10. Hard To Say I Love You

Levy had a strange dream of Gajeel's presence in her room. Even though she likes the guy, it was a peculiar dream that made her shudder. Was she that obsessed with him that she would even dream of him watching her sleep? Nevertheless, she woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed and better from her fever.

Nothing could beat this day. She felt so great. So what if she got into an argument with Gajeel? So what if she had evil fan girls after her? So what if she might get some errand that would make her stay back in school once again?

She grumbled as she thought them. Okay, so these things did bring down her day already. The worst was not the fan girls, it was Gajeel. She doesn't even know why he snapped at her that day, and why he acted so rudely. Ever since they become good friends, he had never acted so rudely to her. Remembering all those moments they shared – which made her blush – why would he act this way so suddenly?

She sighed as she entered the classroom, and there she saw Gajeel, as usual, sitting in class earlier than her. "Levy, are you better now?" She heard Lucy ask her from behind, and Levy smiled.

"Yes! I'm feeling great. And taking a break from school helped me clear my thoughts, so that was a plus!" Levy said cheerfully. She turned around, walking to her seat and sitting down, avoiding from looking at Gajeel and turning her attention mostly to Lucy and her books and the things that they would study for today.

And Gajeel was not good at giving apologies, so he didn't know how to go about it.

Levy's act of avoiding Gajeel was not unnoticed by her friends. It was an awkward tension between Levy and Gajeel, because while Gajeel seemed to be trying to start a conversation with her, she would deliberately look away, start a conversation with someone other than him, or talk aloud to herself as if she would try to drown out his voice.

And each time she did that, it lowered Gajeel's spirit to make up with her.

Lucy gave a small laugh when she was talking to Levy during a free class. "Levy, don't you think you're being bit harsh on Gajeel?" She asked. "I think he's really trying to apologize to you."

Levy narrowed her eyes at Lucy. "Don't tell me you're on his side!" She said, and then sighed. "W-Well, I guess I might be a little hard on him…but he yelled at me for a reason I have yet to know!" She said grumpily. "I'm going to get a drink," She said as she walked back into the school to the cafeteria.

It was there, for the first time, that she saw Gajeel sitting with Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Alzack. While Alzack was silent (it also seemed as if his table was invaded by the rest), Natsu and Gray were arguing about something silly again, and Elfman kept saying how men should not be making so much noise, despite making so much of noise himself. Gajeel was telling them to be quiet when he noticed Levy walk in.

And then he noticed that a few girls approached her, and they all walked out of the cafeteria, although it seemed as though Levy was being forced to leave. Not knowing that she was actually going to be in trouble, he simply watched, what with the tension between them.

Levy would not put up with this any longer. She knew she wasn't strong enough to push these girls away and make them stop this silly bullying, but she was going to try. "Could you please stop all of this nonsense?" She asked them as they walked towards a secluded area of the school, one of them having a strong grip on Levy's arms as they pulled her.

They were becoming desperate. "Stop being friends with Gajeel!" They said angrily.

"You have got to be kidding me," Levy scoffed. "You don't simply end a friendship! I'm so much better than that, idiots!" She yelled, pulling her arm away from them. "This is the end of this. I'm not letting you do this anymo—"

Levy stopped speaking when one of the girls pulled out a pocket knife. Even the rest of the girls didn't expect it. "You are ending any connection with Gajeel, I mean it." The girl with the knife hissed.

Levy stared at her. "You can't be serious. You're going as far as to hurt me if I say no? All this for a guy?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm dead serious." The girl smirked. "You see, I hate you greatly. You're always able to catch his attention. He's there when you need him, and he's there when you don't. He gives you a look, that stupid look, whenever you're together. It's fucking annoying." She gripped her pocket knife strongly.

Levy took a step back, only to bump into the wall. Her eyes widened. Oh God, she's going to kill me, Levy thought, as well as noticing the rest of the girls running away. "Calm down." Levy said softly, inching away from the wall and towards the corner where she could make a dash for it back to where everyone is. The girl noticed.

"Stop running away!" She yelled, jabbing the knife towards Levy and slicing her left shoulder.

Levy yelped, reflexes taking over and she started running away. Nearing the park area where Lucy and the rest were sitting, she screamed their names. They turned, surprised to see Levy, and concerned when they saw her bleeding.

"Levy!" Mirajane gasped in concern, and Erza walked hastily towards the blue haired girl, only for her to fall into her arms.

"Levy, oh my God. What happened?" Lucy asked, with her eyes wide in surprise and concern.

The cut on her shoulder bled profusely, and her shirt was inevitably stained red. "First things first, we have to treat her wound." Mirajane said, holding her arm and helping her walk to the infirmary along with Lucy and Erza.

As they passed by students within the school on the way to the infirmary, the students started talking. Mirajane passed them looks that made them silent, until the girls entered the infirmary and shut the door.

Gajeel had returned to class by then, leaving the other four boys to their silly antics, when two classmates came inside chattering. "Did you see Levy's shirt? Man, that seemed bad." One of them said.

"Yeah, I wonder how she got that injury though. Did she cut herself on something?" The other said.

Gajeel stood up, walking straight towards them. "Where is she now?" He asked.

The two classmates looked at him. "Uh, she's in the infirmary." They said, and Gajeel left in a rush.

He arrived at the infirmary in just a minute, and from outside where he stood, he could hear the girls speak. "Levy, is this scar from that time when Gajeel…" He heard Mirajane speak.

"Y-Yeah, it's fading though, and I'm over that." Levy said. Gajeel grimaced, a bitter feeling in his throat. So she has a scar to remind her of that incident. He was despicable, he would admit that.

"And this bruise?" Lucy asked.

"Those fan girls of his pushed me down and I hit the corner of the table." Levy answered. "And now one of them cut me." He heard her sigh. "But…I don't know, I'm not so angry at them. They like him a lot. I guess they let their jealousies get the better of them, but I can understand the part where they like him. On the bright side, I think they'll stop all of this now that this has happened."

He stopped. Who's him? He thought. And is she getting bullied by a bunch of girls? Nevertheless, after a slight pause, he slid the door open. There he saw Levy sitting shirtless with just her bra on, and three girls who looked surprised. He gulped. Maybe he should have waited longer.

But that was a pretty good sight to see.

Levy's face turned completely red. "G-Ga-Gajeel." She said, immediately grabbing her shirt and placing it on her chest to cover herself up, although it was too late.

"Oh, hello, Gajeel." He heard Mirajane greet him sweetly, but he knew just what that meant when she used that tone.

He slid the door close immediately, fearing her wrath, when Natsu and Gray appeared calling out Levy's name. They slid open the door and saw Levy's nearly bare chest as well, only for the back of their collars to be grabbed by Gajeel and swung across the hall and away from the infirmary. "What are you looking at?" Gajeel yelled in anger, to Mirajane's amusement and Levy's embarrassment.

Gajeel was not able to speak to Levy until after school, because class had started right after the incident in the infirmary, and Levy had gone to have a talk with Master Makarov personally regarding what had happened to her.

While he was about to leave to Levy's house, Lucy stopped him. "It's about Levy." She said, which caught his attention immediately. Natsu had joined not any later, as he and Lucy always stuck together, but he too was interested in Levy's situation.

"Levy's being bullied." Lucy said.

"I heard." Gajeel mumbled, and when he received a questioning look from Lucy, "I heard you talking about it inside the infirmary."

"And these girls who are bullying her," Lucy gave a slight pause. "They're obsessed with you."

Gajeel's eyes widened in surprise. Natsu burst into laughter when Gajeel barked at him. "Hey, is that so weird, Salamander? You probably have none!"

Lucy glared at them, immediately silencing the two boys. "Anyway, I can't stand it anymore. She insists that she solves this problem herself but she got hurt today, and I don't know how long this is going to continue!" She sighed. "I feel bad after Levy told me not to tell you about this but I'm afraid she'll get hurt even more."

Gajeel didn't know whether he should go up to her and yell at her for her stupidity, or just stay silent. "So it's my fault." He said, his voice loud and clear in the silence.

Natsu frowned. "Don't you think you'd upset Levy more if you told her that?" He asked. "The reason why she didn't want to tell you is probably because of that. Because you'd say," Natsu mocked Gajeel. "'So it's my fault'."

Lucy looked at Natsu in awe. "This is unexpected of you, Natsu." She said, impressed. Natsu only gave her flick on her forehead, looking insulted.

It then turned into affectionate displays between the giggling blonde girl and the chuckling pink haired boy in front of Gajeel. He gritted his teeth, annoyed, and stood, walking away from them. The two blushed when he stood, and Lucy called out to him. "What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know," Gajeel said. "I'm going to think."

Levy sighed contently as she sat alone in a café, having a parfait for herself. She dug in, the sweet cool cream melting in her mouth and giving her a joyful feeling. As I thought, when feeling down, eating sweet desserts are the best! She thought to herself with a smile. She took a bite of her strawberry and chewed happily, when she saw a familiar friend.

Or crush, she thought with a giggle. She found it strange how she likes him more than a friend, but it was not such a bad feeling, even though the feeling isn't mutual.

Gajeel spotted her sitting in one of the outdoor café seats and stopped. They both looked at each other from a distance, both aware of their presence and wondering what is going to happen. Levy tilted her head to the side. "Gajeel." She said, although she wondered if he actually heard her.

And if he didn't, he would have read her lips. Even if he wasn't ready to talk to her now, he had to because she wouldn't let him go if he didn't.

And he wouldn't have her let him go if he didn't.

So he took a seat across her, in the messy uncaring way of his, but she didn't care. There was a moment of silence between them, as neither of them knew what to say or how to start the conversation. She kept eating spoonfuls of her large dessert, and he looked elsewhere as though there was some interesting event going on away from them.

And then Levy started giggling, which caught Gajeel's attention. "Stupid Gajeel, it's not your fault, but I wish I could be stupid and say it is." She mumbled.

He snorted. "You're plenty stupid, so just say it."

"I can't."

"You can."

Levy frowned. "You don't even know what I'm talking about."

"I do." He said. "Heard from Lucy."

She froze, and the only thing moving was the spoon in her hand which shook slightly. "Forget what she said."

"Don't say something stupid."

"But you said I am stupid."

The conversation stopped, with the both of them now grumpy. Levy stuffed spoonfuls of her parfait into her mouth sulkily while he was looking elsewhere once again. Only after a few seconds did Gajeel sigh. "Are you okay?" He asked, at first referring to her injury, but he would also like it if she talked about herself as a whole.

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt." She said, knowing he was referring to the cut. Then she blushed, remembering that he saw her shirtless in the infirmary. "W-Whatever you saw…in the infirmary," She said, and Gajeel had a tint of red across his cheeks. "F-Forget it."

There was a slight pause. For Levy, it felt awkward, and she wondered if Gajeel thought she was silly for asking him to do this. After all, she didn't have such great physical assets like Lucy or Erza or Mirajane, and she certainly wasn't beautiful.

But to Gajeel, the pause in their conversation was him trying to collect his thoughts, because when he saw her shirtless, his imagination had undoubtedly ran wild. "Okay." He said in the end, but that was a lie. He couldn't forget even if he wanted to.

"I think the problem's solved now that I told Master Makarov what's been happening to me," Levy said with a smile as she looked at her half-full parfait. "Although I told him that he shouldn't give them a very harsh punishment."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so lenient after what they've done to you?" He asked.

Levy blushed lightly. "Because…I can understand their feelings." She said softly, her face warming up shyly. This is a near confession! What if he says something that would upset me? What if he says nothing at all? She thought, nervous and excited.

Gajeel looked at her. What did she mean by that? Could she understand their feelings because she has feelings for someone, or because it's him she has feelings for? He opened his mouth slightly to ask what she meant by that, but the fear that her answer might not be a positive one got the better of him, and he closed his mouth, unable to ask her what she meant. "I've…gotta go." He said, getting up and leaving.

Watching his retreating back, she became utterly devastated.

"Gajeel…"

Notes:

I finally finished this chapter! Okay, I was actually just a little lazy. I have a feeling this story might end soon. I also have a bigger feeling that my other story is going to end soon. And I've already loads of ideas for a new story!

Chapter title is Hard To Say I Love You by Weaver. It is from a Japanese drama called Sunao ni narenakute, and it's quite a good drama. :)