All the characters belong to the Fairy Tail franchise, created and in the property of Hiro Mashima.
Gajeel was lying in is bed, with his eyes focused on the ceiling of his room, thinking about what had happened a few days before, the battle against the last of the guilds belonging to the Balam Alliance, Tartarus, in what later came to be known as the Tartarus Battle.
"Humph, it wasn't that long since it happened, but it does seem like it was so very long ago already" Gajeel thought. Although the battle was only a week ago, everyone was in the guild was jolly, or at least on the outside. "They fool none with them smiles, Bunny Girl is still clearly miserable over the loss of her mermaid spirit, Gray is trying to forget the fact that he found, killed and inherit his newfound powers from his father, even though he was already dead but whatever, Elfman is doing a bunch of missions trying to stay away from the guild he blamed himself for destroying, the list can go on easily to Laxus, Natsu, Wendy and Erza. But there was some good news between this all, at least some dragon slayers got the closure they needed with their dragons, not in the ideal way, especially for Natsu, but now we got to say goodbye." He paused his thoughts, remembering, or rather, reliving that moment. "What the hell does he mean by vulgar look in my eyes?! Aren't they the normal kind?"
He got out of his bed, intending to his kitchen to grab something to eat out of boredom, then he realized something, his room was empty as hell, all he had was his bed, a wardrobe, and a nightstand, nothing more, no chairs, no table in which he put stuff or even a bookcase. That's when he realized, he was bored and in need of something so his room wasn't as bare, why not start reading. "Now that might be interesting, haven't read any book in a very long while, might as well start acting like Shrimp and buy a bunch of them to read!"
"Oi, Lily!" he called from his room to the living room where his little exceed would be chilling out.
"What is it, Gajeel?" He asked, while sipping on his favourite drink, kiwi juice.
"Let's buy a bookshelf."
"What, like right now?!"
"Well, the stores will close in about an hour so, yeah, now."
"That's really not what I meant. But, where is this even coming from, why do you need a bookshelf?"
"Well I do need a place where I can put my books, don't I?" Gajeel said, telling it to Lily as if he were here to hear is plans.
"You don't have any. Or are you planning on becoming an avid reader like Levy?" Lily asked, thinking he must have got it right.
"Pretty sure her name's Shrimp, but if ya insist on calling her like that, whatever. And not as avid as her, carrying a book wherever I'm going, but I do feel like I should read a bit more" He said, while grinning at his own little joke
"Alright, I don't see how that might backfire in any way, and it might be a chance for you to get closer to Levy, now knowing more about her habit. Have any book in mind that you will start with?" The black exceed said, slightly content with his partner and the idea of a more knowledgeable Gajeel.
"I think I'm first going to ask Shrimp what kind of books she thinks best suit me and start reading those. So you comin' or not?"
"Yeah sure, let's go."
And with that, the little duo went to pick up a good bookshelf. Fortunately with Lily's ability to fly and get bigger, Gajeel didn't have to touch that seemingly heavy thing, not that it'd bother him all that much but it still seemed a bit of a hassle.
When they had put it where it was agreed, in front of Gajeel's bed, the cold, dark night had arrived, and Lily was sweaty and disgusting, so the duo made an agreement, Gajeel, would sit on his black sofa, while drinking a beer and "starve", as Lily so kindly put it, while the latter went to take a quick shower, and prepare dinner once he was done.
The day soon ended.
And the morning soon followed.
Way too soon in Gajeel's opinion, being half past nine when Lily tried to wake Gajeel up. "Whaddaya wand?" Gajeel asked, being impossibly sleepy from awaking at such an early hour.
"It's noon, Gajeel, time to get up." Lily said, annoyed at his friend's behaviour.
"What are you talking about, I just checked, it's half past nine" Gajeel said, finally getting up.
"No, you checked it when I first woke you up, you saw it was the time, and went back to sleep"
"I think you're lying."
"How did you sleep so much anyway? We normally wake up at the same time."
"Hm-mh" He murmured the sound used to say "I don't know" because, that phrase sometimes was just so hard to say. "I guess one of those lucky days", he lied, he knew all too well why he didn't wake at the usual time. He couldn't fall asleep. Lily's innocent words triggered something within him, "... get closer to Levy...", he didn't realized this before, until he went to sleep, he might get closer to Levy, incredibly, his head formulated thousands of scenarios last night until at least four, always ending with the both of them having sex in his apartment.
"Well then, now that you're finally up, let's go to the guild and eat our lunch" Lily said, oblivious to Gajeel's thoughts, which were right now focused on not remembering those lovely endings that his mind made up for a simple conversation about books.
"Yeah let's" and, like that the day that Gajeel was both terrified and expecting to end began.
Arriving to the guild, Gajeel noticed a brawl was already happening. "Jeez, don't these people ever give it a rest. Oh, Shrimp's in table alone, huh? Guess might as well pop up the big question" thatbeing what kind of book he should get.
"Oi, Shrimp! Whatcha doin' there?" asked Gajeel, trying to initiate small talk.
"..." It didn't work, as Levy was busy reading her seemingly incredibly interesting book.
"Oi, Shrimp!" He said, yet again, but this time a bit louder.
To no avail, of course. By now, Gajeel was getting desperate, but then his cat appeared flying over the brawl that was happening.
"I already ordered what we wanted; our food will be ready in a bit." The black exceed said.
"Well at least we've got that, Shortstuff here is completely ignoring me" Gajeel said, getting angry at miserable set of papers put together.
"Then, wait until she's done, it's not like what you have to say is of extreme importance" Lily said, being the voice of reason in the duo, he always tried his best not making him into this machine of destruction.
"Nevertheless, I'd want to at least some recognition."
"There, there, everything's going to be fine" Lily said, as if talking to a child who just lost his favourite toy.
Soon enough, Mirajane arrived with the food the two ordered. "You know, Levy said that she just got a new book, and that in case anyone wants to talk to her they must touch her guildmark in the back."
"What, you serious? Why in such a specific place?" Gajeel asked, honestly curious about it.
"My only guess is that she trained herself to be attentive to everyone who touches her guildmark for being such a specific place." Mirajane answered, making sure to repeat the expression Gajeel had used.
"Alright, thanks. And thanks for the food as well." This time it was Lily who answered, not wanting to be rude to the take-over mage.
"Don't worry about it" Mirajane said, taking her leave and dodging the boys and chairs flying around in the guild with a grace that only a female demon could achieve.
Gajeel did what was needed to call Levy from her deep concentration in the book, he tapped her shoulder.
"Hm? Oh, hi, Gajeel! Sorry, were you calling for me, I just bought the new book from this amazing author and I just had to read it. But, anyway, what have you been up to?" Levy asked gleefully, with a little cut blush on her cheeks, showing her embarrassment over the situation.
"Don't worry, Bookworm. But why are ya sittin' alone? Where are yer little lapdogs?" Gajeel said, while grinning at Levy, showing his powerful fangs.
"Gajeel, you know I don't like you calling me nicknames or saying my teammates are lapdogs. It's just disrespectable. But I think nobody's here because I ignored them." Levy answered with a little smile, showcasing that she really doesn't mind being called with nicknames or being alone, but her look did somewhat hardened when talking about her teammates.
However, this was all shrugged off by Gajeel, knowing Levy wouldn't like him being actually respectful to people, it would just be plain weird. "Shrimp, I do want to ask ya somethin'. I decided I would start to read book. Do you have any recommendations for me?"
"..." she didn't answer immediately. She actually took quite a while trying to process this. "Gajeel, with books, and, like, reading them" she repeated this little group of words, because it was too unbelievable. "No way, it just can't be. Gajeel is rough, he's uses bad grammar, he talks funny, he's rebel, he's that dark guy nobody ever talks to, and he wants me to talk about books with him. I must be dreaming, and I am going to use this dream to the max"
"Wait, you want books?" but first she had to be sure.
"Yeah, why?" he answered nonchalantly, already expecting that one question.
"Hummm, I guess it's just surprising that's all" now, that she heard it again, ecstatic didn't even begin to describe her feelings of enthusiasm and happiness, "I'm going to have another booklover. This is my opportunity to create a boyfriend material, first I introduce him to the right books, then I'll check his house to see any changes that have to be done, then I teach him how to cook when we have dinner together that would surely happen, then I come out with my feelings and finally we have that perfect kiss I read so much about. And by my calculations this should be all done within six short months. Yay me!"
Meanwhile, Gajeel was secretly hoping he didn't accidentally break Levy, and trading eyes with Lily, who also wasn't sure if Levy didn't go to overdrive with this one.
"Hum, Levy" he called for her poking her guildmark again.
"Yes, yes, sorry, I guess I just drifted off a bit. But anyway, this is quite the request Gajeel, I wasn't expecting it coming from you, with you not seeming to come off as the reading type, but I'm sure I can help you find something, what kind of books do you like?" she asked with the little cute blush again.
"I dunno, definitely not any them romance cheesy crap, but some action and adventure. What's that book about? Ya said the author was good, so maybe I should start with that one" he asked while going to grab the book, looking at the author he read. "Lind L. Tailor, is it?"
"Yeah, he's definitely a good author, one that you'd like as well, but his vocabulary is very extensive" she said in an honest way.
"Nonsense, I mean look I can read this" he opened in a random page proceeded to read the first sentence in that page. "He squished the eyeball of his ac-acquaintance until it was de-depl-depleted of its, hum, whatchamacallit" "Vitreous, it's a gel-like liquid in your eye" ", was slowly draining out... Wait! What the bloody fuck are you reading shrimp?"
"Yeah, he's usually brilliant, but that book is just to let out the gore content he seems to be holding up, but it's still a fantastic piece of work." She said, trying to excuse her favourite author, "but either way, I'm guessing you don't want to start your reading collection with something so difficult to read, nonetheless, there are a lot of easier books I could borrow you, like Stephanie Queen, an author that has like fifty books, some people even say that she writes a whole book while she's using the bathroom, only kidding of course, but it's just to show how much she writes and how fast."
"All right, I guess that's as good a book as any other, I'm thinking heading home, wanna pass by your room and give me one of hers?" Gajeel asked, excited to see what kind of stuff that chick has.
"Oh, you want to start right now. Alright, I guess I have a good one to borrow you, but beware her books are still big, most of them pass the 500-page easily, I'm not sure if she hasn't one without passing that mark." She asked, making sure Gajeel would have all the intel to make an informed decision.
"If I need a year to read it I'll give it back to you, gihi." Gajeel answered clearly kidding, in a joke that made Levy smile, although a bit worried that she might never see the book again. She might have lied about the 500 page thing, well not lie per-se, but it does have a thousand pages, but he will find that soon enough.
They waited until Gajeel finished his food and went on their way to Fairy Hills, to Levy's apartment, completely forgetting about the black exceed that was quietly eating his meal, as he watched the exchange between his friends.
Lily didn't mind though, maybe he should have spoken while the conversation was happening, but he didn't have anything to had or question, so he didn't intervene.
The problem was that he was feeling a bit jealous , not just for Gajeel to have made such a good friend that might develop to something better, but by how everyone in the guild could have one, there were various pairings between the guilds, Natsu and Lucy, Erza and Jellal, Gray and Juvia, Elfman and Evergreen, et cetera, et cetera. Even the other two exceeds could get together when they were older, while he could only watch it happen, only be with them without truly knowing what it'd be like.
People don't seem to realize or just don't really care about his age, but he was already a grown up adult when Edolas' Jellal was born, and now he was 26, minus the 7 years of being in the Tenrou Island, it makes the exceed in his 40's. By now the other exceed of his age are trying to have a good family, not looking for a man, and even if they were, he had no idea where to find them or how to approach them, being used to talk to other mages and their fights, not about that oh-so-interesting book or the like.
Still, he had good friends, so he could not complain.
Well that's it for now, as I said in the description, this is my first fanfic, DO NOT BE NICE WITH ME, if you think there's anything I could get better at, say so. Besides, as it is my first fanfic, I'm going to add everything in this one, this chapter was for general content, the next will have a fight scene and the third and last one will have smut.
By for now, but be aware, I'll probably take a while to upload, I'll try a week a chapter, but can't promise anything.