Moving Time
Summary: Levy wants to move into a home of her own! While visiting a wonderful home, she meets Gajeel who has been looking at various other homes that day. The two will find themselves as potential roommates in a new home! The decision they make will be the start of a wild ride in the two's lives called home owning. Gajeel x Levy. GaLe. Also with some mentions of NaLu, Gruvia, Jerza, and Elfgreen.
A/N: This is my first Fairy Tail fan fiction! It's going to be fun, I'm sure! I do hope you enjoy my story! And here we go!
.:.1- Our Choices in Life.:.
"You sure?" Came the uncertain words of Erza as she looked warily at Levy. It wasn't usual for Erza to be concerned or uncertain about anything, but Levy had just announced to her Fairy Hills companions that she was planning to move out and live on her own. The girls were rightly worried for their short friend.
"Yes," Levy replied, slightly exasperated at this point. She had been dealing with these questioning looks all day. The worst of it had been the distraught reaction of Jet and Droy. The two did not think it would be safe for her to start living on her own, even though she had never really lived 'with' anyone else. They were a close family in Fairy Hills, with Erza being the ever-present form of protection. At times, it could be considered overbearing care for all of the girls living there.
"I called a few companies in town that are selling homes in nice neighborhoods," Levy continued, "And I was going to look at one in an hour. If I could find a nice place, I was hoping to move in soon. I'm even hoping to get more room for my books!"
At Levy's mention of her massive collection of books, her eyes sparkled with the promise of having more room for them. There was also the issue of the massive amount of rent Fairy Hills charged, and Levy was hoping to save more money to go towards her savings and her future. She knew very well how this could possibly be the biggest decision of her life.
"Ok…" Erza replied, "Well, if you do like the place, I want to check it out to make sure it's safe before you move in!" Her tone was final and Levy knew it was as good a deal as she could hope to get. Levy agreed and the girls dispersed to their own rooms leaving Levy to go out and visit the first home she was going to look at as a potential new place to live.
.:.:.O.O.:.:.
Levy walked down a nice street in Magnolia with high hopes. It wasn't to far away from the guild, and it was a wonderful looking neighborhood. The guild had received their old guildhall after winning the Grand Magic Games, and the whole guild was back to their old hijinks and crazy parties.
"You'd think they'd get tired of partying," Levy mused out loud as her mind strayed.
Levy was looking around the outside of the home until the salesman arrived, and she could definitely say she liked what she saw. There was a small front yard with a planting area that still had a few flower types growing in it. The back yard was fenced in like all the other homes on the street. Since the fence was metal wire, Levy could actually see into the yard without a problem. She nodded her head appreciatively to the yard that was nice and trimmed. She then walked back toward the front door and continued her muse.
"I mean, they've been partying every day since they got back!" The small girl giggled at the thought of all of her friends still partying hard was interrupted by a gruff voice that replied to her conversation with herself.
"They wouldn't be the crazy fairies if they weren't always wild," came the rough words of a voice that Levy immediately knew was Gajeel's.
Levy jumped slightly as she spun around and yelped, "Gajeel!"
A huge smirk was plastered on the iron dragon slayer's face as he loomed over her and said, "Hey, Shrimp. You shouldn't talk to yourself, or everyone will think you're crazy too. Gihihii!"
The small girl stepped back to get herself out of his encompassing shadow, and she chose to ignore his comment in favor of figuring out why he was here at the same time she was going to be looking for a home.
"W-what do you want, Gajeel? I'm waiting for someone, why are you here?" She tried not to stutter, and Levy mentally slapped herself at the involuntary stumble she started her first sentence with.
Instead of answering her questions, Gajeel simply stepped to the side and motioned his head toward the thin man standing behind him. At the gesture, the slighter man decided it was his turn to speak.
"Hello Miss! Are you Miss McGarden?" the man obviously sent one more worried glance to Gajeel before looking back to her. Levy wondered what had happened between the two before their appearance before her.
"Yes, I am."
"Ah! Well, I am the salesman that was sent today to show you inside of our home here!" The man brightened visibly at the mention of his job, but he was still obviously uncomfortable. The amount of times he pushed up the small, black rimmed glasses on his nose showed this well. He continued, "and, um… Mr. Redfox has also been looking at our homes with us today so we brought him along for this one as well."
At this Levy's attention moved back to the dragon slayer. With a questioning gaze she asked, "You're looking for a new place too? Any reason?"
Gajeel simply scoffed and replied, "Not really." The way he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away told her that prying would get her no further for now, but her curiosity would not let her give up.
"This way!" called the salesman who had opened the front door during their exchange. They followed the man into the building and Levy knew she would love living in this place. The living room was a good size, with the kitchen just behind it when coming from the door. You could see the sink area through a window like gap in the wall. The dining room was to the right of the kitchen and looked like it could also hold a decently sized dining table and chairs. The rest of the home was fairly symmetrical, with two rooms being on the right and left side of the home. One of the rooms on each side was the size of a master bedroom.
Levy wandered toward the right of the home to explore. When she went into a room with shining eyes, Gajeel stopped and leaned on the doorway to watch. She was obviously imagining where all of her books would fit and all the new books she could get with this much room.
"Gihihihi!" Gajeel couldn't help but laugh at the sight. This broke Levy out of her dream like state, and she looked toward him with a slight glare that bounced right off of him.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing bookworm. It's just obvious when your mind is stuck thinking about your books." Gajeel's knowing smirk made her want to refute him, but she knew that would be an obvious and outright lie. Instead she decided to ask him once more why he was looking for a new place to live.
"So?" she started.
"So what?" Gajeel replied.
Feigning ignorance, eh? Levy thought. Ok, we can play that game.
"Oh, I don't know really," the small girl started sweetly, "I was just wondering why you would need to look for another home. Without Lily even!" She mock gasped after the last statement, and looked at him with questioning big brown eyes.
Gajeel sighed, but Levy continued to wait. She showed that she was not going to give up the subject as easily as he had hoped.
"Fine," he grumbled, "The walls of my old place might not have been strong enough to hold while I dealt with an intruder who wandered into the wrong home."
An amusing image of a man pissing himself when he realized he had broken into the home of the iron dragon slayer crossed Levy's mind, and she had to stop herself from laughing out loud.
"When was this?" She questioned to get away from the mental image.
"Early yesterday night," Gajeel replied, "And Lily's not here because he said it was my fault and I should find a new place for us myself. Dumb cat."
At the pout on Gajeel's face, Levy did giggle this time. She could imagine the small version of Lily floating in the air and scolding the big dragon slayer on his inability to hold back with his quick temper.
"Well," Levy continued looking around, "What do you think of this place?"
"Dunno," Gajeel shrugged, "It all depends on what it costs. The last two I've been too were about as nice as this and around 150,000 jewels a month. That would be way to much to bother with working for every month."
His words sent Levy a reality check. Yes, it doesn't mean much if the place is more then my old rent. I'm not saving any money that way…
"Well, lets ask!" Levy said as she started to the door. The salesman was standing in the living room, and he perked up as the two came back into the room.
"What do you think?" he asked, "It is a nice home."
"Yes," Levy agreed, "It's wonderful! But I have to ask. How much does it cost?"
"Oh!" the salesman continued smoothly, "Well this particular home is 120,000 jewel per month!"
At this Levy's face dropped a bit. That was 20,000 jewel more then she paid for Fairy Hills. She wouldn't save much, but it was a really nice home…
"Hn" Was Gajeel's reply, "Well I wouldn't need this much room for just me and Pantherlily. So I guess that's another no."
The salesman's face dropped at the two's reaction, and he continued to watch their interactions with each other as if he was no longer there.
"But Gajeel! You can't go without a place to sleep!" Levy refuted, "Where did you sleep last night, anyway?"
"Oh, just a tree." He replied simply, "Nothing big." At this, Levy frowned at his tone.
"You can't just go sleeping in trees every night, Gajeel!"
"Sure I can, Shrimp!"
"But! Ugh your so-!"
"Gihi," Gajeel laughed with a smirk on his face. He loved getting the small girl all riled up. The way her cheeks puffed out and her eyes sparked at the argument made his smirk grow even bigger.
"Ahem… If I may. It is a pretty big home. Since you both want a place and seem to know each other, you could consider buying the home together and being roommates?" The salesman interrupted them. He obviously didn't want to go back to his company today with no sales.
"Wha-" Levy started, but she quickly stopped herself. If they did that, expenses would be so much better as well as she herself would still have more room than her Fairy Hills home. Gajeel and Pantherlily would also have a place to live. Poor Lily… dealing with this idiot.
Levy looked at Gajeel suddenly with an intense gaze and said, "Well?"
"Well?" he mirrored, "Well what, Shrimp?"
"His last suggestion, of course," Levy huffed. She was not going to spell everything out for him. He'd have to work for it.
"Oh, that?" Gajeel replied, scoffing at the thought, "Why would that be an option?"
"It is one option Gajeel. You said it yourself. There's to much room here for just you and Lily, and neither of us want to pay that much for rooms we're not going to use," Levy held her hand out to show she wanted a hand shake from him, "So let's split it. It's almost symmetrical anyway so we both get the same amount of room."
Gajeel studied the small girl in front of him. It was like he was waiting for the joking part to happen and her to act like she hadn't just offered to live in a home with him. He thought about going to Pantherlily without having gotten a new home for them, and Gajeel decided he could have had it worse. Besides, though he wouldn't admit it, Gajeel liked the thought of being able to see Levy almost whenever he wanted too.
The smirk on his face grew to a toothy one. His sharp teeth glinting as he decided to just go with what was happening in front of him.
"Gihihih! Sure, Shrimp!" He reached forward to take her smaller hand into his own, and Levy tried not to think about how warm his hand felt covering her own. The slight blush on her face was barely noticeable, and she hoped Gajeel didn't notice in the slight lighting of the empty home.
They turned to the salesman, and Levy smiled brilliantly while she said, "We'll take it then!"
After dealing with the ecstatic salesman a little while signing papers, the two mages split ways for the time being to collect their things. Levy's mind was racing at everything that had just happened.
What did I just do? Did I really… Did I really just sign up to move in with Gajeel?!
The bookworm couldn't help the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Levy walked back to Fairy Hills to begin packing her things for the move, with images on how her new living conditions would work out in her head.
tbc...
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! PLEASE let me know your thoughts by reviewing, and I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter as much as I am! :D
