Mirajane's POV:
Lily had left a few minutes ago and Gajeel still had a dumb look on his face like he had no idea what was going on. Returned to watching Levy read, he had a strange smile on his face as he watched her. Mira thought it was really cute how did watched her, most people would think it's creepy but not Mira and Levy didn't seem to mind. It was now up to Mira to find a good job for the two of them to go on together that would hopefully bring them closer.
"Mira what are you planning?" A voice called out from behind that startled her and brought her back to reality. She turned to see Lisanna had been staring at her and noticed her looking at Gajeel and Levy.
"Huh? Oh nothing Lisanna" she informs her curious sister and returns to cleaning cups.
"Mira I know my own sister while enough to know when you're scheming something" Lisanna states with an inquisitive tone. Mira knew she had been caught and figured it was safe to let her in on it.
"Promise to keep it between the two of us?" Mira asks her curious little sister who smiles and nods at her. "Lily and I are trying to get Gajeel and Levy together" Mira lets her in on the plan. Lisanna smiles when she hears that, know that Mira loved gossip and loved setting people up together.
"That shouldn't be too difficult, I've seen him and her leave her dorm together in the mornings sometimes." Lisanna lets slip before she can stop and cover her mouth. She stares at Mira fearfully and her face turns red, knowing guys aren't allowed in the fairy hills dorms. Mira giggles happily at her shocked sister and pulls her hand away from her mouth.
"Don't worry Lisanna, I won't tell" Mira reassures her worried sister, Lisanna lets of a sigh of relief. "Do you know any details?" Mira prys for information with an interested smile.
"All that Levy said was that she lets him crash on her couch sometimes if it's really late, cause she'd feel bad if he walked all the way back after he walked her home" Lisanna informs the curious Mirajane and a devious grin spreads across her face.
Levy's POV:
Levy closes the book and leans back and stretches her arms out, catching Gajeel off guard and hitting him in the face. "Oi Shrimp, watch where you're swinging those things" Gajeel chuckles.
"Oh! Sorry Gajeel I didn't see you there" Levy blushes slightly and apologizes to him.
"Apparently not" Gajeel taunts her with a smug grin.
"I'm not sure how I missed a big idiot like you" she taunts back with a cheeky grin and sticks her touch out at him. He growls at her and she giggles at him, raising from her chair. "How's your drink doing?" She asks him. He shrugs at her and takes a sip of it. Levy rolls her eyes at him and makes her way to the bar. She rests her arms on the bar and Mirajane greets her with a pleasant smile as always.
"Hey Levy, how's your book?" She asks with a big smile.
"Full of complex symbols and foreign languages" Levy informs the smiling barmaid. Mira chuckles happily and Levy couldn't help but smile back.
"So what can I get you?" Mira inquiries curiously.
"I could use some food" Levy replies, realizing that she was pretty hungry.
"Lisanna is just finishing up some pretty awesome soup" Mira states happily.
"That sounds perfect Mira" Levy smiles and Mira walks off to tell Lisanna. Levy looks over at Gajeel who notices her looking at him. He stares at her for a few seconds and then shoots her a confused look, which makes her smile and she turns to face the bar. "I think he has no idea that I know he watches me read" she thinks to herself, he must think of himself as her protector of something, thinking about him makes her face turn slightly pink. She rests her chin on the palms of her hands, grinning like an idiot.
"You're so adorable Levy, I can see why he likes you" Mira states with a smile, noticing the big one on her face. Levy almost falls over and dies of embarrassment that Mira had noticed her grinning.
"Huh what! Who likes me?" Levy questions Mira, her face now the color of Erza's hair.
"Gajeel of course! Don't act like you don't know" Mira giggles at Levy noticing her blushing like crazy. Levy buries her face in her hands trying to hide her red face.
"Come on, Gajeel wouldn't fall for a boring bookworm like me" Levy sighs into her hands, Mira pulls Levy's hands away from her face.
"Levy you are a young beautiful and brilliant girl who is anything but boring" Mira reassures her, Levy smiles happily at Mira.
Gajeel's POV:
Gajeel stares at the bottom of his empty cup, quietly pondering to himself. "Why had Lily said you're welcome after he stated he was taking Dumb and Dumber on a job?" it rang in his mind over and over, had Lily taken Dumb and Dumber away so he could have more time with her? What had possessed him to do so? Gajeel looked up at the bar and show Levy talking to Mirajane. That was it! The fucking She-devil and Lily were conspiring behind his back! Gajeel looked back up to see Levy with a big smile on her face, which caused a fluttering sensation in his chest and he started to smile. Suddenly when he started to feel happy, the image of Levy pinned to the tree, beaten and broken flashed in his mind, instantly killing his happiness. Gajeel growled and got up from his chair and made his way to the door, an angry look on his face. On his way out he almost knocks over a hung over Cana that barely stepped out of the way.
"Geez tall dark and handsome, watch were you're walking!" She scolds him. Gajeel glares back her and she reels back and steps inside.
Levy's POV:
Levy and Mira notice Gajeel storming out of the guild looking angry at something. They blink clueless trying to figure out what had angered him.
"Gajeel!" Levy called after him but he ignored him, she looks back at Mira who mentions her to follow him. Levy nods and heads towards the door where Cana walks into looking annoyed at the fact Gajeel almost run her over.
"What the hell is his problem?" She asks in an annoyed tone.
"No clue but I'm going to find out" Levy says running past her.
"Just sleep with him, that'll cheer him up" Cana calls after Levy, which stops in her tracks. She turns back and turns to look at the hung over card mage with a confused and disgusted look. "Oh come on Blue, don't act like you don't want too" she giggles and heads inside the guild. Levy shakes her head and continues to chase after Gajeel. Levy runs through the city, calling out his name hoping to find him. Knowing hin he wouldn't answer but it made her feel confident that she'd find him, she ignored all the strange looks she got from the towns folk she pasted as she shouted his name. Levy stopped running after a few minutes to catch her breath since she wasn't used to running that much.
"Here young lady, have some water" Levy jumped at the voice to her right. It was an older women and she was holding out a glass of water, Levy took it graciously and smiled, gulping it all down in one go.
"Thank you" Levy smiles and hands her the cup back "you didn't happen to see a tall guy with really long black hair and stubbed clothes come by here" Levy asked her. The older women notices with a big smile.
"He was headed in the direction of the big tree in the center of town" She mentions happily.
"Thank you very much" Levy says nodding her head and rakes off towards the tree. A few minutes later she reaches the tree and begins to look around to see if Gajeel was here or not. Levy sees him sitting on the bench staring up at the tree, he looked deep in thought and it seemed like he wasn't happy. Levy slowly approached her friend, he looked over at her when she was a few feet from him.
"May I sit with you?" She asked him with a smile, hoping he'll let her help him with his problem.
"Might as well since you're here" Gajeel states returning his gaze to the tree. She sits next to him and looks at the tree and starts to piece together what is troubling him.
"I forgave you for it, why does it still bother you?" She asks him finally after a few minutes of silence.
"It's not that" he replies sorrowfully, looking down at his feet "I still haven't forgiven myself for it" he tells her.
"Why do you still beat yourself up over it, it happened along time ago" Levy says bluntly, trying to get through his thick skull. "Besides you were a different person back then" Levy continues to try and cheer him up.
"I still did it Levy" he said and his voice was trembling a bit "I don't deserve to be friends with you" Gajeel states. Levy was on her feet into of him and slapped him across the face which caught him off guard, tears had started to fall down her face.
"You're such an idiot Gajeel!" She yelled at him and everyone in the park started to stare at them "I don't care what you think! I forgave you and that's all that should matter!" She continues to yell at him, tears now pouring out of her eyes. "We have been close friends for quite awhile and I have faith in you that you'd never do anything to hurt me again!" He begins to feel embarrassed as she scolds him in front of everyone at the park. He tries to reach out and grab his hand to calm her down but she swats it away. "Don't talk to me until you grow a pair and start acting like a man!" She shouts and takes off running, tears still streaming down her face.
"Levy! Wait!" Gajeel yells after her but she ignored him and keeps running. Levy runs for quite some time until her legs get sore so she leans up against a wall in an empty street, she sits down and sobs quietly. While she sobs against the sobs, a few guys exit the alleyway and noticed her, walk towards her.
"What you crying for girly?" One of them asks which pulls her out of her crying.
"Just a stupid guy" she says wiping the tears from her face and gets to her feet. She goes to walk away but one of the guys grabs her wrist tightly and pulls her back hard.
"Don't worry about him dollface, we'll cheer her up" he states with a maniacal laugh and starts to drag her into the alleyway. Levy shrieks loudly but the other guys covers her mouth with his hand and they pull her into a dark room of a building. They throw her down on to the ground; she looks up at them with tear filled eyes and the men chuckles at her.
"I love that love don't you?" The one asks as he shuts the door.
"Absolutely" the other laughs as he gets closer to her "they all do at first" he states and kneels down in front of her. Levy reaches for her magic pen but she quickly realizes she left it at him with her bag at the guild. The two men get closer to her and she screams at them, trying to kick them to keep them away. The fatter one grabs her ankles and drags her closer to him "it's pointless girly, no one is coming for you" he laughs as he leans over her. She punches him in the face, which angers the man and he raises his hand to slap her and she cringes waiting for the hit. The door is suddenly ripped off it's hinges and tossed aside like it was used tissue, a tall dark figure stands in the door way, eyes glowing bright red and a maniacal grin on his face.
"You assholes grabbed the wrong girl" he growls angrily and lifts them up by there throats, squeezing them tightly. He swiftly jerked his fists to the side and cracking noise echoes through the room and the two men go limp and hit the floor.
"Gajeel!" Levy cries out and runs over to him and hugs him tightly. He lightly pats her head and smiles.
"Not hurt are you?" He asks her with a smile, hugging her back looking down at her tear-ridden face.
"Just shaken up is all, thank you" Levy tells him looking at up him with a smile. Gajeel picks her up and carries her bridal style and walks out of the alley way and back out on the street. "Gajeel I can walk just fine" she tells him and he smirks at her.
"Yeah not going to happen" Gajeel states happily. Levy crosses her arms angrily, puffing out her cheeks which makes Gajeel laugh. "Besides this way I can talk without you running away.
"Listen Gajeel I'm sorry I" she begins to say but he interrupts her.
"No it's not your fault, it's mine" he states and she goes to protest but he cuts her off again. "I know I should stop beating myself up cause you're right, it was a long time ago" he apologizes "and maybe with your help, I can get over my guilt that still hangs over my head" he tells her and she beams up at him, he had asks for her help, a very unGajeel thing to do she thought but it is a step in the right direction.
"Why are you still plagued with guilt?" She asks curiously. Gajeel sighs heavily and looks down at her sorrowfully.
"I have nightmares about it" he tells her. She rests her head against head chest, not sure what do say to that. Her nightmares had taken a while to disappear but she wasn't sure what she could say to help him.