Dragonic lessons

After much begging on her part, she finally got Gajeel to agree to teach her how to read and translate the symbols of the language he grew up reading; Dragonic. She had to threaten to annoy him consistently until he taught her, but he eventually, reluctantly, agreed. She had squealed in happiness, and hugged him right there, in front of everyone at the guild. She could feel his blush down to his throat.

"Shrimp! Gerroff!" He had said, blushing like an idiot, his strong hands pulling her off. She, blushing as well, realizing what she had done, let go quietly. Everyone chuckled and sniggered in amusement, even Erza.

"When will you teach me, Gajeel?" She asked, her voice now quiet and meek with the prolonged embarrassment.

"Later. Come by after training." He grunted back, gruff from the embarrassment of her hugging him. He had then turned and stalked out, Pantherlily following him, sniggering at him about the blush still on his face.

"So, what was that about Levy?" Comes Erza.

"He's gonna teach me Dragonic!" She says, dancing over to the group. "This will be so amazing! I can't wait!"

Later~~~~~~

She approached his door, and knocked quietly, waiting for the gruff reply that was the norm. It came in the form of, "Come on."

She walked in, kicking off her sandals at the doorway, where two pairs of his boots and two of his giant coats hung. His house was small, and surprisingly neat. The floors were worn wood, the counters all matte black granite and dark wood, the living room all plush furniture and a small table covered in small scraps of metal and books.

She entered the living room, and dropped her small bag holding several scrolls of parchment and some pens next to the table before flopping down on his comfortable couch. He came out of his bedroom a few seconds later, a towel around his shoulders, shirtless, and his pants just barely buttoned up, hanging loosely on his hips.

She couldn't contain her blush as he finished drying his wet hair to the best of his ability, before pulling a shirt from one of his huge pockets and slipping it on. It was a simple black tank, and as she looked down, trying to hide her blush, she noticed he was barefoot as well.

"Hey shrimp. You ready?"

"Yes!" She said back eagerly, her excitement overcoming the embarrassment at seeing her crush shirtless.

He flopped down next to her on the couch, reaching over and grabbing a book off of his coffee table and opening it to the first page.

"Dragonic is a harsh language, and it takes lots of skill and determination to learn it. Translating it into other languages is even more difficult. You sure you want to learn?" He looked to her, his deep red eyes serious.

She nods, her own mocha orbs hardening slightly in determination. "Yes. I've wanted to for years."

He smirks, his usual grin overtaking his face, making her blush.

"Then let's get started."

Three exhausting hours later of symbols later_

Gajeel sat back, and really watch Levy at work. She was certainly determined, her little hands working a million miles an hour to take notes while he taught her the basics, and her lips mouthing each word and key symbol. She had covered all but one of her seven scrolls of parchment in notes and the scrawling of the symbols, and he had to admit, she was fucking good at what she did.

She never gave up, or complained, instead absorbing the new information as fast as he presented it. She was looking through the first page of the book he had pulled out, a history of dragons, one of the few things he had saved after Metallicana had disappeared. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, and her fingers stroked along under the rough script, her mind already beginning to learn to decipher the runes.

"This one… You haven't taught me this one yet." She turned to him, as she was sitting on the floor in front of his feet. He leaned forward from where he was sitting on the couch behind her and looked over her shoulder at what she was confused about.

It was a rather complex rune that he remembered having particular difficulty with when he was learning the language himself. After Metallicana taught it to him, he had sat down and written it out until he could do it in his sleep. He told her the meaning of the rune, and pronounced the rune in dragonic without even thinking about it, not realizing that he hadn't been doing that out loud.

When he was teaching her, he was telling her the name of the rune, not how to pronounce it. In turn, if one knew the name of the rune, it made it easier to translate it into another language, because they knew what it meant. Pronunciation was the most difficult part of dragonic, which was why most people never bothered to learn, as the symbols clashed in harsh sounds and rumbles. So he had just assumed that it would be easier to teach her via the names of the runes, not the pronunciations.

So when he looked down, now realizing that he had pronounced it, he started when he saw her wide eyed stare of awe.

"Gajeel… That's amazing. I've never heard anyone speak Dragonic before." Her voice was even awed.

"I did live with a dragon shrimp." He said while chuckling, finding her awe slightly amusing. He saw the blush flood her face at the reminder of an obvious fact.

"Will you do it again?" She begged, eyes pleading, and beautiful. Damn it, she was always so damn cute.

And so he found himself reading to her from memory, the book pages that she had been studying coming to life from his deep, rumbling voice speaking the dragonic fluently. He couldn't help being reminded of the many long days spent with Metallicana studying this same book when he was learning. He watched her fingers float along the symbols on the pages as he read to her in a language she didn't understand, and he watched the dawning comprehension in her eyes as she recognized the symbols throughout the pages.

After stopping the pronunciation and watching her study, he eyed the head of blue hair in front of him. He thought about it for a second, deciding on 'Oh, fuck it!' he plucked her headband from her hair, and combed his fingers through the soft blue strands, and he listened to the scratch of her pen on the parchment.

He wove his fingers through the strands, and untangled the few knots he found, before he picked up a small section, and began to weave the strands into a braid. After starting that, he found his fingers naturally braiding a crown around her head, leaving small sections to hang in front of her face, but the rest made it into a waterfall crown braid. He clipped it into the beginning of the braid behind her left ear, wound her head band into a neat coil and slipped it into her bag.

After another hour or so of studying, she stood up, stretched, and turned to look at him, smiling softly. "Can I come back tomorrow to study some more?"

He nodded, secretly admiring her slim waist and her curvy hips. And as he looked up, her hair. He did a better job than he thought he did. Damn… He was good.

"Sure thing."

She beamed at him, and then turned to go to his bathroom. He smirked.

With Levy_

As I was washing my hands, I looked up into his mirror, and I gasped in shock. My hair…. Oh my god. NO WAY! Did Gajeel really do this!?

I dried my hands, and my fingers slowly ran over the smooth weave of the two braids in her hair, completely crowning her head. I opened the door and ran to him, where he was standing in the kitchen, chewing absently on a bolt.

I leapt into his arms. "Gajeel! It's so gorgeous! Thank you so much!" I was smiling, and holding him close, reveling in the feeling of his strong arms holding me as well, more out of reflex than anything.

"Uh… Oh… You're welcome?" he was blushing again. I sat back a bit, knowing he wouldn't let me fall.

"How did you do it though?" I asked, looking seriously into his blushing face and red eyes.

"I've been able to do braids in my own hair for a while now. It's no big deal, really shrimp. But you tell anyone, and I'm gonna say I had nothin' to do with it, ya hear?"

I nod, and hug him again. This time, he sighs, and then holds me close willingly. His hair tickles my nose, and I realize that my fingers are buried in the bushy, black lengths. It's surprisingly soft, the dark strands actually well cared for. I comb my fingers through it, and I hear Gajeel sigh.

"You keep doin' that, and I'm gonna fall asleep on ya." He starts walking over to the living room, sitting down on the couch, after setting me down. He lays down then, and his head is pillowed on my lap, and I realize what he wants me to keep doing after a second of staring blankly. I run my fingers through his hair again and finger comb the knots loose gently, and he closes his eyes, sighing in happiness.

Who knew? Gajeel likes it when you play with his hair. And is good at braiding? I just gently comb his hair smooth and after getting the, now whiny Gajeel, to sit up, I braid his hair down his back, tying the end off with a hair tie dug out of his pocket.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome." I say brightly, and he looks at me, then hugs me close and doesn't let go. I never pulled away.