Levy frowned as the pounding on her door persisted. It wasn't that she didn't know exactly who it was, she was just annoyed it was coming at nearly midnight.

"Shrimp! Come on! I'm tired and I'm hungry."

She shut her book. "Why is that my problem?" She got up and stood on the other side of the door. "You have your own place to go back to. So stop bothering my neighbors."

"They're not even home. And your place is closer."

Levy rolled her eyes. Almost every night since joining the Council, Gajeel had been out late filing paperwork and reading mission reports and showing up on her doorstep. Occasionally somewhat drunk, usually just hungry. "You're unbelievable."

"I'm doing you a favor by not just breaking open your door and making myself at home you know."

"Stupid Gajeel." She finally opened the door.

Panther Lily flew in beside his dragon slayer and looked at Levy. "Sorry."

"I should be used to it by now."

"May I ask why you're still awake at this hour?"

"I figured stupid Gajeel would come knocking anyway so I decided not to go to bed yet."

Gajeel looked over his shoulder as he went into the kitchen. "Keeping a light on for me, huh?"

"Don't be stupid. I just don't want to be woken up again by you." She watched as he made himself a sandwich garnished with scrap iron from a jar she's begun to keep on her counter. "Look. Just...I'm going to take a bath. Don't make too much noise and just go to bed, okay?"

"Fine."

Levy grabbed some clothes and went to her bathroom. It wasn't anything special but it had a big tub that she loved to sit and soak in. After prepping her bath, she tossed her clothes in the corner and sank deep into the water. She'd been toying with the idea of asking Gajeel to move in with her, she just wasn't sure it was a good idea. The man spent more than half the week sleeping at her place. Her spare closet was full of his clothing. It was getting to the point where there was no reason for him to pay rent on his own place. And he might as well help with her expenses if she was going to keep feeding him late at night.

But what would he think of the idea? Would he laugh in her face? No, she didn't think he would. But he might take it the wrong way too. She didn't want him to think she wanted to take their relationship to the next level. Even if she did. No. No. No. She shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. That was getting way too ahead of herself. He had just confessed to her a month ago, right after the guild disbanded and they joined the Council. It was way too soon to be moving in, wasn't it?

A knock at the bathroom door shattered her concentration. "Hey I gotta take a piss. You better be covered up."

The door opened before she could protest. Levy sank into the water as deep as she could. Luckily all the aromatherapy powders and oils she'd added to her bath made the water impossible to see through but it didn't give her any comfort that there was very little between her body and his eyes.

"You have no sense of personal space. Can't a girl take a bath in peace?" She turned away as she heard him undo his belt. "Stupid Gajeel. Unbelievable."

"Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. And Lily's asleep already so don't go calling for him."

"I don't need any more guys in my bathroom, Exceed or not." She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the face that he had just partially undressed in front of her. Of course she'd seen him shirtless plenty of times. But never pantless.

"You know, you're not doing a good job of hiding the fact that you wanna see what I got going on here. I don't mind if you look. My woman should know what she's getting herself into, ghihihi."

"You are stupid and horrible." She growled. "Hurry up and get out of my bathroom."

He washed his hands and sat down beside her tub, to her additional horror. "What's wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable?" He smirked at her.

She puffed out her cheeks in frustration. "I don't barge in on you when you're showering. I don't need you making fun of me while I'm naked."

He cocked his head to the side. "Why would I make fun of you?"

"Because...because you know..." She floated back to the other side of the tub, away from him.

"Not really, no. Enlighten me."

She covered her chest even though he couldn't see through the water. "Because I don't have a sexy body like Lucy or Erza..."

"Depends on what you call sexy." He folded his arms on the side of her tub and leered at her. "I don't care for tits much. I'm more of a ass man."

Levy turned bright red and whipped a bottle of oil at his head. "Get out of my bathroom! Get out of my house!"

He caught it easily and set it on the floor. "Hey, that shit's expensive. Don't go chucking it around."

Realizing which oil she threw at him, she grimaced. It was expensive. Probably her most expensive one that she could only afford every once in a while. But... "How do you know how much it is?"

Much to her confusion, he blushed and looked away. "No reason. I mean, all that shit's expensive."

"What do you know about bath oils?"

"Never mind." He finally got up from the side of her tub.

She looked at him with wide eyes then she grinned. "Gajeel, if you want to buy me presents, you know books are better. But Nocturne has this one oil in a gunmetal bottle that smells amazing. I wouldn't turn it down."

He didn't say anything for a moment and she knew he was trying to make sure he remembered. "Don't get cheeky." He closed the door behind him leaving Levy to finish up her bath.

She was on to him, he just knew it. But at least he had an idea of what to get her as a part apology-part thank you for all the times he'd crashed here. He owed her a lot more than a few books and bath oils but it would be a while before he figured out how to thank her for sticking with him after the disbandment of Fairy Tail. She could have easily gone with Jet and Droy but she chose him.

Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't hear her come out of the bathroom and sit beside him on the bed.

"I thought you'd be asleep already. You seemed tired before."

"Eh...I woke up."

"Hey Gajeel?"

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about something while I was in the bath."

"Something about me?" He grinned at her again.

She whacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Stop it. I'm being serious here." She shifted so she could look at him properly.

Hearing the tone of her voice, Gajeel calmed down. "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking...I really think it's silly for you to be renting your own place when you spend so much time here. And a bunch of your stuff is here. You might as well just move in and get your own key. If the two of us were splitting rent, we could probably find something bigger even. Maybe with two bathrooms."

Gajeel was quiet, contemplating what Levy just said. She was serious about them living together, he could tell. And she was right. A lot of his stuff was already here. He was paying rent for a place he effectively didn't use.

"I mean...if you think it's a dumb idea, forget I ever said anything." Mistaking his silence for rejection, she scooted back on the bed. "Sorry."

"No...I think it's a good idea. You're right. You usually are. It makes more sense for us to be living together. I mean, it's a little weird that we sorta skip dating and move straight to living together."

She shrugged. "When you've stared death in the face several times with someone, going out for dinner and ice cream seems kinda boring."

Gajeel slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. "Ghihihi, I guess so." She blushed but didn't move away from him. Not like the first time he did that. She turned redder than Slamander's flames and jumped out of his lap so fast he almost missed it. He rested his forehead against the side of her head. "Next weekend, I'll bring the rest of my stuff over. Not like there's much left in my place at this point."

"Sounds good." She closed her eyes, enjoying his closeness. It would probably shock the rest of the guild, well maybe not Juvia, but Gajeel was a cuddler. It wasn't that he had no interest in getting intimate. They hadn't gone all the way but Gajeel had done plenty of things that made her blush just thinking about it. Though most nights he was far more interested in just holding her than anything else. She liked the way he would just purr in her ear when she combed her fingers through his hair. He couldn't help but smile when she would giggle softly when his breath tickled her neck.

As Gajeel's hand wandered down her side to her hip, he realized something. Lifting his head so he could take a look at her, he raised an eyebrow. "Is that one of my shirts?"

Sure enough, she had taken one of his solid black t-shirts and was wearing it as a nightgown. It wouldn't even stay on both her shoulders and hung well past her hips when he really looked. How had he not noticed she was wearing his clothing. "Well, it was in my dresser. And I didn't get a chance to do laundry yesterday or today. Why? Should I take it off?"

She always enjoyed the times she was able to make him blush since they were so few and far between. He looked up for a moment, waiting for the blush to fade. "N-No, it's fine. It looks good on you." Regaining his composure, he grinned at her. "I mean, it would look better on the floor next to the rest of my clothes but it's already late and I don't wanna keep you up any later."

"How sweet of you." Levy gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and crawled over to her side of the bed. "Go finish getting ready for bed. You've got iron breath."

"Pretty sure I always do. But if it makes you happy." He got up from the bed and went to the bathroom."Hey Levy?" He called after brushing his teeth.

"Yes?" She turned on her back to see him leaning on the doorway. "What's wrong Gajeel?" She could tell by the look on his face something was bothering him.

"I gotta ask you something..."

"Okay..." She sat up, somewhat worried by the sudden change in demeanor.

"When Makarov disbanded Fairy Tail...what made you come find me?" He ran his fingers through his hair. "You could have gone with Lucy. Or joined Lamia Scale with Wendy. I figured you'd go with Jet and Droy..."

Levy pulled her knees up to her chest. "There were a lot of reasons. The first one being because I was already in love with you then. And since Natsu disappeared, I was terrified I'd never see you again either. If you went off on some training mission with Lily and something happened, how was I supposed to know? Lucy and I promised to keep in touch. I wasn't worried about her and I would never join Lamia Scale. I wouldn't fit in there. As for Jet and Droy...well...they need to learn how to live without me."

By now, Gajeel finished in the bathroom and rejoined her on the bed. "What do you mean?"

"Jet and Droy didn't grow as mages during the seven years we were gone. All they did was wallow. I thought I was a support for them. Maybe I was a crutch. Terrible things happen you know? And just because they do doesn't mean you get to quit. Even if you do lose a loved one, you have to keep going. They wouldn't want you to dwell in the past. We were making what we thought was the ultimate sacrifice to protect Fairy Tail and the rest of the world. And look what they did with their lives."

"To be fair, I'd wallow for a long time too if something happened to you." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as he could without hurting her. "I don't want to lose the best thing that ever happened to me."

Levy buried her face in his chest. "Gajeel..."

"I love you Levy." He murmured several times. No matter how many times he'd said it, it still made her heart flutter. When she realized she loved him, she never dreamed he'd return the feeling. But here they were, just about married in every way except name.

"I love you too Gajeel."

Levy stood there, tears streaming down her face, what was left of Gajeel's jacket clutched in her hand. Lily, just as destroyed as she was, laid a hand on her shoulder. "Levy. We have to get back."

"Just...give me a second Lily...please..." She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "I just...I didn't tell him I love him before he disappeared."

"He knew Levy. It's not as though you never told him."

She slowly slipped the jacket on, thinking about her conversation with him when they first decided to move in together. "I promise I won't wallow Gajeel...I'll get even stronger. I promise! I'll find the door to the Underworld and tear it open with my bear hands! Do you hear me Gajeel Redfox? I'll find you and I'll bring you home!" She looked at Lily. "You'll help me, right?"

Lily nodded, clasping hands with the tiny solid script mage. "You have my word. We won't rest until we find him."

Determination shown brightly in her eyes, she looked back toward the battlefield. "Let's get back to Sabertooth. There were still a lot of them."

Lily unsheathed his sword, ready for battle. "Right." He picked her up and flew at breakneck pace back to the main battle.

'Do you hear me Gajeel? I'll find you. Wait for me. I promise. The two of us will walk together. Forever.'