Levy McGarden woke sluggishly, not like fresh in the morning and ready for the day. More like feeling grubby and realizing you fell asleep in an awkward position and didn't get enough rest so that your closed eyes kind of ache. Levy winced and gave a small moan and began to stretch. That's when everything went to hell for her.

Her right shoulder was resting against something hard and yet warm, so was her cheek, leaving her arm a bit pinned and tingling. Her left arm did stretch until her wrist bumped into something, something that groaned and protested her movement. Levy froze. Her sharp mind whirled into high gear as she realized she was still on the train to Burlone. Sleeping on top of Gajeel apparently, having been reading aloud to he and Pantherlily.

And his hand was on her ass.

Levy's face heated and flushed bright red. Gajeel's hand, for it could be no one else's she was sure, was currently cupping her ass. Yep. Not her hip, no. His large palm was under her skirt, though not inside her underpants she was relieved to realize. This wasn't a light touch, it was almost as if he were holding her, or possibly supporting her weight to keep her from falling while sleeping.

"You awake?" The voice rumbled under her ear, making her squeak which only served to further embarrass her.

"Y…your hand!" She protested softly, almost a whisper as if she were afraid to call his attention to the situation.

"Which one? I have two." Gajeel's voice sounded far too amused.

Levy jerked herself upright, glaring into his face accusingly. This did her the favor of removing his palm from her ass, but now she was straddling one of his muscular thighs and her skirt hem had flipped up to daringly play peek-a-boo with her underwear. Both hands grabbed the errant hem and pulled it down to cover herself.

Problem. This did two things. First, the top of her cute dress slipped down and showed a bit more of her cleavage than she normally bared. Second? She was still on top of his lap and straddling his thigh. Her hands coming down with her skirt hem hit him seriously close to a very private, and tender, area.

"Watch it, sweetheart!" He groaned, but didn't move.

Levy scrambled off of Gajeel's lap, red in the face and breathing hard. Her foot came down onto the book she'd dropped while asleep and she had to grab his arm to steady herself.

The other couple on the bench across from them on the train, grinned and smiled at her, clearly amused. The Exceed cat, Pantherlily, looked up and watched without a change in expression.

"Sorry, sorry!" Levy mumbled, acutely embarrassed.

Gajeel blinked at her, then grinned with a soft laugh. "Gihihi … oh shorty, I should write a song about how you wake up on a train."

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't copped a feel!" Levy pointed at him, spitting mad and still red in the face.

"Can you blame a husband for trying to keep his wife from falling?" The dark-haired Dragonslayer did his best to look innocent and failed utterly. Her eyes narrowed on the wicked gleam in his gaze.

Levy knew he was trying to remind her not to start a fight in public and blow their cover. "Husbands treat their wives with respect!" Snapped the blue-haired girl.

"Lot of experience being married?" He crooned smugly.

As soon as she spoke Levy wished she'd clamped her lips shut and sealed them that way. "No! Just a lot of experience being grabbed by you without my say-so!"

Gajeel's eyes went from amused to stone-cold dead, his expression blanking. Clearly they both recalled that day when as a member of the Phantom Lords guild he'd captured her, humiliated and beaten her and her teammates, marked her, and left her as a warning strung up on a tree.

Levy hated herself at that moment, seeing how her words struck him. It didn't help that there were several pairs of eyes watching them, and even more sets of ears. It was a long train ride with little privacy. "I'm sorry, Gajeel." She said, one of her hands rising toward him.

He roughly knocked her hand away, standing and towering over her despite slouching and sticking his fists away into the pockets of his loose trousers. "I need air." He muttered, shoving past her without regard though she noticed his boots came nowhere near stamping on her bare toes showing through her strappy sandals.

Levy's heart ached for her former enemy and current guild-mate. He was so strong and sure of himself that she hadn't realized how much her words might hurt him. They'd never discussed it, not really. Since the defeat and disbandment of the Phantom Lords, and his arrival to take a place within Fairy Tail.

Jet and Droy, two-thirds of Team Shadow Gear, had shouted their disapproval and had attacked Gajeel. He'd not defended himself, not physically, and not with excuses. Even when Laxus had attacked he'd not stood up for himself, until the Lightning Dragonslayer had thrown an attack at her. THAT he'd countered, blocking the blow and the damage from reaching her. It was the only apology he'd offered, letting his actions speak for him.

She'd accepted that. Even seemed to accept him a bit, going so far as to choose him for a partner in the S-class trials. Levy bit her lip. No. He'd chosen her and she'd let him. Tears built up in the corner of her large brown eyes, but didn't fall. What had she just done?

Truthfully, she had a crush on him. So dark, mysterious, strong, and starkly male. Handsome in a rough-hewn sort of way. Sexy. This pretending to be married had started out as something of a lark, giving her a chance to become closer and get him to notice her.

Now she'd blown it. Levy pulled her shoulders back, swiping at her watery eyes. Alright. Maybe it was all ashes right now. But she wasn't a coward and she wasn't going to let those words be the last of it. More than one head turned as the petite wizard in the pretty yellow dress marched purposefully down the aisle.

Gajeel stared up at the late afternoon sky, his hands gripping the railing in front of him so hard that his knuckles appeared white. The metal upon metal sound of the train going over the rails was soothing to him, but did little to relieve his guilt.

"I really am sorry."

The words took him by surprise, as did the fact that he'd been so lost in thought he hadn't realized that Levy had joined him outside the train car.

He turned and gave her a long, cold stare with a growl low in his throat. She didn't appear impressed. The fact that she wasn't frightened helped settle his soul a bit.

"This is it. Only time ever, so take full advantage." Gajeel clenched his jaw and his fists. "I will never speak of that again."

Levy's eyebrows rose, then her expression turned thoughtful. Finally she nodded. "Three questions."

"Shoot short-stuff."

She smiled even around the darkness of her thoughts, despite clearly trying to be intimidating he still sounded like he cared. "You threatened me."

"I did more than that." He countered rudely. "I hurt you. It was a job and I did it."

"We'll get back to that." Levy promised solemnly. "When you had us, you enjoyed hurting us or so it seemed. But when choosing which of us to mark with the Phantom Lord guild sigil, you cut open my top. Left me in my bikini top and said I was too little to even have fun with, not worth the effort as it wasn't a proper mouthful."

Gajeel's face went white, then red. His eyes no longer met hers. "Yeah." He said defensively. "You looking for me to tell you that I like your shape?"

"No." Levy paused heavily and then pushed forward. "Rape. You said I wasn't worth it, and no I'm not looking for you to say you lied. I want to know …I have to know …what you threatened me with? Have you ever done …that …to anyone. Ever forced …."

"NO!" Gajeel roared, his face suddenly in front of hers and so angry he looked like he might go up in flames. "How could you think that?!"

Levy sighed, not pointing out that he was the one to use it as a threat against her in the first place. "I thought not."

"Then why the hell did you ask?" The Dragonslayer looked upset enough to spit nails, which considering his magic affinity was a possibility. Levy laughed on the inside, filing the thought away for later. Now wasn't the time to ask that.

"So that you know that I know that you're not that kind of villain."

Gajeel drew back, staring at her in disbelief. He kept staring as she suddenly poked a finger into the middle of his chest, threatening him even though he was standing a good foot over her in height.

"But I don't want to hear of you EVER using that particular threat again. Its low class and beneath you." She sounded so absurdly stern that he was taken aback. "I won't be married to you if make such threats, no matter the reason."

Gajeel nodded, flushed hot, and stopped his head from moving as he looked down his nose at her. She met his glare with her own and despite his obvious strength both magical and physical, it wasn't Levy that blinked first. "Pft. Whatever. Next."

Neither of them mentioned the fact that they weren't really married. Somehow that simply went by them both.

"Promise me, Gajeel!"

Shorty wasn't letting this one go. He grunted out the word 'promise' and she nodded slowly.

"Second question." She held up two fingers and took a deep breath. "Why Team Shadow Gear? That day. Why us?"

Gajeel hesitated, then shook his head. "You were there." He said blandly and prayed she couldn't tell he was lying through his gleaming teeth.

Levy peered up at his face, suspicious. Yet what she read there wasn't something dark, but that he was embarrassed somehow. "Tell me, one day."

He grunted. "Third question?"

"Do your piercings hurt?"

Gajeel blew out a breath and shook his head at her. "Lame." She gave him a small smile brimming with hope. "So lame." He chuckled, more relieved than he cared to admit. He watched as she held out a hand for him.

Red eyes looked at her face, then her hand, and back again. Three questions. The first he'd answered, the second he'd evaded, the third had been a gift. Letting him off the hook.

Gajeel looked upwards at the sky, seeing the light fading as the train moved on toward Burlone. "What if I let you mark me?" He offered on a whim.

Startled, Levy eyed him in question.

The dark-haired Dragonslayer pushed aside his pride and made the offer again, trying to assuage his guilt. He spread open his long tunic, baring his chest and muscled abs, patting himself there. "I'll let you mark me."

Forgiven or not, Levy could still recall the sharpness of the humiliation of the Phantom Lord sigil on her body. The idea, when it came, seemed perfect. And a bit diabolical.

Gajeel smiled at her enticingly and Levy raised an eyebrow. She pulled out a black permanent marker and his smile dimmed a bit. It seemed she wasn't going to turn down the offer. When her hand began to shimmer with gathering magic energy, he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"Shorty?"

Levy gestured for him to hold the sides of his tunic open, her gaze direct and challenging him. "You offered." She said sweetly.

Gajeel hesitated, then shrugged. Rather than holding the tunic open for her he pulled it all the way off and spread his arms out wide in invitation. What was she going to put on him? The Fairy Tail guild mark? He already had one on his left arm. Big deal.

"Turn this way." Levy moved him to where the light was best, given that the sun was now setting. Her pink tongue got caught between her teeth as she bent slightly and started drawing on him.

The pen tickled slightly, as did the flow of magic sliding over his skin like a caress. Gajeel stared down at the top of her head and how close she was to him. If he stepped forward, her face would be in his belly. The thought had a certain appeal. He looked up at the sky and ignored his feet, which wanted to move foreward.

Her breath tickled his skin. Her magic tickled his skin. The pen wasn't helping matters. Gajeel could feel his body stir. He wondered if she noticed.

Gajeel looked back down and saw her gaze intent on what she was creating. His semi-arousal seemed to go unnoticed. He frowned sharply at the thought. "Down a bit farther, sweetheart."

At his rough purr, Levy glanced up, then looked down. She looked back up at him almost as if chastising his body for reacting. With that she went back to drawing. He would have been insulted if she hadn't been blushing hotly the whole time.

"Are you two …Oh! Sorry, so sorry!"

Levy snapped upright, peering around her bare-chested 'husband' in horror as one of the other train passengers escaped back inside. In her head she realized what they must have thought they'd witnessed. Her blush turned as red as the sun and she nearly fainted.

Gajeel laughed roughly and put his hand on her head to keep her from falling over.

"They thought …they thought …." Levy stammered, mentally picturing Gajeel standing half-dressed with her leaning in front of him and her face, thus her mouth, very close to his …. His …. "they ….thought …."

"That I was getting lucky and being a very happy husband? Why yes they did." Gajeel grinned, his mood now fully restored. "Care to make it real?" He peered into her face and shook his head. Levy appeared to be deep in shock. "C'mon shorty. You done with me?"

Levy nodded slowly and then balked as he tried to re-enter the train carriage. "I can't go in there! They think I …."

"Two more days to Burlone. You going to stay outside the whole time?" He jeered at her, laughter in his face. "Get it over with."

"At least put your clothes back on …eep!" Levy stared in disbelief. Gajeel had gone inside without her! "Ass!" She shouted.

Inside, the Dragonslayer grinned from ear to ear and walked casually back to his seat. Whispers filled the train carriage until the young husband who was travelling with them leaned forward. "I thought she didn't like public displays?"

Gajeel shut him up with a glare as Levy finally slipped into the train and skulked back down the aisle as if trying to appear smaller than she actually was. Sitting down, she buried her head in her hands and refused to look up.

The other male though wasn't done. He whistled and pointed at Gajeel's bared stomach. Then he grinned and shook his head.

The Dragonslayer looked down. The words were upside down for him, but even if they hadn't been he doubted he'd have been able to read them. "What language is that?"

An older gentleman passed by them, glanced, then burst out laughing as he continued by.

Gajeel's humor vanished as he glared at the still hidden face of Levy. "What did you do?" When she didn't answer he turned to the other male across from him. "What does it say?"

The young man shrugged and then laughed. "Personal property of Levy, if lost please feed him and send him home. Not as mean as he looks."

Pantherlily, who'd been watching quietly, suddenly chortled and shook his head sadly. "Pitiful."

Gajeel crossed his arms with a dour expression, woefully sure that whatever magic she'd infused with the ink, it wasn't washing off anytime soon.