Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination.
A/N: This isn't exactly a Gale story but it is... I hope it makes sense after you read it. This is a small conversation between my two favorite characters, being all cute and cuddly.
Gajeel paced across the room, causing Levy to get annoyed.
"Stop it, Gajeel."
The iron dragon slayer paused, looked at his heavily pregnant girlfriend, shook his head, and resumed his pacing. Levy rolled her eyes. She tried to get off the sofa that she was currently lounging on. She huffed as it was not easy for her to stand up without discomfort. Gajeel seemed oblivious to this, and Levy sighed loudly.
"She asked you to walk her down the aisle. Why are you getting so worked up for?"
Levy waddled across the room to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Honestly, this is going to kill me." She mumbled as she tried to bend over to pull out the bottle of freshly crushed orange juice.
Gajeel stopped his pacing and, for a small while, watched her in amusement as she struggled to properly bend to pull the bottle out. "You need help there, shrimp?"
"Shut up, Gajeel. This is your entire fault." Levy snapped, giving up on her quest to drink the juice and instead settled for an easy glass of water. Gajeel, amused as he was, rolled his eyes.
"You weren't exactly 'unwilling'."
Levy would have blushed at his words eight months ago. But now that she had been pregnant and with twins nonetheless, her hormones did the talking. So she threw the cup at her boyfriend, who dodged it all the while laughing, already used to it all.
"Gajeel, if you don't stop teasing me, I swear I'll tell the whole guild about how you reacted when you heard the news."
The threat was not empty. And he'd rather be dead than have the guild know about his "breakdown". "Fine, sorry."
Triumphant, Levy waddled back to her comfy sofa. "Clean up the mess you made."
Gajeel was wise enough to not call her out for throwing the cup. He cleaned up the mess and went to join her on the sofa. He took her swollen feet in his hand and slowly massaged the soles. Levy closed her eyes, silently enjoying the treatment. After all, she had felt like removing her feet and setting them aside due to the pain.
"You didn't answer me, you know."
Gajeel moved on to massage Levy's right calf muscles, slowly bending her foot. Levy opened her eyes slightly to look at him. "Gajeel…?"
The man sighed as he took her left leg in his hands. "I dunno." He muttered.
"What do you mean?"
Gajeel shrugged. "I mean, this is Sprinklers, we are talking about."
"I know we are talking about Juvia, Gajeel. Why are you freaking out about?"
"It just…" he paused. He did not know why he was reacting this way. He was nervous. "I am nervous?"
Levy raised her eyebrow. She knew she was the only other person that Gajeel would admit being nervous to. Gajeel pushed his dark mane back and stared at the ceiling. "She is the only family I truly had, ya know. Before y'all, that is. But when she asked me… I mean I had a feeling she would."
Levy touched his arm. Gajeel turned to face her. He put one hand on her swollen belly, caressing it lightly. "She is crazy, you know."
The blunette smiled. "I know." Gajeel had a fond smile on his face, on that you needed to be really lucky to see.
"I always had to keep her out of trouble. The girl may have been a S-class wizard, but damn, the crazy woman had her heart on her sleeves." He traced his finger on his girlfriend's belly. "Even before meeting that stripper, she had gotten in all kinds of trouble. There was that Bora guy. Man, that was a terrible time…"
Levy waited for him to continue. It seemed like Gajeel was remembering those days.
"I had never seen Juvia so angry. It was a nice change, actually. But after a while, it kinda got scary. After Bora told her he could not see her because of her rain… something just cracked in her. We were supposed to go on a job, me and the Element 4, that is. Juvia did not leave anything for us. And when that Sol, I think, tried to stop her… no, he scoled her." Gajeel chuckled. "Juvia nearly boiled him for questioning her."
Levy felt a bit queasy. She knew how strong Juvia was but she also had an idea about what she could turn into… especially if it involved Gray. Sometimes, she felt more scared of Juvia than of Erza or even Mira.
"I was the only one who could knock some sense in her, but of course, she wasn't taking it without a fight." Gajeel saw Levy's uncomfortable look. "What?"
Surprised that he caught her look, she shook her head. "Nothing. Just… sometimes I am scared what she would do to me if I hurt you."
Gajeel was caught by surprise. He never imagined that this sort of thought ever crossed her mind. He could not help himself. He just started laughing.
Levy blushed furiously, out of anger or embarrassment, she did not know. "Gajeel! It isn't funny!"
Gajeel continued laughing. Little did she know… Levy crossed her arms across her chest and huffed. As her boyfriend continued laughing, she kicked him lightly.
"Okay, okay… sorry." Gajeel looked at her with a wicked grin. "You don't know anything, do you?"
"Wh-what do you mean?!"
"If you ever hurt me, Juvia would never do shit."
Levy narrowed her eyes. "Why do you say that?"
Gajeel pulled on her small arms, forcing her to unfold them. He took one of her hands in his. Even if he had an amused look, he spoke seriously. "Juvia would never hurt you, regardless of what you did to me."
"W-why?" Levy's voice was small. And she was concerned of the answer.
"You know why." Gajeel looked down. Sadly, she did. It had been years since that incident, and she had already forgave him for everything. But he still dwelled on it.
"You know, I am having our kids."
"Gihii, and I told you, she is crazy."
Levy smiled. Yes, she was crazy. That was Juvia. She was as easy to figure out as she was complex. And she was also the reason why Levy even got the courage to approach Gajeel.
"I haven't told you about my first interaction with Juvia, have I?"
Gajeel looked at her, confused. "I don't remember."
Levy leaned back on the sofa, closing her eyes again.
"I was so scared of you but so fascinated at the same time. And I really wanted to approach you, tell you I have forgiven you, that you were family now… After all you had gone through for our guild, I thought I owed you that much. But I was too scared." She saw Gajeel make a face. "Not scared of you, silly. Scared that you would think I am crazy. I didn't feel sad or pity for you. I felt something else. I couldn't talk to anyone about it. Everyone would think I had some disorder. After that incident… and me developing these feelings… Even I thought I was going crazy."
She put her hand out, motioning Gajeel to help her up. She dropped her legs to off Gajeel's lap. She stood up with his support and started to waddle towards the bedroom.
Gajeel stared at her figure. "Shrimp? We were in the middle of a serious conversation. What the hell are you doing, leaving me hanging?"
Levy turned her face to meet Gajeel's questioning look. With a sheepish smile, she replied, "I need to pee."
After a full ten minutes, Levy finally made it back to the sofa. Gajeel had moved to the kitchen.
"If you are making a snack, I want that orange juice." She let a long breathe out as she sat down. "Now, where was I…?" She mumbled while fixing herself in a proper position.
Gajeel returned with her glass of orange juice and a plate of sandwich. Levy saw a layer of shiny metal between the bread. She chuckled. He sat down next to her and she placed her legs on his lap again. "Continue," he said before taking a bite off his sandwich.
"Yeah… Well," Levy sipped on her orange juice. "Well, I was all confused and scared. And one day, Juvia caught me hiding in the basement library. It seems that," she took another sip. "It seemed that she was looking for me. And you know her, she is not someone to beat around the bush." Gajeel nodded, chewing his food. "She asked me if I had feelings for you. God, I have never been more embarrassed. But she didn't laugh at me, or gave me a look of pity, or anything degrading really. Instead she offered me a kind smile, and told me that you weren't as scary as you looked. She didn't tell me much about what I should do or how you would react. But she told me that what you feel for someone is not always directed by logic. And me liking you, I guess, was not the craziest thing in the world."
Levy drank the rest of the juice. "And then, I had the courage to approach you with a job."
Gajeel had never heard Levy's side of the story. He decided not to mention his side of the story. Levy didn't have to know that before she came to him, Juvia had threatened his with certain hot pain if he dismissed Levy's request. In all honesty, he would have taken that job with her regardless- he owed her that much- but he also knew that Juvia was not one to make empty threats.
"How did we end up here?" Levy spoke, breaking Gajeel's chain of thought. "Oh, yeah. You are chickened out because Juvia asked you to walk her down the aisle."
Gajeel rolled his eyes. He did not know how to explain it to her.
Juvia wasn't just a friend. She was his sister, his mother, hell, even his daughter. She was that person that he would kill for. Before Levy, she was the only woman he truly cared about, the only person he would ever open up to. Juvia knew more about Gajeel than Levy did and there were some things that were better left between just the two of them. Gajeel knew he was a monster before Fairy Tail, but Juvia was the only person to see him as human. Juvia was the only person who ever worked through thick and thin to make sure he knew he had someone to fall back on. She was the only person who he could not shut out, no matter how hard he tried. She was the only person who made him feel worthy of a friendship, a family. She was the only person who cared if he got hurt, if he had eaten, if he had showered. And now he had to give her away. To that stripper, nonetheless.
It wasn't as if he did not want her to get married, even if it was with that stripper. But this was Juvia- his rock. This was Juvia, the person who pushed him to find happiness with the love of his life. This was Juvia, the person who held back her pain and suffering to make sure that everyone else was happy. This is Juvia, that crazy rain woman who knew no bounds and always wore her heart on her sleeves. This was Juvia, his little cheerleader.
How was he supposed to just give her away? How was he supposed to just give his rock, his support away? Sure he had Levy now, his kids on the way, but Juvia was still his first family. His best friend. He would never had ended up with Levy if not for Juvia's constant push and literall kicks. Hell, when he found out he was going to be a father, he needed Juvia's support to feel okay. She had told him that she knew he would be an excellent father because he had been one for her for so long. And that was what took him to truly believe he could handle the pregnancy and a family of his own.
So how could he possibly give her away?
"I dunno what you are thinking. But I do know that this would make her happy. Until now, she has always thought of your happiness, hasn't she? Should you not give her back something in return?"
Gajeel kept quiet for some time. Then he turned to her. He was grinning, but Levy could see his eyes a little watery.
"This is the first and last time I am giving away my brat. If we have a daughter, she is never getting' married."
Levy simply laughed. She felt lucky to have him by her side. And the way he treated Juvia, Levy felt that their kids were going to have the best father in the world.
A/N: I haven't really edited this out. I just typed it and published it. If I have any mistakes, do tell. And I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it :D