jet black heart
chains and ropes. two very different methods, one coinciding goal. in which typically reserved levy mcgarden finds herself paired with an unrestraint brute, tied to a tree in the middle of the night. levy/gajeel
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The rope was heavier in her hands than she had anticipated, if anything, she was just surprised that the hardware store had been open as late as it was. The streetlights welcomed her like spotlights, eagerly following the rope tucked into her hands, seven feet in length and two inches in width. She could already feel the anxiety pooling at her fingertips, itching to drop the rope and run, forget everything, and curl up beneath her blankets to hide behind her fears and insecurities.
Unfortunately for her, she was running on one too many bad ideas, and of course, a steaming cup of way too much coffee. Everyone always told her in middle school that coffee stunts your growth – if she had half the mind to listen instead of crying over irrelevant tests and stressing over irrelevant social problems, maybe she would've realized that before it was too late.
Standing at a staggering 5'0", Levy Mcgarden was terrified and ready to kick someone's ass. Even if that ass had to be her own.
.
.
.
There were few things he cared about in the first place. Or at least, few things he admitted to caring about.
One of those things was the condition of his lawn. If fucking Stu and his dickish I-lived-through-the-1950s haircut's grass ever surpassed the quality of his own, there'd be hell to pay.
Another thing might be that asshole cat that would sometimes bring dead snakes into his house and leave them on his kitchen floor, like some sort of grotesque, ritualistic gift that would somehow improve his breakfast quality. He may not have appreciated the snakes, but if there was one thing he cold appreciate, it was effort.
Last on the succinct list of things that could make Gajeel Redfox get off his self-sufficient ass and do something, was that godforsaken, ugly maple tree.
It's roots had somehow managed, over the course of 23 years, to crawl under his skin and into his steel-fashioned heart, one that many inquired as to it's whereabouts.
Nonetheless, the tree that haunted and blessed him had kept him up to the very crack of dawn, his back pressed against the warm comfort of his own couch while his eyes scanned the ceiling for dents. Or maybe he was simply searching for a distraction. Either would be adequate.
Finally unsatisfied with his time management, Gajeel threw up his hands and pulled them back to impatiently knead his unkempt black hair in frustration.
Distractions aside, and short list out the window, that maple tree didn't do anything wrong.
But he still hated it.
Cursing the tree to another dimension, Gajeel summoned up the energy, and empathy, to finally get his shit together and protect his shitty list of important things. It wasn't like there were many to spare, after all.
Chains. He thought. That should do the trick.
.
.
.
The words, clogged in her throat like a rock in a drain, fell quite short.
"The hell are you?" A man asked, easily trumping her less than admirable height by a long shot. The rope in her hands quivered in fear – he couldn't have been anticipating her, could he have? Was he here to stop her? In a fight, he would absolutely decimate her, even if she had ten more Levys to spare.
"I'm – out for an afternoon stroll." She answered. The immediate effect of her words hit her like a tidal wave – first off, it was far past anything to be considered afternoon, night had devoured the sky hours ago. Second of all, the telltale rope in her hands was certainly a sign that she had arrived for more dubious reasons.
The man's form shifted. He was completely shadowed by the wake of the maple tree in between them, but she could hear – rattling, almost like-
"You can't arrest me!" She suddenly shrieked, unable to stop herself. "What I'm doing is completely legal! I'm here to express my-"
The man's sharp, barking laughter made her blood coil. "Arrest you? Look, little girl, if your daddy sent you here to do some last minute planning for whatever shopping mall they're gonna construct here, you can just beat it right now."
There were a few things wrong with what he had just said – all of which made Levy want to scream in frustration.
"Little girl? Who do you think you're talking to, buddy? I'm not a little girl, and I'm not here for a shopping mall!" She said, mustering as much authority as she possibly could. The man shifted again, the rattling sound of chains hitting each other becoming more evident.
He was silent for a moment, only the sounds of clinking chains filled the silent park, until he decided to speak.
"Are you…hanging yourself…? Here…?" he asked, his gruff voice losing its initial vigor as the seriousness of the implied topic weighed down.
"I…what? No! I'm not – I'm just here for this tree!" She patted the trunk of the maple tree exaggeratedly. Without noise or facial expression, Levy could still detect his skepticism.
"If you say so," his voice smoothed out, still laced with that unforgettable self righteousness.
"Oh you know what," Levy began, anger sparking a fuel line in her stomach. "Don't act like you're not in as weird a situation as I am, what are you doing here with your creepy chains? The grim reaper cosplay? Are you the self-proclaimed ghost of Christmas past?"
The man made a grunt of disapproval. Or approval, hell if she knew, her hands were shaking so bad she could barely decipher her own thoughts.
"Fair enough." He muttered, before his chains made a swinging sound and a thump.
"Um…you're not here to murder me, are you?" She asked testily, digging one of her flats into the grass and kicking a massive root by accident.
"I don't kill kids." He said simply, and if she didn't know any better, she'd swear she saw the glint of teeth in a menacing grin.
"You…don't joke about that. It's dark, and you're kind of scary." She admitted, before immediately pinching her wrist. She was a dumbass.
"Scary?" He inquired, a hint of amusement in his tone. The chains made clinking sounds as he began fiddling with them in the dark. "You think I'm scary, kid? You ain't seen nothin' yet."
Huffing at the mere mention of being a child, Levy pulled out her rope and played with the fringe on the end. "Listen…are you going to tell me why you're here? Because I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm…I'm not afraid."
"That so?" He grunted, like he was pulling something, and the chains made a light clanking sound in protest. He ignored it.
"Yes. I'm here to stop that shopping mall you referenced earlier, I'm not here to promote it." She proudly held out her rope for him to hopefully see in the starlight. "I'm going to tie myself to this tree and show everyone that I'm not just a little –" she stopped abruptly, watching his form fade. "What…are you doing?"
"Tough luck, kid." The man grunted, chains finally silenced. "This is my tree, and I don't need your help."
"You're…what?" Levy gurgled like a knife had just appeared in her stomach and she was only now recognizing defeat.
In the span of her fifteen second explanation, the man had used his massive chains to hook and hold himself against the maple tree.
She couldn't see his face clearly, almost as if he was wearing an oversized black cloak, but she knew he was grinning.
"…'Sides, you didn't really think a little bit of rope was going to stop a bulldozer…did you?" He snidely commented.
"Why you…condescending…little…" She curled her fist around her rope in anger.
"Better run home to Daddy. Maybe he'll buy you a car for your sweet sixteen and that'll appease you." He snarled, an unusually stereotypical insult coming from him.
"You're a douche." She said bitterly. He laughed, like her insults fueled his petty male ego.
"And you're up past your bedtime, squirt."
That tore it. It being her patience.
"You know what, buddy?" She asked giddily, looking down at her rope and feeding it to the ground slowly. "Get ready for some company."
She could almost hear is face fall.
"What?" He asked incredulously.
She swung her rope up and wrapped it around her front, before pressing her back against the soft bark of the maple, and began to push her rope around the tree, and over the man's large, chain-bound body.
"Little girl…" he growled under his breath, which she promptly ignored. He was powerless to stop her from tying herself up with him. His arms were entrapped by his own douchebaggery.
"Look," she started, wrapping the rope around with minimal difficulty, that of which sprouted from her stubby arm length. "We're both here for the same reason! I…think. But neither of us want this mall! Me for the public library, and you for…I don't know, maybe Gothcon, or something. Does that exist?"
The man laughed, maybe actually finding her attempt at biting humor funny. Or he was laughing at her, but she preferred the first option to a much greater extent.
"Alright cupcake. I'll bite. You want to protest? Knock yourself out. You'll be gone by the morning," he laughed condescendingly. Levy wanted to laugh with him. Nothing was more motivating to her than outlasting an asshole.
"Oh really?" She inquired, grabbing the final end of the rope and tying it as tight as she possible could around her waist.
"Yeah. And…ugh, can you fucking move some of your damn rope? It's over my junk." He mumbled angrily.
"Too bad." She shot back, resting semi-comfortably in her tied-down position. "Some of your chains are on the back of my head. Deal with it."
He snorted. "Sassy lil' thing, ain't ya?"
"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer." Levy sniffed.
"Fine. What time do the 'dozers get here anyways?" He asked gruffly.
"Five a.m. sharp." She replied, steadying her vision to the street across. This park was going to have a public library if it killed her. Literally. A bulldozer would have to make her roadkill in order to stop her this time.
"Fuckin Christ." He murmured. "You got any brilliant ideas to pass the time, girly?"
"It's not girly, it's Levy. Levy Mcgarden." She introduced haughtily.
He paused momentarily. "Gajeel. Redfox."
"Nice to meet you." She said sarcastically. He made a sound of amusement.
"You too." He replied.
Levy, satisfied with their impasse, looked up at the stars through the branches of the maple tree.
Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?
Probably.