Pairing: Gajevy / GaLe

Summary: Erza notices strange things happening in Fairy Hills at night and decides to investigate. What she finds out takes her by surprise... GaLe / Gajevy, from Erza's POV.

Setting: Fairy Hills, post-series

Warnings: Nothing much, just that it's on Erza's POV and therefore contains a harmless (to us) wee bit of sadism. Nothing graphic or M-rated, don't worry ;)

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns the characters and their world, I own this little piece of fan fiction.

.

The Slayer and the Bookworm:

Secrets and Surprises

.

Erza automatically awoke upon hearing a tap on a window. Jumping from the bed, she took a fighting stance and checked for any intruders. There was no one in the room besides her.

Remembering that the sound came from the window, she walked over and opened it. Peering out, she was greeted by cold night air, and silence. She looked around but saw nothing out of place; her view consists of nothing but an unremarkable landscape view.

Just like the past two nights. It is the third night in a row that she woke up in the middle of the night feeling the presence of intruder in the all-girls dormitory, Fairy Hills. The presence doesn't belong there, but strangely feels all too familiar. When she goes to check, she finds nothing, and the past two days she gave in to exhaustion and just went back to sleep. After all, the presence didn't feel threatening in any way.

But this is the third night this happened, and having had a relaxing day before, she felt that an investigation is in order.

She ran out to the halls, but it was deserted; the residents must definitely be sleeping. After she has checked everywhere, she walked back to her room. That was when she heard a thud, and a nearby window closing shut.

She ran to her window and opened it again. Looking out, she catches a shadowed figure walking away, with a huge haul of... something big and bulky in tow. As the figure turns a corner, she notices a smaller figure tailing it. A black flying cat. The bigger figure has got to be Gajeel.

For no particular reason, other than being a wee bit still weary of the iron dragon slayer and his closeness to the script mage, Erza couldn't stop herself from wondering: What if Levy has been kidnapped?

Erza found herself running to Levy's room, and subsequently breaking in. At that moment Levy opened her sleepy eyes and looked at her like she has gone mad made her realize how absurd her thoughts were.

"You..." Erza stammered, "were asleep."

"Yeah. I was," Levy looked somewhat worried, "Why? Did something happen?"

Erza backed out, severely embarrassed. "Nothing. S-sorry. Go back to sleep." She locked the door and went back to her room.

Levy is safe and sound. Maybe she, too, should go back to sleep. Wait. Levy wasn't kidnapped, sure. But Gajeel was still hauling a suspiciously large thing. Erza decided that her investigation isn't over yet.

.

She followed Gajeel and Lily all the way to the familiar, Strawberry Street. As the two walked past Lucy's apartment, Erza quietly followed, thinking that she never knew where Gajeel and Lily lived.

The two entered the very last apartment at the end of the street, one that looked similar in structure to though a bit smaller than Lucy's. It was a decent-looking two-storey apartment, and knowing Gajeel, this is quite a surprise. She somehow envisioned him to live in a tiny run-down apartment at the back of a pub. No offense, but Gajeel didn't seem the type who cared for comfort and style.

After giving it a few minutes, Erza finally approached the house. The two had left the door unlocked, and she felt confident enough to enter. The inside was as good as the outside. Not completely furnished, but it has a fireplace and a decent couch.

A room to the left was open; she could tell that it's the kitchen and dining room. Another door was small and must be the comfort room. At the far left corner is the stairs. Under it is a pile of scrap metal that assured her that she entered the correct house.

She could hear voices from upstairs and knew that the two doesn't know about her following them. She went upstairs and found two more rooms. Both doors are also open, and she senses the two from the second room, so she sneaked to the first.

It was the masters' bedroom.

Same as the house, Erza never expected Gajeel to have this kind of room. It was... cozy. Maybe it's the moonlight, or the candle light, but it felt like that word. Cozy. Near the window is a huge four-poster bed – again, not the type she'd expect of Gajeel – and the furniture seemed adequate. There was even a writing table by the other window, though she can't imagine what use it would be for the iron dragon slayer.

Knowing that the two are in the other room, Erza did her best to be more careful when she goes to peek inside.

Not that she needed it. Gajeel and Lily were too busy to have noticed.

The second room was not a guest room. She expected it to be Lily's room, but it isn't. It can't be anybody's room either, because it was...

A mini library.

One that is under construction.

.

At least two walls are already lined up with metalic-looking bookshelves (can't be too sure), entirely filled with books. The center wall has a huge window, but there is enough space for the still-empty bookshelf at the left, and the new one being fitted at the right. She watched the two who are too busy fixing it to notice her.

"Never imagined how much books a woman can own," Lily commented.

Gajeel grunted. "A bit more to the left, Lily... there, that's just right. Now let's secure it and we're done. Tell you what, after we set it fixed, you can stay to do the sorting and I'll return to the dorm alone to get the last batch while it's still dark. She loves `em all, so we gotta keep `em all."

Erza's eyes automatically moved to the very center of the room. A table, similar to the guild library's, is filled with books. A black cloth is on the ground, and Erza knew right away that these are what Gajeel fetched from the dorm.

Books.

Levy.

The exceed didn't seem annoyed at all, only amused. "Fine. Just make sure you buy her the newest Gale Force eyeglasses so she won't spend the entire time here reading these."

"Already got 'em."

"Good. `Cause you won't have time to do anything tomorrow and the ceremony's in one and a half days..."

Gajeel did not answer, instead he kept working and motioned Lily to do the same.

"You owe me after this, alright?" Lily prodded.

"Whatever."

Before Gajeel turned to leave, Erza has already left without anyone noticing.

As she makes her way back to the dorm, she remembered something that happened much earlier, when she dropped by Levy's room before she went to sleep:

She gently tapped on the door, but no one answered. Then she realized that the door wasn't locked.

Erza walked in on Levy who was too busy sorting through some books on the floor to notice. She frowned and looked around, noticing that half of the books had been cleared out.

"Levy? I dropped by to borrow some books..."

The bluenette suddenly jolted, finally noticing that she wasn't alone. "Uh, Erza? How long have you been here?"

She shrugged. "Just arrived. I don't have anything to do tonight, so I wanted to borrow more books, if you don't mind."

"Oh. Sure, uh... I'll go get you some." Levy stood and walked over to the remaining books on the shelves.

"What happened to your books? First time I saw this room with this few... "

Levy started gathering a couple of books—adult themed ones, as usual—and didn't face her before answering. "I kind of... decided to clear them out so I'll have room for newer ones."

"Oh." Typical Levy. But Erza notices something else. "What are those bags for? Going on a vacation?"

Levy blanched, but quickly recovered. "Oh, um, yeah. Here are the books," she walks over to her and without letting her ask about anything else, "By the way, I bought some strawberry cake. I have no one to share it with, so, would you like some?"

At the mention of sweets, all queries were forgotten. Erza happily walks back to her room with the strawberry cake and books a couple of minutes later.

With this, Erza realized that she has been tricked.

Why, you little trickster...

She walked quicker and quicker, plotting. A revenge is in order.

.

For the third time in the night, Erza barged into Levy's room.

Like earlier, she caught the bluenette on the floor, sorting books. There were no more books left on the shelves. Levy noticed her arrival this time.

"Isn't it too late in the night to do that, Levy?"

The solid script mage blinked several times, looking away, "I c-can't sleep."

"You too?" She walked in to approach the girl. "Well, I can't sleep either. Maybe I should hang out here through the night," she smiled as she saw Levy stiffen, "and we could read books and have some cake. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

She could practically see the words in her mind. Oh no, what should I do? How do I make her leave? Gajeel will be back tonight, if she caught him, how will I explain that?

As Levy was too frightened to say anything, Erza continued with her charade. "Listen how about I help you sort through those books? You see, I've finished reading the ones you lent me earlier. Maybe you can suggest books as we filter through them."

"Um, that's..." Levy stammered, finally standing up while wringing her hands. "That's... okay, I guess."

"Really?" Erza teases the girl some more, a secret smile on her lips. Levy looked so nervous right now. She suddenly threw an arm around her shoulders and smiled deviously as she said, "I was wondering. Can I keep these books so Gajeel would have lesser to haul back to his apartment? You know, you shouldn't tire him too much when it's merely thirty-odd hours before the big day."

Beside her, Levy stops breathing. "W-what..?" The script mage looked like she's about to faint. "What a-are you s-say..."

Erza felt a little pang of pity on the girl. A little. Remembering how this girl tricked her earlier, she quite enjoyed her discomfort. It was the perfect payback. "I saw Gajeel hauling away some of your books."

She has to hand it to her, Levy hasn't fainted yet. "O-oh. T-that? He b-borrowed," she winced, knowing how impossible it is for a mage like Gajeel to bother with books. "I... It's not what it seems! I swear!"

Giggles. Erza could'nt help it anymore. She giggled, and then laughed out loud.

Squeak. Poor Levy couldn't speak anymore. She looked about ready to cry. Or faint, whichever comes first.

Finally Erza gave in and stopped teasing the girl. "Does anyone else know?"

The bluenette shook her head.

This truly surprised her. "Not even Lucy?"

"I... wanted to tell her since last week when we... when Gajeel and I decided this, but I couldn't find the right timing. The... uh, ceremony won't be big anyway, w-we wanted something simple, so it'll just be us and Lily and Lu-chan. Lily knows, but Lu-chan thinks I reserved this coming two days for our shopping trip and sleep-over. I'll have to tell her the truth tomorrow, since we'll be buying her a matching dress."

She nodded, suddenly feeling as if she wanted to give this girl advise, or support, whichever she needed... "What about the others? When you going to tell them? They're bound to know as soon as they hear you've moved out."

"Nobody knows yet that I'm moving. Except you, now. That's why we're keeping our hauling as quiet as possible. Of course, we'll have to announce it after the ceremony – just not before – and Gajeel insisted to set aside more than enough jewels to cover for a guild celebration."

"I see." She nodded vigorously, "Everything's ready, then. Good luck. I have sturdy luggage bags, so if you need help moving—"

To her astonishment, the script mage suddenly bawled.

Erza's tough, I-know-what-I'm-saying front instantly dissipated. Had she overdone it? She had forgotten that Levy has a tender heart. Panicking, she tried to console the girl. "W-what did I say? I apologize—You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"I-I'm sorry," Levy sniffed. "O-of course not. I'm sure about my feelings for Gajeel... I've always been sure. But I've lived here since I was a child... I just..."

Oh. Erza smiled, softly. "I understand. Levy, remember that you'll always be welcome to visit whenever you like." They remained quiet for a while. "Listen, I suck at this, you know? If I say anything more I'll just end up riling you up worse. Why don't I just take the cake and the books and return to my room, and if you need anything, just come over."

.

Sniff. "Thanks." Finally, Levy smiled and wiped her tears. "...Erza?"

"Hmm?"

"I said I'm sure, about my own feelings. And I'm ready for anything. On the other hand, Gajeel.. I'm not so sure if he's ready for me."

Erza couldn't believe what she heard. Whoever needed to be ready for a girl like Levy? She's cheerful, kind, and amiable. She was in fact the easiest person to get along with. You never needed to adjust to her in any way. She couldn't be thinking she'll be a burden to Gajeel, can she?

"Of course he is ready for you. He asked you, right?"

"Yeah," Levy sighed, "But I keep thinking he's probably having second thoughts by the time he returns for another bulk of books. I'm surprised he even offered, since his apartment in Orange isn't big enough to store all my books, and I just feel like I'm being too much of a trouble..."

Erza heard her mumble some more words, but something else had taken her interest. Did Levy just say Gajeel's apartment is in Orange? But she followed him all the way to an apartment in Strawberry Street!

Could it be... the apartment is new? A surprise gift for Levy? Erza felt a warm feeling overcoming her. Who knew that Gajeel has this soft, caring side? True, everybody can see the attraction and bond between him and the bluenette, but this, to Erza, says just how sincere the iron dragon slayer is not only to Levy, but the whole guild. Despite the ceremony being a secret, he still prepared for a guild celebration, when he could just get away with leaving everyone out. Right at that moment, any tiny doubt Erza has left for the iron dragon slayer dissipated.

"Don't doubt, Levy. Gajeel won't change his mind about you just because you hoard too many books for his liking. I'm sure that he'll have thought of something by now. And really, that guy? He's too much absorbed on his feelings for you to care a bit for the little tasks he needs to do."

"How can you tell?"

Because he knows exactly what you need, and he is determined to give it to you and make you happy. But she can't say that yet. Gajeel meant that to be a surprise, and she will help keep it that way. "I can tell just by observing the two of you," she improvised, emitting a sense of seniority.

Which actually made Levy felt a lot better.

To have someone like Erza approve this must mean it's sure going to work, right? Levy had known Erza since she was a little girl, and despite knowing the requip mage doesn't have much romantic experience, she was still someone to look up to and someone whose advices to take.

They heard a tap on the window, and Erza took it as a cue that Gajeel and Lily has arrived. "Well, I should go. Don't worry, I'm actually good at keeping secrets. You now, as long as you keep those cakes coming," she added with a wink.

Levy laughed and ran to the kitchenette.

.

Soon Erza was back to her room, happily munching on her cake, ignoring sleepiness and the pile of books on the floor.

She was thinking of some things more interesting, like how she still has at least twenty-four hours to capitalize on the situation. While Levy keeps her on cakes and good books, what could Gajeel give her in exchange of keeping his juicy secret?

A slow smirk formed on her face as interesting, interesting ideas are formed...

Thank you for reading! :)

A/N: Hello, um, first Gajeel x Levy fic, I hope you liked it. I absolutely love this pair and I have tons of drabbles of them I never get to finish. Here's the only one so far that made it to the end. Maybe I'll turn this into a one-shot dump like almost every story in my profile, but I don't make promises anymore, so... let's just see if Mashima will give me a bout of inspiration to write more. ;)

I hope I got my characterization correctly. I don't know where Gajeel lives so I made Orange Street up. Reviews, corrections, constructive critics are very much welcome. Again, thanks for reading!