She had it under control, was actually winning for the first time in what felt like forever, and Levy could not help the small surge of elation that drove through her as the mage before her fell back with a small whimper, fear in his cerulean eyes as he just barely dodged her fire attack.
Eyes, she thought with a flicker of amusement, that matched her own hair.
The boy was perhaps a handful of years younger than her, and clearly far less experienced. She wondered why he had chosen to join a dark guild, to effectively throw his life away, yet it was not her place to ask. Not yet, at least, not until he lay defeated at her feet.
At her feet. The thought sent another thrill through her, smile widening into a grin.
The fist came out of nowhere, her opponent flying backwards and smashing into a tree trunk with a sickening crunch. Levy's spell died on her lips as she stared, dumbfounded, at the grinning form of Gajeel, who stood where her opponent had just been.
"What-"
"You can thank me later." His smirk was infuriating, and for the first time since they became friends, since before even that, she wanted to punch the expression from his face.
His stupid, handsome face.
"Thank you?" Levy spluttered, her voice an undignified squeak. "I had that, I was winning." She shouldn't be this upset, should not let it bother her to such a degree, yet she had been so sure that she would finally be able to do something for herself for once; the disappointment was crushing.
"Sure you were, shrimp." Gajeel's hand landed atop her head, ruffling blue strands out of place. Ordinarily, she would have ignored it, let him do as he pleased. Instead, Levy knocked the offending arm away, glaring up at the dragon slayer as he raised a non-existent brow at her uncharacteristic display of irritation.
"I was, and if you'd taken five seconds to assess the situation rather than rushing headlong into a battle where you weren't needed, you would know that." She fumed, cheeks flushing as her anger grew into a tight little ball in her chest. "You're smothering me."
"Five second might have been long enough for him to finish you off." The growl in his tone was dangerous, yet they both knew it was not aimed at her.
"Is that what you think?" Levy huffed, some of the anger morphing into a pain that ached just below her heart. "That I can't be left alone for five seconds, that I'm that incapable of looking after myself? Is that how little you trust me, Gajeel?"
"It's not about that, of course I trust you. I trust you with my life." Brutally honest, and he may not have uttered the words at all if any save the unconscious enemy mage were present with them. This was Gajeel, this was the only way he knew how to show any sort of affection, how to care.
"But you don't trust me with my own." There were tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, and Levy swiped them away angrily, her frustration mounting. She could see the way Gajeel's fingers twitched, aching to reach out to her, to show the affection he kept so brutally locked away. "Let me tell you something; I managed just fine before you came along, and I'll be just fine after you're gone." After you leave.
"Levy-"
"Don't." She replied, turning her back on him so he would not see her cry. "Just, don't."