Hey guys~. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking off. I've just been abroad and internet is hard to come by when you spend so little time in your hotel, but I digress. So, to compensate for my long absence, I've written two chapters in a row for all of you (I'm sorry, it would have been three if my writer's block wasn't so bad), and I hope you enjoy it.
As usual, I'd have to thank all of you who have clicked on this little story of mine, do leave a review, it certainly helps, and this chapter is just Gajeel x Levy one.
Levy groaned in a long string of curses and swears.
Sorely rubbing the toe that she had slammed accidentally into the side her table, Levy scowled and hopped painfully around her room before collapsing onto her bed. Plopping herself back onto her study chair after massaging the sore toe after a few minutes, Levy lazily scanned the cramped but tidy study table and the half-done homework that sat atop it.
Spinning her chair in circles, Levy watched her room spin in a blur around her. Coming to a stop, Levy let out a tired sigh and faced her tiny bedroom which consisted of her bed and a large bookshelf which took up an entire wall. Turning back to face her table, Levy picked up a pen and found herself staring at a neat photograph that stood casually in the background of her table, and Levy could not help but find herself smiling at the photo.
The photo had been taken a few years back at a book festival which her mother, who looked exactly like Levy except for her more obvious curves and her wavy blue locks that cascaded past her shoulders and hung loosely around her waist, and her. However, totally ignoring the pair of bluenettes that dominated the entirety of the picture, Levy looked past her own shoulder to find the familiar spiky mess of raven black hair that was accompanied by the strangely lovable scowl of her diabetes-inducing-sugar-high-sweet crush.
Gajeel.
It was no question that the both of them have had the share of unpleasant experiences together. For example, their first official meeting together, whereby Gajeel and a few of his buddies had ambushed and bludgeoned, her, Jet and Droy after studying in the library, and had left them for dead in a bloody and broken heap in the carpark of a nearby McDonalds, which in turn had sparked an all out war between Magnolia Middle School and Phantom Middle School, but that was all in the past. No biggie.
Shrugging off her thoughts, Levy vaguely recalled that shortly after the whole 'war' incident some of the students from Phantom Middle School, including Juvia and Gajeel, had transferred into Magnolia High School, most of the Phantom populace had been generally avoided and shunned, especially Gajeel. Not only that, there had been a few cases of violence reported because some of the students from Magnolia had still held grudges against new students so there was widespread teasing, mocking, sometimes even bullying, but surprisingly Gajeel had never bothered retaliating and she had seen on multiple occasions, him just walking off with strings of jeers and taunts following him wherever he went.
So needless to say, it had greatly shocked the entire students body when finally after a month of constant teasing and bullying, that Levy of all people had gone up to one of the Phantom students, in this case Gajeel, and had tried to bridge the social gap that separated the once ex-enemies.
Nervously gulping as she glanced at the lone figure that leaned solemnly against the canteen wall and munched on a soggy sandwich. Biting her lips in remorse and sympathy, Levy scratched her palms as she felt partially responsible for Gajeel and the rest of the Phantom students being ignored and bullied, as she found that that was the student body's way of somewhat-peacefully getting back at him and the other students on her behalf after the great beating that she had gotten. Slapping her cheeks lightly and steeling her nerves, Levy shakily made her way across the few metres that separated Gajeel and her.
"Hi," Levy brightly greeted as she jumped cheerfully in front of Gajeel and extended her arm in greeting.
Immediately, Levy heard the canteen wash over in an intense silence, replacing the cheerful banter, putting more pressure on Levy to not say anything so as to anger or provoke Gajeel. Pausing mid-bite as he heard the deafening silence that enveloped the entire space around him and the agitated shuffling of chairs and feet as the students behind Levy stood up vigilantly, prepared to step in if Gajeel made any sort of move that they deemed unsafe. Grabbing a fistful of her uniform's skirt in anxiety, as Gajeel finally looked up from his sandwich, his crimson irises prodding and poking at her, as though he were checking and testing who she was and why she had approached him
Swallowing the last of his sandwich, Gajeel hastily staggered to an upright position, provoking the entire canteen into alert, while grabbing a battered flask that he kept at his side and made his way over to Levy before stopping just in front of her. Shivering in her position, as Levy finally realized how menacing Gajeel was, donning countless piercings over his face and his tall stature that easily towered her by more than a head.
"Hi, what do you want," came a gruff reply.
Looking up in surprise as Levy had not expected a proper reply, Levy stood up straight and thrust out her arm again in emphasis before saying, "I want to be your friend. Nice to meet you, my name is Levy McGarden. I take it you're Gajeel Redfox right?"
Hearing a collective gasp and the low murmur that accompanied it from behind her, Levy simply ignored all the fuss, finding that making her trying to make a friend a big deal was both stupid and unneeded. Focusing only on Gajeel, Levy inhaled deeply, feeling eternities past as Gajeel simply returned her gaze, dumbfounded, but slightly amused.
"Friend…? Are you insane, chick?" Gajeel barked, "Are you sure you're up to make friends with someone like me, even after what I did to you? You ain't scared I'll some sort of shit again?"
Nodding firmly, Levy waved the arm that she had still extended and tried gesturing with her other arm that she did really want to be friends, so they should seal the deal with a much needed handshake as Levy felt her arm starting to cramp.
Watching intently as Gajeel scratched his head in thought, Levy lit up as Gajeel sized her up once more and extended and arm slowly, but he immediately changed his course and took a quick step forward, the arm he had extended balling up into a fist and then hurled it towards Levy's face, inciting a huge cry and movement from the crowd behind her. However, Gajeel immediately stopped just before his fist reached her face.
Standing back up to his full height, Gajeel scratched the side of his arm uncertainly as the crowd that had advanced dangerously close, stopped in their tracks as Gajeel continued, "Wow… You… Didn't flinch at all… Not even after the whole I beat you close to death and started a war incident… thing you're not afraid?"
"Of course not. I take my friends seriously, and I know full well what happened, I was there, but I want to be friends with you, and that's my own decision," Levy firmly reiterated, "However, could we please just shake hands now? My arm's terribly tired."
Using her other arm to support the one that she still had extended, Levy watched as a flurry emotions passed through Gajeel's eyes, and she was only able to pick out confusion, guilt but some happiness buried deep within.
"Sure I guess… Starting from today, we'll be friends?" Gajeel asked, while Levy simply nodded.
Humming in response, Gajeel confidently stuck out his own arm to meet Levy's, but instead grabbed hold of her and pulled her forward, gently planting his lips onto hers, and licking her lips through a gap in between his own lips, before breaking away and jumping out of the window after hollering a few words that echoed throughout the canteen until the rest of them erupted in complaints and jeers before moving to track down Gajeel.
Hearing some of her friends rush to her side and shake her awake, Levy felt the world around her melt away, the gentleness of the moment warmly wrapping her as she felt her cheeks burn, until she remembered his last words before he had dashed off.
"I'm not a shrimp!"
Grumbling happily at the memory, Levy hummed delightedly as she moved her finger to her lips, the moment replaying itself joyously in her brain, until she heard a gruff voice sound out behind her.
"Oi shrimp… What are you doing… That's really creepy, playing with yourself alone," Gajeel sighed.
Jumping from her position, Levy spun around and pushed off from her chair, only to slam her toe back into the corner of her table again, inciting a pained yelp from her.
"You… You're creepy and stupid you know?" Gajeel mused as he fished out a bag of potato chips from a rucksack that hung loosely from one of his shoulders.
"S-Shut up! What are you here for anyway? Go home and do your homework," Levy scowled as she moved to her bed and gestured for Gajeel to take a seat on her chair.
"You know I can't stand salamander and his little sister. Besides, I was just released from work, and thought I might come here to chill out," Gajeel replied simply.
Sighing as Levy grabbed a potato chip from the near-empty bag when Gajeel offered it to her, Levy watched amusedly as the thug spun uncharacteristically around on her chair. After they had become 'friends', Levy had later found out that Gajeel had remained homeless after his orphanage had disbanded, and while Juvia, the only other person she recognised from his orphanage had found a proper home with Gray, Gajeel had merely found a job as a car mechanic and had set up a 'home' in the break room of the dingy shop and had gotten scraps of meals from the other employees who had kindly provided him with decent sized meals and snacks.
However, shortly after the whole incident in the canteen, Gajeel had stuck around her like glue, leaving her little room for comfort as he had later admitted, much to his embarrassment, that she was the only person that he could fully relax around. Sure, later on, the rest of the gang had slowly come to accept him, and Natsu had forcefully dragged him to his own home and had forced him to stay there and set up a guest room for him in the small apartment they occupied, however he had also said that despite that, he still felt a wall that separated him and the rest of the gang. Not that he felt they were bad people, in fact, he liked the gang more than he wanted to admit, only to maintain his image of the school's punk, but he had said that they had never really have a heart to heart talk with any one of them except for Natsu because they live together and that their fathers had both abandoned them.
"So… What are you really here for?" Levy asked as she grabbed another chip and munched on it lightly.
Sighing as Gajeel pulled his hand out of the bag before he could draw another chip, he finally let loose and started, "Shrimp, you really know me thata well eh? I found info on… him. A friend at work said he overheard that there was a 'Mr Redfox' who had taken residence two towns over."
"Him?"
Nodding his head solemnly as he finished abruptly, Gajeel fished out a handful of chips and stuffed it into his mouth while munching loudly, probably to drown out his other thoughts. Biting the bottom of her lip, Levy dusted off the crumbs on her fingers and laid back down on her bed, letting the loud crunching of the chips fill her head. It had been immediately obvious as to who Gajeel was referring to, and it made Levy's gut boil in anger and indignation every time Gajeel brought his name up.
Metallicana Redfox.
Gajeel had always had a slight obsession in finding the man, or douchebag as he puts it, that had dumped him onto the side of a road and had left for something more important to him than his own son. After finding out that both he and Natsu had shared that one thing in common, they had grown closer together and Gajeel had even tried roping in Natsu to search for both their fathers, but Natsu had politely declined, saying that he only used his spare time for trying to find his dad, and that taking care of his sister took priority over finding a douchebag that threw him aside, and thankfully, Gajeel had graciously accepted his reasoning.
Sighing as Levy watched Gajeel eye her expectantly, Levy nodded silently making Gajeel fist pump in the air excitedly as he got up and simply shouted 'This Saturday, train station by 9' and dashed out of her room, leaving her alone in the room again.
Sighing again as she wondered how many times Gajeel had pushed her accompanying him on his stupid escapades, and the jittery feeling that she got every time leaving her wondering if Gajeel fully understood the implications of asking a girl out to go somewhere.
The rest of the week had passed by fairly quickly, with only a steady pile of homework that streamed in, and club activities approaching an all-time high as the student council had managed to persuade the locals that they were responsible enough to hold another cultural festival without causing too much trouble again, using petitions and local events such as sales and community involvement programs to show their commitment towards making the cultural festival a reality.
Levy had taken part in many of the programs, and fully supported the motion of reviving the cultural festival along with the rest of the gang, heck, the entire student body, and being in Fairy Tail, the heart of the project had therein lied her biggest foreseeable problem.
"Alright! This Saturday again! We'll be going around advertising and collecting as well as organising the student body plans and ideas for each class or club that wants to put up something," Laxus yelled out to the group of people gathered at Fairy Tail on Thursday evening.
Hearing the immediate grumble from the group gathered, Laxus waved an arm and yelled, "Yeah, yeah. I know all of you have been working hard, but even though it's still half a year to the deadline of the festival, we still need to clear up stuff with the community, and Natsu and some of the others have been taking steps to make sure Sabertooth won't interfere, so please just do this much. Thank you all for this, and you're dismissed."
Feeling her heart drop as Laxus continued his announcement, Levy frantically searched the room and found Gajeel wearing a deep scowl as he roughly shouldered his rucksack.
Following Gajeel briskly out of the classroom as he stormed out of the school campus and stopped abruptly just before the school gate and spun around, facing Levy with a scowl plastered onto his face.
"Gajeel-,"
"Shit! Not again! This is the second week in a row that this has happened," Gajeel cursed as he leaned against the wall and ran a hand in frustration through his hair, "My lead's gonna go cold. I don't even think that going there would be worth it now."
"Then don't... I mean, I know that you really want to meet your dad again, but don't you have us? We're family now... I'm your family now. You literally come by every day after work, and even my mom believes that we're dating," Levy tried to reason, "You don't have to keep hurting yourself over someone like him."
Grumbling unintelligably, especially at the ending, Gajeel sighed and continued carefully, trying to find the right words to justify his position, "Look. I know that we're family and all, but he's the only real family I've got. Related by blood I mean, so it feels wrong for me to let him go so easily. I have to this. I'll be going myself this Saturday."
Ending abruptly, Gajeel nodded firmly and spun around, signalling that he had no wish to further continue the conversation even though Levy chased after him, trying to stutter out a reason and dissuade him from wasting his time, but to no avail. Sighing as Gajeel decided to run off, easily losing Levy after a minute of chasing him around the vast campus. Stopping to catch her breath, Levy found herself outside the clubroom again, and peeked inside to find that most of the girls had remained behind.
"Oh, Levy. We thought you left. We were just coming up with some ideas of what we want to do for the festival as a club, because the guys would probably plan something stupid," Bisca waved her over and offered a seat.
Sauntering over to the group, Levy plopped herself down lazily, feeling most of her energy go to finding ways to stop Gajeel as her gut would not stop worrying over his well-being.
"Hey... Levy... You okay? You're kind of zoning out, and that's more of a Natsu kind of thing," Lucy muttered to her and waved an arm in front of her.
Snapping out of the swamp of thoughts and feelings that occupied her mind, Levy felt her thoughts surge forward, but she bit her tongue just in time before she could say anything, not wanting to divulge too much of Gajeel's life without his permission. Chewing her bottom lip worriedly as the rest of the girls waited for her reply, Levy sighed and cleared her throat to signal that she had an announcement to make, before going on to tell the group about Gajeel's situation and his feelings on the matter regarding his own father and his feelings on how he felt the rest of the gang was still distant towards him.
Finishing hurriedly, Levy scratched her cheeks meekly, not sure what sort of reaction or response she wanted from the rest of the girls.
"Wow Levy..." Erza started, the rest of the girls present completely silent, "I didn't know that you were so close to Gajeel... Are you guys dating?"
"Pfffffft, what? Me? Him? D-Dating? Nah, what gave you that idea? Although I wouldn't mind, b-but , the point is that I-I need help with his problem," Levy stuttered.
"Right... Sure you don't like him. After all, he goes over to your house everyday, and you're willing to go so far for him, even though you hate travelling too much because you can't stand the idea of leaving your books behind," Cana drawled lazily while the rest of the girls giggled in agreement.
"Ugh, yeah, so maybe I do, sue me," Levy groaned while the rest of the girls let out a small cheer, "But really though, he plans on skipping on Saturday and he's going a few towns over just to look for that jerk. The last few times his leads were dead ends, he was so dejected. He skipped school for a week the last time. I don't want him to get hurt anymore."
"Wow... You really do like him."
"Guys!"
"Right, we see the problem. Just go after him on Saturday. We'll cover for you," Bisca cheered while the rest of the girls agreed, "It's no big deal if you skip out on one session every once in a while, especially for something this big."
Nodding in thanks, Levy pushed herself back into her chair, her mind churning possibilities for tomorrow.
Levy jumped in place, waving an arm enthusiastically over the crowd as soon as she saw the familiar mop of raven black hair make it's way over to the train platform.
"Oi Shrimp, whatcha doing here," Gajeel grumbled, as a light blush dusted his cheeks as he sized her up.
"Following you of course. You'll probabl be lost without me anyway," Levy cheerfully replied.
"Uhh... Right, you look nice too," Gajeel murmured, finding somethin else to distract him from Levy's presence
Blushing as she glanced at her outfit, Levy mused as she found that Gajeel had enough tact to know when to compliment a girl. Lightly fingering the orange blouse that she wore, and the matching skirt she wore as well as the black leggings and petite sandals she chose. Looking up, she saw Gajeel don a simple white cloth to act as a bandana and hold back his hair from covering his eyes, as well as a pair of jeans that was torn in a few places, adding to his thuggish look, but to complete it, he wore a simple black t-shirt with the words 'I Love Shrimp' ethched onto the front.
Feeling her cheeks heat up more at the words on his t-shirt, Levy cleared her throat and turned around quickly, not wanting Gajeel to catch her in that state and stalked over to the train door and entered the cabin, with Gajeel following closely behind. Seating themselves across each other, Gajeel immediately turned to face the window but Levy still caught his eyes straying from the window to momentarily glance at her again.
Turning away in embarrassment after Gajeel finally caught Levy looking back at him, Levy straightened up in her seat and turned to face somewhere else. Sighing inwardly as Levy thought deeply about the type of relationship that Gajeel and her held together, Levy felt that she was unable to grasp the sort of person she was to Gajeel. It was obvious to anyone else that the two of them had shared a special relationship together, often going out like these, although they never officially called it a date and even had their fair share of embarrassing and cutesy moments together, however nothing too romantic.
And that's where Levy felt the problem lay.
Sure, they had gone out together, but the fact they had never officially called it a date, or the fact that Gajeel never bothered to try and call her out on an actual one made Levy wonder if the outings they went on together such as the one they were on now, were just two friends hanging out together to Gajeel. Also, even though they did have their share of embarrassing and cutesy moments together, such as him walking in on her bathing, or him being forced to pick out her bathing suit, courtesy of her mother, they were not exactly 'romantic', or activities that couple usually participated in.
Him walking in on her while she was bathing was all an accident, and during the sleepover, sometimes the other girls walked in on each other bathing, so it was not anything worth mentioning. Also, him picking out her bathing suit was because her mother had dragged him along when they found him lounging in the park as they were on the way to go shopping. The closest thing to 'romantic' that the both of them had done was the surprise kiss that Gajeel had pulled on her when she had confronted him back then, but that was years ago, and since then Gajeel still has not tried anything.
Even at times when Levy had tried to initiate something, like hinting to Gajeel, very obviously at that, that she had two tickets to a movie and that she needed a partner, however Gajeel had casually congratulated her and had suggested she bring on of the girls instead. Groaning inwardly as Levy wondered whether Gajeel viewed such an outing between two people of the opposite gender as a date or just an outing between two friends.
Feeling the train shudder as the wheels creaked into life, Levy propped her head onto her arm, feeling the vibration of the engine shake her and wached as the mundane backdrop of the city jolt and move slowly before picking up speed until the train was rocketing out of the station and hurtling across the countryside. Leaning her hide slightly out of the window, Levy sighed contentedly, feeling the wind rush past her hair, lightly flirting with the loose strands while she watched the green scenery of the trees and grass speed past, all of it blurring and blending into a solid block of green with the calming blue of the sky overhead as the backdrop.
Tilting her head ever so slightly, Levy 's cheeks dyed a light pink as she caught Gajeel openly staring at her, resting his head on his hand which leaned on the window sill.
"W-What.. Is there something on my face?" Levy stuttered casually, trying to play her embarrassment off.
"No... You're just more pretty than the scenery," Gajeel softly replied, making Levy's cheeks heat up and bloom into a mad scarlet that even rivalled Erza's hair.
Biting the inside of her cheeks to stop her smile from blatantly showing her happiness at the comment, Levy groaned inwardly, wondering whether his teasing were just comments to rile her emotions up, or actual shows of affection. Spending the rest of the train ride in silence, Levy stared blankly out of the window, letting the dull roar of the wind and engine calm her senses while Gajeel took a quick nap until their station arrived where they briskly got off.
Stretching happily as Levy hopped off the train, she waited for Gajeel who casually strolled over to the station exit for someone so anxious to find his father.
"Can we go eat first? I came to the train station early because I didn't know whether you were taking the first train," Levy hummed happily as she tiptoed and tried scouting for a nice place where they could have lunch.
"Don't even try Shrimp, you're too short to see over the crowd," Gajeel sniggered as he lightly ruffled Levy's hair, "And I can't believe you waited for me that long. I didn't even tell you the town name... But thanks for waiting, and sorry for making you wait so long. So this is my treat, it looks like there's a nice place over there."
Pouting as Gajeel lightly tugged her along, they easily weaved through the crowd before they turned up outisde a small restaurant. Striding inside, the both of them seated themselves at a small table near the entrance, and found themselves the only ones in the small place, except for another tall man who sat quietly in the corner while sipping some coffee.
Skimming over the menu, Gajeel and Levy each ordered their own dishes and had asked for the waiter to bring them something random for their dessert. Casually talking about the cultural festival, and their excitement and respective thoughts on the matter, before their own dishes came, and they switched the atmosphere up by eating together in silence, both just enjoying the company of the other.
Delightedly finishing the last of their food, the both of them piled their plates and passed it to he waiter as he arrived with their dessert and placed it on the table.
"Umm... Sir," Gajeel started as he gestured to the dessert, "I know I said to surprise me with the dessert, but don't you think that a whole banana split by myself is a bit much? I just ate a whole dish by myslef too you know."
"Hmm? I'm sorry, I thought that you wanted me to grab something for you nd your lovely girlfriend. The both of you look like a nice couple together after all," the waiter answered dutifully.
"What? Us, a couple? No no no, I think you have the wrong idea," both Gajeel and Levy yelled in unison, "Hey, stop copying me!"
"See? You are even in sync. I'll just leave the both of you now," the waiter gushed as he planted a single spoon in the middle of the banana split and rushed back to the kitchen.
Sitting in shock, the both of them sighed again as Gajeel picked up the spoon and twirled it in his fingers, unsure of how to react to the situation they were put in as the both of them stared awkwardly at the sweet dessert in between the both of them.
"Well... I guess there's no point in wasting time. If they want us to be a couple, let's be the best one there is," Gajeel groaned as he scooped up a bit of the ice cream, which made Levy cry out in cofusion, "Say ahh."
"W-What are you doing?" Levy gasped as she embarrassedly hid her face behind her hands, "We're in public."
"Just playing the part of a good boyfriend like what the waiter wants," Gajeel smirked as he leaned over the table and used his thumb to lightly brush over her lips, "Now, ahh."
Pouting, Levy puffed her cheeks up in frustration and opened her mouth just by a bit and felt the cool spoon slide into her motuh and she quickly licked up the ice cream, before she grabbed the spoon from Gajeel and scooped another mouthful of ice cream and thrust it out at Gajeel, gesturing for him to open his mouth which he happily obliged to.
Repeating the process painfully over the next fifteen minutes, Levy gasped as she burst out of the restaurant while Gajeel paid the bill, slamming her head lightly on the wall, desperately finding any sort of distraction from the massive headache of a scene that she was forced to play along.
Grumbling and cursing as Gajeel emerged from the restaurant, Gajeel playfully leaned in and nibbled her ear before patting her head as she let out a loud string of curses in his direction. Trailing behind within a safe distance, Levy quietly followed Gajeel using her fingers to brush over her lips, the earlier sensation still fresh in her mind.
"All right Shrimp, we're here. This is where my buddy said he heard of a certain 'Mr Redfox'," Gajeel yelled in her direction as Levy rushed to catch up with him.
Moving to stand by his side, Levy glanced worriedly at the place before nuding Gajeel's shoulder, "Maybe we shouldn't do this? It's fine. We're family right?"
"So is he," came the curt reply as Gajeel walked into the pub.
Stalking down the steps hurriedly, Gajeel strode over to the bar counter and quickly cut in before the bar tender could comment, "I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be here. I just need some information on someone who I know has passed through this bar two weeks ago, then I'll leave."
After getting the bar tender's approval to continue, Gajeel started, "I'm looking for a 'Mr Redfox', a buddy of mine said that he passed through here a while back. He kinda looks like me, but with spikier hair, more piercings and the like. Sound familiar?"
Waiting painfully for a few moments as the bar tender put leaned forward and rested himself on the counter, he finally answered slowly, "Yeah... I think a guy like him came into the bar a few weeks back. He came in and was talking to the guy who runs the flower shop across town for a while, then he got up and moved to the back of the bar, then he started talking to some other guy in a suit. I overheard them talking about some donation thing, but the man you're looking for said that he lived in a motel somewhere in town, if you're looking for where he stayed. I can't really remember anything else, but I guess it's hard to forget a man like that, with so many piercings and tattoos and all."
Nodding thankfully, Gajeel exited the bar, with Levy silently fussing over his decision in coming to the town in the first place. Blatantly ignoring Levy's pleas to turn around and go back to Magnolia, Gajeel simply massaged Levy's shoulder reassuringly and slowly made his way across town, ducking into alleyways and taking more deserted streets before he arrived at a narrow lane with a sign in neon letters sticking out with the words 'Jack's Flowers'. Making their way into the shop, Gajeel and Levy looked around to find a small variety of plants that looked half dead but took up most of the space in the cramped shop.
Pushing their way through the narrow space that the numerous pots and large leaves allowed them, they finally arrived at the counter to find a short but round man sitting lazily behind the counter while flipping through a wet newspaper. After clearing his throat several times to get the man's attention, much to Gajeel's annoyance, Gajeel once again described his father to the stoutly man who listened with little interest and continued flipping through his newspaper.
Finishing his description and asking whether he knew where his father was, Gajeel and Levy waited in an awkward silence as the man completely ignored them, before setting down his newspaper after a while and grumbled lowly, "You rascals still here? Yeah. So what if I saw a guy like that? What's it to you?"
Sighing, Levy cast a glance at Gajeel, who ground his teeth, irritated, while he balled up his fists and slowly explained his situation to the rounded man again who had started to dig out his earwax, much to Levy's disgust.
"Yeah... Saw a man like that," the man repeated again after the third time Gajeel had explained to the man he was searching for the man for personal reasons, "He just came up to me and asked if I was okay with delivering flowers for an event. Then he went to talk to the guy running a local charity for the kids. I don't know what the whole thing was for, he just said he'd be calling me soon. Never did, that bastard. And I was hoping a good deal might have finally come up."
"Umm... Then can you direct us to where this guy running the local charity might be? Do you have his address or his office address or anything of the sort?" Levy stepped in helpfully as she noticed Gajeel step forward menacingly, his patience with the guy running thin.
"I don't know where he lives exactly, but I know that his house is somewhere near the station. Now scram. If you ain't got real business to do here, then you might as well stop annoying me, "the man roared as he grabbed a broom from behind the counter and stretched his stubby arms to try and swat them away.
Hurling a final insult at the man, Gajeel used hi arms to cover Levy's head as he headed out of the shop and continued silently towards the station while Levy sat down on a box and winced as she massaged her feet painfully, before rushing to catch up with Gajeel.
Continuing along the main road, the pair of them arrived at the train station again, frantically asking around whether anyone near the station knew of the man who ran the local charity, until finally after hours of asking, a kid came by telling them that he lived a block away from the station and even kindly directed them to outside a small apartment before he dashed off. Walking up to the door, both Gajeel and Levy knocked a few times, before they heard hurried footsteps sound out from inside the apartment which got louder with each passing step until the door flung open to reveal a man with an extremely skinny man with a toupee lopsidedly perched on his head, as well as a messy beard that covered most of his face.
Murmuring out a greeting to try and grab his attention as the man frantically fixed his toupee, Gajeel proceeded to describe his situation and that he wanted to find the 'man with many piercings' at the bar a few weeks back for personal reasons. Watching tensely as the man scratched his beared furiously before he finally answered that he did recall such a person.
"He came up to me, asking if he could make a donation to help start up the community school that a few other people and I have been trying to put together. He also said that he'd like to send in flowers as a present and some other matters, but that's the main gist of it. As to where he was staying, he briefly mentioned that he stayed in the motel on the outskirts of town, so that would probaby be a half an hours walk from here," the man politely replied.
Groaning immediately as Levy saw a fire light in Gajeel's eyes, knowing that more clues could lie ahead about his father, or even he himself could still be staying at the motel in the outskirts of town. Politely thanking the man, Gajeel continued striding away, leaving Levy to catch up, while she felt Gajeel grow all the more distant.
Limping and hopping the last stretch, Gajeel and her made their way inside a small dilapidated building with a sorry sign that said 'motel', which was hard to see in the fading sunlight as the sun set. Approaching the counter to find a woman filing her nails obsessively while chewing on gum, Gajeel redescribed his father again to the woman who simply nodded along as Gajeel retold everything.
"Right... Mr Redfox, all right, just give me a minute," the woman yawned as she put down the nail file and went on an ancient computer that whirred and sputtered to life as the woman furiously type away and occassionaly banged at the monitor screen, letting loose a few curses, "Aaaaand, yeah. A 'Mr Redfox' did stay here, but he left last week. He did leave his e mail address behind. Do you want me to tell it to you?"
"Yes ple-," Gajeel tried to exclaim, but Levy nudged him in the gut and dragged him out of the motel, apologizing to the woman at the counter.
"What was that for!" I'm so close to finding him again!" Gajeel cried out furiously.
"Gajeel Redfox!" Levy roared, making Gajeel wince and nod obediently, "Think about it. What will you get out of finding him? Is this really worth it?"
"I told you he's my only blood-related family I've got, so listen to me-,"
"No. You listen to me," Levy growled lowly, before biting down on her thumb, until blood started trickling then thrusting her thumb furiously into Gajeel's mouth, "There. We're family, and now you have my blood in you. So please. Stop hurting yourself."
Letting her thoughts flow freely, Levy choked up as she felt her knees turn weak and she stumbled as Gajeel rushed forward to help, but she stopped him and pushed herself up using her knees, "I don't want to see you keep hurting yourself for someone you barely know. Isn't everyone at Fairy Tail your family? Why do you need to keep going through great lengths just meet him? I don't want to see you end up hurting yourself again, whenever you meet a dead end, I don't want to see you sulking or being sad whenever you think about him. Think about me for a change."
"Wha-,"
"Goddamit," Levy sighed as she leaned forward and planted her lips on Gajeel' before pulling back, "I love you."
"Umm.."
"So for god' sake, get a clue and stop being such a baby. Everyone at Fairy Tail cares for you dearly, so don't hinder yourself, don't do stupid things to yourself. I want to get married by the time we're 30. I want to grow old together. I want to have a large house and 3 kids. So, please, let's just go home."
Peeking out from under her bangs as felt tears freely stream down her face, Levy looked out to find a single tear escape Gajeel's eye before he cleared his throat and ruffled her hair affectionately and apologized, "I'm so sorry..."
Nodding happily, Levy tried to get up from her position, but fell forward and removed her sandals painfully as Gajeel rushed forward, "You idiot. You're wearing new sandals, you should have told me, otherwise I wouldn't have made you walk so much."
Sighing as he bent down and lifted her up, supporting her body with one arm before he moved to grab something from his pocket and place it nicely on Levy's finger, "Here. This is the only thing I have left og my dad. He told me to give that ring only to the person I'd marry for sure. So, it's something to keep the guys off you, since we're dating and all."
Gasping in delight as Levy admired the ring while Gajeel carried her properly with both his arms, Levy chuckled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so romantic."
"What about it... Levy?" Gajeel replied awkwardly.
The both of them continued walking in silence, before Levy replied fondly, "I prefer Shrimp."
So that's the Gajeel x Levy chapter I promised to all of you, and honestly, this was the chapter I still feel really sketchy and unsatisfied with, but I hope you guys find it satisfying. Again, I can't thank all of you enough for clicking and taking your time to read this story, and it would help immensely if you guys could drop a review~
-TheFluffMaster