Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
It had been two days since her arrival to Fairy Tail Academy and Levy could already feel at home. Everyone was pretty friendly and sociable except for a few. However Levy enjoyed the little time she had spent here already. She felt like she could be at peace. Sure every now and then she would have to go back to her room and get bombarded with height jokes by Gajeel but she had Lily to comfort her in those moments. It wasn't that bad either since she found some soft spots to joke Gajeel about, like his infinite love towards his cat. And even with the jokes and the teasing that happened between Gajeel and herself she found herself enjoying that time, it felt comforting in some sort of weird way.
Levy now found herself sitting under a tree with its shade protecting and cooling her off from the sun's harmful rays. She was finally able to read her book without getting too distracted by wandering thoughts that ran through her head. Levy was about roughly half way through her book despite the difficulties she had the other day with focusing but when she could focus she almost lost herself in its absorbing story line, classical cliché sort of thing.
"There you are Levy!" Lucy chirped while she sat down close to the bluenette giving her a toothy grin.
"Hey there Lucy!" Levy said while returning the friendly smile.
"Are we still going shopping toady?" Lucy asked Levy while clapping her hands in front of her face and a little sparkle in her eyes.
Levy smiled towards the blonde. "Yep!" She chirped.
"Good! I'll go tell Natsu." She said while standing up and brushing the dirt off of her skirt.
Levy giggled and gave Lucy a sheepish glare. "You sure have been spending a lot of time with Natsu lately Lucy." Levy said while poking Lucy's leg.
Lucy's cheek began to glow with a light pink color on them. Levy giggled at her embarrassment.
"It's not like that Levy!" the blonde said while shaking her hands in front of her in a disapproving manner. "He still has some issues he has to deal with some other girl." Lucy said while looking to her side with a sad look on her face. "It's not that I don't like him but I don't want to rush into things you know?" she said while looking back to her friend trying to give her a reassuring smile.
Levy gave her friend a comforting smile and stepped closer to the blonde with arms wide open as an invitation for an embrace.
Lucy replied with a shy smile and accepted the invitation to embrace her newly found best friend.
After a few moments of the warm, friendly embrace they separated and gave each other equally friendly smiles and happy gazes.
"Well I'll go get Natsu to get ready so we can leave later, ok?" Lucy said.
"Sure, I have to go get ready myself." Levy said while standing up and looking down at what she was wearing. She sighed to herself while swinging her hands softly hitting her sides in frustration.
Lucy giggled at the laziness the bluenette was demonstrating. It was obvious that she just wanted to sit down and continue her book but it was better to get the shopping out of the way now before it was too late for them.
"Alright then let's get going!" Lucy chirped as she turned around to look for the pink haired boy.
"I'll text you when I'm ready!" Levy yelled at the back of the blonde.
Lucy looked over her shoulder nodding and waving at her friend. Levy sighed and made her way towards her dorm embracing the peaceful breeze that hit her face lightly and made her hair dance wildly while she walked. When suddenly the thought of the deal she had made with Gajeel. A wicked grin crept on her face at the memory of making the deal. He would have to accompany the girls and Natsu and carry her bags. 'This is going to fun!'she thought to herself as she let her head tilt up and gaze at the clear sky.
As she opened the door that led to her room her eyes fell on Gajeel's snoozing form thrown on the bed with Lily curled up beside him. She sighed to herself; it seemed like every time she came to her room she would find herself with a sleeping Gajeel and Lily. But as she stared for a few more seconds she giggled softly to herself after realizing how cute the scene actually was. They seemed so peaceful and satisfied by their own company.
Levy shook her head so she could focus on getting ready to go to the mall. She knew Gajeel wouldn't take too long in getting ready since he didn't seem to care what others thought about him. Levy sighed as she wished she could be that carefree at times.
She grabbed her clothes and stepped into the bathroom to take a short warm shower. After a few minutes she stepped out to dry herself and get dressed. As she stepped out she saw Lily approach her. She bent down to his level and started stroking him from head to tail. Lily loved the sensation of the small blue haired girl stroking his short black fur. He purred. She giggled and gave the feline a smile.
"He seems to have taken a Likin' to ya'." Said a low sleepy voice. Levy looked up to see Gajeel sitting up on his bed facing her way.
She looked back to the feline and a shy smile grew on her face. She looked at the cat with caring eyes just like a mother would look at her child.
"Yeah well I've taken a liking to him as well." She said while stroking the Lily one more time before she stood up and swung her hips in a way that Gajeel found quite distracting.
"That reminds me! We're going shopping today Gajeel! And you know what that means!" Levy said while crossing her arms in front of her and giving Gajeel a mischevious smile with amusement written in to her eyes. Gajeel mumbled to himself.
"Fine." He hissed through his teeth. He stood up to look for some more decent looking cloth. It seemed a little odd to Levy that he had just succumbed without any fighting or bickering. She gave him a questionable look.
He felt her looking at him so he looked back to her over his shoulder. "What?" He said dully.
Levy kept her questionable gaze firm. "Is something wrong?" She asked without even realizing the words slip through her lips. Gajeel winced a little at the sudden question. She instantly covered her mouth with her pale hand after comprehending that he might have felt like she was prying a little more than she was suppose to.
"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry." she almost whispered but was audible to Gajeel's sharp ears.
"It's fine I just had a rough day." He grumbled trying to avoid her apologetic brown eyes while he scratch the back of his neck.
"If you don't want to go shopping I-"
"It's ok, a deals a deal Shrimp." He said while taking of his shirt in front of Levy. Levy's face turned bright red.
"Hey! Don't get undressed in front of me!" Levy whaled out to Gajeel who gave her a questionable gaze.
"Oh right, I can't change here because you're a girl." He said scratching his cheek as he fell into deep thought looking to some unknown place.
"And what is that suppose to mean!?" She asked the boy furiously while swinging her hip to the side. Gajeel found that motion to distracting for his own liking. And the fact that she was now all dressed up, at least more than Gajeel had grown accustomed to see, to go to the mall had him taking a good second look at the small bluenette.
Gajeel shook his head to get it out of the gutter it was threatening to throw itself in after looking intently at her movement and how she was dressed.
"I was just joking Shrimp! Don't get your panties in a bunch!" He said turning on his heel to head towards the bathroom and continue to change.
Levy puffed her cheeks out in frustration and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
However she decided to go comb her hair a little in an attempt to control the craziness that was known as her hair. She sat there looking in a small wall mirror she had brought and placed close to her bed. Her small pale fingers made their way through her short blue locks attempting to tame the wild locks. In front of the mirror where the small girl was located she could see a glimpse of the bathroom door as it opened and Gajeel's figure soon appeared. She stared at the sight with wide eyes. 'Well look who can clean up nicely.' She thought to herself as she felt her cheeks get a slightly warm at the thoughts that passed through her head.
"Are you ready to go Shrimp?" Gajeel asked while crossing his arms in front of his chest and letting his eyes fall on the small girl fidgeting with her hair.
"Yeah, lets go." She said turning on her heels and heading towards the door.
Gajeel just followed silently behind the small girl. As they made their way out of the building they didn't speak much but the silence wasn't awkward it was more comforting than anything.
Levy felt like she needed to give Gajeel a smile so that's what she did. She looked over her shoulder and gave the boy a warm friendly smile. Gajeel could only raise a brow at the gesture and then looked to the side and mumbled something to himself.
"Over here Levy!" Lucy yelled while waving a hand in the air at the sight of the small bluenette. She raised a brow when she saw Gajeel following her. Lucy then gave Levy a confused look.
Levy realizing that she hadn't explained the situation decided to speak up before Lucy got the wrong idea. "It's just a deal we made. And well he had no option but to agree." Levy said and immediately after the words left her lips she felt herself regretting the words she had choosen to explain. Lucy gave her a sheepish look.
Levy panicked. "No! It's not what you're thinking!" She said while waving her hands in front of her in a defensive way. Lucy only hid her devilish giggle behind her hands.
However after a few minutes of the girls bickering about what the situation was a certain pink haired boy appeared. Gajeel spotted the boy and creased his eye brows.
"What's the hot head doing here?" Gajeel snorted at the pink haired boy.
"That's what I was going to ask you iron head." Natsu said smiling in amusement knowing that this day was going to be more interesting than he expected.
The girls stared as the boys went at it but it didn't seem like it was out of hatred towards each other but some sort of weird boy friendship they weren't going to admit to any time soon.
"Well! I think we should get going!" Lucy said while scratching the back of her neck. Levy nodded at the loss of words after seeing Gajeel interact with someone other than her.
The boys grunted in response as they were too busy clashing their forehead together in an attempt to see who was going to give up first.
Lucy grabbed Natsu by his scarf and dragged him towards the waiting taxi. Levy just walked towards the taxi since Gajeel had straightened up so Levy wouldn't have to do the same. Even though he knew she wouldn't be able to drag him of all people.
They all had an equally awkward and silent experience on their way to the mall since it was so cramped, they felt like sardines.
When they arrived at the mall they all exited the taxi with relief written on their faces feeling the fresh air and stretching their limbs.
After a few moment of enjoying their new found freedom of movement the girls got excited and made their way in to the mall and to look into various stores and trying on many, many, many clothes. The boys just rolled their eyes at the silly girls and their giggle fits at all the cute clothes they found and tried on.
Levy had never really had this sort of experience since she never really had any close friends. She laughed and had a wonderful time with Lucy and despite the gloomy mood and the roll of the eyes they had their own conversations and shared a few laughs. Not like they were going to accept the fact but Levy knew they enjoyed themselves even a little.
"You guys want to get some smoothies before we leave?" Lucy chirped at the two boys carrying their bags. They looked miserable so the least Levy and Lucy could do was treat them to some smoothies before they went back to campus and got food there.
The boys grunted in response, the girls took that as a yes and made their way to the smoothie place. They both ordered for themselves and for the boy that was accompanying them. They waited for a few minutes for their orders and talked with each other to pass the time by.
The four sat down on a nearby table with their smoothies and bags in hand. The boys looked relief to finally take a break. The girls only giggled at the looks on their faces.
"Levy! I've been meaning to say that Natsu and I are going to be taking a taxi of our own back to campus. Since the last one was so cramped." She said while slurping on her smoothie nonchalantly.
Levy's eyes shot wide open at the thought of a taxi ride back to campus alone with Gajeel. But she tried to make it seem like she wasn't affected at all. "It's ok I understand." She said while giving the blonde a shy smile.
Lucy could easily sense Levy tense up at her comment and decided to teas her a bit. "Why are you getting so nervous Levy?" She said while giving her a sheepishly and nudging the bluenette with her elbow.
Levy felt her cheeks warm up slightly but tried to hold it back. Gajeel sneaked a glance at the small girl trying to see her reaction. Natsu caught the intention in Gajeel's sneaked glance and decided to hold back the comment for later to tease him with when they found themselves with their guy friends.
Just as Levy was about to open her mouth and finally retort to Lucy's previous comment she felt a large hand fall on her shoulder. Levy noticed Gajeel's gaze sharpen at the sight of the person behind Levy. Who could it have been that made Gajeel look so aggravated at the sight of him? She thought to herself.
Lucy and Natsu's eyes also fell upon the large figure behind Levy. She felt nervous. Who was it?
"Hello there." The low voice said. She tensed up a bit at the sound of the voice.
She felt the figure bend down and get close to her ear. So close that she could hear and feel him breathing against her pale neck. She felt goosebumps at the sensation of his breath so close to her and the warmth of his body creepy around her.
"I've been meaning to talk to you Shrimp." The voice said. The nickname given to her by Gajeel rolling of his tongue and she could feel a mischievous grin grow on the boys face. That much she could tell.
Gajeel only gave the boy a death glare as he almost leaned his wait on the small girl.
Gajeel was definitely not happy. Why? He had no idea.
A/N: OO: Who could it be!?
