Gajeel was sorely tired from the past week and everyone knew it. He had been lashing out at the entire guild, even Levy. He knew he'd crossed a line, but dammit he was upset. On his last mission, Lily had been injured because Gajeel had been overzealous. They'd taken on an entire dark guild together, and he was so arrogant to think his Iron Dragon Roar would take them all down and keep them there. He was wrong. One wizard came at Gajeel from behind as he was singing his own praises. Lily had reacted, taking out the wizard, but received a nasty wound to his abdomen in the process. His partner was in the infirmary and would be there for some time, and it was all his fucking fault.
Gajeel could feel a haze of anger, regret, and frustration build around him with every step he took home. Finally there, he opened the door expecting Levy to give him the cold shoulder. He wouldn't like it, but he understood. He'd screwed up and needed to pay the price for his actions. Walking inside his home, for the second time this week he was wrong.
The room was lit with the soft glow of twinkling lacrimas, and Gajeel could hear the patter of rain. It hadn't been raining outside, had it? Was he so removed from the world that he hadn't noticed? No, his clothes were dry. The large couch in the living room was piled with pillows and blankets. The chairs had been pulled from their normal positions in the kitchen and covered with sheets to make what appeared to be a tent. He could even smell the faint aroma of cookie dough coming from underneath the sheets. Had he accidentally walked into his neighbor's house? Was he passed out somewhere daydreaming? Then he smelled her. His Shrimp was in the that mass of fluff and she was coming out.
Levy popped her head out of the fort.
"Gajeel, you're home!" she squeaked as a wide smile graced her face. He was awestruck. She wasn't mad at him or yelling at him; she was smiling, looking excited to see him. Levy was on all fours as she wiggled her way out of her creation. Her foot was caught in a blanket and she made a humph noise as she shook it loose. It was too cute for Gajeel to bear, and a light blush sprouted on his cheeks. After dislodging herself, she stood in front of him expectantly.
"Uhh…look, Shrimp," he mumbled, his blush deepening. "I'm sorry for yelling at ya before. I'm just fuckin." He didn't have a chance to finish his statement as she hushed him with a finger to his lips.
"I know you didn't mean it Gajeel, and I know you're hurting. Please don't blame yourself for what happened to Lily," her voice slightly more than a whisper.
"I can't. It's my fault" he rumbled, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. She stopped him again, cupping his cheek with her delicate hand. Gajeel caught a whiff of lavender and cookie dough. Her smell was intoxicating.
"No more of that. I'm going to help you feel better" Levy crooned, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the floor. "This was my happy place when I was a child. Inside my fort with some cookie dough and a good book the world couldn't hurt me. I was safe. I want you to feel that way too," she explained. Gajeel bumped his head and back crawling under the tent of covers. This was supposed to be fun? He could barely move around without nearly knocking the damn thing down. Clearly, the Shrimp had forgotten just how much larger he was. This was definitely a shrimp sized fort. Still, she was trying to make him feel better, so he continued despite his discomfort.
Levy curled up on the couch in a pile of pillows with a tiny mage sized dent in it. She had been reading there for a while. On the floor, next to her nest, was the bowl of cookie dough and a cup of tea. Gajeel tried to get comfortable, spreading out as best he could, but he was sorely oversized for this creation. He sat on the ground with his head resting against the couch. He noticed the pile of books in the corner and leaned over to check the titles. None seemed appealing. With a sigh the decided he would just sleep, but as he was pulling back he knocked over the sweets. Shit. He straightened to clean the mess but his elbow rested too long on one of the lights. Fuck. His arm spasmed and his hand knocked the tea onto the rug. Another fucking mess from the man who can't do anything right. He roared and launched himself out of the fort. Gajeel stood to his full height, grateful to be able to stretch again. Levy balked at the sudden noise. She had been so absorbed in her story and Gajeel's fumblings had gone unnoticed. The bluenette scrambled out of the tent to see what had upset him. He was pacing in the living room, grabbing and shaking his head, mumbling curses to himself.
"What's wrong?" she asked, reaching to grab him into a hug. He pushed away. Gajeel wanted to hold back, to not yell at her again, but he was too riled up to pretend he was ok.
"That tent thing is too damn small. I can't sit, I keep knocking shit over, I'm a fucking lug that can't do a damn thing right." He let loose another roar and turned back to look at Levy. He could see she was confused and shaken up.
"This was something that calmed me down as a child. I was just trying to share it with you," she barked. "So what if it was small, we can make it bigger. Stop pushing everyone away!" Levy was getting worked up as well, but he wasn't backing down.
"I don't need a fort to feel better. I need my partner to be ok!" He threw his head down and smashed his firsts against the wall. She was right, but he couldn't shake his guilt.
"Maybe if you tried it you'd like it" she suddenly grew quiet. Her voice started to waiver, "I wanted to give you a piece of my childhood—to help you since you never really had one." Gajeel could hear her begin to sob before she let out a ferocious, "Don't you understand that!"
That was what this was about. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. Levy was still mad at him from the first time, but was trying to find a common ground. She was trying to bring him close, and he had shoved it in her face. He'd rejected her help and hurt her again.
"Lev, look. I'm sorry I yelled—both times. You don't need to try and give me back a childhood. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a big ass grown man. I'm fine with the things I missed," he was surprisingly calm now.
"I just wanted to help. Why don't you want a childhood? How are you ok with not having any of that? It was so important to me. I fell in love with some of my favorite books in these forts," her sobbing was slowing.
"I'm ok with not having those memories cause I'll have em later," a blush lit up his face as he continued, "I'm a dragon sized adult and while this is fun for shrimp sized people it doesn't suit me right now." Gajeel grabbed her close and pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her head down to the back of her neck. "Please understand, my childhood made me who I am and while it sucked I wouldn't change it. Yer what's important to me right now. Don't get stuck in my past. I've worked hard to move on from it." Levy let out a small sniffle, calm once again.
"Ok. So, what do you want to do with it? Should we take it down?" Her eyes went glossy at the thought.
'Nah. Ya like it so much, keep it for a while. Ya can read there." Unsure of what to do now that she was alright, he mumbled, "I think I need to work out some of this stress. That's how dragons deal with stuff right?" A fire stirred in Levy's stomach. She had said she'd help him feel better and dammit she was a woman of her word, and she had the perfect idea for her man.
"Well, there are some adult things we can do with the fort," she purred seductively. Every thought immediately fell out of Gajeel's head at those words. "I said I was going to make you feel better, and I know just what to do." Heat radiated out of Gajeel as she maneuvered him down to the floor. He could feel his pants tightening around him.
In the fort now, although he was half sticking out, he finally felt the comfort his Shrimp had been talking about. The most mesmerizing thing, though, was his little blue fairy on top of him, laying soft kisses along his neck as she pulled off his shirt. He lost himself in the feeling of her mouth against his skin before he grabbed her and pulled her back to his face. He laid a deep kiss onto her lips as he turned her to lay her head on the pillows. He'd make her feel as fucking amazing as she was; his urges were raging inside his body, barely being contained. Maybe they'd have to make a fort together sometime soon; he could get used to this.