Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.

Gajeel was laying on her couch.

Reading a book.

Levy tried not to just stare at him, she knew it was rude, but she couldn't help it. Big, bad, slightly crazy Gajeel had taught himself to read.

When they first joined the Magic Council, he had started with picture books. It wasn't that he wasn't smart and didn't know things, but he had grown up as a feral child on the streets and had the same basic education all the other Dragon Slayers had. Back then, he could read enough to do guild jobs, but that was about it.

And even then, it was still mostly pictures.

At some point, in the time that he came to her study to hang out, he had moved to reading novels or whatever other books that were in the library. He read a whole range of things - books on animals, traveling, nature - anything he could get his hands on. Sometimes she would watch him pluck things off the shelf, make a face at it, and put it back like he thought it smelled funny.

She always chuckled.

While Levy had spent her time at the Council trying to improve her combat skills, it was ironic that Gajeel had spent his times trying to build up his own knowledge. Lily still did a lot of their paperwork, but Gajeel could do it on his own if he made an effort.

"What's up?"

"What are you reading?" she smiled, filing the paper aside for later, grabbing another reference request.

"Tying ship knots."

It was always a different topic - and he would always read it from cover to cover before moving onto a different one. Whatever he picked out, usually Levy would stash it in her desk so no one borrowed it. She didn't know why he just didn't check out the darn things.

"I got nuthin' to do until Lily comes back from his meetin'," Gajeel scowled, "Somethin' about causing too much damage or scaring people or some shit."

Levy laughed, "You didn't get a complaint again, did you?"

"Fuck all if I care."

People usually avoided her office while Gajeel was there. It was common knowledge that he would stop by there at least once a day, either when he had a break or if he and Lily were passing through. Levy wasn't going to lie, she liked it when he did because she liked spending time with him and it kept everyone else out.

It was hard to get work done when people keep stopping by to ask her about every little thing. She also suspected that a lot of it was just men coming to flirt with her.

She had too much to do to waste time with that.

Gajeel sat up and cursed, "Didn't they get you some people, yet?"

"Admin said that it would be another three months before they could get us some interns, and defense and enforcement will probably get them first. You guys go through office help like nobody's business," she sat back at flexed her shoulders, "I think I have another week of late nights."

"What all that for?" Gajeel motioned towards the boxes of paperwork beside her desk.

"Magic Council business, research on Zeref, a bunch of requests from admin-"

"That shit is from admin?"

Levy blinked at his sudden shock. She watched as he marked his page, dropped the book on her desk, and then stomped out of her office.

He slammed the door behind him.

She puffed out her cheeks and turned back to work - even though she knew a lot about him, his moods were so unpredictable. One moment he was mellow and quiet, and the next he was yelling and pissed off about every little thing.

Whatever bee was in his bonnet that time, she had no clue.

It was the next day when Doranbolt contacted her personally and apologized for all the mess.

"I'm sorry, Levy. I didn't realize they were sending you all the work from the Admin office," he sounded legitimately angry, "They were shoving all their work on you when it was their job to do it."

"It's okay, Mest. It's not a big deal."

"Well, it's definitely a big deal when Gajeel Redfox threatens to kick all their asses and all manner of things if they don't stop."

"He what?"

There was a long silence on the phone, like Doranbolt had said something he shouldn't have. "He came over yesterday after he found out they were sending you all of the work and not just the critical requests."

Levy sat at her desk, and glanced from the lacrima communication orb to the book on tying ship knots.

Gajeel had been angry on her behalf.

"The office is re-evaluating the staffing situation. We will have some interns sent to your department on the next rotation," Doranbolt grumbled, "Hopefully, this won't happen again. Damage control from having an angry Dragon Slayer in our ranks is...unpleasant. If he wasn't one of the best wizards we had they would have tossed him out or thrown him in jail. I'm not sure which at this point."

Levy smiled.

It was the next day when he was laying on the couch, reading a book about mushrooms, that Levy turned to him.

"Thanks, Gajeel, for what you did. I really appreciate it."

The book was in front of his face so she couldn't see his expression, but the tops of his ears were oddly pink.

"Don' mention it, shrimp."