*Pretence*

Since joining the guild Levy has grown a fondness of Gajeel whilst he struggles with himself, unable to complete many requests due to his shady past. Levy is bailing him out of Fiore Jail for the 3rd time with a very serious warning. If caught again Gajeel would find himself spending more than the night in prison... (For stealing food/stuff to buy food as he is struggling to get Quests because of his bad reputation)

Levy thanks them graciously and pretty much drags him home by his ear ;) as she gets him inside he grumbles 'ouch you didn't have to do that!' Levy shot a look of daggers back. 'I can't keep doing this!' She squeals in angst 'I haven't even told the master, but next time it will go beyond me and I won't be able to help you!'

He looked helplessly into her eyes, God she was cute,

'Guys gotta eat,' he grumbled, 'Why do you even CARE?!' He shot immediately regretting his harsh tone as the hurt and shock of his comment spread across her face, it quickly disappeared as she shook her head. For the first time he sensed it, pure desperation, man what was up with this chick?

She quickly looked to the floor hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt. 'Well,' she hesitated thinking back to the first time they'd met... She inhaled sharply; it wasn't something she liked to remember and wasn't something she was sure she had forgiven him for, she knew her friends for one hadn't. Ooh if they only knew she'd been bailing him out, she shook her head again and quickly realised he was staring intently at he, gosh she hadnt even replied yet! 'Well,' she spoke again, 'I believe in second chances and quite frankly, you're screwing yours up!' He looked at her with wide eyes, he hadnt expected her to say that. Realising he was maybe looking a bit too closely he shrugged and backed off a bit, smirking as he knew it wasn't necessary - not like she was intimidated by him anyways. 'Right.' Her excited tone woke him from her thoughts, 'Get some sleep, we'll sorting this out tomorrow and you need to be well rested by the morning.' She ended with a smile. He looked at her sideways, was she planning to walk home on her own this late at night? Like hell that was going to happen! She turned to leave, 'Wait!' He said with far more energy than he'd wanted, she was still moving towards the door though, 'Its a bit late to be walking home isn't it?' He glanced at the clock, shit its nearly 3am, 'You can crash here..?'

She just stared at him, sleep HERE? God what would everyone think? Jet and Droy would go mental... Never mind that, was she even sure that SHE was comfortable with that? 'I'll take the sofa,' he said breaking her train of thought, she wondered if he had sensed her cheeks heat again. 'You'll be safe here, no need to worry.' His cocky smile replacing the small sign of concern he'd had earlier.

'Yeah okay then.' The words falling out her mouth before she'd even thought it through properly, the surprise reflected that of Gajeels. She bit her lip, how did he do this to her? The sensible part of her told her she should be scared or at the very least wary of the man who had bolted her and her friends up for all of Magnolia to see..

He noticed her take a sharp breath again, still stunned that she hadnt put up a fight or demanded he walk her home instead he moved towards his room, 'I'll just go sort the bed out then.' He looked at her realising that she might have read to much into what he'd said. He noticed a quick red glow cross her cheeks and quickly disappear, 'That won't be necessary!' 'I didn't mean...' They said together, he held his breath wondering what to do when she took it upon herself to walk towards his bedroom anyway. Shit. What state had he left it in this morning? He quickly followed her catching up within a few strides to be in front of her and in front of the door. She had gasped at his speed and possibly how close they were now, he lifted his hand and tucked a stray lock of her bright hair behind her ear, leaving his hand on her neck just a second too long. 'Err,' he coughed removing his hand, 'I just wanted to have a quick tidy up..'

She looked up at him, catching a glimpse of the red tint on his face. Not that she was much better... She quickly cleared her throat, 'don't worry about it,' she said pushing past his muscular frame to open the door into, an actually quite tidy room. Well, the bed was unmade and a bit of a mess but really apart from that... He pushed past her grumbling something.

'What was that?'

He looked up with his sharp red eyes, a certain intensity to his gaze.

Levy blushed lightly, 'What did you say a minute ago when you came in?'

'Oh,' surprised that she heard any actual word from his dragon tongue grumble. He'd forgotten she was a solid script mage. IDIOT he thought to himself. 'Just that I need to find my other bedsheets...'

She looked at him for a second seemingly thinking to herself; OH GOD he thought HOPE SHE HASN'T TAKEN THAT THE WRONG W-...

'Theres not need,' she spoke softly interrupting his thoughts, 'not like you were expecting someone to sleepover..' she smiled, GOD HE DID LOVE THAT SMILE.

'Okay, if you're sure?' he questioned.

'Perfectly!' she said still smiling. A long but comfortable silence followed and he realised how much he had grown to like the mage the past few months, he was glad that she was comfortable around him despite his past... misadventures.

Gajeel noticeably flinched and Levy wondered what had been going through the dragon slayers mind but before she could ask he had already shrugged it off.

'Well I'm off to watch some rubbish on netflix and pray that sleep comes quickly,' he smirked, 'Good night shorty!' before dashing out the room and slamming the door, narrowly missing the pillow she had flung at him. She heard his strange laugh the other side of the door, 'Sleep well' she whispered.

He smiled quietly to himself hearing her hushed goodnight.