis for that fact. 

“Well, I won’t keep you guys any longer, have fun on your date,” Cana said with a wink, then walked inside the inn.

The two of them watched her walk away, then turned to look at each other. When their eyes met, their cheeks turned slightly pink.

“Shall we go?” Levy asked, smiling shyly.

Returning her smile, Gajeel made a noise of agreement and nodded. They walked along the streets of Crocus, trying to figure where to have dinner. Many of the restaurants were crowded since so many people were in the city for the Games, resulting in them either needing reservations or having to wait for a while before they could be seated. 

After striking out at yet another restaurant, Gajeel suggested grabbing food to go from one of the many stalls set up for the Games and finding a place to sit down and eat it. “I know a good spot we can go to,” he explained as they walked along the stalls that lined the street. 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Levy replied, trying to decide what to eat since there were so many options. 

After grabbing their food, Gajeel grasped her hand and led her through the crowded streets (only because she was so short and he didn’t want to lose her, he told himself). Eventually the crowds thinned out as they got further away from the main square of the town, and they only encountered a small handful of people by the time they reached their destination: the palace gardens. The two of them settled down on one of the stone benches that were scattered throughout the area and dug in to their food.

“This is a really pretty spot, Gajeel,” Levy said cheerfully, taking a bite of the sandwich she had ordered. And it was. From their location, a small terrace meant for the public to be able to see the entire garden from higher up, they could see flowers and plants of every color and variety. Despite the fact that it was nighttime, there were enough lights scattered throughout the garden so that the entire area was brightly lit, allowing them to still appreciate the beautiful scenery even at such a late hour.

As he sat there, eating his dinner and chatting with Levy, Gajeel couldn’t help but to keep sneaking glances at her, or the subtle smile that seemed to be fixed to his face since she had agreed to go on a date with him. It was kind of surreal, that someone like him, with his past and his history, would be here doing something so normal like going on a date. He had always assumed that the things most people got to experience - dating, marriage, a family, friends - were not going to happen for him. Being a member of Phantom Lord didn’t exactly invite people to form any sort of camaraderie, so when he joined Fairy Tail and people eventually started warming up to him, he figured he should be happy that he got at least one of those things, that he had actually found people who wanted to be his friend. He figured that he shouldn’t even get his hopes up that something like love or a relationship would ever happen. 

And he had accepted it, really. He had his cat, he had a place where he belonged, and he had his friendship with the Shrimp, which, in his opinion, he didn’t deserve. Even when he started having... feelings for Levy, he never planned to actually act on them. Of all the people in the world that he deserved to be with, surely Levy wasn’t one of them. Not after what he had done. But... He glanced over at her again, listening as she talked about the book she was currently reading. But... she clearly wanted to be here. On a date. With him. So maybe life had bigger and better things in store for him after all...

“Gajeel, are you still listening?”

Mentally shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he brought his gaze back to Levy and smiled down at her. “Yeah. Keep telling me about what you hope will happen next with the main characters.”

“Are you sure I’m not boring you?” she asked, used to people getting bored quickly when she started talking about books.

He wanted to tell her that she could never bore him, that he could sit and listen to her talk whatever she wanted to for hours. Instead, he lowered his gaze and said quietly, “I like... listening to you talk about stuff,” his cheeks turning slightly pink.

Levy’s cheeks reddened in response, but her face nonetheless lit up, a shy smile gracing her features. “Then... maybe we can walk around the gardens while I finish telling you?” she asked hopefully.

As if he could say no to her. Not when she was looking so damn ... adorable with her giant doe eyes and her infectious smile. How was it that he was capable of defeating some of the strongest wizards in the world, yet one look from this tiny mage and he was suddenly willing to do whatever she wanted? And why did this fact not bother him? Feeling impulsive and just a tiny bit selfish, he quickly leaned over and brushed his lips against hers, his lips lingering for just a few moments before he pulled away. As soon as he did, he immediately stood up and held his hand out to her, the corner of his mouth turned up into a small smile. “Yeah, whatever you want, Shrimp.”

Chapter Text

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Mayday situation overload
I'm restless, obsessed with your future
And all my worries they don't bother you
Collected, you render me useless
But I carry on

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Levy sat at a desk in the darkened statue-lined hallway outside the main ballroom, where the festivities of the Grand Ball were in full swing. She wanted to finish her notes on the events of the Grand Magic Games and the Eclipse battle while they were still fresh in her mind, including some new details that she had learned that evening through conversations with people from the other guilds. She still couldn’t believe all that had happened in the span of a day, from Fairy Tail winning the Games after a series of intense battles, to the rescue operation of Lucy that no one, herself included, had even known about, to the opening of the Eclipse Portal and the battle with future Rogue and the dragons. And on July 7th, she wrote with a smile on her face, we beat what’s known as fate. She put her quill down and looked over what she wrote once more, nodding in satisfaction. As she was straightening out her pile of papers, she heard footsteps approaching from behind her, muffled by the plush carpet.

“Hi,” she heard, then turned around.

“Gajeel!” she replied with a radiant smile upon seeing who it was.

Gajeel took in her appearance as she turned in her chair to face him - she was wearing an orange and yellow floor length gown, with a white headband that he hadn’t seen her wear before. He couldn’t prevent his mouth from turning up into a small smile. “Ohh? So that’s what you’re wearing?”

“Huh? Does it look strange?” Levy replied, glancing down at her outfit.

He thought that she looked stunning, but in typical Gajeel fashion he instead adopted what he hoped was a neutral facial expression and replied, “Nah, not bad.”

Not fooled in the slightest, Levy widened her smile. “You know,” she said, “I’m just happy you’re alive.”

“Don’t assume I’ll get killed,” he said, trying to act indifferent to her words, even though he was glad to hear them. Part of him still couldn’t believe that she didn’t secretly hate him after what he had done to her and her friends while in Phantom Lord.

“After all,” she continued, ignoring his comment, “you faced a huge dragon by yourself. I’d think anyone could die in a situation like that.” She looked at him expectantly. She was trying to give him an opening so that he could open up to her, even just a little bit. To talk to her about the events of the past week. To make him realize that he could talk to her about anything. Despite the progress their friendship had made during the S-class exam and the battle with Grimoire Heart, he still remained relatively closed off - only rarely had their conversations touched on deeper topics.

“Mind your own business,” he said without any malice, turning his head slightly away from her, trying to shut down her attempt to get closer to him.

Levy was undeterred. “Let me mind your business a little bit,” she insisted. He could be so frustrating! Why couldn’t he see that she cared for him? That she just wanted him to trust her and open up to her? That she was so beyond relieved that he was okay that it literally brought tears of joy to her eyes?

“That’s what’s annoying about you,” Gajeel said, still not looking at her. When he heard a faint sniffle, his eyes snapped open and he was met with the sight of her smiling tearfully. He panicked. “Idiot! What are you cryin’ about?!” He moved to stand in front of her.

Levy sniffled again. “I don’t know, sorry.”

She raised her hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. Before she could, however, she felt a calloused hand cupping her face. “D-don’t apologize...” Gajeel stammered, his thumb brushing her tears away. “I ain’t worth your tears, Shorty,” he said quietly.

“That’s where you’re wrong, stupid Gajeel,” she said, enjoying the feeling of his hand on her face. Slowly, she rose from her seat and stood on her toes, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. As she pulled away, she said, “You’re worth more to me than you think,” then grabbed her belongings on the desk and started to walk away.

She was almost to the door of the ballroom when Gajeel called out to her. “Levy…”

Not Shrimp, not Shorty, but her actual name. She stopped and turned to face him.

“Dance with me later?” he asked, his eyes averted and his cheeks pink.

Levy beamed. “Of course!” she replied, then opened the door and entered the ballroom, giving him a small wave before the door closed behind her.

Gajeel fought to keep his face from breaking out into a full-blown grin and internally cheered. Feeling lighter, he too made his way back into the ball room, suddenly looking forward to the rest of the evening a lot more.

Chapter Text

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Where did you go as the lights went black?
Look what’s become of me
I’ve grown to love your disappearing act
Do one more pretty please

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As Levy ran further and further away from the crowd, she could still hear Gajeel’s steps behind her. Not wanting to face him, she kept running, hoping he would eventually lose interest and go back to his show. She sniffled and scrubbed the tears from her eyes with the back of her arm, heading down a flight of stairs toward the river. She ducked behind the stairwell, catching her breath.

“Wait,” she heard him say from above, his steps getting closer.

She sighed and called up to him. “How long are you going to follow me?”

Suddenly, Gajeel jumped down from above, landing in front of her. “And you? How long are you going to flee?”

Feeling self-conscious, she crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. “It’s just that... you... don’t think that an ironing board with this costume looks strange? Right?”

She heard Gajeel shift behind her before he replied, “Huh? It’s me, I’m not interested in the costume on others.”

Wait, what? What does that mean? Does he... She turned back around. “Why not?”

Before he could answer, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of some men catcalling. “Let us see! Too many clothes!”

“Huh?” Levy asked, confused.

“Come back! Beautiful!” 

Oh god, why were there so many people there? Before she could cover herself, Gajeel moved to stand in front of her and she felt herself being lifted and placed over Gajeel’s shoulder.

He turned so she was hidden behind him. “This is not a show,” she heard him say. “Go, go!”

Cheeks turning pink, she turned to look up at him. “Gajeel...”  

“Sheesh,” she heard him say, then saw him turn his head toward her rear. “Gihee.”

Frowning, she wriggled in his grasp, lightly smacking his shoulder. “Gajeel! Put me down, dummy!”

Smirking, he obliged her, then took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Here.”

“Thanks,” she replied gratefully. She grasped the lapels of the jacket, holding it closed with her hands. “Sorry for ruining your show,” she said quietly.

Gajeel shrugged. “There’ll be other shows. Why’d ya run off anyway?”

She looked away. It seemed like such a dumb reason now, after the fact. “It’s nothing, really.”

Taking off his sunglasses, he leaned down until he was eye level with her. “Obviously it wasn’t nothin’ or you wouldn’t have run away. Or did ya just not like my singing?” He pretended to scowl at her.

Giggling, she replied, “No, your singing was at its usual standard.” She sighed then, her face falling a little. She lowered her gaze to the ground. “It’s just... standing up there, with Lu-chan... it made me realize how... lacking I was compared to her. I guess I just got self-conscious.” 

“Oi.” He placed a finger under her chin to tilt her face up until she was looking at him again. “Why’re you comparing yourself to Bunny girl? You’re way better than her.”

Her cheeks started to warm. “I’m sure most people would disagree...”

“Pssh who cares what most people think? I’m telling ya you’re better and my opinion should matter more than all those losers,” Gajeel responded, playfully poking her in the forehead. 

Levy’s spirits lifted. “So before... when you said you weren’t... interested in the costume on others...”

Now it was Gajeel’s turn to blush. He crossed his arms and looked away. “Tch, do I gotta spell it out for ya?”

Smiling and shaking her head, she raised herself up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Nah, I think I get the picture now.”

Chapter Text

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Fairy blue
For you I’d crush the stars
and put them on display
Black paper moon

-------------------------

She was okay.

Seeing her standing there among the rest of their returned guild mates, all he could feel was pure relief. And if he hadn’t been sure of his feelings for her before the battle with the Spirit King, seeing her disappear in that beam of red light - well, his heart may as well have stopped beating.

He wanted to go to her and yell at her for putting herself in harm’s way and, at the same time, grab her in his arms and never let her go. Not that he was going to or anything. He had a reputation to uphold after all. Plus, he didn’t know how she would react to him just waltzing up to her and grabbing her mid-conversation. Instead, he settled for watching her talk with Lucy, a soft smile gracing his features. And when Levy, who was listening to the cheerleader describe the fight with the Spirit King, noticed his gaze, her eyes met his and she flashed him a radiant smile before turning back to her conversation.

Hmmm... maybe one day soon he’d be able to grab her in his arms and not let her go after all.

Chapter Text

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Would you do it with me?
Heal the scars and change the stars
Would you do it for me?
Turn loose the heaven within

---------------------------------

“Gajeel!”

He turned from his conversation with Lily to see Levy walking up to him, a smile on her face.

“Shrimp,” he said in greeting. “I should tear you a new one for that stunt you pulled. What were you thinkin’?!”

Levy pouted and put her hands on her hips. “I was just returning the favor from earlier! And besides, you were much more useful against that thing than I would have been,” she said indignantly.

Gajeel frowned.

Lily, sensing that this conversation might best be had between just the two of them, quietly made his exit, floating over to where the other two Exceeds were talking with Wendy.

“Don’t go puttin’ yourself in danger to save me, Shorty. It ain’t worth it,” Gajeel said seriously.

“How can you say that? Of course, it’s worth it,” Levy insisted.

“Idiot! It ain’t worth it to me if you won’t be around after!” Gajeel argued back. As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what he said and his eyes widened. Turning his back to her, he clenched his jaw and brought a hand up to cover his face, cheeks turning pink.

Levy was taken aback by his tone at first, but when she realized what his words meant, her heart leapt. She moved to stand in front of him. “Gajeel?” He refused to meet her gaze, so she placed a hand on his arm. “It wouldn’t be worth it to me if something happened to you either, you know,” she said softly. “That’s why I wanted to save you.” He didn’t say anything, but lowered the hand from his face and tentatively brought his gaze back down to hers. When he did, he was met with her smiling face.

The way that she was looking at him did funny things to his insides, and Gajeel couldn’t resist leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. He heard her small, quick intake of breath at first before she responded, both of her hands coming up to grasp at his shirt as she raised herself up on her toes. When they broke apart a few moments later, they were both smiling and blushing, and Gajeel leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.

“I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree about this saving each other thing,” Levy said, grinning.

Gajeel returned her grin. “Gihee, guess so, Shorty,” he replied.

Chapter Text

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I feel so alive tonight
You got me feeling sublime
I want to yell it from the rooftops down
Until its over, and we’re older

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When Levy woke up, she sat up and looked around, forgetting for a moment where she was. Seeing her friends all passed out on the floor beside her, she remembered, eyes widening and cheeks turning red. 

Lucy’s apartment.

Christmas Eve party.

Copious amounts of alcohol.

Erza drawing the Guild Master stick a statistically improbable number of times. 

She shuddered. Then, remembering that her underwear was currently somewhere outside Lucy’s apartment and probably now buried in the snow, she panicked, pulling the hem of her dress down as far as possible. Tiptoeing around various people and their sprawled-out limbs over to Lucy’s bedroom, she found a pair of workout shorts in Lucy’s dresser and put them on, thankful for the drawstring at their waist. She sighed in relief that no one had seen anything, especially Gajeel. 

Then again, he was currently naked on the floor so perhaps she shouldn’t complain about having to spend the entire party sans underwear. Laughing silently to herself, she grabbed a blanket from Lucy’s couch and made her way over to the Iron Dragon Slayer with the intention of draping the blanket over him. As she stood over him, she couldn’t help but take a moment to run her eyes over his body. She had noticed how attractive he was once she had gotten over her initial fear of him, and she had known he was is in good shape, but damn. 

“Like what ya see, Shrimp?”

Levy let out a small shriek. She was pretty sure her entire face was very rapidly turning the same color as Erza’s hair. Holding the blanket out towards him, she covered her eyes with her other hand. “S-sorry! I thought you might want to... uh... coverup until you find your clothes.”

Gajeel snorted. “Eh, at this rate everyone’s probably seen everythin’ anyway.” Still, he grabbed the blanket from her and wrapped it around his waist, then got up to look for his clothing. “You need help finding your, uh, missing clothes?” he asked, picking up his discarded garments from the floor, then walking toward Lucy’s bathroom.

At least it wasn’t possible for her face to turn redder than it was. “Um, no, I borrowed some shorts from Lu-chan, so I’m fine.” She let out a forced laugh. “I probably won’t be able to find them right now anyway.” 

When Gajeel emerged from the bathroom a few moments later, fully dressed, Levy was in the process of putting her jacket and shoes on. “Give me a minute and I’ll walk ya home,” he said, looking around for his own jacket and shoes. 

“You don’t have to,” she replied, not wanting to inconvenience him. “I know you probably want to get home too.”

Bending over to tie his shoes so she couldn’t see his face, he said, “I know I don’t have to. I want to.” The last statement he said quietly enough that Levy almost didn’t hear him. 

Her lips turned up into a soft smile. She loved the moments when he lowered his tough exterior and let her see the sweet guy that was hidden underneath. She knew she was one of the few people who got that privilege. “Well, as long as you don’t mind,” she said, making her way over to the front door

Outside, the streets were silent, the falling snow dampening any of the usual nighttime noises. It was peaceful, the two of them walking along the quiet, lamp-lit street, and passing all of the holiday decorations. 

“Some party, huh?” Levy said, breaking the silence after a few minutes. 

Gajeel snorted. “That’s an understatement. Remind me to avoid Titania next time she decides to drink.”

“Oh come on, she wasn’t that bad.”

“You didn’t get your naked ass smacked by Salamander, so I don’t think you’re in a position to judge!”

Levy burst into laughter, her hands clutching her stomach. “Your face was pretty priceless.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Miss Underwear-Out-the-Window,” he teased.

“Sh-shut up!”

“Gihee.”

“Well, at least I didn’t end up in the bathtub with anyone tonight,” Levy retorted, smirking.

“Oi! Could you not bring that up? I’m trying to erase it from my memory.”

Trying to contain her laughter and failing, she said innocently, “Why? You guys looked so cozy in there.”

Glaring at her, Gajeel said, “Keep it up and I will haul you back to the cheerleader’s so you can dig in the snow for your missing underwear.” 

Levy stopped. “You wouldn’t.” He was joking... right?

An evil grin appeared on his face as he took a step towards her. “Oh?” In flash, he had her thrown over his shoulder, then he started running.

“Stupid Gajeel! Put me down!” She beat on his back with her fists. “Gajeel!”

He continued running down the street. “You should keep your voice down, Shrimp. People are probably sleeping,” he said with a smirk.

“I’ll gladly keep my voice down if you PUT ME DOWN, DUMMY!”

“Nah, I don’t think I will.”

Another five minutes or so later, however, Levy got her wish. Gajeel slowed down to a walk then stopped in front of a building. Grabbing her by the waist, he set her down on the ground, his hands lingering a moment before he removed them, as if he was reluctant to let her go.

“You dum- Oh.” Levy started to say, but stopped when she realized they were at Fairy Hills. “I thought you were bringing me back to Lucy’s,” she teased, nudging him.

“What can I say, I was feelin’ generous,” he replied with a smirk.

They stood awkwardly for a moment, neither knowing what to say. When the silence got unbearable, they both started to speak at the same time.

“Um...”

“So...”

Gajeel gestured for her to go first.

“Do you and Lily have any plans for tomorrow?” Levy asked.

“Lil’s going to visit the Exceeds with the kid’s cat and the blue cat. I ain’t got anything planned though, probably just go to the guild hall,” he replied with a shrug. 

“Do you... think you would mind some company tomorrow? While you’re at the guild hall?” Levy asked shyly, tenting her fingers together and not making eye contact.

Gajeel stared at her for a moment, blinking then also averting his gaze. “N-no I wouldn’t mind. I’d... like that a lot actually.” His cheeks turned slightly pink.

Cheering internally, Levy smiled and said, “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then!” She paused, then added with a small laugh, “Er... well actually, I guess I’ll see you later today.” She closed the small gap between the two of them and wrapped her arms around his middle, her cheek resting against his chest. “Thank you for walking me home, Gajeel. Merry Christmas!”

As she moved to pull away, Gajeel’s arm wrapped around her small frame, holding her close. He crooked his finger under her chin and tilted her face upwards, then leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers. It was so brief, Levy almost thought she imagined it. As he pulled away, he murmured, “Merry Christmas, Shrimp.” As he turned and started to walk home, he looked back over his should and said, “See you later?”

Levy stood there in shock at first, her fingers touching her lips where his had just been. Then, broken from her reverie by his question, she smiled suddenly and looked up at his retreating figure. “Yes, see you later,” she called after him, then turned and went inside.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Chapter Text

------------------------------------------------

So, can we close the space between us now?
It's the distance we don't need (Hey)
Yeah, you're everything I love about
The things I hate in me (Hey)
So come on, come on, come over now and
Fix me with your grace
'Cause I'm not too far and you're my favorite place

------------------------------------------------

When their conversation with the Master and the other search teams had ended, Gajeel immediately turned and left the house without saying a word, his fists clenched tightly. Levy, Lily, Jet, and Droy all looked at each other with concern and confusion, silently debating whether someone should go after him or if they should just leave him alone. Their concern grew when they heard the sound of what could only be some nearby trees getting destroyed followed by the sound of something landing on the roof with a ‘thud’.

Lily started toward the door to go after him when Levy held up a hand to stop him. “I’ll go,” she said quietly. Lily nodded at her, but Jet and Droy looked at her with some concern. While their trust in Gajeel had obviously grown since he first joined the guild, they were still worried about what he might say or do while this upset. Levy noticed and said, “I’ll be fine,” flashing them a reassuring smile before walking upstairs to figure out how best to get up onto the roof.

When eventually she found him, he was sitting near the edge of the roof with his back to her, his knees bent with his arms resting on top of them, looking out over the nearby town. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say. However, when she heard him sniffle and saw him wipe his eyes, she slowly approached until she was standing only a few feet behind him, and quietly said his name. He started, wiped his eyes with his arm again, then patted the space next to him, inviting her to join him.

Levy took a seat at his side, also looking out over the rooftops of the town. “I won’t make you talk about it if you don’t want to,” she said, “but I’m here to listen if you do.”

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, then she heard him take a deep breath and release it. “I knew her,” Gajeel said quietly.

“Lady Belno?”

Gajeel nodded. “Yeah. From back when I was in Phantom. All that shit I did... well let’s just say the Magic Council knew me real well.”

Levy nodded but said nothing, letting him continue at his own pace.

“She... I don’t know what she saw in me, but she’s the reason I never ended up in jail. Stuck her neck out for me and convinced the rest of ‘em to give me another chance. Took an interest in me and told me to find a way to live that had meanin’. This was around the time we were plannin’ to attack Fairy Tail, so I kinda blew her off.” He let out a deep breath. “I never got to thank her, to show her that I...” he trailed off then.

Levy looked up at him then and her heart ached at the pained expressed on his face. She raised herself up onto her knees and leaned over to wrap her arms around him. She felt him tense at first then relax in her embrace.

“Everyone in the guild sees how much you’ve changed, how you fight for us, for Fairy Tail. She would be proud of you, Gajeel,” Levy whispered. “And even though you can’t thank her in person, you continue to honor her just by living your life.”

She heard Gajeel sniffle again and felt him nod his head. She pulled away and sat back down next to him. They continued to sit there and look out over the town, neither of them feeling the need to talk. Eventually, Lily came looking for them, letting them know that he, Jet, and Droy were all set to head back to Magnolia when they were ready.

“Be right there!” Levy called to him as he flew back down to the ground.

The two of them stood up then, Levy dusting herself off as she did. She turned to walk back inside when Gajeel grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace, his chin resting on top of her head. “You’re the main reason my life has meaning now,” he said softly, his voice husky. “Thank you, Levy.”

Levy felt her cheeks warm as she tilted her head up to look at him. The intensity of his gaze made her breath catch in her throat. “Gajeel...”

As if pulled together like magnets, their faces started inching closer to each other. Levy’s eyes slipped closed in anticipation as she felt Gajeel’s breath on her face, his lips mere centimeters away from hers. “Levy...” she heard him whisper. “Can I...?”

“Please,” she whispered in response, before raising up on her toes to close the distance between them herself.

While Levy had often thought about what it would be like to kiss Gajeel, she had never dreamed that his lips would be so soft, or that he would be capable of such tenderness. She felt one of his hands cup the side of her face, his thumb caressing her cheek, while his other hand drifted down to her lower back. Part of her brain, the analytical side that never completely turned off, tried to analyze the situation with questions like “what does this mean,” but that part of her brain was quickly shut down by the remaining part, which said “just enjoy this.”

So she did, bringing her hands up to the back of his head to bury them in his hair and pull him closer. Apparently, that was the right thing to do, as Gajeel emitted a noise that sounded somewhere between a low growl and a moan. He nipped at her bottom lip then traced it with his tongue, causing her to whimper. Her tongue tentatively met his and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his fingers sliding from her face to bury themselves in her blue locks. She raised herself up onto her toes, trying to press herself against him, and his hand on her lower back responded in kind, pulling her closer so that virtually no space remained between the two of them. It was thrilling. It was intoxicating. And it was beyond anything she could have ever dreamed or fantasized. She could imagine herself never growing tired of kissing this man, of feeling his hands on her body.

Eventually, the sounds of her teammates calling for her penetrated the kiss-induced fog that her brain was currently in and she, regrettably, pulled away just enough to break the kiss, her eyes half lidded, her heart rate elevated, and her cheeks still flushed. Gajeel’s face was also flushed, his lips parted and his expression somewhere between a look of surprise and a look of wonder.

“We should probably...” she said in a whisper, not wanting to break the spell.

Gajeel made a noise in agreement and slowly lowered his arms, releasing her from his embrace. He looked kind of disappointed, and Levy most definitely understood the feeling.

They started heading back into the building in silence, neither knowing the right thing to say.

Levy didn’t want to just leave things as they were, not after the moment they had just shared. “Hey, Gajeel?” she said quietly as they entered the top floor of the house.

“Hmm?”

“Maybe tonight after everyone goes to bed, we could stay up and talk, just the two of us?”

She was pretty sure she heard him breathe a sigh of relief. “Y-yeah. I’d like that,” he replied.

They reached the bottom floor of the house, where the others were waiting.

She looked up at him with a smile. “Great, it’s a date then!” she said, before heading over to join the others, already looking forward to that evening.

Chapter Text

----------------------------------

What a day
I can barely keep my eyes wide open
I don't wanna see straight
What a day
Feels like my breath is heavy again
And I'm totally faded

----------------------------------

With Laxus and Juvia in tow, Gajeel and Levy slowly made their way back toward where Porlyusica was watching over the Raijinshu, guided by the trail of glowing script letters Levy had thought to leave behind earlier. Gajeel, exhausted from his fight with Torafuza, and Levy, tired from spending most of the day battling against Tartaros’ seemingly endless army of soldiers, decided to stop to rest for a few moments, their fatigue multiplied by having to support their unconscious guild mates.

As Levy gently set Juvia down on the remnants of a destroyed wall and sat down beside her, Gajeel commented, “Man, he is one heavy bastard. I’m gonna make him come up with a song later on that glorifies me, too.”

Recalling that Gajeel had mentioned something about a song before, and still not knowing what he was talking about, Levy asked, “Hey, what are these songs you’re talking about?”

“Salamander’s gonna make a song that praises me,” Gajeel replied. “This guy, too. I busted my ass for them, so it’s the least they can do in return.”

Smiling, Levy said, “Then maybe I’ll have you create a song that glorifies me, Gajeel.”

He turned his head to look at her, confused. “Ehh?”

“Well, I saved you before, right? So in exchange…” She trailed off.

Gajeel’s face suddenly grew serious. “Hmm…”

Worried that she might have overstepped, she tried to backtrack, waving her hands back and forth nervously. “What? Are you mad? I was kidding! Only kidding!” She watched as he lowered Laxus’ unconscious form to the ground, then turned to face her. To her surprise, Gajeel actually started singing. Well… what he called singing, anyway.

“Shoobie-doo-ba, sha-la-la,” he began, snapping his fingers in rhythm. “A demon and I were underwater… I was fightin’ while blowing air bubbles. The shark bastard’s exterior was tough as anything, but hardly a match for me. Sha-la-la! But then I ran out of breath, shoobie-doo-ba! Crap! Crap! I thought I was a goner… Doobie-doobie! Fade-in on a little form. That woman gave me air…”

Levy had felt her cheeks slowly getting warmer as the song went on, but when he got to the part about giving him air, she knew her entire face was beet red. Still embarrassed by the fact that she had essentially kissed him to give him air, and that her first instinct had been to do that instead of using her Solid Script Magic, she stood and started waving her arms around to get him to stop singing. “Y-Y-You really don’t need to make one up!”

“What? That could’ve become a classic,” Gajeel replied, unaware of her embarrassment.

Thinking that seemed pretty unlikely given Gajeel’s musical “talents”, she made a noise of agreement, then turned back to Juvia to check on her. “Shall we keep going?” she asked.

Situating Laxus and Juvia back into position so they rested on their shoulders, the two of them set off again, hoping they were close to their destination. Neither spoke for a bit, listening to the sounds of the battles raging elsewhere, both on the ground and in the sky above.

“How’d ya even find me anyway?” Gajeel asked at one point, breaking the silence.

“I’m not sure honestly. I had gotten separated from everyone else when the black water appeared. That’s when I thought…” she trailed off, cheeks suddenly tinged pink.

“Thought what?”

She fixed her gaze straight ahead, unable to look at him. “I thought that… I heard your voice. Then I got a feeling… that something bad was about to happen. So, I dove into the water and swam toward where I thought your voice was coming from,” she replied quietly, cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink.

Gajeel stopped walking and stared at her, a mixture of emotions seeming to flash across his face all at once.

Noticing that he had stopped walking, she also stopped, turning to look back at him. “What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious under his intense gaze.

“Yer amazing, Shorty. I would’ve been a goner without ya,” he replied simply, then started walking again.

“Gajeel…” Now it was her turn to stare, speechless. Then, realizing that he had already resumed walking and was now several paces ahead of her, she hurried after him. “H-hey, wait up!”

They continued on in silence, the sounds of the battles continuing to fill the air. At one point, there was a bright light accompanied by a loud noise that rapidly seemed to be increasing in intensity, and Levy was suddenly knocked off her feet by Gajeel, who yelled “Look out!” and grabbed her, diving down just in time to avoid getting hit by a blast of energy from Acnologia.

“Th-thank you,” she replied gratefully, glancing at him.

“Don’t just stand there in a daze,” he responded, looking back at her.

“Are you alright?” a voice from above them asked.

They looked up to find Porlyusica standing over them.

“Porlyusica-san!”

“Old lady,” Gajeel said. “We brought it.” He handed her Laxus’ coat.

“The blood of the guy who has anti-magic particles?” she asked.

“Yeah. Thanks to this guy,” he replied, glancing at the still unconscious Laxus draped over his shoulders. “Didn’t think he’d go that far. He’s one tough mother.”

“As reckless as always… Sheesh, who does he remind me of?” There was just a hint of a smile on her face. “But now I can make the vaccine.” She turned and looked at the Raijinshu and Yajima, who were all lying on the ground. “I can save all of you.” She glanced back over her shoulder at Gajeel and Levy. “Thank you.” Noticing that Levy was carefully laying Juvia down next to the others, she asked, “Does she also need the vaccine?”

“No, thankfully,” Levy replied. “She just needs to rest. She took down one of the demons from Tartaros, just like Laxus and Gajeel.” She nodded at the latter, who was placing Laxus on the ground near his bodyguards.

Porlyusica nodded, then turned and walked back to where she had set up some of her supplies, needing to get to work on the anti-magic particle vaccine right away. That left Gajeel and Levy essentially by themselves, as everyone else was still unconscious. They went over to rest on some boulders a little ways away, wanting to stay close by to protect their helpless friends and guildmates if need be.

As Gajeel sat down beside her, he sighed heavily, his exhaustion finally seeming to set in. The battle with Torafuza had taken a lot out of him, draining him of all of his magic power. Then, what strength he had left had been spent supporting Laxus, who was actually quite heavy.

“Are you okay, Gajeel?” Levy asked from beside him, concerned.

He glanced over at her, quirking the corner of his mouth up into a tired smile to reassure her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just wiped out from earlier. Although…” He pretended to look thoughtful.

“What is it?” Levy asked, still concerned.

Gajeel’s tired smile turned into a smirk. He leaned closer to her. “I’m still feelin’ a little out of breath. I think I could use some more air,” he teased quietly.

Once again, her face turned a deep red. Curse this man and his ability to make me blush like a schoolgirl! Wait… does that mean he… was awake when I… “S-stupid Gajeel! I wasn’t thinking and… I didn’t mean to…”

“Ohhh? So, you didn’t even mean to kiss me? I’m wounded, Shrimp.” His face adopted a look of mock-hurt, his hand coming up to his heart.

Realizing that Gajeel didn’t seem to be upset about what had happened, at all, Levy decided that a little bit of revenge was in order for all of the teasing he had thrown her way that day. She stood and slowly moved to stand in front him. “Well… when you put it that way…” She leaned down so her face was only inches from his.

He gulped. “Y-yeah?”

“Well… you’ll have to wait to find out I guess,” she said cheerfully, then immediately turned on her heel and all but skipped over to where Polyuscia was working, intent on offering her help.

Gajeel stared after her for a solid minute, his brain trying to process how she had turned the tables on him so quickly. They don’t call her the smart one for nothin’, he thought, snorting. As he watched her speaking with the old lady, a smile formed on his face. As far as first kisses go, he thought, … well, I guess we’ll have a hell of a story to tell about it.

Chapter Text

-------------------------------------------

They said we could find safe haven
But I think it's wherever we are
You know I’ll be patient despite our racing hearts

-------------------------------------------

It was finally over.

Tartaros had been defeated, Acnologia was gone (for now), and the Face statues were all destroyed, allowing magical power to be restored throughout Ishgar. Yes, Fairy Tail and all of Magnolia was in shambles, nothing more than destroyed buildings and piles of rubble, but they had won and everyone had survived.

Well, not everyone, Levy thought to herself as she sifted through the remains of her apartment, thinking of the five dragons that had appeared suddenly to save them all, that had then, almost as quickly, disappeared into thin air. She wondered how Gajeel, Natsu, and Wendy were all doing - she couldn’t imagine how they must be feeling. First, thinking that their surrogate parents had abandoned them as children, but not knowing whether they were still alive for all those years. Then, finding out that they had disappeared to live inside of their children in order to prevent them from turning into dragons like Acnologia had. And finally, being told that their beloved parents were actually long dead, and could no longer remain now that they had emerged from within their children. Levy couldn’t even fully process all of that, and she didn’t have the emotional attachment to deal with on top of it all. Her heart ached for her three friends as she thought of them. Especially...

Gajeel... I hope he’s okay, she thought, tossing cracked pieces of brick out of what was left of her bedroom window. She had seen the tears in his eyes as Metallicana’s image faded away. But when she had glanced back at him again, his expression had been unreadable, and unlike most of the guild, he and Lily hadn’t stuck around what was left of the guild hall for very long after. In the hours that had passed since, she hadn’t seen him once, and she was worried about him.

Glancing around, she spotted a book buried underneath several large slabs of concrete. She grasped the one on top and pulled, trying and failing to slide it off of the pile and onto the ground. She adjusted her grip and tried again, using all of her body weight to try and move it. It shifted about an inch then nothing. She huffed in frustration, climbing up onto the pile to see if that helped. The only thing that it succeeded in doing was to make her lose her balance. Panicking, she threw her arms back to brace for impact as she fell backwards and landed... in someone’s arms? Blinking, she looked down at the arms holding her and recognized them instantly - black leather fingerless gloves, iron studs lining each forearm - they could only belong to one person...

“Gajeel!” She looked up at him in gratitude.

“Jeez, I can’t leave ya alone for very long, can I, Shorty?” he scoffed, looking down at her with a smirk.

Levy pretended to pout, though she certainly wasn’t complaining about being held in Gajeel’s arms like this. She hoped she wasn’t blushing.

“What were ya doing anyway?” Gajeel continued.

She pointed to the book that she had been trying to rescue. “I was trying to find all of my books in this mess when I noticed that one. I thought I could unbury it,” she added sheepishly.

Gajeel put Levy back on her feet and, within a few minutes, had the entire pile of concrete removed from the apartment. He picked up the book and handed it to her. Levy smiled and thanked him, brushing the dirt off of the cover lovingly before adding it to a pile of the other books she had found.

“Want some help?” Gajeel asked, gesturing to the rest of her apartment.

“That would be great. Thanks, Gajeel!” she told him with a smile.

They worked side by side in relative silence, only speaking when the task at hand warranted it. Gajeel worked on removing all of the large rubble from the apartment, while Levy removed the smaller chunks of debris and focused on finding her possessions. A lot of things were damaged, but she managed to locate many of her books and enough clothing to last her least a few weeks, as well as things of sentimental value, like old photos of her family. Eventually the sun started to set and they called it a day.

“Thanks again for your help,” Levy said as she packed all of her clothing into a bag. “This would have taken me days to finish by myself.” She grinned at him.

“Yeah well... you probably would’ve ended up buried underneath something since you’re so tiny,” he teased.

She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, hands on her hips.

Gajeel just ruffled her hair affectionately and let out his signature laugh. “Gihee.”

She swatted his hands away. “Why did you come by here earlier anyway?” she asked curiously. “Did you have a sixth sense that I needed help?”

Gajeel rubbed the back of his neck and glanced sideways. “Oh, uh... me and Lil’s place somehow managed to stay standing after everythin’ that went on. So I came to see if ya needed somewhere to stay.”

Levy was kind of shocked. Gajeel was generally a private person, and she could count on one hand the number of times she had even been to his house to visit. The fact that he was offering to let her stay there spoke volumes. “Are... are you sure it wouldn’t be a bother?”

“Wouldn’t have offered if it was,” he said gruffly, still glancing to the side.

Levy smiled as he attempted to maintain his tough exterior. “Well, then I would be happy to. Thank you, Gajeel!” She gave him a brief hug, then went to grab her bag. If she had turned around, she would have seen just the slightest tinge of pink on Gajeel’s cheeks after she’d hugged him.

After grabbing what she needed, and asking Gajeel to grab a couple of boxes of her books, they were ready to go. They were able to move all of the things that Levy was keeping (most of which were books) in three trips, with Lily accompanying them for the remaining trips between the two places. Gajeel set Levy up in a spare room, and they were even able to fit all her books in there with her as well.

“You doing okay Shrimp?” Gajeel asked her later that night when he saw her going through one of her boxes.

Levy set down a pile of books on the bed and turned to face him. “I feel like I should be the one asking you that,” she said.

“Oh?”

“I mean... with everything that happened today... and... your dad...” she trailed off.

“Ah... right...” Gajeel blew air out through his lips.

“S-sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything, you don’t have to-”

He turned abruptly and started walking out of the doorway. “Take a walk with me.”

Levy put her stuff down and rushed after him. As they were leaving the house, she shot a worried look at Lily, who gave her a small smile of encouragement. They walked in silence, Gajeel leading them through the moonlit woods until they reached a small clearing with a large, looming oak tree. Gajeel sat down at the base of the tree, nodding with his head at the space next to him. She smoothed the back of her dress down and sat, hands in her lap, looking up at the canopy of leaves and branches above them.

“I... don’t know how to feel... about seein’ him today,” Gajeel said, breaking the silence.

Levy turned her head to look up at him. He was staring up at the sky, jaw tense.

“For years, I thought he was still alive. I looked for him, like Salamander, but unlike him I eventually decided that he’d either died or he’d abandoned me just like my parents had. Either way, he was dead to me and I accepted that. Obviously, I didn’t make the best choices after, but I did what I had to survive. I didn’t have somewhere like Fairy Tail to take me in,” he added bitterly.

Levy’s heart broke for his younger self, knowing full well how it felt to lose one’s parents at a young age. At least she had known exactly what had happened to her family, but to never actually know for years, and to have had nowhere to go in the meantime... She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed it in sympathy.

“I guess I was right, in a way. Technically he was dead this whole time. I mean, I’m glad I got to see him one more time, but unlike Salamander or the kid, I never expected to see him again, so...” he shrugged and glanced at her.

“And now you know what actually happened all those years ago,” Levy said gently.

“Yeah...now I know...” He looked back up the starry sky, thoughts elsewhere.

Levy settled back against the tree, eyes scanning the sky, happy to sit there with him for as long as he wanted. She didn’t know when her feelings for the Iron Dragon Slayer had started to change, but she knew that what she felt for him now was more than just platonic friendship. She thought that he might feel the same way, and hoped that one day she would be able to find out if that was the case. Until then, she would continue to enjoy these moments when he wanted her in his company and she got to see a side of him that no one else did. There seemed to be more and more of those moments lately.

A cool breeze moved through the forest, rustling the leaves on the trees. Levy wrapped her arms around herself to try to keep warm. Suddenly, she felt a weight on her shoulders and looked up to see Gajeel’s arm draped around her, his gaze still fixed on the sky above. Her cheeks reddened and she smiled shyly, shifting to move closer to him.

“We can head back, you know, if you’re too cold or whatever,” Gajeel said.

Levy took a deep breath. “Actually,” she said, “I’m perfectly happy right here.”

The arm around her shoulders pulled her closer. “Yeah,” he replied quietly. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

---------------------------------------

But I can feel you all the way
From my coffin in LA
When I’m six feet underneath my misery
Come on, hit me with adrenaline

---------------------------------------

Levy sat in her apartment moping, still reeling about the fact that Fairy Tail, her home and her family since she was a small child, was no more - the guild hall destroyed by Tartaros and the guild disbanded by the Master when the battle was over. Everyone had been shocked. And worse, they still didn’t understand why. Now what was she supposed to do? She had enough money saved up that she didn’t have to decide her future right away, but eventually she would need to find some way to earn money. For now though... well for now she was going to mope about it. She figured it was her right. She wasn’t like some of the others, who apparently just left right after the news. She sniffled and blew her nose, wiping the tears from her eyes.

She looked up as she heard her apartment door open, followed by the appearance of Gajeel and Lily.

“Yo Shrimp, what-” Gajeel was about to greet her when he saw her red eyes and froze. Panicking slightly, he glanced at Lily, who was generally better at handling these types of situations than he was.

Lily flew over and sat next to Levy as she sniffled again and said, “Oh! Gajeel, Lily! What are you doing here?”

“Levy, are you alright?” Lily asked.

“Sorry, yes, I’m fine. Just thinking about what I’m supposed to do now.”

“You don’t gotta apologize, Shorty,” Gajeel said from his position near her door.

“Gajeel’s right, it must be hard on you, the guild disbanding,” Lily said gently, patting her arm.

She nodded. “I came here when I was five after my parents died. Now the only family I have is...” She wiped a tear that fell down her cheek and let out a deep breath. “I’ve never had to think about what I would do if I wasn’t in Fairy Tail.”

Gajeel glanced at Lily, who nodded subtly. He cleared his throat. “Uh, actually that was why we came to see ya.” Levy looked up at him. “We wanted to see if ya wanted to come with us.”

“Come with you?” She asked in confusion. “Where?”

“Era. We got jobs on the Magic Council.”

“Eh?!?” Levy was kind of shocked. Lily she could easily imagine on the Council, he was a former solider after all. But Gajeel... he used to get arrested by the Council.

“That tree guy-” Gajeel started.

“Warrod,” Lily interjected.

“-offered us jobs. I bet they would hire ya no problem if you were interested.”

“Yes,” Lily continued, “if they hired someone like Gajeel, then I’m sure you would also be welcome.”

“Oi!” Gajeel protested. “What’re you tryin’ to say?”

Levy giggled at them. Gajeel and Lily smirked at each other, glad they were able to cheer her up.

“The Magic Council...” she thought aloud. “I’ve never thought about working for them before...”

“You don’t gotta decide right now or anythin’. We’ll be leavin’ in a week or two.”

“And you... you don’t mind if I come with you?” she looked between the two of them, her mood suddenly lifting. Not only would she not be all alone, but she would be with Gajeel and Lily, two of her most trusted companions.

Gajeel walked over to where she was sitting. “Wouldn’t’ve asked ya if we did, Shorty,” he said, ruffling her hair.

“Yes, we would both greatly enjoy your company, Levy,” Lily said with a pointed look at Gajeel. Lily knew Gajeel wasn’t keen on going anywhere without the little Script Mage.

Levy’s face broke into a smile. She grabbed Lily in one arm and threw her other arm around Gajeel’s waist in a brief hug, then pulled away. “I guess we’re joining the Council,” she said excitedly.

Things were finally looking up.

Chapter Text

----------------------------------------------------

I don't wanna see the day my words cannot make it safe
Her heart in my hands, it's too bad, no regrets
I don't wanna see the day, her tears are falling on my grave
This is my one chance to take back no regrets

----------------------------------------------------

It had been several months since Levy, Gajeel, and Lily had joined the Magic Council. There had been a steep learning curve at the beginning, but after their training the three of them had settled into their roles and routines rather well, and they found themselves enjoying their work. They were members of the Custody Enforcement Unit, tasked with arresting and detaining Fiore’s most unsavory individuals. Even though Tartaros had wiped out most of the dark guilds prior to their defeat, there were plenty of new dark guilds popping up to take their places. Gajeel and Lily, given their strength and combat abilities, were often sent out on missions to arrest people, while Levy, with her aptitude for languages and research, was more heavily involved in mission planning, though she would sometimes accompany the two of them on missions when necessary. There were also times where other Council units would borrow the three of them, for instance, if they needed to send someone to translate and recover important texts that were located in dangerous areas.

Their current mission was a combination of both - it had been brought to the Council’s attention that a dark guild had acquired texts that contained instructions for performing an ancient type of forbidden magic. The three of them, and a small group of their fellow CEU members, had been sent to a remote village, only reachable by several days travel via train (much to Gajeel’s dismay) followed by another half day’s travel on foot. They set up their base of operations, then waited while members of their unit went to scout out the dark guild and gather intel so they could come up with a plan. In the end, the plan they went with was pretty straightforward: defeat the dark guild and their master, arrest as many members as possible (Gajeel’s favorite part of the plan), and, most importantly, find the ancient texts so Levy could translate them and return them to the Council.

When they neared the dark guild, Levy and a rune mage from their team set up several traps to prevent any enemies from escaping, then their group descended upon the guild hall. Most of the members were pretty weak and could be detained without much effort. However, their leader and several S-class wizards actually posed somewhat of a challenge for them. While Gajeel, Lily, and the rest of their team were taking care of those guys, Levy searched for the texts.

After searching the main floor of the guild, Levy found herself in the basement of the guild hall. She used her magic to cast a Solid Script: LIGHT spell so she could look around. She could hear the fighting going on upstairs and hoped Gajeel and Lily were okay. As much as she wanted to help them, they had agreed ahead of time that she should start looking for the texts as soon as she was able, and to let the rest of the team handle the arrests. Sighing, she walked past some crates and began thoroughly searching the basement. She didn’t really expect such important texts to just be lying out in the open, so she carefully checked every nook and cranny before moving on to the next area.

“Hmm, where could they be hidden?” she asked herself out loud, looking through the contents of a several bookshelves.

“You wouldn’t be looking for this, would you?” a menacing voice behind her asked mockingly.

Levy whirled around, hand poised and ready to attack with Solid Script magic. On the other side of the room, near the staircase, was a member of the dark guild, one of his hands holding several scrolls and old tomes.

“Hand those over, or you will leave us no choice but to take them by force,” Levy said in what she hoped was a commanding tone.

The man laughed. “I’ve met kids taller than you; I’d like to see you try.”

She gritted her teeth. She was used to people underestimating her based on her size, but Gajeel had told her once to use it to her advantage. That was precisely what she intended to do now. The mage from the dark guild was tall and muscular, similar in build to Elfman. His physical attacks were powerful but slow, and, therefore, easy to dodge. He had placed the texts behind him on a nearby crate, so Levy had to be careful to avoid hitting them as she cast spells at him. Her opponent seemed surprised by the sheer number of elements that she was able to summon: fire, water, lightning, ice, all in rapid succession and sometimes summoned while actively dodging his attacks. Levy thought she was holding her own pretty well, though she couldn’t seem to lure him away from those texts for long.

Unfortunately, things did not stay in her favor, as her opponent managed to land several attacks on her right side when she started to run low on magical power. She winced each time she dodged his attack, trying to think of a spell that she could cast that would do more damage.

“Solid Script: BULLET!” she shouted, causing a barrage of letters to fire at her opponent like bullets. She heard him scream in pain then fall silent, and a cloud of dust and debris caused by the bullets hitting the ground surrounded him.

Is it over? she thought to herself, trying to catch her breath. The cloud of dust cleared and... her enemy still stood. Cursing under her breath, she cast another spell, but her opponent was prepared and sprinted toward her full speed. Was he this fast before, or am I just getting tired? she thought, preparing to cast Solid Script: GUARD. Unfortunately, he reached her before she could complete the spell, his attack once again connecting with her right side.

Levy screamed from the intense pain she felt. Something about this attack was different from his previous ones. Clutching her side, she tried to get away but the pain was too intense and instead found herself falling to her knees.

“What... how...” she weakly tried to ask.

The enemy scoffed, pinning her wrists together with his hand and holding her up in the air. “Here’s the funny thing about my magic,” he said, sneering. “Every time I touch my opponent, my runes are transferred from my hands,” he raised a fist to Levy’s face and she could just make out tiny purple rune symbols shimmering on his knuckles, “directly to my opponent’s body.” Levy’s eyes widened. “So if I were to write runes that cause fatigue or that cause your skin to slice open on my hand and then punch you...” He drove his fist into Levy’s side once more, causing her to scream in pain at the sensation of her flesh slicing open. He punched her repeatedly, opening up bleeding wounds across her abdomen. Blood dripped down her body and to the floor.

Suddenly there was a noise behind him as Gajeel and Lily ran down the stairs and into the basement.

“Levy!” they both shouted in unison.

The enemy flung her roughly behind him, turning to face them. Levy landed in a heap several yards away. “Oh good, someone else I can make bleed,” he said menacingly, stepping toward them.

“Don’t... let his hands... touch you!” Levy shouted weakly, trying to push herself up off the ground.

“Shrimp, don’t try to move,” Gajeel said, not taking his eyes off his opponent. “Lily, get her out of here.” His tone of voice suddenly because ominous. “I’ll handle this.”

Gajeel was livid. There were very few people that he cared about in this world, and Levy... well she was basically at the top of that list. And seeing her held up in the air by her wrists, battered and bleeding, had triggered a flashback to the day that he referred to as the biggest mistake of his life. And if there was one thing that Gajeel hated, it was to be reminded of how big of a piece of shit he was before he had met Levy.

Gajeel turned his arm into an iron pole and launched it at his opponent while at the same time Lily charged forward, sword drawn. Forced to choose between getting hit with a blunt iron pole or a large, very sharp-looking sword, the enemy chose to dodge Lily’s attack and try to block Gajeel’s, allowing Lily to sprint past him and reach Levy. Lily gathered Levy in his arms then hurried towards the stairs.

“Lily... the texts... on the crate,” Levy said, grimacing in pain.

“I’ll come back for them,” he told Levy, hurrying up the stairs.

Upstairs, the remaining dark guild members were all being detained and the rest of the team was watching over their prisoners.

“We need help over here!” Lily shouted, clearing off a nearby table and laying Levy on top of it, then motioning toward their team member who specialized in healing spells. Leaving Levy in their comrade’s capable hands, Lily rushed back downstairs to assist Gajeel and retrieve the texts from where Levy had mentioned. When he reached the bottom of the stair case, he saw that Gajeel seemed to be having no trouble dealing with the enemy, so he turned to grab the tomes and scrolls from the top of the crate.

The enemy noticed and charged toward Lily, determined to stop him from touching any of the items.

“Don’t turn your back on me,” Gajeel growled while inhaling, then unleashed an Iron Dragon’s Roar. By the time the enemy realized his error, he was already getting hit by the full force of Gajeel’s attack. He collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

A part of Gajeel was sorely tempted to keep beating the snot out of the man for what he did to Levy, but he settled for fashioning some restraints out of iron and roughly handcuffing him. He continued to glare at the man’s unconscious form as he did.

Lily approached him and held out the texts that he had grabbed.

“This what we came here for?” Gajeel asked, grabbing the items from him.

Lily nodded. “I can finish handling things down here if you want to go check on Levy.”

Lily didn’t have to tell him twice. Nodding, he muttered a brief “thanks” before hurrying back upstairs. When he reached the main room on the first floor, he looked around frantically before spotting her lying on a table, being healed by their colleague.

He shouted to one of the nearby team members who wasn’t busy and handed him the texts, telling him to get them back to their base as soon as possible. Then he rushed over to where Levy was. Her wounds were no longer bleeding, but there were still large gashes all over her abdomen.

“How is she?” he asked.

“I’ve managed to stop the bleeding, but the wounds on her side are going to need time to finish healing on their own. She also has a few broken ribs. But overall, it looked a whole lot worse than it was.”

Gajeel looked visibly relieved. He thanked the healer, then looked down at Levy, who appeared to be asleep. “Can I head back with her?” he asked, his eyes not leaving her sleeping form. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face.

“Just let me stitch and bandage these wounds and she should be fine to be moved,” she replied with a small smile at seeing his actions. It was obvious to her and most of their coworkers that the gruff Iron Dragon Slayer was very much in love with the petite Solid Script Mage, and vice versa. They were all secretly waiting for the day when the two of them realized it.

While Gajeel waited for her to finish with Levy, he went around and checked in with the rest of their team - he was the one in charge of this mission, after all. Most of their group was tasked with transporting the prisoners back to the base and were already heading out, but a small group was staying behind to search through the guild hall for any other questionable items. Lily, who at that point had returned from the basement, assured Gajeel that he could stay behind if Gajeel wanted to go on ahead with Levy. By the time he had gone back to where Levy was laying, Levy’s entire abdomen was wrapped in bandages, and the healer had cast a spell on her so that she would remain asleep for another few hours. Gajeel removed his jacket and wrapped Levy in it, then gathered her in his arms bridal style and started heading back.

When he arrived back at the base, he brought Levy into his tent and laid her down on his bed roll, still wrapped in his jacket, then covered her with a blanket. He sat on the ground next to her, settling near the pillow where her head lay, his legs bent and his arms resting on the top of his knees. He put his head down on his folded arms and closed his eyes.

He was woken up later by someone nudging his shoulder and calling his name. Blinking, he lifted his head and looked around. There was a tiny hand on his arm, and the arm that hand was attached to belonged to ...

“Shrimp,” he said, almost sighing in relief, “good to see you awake again.” He reached over and ruffled her hair.

Levy puffed out her cheeks in feigned annoyance, reaching up to fix her now-messier blue hair. “Did we get the texts? What happened to the guy I was fighting? Did everyone get arrested?”

Gajeel chuckled. Of course she asked about the books first. “Calm down, the texts are all here, and everyone has been arrested. Everyone,” he emphasized.

Levy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. What happened?”

“You’ve got some broken ribs and that piece of shit made a mess of your stomach,” he growled, clenching his fists. “But they said it looks worse than it actually is.” Thank god, he added mentally.

She looked down at her abdomen, fingering the bandages. Her face fell. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“What the hell are ya sorry for?” he asked, confused. She had nothing to be sorry about as far as he was concerned.

“I couldn’t stop him. If you and Lily hadn’t come down, he would have gotten the texts. I was too weak to do anything.” She bit her lip and looked away, willing herself not to cry. She let out a squeak in surprise when two muscular arms pulled her onto his lap. Gajeel’s face was inches from hers.

“Shrimp, ya ain’t weak, he was just stronger than you. It even took me a bit to knock that asshole out, and that was after he’d been fightin’ with ya all that time. And he wouldn’t have gotten away if we hadn’t come downstairs ‘cuz he still woulda had to go through all of us upstairs when he tried to escape.” He poked her playfully in the forehead. “So don’t apologize for nothin’, got it? I’m just glad yer okay, you had me worried,” he added, eyes softening.

Levy was stunned. “You... were worried about me?”

Gajeel rolled his eyes. “Idiot, of course I was. You’ll see why when these bandages come off, but you were bleedin’ everywhere, and the way that prick threw you around...” His jaw tightened and his eyes darkened. Levy swore she heard a growl escape his throat.

Levy threw her arms around Gajeel’s neck, wincing a bit when the action jarred her broken ribs. “Thanks for coming to my rescue, Gajeel,” she whispered, her lips almost brushing against his ear.

Gajeel froze for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her, gently so as to not aggravate any of her injuries. His left hand cradled the back of her head as his right hand stroked up and down on her lower back. “You don’t ever have to thank me for that, Levy,” he murmured, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Levy let out a hum of pleasure. She and Gajeel had been slowly growing closer since Tenrou Island, but after the battle with Tartaros and the disbandment of Fairy Tail, they had become even closer, and certainly more comfortable being physically affectionate with each other. And while their actions never crossed that final line between platonic and romantic, she always wished that they would. She knew Gajeel cared for her, of that she had no doubt, but was it the same way she cared for him? Sometimes, she wasn’t sure. Right now, though... well it was hard to think of much actually while this close to him. But she was definitely feeling bolder the longer he continued to have his arms around her. Pulling away just far enough so she could look into his eyes, she brought her hands up to his face, placing one on each cheek.

“Still though, I think I should thank you properly,” she said softly, her voice almost a whisper. She slowly brought her face toward his, her eyes never leaving his in case she saw any opposition to her actions. Seeing none, she closed her eyes and closed the final distance between them, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss. The hand cradling her head wove its fingers into her hair as Gajeel’s lips responded to hers, angling her head ever so slightly to allow him to deepen the kiss.

Eventually she pulled away, her cheeks dusted pink and her lips turned up into a smile. Her smile widened when Gajeel smirked and said, “Feel free to thank me like that anytime. In fact,” he continued before closing the distance between them once more, “I think there are some things that I should be thanking you for.”

Chapter Text

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I don't mean to hold on to your arm for so long,
December comes in a flash then it's gone.
A hope in your eyes that I can't put a price on,
I won't let you go through this year all alone.
And I think back through fall, and the summer,
And how it changed everything.
Let’s walk through the snow in the winter,
And forget about our troubles ‘cause

Christmas is coming, so don’t buy me anything,
I got what I wanted, I got what I needed.
And Christmas is coming, so don’t buy me anything,
I got what I wanted, I got what I needed,
It’s you, it’s you, it’s you.

---------------------------------------------------

It was that time of year. The air was cold. The streets were lined with lights and wreaths and glittering decorations. The stores were filled with colorful and brightly lit displays. Yes, it was Christmas time, and everyone in the Custody Enforcement Unit was in uplifted spirits as it got closer and closer to the big holiday. They had been swamped with work since the rebirth of the Magic Council only months earlier, so everyone was looking forward to some time off and relaxation. And while the good mood seemed infectious, one person seemed to be immune to the holiday cheer. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the occasionally-known-to-be-moody Iron Dragon Slayer, like some might expect. He was actually in a decent mood, though it had nothing to do with Christmas per se: as someone who had never really celebrated the holiday until recently, he was just happy to have an excuse not to work for a couple of days. No, it was actually the little blue-haired Solid Script Mage who did not appear to be caught up in the Christmas cheer. This uncharacteristic lack of holiday spirit did not go unnoticed by her two teammates, who knew for a fact that Christmas was typically one of her favorite holidays. Concerned, they decided that Lily should broach the subject with her at an appropriate time, since, of the two, he was better at heart-to-heart conversations.

A few days later, Gajeel was sitting at his desk at the end of the work day, glaring at his mountain of paperwork, when Lily entered his office, closing the door behind him. “I talked to Levy today,” he began.

Ecstatic about having a reason to avoid his work, as well as truly caring about why Levy didn’t seem like herself lately, Gajeel pushed his chair back and put his feet up on his desk, giving Lily his undivided attention. “What’d you find out?”

“Levy has celebrated every Christmas with Fairy Tail since she was six years old. This year, there is no Fairy Tail, so she is feeling quite sad that she won’t be able to celebrate with everyone like they normally do. She said it is hard for her to get into the spirit of things because it just doesn’t feel the same.”

Gajeel brought his hand to his chin, thinking. “Hmm, aside from that insane party at Lucy’s last year, which I wish I could forget, what if we try to recreate a Fairy Tail Christmas for the Shrimp?”

Lily actually looked somewhat surprised. “That’s... Actually, that’s a really good idea.”

“Oi! Why do you look so surprised?”

Ignoring him, Lily continued. “Unfortunately, we can’t get anyone from Fairy Tail to come since we don’t know where they are, but maybe we can still do some of the things that we did last year.”

“Gihee, alright, let’s start planning.”

.......

“Okay, everything is all set for tonight right?” Gajeel quietly asked Lily during breakfast on the morning of Christmas Eve. Levy was still asleep, but they wanted to keep their voices down just in case she woke up.

“Yes,” Lily replied, “Levy knows the three of us are planning to spend Christmas Eve together so she won’t have other plans. The cookies are already made and in your office, so you’ll just need to go put them in these,” he tossed something at Gajeel, “and bring them back here without her noticing. Then, while you get Levy out of here for a few hours, I will set up everything. Were you able to pick up everything on the list?”

He nodded. “It’s all in my closet, I’ll show ya before I head out.” He heard a door open down the hallway. Gajeel nodded his head in the general direction, bringing a finger up to his lips. Lily nodded in return. Gajeel stood up and went over to the kitchen counter.

A moment later, a sleepy-eyed Levy walked into the kitchen, yawning. “Good morning,” she greeted them.

“Good morning Levy,” Lily responded cheerfully.

Gajeel walked back over to the table, handing Levy a mug of coffee. “Mornin’ Shrimp.”

She smiled gratefully and thanked him, then sat down at the table to join them. Lily gave Gajeel a pointed look over his glass of kiwi juice.

This was the part of the plan that Gajeel was actually nervous about. He took a deep breath then let it out, preparing himself. “So Shrimp, uh... do you have any plans this afternoon?”

Levy shook her head. “I was probably just going to read all day,” she said with a shrug.

“I’m shocked,” Gajeel deadpanned. “Well, if you want,” he continued in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone, “we could go into town and grab lunch, then go to that book store you like. You know,” he cleared his throat, “just the two of us.” He quickly glanced over at Lily, who wore an approving look. He really hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“That sounds really nice, Gajeel,” Levy replied with a smile. “I’d love to go.”

He had to refrain from letting out a huge sigh of relief. “Alright, uh... we’ll plan to leave around one, I guess.” He stood from the table. “I’ve got some things to take care of this morning, so I’ll see you later.” He messed up her hair as he walked by her, nodded to Lily, and left the room.

Levy rolled her eyes, hands immediately going to her head to try to tame her now messy hair. But Lily noticed the smile the graced her lips and the slightly pink tinge to her cheeks as she did so. He hoped today would be the day that the two people he cared for the most finally admitted their feelings for each other, and so far, things were going well. Yes, he thought, perhaps today will finally be the day...

........

Around one, Gajeel and Levy headed into town together, chatting as they walked side by side down the sidewalk. They grabbed lunch at a cute little cafe, then got some hot drinks to go, which were the perfect thing to keep them warm as they walked to Levy’s favorite book store. Levy grasped her drink in her gloved hands, looking around at all of the displays and decorations in wonder as her breath puffed out in little clouds in front of her face. Gajeel couldn’t help but to keep stealing glances at her the entire way to the store, a small smile on his face. He was glad that she seemed to be in a good mood today, despite what she had told Lily about feeling down about the holidays this year. When they reached the book store, Gajeel dutifully followed her around, carrying the pile of books she planned to purchase from shelf to shelf as she browsed. By the time they exited the store, Levy had several bags of books and a couple more hours had passed, both of which were exactly what Lily and Gajeel had planned on.

Levy looked up at Gajeel with a smile as they neared their apartment. “I had a really nice time today, Gajeel. Maybe we can do this again some time?” she asked, somewhat shyly.

He returned her smile. “Yeah, I’d like that,” he said.

She smiled even wider at his response, then turned to open the door to the apartment. She stopped suddenly after taking about two steps in, mouth open, staring at the sight in front of her. The apartment had been completely decorated for Christmas. There was a tree set up in the corner, fully decorated with lights and ornaments, with a small pile of presents underneath. Garland decorated the walls and doorways, and she spotted a Christmas cake with strawberries on top sitting on the kitchen table. And in the middle of it all was Lily, wearing a tiny Santa hat.

She looked from Lily to Gajeel then back. “What... How...” She was actually at a loss for words.

“Surprise!” Lily said, flying over to where they were standing.

“Yeah, surprise, Shrimp. Merry Christmas.”

“We know you were sad about not being able to celebrate Christmas with Fairy Tail this year, so we tried to bring a Fairy Tail Christmas to you,” Lily explained, landing in her arms.

“It’s probably not the same without everyone else, but you got us to celebrate with, if you want,” Gajeel continued, rubbing the back of his neck.

Levy looked at them with tears in her eyes. “You did this... for me?” She sniffled, then hugged Gajeel and Lily in a group hug. “Thank you, Gajeel. Thank you, Lily!” She pulled away then asked excitedly, “So, what are we going to do first?”

“First, we are going to keep an important Fairy Tail tradition alive,” Lily said, still in Levy’s arms. “So please keep your coat on, because we are going to head back out shortly.” He looked up and nodded at Gajeel, who said “I’m on it,” then went to retrieve something from his room. He came back carrying a large box.

“What’s in there?” Levy asked.

“Gihee, you’ll just have to wait to find out,” Gajeel replied with a wink.

The three of them left the apartment, Gajeel leading the way to their destination. Eventually, they had made their way to...

“Um... why are we at work?” Levy asked. She noticed a small crowd of people waiting outside. “And why are all these people here?”

“Fairy Tail Tradition number one,” Gajeel started, leading them to the front of the crowd.

“Handing out cookies to the kids,” Lily finished. “We may have mentioned to some of the Council members with kids that there would be free cookies today.” He turned to the group in front of them. “Who’s here for some cookies?” he asked the crowd.

The children cheered in response. Gajeel set the box down next to Levy, who opened it to reveal individual gift bags full of cookies. She looked up at Gajeel and Lily with a huge smile, then turned to the children in front of her and started handing out the bags, greeting each one with a warm smile and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

Gajeel stood back and watched as Levy handed out the cookies, just enjoying seeing the smile that lit up her face. This… he thought, this is what we were hoping for. He wanted Levy to always feel this happy, but at Christmas, especially, she deserved it even more. He had realized many months ago that he was in love with the little bookworm, and that she, for reasons he still didn’t understand, seemed to feel the same way. He was convinced that there was no way that he would make her happy, that she deserved someone better than him, given their history. Lily had pointed out to him repeatedly how much Levy smiled when she was around him, that she had jumped at the chance to join them on the Magic Council, that she always forgave him if he said the wrong thing. And that despite everything that had happened in their past, she was still supposedly in love with him too. So maybe… maybe he was good enough for her. Maybe he wanted to be the one who was responsible for putting that smile on her face all the time. Maybe he should just stop fighting it and see where this, whatever it was, led.

He was drawn out of his musings by the very subject of them, as Levy came over and grabbed his arm, dragging him with her to help hand out cookies. Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, he let her lead him over to the crowd.

........

Later that night, when the food had all been eaten and the presents had all been opened, Gajeel and Levy sat together on the couch, while Lily was curled up on a throw pillow on the floor, asleep.

Levy turned to him. “Lily said that you came up with the idea for today. Thank you for everything, Gajeel,” she said with a smile.

“I don’t like… seeing you sad,” he replied quietly with a hint of red on his cheeks, eyes averted. “You deserve to be happy,” then realizing what he said, hastily adding, “you know, on Christmas.”

She grabbed his face and turned it until his eyes met hers. “You always make me happy,” she said pointedly, hoping he would get her hint, her hands lingering on the sides of his face.

“I’ll never understand why,” he said quietly.

“Stupid Gajeel.” She raised herself up onto her knees. “Maybe,” she brought her face closer to his, “you don’t have to?” she whispered.

He stared at her. There was no hesitation on her face, there were no doubts. She wanted this, wanted him. And who was he to deny her anything? “Yeah... maybe you’re right,” he murmured, then closed the final distance between them.

Chapter Text

-----------------------------------------------

Hey listen, ‘cause I’ll only say this once
Do you think that you could lose yourself in me?
I could say that I want to die by your side one day
But I could never speak the words
Because they haven’t wrote the words
That mean enough to me
So together we can burn this way, burn this way

Stop and say you love me
Always
I’ll say the same to you

-----------------------------------------------

Levy sat in her bedroom in the apartment that she shared with Gajeel and Lily in the city of Era, sorting through her many piles of books and packing them into boxes. The time had finally come for Fairy Tail to be reborn. Levy, Gajeel, and Lily had gone to Malba with the intention of arresting the members of Avatar, based on information from Gray, who had infiltrated the cult, and Levy, who had gone undercover. But when they arrived, not only were Gray and Erza there fighting, so, unexpectedly, were Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, and Juvia. It was only after Avatar had been defeated and they had finished rounding up all of the cult members that they had learned that Natsu and Lucy were trying to reunite Fairy Tail. Levy took it as a sign that the timing was right, that this was meant to be - the way all of their pathways had intersected, after not seeing each other for more than a year, so soon after Natsu and Lucy had started out to find everyone and get the guild back together. And she was beyond excited to be able to return to the only home she had known since she as a small child, to see Jet and Droy, and Cana, and everyone else - really, she was. 

But at the same time... She paused in her packing for a moment, listening to the sounds of Gajeel and Lily going through the apartment and grabbing things to pack themselves. She smiled fondly when she heard them bickering over something.

At the same time, well, part of her was a bit sad that their time on the Magic Council was ending. Over the past year, she had made some close friends amongst her coworkers, and she really enjoyed the work they did, especially when she had access to so many resources while doing translation jobs. But above all, she had loved living and working with Gajeel and Lily. She knew once they returned to Fairy Tail she would likely resume going on missions with Team Shadowgear while the two of them went off on missions together again, and she would have to move back into her apartment at Fairy Hills, if it still existed, or worse, find a new place by herself. It wasn’t like she would never see the two of them again, but things over the past year with the three of them had just... worked. 

Further complicating things were her feelings for the Iron Dragon Slayer. She had long ago accepted that she was completely in love with him, and certainly this past year had done nothing but to strengthen those feelings. But she had a strong suspicion that the same was true for Gajeel, though he hadn’t acted on it yet, despite her subtle hints that she would be very open to him doing so. Even still, they had made such great strides in their not-yet-relationship over the past year, and, were they staying here, she was sure things would eventually progress with the two of them. Now though, she was worried that things might go back to square one. Would things be the same between them when they got back to Magnolia, where they were surrounded by their loud, rambunctious, and generally overbearing guild mates? What if this had been her chance to make her move and she had missed it?

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t see the man that she was currently thinking about walk up and lean in her doorway. “If ya stare at that book any longer, ya might burn a hole through it.”

Startled, Levy jumped and let out a small squeak, the book falling from her hand and landing with a “thud” on the floor. “Gajeel!”

“Gihee.” He grinned. “What are you thinking so hard about anyway?”

You, she thought, hoping she didn’t start blushing. Instead, she picked up the book she had dropped and started gathering several others, and replied, “O-oh, nothing really, just about us all moving back to Magnolia.” She flashed him what she hoped was a normal smile. 

“I figured you’d be more excited that we’re going back,” he said. 

She stared at him. Was he a mind reader? “Um, what makes you think I’m not excited?” she asked.

“The look on your face when I walked in just now,” he replied with a shrug, coming over to sit down on the floor across from her. 

Levy didn’t realize her internal struggle had been so clearly reflected in her expression - so much so that even Gajeel had noticed. She sighed, cradling one of her books in her arms. She supposed there was no use trying to hide it. “It’s not that I’m not excited about going back. I’ve missed everyone this past year, and Fairy Tail has been a home to me since I was little, so I really am looking forward to going back to Magnolia...” 

“But?”

She felt her cheeks warm. She turned to organize the piles of books next to her, unable to meet his gaze as she said quietly, “It’s just... I also really liked living here... with you and Lily.” 

Placing another pile of books into one of the boxes, she moved to stand and go grab another box when Gajeel grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She turned to face him with a questioning look on her face.

Now he was the one blushing and avoiding eye contact. “What if... you keep living with us... when we get back?”

Levy’s heart soared. “Really?!”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah... I- we liked living with you too, and uh...” He cleared his throat. “Well, we’d miss having ya around, so...” he trailed off.

“Then I would love to!” Her face broke into a smile that Gajeel couldn’t help but to return.

“Great, then it’s settled I guess.”

“Y-yeah!” She looked down and realized that he still held her wrist in his hand. “Um...do you mind...” she trailed off, shaking her arm a little.

Gajeel’s face turned even more red, and he quickly released her wrist. “Sorry.”

“No! I mean... don’t be sorry. I, um, wasn’t upset or anything,” she said shyly. 

They both stood there awkwardly for a moment, neither sure what to say next. Thankfully they were saved by Lily coming into the room, and they shared the news that Levy was going to stay with them when they returned to Magnolia. Lily was thrilled. Not only did he enjoy living with Levy, but he could also tell that both Gajeel and Levy had both wanted the three of them to keep living together, even if neither had had the nerve to tell the other that. It was painfully obvious to him that they both had feelings for each other, so hopefully this was a step in the right direction for the two of them.

......

A few days later, they were all packed, they had handed in their resignation at the Magic Council, and they had arrived back in Magnolia. Because Gajeel had already paid off his house before Fairy Tail had disbanded, and had decided to keep it even though they had moved to Era, they hadn’t had to worry about looking for a new place to live. It had taken two trips to move all of their stuff, mostly because of Levy’s book collection, but by the end of the second day they were all moved in (or moved back in) to Gajeel’s house. As soon as they had finished, Levy immediately began unpacking and organizing all of her books.

Around midnight Gajeel passed by Levy’s room on his way to bed, noticing the light spilling through the open doorway.

“Oi Shrimp, you still aw-” he began to ask, then shut his mouth immediately upon viewing the sight in front of him. Levy was asleep on the floor of her room, her head resting on her folded arms, which were propped up on a pile of books. Laughing silently at Levy doing something just so Levy, he silently walked over to her and lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. He made his way over to her bed and gently placed her down onto it, pulling the covers up around her and brushing her unruly blue hair out of her face. 

He wished he had the nerve to tell her how he felt, so he could do more than this. So he could hold her in his arms all of the time. At this point, he knew that the only thing preventing them from being together was for them to just admit their feelings to each other. And he knew that Levy was waiting for a sign from him (Lily had very bluntly informed him of this). As he stood there for a moment to watch her sleep, he vowed that he would tell her soon.

But for now, though... for now he settled for turning off the light in her room and whispering, “Night, Shrimp,” before heading to bed.

Chapter Text

------------------------------------------

I’m bouncing off the walls again (whoa)
And I’m looking like a fool again (whoa)
Waking up on the bathroom floor,
Pull myself back together just to fall once more 

------------------------------------------

The first thing that Gajeel became aware of after his crash landing in the hot spring was the surprisingly comfortable surface that his face was resting on.

“What is this flat, barely bouncy feeling?” he thought he asked inside his head.

As it turns out, he did not ask that question inside his head, but had asked it out loud. And the flat, barely bouncy surface that his face was resting on was apparently... Levy’s chest. 

Oh shit. 

He didn’t know whether he should move or stay still. Given the angry comments and insults that the other Fairy Tail women were hurling at him, he thought playing dead might be the safer option.

The next thing that Gajeel became aware of was the sensation of Levy’s fist connecting with his face and the sound of her tearfully calling him a jerk as she got up and ran away.

Fuck.

His eyes shot open and he looked around the hot spring, trying to figure out where the closest towel was located. Spotting one, he jumped up and sprinted over to it, wrapping it around his waist as he continued to the men’s locker room. As much as he wanted to chase after Levy, doing so in nothing but a towel was probably a bad idea. 

When he was dressed, he exited the locker room and asked the hot spring attendant if she had seen a small blue-haired person run by. The woman smiled sympathetically and pointed in the direction of the main lobby. He thanked her and hurried towards his destination. Entering the lobby, his eyes scanned the large room until he spotted Levy sitting in a corner. She wasn’t crying at least, but her eyes were puffy and red, her gaze downward.

He walked over silently and sat down next to her. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, cheeks red. “I couldn’t control where I landed, and by the time I realized where I was...” he trailed off, clearing his throat and trying not to envision exactly where he had been laying when he landed.

Levy didn’t reply but her face also turned red. She kept her gaze on the floor.

Gajeel wasn’t sure what to do next. Did she want him there? Should he leave her alone? He knew how to handle Levy when she was outwardly upset with him, but a silent Levy he didn’t really know how to deal with. Assuming her lack of response meant that she wanted to be left alone, he stood and said, “Anyway, I, uh, didn’t mean to insult ya or hurt yer feelings, and if I did, I’m sorry for that too.” 

He started to walk away when a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. He turned to look at Levy, who still wasn’t looking at him. “You don’t have to leave... if you don’t want to,” she said.

He sighed with relief and sat back down. “You’ve got one hell of a right hook there, Shorty,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder playfully.

Levy finally looked up at him and noticed the bruise forming on his face. She was mortified. “Ahh! I’m really sorry, Gajeel!”

“Eh, I probably deserved it,” he said with a shrug. “Besides, I get hit by people taller than you all the time, so it didn’t really hurt,” he added teasingly. 

“Stupid Gajeel! I take back my apology.”

“Gihee.”

Chapter Text

-----------------------------------

If the world stops turning
And you can’t stay
Be my hurricane
Be my hurricane
If the oceans rise
And the fires reign
Be my hurricane
Be my hurricane and drag me away

-----------------------------------

“Would you mind some company?”

Gajeel looked up from his spot on his bed and saw Levy leaning against his doorframe, clad in her pajamas. Gajeel had invited Levy to stay at his and Lily’s place after spending much of the day at the guild preparing for the battle against the Alvarez Empire, and she had readily agreed, always happy to spend time with him and not wanting to be alone that evening.

“Shrimp,” he greeted her with a smile. He shifted into a seated position and patted the bed next to him. When she joined him on the bed, he draped an arm across her shoulders. 

“It was really nice of you to say those things to The First Master today,” Levy said, leaning into his side.

“Yeah well...” his cheeks turned slightly pink. “I guess I could... relate to how she felt...” His arm tightened around her. “For a long time, I didn’t allow myself to acknowledge how I felt about ya because of... that night. And sometimes I still wonder how you can even stand to be with me after what I did to ya...” He looked away, eyes downcast.

“It’s because I know you’re not the same person anymore,” Levy said softly, reaching up and turning his face to look at her. “You always protect me and you show me that you’ve changed every day.” She smiled at him sweetly. “That’s why I fell for you.”

Gajeel stared at her. Despite the fact that they had been together for several months, and he knew that she obviously cared for him, her words still managed to affect him. How did someone like him, with all of his flaws and his dark past, get so lucky? Wordlessly, he learned over and pressed his lips to hers in an intense kiss, his hand coming up to bury itself in her messy blue hair. 

Levy hummed approvingly, loosely grasping the thin material of his shirt in her hand as she shifted slightly so that she was facing him. The sensation of his lips on hers, the burning passion that she had seen in his gaze just before their lips met, and the feeling of his fingers carding through her hair were igniting a spark inside her that she never let herself give into before. She let out a soft moan then nibbled on Gajeel’s bottom lip, teeth grazing it lightly before giving it a slight tug. In response, Gajeel deepened the kiss, his tongue entering her mouth to duel with hers as his other hand slowly slid down until it reached her lower back. 

Eventually Gajeel broke their kiss, his mouth sliding from her lips, across her cheek, then down her neck, where he nibbled and kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder. Guided by the hand that he had buried in her hair, Levy tilted her head to give him better access, gasping his name before she bit her bottom lip. She felt a wonderful heat pooling below her stomach and she knew she wanted to be able to taste more of him. 

Pulling way from him slightly, she tugged at his shirt, which he was quick to remove and throw aside. Levy shot him a wicked look before straddling his lap. Gajeel’s hands came up to grasp at her waist, his thumbs rubbing circles as they separated the hem of her top from her sleep shorts just enough so that he occasionally brushed against her smooth skin. With his shirt out of the way, Levy’s hands played with his toned abs as she kissed her way from his neck down to the waistband of his pants then back up again, leaving the occasional mark on his skin.

The combination of Levy’s hands and mouth on his skin, and fact that she was straddling his lap, oh so close to his manhood, was driving Gajeel insane. “Fuck Levy,” he growled, resisting the urge to grind up against her, his grip on her waist tightening. He sat up suddenly, taking her in his arms and flipping them so that she was on her back. He brought his mouth to her flat stomach, kissing his way up slowly toward the valley between her breasts, his hands following the same path as they raised her shirt. 

“Is this okay?” he asked softly, pausing before her shirt was raised completely, looking up at her face. 

“Yes,” she answered breathlessly. She reached down and pulled her shirt over her head, tossing it on the ground, then wrapped her arms around his neck, staring into his eyes. “I want to be with you tonight in case we don’t get another chance. I want to be yours, Gajeel.”

Gajeel’s lips turned up into a smile and he brought his face up, resting his forehead against hers. “Dummy,” he said fondly, “You already were.”

......

Later that night, Gajeel lay awake staring at the ceiling while Levy slept soundly next time him, glad that she was finally able to take her mind off of tomorrow’s impending battle. Despite the fact that he had faced countless enemies before, he had never had issues sleeping beforehand. Now though...

He looked over at the tiny script mage.

Well, now things were different. Before he had never had anyone else to worry about aside from himself, and obviously he didn’t really care if anything happened to him. But the thought of something happening to Levy... His hand clenched into a fist, wrinkling the fabric of the comforter. If anything happened to Levy, it did not bode well for him or for whoever had caused her harm. Depending on the enemy’s plans, some of the strategies they had discussed earlier that day would allow him to stay by her side, so he knew he could protect her if she needed it (he also knew that she could hold her own and didn’t need protecting, but just in case). However, there were other strategies that meant neither he nor Lily would be nearby, and it was those scenarios, where he couldn’t be there when she needed him, that were running through his head now. Before, the thought of something happening to Levy had always worried him, but now that they were together, well, now the thought of something happening to her downright terrified him. It was the first time in a long time that he had experienced that type of fear.

At some point during his musings he became aware of a strong magical presence approaching the city. He continued to lay there, trying to use his enhanced hearing abilities to get a sense of what was happening. Was the enemy already here? He noticed Levy begin to awaken next to him, her hand coming up to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Gajeel?” She looked over at him sleepily. “What’s going on?”

“I think... they’re here.”

“Eh?!” Levy scrambled out of Gajeel’s bed, heading to the guest room where her things were located so she could get dressed. 

Gajeel also got ready, then the two of them, plus Lily, started making their way toward the guild hall. They had just made it into the city when they heard the sound of the bell clamoring through the air.

“An aerial attack,” Lily said.

As they continued toward the guild hall, they heard the sound of a commotion coming from the western part of the city.

As they approached the guild hall, they all heard Warren’s voice enter their heads. “Strategy D! Flying Dragons and Osprey! Commence attack!”

“That’s our cue,” Gajeel said to Lily, who landed on his back. “Shrimp, you stay safe okay?” 

Lily opened his wings and prepared to take off when Levy exclaimed, “Wait!”

She ran up to Gajeel, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down to her level, kissing him before she said, “Be careful!”

Gajeel flashed her a smile as Lily lifted him into the air and said, “I’ll meet you back here soon, that’s a promise.”

Chapter Text

-----------------------------------------------

No, you’ll never be alone
When darkness comes I’ll light the night with stars
Hear the whispers in the dark
No, you’ll never be alone
When darkness comes you know I’m never far
Hear the whispers in dark

-----------------------------------------------

As everyone settled in for the night and began to fall asleep, Levy lay awake, a million different things going through her mind. She had no idea how Elfman, Lisanna, and Mirajane were able to sleep so soundly when tomorrow they would be going to battle against the Alvarez army once more. Maybe it was because they were much stronger than her, and they had already been successful in their previous encounter with the enemy, so they were confident in the outcome of their next battle. But she... well she wasn’t as powerful as anyone else on their team and she had seen what the enemy had done to Erza, Ichiya, and the Raijinshu. It left her with a deep sense of foreboding. 

She turned over in her sleeping bag and noticed that neither Gajeel nor Lily were in the camp. She decided to see what they were up to, since it was clear she wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon. As she quietly walked out of their camp, she saw Lily snoozing against a nearby rock, sword on his back, ready to spring into action if need be. As she walked past him, she noticed a solitary silhouette perched on a cliff overlooking the nearby town. She smiled. She would know that figure anywhere.

As she approached him, she said, “Gajeel. Can’t sleep?”

Not turning around, he replied, “Huh? I could ask you the same thing.”

Touché. Her face grew serious as she replied, “Yeah... I just feel like... I’ll never see the guild ever again.” She paused briefly, staring at the ground, then continued, “Our enemy this time really is different from every other one so far. And I’m not as strong as everyone else, so I’m actually kind of scared now.”

As soon as she finished speaking, large iron poles started jutting out of the ground, surrounding her. “What the-?!” She recognized the iron as Gajeel’s. What was he trying to do?! “Gajeel?!” She looked over to where he had been sitting only to see that he was no longer there.

Suddenly, he was in front of her, his hand propped against one of the iron columns. “You’re under arrest for acting weak.”

Right, Gajeel never liked when she called herself weak in front of him. She looked down again. “Sorry,” she said quietly.

“And since you’re under arrest...” Levy looked up at him questioningly. Gajeel leaned closer to her and continued, “...I will throw you into the guildhall’s jail.” His eyes grew tender and a soft smile appeared on his face. “I promise,” he said gently.

And she knew then that, no matter what happened tomorrow or any day after, he would make sure that she got home. That she would get to see Fairy Tail again. How was it that this man, with his gruff exterior and constant threats to arrest people, always knew exactly how to cheer her up? How was it that with so few words he was able to communicate so much? 

“Right,” she replied, smiling softly at him. “You always know what to say to make me feel better. Thank you, Gajeel.” She stepped closer to him then raised herself up on her toes, planting a lingering kiss on his cheek. She lowered herself back down then started to move away when Gajeel wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards him.

“Levy...” he murmured. “If something does happen and I can’t keep my promise to ya... I just want you to know that I...” he trailed off. Why was finding the right words so difficult? “I...” His cheeks turned pink.

Levy reached up and placed a finger on his lips. “It’s okay, I know.” She pulled back from his embrace so she could look up at him with a shy smile. “I feel the same way.” Her other hand grasped one of his. “I have for a while now.”

Gajeel’s eyes widened slightly. At a loss for words, he tightened his grasp on Levy’s hand and tugged her back towards him, leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. He tried to convey to her with that kiss everything that he couldn’t find the words to say, like Levy, I love you and I promise I will keep you safe no matter the cost. 

When they both pulled away, they each had a look of wonder on their faces, their eyes wide and lips parted slightly. Their breath puffed out in little clouds in front of them in the cool night air.

“Maybe when this is all over, we could...” she trailed off.

“Y-yeah, I’d like that.”

They smiled at each other. Turning to look at the horizon, they noticed the first signs of daylight starting to emerge, the dark sky slowly lightening with varying hues of blue and orange. Gajeel draped his arm across Levy’s shoulders.

“Do you want to head back?” he asked.

Levy moved closer to his side, one arm wrapping around his lower back. “Let’s stay here a little longer,” she said softly, tilting her head to look up at him.

He leaned down to brush his lips over hers. “Fine with me, Shorty.”

...

In the morning, Lily approached the cliff, looking for Gajeel and Levy, who hadn’t returned to the campsite last night. Not seeing them, he floated over to the cluster of iron poles that hadn’t been there when they’d arrived yesterday, recognizing them as Gajeel’s. It was then that he spotted the two people he was searching for and his face broke into a grin. Finally. Gajeel was seated on the ground with his back propped against one of the iron poles. His arms were loosely clasped around Levy, who was curled up on his lap, her head tucked underneath Gajeel’s chin. Both were sound asleep. Knowing that both of them had been unable to sleep the night before, he decided to wait nearby and give them a little more time to rest. He would wake them up eventually, but at least for a little while longer, the two would be able to enjoy being in each other’s arms.

Chapter Text

----------------------------------------------

Do you remember feeling invincible?
When there was trouble it was us against the world
We kept running, running through the night
Chasing the sun, ‘til anything felt right  

Can you save me now?
I get lost up in the clouds
Can you save me now?
You were my gravity

----------------------------------------------

“You’re surprisingly candid today, Gajeel,” Lily said with a smile, nodding his head towards an area to Gajeel’s right.

Gajeel slowly turned around to find...

“Levy...” His cheeks turned slightly pink as he recalled his confession to her before he had been sucked into the gate to the underworld. He had spent his entire walk back with Zera trying to figure out what he would say to her when he saw her again - all of those thoughts vanished from his mind the moment he laid eyes on her. Her clothes may have been torn and she may have had smudges of dirt and dried blood everywhere, but the Levy standing in front of him right now was the most beautiful sight that he could ever recall seeing.

Levy stared back at him with tears pooling in her eyes. “Gajeel...” she said with a watery smile.

The next thing he knew, Levy was calling him an idiot as he felt something with tremendous force (i.e. Levy’s foot) connect with his jaw. He landed sprawled on his back, soon joined by Levy, who straddled his hips. She placed her hands on his chest, tears now running down her face. “You dummy... You’re supposed to take me back to the guild hall, remember? You have to keep your promise...”

He smiled, reaching up to wipe her tears away with the pad of his thumb. “Yeah. The guild hall’s not far now,” he said tenderly.

Levy sniffled and returned his smile, forcing out a tearful laugh. Gajeel moved to sit up, so Levy slid off of him. It was at that point they heard Jet and Droy loudly asking someone who they were. Gajeel saw Zera peeking out from behind what remained of a wall. Oh right, he was the only one there who knew who Zera was. Just as Zera finished explaining that she was Mavis’ friend and the circumstances of her being there, her appearance started to distort and fade away, eventually disappearing altogether.

“She’s gone...” Jet said, somewhat in awe.

“B-but she was so cute...” Droy said sadly. 

Gajeel looked up at where Zera had been and said with a slight smile, “Thanks for everything, Zera.” He was grateful not only for how she had helped everyone in Fairy Tail, but also for the fact that her directions had reunited him with Levy and Lily. He heard Levy say a quiet thank you next to him and knew she was thinking along similar lines.

“Now we have another thing to look forward to after we win,” Lily said, turning around. “We get to ask the First Master about her adventures with Zera. We get to hear about Fairy Tail’s beginning.”

Levy, always happy at the prospect of gaining new knowledge, made a noise of agreement and excitement. As Lily, Jet, and Droy went ahead of them and started making their way toward the guild hall to rejoin the battle, she looked up at Gajeel shyly and said softly, “One of many things to look forward to, I hope.”

Cheeks reddening, he averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. “I- I ain’t plannin’ to take back anything I said to ya before, if that’s what yer asking,” he said quietly.

She wrapped her arms around his waist then, burying her face in his chest and breathing in his scent. Tears pooled in her eyes, both from the joy at hearing his words but also at the memory that she had almost lost him; that he, and their future, had almost been taken away from her.

Gajeel felt the slight wetness on his chest before he heard her sniffle. He wrapped her in his arms. “Sorry for worrying ya, Shorty,” he murmured, one of his hands coming up to cradle the back of her head, his fingers running through her hair. He had heard her screams of anguish as he had disappeared into the void, and it was a sound he hoped to never hear again in his lifetime. 

“Don’t ever do something like that again, stupid Gajeel,” came her muffled reply as she hugged him a little tighter. She pulled away from him slightly and looked into his eyes. “I want those things with you too, you know, and I can’t do them if you aren’t here, dummy,” she said seriously, poking him in the chest.  

Gajeel couldn’t help but to smile despite her serious tone - he never could resist Levy’s face when she was annoyed or mad. Before she could open her mouth to continue speaking, he pressed his lips to hers, using the hand buried in her hair to angle her head just right. Levy let out a small squeak of surprise before melting into the kiss, her eyes fluttering closed and her hands coming up to flatten against his chest. 

When he pulled away a few moments later, he leaned his forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we can do all of those things, Levy. But first...” He grabbed one of her hands in his, smiling. “First, I have to keep my promise to ya from the other night.”

Chapter Text

--------------------------------------------

I was lost when I first lost sight of you
Caving in inside my mind
Call my name, I’ve been searching everywhere
Where did you go?
Now you’re here and I fear to look away
Is it real or just a lie?
Close your eyes and call out to me again
I just need to hear your echo...

--------------------------------------------

He was okay.

Seeing him standing there with Lily, having just taken down a group of soldiers from the Alvarez Army to protect Jet and Droy, she almost started sobbing just from the sheer relief she felt. Yes, she had heard his voice while Zera was talking to everyone in Fairy Tail, so she had assumed that meant he was alive, but it wasn’t until she actually saw him with her own eyes, in the flesh, that she was able to accept it, to believe it. He was alive. Now all of the things Gajeel had said he wanted with her - a future, a family - things she also wanted with him and that had been taken away by that purple vortex - they were once again possible.

Eyes filling with tears, she watched as he slowly turned to face her, finally noticing her standing there. She saw the slight blush that appeared on his cheeks as he said her name then stared at her as if unsure what he should say or do next. And even though she was so beyond relieved that he was here in front of her, so was also so, so mad at him for the stunt he pulled. Didn’t he always lecture her about trying to risk her life to save him? Didn’t he promise her that he personally would make sure she saw the guild again? 

So it was the latter of these two feelings that she happened to be channeling when she responded to him, calling him a dummy and kicking him in the face hard enough to knock him over. But just as soon as it came, the anger was once again gone, replaced once more by relief, but also some of the sorrow that she hadn’t stopped feeling since the events in that flower-filled field in Northern Fiore. Straddling his waist, tears pouring down her cheeks and dripping down onto his stomach, she reminded him of the promise that he had made her just two nights earlier on that moonlit cliff top. Told him he needed to keep said promise. And Gajeel... well, all he could do was smile in response, the soft smile he exclusively reserved for her, and agree with her, gently telling her that they were not far now from the guild before reaching up to dry her tears. It was his way of saying that he planned to keep his promises to her, all of them. 

Smiling and sniffling, she grasped the hand that was drying her tears and pressed it to her cheek, eyes closing as she whispered something along the lines of “good, as long as you didn’t forget” before releasing his hand and sliding off of him, remembering that they weren’t alone. There was so much more that she wanted to say, to do, but they were still at war, so this was enough for now.

Chapter Text

-----------------------------------------

Just feel all the love I’m giving you
I’m back from the war, I’ve been missing you
Where have you gone, my baby blue?
I’m here all alone, I’ve been bleeding too

-----------------------------------------

Everyone stood and stared at the Fairy Sphere with bated breath, waiting to see if Acnologia escaped a second time. Despite his continuous struggle, it seemed like the additional magic power had been enough to contain the raging dragon. Suddenly, Acnologia’s entire body glowed gold and shattered before disappearing.

“Acnologia just...” Erza began.

“...shattered,” finished Mira.

“The Fairy Sphere can do that?!” Juvia asked, staring at where the giant sphere had just been.

“No,” said Gray, “It was because-"

“They did it!” Happy yelled.

Wiping away her tears, Lucy turned to everyone and said, “Natsu and the others won!”

The roaring cheer that followed was almost deafening. Tears of joy streamed from peoples’ eyes. Hugs were shared between friends, between family, between lovers. Someone cast a spell to make it rain down colorful confetti and everyone collectively heaved sighs of relief. They had actually won!

Hearing a sudden cracking sound, Levy turned and looked up at the sky, noticing a large fissure that had suddenly appeared. Before anyone even had time to vocalize any questions about it, the crack continued to widen until seven figures fell out of it.

One of them landed with a thud in front of her, and when she raised her eyes, she was met with the sight of his grinning face. Tears of joy springing to her eyes, she choked back a sob as two muscular arms grabbed her and Lily, pulling them into a hug. All around her, she could hear the cheers of everyone greeting the other Dragonslayers, and she thought she heard Jet and Droy close by, but all she cared about right now was the man holding her close to him. He had almost been taken from her, again, but once again he had come back to her. 

Pulling away, she wiped her tears away and said in a mock-stern tone while smiling, “Will you stop disappearing on me already? We still haven’t made it back to the guild hall, you know.”

He let out a snort of laughter. Then he leaned down closer to her level and murmured in her ear, in all seriousness, “Yer an idiot if ya think I’m ever leavin’ yer side again, Shorty.”

Her cheeks turned pink as her hopes suddenly skyrocketed. “S-so you meant it then?” she asked shyly. “All those things you said when you...?” she trailed off, not even wanting to say it aloud. When you thought you were never coming back. When I thought I would never see you again.

Gajeel’s cheeks also turned slightly pink, but if the events of the past few days had taught him anything, it was that life was too short to not be honest about how you feel about someone. Hadn’t he already put Levy through enough anyway - getting sucked into a random void not once but twice? And since he was the kind of man who preferred actions over speaking, he wordlessly placed a hand on her lower back and pulled her toward him. He brought his other hand up to her face, placing a finger under her chin to tilt her head up, then pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. Levy’s eyes widened briefly from the initial surprise, but soon they drifted closed as her lips responded to his.

All she could think was finally. She had been in love with this man for what had seemed like forever, maybe even as early as the S-Class Exam on Tenrou Island, and their friendship had finally begun moving out of the realm of platonic when suddenly Fairy Tail was reborn, they had resigned from the Council and moved back to Magnolia, and the conflict with Alvarez had begun almost immediately after. Then he had been taken away from her. She had had to stand and watch helplessly on two separate occasions as he disappeared. There hadn’t even been time to discuss anything after their first reunion either, since the battle had still been raging on nearby. But now, it was all over, and she would be damned if she let anything keep her from him. So she brought her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, raising herself up on her toes so she could reach him more easily, pressing her mouth against his more firmly. Gajeel slowly moved his hand from under her chin, his fingers gently caressing the side of her face as they made their way to thread through the azure locks on her head.

How long they stayed like that, neither of them knew - time could have stopped entirely for all they cared - but eventually they both pulled away from each other, both of them smiling as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Neither said anything at first, but eventually Gajeel broke the silence. “That answer your question?” he asked.

Levy’s smile widened. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that people had started to walk back to Magnolia now that they had all been reunited. Nodding, she made a noise of agreement, then grasped one of his hands in hers and gave his arm a slight tug as she stepped backwards in the direction of Magnolia. “Now come on, it’s time for you to keep your promise.”

Chapter Text

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Ay oh, ay oh I hope you weren’t waiting long
I hope this night makes up for time lost
Ay oh, ay oh feels like I met you years ago and
We’re picking up right where we left off

-------------------------------------------

With Zeref defeated and Acnologia dead and gone, life returned to normal for the members of Fairy Tail. Although Fairy Tail had only reunited a few days before the war with the Alvarez empire, people soon settled back into their routines from before the guild had been disbanded: Team Natsu going out on jobs and leaving destruction in their wake, Mira running things behind the bar at the guildhall, Nab hovering near the job board but never taking a job, random brawls starting up at any given time. 

Yes, Levy thought, looking around the guild hall over the top of a rather large book, everything is finally as it should be. Her eyes fell on the Iron Dragon Slayer seated across from her, who was currently eating scrap iron while talking to Lily. Well, almost everything, she thought glumly, looking back down at her book. 

She and Gajeel had grown much closer during their year with the Magic Council, and their relationship had been toeing the fine line between close friendship and romance. The late nights spent doing paperwork just the two of them, casual touches and soft smiles reserved exclusively for her, moments where she had been fairly certain that he was going to kiss her that had been, much to her disappointment, interrupted. 

Then there had been the night before the war with Alvarez when they had crossed that line because they didn’t think they were going to win in a war against such a vast empire. Her cheeks warmed at the memories of Gajeel’s lips on her skin and his hands on her body as she hid her face completely behind her book. They had spent the night together before the invasion, both of them giving in after many months of hiding their feelings and desires for one another. And it had been amazing. She hadn’t thought Gajeel capable of such tenderness, and yet, at the same time, he had been able to elicit sensations in her body she had never experienced before. And afterwards, he had laid next to her and stroked her hair until she had fallen asleep.

But then the warning bells had started ringing throughout Magnolia, and all they had had time for was one last hasty kiss after scrambling to get dressed before Gajeel and Lily were off to meet the fleet of airships that had descended upon the city. With that battle won, the three of them had been immediately deployed to the northern front with the Strauss siblings to assist Sabertooth, effectively killing any chance of having a private discussion about what that night had meant, especially when there were more important things weighing on all of their minds. He had promised her though, in a private moment on a moonlit cliff, that he would make sure that she made it back to the guild safely. Had sealed that promise with a kiss as he held her close while the two of them watched the sun rise over the nearby town. 

Then there had been the fight with Bloodman... She bit her lip, willing herself not to tear up at the thought of that night. Gajeel had been able to defeat the member of the Spriggan 12, but just when they had thought the fight was over, purple tendrils had shot out and grabbed him, drawing him toward nothingness. As he was getting pulled in, he had confessed to her and described the future for the two of them that he had envisioned. I wanted us to walk together, always, he had said before being sucked into a void to the underworld. He may as well have ripped her heart out of her chest and taken it with him. Had she not heard his voice later, after that flash of red light that had rearranged the world, she honestly didn’t know if she would have had the will to keep fighting in the war. How could she be expected to keep fighting for a world without him in it?

Eventually they had been reunited, the guild hall looming in the distance, and she had kicked him in the face for his stupidity. Hadn’t he promised to personally bring her home? But there hadn’t been time to say much more, because the battle was still raging on. And eventually, when Zeref had been defeated and she thought that things were finally over, Acnologia had not only shown up but had taken him away from her again. How many times was she expected to watch the man she loved get pulled into mysteriously colored voids, for Mavis’ sake? There had been no time to dwell on what happened either, because she, Lucy, and Freed had had to rush off to the guild library to find the spell needed that would hopefully, maybe defeat the part of Acnologia that wasn’t trapped in some time vortex with the Dragon Slayers. When everything was actually finally over though, and Acnologia was gone, Gajeel had immediately wrapped her and Lily in a giant hug, burying his face in her hair and planting a kiss on the top of her head. And then...

Nothing. 

They had gotten caught up in the celebration with the rest of Fairy Tail and the members of the other guilds, eventually making their way back to Magnolia. There had been a huge party in the guild hall to celebrate, and Gajeel didn’t leave her side the entire night. But neither of them had brought up what had been said in that field at the northern border, or what had happened the night before the invasion. At the end of the night, she had wanted to stay with him again, but had been too afraid to bring it up, instead settling for a lingering kiss after he had walked her home and a promise to see her tomorrow. 

That was a week ago, and the events following the Bloodman battle still hadn’t been brought up. Granted, they hadn’t really had a moment to themselves since then - once again, a massive undertaking had been underway to rebuild Magnolia and repair all of the damage that occurred during the battle with both the Alvarez Empire and Acnologia. Plus, Levy didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. What if he had changed his mind and that’s why he hadn’t brought it up? Yes, he had said all of those things, but that had been when he thought that he was dying. And since he obviously wasn’t dead, well... maybe that changed things. Maybe he wanted to take things slowly, or he wanted to do things at a slightly different pace. She would hate to put pressure on him and ruin what they already had. After all of the progress their relationship had made, it would break her heart if things became awkward between them, or worse...

She shook her head back and forth to stop her brain from going into full-blown overanalytical mode. Clearly, she wasn’t going to get any reading done by being around the subject of her thoughts. A change of scenery was in order. With a sigh, she stood suddenly and shut her book, the abruptness of her actions causing Gajeel and Lily to stop mid-conversation and look at her with some concern. “I’ll see you guys later,” she said to them, flashing what she hoped was a convincingly normal smile before walking away, heading out the front doors of the guild with her book in tow. She thought she heard Lily start to lecture Gajeel about something as she left, but couldn’t make out what either of them was saying. 

Putting it out of her mind, she headed to one of her favorite reading spots in the forest - there was something about being surrounded by all of the tall trees and being able to look up at their canopies while seated on the ground with her book that she absolutely loved. As she settled in and opened her book to the place where she had left off, she closed her eyes for a moment and just took in the silence around her. Aside from the faint rustle of leaves in the breeze and the occasional bird call, the forest was quiet. Soon she was lost in the pages of her book, oblivious to the world around her. 

How much time passed, she wasn’t sure. But several chapters later, a large shadow fell across her book, causing her to look up, startled. 

“Gajeel! You scared me,” she said. “What are you doing here?” 

The Iron Dragon Slayer rubbed the back of his neck, eyes averted. “I was lookin’ for ya,” he said. “I thought... maybe we could talk.” He looked uncomfortable. 

Levy’s pulse started racing as she started imagining the worst-case scenarios for what he wanted to talk to her about. This is where he tells me he takes everything back. Instead, she tried to appear unfazed and said, “Oh, uh, sure. Do you... want to sit down?” She shifted over slightly.

He made a noise in agreement and sat down next to her, still not looking at her. He didn’t say anything, so they sat in an awkward silence for several minutes. It felt like hours.

This is what I didn’t want to happen, Levy thought despairingly. “Um... what did you want to talk about, Gajeel?” she asked hesitantly, her eyes on her hands. 

“I... uh...” He cleared his throat. “I just wanted ya to know that I...” He exhaled heavily. “I meant it... what I said to ya before I...”

Levy brought her gaze up at him, immediately noticing that his cheeks were pink. Her pulse was still racing but now it was for entirely different reason. She felt her own cheeks warm. “Everything?” she asked shyly. “Even... the parts about the future and... a family?”

“Y-yeah. If that’s... what you want.” He finally dared to look at her. 

Smiling, Levy raised herself up onto her knees and loosely draped her arms around his neck. “Stupid Gajeel,” she said fondly, then leaned in and kissed him. 

He responded immediately, his lips caressing hers. One of his hands came up to cradle the back of her head while the other went to her lower back, applying gentle pressure to pull her into his lap. He gently grazed her bottom lip with his teeth, causing her lips to part as she let out something between a moan and a whimper. He took advantage and deepened the kiss, his fingers weaving through her short blue locks. His kisses were hot but gentle, intense yet soft. Levy melted into his embrace, his kisses and touches turning her boneless in his arms. She sighed his name against his lips, burying her hands in his hair. 

Breaking the kiss, Gajeel placed kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear, at which point he murmured, “Levy... I love you,” before slowly trailing kisses down her neck. He froze when he heard her choke back a sob, pulling back in a panic to look at her. Her eyes were full of tears and she had a hand pressed against her mouth. “O-oi, what’s wrong? Did I-“

Shaking her head, she placed a finger on his lips to stop his worrying, using her other hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Sorry,” she said softly. “It’s just... I’ve been hoping to hear those words from you for such a long time. I, uh,” she let out a small watery laugh, sniffling, “I was actually worried that you had changed your mind... you know, about us. So hearing you say it right now just made me really happy.” Smiling, she leaned her forehead against his, eyes closing. “I love you too, Gajeel.”

Had her eyes been open, she would have seen Gajeel’s face break out into a rare, genuine smile. “Idiot, as if I could change my mind about loving ya,” he said tenderly. “I hate to break it to ya, but yer stuck with me forever, Shrimp.” 

Opening her eyes, she replied, “I think I can live with that,” then leaned down to kiss him once more.

Chapter Text

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I’m thinkin’
That we could make forever after all
Finding the gold in our darkest moments
Watching the roads turning into white roses, roses
And we don’t ever have to leave these walls
I’ll be the boy with the silver lining
You’ll be the girl with the Cinder Block Garden

----------------------------------------------

Something was off.

That was the thought that went through Gajeel’s mind as he watched his girlfriend getting ready. The two of them were in their bedroom getting dressed to attend some award ceremony for the cheerleader when the thought intruded into Gajeel’s mind for not the first time that week. He looked over at Levy as she did her hair in front of the bathroom sink, eyes skimming over her in her green halter dress. Damn she looks good, he thought with a smirk, then mentally berated himself for getting distracted. She didn’t look different to him. Was it her smell? He sniffed the air, his Dragon Slayer senses able to pick up her scent even from that distance. Hmm, maybe that was it. She still smelled the same - of ink and books with hints of lavender and, since they started dating, of iron - but was that...? Was there another scent mixed in ther-

“Um Gajeel... what are you staring at?”

He blinked. Levy had turned from the mirror and was now making her way over to him. Thinking quickly, he said smoothly, “Just how good you look in that dress, and how I can’t wait to get you out of it later, gihee.” He smirked as her face turned red, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. 

“St-stupid Gajeel,” he heard her say as he nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck, alternating between gently nipping at the skin there and kissing it. 

“Are ya sure we have to go to this thing tonight?” He murmured in her ear as his hands slid down to her hips, then he resumed kissing her neck.

Levy hummed, pretending to give it some thought as she enjoyed the sensation of his lips on her skin for another moment. Sighing, she pulled away from him and said regretfully, “Yes, we already said we would make an appearance.” She raised herself up on her toes and whispered in his ear, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t resume this later.” She smirked and winked at him, then went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready. Mavis, he loved this woman.

...

When they arrived at the award ceremony, Gajeel immediately made a beeline to one of the tables, which held metal cups and dishes, and started eating them, despite Levy and Lily’s attempts to tell him not to. Granted, given how some of the other guild members were behaving currently, a few missing cups were probably the least of Lucy’s worries. They watched as Lucy received her award on stage then spoke to members of the crowd, the dismay clear on her face as she watched her guild mates draw attention to themselves. 

Levy spotted Porlyusica across the room and excused herself, saying that she had to ask her a question. Gajeel assumed it was related to something she had read in one of her books and chatted with Lily about their upcoming mission. At one point, he spotted Natsu and Lucy talking to Anna nearby and heard Natsu comment that Anna smelled like Lucy, which was why he felt relaxed around her. Gajeel smirked. Boy was that idiot oblivious.

Walking over to them, he said, “You always did like Anna when she was our teacher. Gihee.”

“Yeah. So what?” Natsu replied. 

He almost facepalmed. Yep, totally oblivious. How did the cheerleader put up with this guy? “What do you mean, so what?!”

“Gajeel! Over here!” 

He turned when he heard Levy calling his name. She was over near the tables, waving at him. Infinitely preferring her company over Salamander and the cheerleader, he smiled at her and said, “Oh, hey,” then made his way over to where she was. Reaching her, he asked, “What did ya need to talk to the old lady about?” 

He noticed that Levy’s expression suddenly changed from excited to nervous. “Um... I went to see her the other day for an appointment and I wanted to see if she had the... results of a test that I asked her to run,” she explained hesitantly.

Now he was worried. He knew something was off about Levy but he hadn’t realized it meant something was wrong with her. He mentally berated himself for not making more of an effort to figure out what had changed when he first noticed it. “Are ya okay? You’re not sick are ya?” He looked over her once more. Noticing the tears in her eyes, his worry increased ten-fold. 

“I’m fine, it’s just...” Levy grabbed his arm and pulled lightly on it, so he bent down to bring his head closer to her level. She took a deep breath and released it. Lowering her voice, she said, “Gajeel... I’m pregnant. We’re... we’re going to have a baby.”

Gajeel felt all of the blood rush to his face as his eyes widened. Well shit, that was certainly the last thing he had been expecting to hear. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how biology worked - he knew that there was always a possibility that it could happen given that none of the precautions they took were one hundred percent effective, but neither of them had been overly concerned about it. They both knew they wanted kids one day and figured if it happened, it happened.

And now it had happened. Holy shit, he was going to be a dad! He was going to have a kid! With Levy! 

Speaking of... Oh crap, Levy... she was probably waiting for his reaction... 

Giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, he grasped her hand in his and slowly pulled her closer to him. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, his other hand coming up to gently cradle her cheek. Levy’s hands came up to loosely grasp the lapels of his suit jacket as she kissed him back. Mavis, he loved this tiny woman in his arms. And now, they were going to be parents! Every single thing that he never thought would be possible for him to experience in life, Levy had somehow managed to give him. He must have been really great in a past life to deserve someone like her in this one, because he certainly wasn’t getting rewarded for any of the stuff he had done before he had joined Fairy Tail. Pulling away, he rested his forehead against hers, still smiling.

Levy looked up into his eyes, biting her lip. “So you’re... not upset?” she asked softly.

He scoffed. “Why would I be upset? I meant what I said that day ya know, that I saw myself having a family with ya. Did I think it would be this soon? No. But that don’t mean I ain’t happy.” He brushed his lips over hers again. “I love you, Levy, no matter what.” In his peripheral vision, he noticed they were attracting a few curious glances from several guild members. Lowering his voice, he said, “How about we move this party elsewhere? We’re startin’ to get an audience.”

Face turning the color of Erza’s hair as she remembered where they were, Levy nodded.

Tightening his grip on her hand, he led her out of the room, taking them through a set of doors that led outside. They emerged onto a small stone patio with several outdoor tables and chairs. Beyond the patio was a short path that led to the gardens, which were decorated with strings of lights for the event. It seemed no one else at the event had discovered this spot yet, as they were the only ones out there. Gajeel led them over to one of the tables, scooping her up in his arms and spinning around before sitting down and settling her on his lap. Levy let out a shriek of surprise as he did so and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

Gajeel brought his hand to her abdomen, staring at the now-flat area and stroking it tenderly with his thumb. He couldn’t help the soft smile that appeared on his face at the thought that their kid was currently in there.

“It almost seems surreal, doesn’t it?” Levy asked softly, her hand coming to rest on top of his. “It’s hard to imagine there’s a little person already growing inside there.”

“Ya never cease to amaze me, Shorty,” he murmured, nuzzling his face in her hair. “Just when I think life can’t possibly get any better, ya keep surprisin’ me.”

Tears sprang to Levy’s eyes as she said softly, “And to think this almost didn’t happen...” 

Even though a year had passed, they both shuddered to think about that day when Gajeel had almost disappeared. It was by sheer luck that he hadn’t been lost in that portal to the underworld and it made them appreciate the second chance they had been given. 

“Hey, only happy thoughts are allowed tonight or I’ll arrest ya.”

“Stupid Gajeel,” she said with a fond smile. “You wouldn’t throw a pregnant lady in jail, would you?” She looked at him, trying to appear innocent. “Especially not one as sweet and innocent as me right?” 

Gajeel snorted and brought his lips to her ear, his breath tickling her neck. “If you were so innocent, we wouldn’t be havin’ a kid, now would we?”

Levy’s face turned red again. “L-like you should talk! Who was the one who wanted to skip coming here tonight? Hmm?”

He grinned, planting a kiss below her ear. “Gihee. It’s yer fault for lookin’ so good in that dress, Shorty.”