Questions Answered

"Then here, you take the co-ordinates from the question and look for it in the map, and you can find out the town and country." Levy smiled, pointing from the mock papers in front of Romeo to the map between him and Wendy.

"So this first number is longitude?" Wendy made a note.

"Yep."

"Okay, I think that's all we need to know for this test." Romeo mumbled.

"It's fine, it's only high-school level geography. I'm surprised you're both taking it."

"Well we're technically still high-school students, we just have scholarships at college level and we could take those classes at college instead of high-school level. I'm doing sports and Wendy's is Biology, but we still have to do some normal classes."

Pushing up her glasses, Levy ruffled the boy's hair and made her way around the table where Gray was sat, shirtless again, nose deep in a textbook about Aztecs.

"How much more do you need to study Gray?"

"Just this section," he sighed. "I seriously don't know how they come up with the material we need for the exams, I think they just pin topics to a dart board and pick them at random. Seriously, Aztecs, Romans and ancient Greece, how are they even related?"

"I can't answer that," Levy laughed. She left him to it. Looking around, she saw Wendy and Romeo working diligently, Cobra and Kinana talking quietly at the corner table, and surprisingly, Lucy helping Natsu out with his genetics. It was a surprise because Lucy wasn't that great at biology when the girls were at school, though Levy guessed it helps that she repeats all of Natsu's notes to him verbally for him to understand.

She left the students to it, heading up to her front desk to check her emails on the computer.

"Not gonna ask me for help?" She questioned the slumped figure next to her chair.

"I can do it."

"If you're sure." she shrugged, hiding a grin. Since she agreed to go on a date with him a few days ago, if he passed his exam, Gajeel has spent every free moment in her shop studying. She left him to it most of the time, though she did help him out once she closed the shop.

She passed the time, answering some emails and ordering in some books she was running low on stock for, then made everyone drinks while they took a break. An hour or so later, the students started to leave. She locked up behind them as Gajeel got up and stretched out his back.

"You could've sat with the others, you know."

"Nah, they would've distracted me."

"Sure."

As Gajeel moved his stuff to a table at the back, Levy switched the front lights off and turned the sign in the window to Closed.

They spent an extra hour going over Gajeel's notes and mock papers, and Levy learned a fair bit herself. For instance, Gajeel was doing Advanced Math, which was actually one of the classes Levy struggled with in college (she still got an overall A though). Gajeel was also good in Physics and sports, and did read on occasion; things like science-fiction and tales set in fantasy folklore kind of universes. They had a mutual love of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

At about 8:30pm, Levy's stomach started to rumble, signalling that it was way past her usual dinner hour. She got up from where she was slouched on her arms and stretched upwards.

"Wanna call it a night?" She asked, her voice taking an awkward tone from her weird position. Gajeel hardly registered it as he watched her long sleeved sweater rise up a little as she leaned back, a tiny sliver of skin above her high-waisted jeans being exposed.

As she leaned forward again, Gajeel managed a grunt and shut his textbook with a heavy thump. He packed up all his things and together they left the shop,

"I'm gonna walk you home," Gajeel announced briskly, pulling the edge of his scarf up to his nose in an attempt to hide his red cheeks. Levy grinned; it wasn't that dark out at this time of year in Magnolia, and despite it only being the end of January, not nearly as cold as Gajeel was pretending it was, so she was amused at his offer.

"Your exam's tomorrow, right?" Levy asked as they walked along. She didn't live too far away; just down the street away from the town centre, and then around a few corners. It was a well-lit, family populated suburban area that hardly had any trouble; if she had to guess she'd say Gajeel was the scariest looking person this area had seen in the last few months.

"Yeah," Gajeel sighed. "9am too, it had to be early."

"You'll be getting it over and done with though," smiling reassuringly, Levy bumped her arm against his as they walked. A moment later, a large hand grabbed her own, locking their fingers together. Surprised, but not removing her hand, she peered up at the taller figure.

Gajeel was nervously scratching the back of his neck, refusing to meet her eyes as the tips of his ears stained pink, clearly not from the cold.

"This..is alright ain't it?" he murmured, giving her hand a light squeeze.

Overwhelmingly delighted, Levy squeezed his hand back a little harder, though with her grip it was barely anything. She made a happy little noise as she curled her arm to entwine more with his as they walked.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a quaint semi-detached cottage that, despite looking exactly like the other houses, seemed distinctly like Levy.

It could be because the windows were lined with rows of books, who knows.

Levy let go of Gajeel's hand a little reluctantly, opening up her little garden gate and stepping inside of it. As it shut, she leaned forward on it to lean closer to Gajeel.

"Thank you," Levy murmured with a soft smile.

"S'alright." Gajeel shrugged. He stepped a little closer when Levy motioned to come forward, and with a light tug, she pulled him down for a swift peck on the lips.

"A good luck charm for your exam," she teased, then with a whirl and a quiet call of 'goodnight!', she was opening the door to her house and gone from sight, leaving Gajeel still leaning over her gate with a startled expression on his face.

Internally, he was so happy he could have danced his way home.

Only internally though. Gajeel would never really dance home. That's what he tells others, anyway.

.

.

The following afternoon, Levy was finishing up some paperwork regarding Lucy's book signing tour when the door chimed open and shut. Looking up, she spotting Gajeel heading towards her with heavy feet and his head down. Nerves startled to tangle in her stomach as he approached.

"How'd it go?" her voice was barely audible, and she realised she was worried. What if he failed?

Gajeel stayed silent, trudging ever closer. He stepped around the desk until he stood in front of her, and suddenly his head was on her shoulder, and he sighed deep into her curly hair.

Levy's heart sank. He must've failed.

"Oh Gajeel," she mumbled, reaching up with the arm that wasn't held down with the weight of his head on its shoulder. She patted his shoulder and felt him start to shake.

"Gihi.."

Before she could question the noise Gajeel started laughing, and with a squeak she was lifted high into the air, strong arms supporting her back and thighs.

"I passed!" Gajeel grinned, twirling her around as she half-shrieked her disapproval of being picked up, and half-laughed away her worry.

Gajeel dropped her down a little so that they were face-to-face. He looked so pleased with himself Levy couldn't help but grin too.

"So you can do it if you try," she teased.

"Well, anything's possible with the right motivation," he shrugged, then smirked. "Speaking of which..." the arm holding up Levy's back disappeared for a second, but instead of falling, Levy was still completely supported by the arm holding her by her thighs. Levy started to go red as she realised her position and how close she was to him.

"Tadaaa~" Gajeel purred happily, producing a small envelope and waving it about.

"What's this?" Levy tried to reach for it, but Gajeel manouvered his arm out of her reach. She pouted.

"This," Gajeel waggled his pierced eyebrows, "was the motivation."

"Our date?" she guessed, a small smile tugged the corner of her mouth.

"Yep. Planned it the moment you told me you wanted to go on one." At this point, Levy thought he'd be embarrassed, but instead he looked rather proud of himself.

"You going to tell me what it is then?" Levy quirked a brow.

"Nope," popping the 'p', Gajeel set her back down, on the desk albeit. He sat in her chair himself, then pulled the chair to the desk so that he sat between her legs.

If Levy wasn't blushing before, she was definitely red now.

"H-how am I supposed to dress accordingly then?" she stammered slightly.

"I'll let you know a bit then. It's a classic with a twist." he smirked.

"So similar to dinner and a movie, but not?" Levy mused.

"Correct."

"What's the twist though?"

"The twist," Gajeel rested his hands on her thighs, leaning forward and slightly upwards at her face, "is that it's with me. So it could either go terribly well, or terribly wrong. Probably the latter."

Levy couldn't help the snort of laughter then, and Gajeel followed suit with a chuckle of his own.

"Nah, I'm kidding," Gajeel grinned. He held up the envelope again. "Take a look."

Taking it from him, the bluenette contemplated whether or not to keep it a surprise. On the one hand, she wanted to not know until the last minute. On the other, she wants to know so that she can dress appropriately.

After a moment, she took a deep breath, and decided.

"You know what," she pushed the envelope back into his hands, "surprise me. I can wait."

And so will you! ;)

First and foremost, Geography and History were my worst subjects, don't take any of that study nonsense up there seriously.

Cute stuff. I like it. Also continuation of fairytailfandom's study prompt. Hope you liked! Let me know!

I've been busy guys, but this is still my love. Just letting you know though, Small Steps will probably be on hold for now. By the time this gets posted I'll have edited it's description and it should have 'on hold' on it and in my profile too.

I'll be writing on it whenever I get motivation, but it covers some difficult topics and needs to be as accurate as possible, I feel.

Either way, please leave a comment telling me what you think! Wacky Gajeel-esque date ideas are welcomed, though I already have a few ideas of my own! :D

EDIT: Big thank you to everyone who's been following! As I write I currently have 185 followers for this story, and 129 favs! and 87 reviews! That's the most I've ever had on a story!

Let's keep those numbers going up shall we? ;) Reviews are my main source of motivation, after all! Please let me know what you think of my work!