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“Woah…” you muttered to yourself. “What the hell just happened?”
The simple answer, of course, was Jet, Droy, and especially Laxus had just beaten the living daylights out of Fairy Tail’s newest member, Gajeel. But the strangest thing was that Gajeel hadn’t even fought back. He had just… taken it…
You yourself were a little unwilling to forgive him for all the pain and hardship he had brought to the guild, which was why you had only watched the scene when you had happened upon it. But the fact that he hadn’t defended himself had taken you aback.
“Maybe… he really deserves a second chance…”
As you watched, Gajeel stumbled up the hill in your direction, though you could have stayed hidden behind a tree if you hadn’t walked up next to him.
“That was some performance, newbie,” you said matter-of-factly.
“What, you wanna get in a hit, too?” he responded coldly, continuing to to walk.
“No, no, I think you got quite enough.” You paused when he scoffed. “And the way you protected Levy…. is it because you felt you owed her?”
“What are you goin’ on about? I’ve got work to do.”
“Okay, I’ll go with you.”
“No way! I don’t need any help. And besides, you’d only be in my way!”
“Well, believe what you want, but I’m still going with you.”
Gajeel growled and quickened his pace. You did the same.
“My name’s (Y/N), by the way.”
“Wait, aren’t you that ice-freak’s sibling or something?”
You sighed. “Or something…” you growled.
Gajeel smirked. “Huh. What? Get that a lot?”
“More than I care to think about. In fact, I’m not sure Natsu has quite grasped the concept that we’re not related.”
“That fire-brained idiot. Not surprising. I doubt he’d get it if you beat it into him.”
“That’s probably true. Although, he thinks you have a screw loose yourself,” you retorted, pointing jokingly to your head.
“Hey! You wanna get yer lights knocked out?”
“Don’t you have work to do?”
Gajeel growled in response. You both walked on in silence, you trying your best to keep your curiosity to yourself. You couldn’t.
“Why didn’t you fight back? You could have at least taken Jet and Droy. And why did you defend Levy? You could have left her to protect herself. Is it because you’re trying to make up for what you did or–”
“Are you finished?” Gajeel interrupted your outburst coldly. “I don’t owe you punks nothin’.”
“Ah, so you did it because you knew that they needed to get their feelings out, and they would have gotten angrier if you’d fought them.”
“What do you know?” Gajeel denied, looking as far away from you as he could. You chuckled.
“What’re you laughing at?”
“You,” you answered with no hesitation whatsoever.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You act like you don’t care, like what you did, you did purely in your best interest. But really… you did it because you care.”
“You think I let them kick me around because I care?”
“No, I think you protected Levy because you care.”
“That’s stupid. I barely know her.”
“Well, you did nail her to a tree. Literally.”
Gajeel didn’t respond. After a while, a silent while, you reached the location of his job request. The job was to rid a town of their green rodent infestation. The job went smoothly, and with your help, you both made minimum damage.
“That appears to be the last of them,” you sighed to your partner. The two of you turned to leave, but before you could, the voice of a villager rang out.
"Hey! Aren’t you that guy from Phantom Lord? The one who all but murdered those Fairy Tail kids?!”
You guys ignored him as Gajeel gathered your payment. But despite your best efforts, you couldn’t help but turn to face your aggressor when he continued to shout obscenities and cause a ruckus.
It was clear to you that Gajeel was about to hit him, so before he could, you said, “Gajeel has been forgiven for what he did and has joined the guild in the hopes that he could make it up to us.” With that, you quickly flashed your guild mark and gestured to the black one on Gajeel’s shoulder.
“W-what?! You let this rat into your guild?!”
“Yes. Everyone in Fairy Tail believes that anyone can atone for their sins. Even him.” You started pulling Gajeel away. “Come on,” you muttered to him. To the villager you smirked and said, “And you’re very welcome.”
You two left the village and headed towards home. On your way, you passed through a small town. Both of you glanced hungrily at the food carts you saw. The sun was brushing against the horizon and neither of you had eaten since you'd left the guild hall.
Not usually one for complaining, you did your best to ignore and hide the loud grumbling of your stomach. Gajeel didn’t care half as much and munched on some spare metal he had brought along. Eventually, though, he did notice your evident hunger.
“Hold on a sec,” he told you as he approached a food cart. You watched with a confused expression as he bought two fruits. He had been eating all the way here, how could he possibly still be that hungry?
“Here,” he said as he tossed one of the fruits to you. A bit shocked, you barely managed to catch it. You didn’t do anything to it as you began walking again. Gajeel scoffed.
“I didn’t do anything to it.”
You gave him a shy smile and took a bite, eating it greedily once the flavor reached your depraved taste buds. Gajeel watched with his mouth hanging open as he watched you practically swallow the fruit whole.
“Geez, take mine, before ya start thinking about eating me,” he grumbled under his breath. He handed his over and you took it while you gave him a look that asked him if he was sure. You would have asked with words if you thought you could open your mouth without taking a huge bite out of it.
"Yeah, you can have it, just don’t think this means we’re friends or anything.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” you replied before taking a generous bite out of your food. “Besides, if we were friends, you would have given me a share of our pay.”
“‘s not like I asked you to come along! I just didn’t wanna hear your stomach growling anymore. It’s annoying.”
“Uh huh.”
“Shut up. Don’t expect me to do anything nice for you again in the future.”
“So you bought me food to be nice?”
“I did it so you’d be more inclined to leave me alone, alright?!”
“Alright! Sheesh!” you paused. “But I’m not gonna leave you alone.”
Gajeel growled, getting really frustrated now. “Why not?!”
“Who else are you gonna talk to in times of need?” you responded mockingly with a small smile.
He growled again but didn’t say anything. A while later, when the sun had set and the stars were out, you finally reached the guild hall. Mira was just walking out.
“Hey, Mira! Let me walk home with ya!” you called as you and Gajeel got closer.
“Oh, hi, (Y/N)! Glad you made it back okay! And you too, Gajeel,” Mirajane finished with a slight giggle. Gajeel just grunted in greeting.
“Alright, well, see ya, screw-head,” you said, waving back to him as you walked away with Mira.
“Yeah, whatever, ice-for-brains,” he retorted, turning and walking in the opposite direction. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard you laugh.