This chapter is titled: "Feelings" - Enjoy!
After her bath, Levy found herself more relaxed than she had been in days. They'd be returning home soon – good news for the blunette…not so good news for the dragonslayer who had been tasked with keeping her safe. Jet and Droy would take one look at her battered form and assume the worst, and then Levy would be left with friends who had taken a beating and looked just as bad as she did. The thought made her grimace as she clutched the sheets closer to her body.
Gajeel had yet to slide into bed beside her. Levy still hadn't decided what was going on between them. Were they officially dating? Levy frowned at the thought – of course they were 'dating'. Gajeel had admitted that they were exclusive. That meant something, right? However, the dragonslayer had yet to really open up to her aside from the night they had first slept together. That was the last bit of emotion that she had really gotten from him and she knew that there had to be a lot of feeling underneath his roughness.
Levy's eyes drooped with tiredness. She'd pass out before too long. The pillows were so soft and comfortable – she was so tempted to steal one and take it home with her. The thought of stealing something made her uneasy, though, and the thought was quickly replaced with one of buying the pillow from the inn instead. Gajeel would have found that funny, she thought as Levy watched his dark form out on the balcony. He always said she was the most interesting person he'd ever met.
With a wince and a yawn as she snuggled into Gajeel's pillow – a tactic she was using to see if he would wake her up as he stole into bed later on that night – a happy smile fluttered onto her face. Sure, she might be bruised to no end, but she had a lot to look forward to. Gajeel gave her the promise of more adventures and Levy was ready for her life to take on a more exciting spin. Perhaps now that Gajeel was hers and she was his, Lucy wouldn't be the only one caught in the middle of exciting battles and meeting unique wizards all over Fiore. Levy felt confident that it was her turn to really experience all that life had to offer.
Gajeel sat on the edge of the balcony, his legs swinging over the edge as he looked at the stars. He'd thought that giving Levy a little bit of peace tonight would be best. He still felt somewhat guilty for leaving her up to her own devices in battle. Gajeel wouldn't have let anything serious happen to her – she might be bruised and battered, but she would recover. Still, his stomach had rumbled with unease as he had intimately caressed her in the bath earlier – her body aches causing her to wince with pain even though he was giving her pleasure. He hadn't meant for it to be that bad. He hadn't realized how fragile Levy was, even if she didn't want to admit it.
Sitting on the balcony, he'd had time to think about how he could make sure Levy grew. He'd make her train every day until he deemed her ready. She wasn't weak by any means – her magical power was greater than over half the guild. But her petite form, although very lithe, lacked physical finesse that she needed to overcome the hardships of hand to hand combat. She wasn't going to like it – Gajeel knew this much – but he was going to get her into the best shape of her life.
After all, she was a dragon's mate.
His lips curved into a smile at that thought. Sure, he'd been with countless women over the years, but with Levy, everything was something special. He should have known that when he'd created her gift, that his heart would have sunk into it more than he expected. It scared him to admit that he loved her, having just started to get to know her in the later part of his time in Fairytail. Part of him wished that he hadn't hurt her like he had when they had first met each other and he was in Phantom. She'd forgiven him, yes, but it was still a hardship that he had to overcome, although it was getting easier and easier to come to terms with it as the days progressed. So many years and months were lost because of his insecurity. Their relationship had been significantly strained because he just couldn't let himself see what was right in front of him. But the blush on her cheeks as he pressed a kiss to her lips was enough to make himself determined to love her in the way she deserved. He was not going to rush this. He was going to make her fall in love with him. And with the way she was hugging his pillow, he was certain it wouldn't be as hard as he was expecting.
Gajeel sighed as he swung his legs. He'd had all these grand plans to woo her, but she'd talked to him after his grand gesture with the flowers – and of course, after he somewhat kidnapped her at the guild. It had thrown him off almost completely and now he had to rethink his strategy. They were exclusive with one another, but perhaps the training he was about to put her through would be another way he could show her how much he cared. She was more than just a good lay to him anyway – Levy was one of his closest friends. He'd admitted it to himself when they were on one of their last missions together. The defining moment had been when she'd told him that she was scared.
"Shrimp, you've really got me under a spell." He muttered to himself, smirking into the darkness as he pushed himself up to his feet. It was getting late and they had a long journey ahead of them in the morning.
Sunshine. It was the first thing that she'd noticed as she came to consciousness. The second thing was the warmth that consumed her. Her body rose and fell in an unfamiliar rhythm and the loud beating of a heart was in her ears. Her hands clutched the rock hard chest that was underneath her and Levy found herself curling into the half-naked man that she was snuggled with. If this was what it was like being with Gajeel, Levy could only hope that she had a million mornings like this.
Minus his god awful morning breath.
Fingers pinched her nose as she moved off of him, slipping out of the covers and rushing to the bathroom. She hadn't noticed his morning breath before, but she'd definitely noticed it today. Flipping the light on in the small room, she looked in the mirror and almost let out a sob. Black and blue were the colors of her skin and Levy wasn't sure that she'd be able to cover the bruises up. They had definitely settled more overnight, but the healing had begun. Wendy would be able to help with her condition once they returned – it didn't appear that there was anything too terribly wrong with her. That was a positive.
"Oi! Shrimp! Where'd ya go?" His voice rang through her head as she quickly brushed her teeth and fixed her makeup. They hadn't reached the point in their relationship where Levy was okay with Gajeel seeing her completely disheveled first thing in the morning.
"I'm right here, Gajeel." Levy muttered, knowing full well that he could hear her. "I'll be out in a minute."
She'd kept true to her promise and slid back under the covers within a few moments. Gajeel's warm arms wrapped around her, careful to not push on any of her sore spots. He held her as if she were a china doll – breakable with even the slightest force. He was protecting her without realizing it, and Levy let a smug grin coat her face.
"Can we go shopping before we leave?" Levy asked as she closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.
"You're seriously going to drag me shopping?"
"You're seriously going to give me crap about it after letting me get beat up yesterday?"
Gajeel sighed. "Fine. I guess you have a point."
Author's Note:
Hi guys! Sorry for not updating in the last week or so...Life has been ridiculous! I have been going through the process of buying a house and we just got the okay to close today! So great news!
Additionally, I've been doing a lot of work on my other fanfiction, Skinny Love (which you all should check out if you haven't already), and some non-fanfiction work on Wattpad.
Thanks to everyone for the reviews, especially those who are pointing out my silly mistakes - sometimes it's crazy jumping between stories, especially one where I'm writing for Lucy, Juvia, and Levy. I do apologize for any descriptive errors I made - I'll be sure to be more careful in the future!
R&R guys - this chapter is a bit more heavy and thought filled than others. I was feeling kind of deep tonight so we're scratching the surface of feelings again. Next chapter - shopping trip and then announcing to the guild that they are "together". I wonder how Jet and Droy will take it?
Until next time! 3