Note: Happy Birthday Kaylove75!

Day at the Park

By May Waters

Levy sighed as she stared around at the piles of books. To her own surprise, she was in no mood for reading anything. She didn't' even want to bug Lucy about writing a new chapter faster, she wasn't in the mood to even think about the characters her friend had created. All Levy wanted to do was spend a day out and about, just wandering around Magnolia. There was a problem with this desire though, for Jet and Droy were waiting outside the door of Fairy Hills. She had been informed by Erza that they were determined to walk her to the guild that day and they would wait until dark as they apparently had nothing better to do themselves. Levy loved her friends dearly, but sometimes they just didn't know when to leave her alone.

The seven year gap had made it even harder on their friendship as Levy had missed out on so many things. They had struggled for years without her and she had felt their bond break when she realized what had happened. They still adored her, but now they were much older than her and there was just too much difference for her to think about being around either of them for too long. She enjoyed the missions they went on together, but she wanted someone her own age, someone who could relate to the fear of being attacked by Acnologia. She needed someone like-Gajeel.

Levy's eyes widened as she stared at the window across from her. Staring through the glass pane was none other than the man she had just been thinking about. She ran over to the window and pushed it up, loose papers flying across the room and the paperbacks fluttered in annoyance.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see why you weren't at the guild, it's not like I really cared or anything, but bunny girl was worried."

"Uh-huh," Levy scrutinized. He was always like this. "I'm trying to avoid Jet and Droy so I'll tell you what. You help me evade them and I'll give you some iron."

He seemed to perk up at the idea, but he didn't want to appear too eager to help her with something like avoiding the men who loved her. Levy bit her lip and he swallowed hard, the little mage would be the death of him.

"Alright," he agreed putting a hand through the window. She placed hers nervously in his and he pulled her through, shutting the window from the outside at the same moment. He let them both fall through the air, holding a startled Levy close to him as they fell three stories. Gajeel landed with a thud, absorbing all the shock of fall, he grunted slightly before standing up straight and setting Levy on the ground.

"So you got me out of my apartment, but how are we going to get around them?" She asked brushing herself off as though her heart wasn't racing a hundred miles an hour, her body still aching for contact with the man in front of her. From their position, they could see Jet and Droy sitting on the ground looking extremely bored while waiting for Levy to exit the building.

Gajeel looked around the area before pointing at the lake close by.

"You're not seriously suggesting we swim are you?"

"Have any better ideas?"

"Wings," a deep voice behind the pair stated and they jumped. Lily was standing looking up at them with a smirk on his teddy bear face. Levy smiled and picked him up in excitement.

"You came to rescue me too!"

"Indeed," Lily was smirking at Gajeel who made a small 'tch' noise in response to seeing Lily pressed up between Levy's small breasts. "Where do you want to go?"

"The park," Levy told him with a smile and Gajeel shuddered slightly, remembering how they had first met.

It was only a couple minutes later when Levy was stretching in the warm air and staring up at the blue sky, Gajeel following behind her. She saw Lucy across the park with Natsu and waved, her best friend waved back before turning back to the conversation her and Natsu had been having. Lucy had admitted to Levy her surprise over having Natsu as her boyfriend before Levy had managed to snag Gajeel. Levy didn't notice when Lily gently floated away from the pair, hoping his coaching with Gajeel would lead to something a little more than what him and Levy were now.

"What do you want to do?" Gajeel asked and she looked back at him.

"I didn't really think about, I thought I wouldn't be out of the house today."

"You want to get some ice-cream?" Gajeel pointed out the little stand and Levy excitedly bounced towards it, making to pull out her coin purse.

Gajeel put his hand on hers and quickly pulled out his wallet throwing a few jewels onto the counter. She turned red and then took the offered cone, waiting until Gajeel had his own ice-cream before stealing it, surprising him and then handing it back to him, little pieces of iron swirled throughout it. The corners of his mouth twitched as he lifted it to his mouth, the little mage liked to surprise him and he enjoyed more than he cared to admit.

"Thanks," he told her when they were almost finished, sitting on a park bench and watching little kids running around. Levy nodded staring down at the bottom portion of her cone. Taking a deep breath, she figured now was better than ever, if only she really had the courage. "Something bothering you?"

"Huh? Nothing, nothing at all." Levy put up a hand to placate him, her voice frantic and high.

"Geez," Gajeel grumbled. "You can tell me Shrimp."

"Don't call me that," Levy snapped. He looked down at her, this was not going well at all, his time spent with Lily (the cat pretending to be Levy) was going to waste and fast. It was quiet for a long moment before Levy whispered: "Gomen."

She stood up and walked with her arms folded, Gajeel let his head fall downward slightly as he cursed himself. He shoved himself up from the bench and followed after her steps, finding her standing in the middle of the park, staring up at a very familiar tree.

"This is where I first met you, I was terrified, but now I'm not." He stayed quiet, listening. "What I don't understand is how you can't see it. When you first joined the guild I was so scared of you, I hid under tables and told people I really was fine when I wished you had never joined and that the master had never extended the invitation to you. Now though-"

She was silent for a long while and Gajeel began to wonder if she was going to say anything else. He made to move forward when she turned around. He stared down into her brown eyes in shock, they were over flowing with tears and he had no idea what he'd done.

"I don't get it. It's so painfully obvious that I'm in love with the person you've become and all you do is call me Shrimp. You protect me like you care, but maybe you're just trying to repay me for the time you crucified me to this tree. I don't know what you expect from me Gajeel, I can't just stop being in love with you, but tell me now if it's futile."

"Levy," her name had never sounded sweeter and she began to cry harder. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist as he pulled her into his chest. Softly he pulled her chin and his lips collided softly with hers. When he pulled away she was smiling and stroking his cheek gently, she pressed another quick kiss to the corner of his mouth and he whispered, "I'm sorry."

She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around his neck. He was everything she needed.