Gajeel and Levy
Gajeel trudged wearily along the streets, heading for his small home, where he knew Pantherlily was waiting. As he walked along, he took note of just how much he was aching all over, his back was sore from the numerous times he went crashing through trees, his feet sore from running all over the damn place after bandits, even his hands were sore. His pocket was heavy with the several hundred thousand jewel he had received from the successful completion of the job though, gihihi.
As he walked through a familiar section of Fairy hills, he was struck with how strong his desire to see Levy was. He looked about, and saw that Levy's apartment wasn't far, just around the corner a ways. He headed that way, and arrived at her doorstep a few minutes later. When a very surprised Levy opened the door a few seconds after he knocked, he grinned at her.
"Hey Shrimp." He watched as her face lit up at seeing his familiar bad ass, smirking grin.
"Gajeel!" She cried, jumping up happily to give him a hug. He caught her, stepping back to support the extra weight. His back screamed in agony and he grunted in pain, but he held her close, breathing in her familiar smell; paper, ink, and something distinctly female, sweet and musky. He gloried in it for a few seconds, before the pain overwhelmed his senses and he set her down.
"What's wrong Gajeel?" she asked, her beautiful eyes worried. She could tell something was hurting him, even from just the way he stood. The grunt of pain when she hugged him only proved her theory.
"Are you hurt?" He looked away briefly, wondering if he should tell the truth. She beckoned him in and he gladly walked inside, kicking his boots off by the door, groaning in relief.
"Nah… Just sore. Took a couple hard hits, that's all." He admitted the truth with a soft blush, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. It was still weird to have someone be concerned about him. He set his bag down next to his boots, and followed her into her small sitting room, one of the few rooms in her apartment that wasn't completely crammed with books.
"Oh Gajeel…" she sighed, and looked around her sitting room, seeming to decide on something. He watched as she nodded her head, and raced off to find something. Knowing she would probably take a couple seconds, he flopped down onto her comfortable couch and sighed, letting his head flop back on the back of the couch. He was tired. And hungry. And he hurt…
He looked up when he heard her returning, and blinked in surprise. Her arms were wrapped around a mountain of blankets and a pillow, with a small basket dangling from one finger. He watched as she dropped the bedding onto the floor, and set the basket on the side table, next to where he was sitting. She rolled the blanket mountain out, and he grinned when he saw that it was actually sheet covered futon. He looked over at the basket and saw that it bore several bottles of oil.
She set the pillow by where she was kneeling, at the head of the futon.
"I can help you out. Lay down here, and I can take care of this."
She stood up at the same time he did, and while he slowly laid down, she went into her bedroom and after changing her clothes, her bathroom. What was she up to? He made himself comfortable, stripping down to his boxers and tucking himself under the sheets, tossing his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor. She came back from the bathroom, dressed in one of his huge shirts and a pair of shorts, her hair up in a messy tail on her head.
He closed his eyes and just laid still, happy to finally lay down. So needless to say, he was surprised when she pulled half of the sheets down, so his upper body was exposed down to his waist. He jerked in surprise, with a startled, "Wha…?"
"Relax Gajeel. I'm just going to give you a massage. It'll help. Trust me." She said, and he could see that she was warming the oil in her hands. He grunted, and blushed a bit, but set his head back down on the pillow. She brushed his tangled hair out of the way, throwing the mass over his left shoulder so it was completely out of the way.
He heard a bottle pop open, and then warm oil drizzled over his back, followed by a pair of small, warm hands stroking the oil over the expanse of warm flesh. At first her hands applied little to no pressure, just working the oil into his tanned skin, but then they began to press with glorious amounts of pressure, still just stroking in big loops down each side of his back. He groaned, and she smirked, changing the strokes to use her knuckles and knead up each side of his spine. She did several laps, and then came up to kneel by his left shoulder, and, using her thumbs, started to expertly work the multiple knots out of his bruised muscles.
"Fuckin' Hell…" He groaned under his breath, his voice raspier than it normally was. It hurt, but it was a good pain, and after a few minutes, he could feel the release of several knots loosening. Levy briefly moved to switch sides, and she repeated the process on his right shoulder, which was significantly more knotted. She spent several minutes just working the initial knots out, then stroked the muscles to relaxation. He groaned again, and sighed, never before had someone paid him so much attention like this.
Her small hands came up to work on the back of his neck, massaging the small knots here and there, and he felt the small headache he'd had all day slowly ebb away. He moaned his relief, and he heard her giggle in response, followed by her serious voice.
"If this hurts you too much, tell me, and I'll stop." She said, her hands resting on his bicep, where his right shoulder still was feeling very much so not relaxed. He nodded, and tensed slightly, wondering what she was going to do.
"Relax Gajeel, this will only work if you relax. Trust me." He nodded again, and slowly relaxed, until his arm was loose and limp in her hands. She brought his arm behind his back, his wrist resting on his hip, and then shoved hard on his shoulder. They both heard the definite click of it popping back into place.
"Gah! Fucking Hell, that hurt! Damn…. That feels better." He moaned the last part.
"Your shoulder was halfway dislocated. That's why it hurt so bad. I could feel it." She said, and he heard her apply more oil to her hands. She started to work it into his upper arm, fingers coursing with strong pressure all the way down to his wrists and then back up, careful to avoid pulling on the multiple piercings in his forearm. He sighed with relief, half of the agony already abated. Then the clever bookworm picked up his hand, removed his glove, tossed it onto his dirty clothes, and dug her fingers into his palm.
A deep groan ripped from his throat, and he could feel his eyes roll back into his head. Goddamn that felt SO Good. She carefully worked the tension from his palm, the base of his thumb especially, and his each of his fingers, each of his knuckles cracking back into place.
"Geez… Gajeel… How do you do this to yourself?" She murmured, and shook her head. She switched sides and repeated the arm and hand massage to his left side. His other glove joined the dirty clothes pile. The man had melted down into the futon, his face substantially more relaxed now. He cracked open one red eye and watched her as she worked on his left hand.
"Thanks… Levy." She smiled back, and set his hand down, coming to kneel next to his lower back. After applying more oil to her hands, she massaged the few knots from his hips, and stroked her fingers gently over the multiple bruises along the planes of muscle that made up his back. Once she had finished, she pulled the sheets over his torso again, and went down to kneel by his feet. She pulled the sheets up just enough to reveal his feet and ankles, and she was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.
He evidently took good care of his feet, as they were clean, and his nails were clipped.
"Good to see that you actually take care of your feet." She said, as her fingers dug into the ball of his right foot. He responded with a deep groan, then something between a mumble and a yelp as she found a particularly deep knot in his foot. She carefully went about loosening it, and she could feel him relax down even more into the futon. She thoroughly massaged his foot, working out the tension he held, and she could feel the man beginning to fall asleep as she switched feet and repeated the process for his left foot. When she finished and covered him up again with the sheet, she heard a soft snore come from the now sleeping dragon slayer.
She came back up to kneel by his head, and pulled out the comb she had tucked into her pocket, the one she had snitched from the bathroom. He didn't even wake up as she diligently worked the comb through the black strands, being careful not to pull them.
She stroked her fingers through the soft hair, and worked the last couple of knots free, knowing that he only let her do this because it saved him the hassle of doing it himself, and he enjoyed the closeness of being with her. She also suspected that he enjoyed it because it just felt good, and she always loved it when he reciprocated, his large hands gently combing through her curly blue hair. He was actually very good at braiding too, and she remembered many happy hours of her sitting and reading a book aloud to him as he gently wove her blue strands into delicate braids.
She happily recalled when he had first starting braiding her hair while she was reading, and she had just thought that he was combing his fingers through her hair. Later that night, when she went to brush her teeth, she had looked in the mirror and gasped, as her hair was braided in a beautiful braided crown around her head. Half of the blue strands had hung down around her face, and the other half was French braided around her head. He had used a small pin to secure the ends in the back of her head. Some strands had hung around her face, framing her eyes. She had rushed out and hugged him, crying that it was so beautiful and wondering how he had done it. He had smirked, hugged her and patted her back, and flat out refused to tell her.
She also remembered swearing not tell anyone that it was him who did it, and if she did, he would never do it again and deny all accusations. She was very careful not to tell anyone, and no else besides them knew who the mystery braider was. She had worn her hair in the many elaborate braided hairstyles he had given her to the guild on many occasions, and she had been relentlessly asked as to who did it, but she refused to give them an answer. To this day, nobody knew who it was, although there were many theories. Not one involved Gajeel in any way.
She occasionally put his hair up into ponytail for him while was working with her on teaching her dragonic runes, and he in turn would teach her art of writing and pronouncing the rumbling, rough symbols of dragonic. Or he would just be reading to her, his deep voice making the rough language just that much sexier, and she would just untangle his hair for him, as the black strands were always a mess after a job of any kind.
She finished combing his hair for him and braided the black mass, as she knew if he didn't do so before sleeping, it got hopelessly tangled. She yawned, and stretched, as it was late. Levy stood, and made her way to her bedroom, knowing that if Gajeel woke up later in the night he would make his way into her bedroom and come sleep next to her in her bed. She laid down and curled up in her soft blankets, sighing happily, before falling asleep.
She woke a few hours later, cracking open one eye, as Gajeel slipped into bed beside her, strong arms pulling her against his broad chest. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, a piercing just brushing her eyebrow. She snuggled down into his warm embrace, and he held her close, one hand gently tangled in her hair, the other resting on her ass.
"Perv." She muttered under breath.
"Gihihi… Thanks Levy." He mumbled quietly.
"You're welcome Gajeel. Go to sleep."
He already was.
_Special Epilogue because I edit these things_
Gajeel woke up the next morning, stretched, yawned, and realized that he wasn't ungodly sore like he was expecting. He felt refreshed, and definitely much better. Sure his back still hurt a bit, but that was to be expected, as he did go flying through several trees. He looked down at the sleeping form of Levy, her little body curled up on top of him, his legs on either side of her hips. He pressed a gentle kiss to the head of blue hair in front of his face. She mumbled something, and looked up, eyes opening blearily.
She yawned, and rubbed her eyes, then murmured, "Morning Gajeel."
"Mornin' beautiful." He said back, rough voice uncharacteristically soft, and she recognized that tone. Either he was going to tickle her, or he was going to kiss her. His large hands came up to frame her face, and he pulled her to him, capturing her lips in a morning kiss.
She pulled herself slightly closer, and shifted so that her thighs now straddled his hips. He sat up at that, and his hand slipped down to grab her waist, holding her close to his bare chest, his clothes still in a pile on the floor. He was still wearing his boxers though, thank god.
As his tongue came into play, and then they briefly parted for air, before returning to the kiss, tongues fighting for dominance, her hands came up to tangle in his hair and grab onto his shoulder, fingers gripping tightly. He pulled away, leaving her in a daze, chuckling.
"Gihihihi… a proper thank you for yesterday, squirt."
She sighed, smiled, and shook her head. Gajeel will be Gajeel, though she was hoping he would keep calling her beautiful. Damn it.