Christine's Notes: This was a prompt from my partner Shelbi, who wanted some Gajeel and Lily love. So I threw in some Gajevy because, OTP. Also, I might have taken some liberties with magic…. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.
The city of Magnolia, usually alive and bustling during this time in the late afternoon, was completely void of citizens. The streets were empty, stores vacant, and birds missing. The reason was due to the black clouds that filled Magnolia's skies, completely filtering out the sun. Rain poured down in large sheets, pelting the roofs of many buildings and homes. The wind howled, pushing and pulling at the trees. The sky flashed periodically with jolts of lightning, connecting the earth and clouds, and the thunder followed, roaring. The generally calm river was raging, tearing through its manmade path in the town. The citizens of Magnolia wisely decided to stay inside today, using the opportunity to relax and curl up next to their fireplaces. Over at Fairy Tail, many mages also found themselves confined within the walls of their guild. But they made the most of it, with drinking and partying as usual. All except for one small member.
"Damn this storm!" Lily said to himself, holding down his ears, shaking. The normally calm and collected exceed was frantically running through the guildhall under tables and through the legs of the Fairy Tail wizards who were present.
"Excuse me." He muttered, after bumping into one of the legs.
"Lily? What's with you?" Called out Gray, whose leg Lily had bumped into.
"Oh Gray-sama, you know about Lily and his fear of thunder." Lily heard Juvia say.
"Oh yeah, that's right."
Damn. Did everybody know about that? No doubt due to Happy and his loud mouth, Lily thought with a scowl. Lily shook his head; he'll deal with him later. Lily scanned the guild from his tiny perspective. He would fly to get a better view, but the idea of being any closer to the sky was too terrifying to even risk.
Another boom of thunder resounded overhead.
"Shit- GAJEEL!" Lily yelled squeezing his ears tighter. "Where are you!?"
"Over here, Lil.'" Came the voice of the man Lily was looking for. Lily whirled around to see Gajeel sitting on a stool in the Fairy tail bar, who was watching the cat with curiosity.
"Gajeel!" Lily said not without relief, rushing over to him. "There you are!"
"S'matter with you? You look like-" Realization dawned on his face. "It's the thunder, ain't it?"
"Yes." Lily growled out. "I hate this. Can we go home? " Specifically, Lily wanted to go home to Gajeels bed and bury himself in as many pillows and blankets he could find. Anything to block out the noise.
"Dunno if that's a good idea." Gajeel said, looking out a window towards the dark thunderous clouds. "Should probably wait for the storm to pass."
"Plus with all that fur, you'll get soaked to the bone and catch a cold!" Mirajane added worriedly, coming up from behind the bar.
Lily grit his teeth. "I don't care about that, I just want to drown out this damn thunder."
As if on cue, another boom of thunder resonated through the guild. Lily flinched and ducked his head down.
Gajeel's deep chuckle reached Lily's ears, despite him clutching them so tightly.
"C'mere Lily, I know someone who can help." Gajeel motioned Lily to follow him.
"There's nothing wrong with being afraid of thunder, Lily!" Called out Mirajane, waving.
"Please keep your voice down..." Lily mumbled, trailing Gajeel.
Lily followed closely behind Gajeel, watching his legs take long strides through the guild. How was no one else bothered by this thunder from hell? It was loud, deep and terrifying. It shook Lily right to the bones. He glanced out a window. The rain wasn't letting up at all. Dammit.
Gajeel slowed down to a stop. "Oi. Shrimp."
Lily glanced up and saw they had stopped in front of the table where Levy sat, looking up from her book.
"Ah! Hello, Gajeel! Hi there, Lily!" Levy greeted, smiling.
"G-good evening, Levy." Lily replied politely, trembling. Levy's smile dropped to a frown and her eyebrows bunched together on her forehead.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Levy asked, concerned. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh, right, you're afraid of the thunder."
Damn that gossip-cat! Lily glowered. He was going to have a word with him later.
"Can ya help him out?" Gajeel grunted at Levy.
"What do you mean?" Levy looked at Gajeel with a frown. "How could I help him?"
Gajeel said nothing, just stared at Levy with an expectant look.
"Oh!" Levy blushed. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I'll be right back."
Levy got up from her seat and rushed away towards the bar. Lily looked at Gajeel questioningly. Gajeel just smirked in response. Levy returned moments later with a small stack of paper and a pen, which she left on the table and then knelt on the ground in front of Lily.
"Now hold still for a moment, Lily. This will only take a second."
Lily was hardly paying attention anymore. His eyes were glued to the window. It's been too long. The thunder was bound to come soon. A lightning bolt streaked across the sky. That was it! Lily squeezed his eyes shut. The damned noise would be coming any second now.
Any second now…
Any… second now?
Lily's eyes opened hesitantly. He didn't hear any thunder. He looked out the window. Lily couldn't hear the rain anymore either. In fact… Lily couldn't hear anything at all. Not the rain, the wind, or the chatter of the guild around him. He looked up to see Levy and Gajeel grinning down at him.
"What happened?" Lily asked, or rather tried to ask. He couldn't even hear himself! He let go of his ears. Nope, still couldn't hear anything. Lily looked around the guild. He could definitely see Natsu yelling something from across the hall. Why couldn't he hear it? What the hell happened to him? Gajeel put a comforting hand on his head. Lily looked up. Gajeel motioned towards Levy.
Levy held up a sheet paper she brought earlier with writing scribbled on it.
'I USED SCRIPT MAGIC: DEAF ON YOU. YOU SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HEAR ANYTHING.'
Lily eyes widened. Oh. That explains it! He looked out the window. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky. Lily waited. He didn't hear a thing! He grinned. This was great!
"Can you hear me?" Lily asked.
Levy nodded in response.
Gajeel said something to Lily, his mouth moving soundlessly.
Lily squinted. "Cows sat silly? What did you say?"
Gajeel and Levy chuckled, which Lily concluded by their grins and moving shoulders. Levy offered the pen to Gajeel, who took it and leaned over the table to jot down on the piece of paper. He showed it to Lily after he finished.
'HOW'S THAT, LILY?'
"It's great but…" Lily winced. "Your handwriting is atrocious, Gajeel."
Gajeel's grin immediately fell into a scowl. Besides him Levy held a hand to her mouth and laughed. Gajeel glared at her, before writing down on the paper again.
'WISEASS.'
"Seriously Gajeel, you could learn a thing or two from Miss Levy here." Lily smirked, nodding towards the girl.
Levy grinned at Lily, before taking the pen back and inscribing something on the paper. She presented it to Lily.
'IT'S NOT A DIRECT SOLUTION BUT… IT'LL GET YOU THROUGH THE STORM.'
Lily shook his head. "No, this is perfect, Levy. Thank you so much."
Levy reached down and ruffled his head. She said something which Lily could only assume was a 'you're welcome'.
Levy said something to Gajeel, which Gajeel nodded at. Gajeel said something back and Levy to which she waved her hand at, cheeks reddening a bit. He looked back down at Lily and motioned back to the bar. Levy handed Gajeel the pen and papers and then waved down at Lily. Lily lifted a paw in goodbye and then followed Gajeel.
It was a bit eerie, walking through the guild in complete silence. Everyone around Lily was being rowdy and full of energy, but he couldn't hear any of it. It was like being stuck in a silent play. Lily looked over and the window again. He would gladly take spooky silence over thunder any day. Levy really was something. Lily looked up at Gajeel.
"She's a smart one isn't she, Gajeel?"
Gajeel kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't react.
"Cute too."
Gajeel started a bit, but continued on his stride. Lily smirked a bit.
"I see what you're doing." Lily continued, with a glint in his eye. "Using your cat companion to get close to the girl. Pretty clever Gajeel."
Gajeel whipped his head down to the exceed and yelled something that looked angry.
"Heh. This is nice. I can make fun of you and not have to listen to you complain." Lily commented with a wide smile.
Gajeel gave Lily a dirty look and climbed back on the stool he was sitting on earlier.
Lily chuckled, hopping up on the stool next to him. This could be nice. The silence of the guild was a pleasant change for once. Not hearing the constant noise was kind of relaxing. He would definitely come to Levy next time a storm appeared. He looked over to Gajeel to say something, only to see Gajeel suddenly look to his right then dive off his seat. Lily didn't have enough time to react before Natsu came smashing through the bar, taking Lily down with him with a crash. Natsu immediately got up and roared something at Gray who was standing in the path of Natsu's flight.
Then again, Lily thought from the floor, eyes twitching; maybe hearing is too valuable of a sense not to have in this guild.