Gajeel had spent the past ten minutes walking up down the mile-long feminine hygiene aisle, becoming more and more frustrated with the colorful array of boxes and packages.
Three things. She had told him the box had to have three things.
"Blue box, white writing, regular flow," he mumbled to himself. It had become his mantra at this point.
She couldn't have been more vague as he stood facing the monolithic displays. There were white boxes with blue writing, blue boxes with yellow writing, and black boxes with white writing. It shouldn't be this difficult. Couldn't they figure out a better organizational system than this?
He noticed a male shopper passing behind him, grabbing a box at random, and doing his best to hunker down and escape unnoticed. His antics made Gajeel snort. No way he was going to get his shrimp just anything.
He gravitated towards a group of blue boxes and picked one with white writing, but her third criteria didn't match what she wanted. It was heavy flow.
He gave a passing thought to how often his little woman experienced a regular flow versus heavy and what exactly constituted a light flow. Were those the days she started on? Or were they for younger girls? He immediately cut his train of thought off when it drifted to Wendy and picked two boxes that met Levy's requirements.
With packages in hand, he strolled to the baking aisle, retrieving a canister of chocolate chips. While she did not ask for them, it had been a long time since he made anything sweet for her, and his cookies went over quite well last month.
He approached the register with his items, moving to the front and laid his purchases out for totaling. For some reason, the cashier gave him a snickering expression as did the man behind him.
He turned and watched as the weakling behind him stuttered, probably pissing himself from the hellish glare Gajeel dealt him. He turned the same look on the cashier, who had started sweating profusely. The jewel total came out much less than Gajeel predicted and he grunted with approval. He deserved a discount if people were going to laugh about something so trivial.
He couldn't understand why most men reacted the way they did when purchasing something as harmless as tampons. If anything, there was more danger in buying live lobsters and sketchy love potions.
Idoits. All of them.
Unashamed, he gathered his items and left to return home.
"Thanks for making cookies again."
Gajeel handed her a heaping platter of the round confections. She had made herself comfortable on his couch amongst a tangle of blankets and cushions, a stack of books growing up from the floor. A particularly bent and worn novel laid open in her lap, dog-eared to hold her place.
"Whatcha readin'?"
He strategically sat in the space behind her, lifting her thin tank top up to expose the skin of her back. She leaned forward when his hands began kneading the tense muscles of her torso.
"One of Erza's favorites," she held the cover up for him to see, displaying a racy couple with lips locked together.
He knew the redhead had a particular fondness for Levy's more romantic collection and didn't even bat an eye at the fact his shrimp was reading it. She had been increasingly feisty lately, openly initiating affection in public and even taking a dominant role in bed. Not that he minded. But it explained a lot now.
He moved his thumbs over her lower back, applying firm pressure and moving in slow circles to alleviate her pain. She had rolled her head to the side, resting on her shoulder as she continued to read. Her hair was pulled back into a half-hearted ponytail, which gave him a welcome opportunity to place a warm kiss on her sensitive neck.
"Gajeel," she warned, "No teasing."
He placed another kiss on her shoulder, pulling the strap to her top down and drug his tongue along her soft skin to her ear, making her squeal.
"I'm not teasing," he taunted.
She softly laughed and tossed her book at the literature pile. She pulled her top off over her head, much to her dragon slayer's surprise.
"Take off your shirt," she instructed.
He complied, unintentionally turning the fabric inside out as he did so. She took each of his hands and wrapped herself in his embrace, placing his palms against her lower belly. She leaned back into his chest until they rested against the arm of the sofa in a semi-reclined position. She exhaled a content sigh and he placed a chaste kiss on her blue head when she was cozy. He felt extraordinary, knowing his woman was comfortable enough to let him see her like this.
"Feels good to have something warm," she explained, drumming her fingers against the back of his hands. He would remember that for the next month.
A few moments had passed and he thought her asleep until she turned her head towards the coffee table.
"Can you reach the cookies?" she asked.
He smirked at her request and reached for the plate, holding it until she had taken her desired amount and placed it back on the table.
After she had swallowed her first bite, she leaned her head back on his chest.
"I love you," she spoke.
Even though she couldn't see it, he gave her one of his rare, sincere smiles of gratitude, void of all snarky attitude.
"I love you, too," he tightened his arms around her in a binding embrace.
He meant it and he would do anything for her.
From what he had witnessed and learned, a real man takes care of his woman. Even if she could take care of herself.