So the admins took down my original "Jealousy" and at the behest of readers, I'm reposting it! From memory, so if some things look different, they probably are. Enjoy!
Remember, the order is "Jealousy" then "Envy" and then "Captive Dragon, Iron Princess".
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. Boo.
It wasn't often that Gajeel Redfox felt the urge to decimate a whole roomful of idiots that weren't Fairy Tail mages. Then again, it wasn't often that he was roped into being the pack mule for a petite blue-haired girl he could quite easily snap in half with one hand.
This was both of those times.
Once again, the Iron Dragonslayer was surprised and spectacularly pissed off at the amount of attention Levy McGarden was gathering in one of the many bookstores the bookworm visited. He felt his blood pressure rise as she chatted with a good dozen young males who (to Gajeel's highly trained senses) weren't interested in anything other than her.
"Levy-chan, you're looking especially cute today!"
"Levy-chan, is that a new bandanna?"
"I like you, Levy-chan! Would you like to go out for coffee sometime?"
That last query was the iron straw that shattered across Gajeel's back. Straightening from his slouched pose against the wall, he cleared his throat loudly. As was common, the entire store went silent and everyone around Levy watched him warily, fear in their eyes.
As it should be, the jackasses. "I'm headin' back, Shorty," he said gruffly, concealing his smug pleasure. "You comin' or what?"
"Oh, Gajeel!" she gasped, as if she'd forgotten he was there. Probably did, he figured. "I'm, uh, going to be a little longer. I'm sorry for keeping you so long."
"No problem. Bye." Raking the crowd with a scorching red glare, Gajeel turned on his heel and stomped outside.
People saw him approach and quickly moved out of his path. Veteran Magnolians knew to stand clear when an angry Gajeel was heading down the street. If something was in his way, he'd just break it apart and walk on by. His foul moods were almost as devastating as Gildarts' rare returns.
Gajeel didn't even know where his feet were leading him. He was in his own mind, thinking about the man who'd dared to ask Levy out. In Gajeel's presence, no less! Bastard's got balls, I'll give him that much.
But he knew he had no room to talk. It wasn't as if he had any say in her personal life. She was just another member of his guild, the solid script mage beloved by all. She was good and sweet and light, the closest thing to an angel Gajeel had ever seen.
She was not his. Never had been. He'd broken her once before, and that made her unattainable. She couldn't belong to anyone, lest of all to him. He had no right to touch her.
Didn't mean he didn't want to touch.
The next day, Fairy Tail was in an uproar that for once didn't involve property damage. Levy was going on a date!
And she was dressed to impress. Instead of her usual bright, cheery sundress, she had on a black spaghetti-strap dress sprinkled with silver dust that sparkled with every move she made. Black heels with ribbon laces tied up her calves covered her feet, and in her hair was a black headband adorned with a finely-crafted silver rose.
Gajeel sat at the far end of the bar and nursed a mug of booze as he watched Lucy and Mirajane fuss over the bookworm's attire. Bad enough she looked the way she did. Now she smelled good enough to eat. He tore his gaze away, grabbed the bottle and dumped its contents in his cup.
"You're glaring very evilly," Lily remarked, climbing on the stool next to the Dragonslayer. "More so than usual."
"Shaddup," growled his partner, quaffing down another tankard's worth of liquor.
"She's going to get worried about you." The black Exceed looked him over. "Ease up on the boozing, will ya? You're heading a bad way."
"Leave me along, all right?"
"Whatever." Leaving Gajeel to stew, Lily hopped off his stool and went over to admire Levy's outfit. "Very nice. Tasteful. I approve."
"Aw, thanks Lily. I'm really nervous." Levy giggled, the sound hitting Gajeel like an Iron Dragon's Club to the stomach.
"Don't be!" Lucy stated. "This guy sounds like quite a catch!"
"Just be yourself, Levy," Mirajane advised with a warm smile. "And he'll love you to bits."
Fuck, Gajeel thought. Pushing the now-empty bottle away, he reached behind the bar and grabbed the first thing his hand could reach. He tore out the cork with his teeth and poured half the bottle into his tankard.
Levy then caught sight of the black-clad Dragonslayer alone at the far end of the bar. "Is he all right, Lily?" she asked quietly, hoping Gajeel couldn't hear her. "He seems angry. Er. Than usual."
The black cat rolled his eyes. "Yes, he's fine. Just in a real foul mood. I'll probably have to haul his ass home at some point."
The solid script mage felt a pang of compassion. "Maybe I should stop by after my date."
"That'd be real nice of you," Lily said. "You could write him some IRON. He's grown partial to that stuff."
"I'll do that. Oh, I have to go now! Bye!" Picking up her matching purse holding her quill for protection, Levy waved her guild good-bye and headed out for her date.
The atmosphere in Fairy Tail was light and cheerful for precisely ten minutes. That's when people began to notice Gajeel's swaying form on his stool as he kept drinking like a man denied water. When he reached for another bottle, even Mirajane wasn't brave enough to try and stop him. His swaying grew worse with every swallow.
Half an hour after Levy was gone, he finally swayed too far over and hit the ground, making the entire building shudder slightly. Heaving a sigh, Lily transformed into his larger form and threw the Dragonslayer over his shoulder. "I'm taking this idiot home," he informed the general public.
"He's really messed up," Erza noted.
Natsu went to sit at the bar, but he got within two feet of Gajeel's stool and gagged. "Ugh! What is that stink?" he shouted, staring at the abandoned bottles and tankard. His nose wrinkled in disgust. "That idiot! Why the hell was he drinking the worst crap here?"
Mirajane chuckled. "Jealousy is a harsh drinking companion."
"You're such a child," grumbled Lily as he dumped the Dragonslayer on his bed like a sack of grain. "Did you even smell the bottom-self liquor before pouring it down your gullet?"
"Wasn' th' poin' t' smell it," Gajeel slurred. "Poin' was t' get drunk."
"Which you've done rather admirably." The black Exceed rolled his eyes and headed into the shabby kitchen to brew some tea. "If you do puke, try and get it in the bucket. I'm not cleaning up your crap tonight."
"Shaddup."
Gajeel curled up on his big, soft, comfortable bed (hey, just because he ate metal doesn't mean he liked sleeping on it) and tried to move as little as possible. It felt like a porcupine was rolling around inside his head, jabbing its quills into his brain and all around his skull whenever he twitched or breathed. So he tried very hard to do very little.
Somehow he managed to sleep through the pain. He woke up hours later to darkness outside his windows and the sound of rain pattering on his tin-sheet roof. It reminded him of how the rain could bounce off Metalicana's scales, a soft, steady sound that somehow didn't aggrevate his condition and almost lulled the Dragonslayer back to sleep.
There was a knock at his door, and the sound nearly brought on his headache again. Goddammit, go away, he silently ordered the caller.
Then he heard Lily say, "Hello Levy. Won't you come in? I'm just about to make some tea."
"Where's Gajeel?"
"Sleeping in his room."
Levy? Levy's here? Panic flooded Gajeel's barely-sober mind. I can't let her see me like this. She can't see me like this!
I have to hide!
The second-most surprising thing Levy had ever witnessed was the sight of big, bad-ass Dragonslayer Gajeel Redfox trying to bolt from his bed like a bat out of hell at the sight of her.
The most surprising thing, however, was witnessing big, bad-ass Dragonslayer Gajeel Redfox trip over the sheets tangled around his feet and fall with an ungraceful splat face-first on the floor. A heavy string of swearing followed this, muffled by the floor but no less angry.
"Gajeel?" Levy asked, shocked and somewhat alarmed at his actions. "Are you all right?"
"Ow," he moaned. "Dammit..." His head tilted slightly, enough for one bloodshot red eye to crack open to see her. "Shor'y, wha' you doin' h're?"
"I told Lily I'd stop by after my date. I was worried about you." Pulling out her quill, she swiped a few strokes in midair and declared, "FLOAT!" The fluffy letters manifested underneath Gajeel, lifting him from the floor on a soft bed of clouds. Levy directed her magic to float the Dragonslayer back into his bed. "You're a mess."
Curling up once more, Gajeel snarled something unintelligible and buried his head under his pillow. Clucking her tongue impatiently, Levy sat beside the larger man and rested her hand on his shoulder blade. "Gajeel?"
He shifted slightly, one bleary crimson eye peering out from beneath his mane of black hair. "Wha'?" he muttered.
"You should drink some water. You're dehydrated."
"I wan' your IRON," Gajeel demanded weakly. "Gimme."
Levy couldn't help the smile at his childish request. "The last thing I'm doing is giving you solids right now. What happens if you throw it up?"
"Won' throw up," he grumbled. "Not a wimp."
"I know." She rubbed between his shoulder blades gently, as if petting a giant black beast. "I know, Gajeel. It's not weak to accept someone else's help, you know." She could feel Gajeel relaxing under her hand, every muscle growing loose as he stretched out to take up his enormous bed. His eyes blinked slowly, as if the lids were growing heavier with each blink. Deciding to be daring, Levy reached with her other hand and smoothed his unruly hair away from his face. "It's okay. It's just me, Gajeel. You know I don't think you're weak. You're one of the strongest people I know, and remember, I know Erza and Natsu and Master Makarov."
But you're even stronger than me, thought Gajeel.
He loved this tiny, hot-tempered, spunky bookworm with every bone in his body. It was a love that had been brewing for quite some time, and every time he looked at Levy, that love grew even more. He could no longer envision a life without her, and no spineless civilian was going to take her from him.
He opened his mouth to tell her just that - and promptly rolled away to vomit into the trashbin beside the bed. Levy shrieked in disgust and leapt out of the line of fire.
Standing in the doorway and balancing a pot of tea and three cups on his tray, Lily sighed heavily and said, "Idiot."
Gajeel didn't return to the guild for three days.
Technically, he had sobered up the day after Levy's visit. But he couldn't show his face after that embarassing episode, because knowing Natsu, he'd tease his fellow Dragonslayer relentlessly. So he spent the next two days trying to solidify what little dignity he had left.
He also used the time to figure out exactly how to tell Levy how he felt about her. Something told him that merely saying, "You're mine, shorty" would not go over well. Levy would want something romantic, like the speeches those storybook princes of hers always gave their princesses. (Yes, he actually did read one of her books. Once. Just to see what the big deal was.)
He was tinkering with one of his metal toys when Lily came home that third day. The Exceed had a darkly gleeful smile on his face, like he was keeping a secret. Naturally, Gajeel asked what had him what was making him so damn happy.
Lily was only too happy to divulge. "Levy has another date with that guy from the bookstore."
There was no unit of speed fast enough to measure how quickly the Dragonslayer kicked his iron-studded frame into gear and bolted for the guild.
When he threw open the guild's front doors, more than one mage jumped in surprise. He only had eyes for Levy, who had completely turned around to face him with shock on her face. She was wearing that black glittery dress again with those strappy black heels and that silver rose headband.
Every single word of his carefully prepared speech disappeared when he got the first whiff of her. The metallic tang mingled with her ink-and-parchment scent in a way that had Gajeel almost salivating. Swallowing hard, he stalked inside and stood in front of Levy with a blush dusting his cheeks and desire in his eyes.
"You," Gajeel said in a tight voice, staring at Levy. "Are. Mine. Got it?"
While surprised at his brusque statement, Levy still had the guts to put her hands on her hips and reply, "Says who?"
"Says me." Without waiting for a reply he picked her up with one hand and tossed her over his shoulder, then turned around and left the guild with the solid script mage kicking and cursing every step of the way.
Natsu and Wendy, their sensitive noses picking up a surprising scent, shared a wide-eyed look of surprise. "Is he gonna - " Wendy started to say.
"I think he's gonna," Natsu agreed. His grin was wide. "About time."
Meanwhile, Mirajane and Cana started making their rounds to collect on the betting pool.
So, yes, as I look over it, it's vastly different from my original. But hey, I like it!
Leave a review and tell me what you think!