A life worth fighting for

Chapter 3: Well he isn't dead...

By: Stragazer

I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters in this story, they belong to Hiro Mashima. They finally meet hehe! Do enjoy and don't forget to review. (✿◠‿◠)

She was sleeping soundly, her little eyes fluttering behind the lids when a god awful racket woke her up in a start. Levy heart raced and she shot up as the large yell and thud echoed in the room, blinking back her sleep she saw, Gajeel, clutching his arm and groaning, the books she thought he would dodge clearly weren't as obvious as she thought and she scuttled over to him.

"Oh my god, Gajeel... are you alright?!" She squeaked, feeling kind of guilty because she left them their, her neck was hurting like hell from sleeping at such an awkward angle and she kept trying to roll it to dull some of the ache. Gajeels eyes snapped up towards her, narrowing and he growled in annoyance.

"The fuck do you have books lying around for? It's a fucking death trap!" He yelled at her, his voice hoarse and deep but she couldn't stop looking at those blood red orbs, they were like rubies. "Oi, you fucking listening or what, shrimp!?" He growled, pulling her from her daze and she shook her head, what was wrong with her.

"What? Yes... I thought you'd see them when you woke up, I didn't exactly have time for spring cleaning if you hadn't noticed!" She exclaimed and he 'tsked' as he attempted to get up with a grunt, he was still a little worse for ware but he wasn't dead so she was happy. "Here, let me help..." she said as she tucked his arm around her shoulder and helped him from the floor, he was tense, clearly not happy with the help but she couldn't give a damn, he could swallow his pride and shut up.

"How the fuck did you even get me here? you're fucking tiny!" He smirked and she ignored his teasing as she walked through the doors thresh hold and towards the kitchen, no doubt he'd be hungry after last night and she was starving. "Oh yeah, that reminds me, why didn't you fucking lock your door!?"He shouted and pretty much almost bit her ear off, it hadn't occurred to her to lock it when she got in and she didn't even notice so why did he when he was half dead?

"I was a bit busy trying to stop you from dying than to lock a door, what's the problem anyway? it was perfectly fine!" She laughed only... he didn't find it amusing as she looked up at him and his glare bore down on her like the weight of a thousand suns.

"Fine, Fucking fine, What if someone broke in? A robber, a murdered, a rapist, what could tiny you do against them? Huh, nothing that's what I fucking thought, aren't you suppose to be the schools damn whiz kid, you ain't that smart if you have your fucking door unlocked at night on the bad side of town, fucking idiot!" He scolded and she flinched, he was kind of right but nothing had ever happened, her down stairs neighbor and landlord was a doorman named Lily and he usually came to check on her at the early hours of the morning. She was perfectly safe.

"Are we dead? No, did I get robbed? No, did the house get ransacked? No, you need to learn to stop being paranoid not everyone is out there to hurt people!" She sighed as they walked into the kitchen and she settled him down on one of the table chairs, it was a small, round, pine table with matching chairs and the kitchen was relatively small. It had a built in cooker, fridge-freezer and the walls were lined with five cupboards on the bottom and above the sink. The kitchen top was made out of solid marble and there was a kettle, toaster and drying rack on the sides, Levy sighed as she looked out of the window, it was snowing again... it looked beautiful and she loved walking in it but she felt obligated to look after Gajeel while he recovered from what ever had happened to him. "So, what do you want for breakfast?" She asked, feeling awkward at the silence and she turned to him, he was looking around, inspecting things and he could have taken her breath away. He was perfectly toned and the way he sat showed every inch of his godly like features, he had a bored look on his face with one hand propped up on the table and his chin rested on it, he had on one of his legs up with his arm rested on it, he was honestly like a work of art and she span round as his eyes met with hers. She could tell her cheeks were all red and she felt hot, what was happening to her all of a sudden?

"Sup' shrimp, did you say somethin'?" He asked and she held back the shiver that was threatening to run down her spine, his voice was so deep and vibrated through her.

"Y-yeah... wh-what did you want f-for breakfast?!" She stuttered out and was mentally kicking herself, why was she acting so strange? She was confident she knew that but it was like he was sapping away of it with just his presence.

"Uh... what have you got?" He questioned and she opened the fridge first, wondering if she could make them a warm one, there was eggs, bacon, milk, vegetables, fruit, yogurt, sandwich filling, cheese, sausage rolls and a few other bits and pieces.

"I have egg and bacon if you want some... there is some milk and cereal in the top left cupboard and bowls are in the bottom middle, so what will it be?" She answered and already decided she was having eggs and bacon, maybe some toast to go with it. She flicked on the radio she had on the windowsill and started listening to one of the current songs that they liked to play fifty times a day but she liked it so she didn't complain.

"Ummm can I have bacon and eggs...?" He asked and she nodded as she pulled them out and bumped the fridge door shut with her hips, she walked over to the cooker and pulled out a frying pan from the cupboard next to it. She lit it and started humming as she grabbed the cooking oil so the food wouldn't stick to the pan, she soon forgot he was sat there as she started swaying and she lightly sang the words to the song as she cracked the eggs and put them in the pan doing two for each. Levy liked dancing while cooking, it was about the only thing fun in her life, the rest was exam, study, exam, study over and over, she liked being smart but all the expectations were sometimes a bit to much. She grabbed two plates and the eggs started to bubbled and spit as she turned them over to stop the yolks from popping, a few more minutes and she took them out, placing them on the plates and them opening the packet of bacon. The six strips hissed when they touched the pan and she got the bread as she plugged in the toaster and placed the two slices in it and pulled down the nozzle for them to start toasting. She flipped over the bacon and they started to crisp so she gave them a couple more second as the bread popped up a lovely brown and she pulled them from the toaster, placing one on each plate then dishing out the bacon, three pieces on each and she turned, giving Gajeel his plate and putting her own on the table so she could grab a knife and fork for the both of them. Gajeel was completely silent the whole time as she gave him his cutlery and she sat down across from him, eating her own food. The kitchen was full of knife scraping pottery, forks digging into food and it was fair to say that he was most surely hungry as he devoured his food in a matter of minutes while she was still eating half of it.

"That good hmm?" She asked after a mouthful and he nodded as he pushed himself up with a grunt and walked over to the sink, she smiled as he washed his own pots up and placed them on the drying rack before limping to sit back down.

"Where are your parents?" He questioned and she looked up at him, he was watching her which was a little off putting as she swallowed a chunk of toast and wiped her mouth of any stray food.

"My dads in the army so he's away a lot and my mom is traveling, she's an archaeologist so she's always going to some place or another..." she answered quietly and a thick silence waved over them, like he knew she was a little sensitive about it.

"D'you miss them?" He asked and she nodded as she ate her last egg and pushed the plate of one and a half slices of bacon and a quarter of her toast away.

"Yeah... I guess, they are my parents after all... I just don't see them enough to really be that torn up about it, they stay home for a few days at a time before my fathers regiment is called back or my mom gets another job, my landlord is pretty much my only parent, he was in my dads regiment until he was deemed unfit for battle because he ran into a burning building to save some kids and got badly burnt..." she explained and he nodded slowly. "What about you?" She asked and he blinked as he looked down at the table then back at her.

"Real parents died in a plane crash, my godfather fucked off when I was eight, I was bounced around foster homes until they gave me to a guy names Jose and well, now I'm here... pretty shit but hey... better than being dead!" He laughed bitterly and she could see the sadness in his eyes, he looked kind of lost which made her want to cry.

"Do you like... Jose?" She questioned, unsure of if she should but she... she wanted to get to know him, he didn't seem half as bad as all the stories that went around school and she could tell he was lonely.

"Fuck no... his goons did this to me, he just took me in because he wanted a lapdog... I'd rather live on the streets than go back to that asshole!" He growled and she flinched a little but smiled when he looked guilty.

"Why don't you stay here... I have the room?" She stated and blinked before shaking his head and her heart sank a little, she didn't want to see him in such a state again.

"No, shrimp, my world is a fucked up place and you wouldn't survive two seconds if you got dragged into it... I'm not gonna put you in a position like that..." he told her and she wanted to plead with him, to stop him from going back but she knew it was no use.

"So... what are you going to do instead?" She asked, curious to see if he had another place to stay but she highly doubted it from what she was aware, he was practically the most hated guy in school.

"Guess I'm gonna go homeless for the time being, unless I can get Jose to stop being a prick, anyway, thanks for the food... but I gotta get going, do you have... a top I could use?" He said and she sighed as she nodded before getting out of her seat and putting her plate on the side and walking back through the house, in the spare room was some of her fathers old clothes which she guessed would fit the hulk of an eighteen year old. She grabbed out the warmest thing which was a think, black jumper, she pulled it out and handed it to him, he quickly pulled it on over his head, giving her a few seconds to look at his body in all of it's muscled glory which made her breath hitch a little. When he had it on, he rolled up the sleeves and he limped to the front door, with her following close behind. He opened it and turned to frown at her, she knew it was about it being unlocked and she shook her head as he stepped over the thresh hold into the freezing winter air and even she shivered.

"W-wait there a second!" She ordered and he gave her a curious glance but did as she said while she ran back to the spare room, in the dresser were a few things her father no longer wore, that being a big, brown, leather jacket with grey striped down the arms and around the collar and a pair of crimson, finger-less gloves but she figure they'd help as she pulled them out and scampered back to Gajeel. "Put these on, they should keep you a little warm!" She smiled and he blinked as he pulled on the jacket, which suited him all to well and he pulled on the gloves before shoving his hands in the pockets of the jacket after zipping it up.

"Thanks, for everything shrimp... I'll see you around..." He grinned and she nodded as he patted her head before he glared at her again and her heart skipped a beat. "And lock that fucking door!" Gajeel scolded before he slowly made his way down the steps, he was limping and she was worried about him but she knew he was a stubborn idiot, all she could do was hope. What she had no idea of was that she'd be seeing him again...