A/N so here we are dear hearts...God I'm tired, two chapters in one day, y'all are slave drivers seriously, or this story is. I'm having fun though.
Feedback is helpful and I appreciate every bit of it. Roses, you didn't have to wait long.
Read on fellow Fairy Fans...DESNA
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Levy stepped into the silent house almost hesitant to fully enter it. Bickslow was behind her and gave her a gentle push, chuckling.
"Go on Kitten, nothing will bite you…I hope." He grinned under her sharp glance without remorse and she shook her head, walking into the house so he could close the door.
Still smiling he slid past his still tip toing girlfriend, Levy was so careful about people, but not him, nope, he wanted to know if their "guests" were still there. So before she could reach out and grab him to stop him he slid past her and marched through the kitchen to the study door and tested it.
If anyone was inside the study it would chime, a little warning Freed had set up to warn anyone (particularly Bickslow even though he owned the damn house in the first place) that someone was working in the study.
Now the runes had been set up that way to prevent Bickslow from bursting in and starling Freed into making mistakes with careful transcriptions and such, something Bickslow frankly DID love doing to the rune mage. The Runes didn't distinguish between someone studying and a couple screwing though, someone just had to be in the study for them to work.
So, when there was no chime, Bickslow opened the door and checked the room. No sign of Lucy or Gajeel anywhere, though he caught a whiff of Lucys distinct strawberry scent so the pair had been in there at some point.
"Bix!" Levy frowned at him and he smiled "What? I checked first, I totally touched the door and waited for it to warn me if someone was in there!"
She smiled, she'd forgotten Freeds pretty in genius rune arrangement for the study. "They're not here, must have gone to his place or hers, good thing we loaded up her fridge and pantry…she didn't have near enough in there to feed him for long." He grinned then, pulling her into a firm embrace and she leaned into him with a sigh.
As soon as they had seen what she had bought, and Levy knowing what Lucy usually kept on hand, they had decided to go the extra distance for their friends. After talking with Gajeel it was clear the man was in love with Lucy, still refusing to admit it, but he was.
He meant to have her as a mate if she wanted him but was somehow convinced that wasn't a certainty even when Levy had outright laughed at him when he'd expressed his doubts.
"She's crazy for you Gajeel, God I think she was already half in love with you when you and I were still kind of teetering toward a relationship." She had laughed.
"Which was long ago and I don't want to think about so you need to suck it up Iron Balls and talk to the girl you want, because you can't have another shot at this one." Bickslow had chuckled, and his smile never faltered, but even Levy had noticed and been delighted by the distinctly protective and possessive edge to the Seith Mages words.
The Dragon Slayer had smiled at him "You're lucky I consider you a friend, even though you play with dolls." Gajeel had countered.
The Slayer had yelped a second later when he'd been hit in the back of the head by one, Bickslow just smiled, having not moved a muscle or said a word. Just reminding his friend he didn't need to in order to extract retribution.
"Careful." Gajeels eyes had narrowed and Levy had steered the conversation back to Lucy to protect her boyfriend from his own antics and dangerous habit of poking at the Dragon Slayers.
Levy knowing that if things went well between the two Lucy and Gajeel would likely hole up for a while had prompted them to hit the market for more food for the pair than Lucys meager shopping trip and they had stuffed her fridge and pantry. Bickslow adding in a couple cases of the beer he knew Gajeel drank and Levy scripting a several stacks of iron bars that she filled a pantry shelf with.
They had then left Lucys apartment, swung by Gajeels and let Pantherlily know what was hopefully going on. Their talk with him was why the Exceed followed them into their house and was currently sitting on the island counter top.
"Well, I left a note at our place for them in case they went there that they would be happier at Lucys since all of the food is there. So I should be able to go home tomarrow without disturbing them." Lily smiled and Levy grinned at him.
"Great! You can have any of the upstairs bedrooms for the night Lily. I'll make popcorn if you and Levy want to get one of the movies we rented going." Bickslow rubbed his hands together, leaned in to kiss Levy as he breezed by her into the kitchen and put the carton of Kiwi juice into the fridge Lily had brought with him.
The trio then settled in for a relaxing evening, all hoping their friends were going to work everything out between them and give the guild another couple to celebrate.
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It was almost three weeks before Lucy and Gajeel appeared again. When they came into the guild late on a Monday morning Levy sprang up from her seat between Bickslow and Jet and walked up to a grinning Lucy with a questioning look.
Cana was on her feet too, "BITCH! I better see a mark on that neck!" Lucy grinned, pulling her hair back, up on her neck on the left below her ear draconic symbols for Gajeels magic and his name showed boldly in her smooth skin.
A collective cheer rose through the guild as Mira ran over squealing with Lisanna and Gajeel shook his head, side stepping the stampede and retreating to sit by Bickslow and Laxus.
"Holy shit, you're lucky you got out of the way in time man…" Bickslow chuckled, Gajeel smiled at him.
"Yeah, now I'll probably have to adjust to that sort of shit. Thanks by the way, for setting up Lucys place for us." The Dragon Slayer said. Bickslow nodded "No worries, just glad you two got everything worked out."
"So who's moving where?" Laxus asked. With him it had been easy, he owned a large house so Cana had simply terminated her lease at Fairy Hills and he and the Raijinshuu had moved her into the house.
Gajeel smiled, he and Lucy had already talked about what they were doing next. For the following couple of months they really couldn't get too far from each other for any amount of time, the fresh bond would make them miserable.
Lucy had a nice place, but it was small, and Gajeels apartment wasn't any bigger so they had spent part of the last week looking for a new place to call home, even collecting Lily and having the exceed participate in the decision.
Gajeel had gotten to drop a hell of a surprise on her too. Since he lived so simply, was S-class and took jobs so frequently, he'd had more than enough saved to put a big down payment on a house.
Now as a couple they could take jobs, and with his status they could take any job they wanted, so it had put them in a position where they could have choices.
Regardless, as they had looked nothing had seemed right until Lucys landlord had mentioned they might want to talk to her brother as he was selling a few properties.
One of the properties the man was offering happened to be the building right next to the one Lucys apartment was in. The white three story with green trim had a beautiful bay window on the master bedroom on the second floor that overlooked the canal. It needed some paint, a little work, but the price was well under what they had been hoping to spend.
So, Gajeel already had the keys for the place, they had closed the deal that morning. The house was theirs.
"We found a new place, we're both moving." He said then and all eyes turned to him.
Bickslow smiled "Not wasting any time huh?" He chuckled. Gajeel shook his head "Fuck no, not if I can help it." He replied.
"Well, if you guys need help moving, or working on the place, I did a ton of the work on mine, I'm pretty good at it." The Seith Mage offered.
Gajeel turned toward him in surprise, he was fine with working on a house, hell he had built a cabin from the foundation up, but help would make everything go faster.
"Yeah, that would be great."
A collective squeal from the women still crowded at the center of the hall made them all wince and Bickslow clanged between the two Dragon Slayers.
"Until I was momentarily deafened, they were talking about the same thing we were, Lucy told them what you decided on Metal head and…yeah…deafened." Laxus frowned.
"Now they're starting in about having a collective party for all the new couples, Gods help us." The Lightning Slayer stood "That's it, I need more beer."
The next couple of hours word spread like wildfire through the guild about Gajeel and Lucy, the Party would be Friday but Laki had stepped in and suggested the guild collectively help Gajeel and Lucy get their new home ready so they could add housewarming to the party Friday.
The men could only watch as the women they were attached to volunteered them and started planning out the week.
"Well, guess we won't be taking any jobs until the weekend." Jet snickered.
"Nobody will by the sounds of it…" Bickslow sat in amazement. The force that was woman had consumed the whole Guild. They were further doomed by the fact that Max had been roped in by Mira and voluntold to organize everything.
"Anyone figure out yet what happened? I don't know about you Metal head but that sexy woman scent is still thick, still makes my head spin at times." Laxus asked.
Gajeel frowned slightly, he'd forgotten about that, pursuing it had gotten pushed aside by his pursuit of a certain blonde.
"No, but now that you mention it, that scent is still there, strong as ever and I know I had never caught much more than a tiny hint of it anywhere before a month ago." He replied.
"You mean like the kind of spicy smell? Sort of like Nutmeg and almonds?" Both Dragon Slayers looked at Bicklow in surprise, he'd just labeled it, something neither had been able to really put a finger on, the damn Seith mage who didn't even have their keen noses just had."
"You can smell it?!" Gajeel asked, Bickslow nodded "Well, if you mean that, yeah, Levy usually leans toward this kind of honey and lavender body wash and such, but she has that smell, especially when she's ah…worked up. Hits me like some kind of drug."
Freed moved over then, coming around the table and sitting in front of the three men. "I've been doing some ongoing research into female biology, after Laxus mentioned they smelled different I looked into pheromones in particular. The one associated with a womans..ah..sex drive, it's supposed to smell similar to almonds when concentrated. Some Alchemists have tried to concentrate it before as everything from an afrodesiac to a love potion."
"Ok, well…why the hell would all of them suddenly start pumping off that pheromone like that?" Laxus asked.
Freed shook his head "I really don't know, the human body shouldn't even produce it in amounts that even a Dragon Slayers nose could really pick up, that Bickslow can smell it at all, well, I can too honestly." Freed admitted.
"I've caught whiffs of it, especially that night Cana was circling around us smacking us all with that deck of cards she had." Jet said.
Laxus narrowed his eyes looking for his mate in the still knotted cluster of women. "I'll ask Cana what that was all about, I'd forgotten about it."
Gajeel had his own eyes on Lucy, watching her feeling his body stir as she shifted her weight and a rounded hip pressed into the snug fabric of the skirt she was in. God he was hopeless, two weeks, they hadn't left her apartment once for two solid weeks, only leaving the bed to eat, bathe or try other places in the tiny place to have sex.
They'd been insatiable, all over each other the entire time, he couldn't even begin to count how many times they had sex during that time, it was all a blur of wicked, body blazing erotic fantasy in his head now, and even so, she could turn him on just by shifting her damn weight.
He smirked though, she was his, he wouldn't have to wait too long to satisfy his needs anymore. He'd have to ask her about that whole card thing with Cana, the drunk had been up to something and he'd heard pieces of it, knew Lucy probably knew.
Bickslow was having the same thoughts as his friends, watching Levy laughing and talking excitedly with the other women, he knew what they needed to talk about when they got back to his place tonight.
"Ok! So Lucy says you've already gone and terminated your lease Gajeel, and she's terminated hers, you both have to the end of this month to move out of your apartments into that new house. Lets all get over there, I want to see what I can get started on and we need to plan what we're going to do so you two can get moved in before Friday!" Laki said, approaching the table of men and looking at Gajeel.
Cana went over to Laxus and started pulling him to his feet and before any of them could say a thing, all of the men were being herded out of the Guild and a large group headed happily over to Gajeel and Lucys new house.
Fairy Tail mobilized then, nobody escaped Max and Mira who took over the organization of getting their guildmates situated in their new home. Even Makarov himself was painting walls. Laki made the renovations go so fast Bickslow was downright envious, what had taken him, Freed and Laxus several weeks to do, pulling out corroded beams and lumber and replacing them, sanding and staining, took Laki a couple of days.
Max was able to make sanding any of the wood happen in seconds and with everyone pitching in with the painting and staining, Lucy and Gajeel were moving into the house on Mira and Max's seemingly impossible schedule in complete amazement.
It became clear as they did though that they would be working a lot of jobs to get enough furniture into the house. Neither owned a lot of furniture, they had lived in tiny apartments, so it had never been needed.
When they woke Friday morning though, it was in their new house and Lucy opened her eyes smiling across Gajeels bare chest.
She was in heaven, it was all too good to be real. Reaching up she ran a finger over the mark on her neck, it was still tender. Three deep long bites in three weeks to seal it.
Each one had rocked reality for her, brought her closer to the man who slept beside her now, intensified every feeling, torn open things and laid both of them bare to each other.
She could sense things now, knew when his moods were changing, especially if they spiked in a single direction. It had given her the ability to see through a lot of his defenses, and the ability to understand so much more about him.
She'd known there was a good man buried under the rough, rude sometimes nasty tempered exterior but she'd never imagined the depth of it. The man wasn't emotionless, he wasn't distant, the truth was he was intensely aware of things, felt things very deeply when he allowed anything through and a lot of the time, things got through he didn't want.
There was a soft, vulnerable person under the Iron, fangs and burning red eyes. She'd never tell anyone either, this was HER Gajeel. It was funny, but she wanted, no, needed to keep how he really was to herself. Like some incredible treasure, she wanted nobody but herself to ever even imagine was there.
The soft side of him he would never let anyone but her see, her and somewhat Lily, since the Exceed got to watch the couple interact. He had happily claimed the bedroom on the third floor facing the canal. He loved the skylights and particularly enjoyed how they allowed him a way into his part of the house via those windows that could be opened just enough to let warm air escape the house and allow an exceed on the wing to fly in.
She loved the big bay window on the front of the house. They had put a soft lounge chair and a lamp there so they could lay there and look out at the sky. It was a perfect reading nook too.
She wasn't as fond of the massive Iron frame of their bed. They had put Gajeels bed in their bedroom, since his was larger than Lucys. It was soft, and he kept a small mountain of blankets and pillows on it.
One of the things she now knew about her Dragon Slayer was he loved to nest, to snuggle down deep in that massive bed with her where he turned into a cuddling purring delight that even exceeded the best she had ever seen from Natsu when he had been climbing through her window all those years and slipping into her bed with her.
Natsu cuddled, it was probably a Dragon thing she decided, making a mental note to ask Cana if Laxus did it too. But Gajeel put the Fire Slayer to shame with all of his blankets and pillows and his ability to run his hands over her, pull her against him and curl around her so perfectly.
She was loved, she felt it, it radiated from the man and now she could sense it from him and feel her heart warm when he was thinking about it, feeling it more than usual. It was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced.
Curled up in their nest of a bed she had asked him if he felt it from her and he'd smiled "I feel it Bunny, I drown in it like a happy damn fool every time too."
So her bed was upstairs, Lilys bed now, the exceed had plans for fixing his room up too, and plans to put a small deck on the roof for him and the other exceeds to spend time on.
They had a total of four bedrooms, each spacious with its own bathroom including a den on the first floor she was seriously thinking of turning into a study on par with the one Bickslow had.
Ultimately though, they had a home together, the monthly mortgage was less than either of them had been paying in rent too thanks to the terms and down payment they had put together.
Curling her fingers she let her nails scrape over his skin and saw his lips twitch, he was awake, she knew he was, he was damn good at playing dead but he couldn't hide things from her anywhere near as well as he'd been able to before.
Changing tactics she slid her fingers to his side just above his hip and his eyes shot open and he squirmed away from her before she could really dig in to get a good tickle going.
The blankets though restricted his movement and she got him anyway, delighting in the deep laughter she pulled out of him. "Damn it! Bunny you're fucking evil!" He caught her hands and managed to get her pinned but was still struggling through the blankets and pillows.
"I can't fucking move." He snarled and she stuck her tongue out "You're the one who insists on 20 some blankets and even more pillows all over the bed." She pointed out. He smiled down at her, now hovering over her "You love em, you know you do." He returned. She lunged up, catching his lips and that ended their talking for the next hour.
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Levy rolled over smiling when her nose met a firm warm chest. She wriggled until she had him on his back and could drape herself over him lazily.
He smiled, not opening his eyes "Morning Kitten." He breathed, arms coming up to close around her.
She kissed his neck, his chin, then his lips, loving the soft hum she got from him and pulling back to push heavy dark blue locks from his eyes.
She loved him, God how she loved this man, she had fallen so hard and so fast she'd had no hope of avoiding it.
He'd brought out everything good in her, finding things she didn't even know were in her and making them shine. She would never forget the night he had shown her how her soul looked. That would stay with her forever.
It had laid to rest one of her worst fears too, that because of where she came from, because of her father, and his father, her mothers father, all dark and terrible wizards, one famously so, that she herself harbored that darkness inside her and one day it would consume her.
That fear was gone now, and she was happier, her soul felt lighter being free of it. He had said it was what Seith Magic was supposed to be about. She'd started researching his magic too, finding books he had in the study on it.
It was so rare, and because it was so dangerous if the wizard went dark, which was apparently very easy for a Seith Mage, they were intensely dangerous, deadly, a single Seith Mage could kill hundreds, it had happened, the loss of life had been astronomical in the case that had spurred the Council to declare the magic illegal to practice.
They were hunted, if found the council made them disappear, no doubt killing them. It explained why the master was so careful about handling Bickslow, labeling him a telekinetic/telepath hybrid and why Bickslows magic seal over his face. That had once apparently only been visible when he was using his magic, had been tattooed in place and the tattoo had even been registered along with Bickslows ID as a legal Wizard with the council, explained as a misguided decision he'd made to try and make others fear him because he was being bullied.
If used as it was meant to be used though, Seith Magic was almost a healing magic. Meant for the soul and all that was associated with it. Bickslow could even channel his own magic into others to prevent death when someone was losing their grip on life.
When she had asked him about it he'd told her he had done it a few times, once for Laxus after Tartaros.
He could pull people from comas too, if the way blocking them from consciousness was purely mental, he could guide them out, reaching them through their soul.
It was truly awe inspiring magic he had been born with. It wasn't teachable either, not a magic someone could learn, they had to be born with it, which was probably why the council hunted Seith Mages, an attempt to wipe the magic off of Earthland.
"Levy? Can I ask you about something?" He was looking at her now, serious but only mildly so since a faint smile held the edges of his lips.
She smiled down at him, God he was handsome, those curling eyelashes, his slightly slanted exotic eyes, her heart rate sped up just sitting there looking at him, she was so so lost to this man. "Of course."
"The night before I met you in the bookstore, you and the girls were all acting really wild, Cana did something, she came around and drug a deck of cards over each of us at the table playing cards that night, what was she up to?" He asked.
The question surprised her, she'd almost forgotten about that, she'd been really drunk that night and only vaguely remembered it all, but she remembered the next morning meeting the other women at the café clearly.
"It was for fun, she was supposedly doing a spell, enchanting the cards so there would be one for each of us that would apparently show us the best man out of all of you for us…romance wise." She blushed a little at the end, it seemed silly now, but it had been fun.
"Supposedly?" He asked. She nodded as one of his hands came to push her hair from her face then slid lightly down her back.
"It didn't work, when we met the next morning to get our cards, she said she had spent all night and part of the morning completing the spell, it was supposed to be a big one, but instead of our cards going to us when she finished, they all disappeared." She told him.
Bickslow frowned "That's odd, Canas magic is usually reliable when she does those divinations and such. Well damn, couldn't be related then, and you had me wondering who was on your card but you never got to see it huh?"
Levy smiled, shaking her head "I'm sure it was you." She giggled and he grinned, pulling her down for a long kiss that quickly turned into a lot more in a hurry.
She'd been thinking so much about him, her love for him just aching in her chest all morning she was desperate for him by the time he started kissing her, so she went on the offensive, grinding herself against him and pressing her hands where she knew he was sensitive.
He never had once denied her, and if he had his choice, he never would either, though she didn't know that. All she knew was he always responded to her with strong passion, sometimes tender, sometimes languid, sometimes burning and even sometimes rough, but not once had he moved from her touch.
To him she was an angel of mercy, come into his life so unexpectedly and completely taken it over and he'd willingly let it happen, happily given himself to it all.
He couldn't get enough of her, hated the few nights she stayed at her apartment or was gone with her team. She had become like a fountain of contentment and happiness from him and he had always been too dry. Levy had become safety, wherever she was, he was home as long as he was with her.
He wanted her with him more and when they lay spent a while later, panting and sweaty and smiling at each other he leaned over her, pushing her damp hair from her face and smiling down into her eyes.
He started kissing her, soft light feathery kisses that made her smile. "I need to tell you something, ask you something." He said softly.
She tilted her head, tracing over the tattoo on his face with a light finger before sliding her hand into his soft hair. "I'm listening." She breathed, trying not to sound as dreamy as she felt at the moment.
He was just such a light in her life now she just ached with it. Anything she thought, ask me anything and I just don't care what it is I'll do it.
"I know we're only near our two month mark, maybe it's fast, I don't really give a damn. I want you with me more, I want you here. You spend most of your time here anyway, I've seen your apartment, your books don't fit there but I've got more room for them than you could fill in that study. Move in with me Kitten, live here with me." He was kissing her the whole time, speaking in between those soft light kisses. She always got so relaxed, so happy when they talked like this.
Even so, moving in, that was a pretty big step. She looked up at him, watching him watching her and kissed him. Big or little, if he was there she wanted to be.
"I guess as a Guild it seems to be the thing to do huh? I'd love to though Bix, Yes." She agreed and he grinned, kissing her hard, then resting his forehead against hers for a moment before meeting her eyes again.
This time his expression held no playfull edge, no humor at all, just warm intensity. "I'm glad…I'm falling in love with you Levy, and I need you here…because I want to wake up next to you, fall asleep next to you whenever I can."
Levys eyes widened, the ache in her chest suddenly filling with joy "Bix…I…" She felt tears threatening, stinging and he smiled "You don't have to say anything, I don't even care if you don't love me yet, but I'd like to have a better chance at getting you there I won't lie."
She shook her head "God Bix…I fell in love with you a while ago…" she admitted and he laughed, his own eyes suddenly bright, his voice breaking when he spoke again. "So I'm actually the late one huh? I'll catch up, especially with you here."
All thoughts about Cana, the cards, anything but each other were gone then, both determined to show the other just how much they felt.
