As promised, chapter 7! NaLu fans will be happy with this one, I'm sure, but I'll warn you, I return my focus to GaLe after this... though I'm going to try and insert as much NaLu as I can later on. Anyway, enjoy, read, review... they really are wonderful!
Disclaimer: Do not own Fairy Tail or the characters, they belong to Mashima.
When Gajeel finally made it back to his room after a good two hours of fighting with Natsu, he was definitely bruised and battered, but he was happy to say that the fire dragon slayer wasn't any better. Dragging himself back into the room, he wasn't surprised to find Levy once again lying in bed translating the runes from earlier. He figured it would be a good time to get cleaned up; leaving the girl to concentrate since he knew those runes had to be broken quickly.
After showering and changing into his shorts for bed, the iron mage walked back into the bedroom to see his partner still completely absorbed in her work, and, with a sigh, went to lie down next to her. Lying on his stomach next to Levy; Gajeel watched the girl write out the languages and codes needed to decipher the runes while mumbling to herself in what sounded like pure gibberish to him. He really did enjoy watching her work, while most would be bored; he found what she did fascinating. It was so drastically different from his own magic that he couldn't help but feel amazed by what she could do. While he loved having the script mage's undivided attention most of the time, he very rarely tried to distract her from her work, there were, of course, some exceptions to that rule that typically involved food or her life being in danger. Unlike earlier, though, he didn't have anything else he'd rather be doing than lying next to the woman and trying to absorb even a modicum of what she was doing.
As Gajeel watched her work, he shifted his body closer so he could lay his head on her shoulder, allowing him to continue watching while also taking in her scent. He was surprised, though, when his simple movement actually managed to distract her, considering how difficult it was to pull her away earlier when he had literally laid atop her, something this simple shouldn't have distracted her unless she wasn't completely focused.
"Gajeel? When did you get back?" She asked curiously, obviously very confused, after turning to face her partner.
"Hmmm, prolly a half an hour ago, long enough to shower and change, Shrimp." Gajeel answered, keeping his eyes on the notepad as he scanned over the work she had completed thus far. From his experience watching her study runes with Freed, it looked like she was close to finishing, thus explaining better why she was suddenly so easily distracted. "Don't mind me, just finish up so we can get some sleep."
"Hmmm, you forced us to take a nap earlier, how are you so tired?" Levy asked while returning to her work.
"I did just fight with Salamander for the last two hours, kinda wore me out, ya know."
"Hmmm, it's been that long already? Lucy just left about an hour ago, then. How'd talking to Natsu go?" She distractedly asked, only giving her partner half of her attention at that point.
"Eh, good enough, I guess. We'll see what he does with your advice. I'm sure after this damn mission they'll lock themselves in a room and won't come out for quite sometime; and if they don't I'm sure Mira will do it for them. How 'bout Bunny Girl? Talk some sense into her?"
"I don't think she's in denial anymore. Though apparently you might have interrupted something when you went and got Natsu; she came running in here freaking out again. As much as I love Lu-chan, she's definitely a hand full when she's like that."
"Gi Hee, I figured that much considering how pissed off that idiot was, but I'm sure he'll make up for the bad timing. Just hope we got all their drama shit taken care of so we can get back to focusing on the mission." Gajeel said as he himself began losing focus on Levy's work and instead drew his attention to the blue head of hair he found he loved to play with. Turning onto his side, Gajeel moved to prop his head on one hand, while letting the other move to play with a few strands of hair that had fallen from the girl's ponytail.
Levy hummed softly while letting her body lean into his, giving him more access to her locks as he moved to untie the ribbon holding her hair back. Her hair had grown a few inches longer in the months since they returned from Tenrou; he definitely liked the extra length to play with and hoped she continued to allow him this pleasure when the mission was completed. Then again, he hoped she would allow him to continue doing a lot of things, while possibly letting him do a little more. Now that he was aware of Mira's matchmaking attempt, he couldn't help but look back at a lot of his interactions with the script mage and see that it very well might be possible that Levy returned his feelings. He didn't want to get his hopes up too much, but figured it couldn't hurt to test the waters a bit and see if he could get any more definite clues.
The fact that Lucy had told Natsu something that she didn't want him to know had also given him a bit of a boost in confidence. Despite the fact that he very nearly tried to kill the blonde mage, he knew she felt no ill feelings towards him for it, so she wouldn't hold out on giving him information to hurt him. He knew that if she knew something about her friend's opinion of him, she wouldn't tell him only because it wasn't her place to. He'd rather hear it straight from the source, anyway. With all the little things he was starting to put together, though, he figured it was safe to take the advice Levy had given to the other couple and just go with the flow, and follow his instincts.
"Ah ha!" Levy shouted, drawing the dragon slayer out of his dazed musings to return his attention to the small mage and her work.
"Figure it out?" He asked, despite his always bored tone, he was very curious to see what she had done.
"Yep! It was so much simpler than Freed's; I only needed two books for this one instead of a mountain of them!" She exclaimed while turning her notes for him to see, knowing that he actually liked to look over her work.
"Amazing, I still don't understand a thing you've got written there."
Levy giggled at him before realizing that he should probably at least understand what he would need to do if he ever had to rewrite the runes on his own.
"I should probably show you how to change the runes so you can break out of a trap if you ever find yourself in one without me there," she told him.
"Hmmm, yeah, that's a good idea. Show me later, though, I'm too tired to try and learn something new," Gajeel agreed before grabbing the woman's books and notes, and pushing them off the bed; much to the other mage's annoyance.
"Gajeel, don't just toss my books around," Levy whined.
The iron mage only grunted, though, as he moved back to the bluenette and proceed to wrap her up in his arms. He then rolled onto his back, dragging the woman along so she was resting completely on his chest with her head tucked under his chin.
"It's time to sleep now, so stop whining." Gajeel ordered as he turned out the bedside light and went back to his task of absentmindedly playing with the woman's hair.
"Fine," Levy sighed, giving in to his command the moment his hand was in her hair again.
Gajeel couldn't help but peek down at the cute girl lying on his chest, humming in contentment as he ran his fingers through her tresses. He watched her face as he let one hand trace along her upper arm, along her shoulder, and down her spine; smiling when he once again felt her shiver that accompanied the pink tinting on her cheeks. The hand on her head came to a rest with his fingers slightly tangled in some strands of her hair at the base of her neck. He then dragged the other hand back up her spine to her shoulder blade, but detoured to gently run his fingers along her jaw bone from her chin to her ear, then cupping her cheek as he moved his thumb along her cheekbone, over her nose, and over her soft lips before moving his hand back down to rest at her jaw again. The iron mage grinned in triumph when he saw how red Levy's face had gotten, though she didn't try to move away from his extra attentions like she normally would, instead she allowed him to continue cupping her face as his thumb traced over her blushing cheek.
Feeling bold and taken with those instincts he had said he would follow, Gajeel bent until his lips rested on the woman's forehead.
"Night, Levy," he whispered before placing a gentle kiss to her head, smiling to himself when he heard her breath hitch and heart start racing.
"Night, Gajeel," she whispered back while turning her face away enough to hide her bright red blush, not knowing that he had already seen it.
When she didn't pull away anymore than that, and instead seemed to sink even deeper against his body, Gajeel knew that he had a chance. Even if they were supposed to only be pretending, there were definitely things that couldn't be faked so easily, especially by someone as honest as the bookworm falling asleep on him. With that last thought, the iron mage allowed himself to fall into a blissful sleep, feeling more at peace than he ever had before.
Upon entering his own room that night, Natsu found his partner already curled up under the blankets, sound asleep with a book lying next her. He crept across the room to take the tome and set it on the nightstand before it had a chance to fall on the floor and wake the sleeping mage.
Seeing that Lucy slept on, the fire mage quickly moved to take a hot shower to wash away all the aches and pains he felt from his spar with Gajeel. He could tell that the iron dragon had just as frustrating a day as he had by the force of his punches; Natsu was sure if his rival hadn't gotten that fight in tonight, someone was going to be in for a good beating by the end of the week. Fortunately he and the iron mage knew how to communicate without really saying anything, so he was sure Gajeel had figured out what it was Lucy didn't want him to know.
When Natsu was finally ready to climb into bed, he crawled under the covers as quietly as he could so as not to wake the blonde girl, something he had plenty of experience in doing. As he moved to wrap an arm around her, though, Lucy woke and rolled over to face the shocked man.
"Natsu?" Lucy said sleepily as she blinked up at his face, before burrowing in closer to the man's bare chest, surprising him even more. "How did it go with Gajeel?"
"Heehee," Natsu grinned after overcoming his shock, pulling the woman in tight as he answered, "I kicked his ass, of course."
"Is that so?" The blonde giggled at her partner's ego.
"Yeah, though I guess to be fair he seemed pretty distracted, and frustrated. The few punches he landed hurt like hell, so I think he's feeling a lot of stress being so close to Levy all the time." He admitted; voice muffled as he buried his face in the blonde's hair.
"Hmmm," Lucy hummed in acknowledgement, "from what Levy told me happened to them today, that definitely doesn't surprise me. Levy's feeling pretty frustrated, too, so at least he's not alone."
Natsu chuckled at that before telling her about Gajeel essentially admitting his feeling for the small bookworm.
"Well, hopefully they won't be frustrated for long, I kinda told Gajeel that we all know he likes Levy, and that Mira sent her on the mission with us in hopes they'd get together."
"You didn't say anything about Levy's feelings, did you?" The blonde asked as she turned her face up to glare at her partner.
"Don't worry about that, I didn't say anything. Though, he did ask if I knew anything about her, but I told him you said I couldn't tell him." Natsu reassured her, "But he's pretty perceptive and probably could guess from my refusing to give him information, and the fact that Mira set this up, that Levy likes him. So if he's smart he'll start working up to ask her out."
"Well, I guess that's okay then," Lucy agreed before snuggling back into the dragon slayer's warm embrace. "It'd be nice if those two can find happiness together."
"Um-hmmm," the salamander hummed his own agreement as he nuzzled the girl's hair again.
As they descended into a comfortable silence again, Natsu let his free hand roam over the woman's body, gently running it along her side, brushing his fingertips down her arm, trailing back up only to sweep down her back. Each movement was met with either a shiver or a hum of contentment from Lucy, making Natsu feel a little bolder with every stroke of the hand. As his hand made its way back up her body, he moved it to her face to trail down her jaw to her chin, gently tilting her chin so he could look at her face.
Her features were so soft, so gentle, as he gazed down at his partner as she looked back with half lidded eyes, he couldn't help himself as he slowly leaned his face closer to her own and pressed his lips to her temple. When she gasped in surprise but didn't pull away, he moved to place another kiss on her cheek bone. By that point he could tell she was anticipating his next move as her delicate hands dug lightly into his chest; he was sure if he had a shirt on her hands would be using it to pull him closer.
Since the blonde mage didn't seem to be fighting him, Natsu decided to play around a little, moving further from her mouth, this time, to kiss Lucy just below the ear. He grinned as he realized she liked that one more when he just barely heard a stifled moan come from her; so he began to trail more kisses down her neck, teasing her in hopes she'd let the sound out completely.
When he approached her collar bone without her making any louder sound, he forced her to roll onto her back, following her movement so he leaned over her body. With this move he let his trail of kisses pass across the top of her chest to the opposite collar bone, where he continued to let his instincts guide him, just as Levy advised, and nipped the hard ridge. He was rewarded with a squeak and a shaky breath that time, but still not exactly what he was looking for, so he once again began moving back up the opposite side of her neck, nipping every so often between kisses. He could tell he was getting close to his goal as Lucy shuddered beneath him and moved her hands to his hair.
As he reached her other ear, he moved closer to her, pushing his thigh between her legs, and gently sucked on her earlobe, alternating between biting and licking the appendage. All of his teasing paid off, though, as he finally heard the woman let out a low moan. As soon as the sound escaped her lips, he moved fast and swallowed it up by claiming her lips, a grin still on his face as he finally got to repeat what they had done in the garden. This time, though, was different; this time was one hundred times more satisfying because now it was wanted, needed, by the two of them only for their personal gratification and enjoyment.
Natsu allowed himself to press against Lucy more, drawing more sounds from her as their bodies molded together in their embrace. He noted in the back of his mind that his hand had invited itself under her top again, as he could feel the smooth skin of her stomach and ridges of her ribcage. His other hand was fisted in the blonde's hair, holding her close in case she tried to pull away.
After a few minutes of passionately kissing, the fire dragon moved away so the other mage could breathe, but he didn't go far as he went back to laving her neck with attention, keeping her from thinking about their activities any more than she needed to. Unknown to him, though, she had no intentions of stopping him, she had decided to listen to Levy and follow wherever her heart took her. So, as the slayer continued his ministrations to Lucy's neck and collar, the spirit mage just held him close while moaning in bliss.
Despite how badly both mages wanted to continue, Natsu was still feeling run down after his fight, and Lucy was still quite exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster of the day. So, knowing that they couldn't go any farther, Natsu slowed down his treatment and moved to place a few more slow and gentle kisses to the blonde's lips, leaning his forehead against hers when he finally stopped.
"Luce…" the pink haired teen whispered to the girl, his voice rough from their passion. "I could do this with you forever, if you'd let me."
Lucy just looked up at Natsu wide-eyed as she listened to his confession, feeling speechless at the raw emotion she saw on his face and the seriousness of his tone. Her silence and surprised face, unfortunately, gave the man atop her the wrong impression as he began to worry that she might freak out on him again.
"Lucy, you're my best friend," Natsu rushed to explain, letting his words come faster as he panicked, "and the most important person in the guild to me, and I don't want to lose you, and I really, really like you, but if you don't want this then I'll back off, but just don't hate me, Lucy!"
To the dragon slayer's surprise the girl just giggled in response, smiling brightly at his stunned face as she moved her hands to cup his cheeks.
"Luce?" Natsu began to ask, confused by her actions, but was stopped from saying any more when the woman lying beneath him leaned up to lightly brush her lips over his own in a gentle kiss. It was all the answer he needed as he pulled away to grin down at his teammate before crushing the girl in a hug.
"Natsu!" Lucy rasped out, "Can't breathe!"
"Sorry," he said as he loosened his grip and rolled over so they were lying on their sides again. Brushing a stray strand of blonde hair from the girl's face, Natsu continued to smile as if he had just won the biggest battle of his life. "So, Luce, does this mean….?"
She once again giggled as the salamander trailed off before having to say anything more, nodding as she knew what he was asking.
"Well, it looks like Mira will be getting at least half of what she wanted out of this mission!"
"Wait a minute! You mean she really was setting us up, too?" Natsu asked in disbelief.
"You seriously didn't get that! You've known her for years; you should know she loves playing matchmaker!" Lucy hollered at the oblivious boy before realizing exactly who it was she was talking to. "Then again, you are a dense idiot, Natsu."
"Hey, I did at least figure this out! Give me some credit!" The fire dragon argued.
"That took a miracle in the form of a rune trap, if it hadn't been for that I doubt you'd ever figure it out!"
"I would have, eventually! I knew I liked you before… as I told Gajeel at dinner; I just didn't know how much." Natsu said, sounding quite sheepish as he admitted to the last part.
"Alright, I'm sorry. Anyway, it's not fair for me to criticize you, I needed that trap to figure all of this out, too; plus Levy's bluntness helped earlier."
"Levy… blunt… I think she's spending too much time with Gajeel." The fire mage said in amusement, making his best friend turned girlfriend laugh at the truth in his words.
"Well, we should probably get used to that, because like hell I'm letting us go back to Mira as the only couple!" Lucy exclaimed, before giving her partner a rather devious grin as she remembered her conversation with the short script mage earlier. "By the way, Natsu, about Mira; Levy and I were thinking…"
Natsu just raised an eyebrow at the rather cruel nature that can be found in women as he listened to the girls' rough plan. In the end, he and Lucy ended up staying awake until 2 am plotting the perfect revenge; he was more then happy to help the second he heard Laxus might be involved. He couldn't wait for the mission to end.
To be honest, this whole story actually developed out of the idea of getting revenge on Mira for her matchmaking attempts. I had been thinking of how it could come about that a couple, or two, that were victims of her attempts finally form a plan to get back at her. Then it just expanded from there into this wonderful GaLe/ NaLu story. But don't worry, you'll find out next chapter that it's not just Mira and Laxus that need to worry. *insert evil laugh here*
