Levy had woken up today feeling especially optimistic. She felt energized, confident, and ready to take on the world!
But now, as she sat in the guild with her head on a table and her spirit in the trash, she felt like she was nothing but a stupid midget
It happened only a half an hour ago, when Levy went out to buy some new books with the jewel she earned on her last mission. went to the bookstore in town that she regularly visited, and when she went to the mature section, a new employee told her
"Sorry honey, little girls like you aren't aloud in this section"
She was crushed.
Even after the manager, who valued Levy as a cherished regular customer, cleared the misunderstanding with his employee who profusely apologized, it didn't change the fact that he genuinely thought that Levy was a child.
Needless to say, she was feeling pretty insecure right now
Not even her friends could probably help her right now, because even looking at her would make her feel even worse! Why? THEY'RE ALL TALLER THAN HER! And having someone try to console her by looking down on her wasn't very effective.
She felt hopeless, and like she was about to cry, and if she couldn't feel any worse, here came her very tall boyfriend who, out of all the things he could say at that moment to make her feel better, the words he chose were:
"Yo Shorty!"
That was it.
Levy stood up just as Gajeel reached her, and in her blind rage, she smacked him in the face as hard as she could.
The sound was so loud that everyone in the guild stopped at stared at the scene.
Gajeel was about to as what the hell that was for, when she looked up at him and yelled
"I HAVE A NAME YOU KNOW! YOU'RE SUCH A STUPID JERK!"
And with that, she ran as fast as she could out of the guild, pushing past her nakama and set out to get as far away from anyone as she could get.
'Why? WHY?! WHY CAN'T I BE AS TALL AS EVERYONE ELSE IS?! It's not fair, I HATE being looked down on, and being mistaken for a child, and having a nickname like shrimp or shorty! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SO…'
She stopped running as she saw an empty alley to her right, walked in,
'so…'
plopped herself down onto the ground,
'…small…'
and started crying her eyes out. Tears flowed like a river down her cheeks only to fall off at her chin and into the fabric of her dress. She curled herself up into a tiny ball so that her loud sobs wouldn't be so…loud.
She felt like giving up, like she wasn't even important enough to be a member of fairy tail, to be a mage!
And as she continued to cry, she could feel the darkness of the alleyway consume her, emptying her soul…
"Levy!"
Her eyes snapped wide open and her head shot up, was someone looking for her?
"SHRI-I MEAN LEVY!"
"Gajeel! Be more careful! What if she had heard you!"
'GAJEEL AND PANTHERLILY! HOW DID THEY FIND ME SO FAST! I CAN'T LET THEM SEE ME RIGHT NOW!'
But she was stuck, there only being one way out, and that was where her boyfriend and his cat were about to walk past.
"I still don't get why she's so mad, I was the one who got slapped in the face!"
"Well when we we'll find out what her reason was"
'CRAP!' they were getting closer, and she was out of time. She had no choice but to simply duck behind a trash can and hope. Meanwhile, the duo were just about to walk right in.
"Can you still smell her?"
"Yeah, and it's seems to be coming from in here"
'GOD DAMMIT I FORGOT HE CAN SMELL PEOPLE. STUPID WEIRD DRAGON SLAYER TRAITS!'
As Gajeel and Lily sniffed around, Lily inevitably flew by a small trash can, to find the sad little bookworm hiding nearby
"Levy!" Pantherlily put away his wings and went up to her tiny, balled up form
"There you are! You wanna tell me what that was back at the guild?!" Gajeel stomped over and stood above her, glaring at her ducked head
"Gajeel! Now Levy, I understand that you're mad, but I'm sure whatever Gajeel did, he didn't mean it, I assure you."
"HEY! WHY DO YA THINK THIS IS MY FAULT!"
'That's right…' Levy remembered 'I slapped Gajeel…oh god what was I thinking?! I took my insecurities out on him like a punching bag!'
"Well you seem to act before you think so I wouldn't be surprised…"
"Watch it cat."
'I…I'm horrible…'
Levy lifted her head up, and looked at the pair who stood in front of her. Her face was filled with sadness and regret, with her deep frown and her eyes, once again overflowing with tears.
And as soon as they saw her crying….they panicked.
"L-Levy!" Pantherlily stuttered out, completely taken off guard by her tears
"W-WAIT, WHY ARE YOU CRYING! I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST MAD!" Gajeel was just as freaked out, and he knelt to her side
"Lil! What do I do?! She's CRYING!" Gajeel pleaded for his partner's help
"Wha-I don't know!"
"W-What do you mean you don't know?! Y-YOU'RE MY CAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KNOW STUFF!"
"N-Not stuff like how to console your girlfriend! I'm not a woman expert!"
"WELL BECOME ONE RIGHT NOW AND TELL ME WHAT TO DO I CAN'T LET MY WOMAN CRY RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! WHAT KIND OF MAD WOULD I BE?! Should I hold her?!"
"I-I don't know! What if she's still mad?!"
Gajeel was having a heart attack, he hated it when she cried, and he just wanted to make her smile again, but he just didn't know how, and he hated that even more.
Overall, he just felt like shit right now.
But Levy looked at them, stuttering and shaking with uncertainty and obvious wanting to make her feel better, and she couldn't help but giggle through her tears.
As she giggled, they stared at her with wide eyes, and once she calmed down, Lily asked "Levy, are you ok? Why were you crying?"
She looked at him, smiled, and put her in his lap, stroking his head "I'm fine Lily, don't worry about it. And Gajeel?" Levy looked to her boyfriend who had his eyes squeezed shut and his head turned away, like he was preparing for her to yell at him again, which made her feel even more guilty
"Gajeel…I'm sorry I slapped you and yelled at you in the guild…" He opened his eyes and looked at her once again with surprise. She gently took his arm and pulled it towards her, telling him to move closer to her, and he did. They now sat side by side, and Levy rested her head on his left shoulder
"It's wasn't your fault…I was just feeling insecure, that's all…"
"Insecure?" Gajeel looked confused, as well as Pantherlily, who asked "What are you insecure about?"
She paused, not responding at first, but after taking a deep breath, she finally gave her reply "….my height."
"Huh?" she heard Gajeel question
"My height…I…I hate that I'm so short! I get called a child and all my friends, even my girlfriends all have to look down at me when they talk to me. And you! You're SUPER tall! And you Pantherlily can turn JUST AS TALL! I feel so small…insignificant…unimportant…" she began to cry again, and she looked away from the cat and dragon slayer right with her. She just expected them to stay silent, but instead…
"Shrimp, that is RIDICULOUS!"
'…'
Pantherlily slapped Gajeel's hand with surprise "GAJEEL! How can you be so insensitive!"
"I'm saying that there's NOTHING WRONG WITH HER! She's perfect the way she is!"
'…perfect?…' now that shocked her, Gajeel thought that she was perfect?
Gajeel looked at her and turned her face back towards his, releasing her once she looked directly into his eyes "Now look, shorty, I can see why ya think that being short is a bad thing, but honestly, ya shouldn't stress out about it! It can be really convenient to be short, for example you're faster, you're able to hide in small places when your in a hitch, and you have an easier time sneaking into places!"
'Not the pep talk i was hoping for but, still…that kinda does make me feel better…'
"Believe me Levy" Lily added "Being tall can be tough sometimes too. People think you're scary or weird, you hit your head on low doorways and sometimes ceiling lights, and you have a hard time kneeling down to get the the books on the bottom shelves" he put extra emphasis on the last one, knowing that it would make her feel even better
"Besides, I love that yer so short!"
Her heart fluttered at those words and she looked at Gajeel with a newfound hope in her eyes "R-Really?" she blushed at her stutter
"Yeah! We both do!" He grabbed his cat and put him on his shoulder "But as yer boyfriend, I think yer way cute with yer shortness! Not to mention you're thin, healthy, super smart, and ya got a sweet ass!"
Levy was burning up with her blush 'Oh wow…I never knew that he felt that way…'
"Nothin's wrong with ya shorty, and we wouldn't change a thing about you! Especially not your height!" Gajeel said with pride, and Lily nodded in agreement
She was elated at his words, she had never felt better about herself than she did right now, nor had she ever felt so unbelievably grateful for the iron dragon slayer in her life. She brought her arms around the both of them and gave them the tightest hug she could manage, while giving Gajeel a quick kiss on the lips. After she released them, she beamed as she told them "Thanks you guys, I love you both so much!"
And the trio all walked home, hand in hand, with Levy feeling more confident than she ever has before
"Oh, by the way" Gajeel said "If anyone ever calls you a little kid again, you tell me and i'll kick their ASS.
"Oh come on i'm not going to let you-…yeah ok!"