"Alright, I'll try be as quick as I can." She muttered; placing her glasses on the tip of her petite nose. Even though she had her peacock blue hair pushed back neatly; she still had locks falling across her clear-skinned, pale face as she furrowed her brows, deep in concentration. She had never given anyone an injection before and the fact that her first 'victim' was no other than the Iron Dragon Slayer himself; Levy wasn't sure if to feel proud or sorry for him. After all, she had only done all of her medical research through books; not from practical work; which she had begun to regret volunteering for.
With a gentle point to the undersized seat that Mirajane had provided; Levy asked Gajeel to sit, watching his every movement. The bookworm had to admit, she did sense the dragon slayer to be slightly nervous...
"Remind me again, shrimp. Who let you loose with one of them?" He spat, flicking his head towards the needle- that usual facial expression of disgust lingering all too well on his studded, tanned face.
"You know full well about the virus going around," She prompted, dragging her eyes across his figure; scolding herself just in case he noticed. Mirajane had been first to act upon this once hearing of the virus; gathering supplies from places near and far; her siblings helping her the most.
After all the ingredients had been found; the guild had pieced together a remedy for the virus. And what was this virus? Well, according to data (That Levy had formulated herself with the help of Freed.), it was a virus that only affected ability type users and latched on similar to that of a curse; draining away the users magic temporarily for a long period of time. Much like the flu, it only lasted for a while; though it was mainly caught by those who had the ability type rather than that of a holder type mage; after all, they had the help of objects; though it was still cautionary that everyone take action.
Of course, Gajeel being a Iron Dragon Slayer; his element of magic caused him to be one of the most subject able to this magic flu. Along side that, Ancient magic often took on curses well; Levy knew that from her books, and he too was an ability type mage. Double quota.
Nevertheless, once the remedy was created Mirajane decided it would be best to vaccinate everyone at once; so she asked for volunteers that would be helping with the injections. It was good to be quick before anyone caught the illness. After all, from research it said temporary, but no one was sure that it might be permanent.
"Yeah, well I don't see any doctors around here." He huffed, slumping down onto the wooden stool; it creaking loudly under his weight. Most mages had been irritated at this virus development, but it was better to be safe than sorry; some had been pulled away from half finished jobs just so that everyone could be vaccinated on the same day. Gajeel happened to be one of those mages. And Levy happened to be self studied efficient with a needle, so he was going to have to deal with it.
She smiled, looking at him; he was still as tall as her despite sitting down. Shrimp really lived up to it's name; she wasn't the tallest of people.
"I've read and studied plenty of doctor books; several of them specialising on vaccinations."
"I'd like to see your certificate." The dragon slayer folded his arms over his chest. he had chosen to wear a long sleeved shirt today; nothing too dressy, but that made sense for the vaccinations. Mind you; she couldn't help but notice how well the khaki colour of the fabric looked against the slayer's skin; clutching to his figure in an almost artistic way so that you could now and then see him flex his muscle absentmindedly. It was often something Levy did not realise she was doing; resulting in her once again chiding herself once she finally noticed. This was Gajeel.
She grumbled something herself; moving towards him across the wooden floor; the remedy ready.
"Well, it was either me, Mira or Erza. I can get one of those two instead if you like." She was holding the needle in her left hand as she slipped gloves on, glad to watch his expression screw up a little more than it already was. She knew he wasn't scared of the red head Erza like Natsu and Gray were; but still meant he wouldn't be keen on her shoving an injection in anyone's arm. Actually; Levy was curious as to whether anyone would want Erza to do it- because save their souls...
He definitely looked uncomfortable as he sat on the tiny stool, waiting for her to say something else.
"Now are you going to roll up your sleeve or not?"
Erza had been adamant that all three of the girls wore aprons; so Levy really did look the part in her golden dress with a nurse's apron.
Gajeel simply grunted in reply, yanking up the sleeve of his left arm; those silvery scars always so memorising.
"Let's get it over with, I got stuff to do." He grumbled, resting his head on the palm of his right hand as he propped it up on his own thigh. She couldn't help but count herself lucky that he wasn't using her head as his resting post.
Levy pouted somewhat, was he that eager to get out of her presence? Surely he trusted her.
Though the blue bookworm just sighed, readying herself with the needle by his skin; as a matter of fact, she could have sworn she saw him flinch. With a shrug, she went to push the needle into his flesh, however it was forced to a stop; a loud 'ting'; his arm suddenly turning silver with iron.
She glanced up, momentarily confused; had he just purposely made his arm into steel the second the needle touched his arm? Was he playing with her? It couldn't be anything else, were his nerves a sign of something else? Surely not… he had studs all over his face; and he was used to metal; having needles should be like second nature. Though when she thought she'd meet his eyes as she looked at him, she noticed his head was turned towards the door so that she could only see his neck and profile- unable to even see how his face looked.
"You're going to have to stop that in order for me to give you the vaccination." Levy scoffed, bent over his arm slightly; her eyes squinted at him, begging for him to turn his head just so that she could tell how he was feeling. To be honest, she was waiting for him to turn and laugh, call her short and make her do it again. But that never happened.
"Habit." Gajeel growled, voice husky as his arm gently turning back to it's usual scarred skin. Habit… Whatever that meant. "Hurry up." He added.
She couldn't help but laugh a little, unsure of Gajeel's current mood, it was beginning to make her nervous. Maybe he was just joking around with her. Testing her. He was funny like that sometimes, especially when it came to his feelings or trying to prove a point. He was one of those people Levy couldn't read like a book, you were forced to read between the lines to really understand his brain.
Attempt two, she tilted her head back down, readying the needle.
"Okay, I'm going to-"
Though with a clink, her needle smashed into the dragon slayer's iron coated arm once again, almost breaking the needle as she had purposely tried to be fast.
"I thought you wanted this done quick!" The blue girl squeaked, jumping back at the collision.
Finally he tilted his head towards her, an odd look upon his face, "Why aren't you doing it quick?" His voice was like honey and it made her feel rather enraged. How was she supposed to give him his needle if he was bringing up his iron like that?!
"If you're going to make this a joke, I'll get Mirajane to do this instead." She huffed, spinning away to slam down the needle on a desk. She wouldn't be surprised if that one was useless now.
"Hey, shrimp; my bad." He grumbled, a soft pink colour rising to his cheeks. "I didn't mean to." Leaning back slightly, he scratched the back of his head as he waited for her to turn. Only then by the way he watched did she realise he was telling the truth; his dark eyes observing her.
"Are you scared?" Levy whispered.
His face turned cross, another emotion she was used to him wearing.
"No."
"Are you nervous?"
"No."
"Then why do you keep bringing a shield up?"
"…"
"You're scared." She giggled.
"I ain't! Just do your goddamn job!"
She smiled, yanking the needle back from the table and readying it at his arm.
"Don't bring up the iron," She touched his forearm gently, letting their eyes meet.