I don't own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters. This is my first GaLe fic. They are my new OTP. This story came from my own thoughts of what happened between the destruction of the water park in chapter 298 and the beginning of day 4 of the games. When the new team Fairy Tail is introduced, Levy has a look of shy, confidence almost (I don't know, I think it's different than usual) and Gajeel has a new outfit with his own headband. I felt like something had happened between the two of them at that point. So, here you go.
Set after Chapter 298, before Day 4 begins. This is part 1 of 2.
Levy lay down on her back amid all the rubble and debris left over from the battle of manliness that occurred between Gray, Lyon, and Natsu. Or, more like the battle of stupid men. She was shaking her head, her body still reeling from the explosion and sudden destruction of the pool that they had been so happily playing in only minutes before. She had managed to shake off Jet and Droy so she could have some time alone with Gajeel, and now, even that was ruined. She sighed, and struggled to get up, her body sore and scratched up a little bit.
She sat up first, then moved one leg and then the other. Her legs were wobbly. One of the things that she hated about her small, petite body was that she didn't have much strength, no matter how hard she trained endurance wise. She was exhausted. And not looking forward to having the master complain about all of the damage that was done.
She looked around as she sat up, and moved her hands to push her hair back from her face. She brushed the hair off her neck, while finding her bandana, and went to pull her hair up in a ponytail. It hit her then, only a few seconds after that. Why was there no fabric around her neck? Her bikini top was a halter… She groaned, and without even looking down, reached toward her breasts. Hopefully nobody would notice her groping her own breasts. She was relieved to feel that they were still partly covered in fabric. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth. She stood up and looked around. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and with a laugh, she found who she was looking for the most.
She really couldn't help it. The photo cutout with the fish that he had put his face through earlier had fallen right on top of him. She gingerly stepped over all the destruction, trying to be careful not to get any plastic, wood, glass, metal or any other foreign objects in her feet. She looked down at him and smiled.
"Are you alright?" She asked him, as she bent down, remembering to hold her bathing suit remnants to her chest while she tried pulling the cutout off of Gajeel.
He grunted in response, and said, "I got it shrimp. Move over."
Used to the gruff attitude and nature of her friend, she just said, "Okay". She moved out of the way and he pushed the cutout off of his body and threw it a few feet away where it hit the ground. Levy was surprised that he didn't throw it at Natsu. He stood up, with his hand on his head, and looked over at the fire dragon slayer and said, "I'm going to kill Salamander."
Levy gave him a small smile. "I think he may deserve it this time." Gajeel turned back to look at Levy, and he took in the sight of her small frame, littered with a few bumps, bruises and scratches from the explosion that she had just been in. She looked in pretty decent shape, which wasn't a surprise. He tried to shield her himself from most of the blast. Looks like it worked. He noticed her sigh, and snapped out of his thoughts to see her looking sadly at the water park, biting on her lower lip.
He looked closer and had to ask, "What's with your hands?"
Levy looked up at him, confused, "What do you mean?"
Gajeel was a little flustered. He tried to stop the small blush that was creeping up on his cheeks.
"You know, uh…" He made a gesture with his hands, flailing them across his own chest.
Levy looked a little concerned at that moment, and then seemed to snap out of her confusion quickly.
"OH! That…uh… my swimsuit seems to have been a little tattered… at least one of the pieces is still intact", she said with a little laugh, her face bright red from embarrassment.
Gajeel gave a small internal groan. He thought of what she had just said, "at least one of the pieces in still intact". Of course, he had another image come into his mind at that. He brought himself back into focus, as much as he could, while they went around and found other mages from their guild. Gajeel was all for leaving them behind, but they had to make sure that Pantherlily was fine as well. And Levy wanted to make sure that Droy and Jet were okay also. Pantherlily decided to stay at the park, to make sure that Asuka-chan was okay, and said he'd meet with Gajeel later that night at their hotel room.
They walked together out of the park and starting heading toward Honeybone. Silence passed between them as they walked. Levy was struggling with keeping her bikini top still plastered to the front of her breasts. She was thankful that her breasts were small for once, since she didn't have a hard time keeping them in the remains of her swimsuit.
She was also trying not to be disappointed. The man next to her was someone that she really cared about. Levy wanted to spend the day with him. But instead, their fun afternoon at the pool was ruined. He probably would want to go back to his hotel and sleep or eat. Or go back to the park and fight Natsu. Why was he even walking her home in the first place? Her heart warmed in her chest at the thought of him making sure that she got to the hotel safely.
She had known for a while now that not only was she attracted to him physically, but may also be falling in love with him. She didn't know for sure if she was there yet, but she knew how she felt. People tended to take advantage of Levy because of her size and assumed that she was small and insignificant. Although the Fairy Tail guild was her family, and they respected what she could do, there was still a little bit of the slight looks of concern at her frail, petite body.
What a lot of people didn't know was that one of her greatest qualities was her intuition. Levy almost had a sixth sense about things. And she knew that what she was feeling as a woman right now, about a man, was something that may not be repeated in her life. That didn't stop her from being reserved about her feelings.
Gajeel was a man that probably had expectations of any woman that he dated. If he dated women at all. Was he interested in men? (Levy almost snorted at that comment. She had a hard time believing that, even though he had something of an obsession with Natsu). Was his mind on anything else besides fighting, metal and food? Levy concluded that the men in the guild were quite stupid. Well, maybe except for Alzack, but that was only because Bisca had been the assertive one in the relationship.
Levy decided right then and there, she wasn't going to be the one chasing a man down. You never know what could happen, but she also wasn't one to give in too easily to other's opinions. Lucy told her to confess her feelings to him, but why should she? If he wanted her, he was going to have to prove it himself. Oh she would let him know that she was interested, but he was going to have to take the steps to get himself involved with her. With this newfound confidence, she looked at her friend. He was still only in his board shorts with his upper body completely exposed. He had a nice body, not doubt. With, that masculine physique in her view, she started to get a little flustered and tried to pull her stare away before he noticed.
He smirked at her. Too late.
"Like what you see, shrimp," Gajeel asked teasingly, ruffling her hair. Levy was instantly annoyed. She bit back the denial that was forming in her mouth and stopped, putting one arm across her bust to make sure her breasts remained hidden, and put the other hand on her hip. She decided to start this plan of playing hard to get right then and there. She boldly looked him up and down, from his head, neck, shoulders, chest, arms, stomach and then looked back up at him.
"Maybe I do," she said, matching his smirk with her own, "but it's not like you'd do anything about it."
Gajeel's smirk left his face and stared at her openly. His eyes held surprise and his mouth was open, gaping like a fish. He must have been wondering, what the hell had happened to Levy?
"And 1 point goes to Levy", she thought to herself, proud that she had left him speechless, and continued walking. "This is going to be a lot of fun".
With his long stride, he caught up to her and the continued walking to the inn, neither of them speaking. Gajeel was still thinking about that bold, unashamed stare that Levy had given him just a few minutes earlier.
They went into the inn, and Levy turned to Gajeel, and said, "Thanks for making sure I got back okay. I am going to get changed." She turned to leave, and then stopped. She turned back around and looked at Gajeel, and asked, "Did you have any other plans for the rest of the day?"
He looked at her and shook his head. "No," he cleared his throat trying to think of what to say. He had always been attracted to Levy. At first it had just started as a way to make it up to her for what he did to her when they first met, but he started enjoying her company. How could he not be attracted to a woman who was pretty and had a kind enough heart to forgive him for the atrocities he committed on her and her closest friends? He loved her sweet confidence, fiery stubbornness, and loyalty to friends.
There was Erza, of course, who everyone thought of when they thought of strong females. But Levy, while having a smaller body than most women, was strong in another way. She had power with her feelings, her intuition, and her intelligence, not to mention her mage skills. It started when she was the only one who could beat Fried's runes during the Fairy Tail battle. He couldn't believe that she was the one that he had to rely on so he and Natsu could defeat Laxus. He couldn't help the attraction from growing from then on. And while he worked on ways to redeem himself in her eyes, he knew that there was no way in hell, that he should ever hope of having the opportunity of anything more than a platonic relationship with Levy.
And now that was completely thrown out the window. He was startled, to say the least. He was always thankful for her company. She had grown to be the closest person to him besides Lily. And now, he wasn't sure exactly what to do. While he had already realized that he was probably in love with her, he had previously reconciled himself to the fact that he would never have a chance with her in a romantic type of relationship. 'Has she always felt like that?' He thought to himself. Thinking about girly stuff was seriously starting to annoy him. Maybe he should just stop thinking and actually just listen to his intuition.
That was one of the few lessons that Metalicana gave him that he remembered. "If in doubt, listen to gut. That will lead you to what you need to do."
Of course, Metalicana had been speaking of battle more than anything else, but Gajeel felt it applied here as well. After all, feelings and relationships could probably be considered a battlefield in itself.
And it was scary as hell. He was really starting to become a sissy, he felt.
He looked over at Levy. "Do you have plans?" He asked her quickly. He fondly watched her shake her head, with her unruly, blue hair going crazy.
"Not really," she responded, "I was thinking of getting a bite to eat and maybe doing some shopping…"
'Follow your instincts' a deep, familiar voice said in Gajeel's thoughts. He cleared his throat once again.
"Meet me down here in 30 minutes? I could use some food too." Gajeel exhaled softly. He watched as her face lit up completely at his answer.
"Okay," she started to move out of the room, toward the stairs, and he caught himself staring at her back. Her back that was completely bare from the top of her bikini bottoms up due to the ruined bikini top in her hand. He shouldn't be staring so avidly, but the smooth, fair skin on her back, being completely bare was almost more than he could handle.
He went toward the other set of stairs, on the opposite side bar where most of the men's hotel rooms were. He sighed to himself as he realized that joining Fairy Tail had really turned him into a complete pansy. But there could always be worse things.