AN: Just a quick one-shot for a friend of mine, Chartreuse. She requested Levy and Gajeel's first time together set after the seven year skip, so I very happily wrote this up real quick for her. Now I must go back to work on my other projects.
First Time
Gajeel actually felt kind of good as he left the guild hall.
The seven years they'd lost didn't seem so bad when they had such a greeting.
But now he was tired.
Mostly of the people, partly just physically.
The fight today hadn't been anything strenuous, but something in him was just tired.
He waved at Lily as he stood from a table and headed out.
Levy had left a bit ago, he was able to see when she had.
Her followers had let her, then paid more attention to the others.
At least they had learned not to focus on just Levy.
The cool air in Magnolia was refreshing.
He caught the scent of paper, ink, leather, and honeysuckle.
The shrimp.
He headed for the source.
Such a soft scent, it reminded him of the peaceful feelings he'd felt as a boy in the shadow of a Dragon. Metalicana hadn't shunned him for his Metal Magic like that village in the north. He'd actually cared for it. Nurtured him.
Damn he'd be ashamed of how Gajeel had acted as a member of Phantom Lord.
As he followed the scent into the one location of his worst memory now, he sighed.
Levy sat by the base of the tree he'd once bound her to.
A soft glow came from the word she'd Scripted up to read from.
She was oblivious as ever as he walked towards her.
She didn't even flinch when he sat beside her.
Instead, she leaned into him, seeming to appreciate his warmth if the tiny bumps running over her arms was any indication.
He sighed as he looked at her.
His eyes fell to her reading material.
He frowned.
A book on Dragons and Slayers?
There had been enough Slayers to write about?
He reached over with his left hand to take the book from her, jolting her out of her reading trance to finally notice him.
"Gajeel!" He closed the book as she looked at him.
"Come on Shrimp, you should know better than to wander off from the guild." He said.
She sighed.
"I wanted to read. It's too loud in there today."
He frowned.
"So you came here?"
"Well..." He looked down at her face. "Honestly...I feel safe here."
"But...this is where I..."
"Protected me from Laxus."
"Bolted you to this tree." Gajeel made to stand up.
"Well, really, I don't think much of that time. You're not the same man from then Gajeel." He scoffed. She stood up and grabbed his wrist. "No, you aren't. I don't think about that day because in the end, you did keep me somewhat safe in a way."
He gave her a confused look.
She looked at the huge tree. "See, if you hadn't hurt us then, granted you didn't really hurt me anyway, then I'd have been in that fight the next day. Instead, because of my bruises and scratches thanks to you, the hospital wouldn't let us go until after the fight. So in reality, you did keep me from really being hurt."
He blinked at her.
That was how she saw it?
It was true she hadn't been in the fight because she'd been in the local hospital, but he never realized she saw it as his protecting her.
"I get you weren't meaning to save me, but you did. And then you saved me again from Laxus here. I was so scared, but you moved to take it. Then he just vented on you and you stood there. It was when I first started to believe you were different."
"I'm still not nice. Or good in any general sense."
She laughed as she moved to touch the tree, letting go of his wrist.
He missed the warmth of that touch on his skin.
"I know, but who was it that said they'd keep me safe? So I trust you'll do it. You've never broken your word yet."
He sighed as he moved behind her, bracing his hands beside the tree around her.
She turned in the space between his arms to look at him.
There was no fear in her eyes.
"Then I'll give you my word that I'll always adore you." He said.
She blushed as she looked down.
Her word of glow started to fade now that she wasn't up-keeping it.
"Even if you never care for me, I'll care for you Levy. Because really, I changed for you. Your kindness and forgiveness made me want to keep you safe."
She reached to brush her fingers against the lapels of his sleeveless jacket.
"I...I do like you Gajeel. More than I should, I know. But you're always there for me."
He leaned closer as she pulled on his jacket.
He was shocked as she stood on her toes still to kiss him.
More shocked about the kiss than that he really was so much bigger that she had to stand on her toes even when he was leaning over like this.
The feel of her soft lips and seeing her close her eyes made him want to take it deeper.
He tilted his head slightly as he wrapped his arms around her to lift her.
She didn't open her eyes to look at him, just put her slim arms around his neck.
Little Levy let him claim her mouth with his tongue and desire.
Feeling her body against his was pretty heady too.
Not that he hadn't before.
But his memories weren't easy to grab at when she tangled her fingers in his hair.
He didn't wince at the hint of pain when she pulled him back.
She looked down at his face from her new position above him slightly and he found he liked having to look up at her.
"Take me." She whispered.
Her words faintly echoed the ones she'd said the day he'd hurt her team here.
She had tried to take their place.
But she was too fragile for him to really hurt.
"Take you?" He frowned.
She kissed his jaw.
"Make me yours. I...want to be by your side forever." She spoke in his ear.
He rumbled a growl of satisfaction.
No one had ever said anything like that to him before.
He carried her, cradled in his arms and putting little kisses and nips over his neck, to his house.
It was enough to drive him insane.
He kicked the door shut and slid her down his body to her feet.
"Sure about this?" He asked her softly.
What was he thinking?
Giving her an out when he really wanted to love her?
He was so stupid sometimes.
But his pride demanded she know after he claimed her, she'd be his forever.
Levy nodded.
He sighed and picked her up again, taking her to his room.
The familiar gray sheets and dark wood of his bed filled his sight when he opened the door.
He kissed her again as he fumbled to turn on the lamp on the wall.
Levy ran her hands under his jacket as he started to lay her back on his bed.
She pushed the heavy material off his shoulders and he stood to shrug out of it.
"You really want me?" He asked her again.
"Yes." She looked up at him as she shed her vest and started on her top.
He reached out to stop her hands.
"Forever Levy?"
"I know what I want Gajeel. When you said to stay by your side, I was so happy. I thought...you loved me too."
She stared up at him.
He moved to kiss her again. "Fuck yeah I love you. I have for a while now. I just...I'm no good with words or feelings."
"Doing good enough for me." She smiled.
He grinned as he let her finish pulling her own clothes off to argue with his pants and boots.
Never before had he regretted having laced boots, but today they sucked.
When he looked back at her, she was a feast of pale, smooth skin.
She looked beautiful, if fragile.
She held out her hands to him.
He looked down at her.
"Well, go easy on me. I've never done this before." He said.
She looked startled.
"What?"
He nodded almost nervously as he climbed on the bed above her.
"You've never had sex?"
"And you have had so much?"
"Well..." She blushed. "No, just once with a guy I thought liked me until he realized I'm not one of the powerful Fairy Tail Mages."
Gajeel would hunt the little shit down and make him pay for hurting his woman.
The thought of calling Levy his made him satisfied inside.
"You are strong." He said.
"But what about you, no line of lovers in your long history?"
He shook his head. "Never interested me before." He leaned to kiss her. "Not until you. Doesn't mean I haven't seen others or thought about it."
He ran his tongue down her neck and she shivered.
He tensed up as her hands moved over his chest to his hips.
"Well, guess we can both learn each other's preferences as we go." She smiled at him.
He melted into a puddle of warmth inside at those soft words and true to her word, she let him learn every inch of her body.
What she liked and didn't, what made her a shaking mess of desire, everything.
And she did the same to him.
He'd never realized the studs on his body from his metal under-skin were so sensitive before.
She was tight when he finally pushed into her, but she didn't seem in pain from him.
As they found a perfect rhythm, he groaned.
When she screamed his name, he growled hers and spilled into her as she tightened painfully on him.
It was so damn good.
He collapsed beside her, knowing his weight would hurt her.
"Doing alright Gajeel?" She asked as she pushed him to his back to straddle him.
He groaned. "Yeah."
"Good, because I'm going to teach you everything from those books I read."
He sighed even as he grinned up at her.
This was the best first time he could have ever imagined.
