Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters, I'm just borrowing them.
Edited December 28th, 2014
Gajeel and Natsu's fighting had become popular spectator sport following the territory issue. Not their physical fights, because those typically ended up involving half the guild anyways, but their verbal fights.
It was fun to watch and see who could come up with the dumbest name for the other.
"Volcano breath!"
"Lightning fodder!"
"STRAWBERRY!"
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"'Strawberry', really?" Lucy said with a laugh, shaking her head at the two Dragon Slayers. They were sitting at what had been titled their "Time Out Table", where Erza would put them whenever their fighting got too out of control.
"Does 'Strawberry' beat 'Magnet Whore'?" Levy asked, not looking up from her book. Lucy just laughed.
"My favorite is still 'Firecrotch'," she admitted, making the Script Mage snort loudly."Is that the same book you were reading the other day?" Lucy asked, leaning over to get a better look at the large tome.
"Yup!" Levy closed the book, one finger holding her place as she showed Lucy the cover.
"'Living in the Nest'?"
"Yeah, it's the account of a man who lived 5 years in a dragons' nest," Levy explained. "It's a fairly old book, but it's the most accurate in terms of information on dragons. It's actually really fascinating!"
Just when Lucy was about to ask to see the book and maybe find out if Natsu's constant breaking into her apartment was a dragon thing, the yelling from the Time Out Table got too loud to ignore.
"I WOULD!"
"NO, I WOULD!"
"NO, I WOULD!"
"NO-"
Everyone in the guild hall seemed to scream "SHUT UP!" at the same time, making the two Dragon Slayers snap their mouths shut immediately. Lucy giggled at their absurd behavior and Levy just shook her head, a bright smile on her lips. Her eyes seemed to linger on Gajeel for a moment, eyebrows bunching together in confusion, and Lucy quietly nudged Levy's hand.
"You okay?" she asked softly, prepared to lead Levy out of the guildhall and to somewhere safe and away from the ex-Phantom Lord mage. Levy shook her head, smiling wryly at her friend.
"I'm fine. Just thinking about something." Lucy tried to ask what was wrong, but was cut off by a clearly aggravated Natsu falling into the seat next to her, sinking until the top of his head barely reached her shoulder. "Erza let you go?" Levy asked, eagerly jumping on the change of topic.
"She said that if 'you're done yapping at each other like wild dogs you can go back to your tables'," the Dragon Slayer said with a sneer, speaking in a high falsetto when he was relaying what the Requip Mage had said to him. "Not like it's my fault! Rustcrotch started it!"
"I HEARD THAT!"
Natsu growled loudly, making to stand up, but one look from Erza had him back in his chair.
Lucy and Levy laughed, the Script Mage almost to the point of crying, at the new nickname that they both decided was their new favorite. "What were you two even fighting about?" Lucy asked once she had calmed down enough to get her sentence out.
"Gajeel said that he'd make a better Drake than me," Natsu growled, his shoulders hunching up and his cheeks puffing out almost comically. Lucy quirked her head to the side in confusion, ignoring how Levy looked back over at Gajeel with wide eyes.
"And that would be?" she asked, waving her hand in circles to encourage Natsu to keep going.
"I mean what the hell!?" Natsu said instead, Lucy's question going in one ear and out the other. "He's a selfish bastard! He doesn't have the protective instinct that a Drake needs! 'It's in my blood', what kind of bullshit is that- YOU'RE ADOPTED, ASSHOLE!"
"NATSU, I WILL BREAK YOUR FACE!"
Natsu jumped when Erza yelled at him from the bar, sinking even further into his seat. Lucy rolled her eyes, bopping the top of the Dragon Slayer's head. "Natsu, focus," she said calmly, "what's a Drake? It's a type of dragon, right?"
"Nah, that's a common mistake to make," Natsu said, sitting all the way back up in his seat so he could look Lucy in the eye as he answered her. "The Drake is the dragon who leads and protects the nest. They're kinda like the guild master. They hafta look after all the dragons, and Gajeel wouldn't do that for anyone besides himself."
Lucy could actually feel the awkward silence that came from across the table, and looked up to see Levy biting her lower lip nervously, playing with her fingers. "Lev?" she asked gently, and Levy's head snapped up to meet her eyes. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm…" she trailed off, looking over her shoulder at the Iron Dragon Slayer on the opposite side of the guild. He was drinking by himself, not looking up from the tabletop. Lucy couldn't help but feel a small pang of sadness for him. He looked so lonely.
"That's not exactly true, Natsu," Levy said, bringing Lucy's attention back to her. "Yesterday, Jet and Droy… well, they tried to get back at Gajeel for what he did."
"Oh my god! Are they okay?" Lucy asked, looking around for the other two members of Shadowgear. A confused sound came out of her mouth when she found them both unharmed, sitting and drinking with Wakaba and Macao.
"That's the thing, Gajeel didn't fight back!" Levy continued, clearly relieved to let this all off her chest. "He just took it! And then Laxus showed up-"
"Laxus is back?" Natsu asked excitedly over Lucy's gasp, practically bouncing in his chair.
"Yeah, but he was acting... weird," Levy continued, looking down at the table. Lucy noticed that the Script Mage's hands had started to shake, and reached over to lay her own hand over one of Levy's. Levy smiled gratefully at her. "Anyways, he joined the fight, yelling about how Gajeel had made Fairy Tail a laughing stock. He just kept slamming Gajeel's head into the ground, over and over and over-"
"Levy," the Celestial Mage interrupted gently, shaking Levy out of her memories. The young woman took a deep breath, nodding to indicate that she was okay.
"We yelled for him to stop," she continued, her voice barely a whisper, "he was going too far. And then Laxus got angry and… and he fired one of his lightning attacks at us. Me, specifically." Both Lucy and Natsu gasped, looking at Levy with wide eyes. "I could feel the power from across the park, that shot would have killed me, but…"
"But?" Natsu asked, hanging on her every word. Levy met his eyes, and Lucy was surprised by the conflict she could see in her eyes.
"Gajeel took the attack instead," she said, almost like she couldn't figure it out herself. "He was so fast, I barely saw him move. After that, he just walked away." She took another deep breath. "Gajeel saved my life."
Lucy and Natsu both sat there in stunned silence, unable to decide if Laxus attacking Levy was more shocking than Gajeel protecting her. They watched in continued silence as Levy, with a determined expression, grabbed her bag and started heading towards the opposite side of the guild.
As the Script Mage made her way to Gajeel, more and more people noticed her. By the time she got to his table, everyone was silently watching, ready to jump up and defend Levy if Gajeel should make a wrong move. The Iron Dragon Slayer for his part looked up at Levy with a deer-in-the-headlights look - complete with full mouth - that Lucy would have found hilarious if she wasn't still in shock.
"Hey," Levy said, smiling slightly. Had the guild not been so quiet, Lucy wouldn't have been able to hear her friend's small voice, but the sound traveled so well across the silent room that it sounded like Levy hadn't moved from across the table.
Gajeel swallowed thickly, coughing quietly before looking behind him, as if looking to see if someone had taken the seat next to him (they hadn't) and Levy was talking to them instead of him (she wasn't). Lucy almost had to laugh as he straightened up, looking Levy up and down warily. "Uh… hey," he said, his voice a low rumble compared to Levy's high, clear voice.
Lucy could see that Levy's hands were shaking, but she just gripped the strap of her bag tighter. "How did your mission go?"
"I, uh, ended up not going. Had to go home and clean up from the, uh… the fight." Gajeel looked so painfully awkward, and Lucy couldn't help but think that it was cute how he seemed so awkward around a girl nearly a third his size. Natsu was still in shock next to her.
"And your wounds?" Levy continued, looking more at ease the longer she stood in front of Gajeel and he didn't suddenly leap out at her, teeth bared. "How are they healing?"
"Uuuuuuh, good?"
"Well, um, I have this burn salve from the last time I got injured on a mission," Levy said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a round, metal tin, playing with it distractedly. "I figured you need it more than I do. I've got some bandages too, if you need those."
The guild hall shifted its attention to Gajeel like they were watching a tennis match, and the metaphorical ball was in his court. He looked at Levy for a few moments, as if expecting her to throw the tin at his face and laugh at him for falling for her sweet act. But she didn't; she just smiled at him shyly, and someone coughed loudly to snap him out of his thoughts. Immediately the shocked expression was gone and his typical scowl was back as he started to undo the closures of his shirt. He pulled his left arm out of the armhole and let the loose fabric hang around his waist, revealing his tan, muscled chest. Lucy could see the burn marks that spread out from just above his heart from all the way across the guild hall, and somewhere Mirajane made a small noise of concern.
"Well?" Gajeel grumbled, looking away from Levy as he sunk back into his chair, scratching nervously just below the burn marks. "Put the shit on then." Levy jumped slightly, eyes widening.
"Oh, uh, right!" She moved closer, only hesitating for a moment before sitting next to the Dragon Slayer. Levy immediately got to work, handling his wound with all the care she would have shown Jet or Droy.
Knowing the show was over, most of the Fairy Tail mages got back to their previous conversations, some with slightly brighter smiles at seeing the Kurogane's iron shell cracked, even for a moment.
But Lucy kept watching her best friend as she carefully smoothed the salve over Gajeel's chest , seemingly oblivious to the Iron Dragon Slayer's stare. She said something, but Lucy could no longer hear it over the loud din that Fairy Tail was famous for.
"Crap, what did she say?" the Celestial Mage asked Natsu, who was also still focused on the two mages across the room.
"She said... 'Thank you'," Natsu relayed, and held up his finger when Lucy opened her mouth to speak. "Gajeel said, 'Just be careful next time, Shorty'."
"Wow," Lucy said softly, looking at the two with a grin. "Who would've guessed, huh?"
Natsu just continued watching his fellow Dragon Slayer, eyebrows bunched together in confusion.
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