Hey Min'na! Sorry this is late! I'm ill today and only just realised the time! :( Hope you enjoy this 'longer-than-usual' one-shot! ^_^
She shuffled the papers in front of her on her desk, anxious for him to hurry up. He was already five minutes late. If he didn't appear soon, she'd have to report him. She'd been trying so hard with him, and she didn't want all that work to be wasted now. She'd been so nervous when she'd first been assigned him, even if it had been her choice. She'd had so many tests just to get him considering their history, but no-one else had wanted him. No-one understood why he'd done what he had, and everyone was just waiting for him to do it again.
She was just waiting for him to turn up.
"Oi, Miss Shrimp!"
Her eyes unglazed as she looked up at the giant man standing in front of her desk. His dark blue vest top taunt against his chest didn't distract her – it just reminded her of how dangerous he was. His many piercing hadn't changed in the last nine years, and she'd given up trying to persuade him to take them out in order to appear 'more friendly' – he needed a job, not followers who feared him. Her eyes followed the baggy cream trousers down to where they tucked into his tall black studded boots, the reason they were both in her office at the current moment prominent on the outside of his left boot.
"You're late," she said, a twinge of annoyance in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah, we both know ya ain't gonna report me," he replied, grabbing his usual seat, "now why am I here? I was here four days ago – I thought this was a once a week thing, Shrimp?"
"Gajeel, what did I tell you about calling me 'Shrimp'? Do you actually want to be stuck here with me?" She asked, looking down at her papers, trying to seem bored.
"Why the fuck would I wanna be here every week?!" He grumbled, subconsciously taking his phone out of his pocket and swinging it between his fingers to rhythmically thunk the corner of it off the desk as he'd used to do with his knife.
"Well, why do you insist in trying to get your tracker off? You do remember the fact that it tells me every time you try to get it off – it flashes big red warning signs on my computer, it's really annoying when you're trying to work – and of course, it also tells me if you actually get it off." She sighed, glaring at him as he jokingly went to tamper with the tracker bracelet around his boot again. "So, what's the point? Where do you want to go that's out of bounds? You can walk through half the city, isn't that good enough? Surely you should be happy that it isn't just a tiny little bit you can walk around in?"
"Well, would ya like to help me get it off, Miss Shrimp? Then I won't keep flashing on yer screen," he smirked, lifting the bottom of his shirt slightly to show the bottom of his six pack.
"Gajeel, that is what I am trying to do." She sighed, ignoring his abs completely – she just wanted answers.
"And that's why ya called me in? Ya're finally going to take it off?" He asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Of course not. I called you in because you've tampered with your tracker three times since your last visit. You know the rules, Gajeel. Once, I ignore it. Twice, I make a note of it. Thrice and I have to be graced with your presence. Do you do this on purpose just to see me?" She asked, glancing over the top of her glasses at him.
"Tsk, I'm pretty sure ya're the only parole officer to use those rules, but I guess that means Jose did a good job, getting me such a tiny pushover of a parole officer, gihe!" He smirked as he leant back in his chair and swung his feet up onto her desk, taunting her.
"Feet off the desk," she glared, ready to shove his feet down if he ignored her, which he did. "If you want the tracker off, just answer my questions. Don't worry, they're not hard."
"Fine," he grunted, expecting the usual questions.
"Why did you do it?"
"I was carrying out a hit."
"No, we've confirmed the task you were given was to kidnap another woman, one by the name 'Lucy Heartfilia', which your colleagues ended up carrying out for you. Why did you do what you did?" She subconsciously leant forward, becoming increasingly frustrated every time she had to ask him.
"They were her friends and I wanted a little fun, gihe!" He grinned, the usual sadistic look in his eye.
"You attacked them because they were connected to her?" She sighed, knowing this was going to be like every other one of his visits to her office.
"That's what I said right?" He smirked.
"Do you remember anything about the people you attacked?" She stared coldly back at him, daring him to give her his usual answer.
"Some girl and two guys. My guess is she was probably some kid who'd decided to play –"
"Why?! Why would you think that? They were in a respectable part of town, why would you suspect that the two 'guys' were about to pay the 'girl' for sex?" They'd been through this routine too many times, but anyone else would have just locked him up again by now, realising just how sick this guy really was.
"Why else would a little girl be hanging around with two grown men, as pathetic as they were?" He grunted, realising she was probably about to give up again.
"I believe they were her friends, not her clients. We have this conversation every week, Gajeel. I thought you wanted the tracker off? Is there anything else you remember about them?" She asked, trying to keep the pleading tone out of her voice.
"Nope. Ya gonna take it off then? I answered yer questions." He grunted, swinging his leg back onto the desk.
"No – I need to prove you've developed a conscience. Do you think you've developed one? No? Then there's no point in trying to persuade me that you have one," she stood up, glaring at him as she pushed his foot off of her desk, "and this time, if you decide to try to take it off yourself, I'll come personally to see you, wherever you are, got it? No 'three strikes, my office', just me banging on your door."
"Ya talk so dirty for such an uptight midget," he mocked, standing up and heading for the door, "and don't come to my neighbourhood. Trust me when I say ya wouldn't make it back out."
Levy watched as Gajeel left her office for the second time that week. She needed to get a better hobby. Her friends were getting increasingly worried about her, but her colleagues had just been surprised that she'd passed all her tests, and ecstatic that they hadn't been landed with the giant psychopath. Her colleagues were pretty sure that he needed a straightjacket, and not a parole officer. As far as they were concerned, he was a lost cause that couldn't even be saved by the best psychologists. Levy, on the other hand, wanted answers, and just had to hope that he really didn't belong in a padded cell, completely restrained. He hadn't attacked her once since he'd gotten out a year and a half ago when she'd become his parole officer. As far as she was concerned, there was more to Gajeel Redfox than he cared to admit.
...
Gajeel stared down at the tracker, a bottle of beer in his hand as he slouched in his armchair. He'd been staring at it for a while now, trying to decide if his tiny parole officer would actually follow through on her threat. Surely she wouldn't? It would be suicide coming to his home, at least for someone like her. She looked like she wouldn't look out of place in 'school-girl porn', and he knew there was plenty of dodgy guys around here, and he wasn't exactly known for welcoming people onto his 'home'. He was pretty sure he'd knifed the last guy that had tried to come in his front door, never mind welcomed him in. Who was he again? Well, it wasn't as if he cared, it was just some random guy on the run, as usual. Jose hadn't even been in touch with him since he got out, and it wasn't as if he wasn't aware of how badly he'd blown it.
He started to tug on the tracker around his ankle, deciding to test his theory. She wouldn't come here. He was stuck in this part of town, completely alone. He'd seriously blown it. He enjoyed his solitude, but this was just infuriating. He'd gotten bored when he'd been supposed to kidnap the girl and attacked a couple of her friends for a laugh. The blue haired girl wasn't supposed to have gotten a good look at him, certainly not good enough to recognise him. Was he haunting her? It had been eight years? Maybe nine? He couldn't remember, and he wasn't sure how much he actually cared. He'd been in prison for seven years, and stuck under 'Miss Shrimp' for the last year and a half. He figured that that must have meant nine years since he'd last lived a 'normal' life. Now he just sat in a dark room drinking beer, unable to get a job, never mind a life.
"Oi, oi! That's a nice car ya got there Missy! Where ya going?! Come to visit Daddy?"
It couldn't be.
"Did Mummy have a nice little ride with a bad man, did she?"
She wouldn't.
"Whose yer Daddy, little girl? I'll help ya find him! In fact, if ya want, I'll be yer Daddy!"
Gajeel slammed his front door open and ran out, leaving the door barely on its hinges. He glared at the two men in front of him, just assuming it was his parole officer behind him. She was the only 'girl' stupid enough to come here. He should have realised she was serious. If they found out who she was, the whole neighbourhood would be in front of his door, and he wouldn't be able to save her. If he was lucky, they'd just leave now that he was there. Even in this neighbourhood, no-one was really brave enough to challenge him, and he'd just made it pretty clear that the 'girl' behind him was something to do with him.
"Hey, Gajeel...she's with you? Sorry, we didn't know – it's not often a little girl turns up here in a big fancy car! Hell, even Juvia got away from Jose while you were inside!" The first guy rushed, his hands up in a sign of surrender.
"So, Gajeel, who's the girl?" The second added, not even waiting for Gajeel to respond to his friend.
"My girlfriend," Gajeel responded, not even glancing behind him.
"Really? She doesn't really look like your type, aren't you into more...'badass' chicks? You know, that don't wear ribbons in their hair?" He stepped forward, suspicious of Gajeel's response considering the girl behind him was blushing like crazy and hadn't said anything.
"Ya got a problem with me liking 'em cute? The younger, the better as far as I'm concerned." He replied, the look in his crimson eyes daring the guy to challenge him – everyone knew he was completely fucked up and not someone you wanted to mess with, the idea of him liking little girls to 'play' with would just add to how fucked up he seemed to them.
"Prove it."
Gajeel swung around on the spot, one hand grabbing her ass, while the other met with the back of her head, his lips instantly making contact with hers before she could react. He smirked as he felt her kissing him back, her hands finding their way into his long tangled black mane. He pulled her closer, deepening the kiss, determined to make it seem as real as possible to convince the bastard challenging him – if he had to reduce her to a sweating, dishevelled pile of jelly in his arms, then he would. It would make a good punishment for her, considering she'd been stupid enough to come to his flat even though he'd clearly warned her not to.
He was glad she'd decided to cooperate – she'd obviously realised he was trying to save her life. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, earning a hair tug from her. He wasn't sure if the two idiots next to them had realised that that had been in protest, or if they thought it was because of her enjoyment, but they had to sell this. He tightened his grip on her ass and lifted her, her legs wrapping around his waist right on cue. He started to walk towards his flat, leaving the two guys behind.
"Thanks..." she muttered after he'd closed the door with his foot and put her down, finally breaking the kiss.
"Have ya got a fuckin' death wish?! I told ya not to come here!" He yelled, not caring if anyone heard him – if they'd just seen the events outside his front door, they'd just assume it was him telling his girlfriend off for visiting him instead of him going to her, wherever she lived.
"And I told you that I'd come to you, wherever you were, if you tried to get your tracker off again!" She yelled back.
"Jesus, Shrimp, this isn't the sort of place ya can just walk into and expect to make it out of again!" He lectured, turning away from her and walking towards the kitchenette.
"Well, I had to follow through," she pointed out, following behind him, "and you saved me, didn't you?"
"How the fuck did ya work out I would?!" He asked, completely exasperated – she was completely insane! Everyone else labelled him as a fuckin' psychopath, as in a dangerous guy with no damn conscience! Why the hell would she jump to the conclusion that he'd save her?!
"I'm a 'tiny pushover of a parole officer'? Admit it, I'm the only reason you're still walking around, especially considering you keep trying to keep up the 'bad boy' act." She replied, looking around her at his little two-room flat, her eyes falling on the unfolded sofa bed, "did I wake you?"
"Ya're insane Shrimp, ya know that? I'm considered a psychopath and ya came here alone anyway! And it's not a 'bad boy act' – I attacked a small girl and two guys – I'm a bad guy! On top of that, ya've just asked if ya woke me as if ya're just a friend that's come around for a damn coffee!" He exclaimed, turning to watch her as she sat down on the end of his 'bed', ignoring the single armchair in the far corner, "and to answer yer question, no, I just don't bother putting it away. It's not as if I get visitors. Do ya want something to drink? I've got beer or coffee."
"Beer please. So no-one visits you? What happened to the woman that visited you while you were inside? Juvia Loxar?" She asked, noticing him flinch as she said the woman's name.
"Ya heard the guy outside, she got out. She'd be pulled back in if she came here." He explained, handing her a freshly opened beer.
"Sorry...is she the reason you want the tracker off? So that you can go see her?" She asked, watching as he sat down in the armchair, staring back at her.
"I'm not really that bothered whether I see her again, I just want out of here. Ya've been here less than fifteen minutes and I'm pretty sure ya want out already." He replied bitterly, taking a drink of his beer.
"Was she the woman that grabbed Lucy?" Levy asked, her eyes falling to the floor.
"Ya ain't quoting me on this, got it?" He asked, his eyes narrowing as he watched her nod silently, both her hands wrapped around the glass beer bottle, "yeah, she knew I'd get into shit if we didn't pick up the girl. I got bored waiting on the wench and her blue haired friend came out with her two tall friends. She wasn't supposed to get such a good look at me, hence why I attacked from behind, but somehow she knew I was coming. She turned just as I attacked...she looked terrified, and I liked it."
"Blue hair..."
Shit.
He looked at her, realising he'd already said too much. She'd already agreed to not quote him, but he'd just admitted that he actually remembered what had happened, and that it wasn't just one huge thrill-filled adrenaline rush like he'd said. She wouldn't grass on him right? What was he thinking? She was his damn parole officer! He was grassing on himself! Shit! What should he do?! He fidgeted in his chair, waiting for her to say something more, something he could use to change the subject or use to denying everything.
"A blue-haired girl...who looked terrified. That's what you remember?" She turned her large eyes to face him, her expression completely unreadable.
"...yeah. I guess I seem to collect them, huh? Juvia, the girl, and you. I'm clearly a damn magnet for them," he joked, desperately hoping they could change the subject now.
"Do you remember anything else?" She asked, not breaking eye contact with the giant man sitting across from her.
"...yeah...she had huge hazel eyes...they were pretty impressive," he started, his eyes glazing over slightly as he looked through her, "she opened them while I was pinning her to the tree. As weird as it sounds considering what I was doing, they were pretty beautiful with the moonlight hitting them. I guess that really does make me a psychopath, huh? I ran my hands all over her pale body while she was pinned there; enjoying how much she squirmed, loving every expression that passed through those hazel eyes of hers. She was fuckin' soft too – never felt anything so damn soft! I'm pretty sure I even bit her a few times...I'm so fucked up, Shrimp."
"Yeah...you are...but you remembered...and you actually realise that you're fucked up – you're not a psychopath...if you were, you wouldn't have saved me from those men outside, and you wouldn't have even realised that there was something wrong with what you did." She started, standing up to look down at him. "That's why you pretended not to remember, you didn't want to talk about it because you were confused. You're not a psychopath, Gajeel, but you're clearly a sadist considering how much you enjoyed what you did to me."
"Shrimp?" He looked into her eyes, their hazel colour obvious now without her usual red glasses in front of them, "shit."
He watched as she pulled on the ribbon that held her hair up into a ponytail, allowing it to fall around her shoulders before she tied the ribbon around her head like a bandana, an orange bandana, the ends of the ribbon falling forward in front of her shoulders, the colour standing out against her bright blue hair. He stared unbelievingly at her, waiting for himself to wake up, this all just a bad dream. It was definitely her, her hair was just longer, there was no way those eyes could belong to anyone else and he certainly hadn't forgotten them. His damn parole officer was the 'girl' he'd attacked! And he'd just admitted that he'd enjoyed all her expressions, all her squirming, as he ran his hands all over her 'fuckin' soft' body and bit her.
"What the fuck?! Jesus, Shrimp! You were the fucking girl?! How the fuck are you my parole officer?!" He interrogated at high speed, his hands going straight into his hair as he stood up, freaking out.
"I had to pass a lot of tests to become your parole officer, it wasn't easy. It wouldn't surprise me if they fudged some of my results so that they didn't have to force you on someone, considering I was the only one that would take you – the rest all wanted you to stay in prison. They all said you were some sort of psychopath, and you know what? In the last hour, we've already proved them wrong, twice!" She exclaimed, taking a step towards him, "all I wanted was answers, Gajeel. I had to hope you weren't the monster you seemed that night – you have no idea how long that night haunted me! I'm not completely over it, but that's probably just because I want to know why I'm so fucked up that I wanted to be your parole officer after what happened!"
Gajeel dropped his hands from his hair, staring back into the determined eyes of his blue haired shrimp of a parole officer. For a year and a half he'd been telling her that he didn't even remember her without even realising it. Had he been making it even harder for her? Was she still terrified of him? No. She wouldn't be standing in is flat with a determined expression on her face if she had been. Hell, she certainly wouldn't have kissed him back, or if she had, she won't have dared pull his hair in objection to him slipping his tongue into her mouth. He really was an asshole to her.
Shit.
What the hell was going to happen now? Was she going to send him back to prison? Was she going to yell at him and torture him by keeping the tracker on him for the rest of his life, or was she going to let him go now that she had her answers? He looked down at her from where he stood, a blank expression across his face, waiting for her to continue.
"Gajeel, I'm happy that you finally trusted me enough to tell me...thank you. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I was the 'girl', but I'm sure you understand. Like I said, you've proved twice in the last hour that you're not a psychopath. You have a conscience, and you do care about other people, as much as you don't want to admit it. You're not a bad guy, Gajeel – you just took a 'bad path'. You said that you want to escape here, if that's true then I'll help you. That's my job right? To help you with rehabilitation and make sure you don't continue down the wrong path? Let me do my job Gajeel. I'm not angry or upset with you anymore – even if you were a monster then, you're just a confused man now, one that doesn't want to be the pawn for some idiot who thinks kidnapping women is acceptable."
...
"You think he's ready?"
"Definitely."
"He's been widely labelled as a dangerous psychopath, and you think he's ready to take the test?"
"He's more than ready – he's not the same as he was, and I know that better than anyone. Trust me when I say that he's not a monster anymore, he's just a confused guy that likes to keep to himself."
"Juvia agrees."
Two sets of eyes turned to the previously silent blue haired woman in the corner.
...
"Hey, Shrimp!? Guess what?!" Gajeel yelled as he crashed in through her door.
"What Gajeel? And do I have to ask you to stop calling me 'Shrimp' again?!" Asked a tired Levy – she'd been up all night on the phone to him as he ranted on about how he was going to fail the test.
"I passed! I fucking passed!" He exclaimed, falling into his usual chair and swinging his tracker-free leg onto her desk.
"I told you that you would, idiot. You should have listened to me instead of keeping me up all night! I could have sworn you don't normally worry that much – where did that come from anyway?" She sighed, pushing his leg off of her desk, hiding her happiness that he didn't have the black box still around his boot.
"I thought ya liked when I kept ya up all night, gihe!" he teased, knowing he'd get a blush from her, "anyway, I overheard ya talking to someone on the phone after our last meeting – ya said I'd end up back inside if I didn't pass." He stated seriously, staring directly into her eyes, daring her to say he was wrong.
"And I knew you'd pass, idiot." She replied, looking at her computer screen, hoping he hadn't noticed the pink tinge that had appeared on her cheeks, "and it's not as if you've done anything in last few years that would keep me up all night."
"Gihe, so ya want me to then?" He teased, knowing he was pushing his luck.
"I've found you a place to stay like I said I would. You don't have a problem with black guys, right?" She asked, ignoring his question.
"Why? Do ya live with one?" He joked before becoming serious, she clearly wasn't in the mood, "nope – there was plenty of 'em where I grew up. Why?"
"I've found you a room staying with a man named Pantherlily, but everyone just calls him Lily. He's a nice guy and should be able to keep you on the straight and narrow until you find your feet." She explained, still looking at the computer screen.
"He'll keep me on the straight and narrow?"Gajeel asked, an unsure, confused expression across his face.
"Yes. Do you doubt he could?" Levy asked, wary of what his answer could be – she couldn't let him go if he admitted he would just turn straight back down the wrong path. She'd spent over three months finding him a job and introducing him to the right people, and even finding someone who'd keep an eye on him until he could go out and find a place of his own.
"...it's not that, it's just...does that mean I won't be coming back to yer office?" He asked, his expression remaining unchanged.
"No...? I thought you'd be happy about that? No more 'Miss Shrimp' nagging you? I'll finally be out of your hair – and I can't imagine it would be easy to get anything out of your hair! What did I tell you about brushing it?! If you aren't going to look after it, get it cut off!" She lectured, staring back into his eyes.
"I did brush it, but the comb broke!" He complained, pouting slightly at her lecture, "but I really don't have to come back?"
"Then buy a new comb Gajeel. Use conditioner when you have a shower and brush it while it's still wet. The comb should be able to go through your hair then," she smiled, amused by his pouting, "but no, you don't have to come back here to see me."
"Don't have to, huh," he muttered before looking back up at her, "how old are ya anyway?"
"Wh-what?! You don't ask questions like that Gajeel! I thought you knew that!" She exclaimed, embarrassed by his sudden question.
"Why would I know how old ya are?" He teased, noticing her increasingly red face.
"That's not what I meant! And I'm not old, I'm twenty-six!" She exclaimed, exasperated with the man sitting on the other side of the desk.
"So...ya're twenty-six...and not my parole officer anymore...?" He asked, watching as she nodded warily, "so it's not weird if I do this then?"
He leant over her desk, almost doubled over, his hand finding its way to the back of her head, his lips finding hers. He slowly pulled back as he felt her stand up, only to find her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him back to her. He felt her tongue along his bottom lip and growled, letting her tongue into his mouth and returning the favour. His other hand joined the first as they both leant over the desk, kissing each other more passionately than either had even thought possible. Gajeel broke their kiss needing air and looked into her eyes, only a few inches from his own.
"What the hell was that, Shrimp?" He whispered softly to her, "I wasn't expecting that from you."
Levy leant forward, her lips nearing his ear.
"Bite me."
So that happened! ;P Hope you enjoyed it! ^_^
The final chapter of 'Who'd Have Thought' will be up on Thursday (with a few structural changes, thanks to the helpful criticism from Shizuka23 – thank you! It was much appreciated! ^_^ ) at the usual time :D Next Sunday's one-shot is a Bixanna, inspired by a GaLe pocky sketch I seen on Tumblr on 'Pocky Day' by rboz (Hadn't realised there was a 'Pocky Day' until I seen the sketch!), and there's not a pocky in sight! ;P That is also not an innuendo.