Chapter 28
Stress
Gajeel found a handful of jobs that would bring their savings back where they needed to be, and they were a few days long each. He knew he would get some protest from his girl, but he had to do what he had to do. He was driven by the need to provide for his family, and that overshadowed all else.
He decided to stay for a couple of beers after collecting a few flyers from the job board. He figured he deserved them after everything that's happened so far. He was just one big ball of stress and it was one of the few things that made him feel better. As he unknowingly downed his fifth beer, the She-Devil made her way toward him.
"Stressed out?" She asked. "You're on your fifth one."
Gajeel didn't even realize he had drank that much. "You could say that."
"Pregnant Levy is a bit much?"
Gajeel realized the Take Over mage didn't know about the overall drama happening, and didn't really want to explain their business to anyone else.
"No, just a bunch of other stuff," he grunted.
Mira studied the dragon slayer. "You've taken pretty hefty jobs. Are you sure you can do them alone?"
"I've done much more on my own before."
Gajeel wanted to use these jobs as an opportunity to let loose. He never really got a chance to go crazy when Lily and Levy were with him so he was somewhat glad that he was able to take these jobs on his own.
"Well, if you need anything, let me know," Mira said, sliding him another beer.
Gajeel grunted in response to the bartender, glad to have ended the conversation. He chugged the last beer and stood up to leave, noticing he was slightly tipsy.
"Oh, fuck," he said under his breath. He wanted to work the first job immediately, after he went back home to Levy, but he wasn't sure he should do anything in this mind state.
"Gajeel!"
He turned around, finding Bunny Girl in front of him.
"How's Levy?"
"She's fine," he grunted.
Lucy noticed her tall friend's slightly drunken state. "How's everything else? Has he shown up again?"
"Nope."
"Ok, well I'll stop by later on tonight." She glanced at the job flyers in his hand. "You sure you can work a job right now?"
Gajeel turned around and walked away, not wanting to speak to anyone. He either wanted Levy, or peace and quiet.
"Hey! Bolt Face!"
The words annoyed Gajeel instantly, and he knew if he turned around, punches would be thrown.
"I'm goin' home!" He said as he continued walking away, waving his hand in the air.
"When's a good time to stop by?" Natsu called after Gajeel, only to be ignored.
Gajeel exited through the doors only to be drenched in rain, which only seemed to agitate him further. He decided to slip into the shadows and make it home that way so he wouldn't rust. He didn't really know why he was so annoyed right now, and he just chalked it up as needing to relieve some stress. Another reason why he was looking forward to doing these jobs alone.
He liked his new house. It was in the middle of the woods and hard to find. It was very easy to miss and almost unnoticeable at night. He'd never felt more at home in his life. He started to feel a little better the more he thought about his home life as he materialized when he got into the woods, only for his mood to go sour again when he felt Axos' presence.
"Damn it! I can never catch a fucking break," he said to himself as he scanned the dark woods.
"Well, well, well," Axos said, appearing from the trees. "Looks like it's my lucky day."
Gajeel tensed up as the hooded man walked toward him.
"Ya got a lot of nerve showing up here like this." Gajeel went to turn his arm into his iron sword, but was having difficulties doing so.
Axos chuckled. He knew the slayer was a bit under the influence and wouldn't have full control, so he decided to use this to his advantage. No more words needed to be exchanged. He appeared directly behind Gajeel, kicking him through the trees.
Gajeel went flying through several trees, attempting to slow himself down. He was livid as he hit the next trunk, landing on his feet and launching himself toward Axos hard enough to uproot the entire tree. He smirked as he managed to fabricate his iron sword en route to the hooded man, swinging and missing initially. Gajeel turned around, anticipating Axos to be behind him, and swung his sword again, cutting Axos' chest.
Axos backed up a few steps, a bit surprised at the drunken dragon's speed. Gajeel saw that he was caught off guard and used that to his advantage, slipping into the shadows and materializing directly in front of him. He grabbed Axos by the neck and lifted his body.
"Why the fuck do you keep bothering us?" Gajeel snarled.
"Because," Axos grabbed the slayer's shoulders and using all his force to knee him in the stomach. "She was never supposed to be born," he finished as he dropped to his feet.
Gajeel fell to his knees, angry, feeling like he could use some one on one combat. He was a bit resilient from the alcohol so he could get beat down and not feel a thing until it wore off. He lunged upwards, his iron fist first, landing a solid punch to Axos' chin, sending him flying up past the tree canopy.
"You're not getting off that easily," the iron dragon slayer snarled, bringing forth a large iron rod from the ground, sending him to Axos.
Gajeel turned his arm into his iron hammer, knowing he would be fast enough to catch up to him. Gajeel aimed for Axos, his momentum transferring from his body to his hand, as he brought his hammer down on a falling Axos. The harder he smashed that asshole on the ground, the more satisfied he'd be. Axos went shooting toward the ground, creating a large crater and a cloud of dust from the impact.
The dragon slayer landed on the ground, lost in his rage. He covered his body in his iron scales and walked toward the injured man. He lifted him up by his collar, his hood falling from his face. Gajeel was too angry to notice he looked like Levy, nor did he really care at that point. His objective was to kill.
Axos knew he didn't stand a chance against the iron dragon slayer, so he figured he'd catch him off guard while he was drunk tonight, but all that seemed to do was make him stronger somehow. He was slower and he seemed to have a few difficulties with his abilities in the beginning, but he was much hardier and careless at the moment and Axos needed to come up with a plan or he was going to die. He tried to worm his way out of the slayer's grip, but his efforts were in vain.
Gajeel wanted nothing more but to prolong Axos' agony. He ashamedly got pleasure from making him suffer, and he wasn't ever going to miss out on a chance to torture his assailant. He took heed of his weakened state and smirked, yanking him face first toward the hard earth.
"How does the fucking dirt taste?" Gajeel grinned bestially, dragging his opponent through the mud.
"You think I'm gonna fucking let you go?" Gajeel planned on holding on to this bastard and dragging him until he fell apart, but he unknowingly loosened his grip, just enough for Axos to weasel himself out of the slayer's hold. He disappeared immediately.
"Don't fucking run from me!" Gajeel roared. He knew Axos was long gone, but he hated that he was such a little pussy. Always running and never fighting. He smirked. 'I guess if he stayed and fought, he would have been dead the first time.'
Levy had fallen asleep on the couch with Lily, both of them awaiting Gajeel's return.
"Hey, Shrimp," she woke up to a voice in her ear. "I missed ya."
"Gajeel!" Levy jerked awake, startling the sleeping exceed on her lap. She took notice of his new scars. "What happened to you? Are you ok?"
"Don't worry, Shrimp. I'm fine," he said, plopping down on the couch next to her. He didn't want to worry her more than she already was. Instead, he pulled her onto his lap, so that she straddled him.
"Have you been drinking?" She asked, smelling the beer on his breath.
"Yeah," he said into her neck. "I didn't even realize I had much."
"So, does that mean you're not going on a job tonight?"
He thought about it. He really wanted to just get them done and over with now, but didn't want to risk Axos coming after him again. Though, he knew he was pretty injured, and most likely wouldn't be showing his face for a while. Levy snuggled into his chest and all thoughts of leaving flew out the window.
"Yeah," he said, his hand on the small of her back. "I'll stay with you tonight."
They sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company. Gajeel's irritation quickly melting away as her scent worked like aromatherapy, eventually dozing off with his mate in his arms.
"Hey, Lily!" Lucy greeted as the exceed opened the door.
"I'm not sure if Gajeel would be too happy if I let you guys in right now," Lily said.
"Whatever," Natsu walked inside, ignoring Pantherlily's comment. "He pretty much said it was ok for us to come over later."
Lily hesitantly let Lucy and Happy in, shutting the door behind them.
They entered the living room to find Levy and Gajeel asleep on the couch in a questionable position. As Natsu went to wake Gajeel up obnoxiously, Lucy stopped him.
"Levy's asleep too, so hush!"
Natsu rolled his eyes, still planning on messing with the iron dragon slayer.
"Get. Out." Gajeel said, his eyes still closed.
Levy woke to the sound of his voice, confused.
"Eh?" She opened her eyes fully to see Lucy and Natsu standing in the living room. "What time is it?"
"Time for them to leave," Gajeel said, annoyed.
"Well, we came because we thought you were going on a job and we wanted to be here with Lev," Lucy explained, her hand on her hip.
"Well, I changed my mind. I'm leavin' in the morning," Gajeel said. "Get going."
"Gajeel, you can't make them leave!" Levy said, attempting to stand up.
"Why not?" He asked, keeping her on his lap.
"They came all this way. Besides, we have space." She looked at them. "It's ok, guys. You can get comfortable. Sorry he's such a bad host." She giggled.
"It's like, fuckin' midnight," he grumbled.
"It's ok," Levy said, kissing his neck.
"Don't do that, Shrimp, or it'll scare our guests away," he smirked in her ear.
Natsu and Lucy didn't know what to do except for stand there and be awkward. What else could they do while those two… did whatever it was they were doing? They did have to admit, though, it was kind of hot.
"Alright, you two," Lily said, trying to prevent the inevitable.
"I don't care what you guys do but I know what we're about to do and I don't know if you wanna stick around for it," Gajeel grinned devilishly, his hands planted on Levy's ass.
"Come on, you can't keep your hands off each other for five minutes?" Lily said, still trying to do the impossible.
"Look at those two," Gajeel said, pointing at Bunny girl and Flame Brain.
Lily looked over and they themselves were getting all hot and bothered.
"What is it with you dragon slayers?" He said, walking off. He really didn't want to be in there.
"Oi!" Gajeel said to the pair across the room. "At lease take it somewhere else, would ya?"
"Whe—"
"Down the hall, first room on the right."
Natsu picked Lucy up and scurried out of the room, leaving Gajeel and Levy satisfied. Levy was usually reserved, but there was something about her lover that made her lose all her inhibitions. He made her feel so comfortable, even when she felt low. She didn't care about what anyone other than him had to say or how they felt about her. He was all she saw, and she'd gladly display that anytime.
Morning came and Levy woke up to Lily curled up next to her.
"Morning," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Where's Gajeel?"
"He went on a job. He wanted me to stay in here with you after he left."
Levy was visibly sad, tears forming in her eyes. "Why didn't he tell me he was leaving?"
Lily sat on her lap to try to comfort her. "He didn't want to leave you, trust me, but he said something about you not letting him go."
Levy knew she would have made it very hard for him to leave, so it was probably best for him to leave while she slept. Still, she couldn't help but cry. She missed him already. She looked down at her growing bump, noticing it getting bigger and bigger every day.
"I'm just so worried about him!" She cried, hugging Lily tight.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. Come on, Lucy and Natsu are hanging out in the living room."
Gajeel hated being on this job alone. He thought he'd be a bit excited to get some alone time, but all he wanted was to be with his lady and his cat. Sometimes he hated being so domesticated, but damn, did he love it. He regretted leaving her without saying goodbye, as he knew these jobs would take a week minimum each. His conscience gnawed at him for lying to his mate. He should have told her they were longer jobs, but he knew they needed the Jewel and he didn't want her to worry. 'She's probably worrying about me this very moment.'
This job consisted of having to get rid of a few problem creatures in a village a bit away. He was going to walk but he figured he could stomach a train ride to avoid running into Axos, and to cut down on time consumption. He wished he could go back home, but his family was growing, and he needed to provide.
He boarded the train, waiting for it to hurry up and take off so he could get this over with. He wished Levy were there to run her fingers through his hair, so he could lay in her lap and make the nausea go away. But this would all be worth it, he thought. He was doing this for their happiness.
A few days had gone by and Levy was extremely depressed. She was tired all the time, and she barely slept, even when Lily joined her to keep her company through the night. Now, it was the middle of the night and she was restless. She hugged his pillow, taking in his iron scent, but it only made her miss him more.
She got up to run a bath, hoping it would relax her enough to get to sleep. She stepped in, the warm water encompassing her body. She listened to the rhythmic pitter-patter of the rain outside of the bathroom window. Hugging her knees, she sighed, closing her eyes and imagining Gajeel in the bath with her. 'I miss you, my love.'
