AN: Phantom!Gajeel probably didn't, but socially-awkward-post-joining-Fairy-Tail!Gajeel totally does.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail – Hiro Mashima does.

"(to) worry": verb. To feel uneasy or concerned about something or someone.

He wasn't worried.

"I'm not worried."

Lily didn't even say anything to that, only continued to sip his ale as he ignored the dragonslayer seated beside him. Gajeel snorted, propping his feet onto the table and crossing his arms over his chest for further emphasis of his 'so not worried' posture. Because he wasn't worried.

"You're worried."

"I am not."

Lily gave him a raised brow. "They've been gone five days – relax, would you?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "I'm completely relaxed," he snapped, nostrils flaring slightly. "...and the mission said two days – the heck is taking 'em so long?"

Shadow Gear had left on a mission some days back. Five days, to be exact. Simple enough, going by the poster, but then, many S-class missions started out as the most mundane of tasks. It was part of the danger of being a mage. And they were mages – although he had his doubts about the supposed skills of the two idiots she called her teammates. Levy was clever – he didn't need to be reminded of that, but smart as she was, she wasn't the most thick-skinned. She didn't wear armour like Titania, or possess the protection spells the kid threw around like confetti. And so what if he didn't like bookworm running around with only her lapdogs as protection? He was entitled to a little suspicion regarding their supposed 'abilities' – he'd heard his share of stories of missions where she'd had to do all the work herself.

Lily smiled into his mug. "Worried?"

Gajeel realized he'd voiced his thoughts out loud.

Damn it.

"No."

"Sure."

"I'm not."

"I believe you."

"...no you don't."

"You're right."

Gajeel glowered into his mug, shoulders hunched and brows furrowed deeply. Lily sighed. "It's a simple escort mission, Gajeel. You make them sound like they're completely incompetent."

"...well, she isn't."

"Exactly. They have that, at least."

He was silent for another moment, leaning back into his seat. "Things go wrong on escort missions all the time," he said. Lily nodded.

"True. And they know that – they've been on missions before. And they are a team, you know."

"Hasn't helped them much in the past," Gajeel muttered under his breath. Lily didn't say anything to that, and a lull of semi-heavy tension settled between them. Gajeel grumbled to himself.

It had said two days. He'd checked. And she'd said so, when he'd commented on it. Two days and she'd be back. Easy peasy. He hadn't been in the best of moods when they'd left, either – Salamander had compared him to a jilted cat, and gotten his head smashed into the bar for it, and Gajeel had been in a foul mood the rest of the day.

And Levy being three days overdue hadn't improved it in the slightest.

"Glaring at the door isn't going to make her come back any sooner, you know."

"Shaddup."

Lily raised his eyes to his partner, a smirk on his face. "She'll think it's cute."

Gajeel's gaze shifted back to the Exceed. "What?"

He shrugged. "That you were so worried when she was gone. Or she might be insulted – depends on how I present it."

"How about you just keep your mouth shut?" Gajeel asked. Lily snorted.

"With all this evidence? Please."

Gajeel grumbled something under his breath. Lily pointed a paw accusingly. "You've been a hassle for the past five days – I am entitled to teasing you, you semantically confused dragon."

"...I'm not semantically confused."

Lily snorted. "Just because you've been flipping through that dictionary doesn't make you an expert. In fact, you've only gotten worse, as far as I can tell. Can't even bloody recognize your own feelings for what they are."

"I don't do feelings."

"You're more in denial than Juvia is, you know."

"..."

Lily grinned. "Hit a nerve?"

"Shaddup."

"I could call her over – you could have a nice chat, trade stories...I hear Gray's been gone since last week."

"...you're enjoying this."

Lily grinned. "Unashamedly so."

Gajeel growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I ain't worried, damn it!"

"I heard you the first time, you know. Finding it hard to convince yourself?"

He was about to open his mouth to reply when the door to the guild hall slammed open, nearly tearing off its hinges as one of the more nondescript members of Fairy Tail came rushing inside, panting, eyes wild and immediately searching out Gajeel's table – an oddity if the dragonslayer had ever seen one. No one ever looked him up...and he couldn't remember having pissed anyone off lately other than the usual idiots. And Salamander was out on a mission, anyway, so it couldn't be him. Stopping in front of their table – or more like collapsing – Gajeel half-suspected the man to go into cardiac arrest by the gasping he was doing.

"The hell's the matter with you?" he asked with a snort. The man – Matt? Mark? ...Todd? He had no idea – took a deep breath.

"Shadow Gear is back! And Levy-chan is in the hospital!"

"What part of 'don't do anything stupid' did you not understand?"

Levy sighed, raising her eyes to the scowling dragonslayer as he loomed in the doorway of her hospital room. "I didn't do anything stupid – I did something necessary. And how did you even get in here? They wouldn't even let Jet and Droy inside..."

Gajeel shrugged, averting his gaze to the wall to his right. "I snuck in."

She raised a brow at that. "You're six feet tall and dressed all in black – how are you even remotely capable of stealth in a predominantly white environment?" she asked, not believing a word by her tone of voice and the look she was giving him. He shrugged.

"Alright, so I...bullied the damn nurses. What does it matter?"

At that, she rolled her eyes. "Should have known. If they find you it's on your head," she said, pointing a finger at him. He glowered back at her, but his gaze didn't stick long before it shifted to the bandages wrapped around her torso and arms, and his brows furrowed even further. Following the path of his eyes, her gaze softened.

"I'm alright – it looks worse than it is," she assured him, patting her stomach with a small smile, but he caught the near imperceptible wince as her fingers came in contact with the gauze. "See?"

"Doesn't bloody look alright ta me."

She rolled her eyes, a rueful smile on her lips. "I'm alive, aren't I? And conscious, and sitting up. It's a small scratch, that's all."

His look was dark. "A scratch would take a band-aid to fix – that's a whole bloody roll of bandages. And you're hella tiny – an entire roll isn't bloody needed for a 'scratch'."

A smile played on her lips. "Are you worried about me, Gajeel?"

He was about to retort when a plump woman in a nursing uniform came bustling into the room, pushing him out of the way with surprising force and nearly making him stumble. Nearly.

"Don't loiter, Mr. Redfox – come inside like a proper gentleman. I see you had no trouble finding the room," she chattered amiably as she checked Levy's chart, smiling warmly at the dragonslayer, who was now pointedly looking everywhere but at the two women. Levy's brows had gone into her hairline, and the nurse turned her attention to her.

"Such a sweet man you have there, Levy-chan. Normally we don't allow visitors until after the check-ups, but he was so worried, pacing the reception like that, we didn't have the heart to make him wait," she explained with a wink in Gajeel's direction.

A smirk tugged at the script mage's lips, and Gajeel felt his hackles rise as he bristled. The nurse put down the chart, oblivious to the glare directed at her back, and checked over Levy's bandages, nodding assuredly to herself before prodding the IV at the girl's hand.

"Well, it looks like you're healing well – you'll be on bed rest for a few days and then you're be good to go." Turning back to Gajeel, she gave him a warning look. "Visiting hours will be over in two hours, Mr. Redfox – I trust you can find your way out when the time comes."

Then she winked at the two of them and bustled back out.

...

Neither mage spoke for a few moments. Levy was still smirking.

"You were saying?" she asked.

Gajeel scowled. "I wasn't worried."

She raised a brow. "So it wasn't you pacing the corridor?"

"...shaddup."

She grinned. "You can admit it, you know. I won't tell. Besides," she said with a wink. "I'll just ask Lily when I get out. I bet he'll tell me lots of interesting things about what's been going on while I've been away."

Gajeel grumbled, before stalking across the room to take a seat in the chair by her bed. Or more like plop down onto it as ungracefully as he could manage, emphasising his irritation. Crossing his arms over his chest, the dragonslayer regarded the script mage intently. She looked...small, sitting there in the overly large bed, bandaged and with more bruises and cuts than she should rightfully have. He felt anger simmer in him at the sight, wanting very much to know what had caused the injuries and how long it'd take to track it down. Or what the hell her lapdogs had been doing when she'd gotten hurt.

She cocked her head to the side. "You're glowering."

"I can glower as much as I damn well want."

She raised a brow at that. "You can, but can I ask why? I thought you'd be happy to have me back," she said, a shy smile tugging at her lips. He growled again, feeling his anger drain out of him and cursing himself for allowing it to. He could handle anger – he was good at anger. It was the other shit he had no idea what to do with. Shit like...he couldn't even say it. The messed up feeling of wanting to shake her for being so damn reckless, and then not wanting to so much as touch her, lest she break completely, injured as she was from head to toe. But he didn't tell her that – that would imply he'd...that he'd...and he hadn't. Really.

"Two days," he said instead.

She shrugged like it was nothing. "Missions are almost never like they say on the board – you know that. Nine out of ten times they take longer – and it was pretty far to travel."

He didn't say anything to that, but felt his eye twitch at her casualness. Then a faint smile broke out on her face, and a strange light entered her eyes. He frowned. "What?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.

She shook her head, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and there was the wince again as she lifted her arm. "Nothing – I'm just glad to see you. And...kind of touched that you came so quickly."

He felt heat creep up his neck, and shoved the feeling down. "I...was in the area."

She smiled. "Convenient."

"I wasn't worried."

"Sure you weren–"

"Don't do it again."

She blinked, surprised by his sudden change. "Do what?" she asked.

He shrugged, uncomfortable under her honest scrutiny. "Whatever the hell you did. Don't do it again. Get one of your goons to take the hit for your or something – one of 'em will volunteer as human shield," he grumbled, averting his gaze to the floor. Stupid doe eyes and their stupid...doe-ness.

"Gajeel."

"What?" he asked, although he still refused to look at her.

He heard her sigh. "I'll be more careful next time – I promise."

He snorted, glancing at her. "Damn straight you will."

She shook her head in exasperation. "Yes. Now will you come over here?" she asked, scooting over so there was space on the bed for him. He eyed the gesture dubiously. She rolled her eyes. "I don't bite, although you probably wouldn't have minded..." the last part was mumbled, not for his ears, but he caught it regardless, and resisted the urge to take the bait. She was too easy to tease sometimes, but he wasn't in a very teasing mood at the moment.

"Your pets are going to come in soon," he said instead.

She rolled her eyes. "They'll deal."

"You...have bandages."

"Acute observation there, Mr. Redfox, now will you get over here?" she patted the bed invitingly, giving him her best 'Would You Refuse These Eyes?'

...damn her.

He growled. "Fine. Make some more room, shrimp – do I look like a midget to you?"

She stuck her tongue out, but scooted over some more as he sat down, one leg on the bed and the other dangling over the side.

"What am I, contagious? Come closer," she said. He grumbled something, and she blinked. "I'm sorry – what was that?"

"You don't need more bruises, damn it!"

She rolled her eyes again. "I'm not made of glass, Gajeel. Come here."

"I'm not a damn dog, Shorty – quit the commands."

She snorted. "If anything you'd be a cat. Stubborn and individualistic. And fuzzy."

He nearly spluttered at the comparison, but she grinned disarmingly, slipping beneath his right arm before he had a chance to protest and snuggling against his side. Pulling the appendage across her shoulders with surprising force, she hummed, closing her eyes contently.

"I've missed you," she said. He grunted in reply, trying not to make any sudden movements, and she smiled. "I'll take that as an 'I missed you too, Shorty.' Feel free to correct me."

He didn't say anything, but relaxed a bit as she leaned her weight against him completely. And when she didn't immediately pull back with a wince or a yell, he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Not made of glass," she reminded him.

"Whatever."

She smiled. "You're cute when you worry."

"I ain't cute."

"But you worry?"

"...no."

She nudged his arm, snuggling her head into his shoulder. "You're so cozy and warm~ I can't remember you being this warm before...or am I the one that's cold? Maybe that's it..."

He snorted. "Did they drug ya or something?"

She shrugged. "I don't know – maybe? I was kind of out of it when they brought me in; can't remember much before I woke up here," she giggled. "I do feel better, though. It really hurt earlier – it felt like I'd been run over by a lawn mower or something...but now it's all numb. Maybe the nice nurse did it? Yeah, maybe...it's better now...anyway..."

He frowned, glancing down at the slim arms sticking out of her overly large hospital gown, wrapped from the wrists and up to her shoulders in white gauze. He felt his brows furrow at the sight. Levy hummed softly to herself.

"You can admit it, you know. I probably won't remember much in the morning – wow, those drugs kick in fast, huh? I'm all sleepy now..."

He only shook his head as her words became garbled mumbles, and he wondered briefly what the hell the nurse had given her for the pain, and even more so how much pain she'd been in to require such an amount. Another sleepy giggle escaped her. He snorted.

"Go to sleep, Shorty."

"Mmm...admit you were worried first."

He snorted. "You're drugged out of your mind – you don't know what you're talking about."

"Please?"

He sighed, sticking his jaw out stubbornly as he glanced down at her, but her eyes were closed and her breathing had already evened out, although it was slightly irregular, but that might just be the drugs.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Maybe I was a little...worried. A little."

Soft snores answered him, and he rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips despite himself. "Just don't go expecting me to shout it to the world or anythin'," he grumbled.

A small hand curled around his then, nearly startling him out of his seat. Looking down on the girl snuggled into his side, eyes closed serenely in sleep, his brows went into his hairline at the sight of the grin on her face.

"I don't," she said smugly, and her voice was completely devoid of her previously, supposedly drug-induced giggles.

...

"Damn it!"

AN: Thought the coast was clear, did ya? Fufufu.