"Where did you get these scars, Gajeel?"

He looked down at the girl curled up next to him. "Which ones?"

"These," Levy said, tracing her fingers along the two thin, white parallel lines that stretched across the back of Gajeel's wrist.

"Some kinda creature attacked me when I was younger. I don't remember what it was."

"Do you remember where you got all your scars?"

"Most of 'em, yeah," he cocked his head to the side, still not entirely sure what she was getting at.

Levy ran her hand up the length of his arm and back down again, lacing her fingers with his. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"How you got them."

"You're gonna have to be more specific, short stuff. I've got a lot of scars, and if you really wanna know about all of 'em, we're gonna be here all day," he squeezed her hand and smirked at her.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have anywhere else to be today."

"Well, then," Gajeel untangled their fingers and moved his arm to wrap around her shoulders, "settle in and tell me which ones you wanna know about."

Levy gave a small, happy sigh and snuggled up to him. "Okay..." she reached across his lap and grabbed his other arm, gently pressing her thumb to an oval-shaped scar on the back of his hand. "How about this one?"

Gajeel pressed his lips together and thought for a moment. "That one's a burn. Got a little too close to a fire not too long after Metallicana found me." He made a mental note to make sure the Salamander never found out about that experience.

She pulled his hand to her lips, kissing the scar softly before letting her gaze trail up his arm. "And this one?" she brushed her fingers over the long, jagged line wrapped around his forearm.

He laughed. "That one's from Juvia!"

"Wait, really?" Levy's eyes widened and she stared up at him in shock. "What happened?"

"We used to spar a lot back in Phantom Lord. That Water Slicer's a bitch; you don't wanna be on the wrong side of it."

She sighed in relief and smiled. "I can certainly see that! Did she give you a lot of scars?"

"Nah, just this one. I got careless and stopped focusing on the battle so she caught me when my guard was down. Doesn't help that it got infected, either."

"How'd it get infected?"

"Rust."

Levy burst into laughter, falling sideways into his lap. Of course he'd be susceptible to that!

"Oi, shrimp, it's not that damn funny!"

She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him, still giggling. "I'm sorry, Gajeel, but it kind of is!"

He crossed his arms and pouted at the girl. "You done laughing at my pain yet?"

"I'm fine. I'm done. I promise," she put both hands on his knee and pushed herself up, fighting back a wide smile. "It's just... the idea of you rusting is so weird! Does that happen a lot?"

"Not really. My arm was partially transformed when she hit me, so that's probably why. If you cut me with something right now, it wouldn't rust."

"I wouldn't do that!"

Gajeel smirked, a wicked look in his eye. "Oh, really? Then you don't remember where all the scars on my upper back came from?"

Levy gasped and flushed a deep red. She smacked him lightly on the chest, ignoring his laughter at her reaction. "Pervert."