Author's notes: Didn't want to update this chapter before being done with the next one but I figured it wouldn't be a bad thing. :)

Still don't own them.

Let's Play Pretend

#21: Voice of Reason

Funny how, sometime, things could take a turn for the unexpected. If someone had told her what the future held for her, that day, she wouldn't have believed them.

At this point, Levy was certain that she was cursed.

She couldn't think of any other explanation for all the hardships she was experiencing. It was as if someone, somewhere, had decided to mess with her life and purposely put spoke in her wheels. Why else would the only person she hadn't been ready to interact with show up at her very door, while it should have been impossible for him to do it? Why else wouldn't she have found a good excuse to avoid going to that party, in the first place? Why else would she now be arguing with herself, just to decide if she should, or shouldn't, wear matching underwears...

It was so ridiculous. It wasn't like she intended to show them to anyone. It shouldn't bother her at all, if they didn't match, right?

After all, as long as they were clean, anything was fine, right?

Right?

With a frustrated groan, the bluenette dug in her drawer and grabbed her matching, dark gray panties and bra... b-but only because it was her only pair with removable bra's straps, okay? Not because she had any plan for anything happening, tonight. No, sir. No one would know that they matched, even though it didn't even matter, if they matched or not.

They just did. Period.

Anyway, she knew that choosing undergarments wasn't the hardest thing she had to do, today, because she still had to pick something to wear over them. Unfortunately, one look at the content of her wardrobe was making her lose all hope, before she even started. She had absolutely nothing to wear!

Well, nothing suitable, to be precise. Though she didn't own as much clothes as Lu-chan did, Levy still had plenty of dresses and outfits and getting dressed had never really been an issue for her. If it had been a regular day, she knew that anything in there would have done the job; even for a party, she would have surely found something cute to wear. But that was exactly the problem: for the first time, cute wasn't going to be enough. She wanted something gorgeous, stunning, sexy that would catch the eye of her favorite Dragon Slayer and leave him speechless! Making him unable to tear his gaze from her! Making him unable to think about anything else than her!

But there was also a little voice of reason ringing in her head, that was strongly warning her against it. Wearing something sexier than her usual style would surely make Gazille notice her, which was good, but could also make him wonder about the reasons of her choice and she would be quite embarrassed having to admit the truth to him. Overdoing it would amount to the same thing that sticking a giant sign on her forehead that spelled "I LOVE YOU GAZILLE REDFOX!" in bright neon letters.

On the other hand, she couldn't go dressed up as if she was only grocery shopping, neither; all the other girls were going to be dolled up, all nice and sexy, and, if she didn't dressed up nice enough, she would end up being the plainier-looking one of the gang. Just imagining the iron mage giving these girls more attention than he'd give her... It was enough to lead her in the grip of the green-eyed monster, motivating her to do everything possible to outshine them all.

With a resigned sigh, Levy started searching among her clothes, again, growing more and more anxious at each dresses and outfits she discarded. She rejected pants, because she wanted to show her legs; she also eliminated everything she could remember to have already worn in Gazille's presence, like the aqua colored dress from their first date or the green pinafore one from their reconciliation. Wearing her yukata was also out of the question, even though she recalled how much he had liked it; she was pretty sure everyone else was going to be wearing normal party clothes.

Soon, there was more clothes piled up on her bed and at her feet than left in the wardrobe. The young woman racked both hands in her hair and pushed a long whiny groan.

"Aawrgh... I'll never make it... Somebody help me."

She dropped her arms back at her side, her shoulders slouching in defeat; the very second after, a soft knock interrupted the silence.

"Levy-san?" a young voice from the other side of the door followed. Levy had already recognized who it was.

"Yes, Wendy?" she asked in a tired voice, just loud enough to be heard.

"I came to tell you that Gazille-san has just arrived."

To say that the bluenette hadn't been expecting that would be accurate; her eyes bulged, her heart stopped and the violent start she gave stretched the sensitive muscles of her abdomen, in a very painful way.

"WHAT?! ALREADY?" she nothing less than screamed, instinctively putting a hand over her belly to soothe the pain, even if panic was pretty much overtaking all of her senses, now. "It's not already five o'clock, is it?!"

"In about five minutes, it will, yes."

Wendy's reply was like a death sentence: Levy felt her legs buckle for a fraction of a second, before she quickly regained her footing, throwing a panicked look at the wall clock over her desk that indicated that it was, indeed, almost five o'clock. How was that even possible: it hadn't even been two o'clock, five minutes ago!

"Levy-san? Are you okay?"

Noooo! She wasn't okay! What was she going to do?! Gazille was already here and she had barely managed to put some underwears on! She still had to find an outfit, find matching shoes, fix her hair and put make up. There was no way she was going to be ready, in less than five minutes! Thanks Mavis, she had had the presence of mind to shave her legs, the morning before; it was pretty much the only upside she could find about this disastrous situation!

"Levy-san?" Wendy asked again, apparently worried about a lack of response.

"Can you please make him wait? I-I'll be out in a minute!" Levy called out, while literally throwing herself in her wardrobe and drawers to find something to wear; she supposed the little Dragon Slayer agreed, because she didn't hear her voice, after that. Moving faster than Jet had ever been able to, she looked at each piece in front of the mirror, giving each of them barely a second or two before discarding them over her shoulder and picking up another. The imminent deadline wasn't helping her choose much better: her hands were trembling with adrenaline and a fine layer of sweat was covering her from head to toes.

She was digging through the remaining clothes in the wardrobe with both hands, wondering why love was making everything so complicated, when her hand fell on a plastic bag hidden behind a box of winter clothes. She frowned in confusion, when she took it out, as she couldn't remember to have put it there. She found inside a piece of clothing, black, soft and shinny, that, when she unfolded it, revealed itself to be a short cocktail dress decorated with a black ribbon under the bustline.

She then remembered: it was Lu-chan who had bought it for her, a bit before last Christmas, because she had claimed that it had fit her like a glove, when she had tried it on, at the blond mage's (incessant) request. But Levy hadn't wished to buy it; not because it wasn't pretty, it really was, but its style was a bit too... skimpy for her taste, the top being strapless and the puffy bottom barely covering her butt. Lucy wouldn't have blinked an eye wearing it, but the bluenette had been way to embarrassed to consider showing herself in it; however, in the end, Lu-chan had purchased it, forced her to accept it and Levy had thanked her, out of politeness, but, the moment she had made it home, she had put it away, with the intention to get rid of it, at the first occasion... which she had apparently forgotten to do.

A glance in the mirror, a thought about who was waiting for her, downstairs, and her overall situation were enough to convince her that this was the sign from heaven she had been waiting for.

The wait was killing him. In fact, it had been killing him, ever since this morning. Wendy's news that Levy was about to come out had been a very small consolation, especially since fifteen minutes had already passed, since then.

"It's a girl thing," Cana commented, between two long sips of the bottle of wine she was having as an aperitif, before the party. "Better get used to it, Ironboy."

Gazille didn't retort anything, starring in front of him instead; he was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing a white shirt under a black suit, with matching black tie, pants and shoes. Wendy had let him in the dormitory, again, as it was more comfortable for him to wait in the lobby than outside, even though the weather was pleasant. The sky Dragon Slayer and her cat had been waiting for Cana to be ready, before leaving for the guild, but, then, the card mage had suggested they waited for Levy as well and left as a group. It had sounded like an excuse to peep on them, but, at this point, Gazille didn't really give a damn anymore.

He was far more preoccupied by how his evening with Levy would go... if it ever happened, in the first place.

Rushing footsteps coming from upstairs interrupted his thoughts. When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, his eyes took on the sight of a deliciously appealing pair of legs rushing down the stairs, followed by a short, strapless black dress, slim creamy arms and neck, with a pretty head on top of it, whose wavy blue hair was pulled in a simple yet elegant updo and ornated with a thin black ribbon instead of the usual bandanna.

While the young woman his brain eventually recognized as his Munchkin made her way to him, the man's train of thoughts was reduced to the very simple yet eloquent words: Holy crap! She was gorgeous, just fucking gorgeous... After having seen this, he would be very lucky, if he managed to find sleep, tonight.

"Well, look at dat..." said Cana mischievously, having taken advantage of his distraction to put one arm over his shoulder and snicker in his ear. "Ya better keep an eye on her, tonight, Redfox. Me got the feelin' dat she's going to be very popular," she added with a wink, before taking another long gulp of wine.

Gazille frowned at the drunk woman's comment, that made him realize he, obviously, wasn't going to be the only male to see Levy like this and considering how he had reacted, when he had seen her talking to the Raijinshu captain, he could only predict how bad he was going to feel, if other guys came to talk to her, tonight, or even just look her way. Though he supposed people wouldn't question it, if he started glaring at those other males, since everyone knew Levy and him were dating, it wouldn't be very subtle of him to start acting like a jealous boyfriend, while he had never really shown signs of possessiveness, in the past, at least, not before that incident with Laxus's lapdog. Levy would surely notice that something wasn't right with him and figure out his secret.

All worries of potential rivals were forcely pushed away from his mind, when Levy came within two feet from his position and he noticed that she was giving him and Cana a particular look. Her expression hadn't changed, but there was a glimpse of something in her eyes that disturbed him; realizing Cana was still stupidly hanging onto him, he quickly pushed her away with his elbow. The brunette simply staggered on her other leg, chuckling and grinning, as if nothing unusual had just happened.

Trying his best to sound as casual as possible, Gazille greeted the bluenette with a smile he hoped wasn't too suspicious.

"Hey, Shorty."

Levy glanced up to meet his eyes and smiled back, but quickly dropped her gaze on the small handbag she was holding, her cheeks reddening.

"H-Hi... Sorry for being late, I... couldn't find my shoes."

"It's okay," he shrugged, doing his best not to stare but finding it very difficult, now that she was this close. She smelled as wonderful as ever and he also noticed that she didn't put makeup, which pleased him. He definitely found her prettier without.

"You look amazing, Levy-san," Wendy said to the blushing bluenette, who thanked her before glancing at Gazille again, from the corner of the eye. Once more, she didn't hold his gaze very long and the iron mage was, then, hit by a crazy impression. What if his Munchkin had dressed up like this, with a specific purpose?

It lasted only for a fraction of a second, before he mentally shook his head and called himself an idiot. It couldn't possibly be right; the fact that she seemed shy around him and blushed, every time their eyes met, couldn't possibly mean she was attracted to him, even if it was a bit out of character, for her, to act this way around him. It was probably his love-sick mind that was playing tricks on him and making him see signs that weren't really there.

"Okay!" Cana loudly interrupted his inner monologue with a raised fist and an overly cheerful grin on her face. "How about we get going, before some of us decide to skip the party and go have their own, upstairs?"

Gazille almost choked on his saliva, at those words, while Levy's entire body turned beet red. Wendy and Charle both grimaced at the card mage, who seemed extremely proud of her joke and was laughing at the two lovers; they quickly shoved her out of the dormitory, to prevent the fight that was sure to come.

"Really, Cana-san, you can be impossible, sometimes," the iron mage heard the girl say to the drunk, while they disappeared behind the doors. Charle probably added something about the bottle of wine their friend was drinking, because he heard the brunette mock-whine.

"Aw, no, Mom, don't confiscate it. I'll be a good girl, promise!"

Soon, the lobby became silent again and the two remaining mages stood there without knowing what to say next, while the air was growing heavy with awkwardness. Gazille eventually managed to get his vocal cords to cooperate with his brain and offered his elbow to the bluenette.

"Ready?"

He didn't purposely try to lock gaze with her, figuring it would ease the situation. She nodded, her eyes still glued to the carpet, before taking his elbow and following him outside. She didn't say a word, on their way to the guild, and the iron mage couldn't shake off the sour feeling that had started twisting his chest.

Levy wasn't a medical expert, but she was pretty sure to have all the symptoms of someone about to be struck by an heart attack.

Her chest hurt, she was feeling light-headed, her legs were like jelly and there was a frigging storm in her guts. Any moment now, she could black out... or die. Or both!

Which wouldn't be so bad, now that she thought about it. It would be the perfect escape plan for the madness resuming her last twenty-four hours...

Okay, maybe dying would be a bit extreme, but fainting offered her some interesting advantages, the main one being not-having-to-be-in-presence-of-her-crush-who-was-making-her-melt-like-butter-on-a-hot-sidewalk-without-even-trying! He was currently sitting at her side, at a table not too far from the bar, and, even though there was a reasonable distance between them, she could feel the heat of his body through his clothes and smell his alluring scent, which she suspected to be nothing more extravagant than his natural scent mixed with soap. His mere presence was enough to drive her crazy: with subtle glances from the corner of the eye, she was getting lost in the handsomeness of his facial features, and more precisely his lips that were tempting her to forget about reason and claim them until she dropped from oxygen deprivation.

Useless to say that, for someone attempting to not surrender to their desires, these conditions were far from being ideal. It would be a miracle, if she made it through the night without incident.

She had no idea, if Gazille had noticed how freaking nervous she was, by now, but, if he did, he hadn't said a word about it. In fact, he had almost not said a word to her, since they had left the dormitory, and she hadn't said much neither, because she simply didn't trust what her brain could make her babble, if she tried to have a conversation with him. But her silence was making her feel cheap: at this rate, Gazille would surely start thinking she was weird and/or she hated him and/or she was hidding something from him... which was technically true, but she couldn't possibly let him figure that out, at least not without having first purchased a train ticket for a foreign country.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gazille's low voice suddenly brought her back to reality. From his seat, he had tilted his head toward her and raised an eyebrow. Levy gulped, forcing herself to smile normally; her heart was like a wild beast trying to break free and the blood thumping in her ears was hindering her concentration.

"Y-yes, I'm... I'm fine," she managed to answer, though she knew that she had miserably failed at making him believe it; just one look at the doubtful frown that now crossed his face was enough to say so. But he didn't insist, raising to his feet, instead.

"I'm going to the bar," he told her, "you want something?"

"Uh, me?" she asked, immediately regretting asking such a dumb question; she tried to correct herself, but she ended up babbling. "I, uh, w-why not-I mean, yes! Yes, please... A-anything will do..."

Gazille nodded and walked away without another word, leaving Levy with the sudden urge to beat herself with her handbag. Why did she have to be so lame around him? Wasn't there any way for her to not look like a fool in front of the only guy she wanted to impress? Couldn't the universe have pity of her and give her a damn break, already?!

Various loud cheers and applause coming from the crowded guild distracted the bluenette from her thoughts. It didn't take long before she understood the reason for all this excitement, as people quickly started chanting Elfman's name; the man in question suddenly made his appearance in the middle of the hall, looking all around him in surprise. Lisanna was pulling him toward a big, red, velvet-covered chair, while everyone sang the Happy Birthday song. When they applauded and cheered again, the white-haired man found his eldest sister in the crowd and pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Nee-san, you had promised to not do anything, this year!" To which Mirajane smiled and made a sheepish shrug that didn't look remotely as innocent as it should have, but she was lost into her brother's strong hug and muffled cries of gratitude, the very second after.

The script mage smiled at the scene, that made her recall the birthday gift she had bought him and that she had had the presence of mind to give to Mirajane, a few days ago, just in case. It had been a smart move; with everything that had happened, since yesterday, she would have definitely forgotten it at home.

She raised to her feet, as Master Makarov started a short speech praising the manliest man of their guild. Eflman seemed flustered to hear such nice things said about him, but very pleased, nonetheless, embracing both of his sisters and holding back his tears. At the end, the master made a toast to officially start the party, raising a glass of punch high over his head; everyone mimicked his gesture with cheers and laughter, except Levy, who didn't have anything to drink in hand.

At the sight of her guild mates drinking, she bit her lower lip in envy. She had been avoiding alcohol for a while, the latest exception being when she had gone to Ray's Palace with Gazille, but the idea seemed quite appealing, at the moment; not too much to get wasted, of course, but a few sips to help her calm down and get the break she so desesperately wanted would be nice.

"Oh, it's Levy-chan!" a familiar voice reached Levy's ears, a second later. She turned the head to the right to see who had called her name and saw Jet and Droy come out of the crowd, both of them dressed in clean shirts and pants. They immediately stopped in their tracks, when their eyes fell on her; Droy, who had a plate of chicken wings in his right hand, dropped the one he had been holding in his left, while Jet's eyes grew wide as saucer plates and his eyebrows disappeared in his hairline.

"Wow, Levy-chan..." both guys said at once, before falling silent for a few seconds.

"Hi, guys," the bluenette smiled, waving a hand. Jet gulped slowly before speaking up again.

"Is it safe for us to tell you that you look really good?"

Levy, surprised by the question, let out a little laugh.

"Of course; why do you say that?"

The males exchanged a look.

"We've heard your boyfriend doesn't like seeing other guys talking to you," explained Jet, with a sardonic emphase on the word boyfriend.

"Yeah, he apparently went psycho on Freed, the other day," added Droy, "tried to kill him or something." It was Levy's turn to grow wide-eyed.

"What?! N-No, he never did that," she quickly denied, even though she was blushing, because she had heard the very same story from the girls at the dormitory, the day before. "I was there and I can assure you Gazille never threatened Freed. He didn't even talk to him."

The boys replied with a hum, but they didn't look half-convinced by her words. Levy couldn't understand how that rumor had started: she clearly remembered that day and the meeting between Gazille, Freed and her and, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't recall anything that could have indicated a jealous behavior, coming from the iron Dragon Slayer. Yet, it was not only the girls but also her teammates who believed he had been jealous of Freed and it confused her. It was silly, really, thinking that Gazille could be envious of the rune mage, since said mage's preferences were almost as obvious as Max's ones for brooms, but... what if it had been true? What if he had really been jealous of Freed? Could it had been an act, even though he had never played his part that way, before?

It was probably not true. It was probably Mirajane's entusiasm that contaminated everybody, like it too often did. And the fact that her heart was skipping a beat, at the idea that Gazille could have been jealous of another man, was just her emotions torturing her.

"Man, you look like you've just been sentenced to death."

Gazille, who had just ordered drinks to the purple-haired girl at the bar, merely blinked at Pantherlily's statement. He was hunched over the counter, propped on his forearms; the exceed was standing on the bar itself, next to a glass of kiwi mojito.

"You managed to convince her to come with you, it mustn't be that bad, right?" Lily insisted, to which the man sighed.

"Yeah... except that she looks like she wants to leave the country."

The cat raised a confused eyebrow.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing," replied Gazille. "Absolutely nothing..." Beside making sure to not look too often down the neckline (or should he call it the breastline) of her dress; damn, it was only one of the reasons he regretted to not have listened to that bastard's voice in his head telling him to not go see her, this morning. Even though the lights were dim in the guild hall, if he wasn't careful about how he sat next to her, he could end up accidently confessing.

"She ain't said a word, since I came to pick her up," he added, pushing away his previous thoughts from his mind, "and it's like she's expecting me to bite her or something."

The exceed frowned slightly, while taking a sip of his drink with a straw.

"Did you question her about it?" The man shrugged.

"She told me she was fine, but it sounded like a lie."

Lily crossed his paws over his chest and let out a pensive hum.

"You should break the ice, then," he suggested, after a short pause, "try to start a conversation with her." The iron mage let out a sigh.

"...I dunno what the heck I could talk about."

"Really? Well, I do have a very good idea of what you two could talk about..." the exceed muttered under his breath, a corner of his lips pulling upward. Gazille frowned; he didn't know if his cat had meant to say it loud enough to be heard by him, but the fact was that he did hear it and he didn't like it. He did nothing to hide his annoyance and Lily raised both paws.

"Hey, relax, I was kidding," he said to defend himself, though he didn't look a bit sorry, his eyes gleaming with mischief, "I'm very well aware of your opinion about that matter... even if I find it quite stupid."

Gazille scowled.

"It ain't stupid. It's common sense."

Lily answered him with a knowing smile that the man would have gladly wiped off his face, if he was anyone else. Or if a part of him wasn't fucking agreeing with him. Kinana arrived with Gazille's order, at that moment, giving the two friends a moment for their own thoughts. The iron mage wasn't feeling any better: the prospect of going back at the side of a woman who seemed to want to avoid him like the plague wasn't appealing. He supposed trying to have a normal conversation with her wouldn't hurt, but, beside the weather, he had no idea what they could possibly talk about. He had the sick impression any subject could lead the script mage to discover the truth and reject him.

In the background, he could hear Master Makarov making a speech for Eflman, but he didn't give it much attention. He also barely noticed his cat coming closer, until...

"Wouldn't it make more sense, if you just broke up with her, then?"

Gazille turned his head in Lily's direction so fast that something cracked in his neck. With wide eyes, he was fixing his friend as if he had just grown a second head.

"What?" he spat, so shocked by what he had heard that he needed a few seconds to continue. "Aren't you the one who keeps telling me to make a move?"

Lily looked back at him, all traces of humor gone. His voice was a whisper meant for his ears only.

"Yes, but you keep telling me that you're not going to make that move. Despite this, you haven't done much to step back from this relationship, neither; instead, you're stubbornly getting closer and closer to her, to the point you're turning into a possessive creep. You can't say you don't want her, but do everything to keep her, at the same time. You either go all the way, or you step out: you've got to make up you mind... hopefully before you end up hurting her."

The Dragon Slayer shifted his gaze on the bottle of beer and the glass of punch in front of him. He couldn't find anything witty to retort to that, because he knew Lily was making sense. Hell, even he already asked himself why he hadn't just stopped this, but the answer had always been the same: because, deep down, he didn't want to. He was also scared, so damn scared that she could refuse him, but, maybe, he was even more scared that she could possibly want him.

The real deal. The L-word... and everything that it implied. He had no idea what it really was. He had no idea, if he was cut for it. Getting attached to someone or something was a relatively new concept to him and he wasn't even sure he had what it took for that. Sure, he was dreaming of her and he would be lying, if he said he didn't always find her kinda cute, but it wasn't just about sex. It was about everything else that made her so awesome. It was that everything else that drew him to her, but still made him hesitate. However, Lily was right: he would have to make up his mind, eventually. He should have made up his mind, a long time ago, actually.

He pushed a long groan, rubbing his eyes with both hands.

"Man, this shit is crazy..."

Lily had a little smile at that.

"Not really, you're the one who's making it complicated."

The mage snorted.

"Because it's not?" Lily shrugged.

"I don't remember you making this much of a fuss, when you decided to make me your cat."

Gazille glanced at him, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Not quite the same thing, doncha think?"

"Not that different neither," insisted Lily, "you got what you wanted, because you did everything possible to get it and proved yourself worthy to keep it. Just do the same with Levy. Without using your fists, of course."

The iron mage allowed his friend's words to sink in before he let out a chuckle, feeling strangely better. He brought his body in an upright position, before looking in direction of Levy; he saw her in a conversation with her teammates and felt a familiar churn in his guts.

"One thing is sure," added Lily, as if he was reading his friend's thoughts out loud, "it's not when she'll be in someone else's arms, that it'll be time to do something."

End notes: Hope you liked it. thank you for all your faves and reviews ^.^ The end is coming next, with maybe a few bonus rounds after. Depends how it will go.

Hugs!