Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Levy was unapologetically entranced with snowfall.
She could sit for hours in the bay windows of Fairy Hills wrapped in a quilt and armed with a mug of hot chocolate watching everything within eyesight get blanketed. She wouldn't deny it, she'd read too many novels and seen to many movies not to romanticize it.
The way the sky never went completely black and snowflakes with stark shapes landed on her window and faded into racing water drops.
Where Lucy loved Summer, Erza liked Fall, and Juvia thrived in Spring, Levy huddled close to her favorite meals and stories and memories enclosed in flurries and red ribbons.
Levy had grown up with Natsu, Elfman, Mirajane, Cana, and Gray, she was accustomed to the hills staying smooth and soft only so for long. They were snowplows in coats once the Master gave them permission to go out and play. As they had all grown older, she was given more and more opportunities to see the snow go untouched for longer periods of time.
The snowflakes caught in her bangs sticking out from the brim of her hat and in her eyelashes. Levy took a deep breath and enjoyed the peace, standing on the hills outside of the guild hall. A party was in full swing inside and she doubted anyone would miss her for a few minutes.
…..Until ice and blades of dead grass crashed into the back of head and tiny slips of snow dropped beyond the collar of her coat. She shrieked with the unwelcome sensation and whirled around in her spot to see Gajeel leaned up against the doorway of the guild and so, so smug for getting the jump on her.
"Thought you could sneak away so easily, huh? Gotta admit, I figured you were a bit more…ingenuitive than that, bookworm."
"Keeping an awful close eye on me now, aren't you?" She arched her eyebrow in challenge, he couldn't back down no matter whom it came from.
"Wishful thinking there, shrimp?"
"Tch, as if….Just wanted a breather is all."
He nodded his head in understanding before he pushed himself from the doorway to stand next to her. "'S that mean you wanna go?"
Levy tilted her head up at him, he wasn't looking at her but at a spot in the distance. He seemed to be lost in thought as she watched the snowflakes melt on the headband she'd fashioned for him. "No, just wanted to enjoy the view before Natsu and Gray got ahold of it."
Gajeel moved his attention back to her and smirked, leaning closer to her face, "Me or the snow?"
Levy spluttered, he had won that one in a fair shot, but that didn't mean she had to like his cheek.
She cocked her hip and opened her mouth to retort when a foot hooked behind her knee and jerked. It sent her right into the snow.
That tell-tale laugh that she wanted to ring from his being 90% of the time echoed around her. "Ga-Gajeel!"
She swiped at the snow on her chin and pouted from her spot on the ground. The iron dragon slayer was too preoccupied with his own amusement to see her displeasure and her impending revenge.
The compact ball rocketed into his cheek and he froze at the bells tinkling high over the commotion in the building behind him. Tears fell from her eyes as she clutched her middle, gasping for air as she relayed to him that 'Your f-fa-face was priceless'.
"Now, you're in for it, Levy."
Gajeel snarled and grabbed her ankle, she hiccuped and fought in vain to scramble away from his iron hold.
She could have gotten away, but a snow soaked sock and terrible cold were the only things waiting on the other side of freedom.
"No, seriously- Gajeel, let- Gajeel, let me go!"
"Not a chance." He pulled her up and had her dangling upside down, trapped in a hand stand and wide open for impending attacks. The snow started to seep through her thick mittens and sent shivers up to her elbows.
Her face turned red with the rush of blood and her laughter turned shrill. "C-come on, I- I ca-can't breathe!"
Gajeel righted her and yanked her up once she relented with the right amount of pleas and compliments. He tilted his head forward to brush his warmer nose against her cold one. "Yer sure you wanna stay?"
"Y-yeah, I do." Thousands of books and movies flashed in her mind, dorky cliches about romantic scenes in the snow and-
"Hey Gajeel!" A snowball struck his head and the snow splattered across her nose as they fell from the force of the throw. "Don't you know if you're gonna have a snowball fight you gotta tell everyone else too?!"
The man beside her growled and sat up, ready to bury Natsu in an avalanche and his various curses. Levy could only sit in the snow and laugh as Lucy, Wendy, and Erza dove for Natsu and held him down for retribution. Juvia and Gray froze the ground together, sending Gajeel into a snow drift. And with that turmoil fully broke loose.
Well, it wasn't like the books or movies, but spending time with Gajeel and seeing her guild playing in the snow was more than enough for her.
#60; playing in the snow
originally posted: 9-3-13