Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


Her breaths swirled in clouds before her face and fell back on her nose as she moved forward. She swiped her forearm to clear the sweat from her brow, only succeeding in smearing more sweat onto her forehead. The headband she had chosen that day was doing nothing to keep her hair out of her face, the shorter strands that had fallen from her ponytail were hopelessly plastered to her flushed cheeks. The script mage mumbled under her breath, fighting hair and fabric into some semblance of order. Having her hair in a ponytail did little to alleviate her condition. Her hand rubbed at the back of her neck as the heat seemed to rejoice in the new patch of skin to irritate.

She cursed herself for jumping at the chance to travel to the warmer climate - far and away from the bitter cold that had made itself quite comfortable back home.

A shadow passed over her and a broad palm sunk over her damp hair. "Ya hangin' in there?"

She scoffed at the iron dragon slayer, "Barely." Levy's humid puff of exasperation only served to fog her glasses. Her muscles ached with the effort to trudge forward, her mind had never felt so muddled. At least she had the comfort of knowing it wasn't just her being over sensitive when she noticed Gajeel looked more than a little flushed. "You?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes, part of his tunic spilled out of one of his pockets, beads of sweat rolled down his arms, and his hair - well, she wasn't the worst one off in that regard. "What do you think?"

Levy hummed and riffled in her pocket, pulling out an extra bandana to give to him. He thanked her and wrestled with his hair for a few moments. He tied off the fabric and smoothed his hand over his hair to make sure he hadn't missed any strands.

She nodded and reassured him when he looked at her questioningly. "You're good." If she hadn't had been so miserable, she probably would have gathered up the energy to say it suited him, but it was just too damn hot. Instead, she studied him, noticing the red circles appearing on his skin around his piercings. Levy brushed her hand near the row of them that set on his forearm. "Those aren't burning you, are they?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. But, uh, don't touch 'em. Made that mistake right after we got here 'cause I was worried about them meltin' my skin. Burned the hell out of my fingers when I messed with 'em."

Levy furrowed her brow, not entirely reassured. "As long as you're sure."

"Yeah." Gajeel jerked his head to indicate they should probably get moving again before the others left them behind.

"What're you guys waitin' around for? Come on!" Natsu barreled past them in unbridled glee - Gajeel had yanked Levy out of his path just in time. The volcano's temperatures didn't deter the fire dragon slayer in the least it seemed.

Levy's pointed glare swept from Natsu's wavering figure back to Gajeel. She brought her hand up, her light pen gripped tightly in her fist. "Soli-"

Gajeel caught her forearm and shook his head when she glowered up at him. "Don't bother, it's not even worth it. If we run in ta something up here, he's gonna be the only one able to fight."

She folded her arms and grumbled, his dragon hearing caught select phrases coming from her aimed at Natsu. He chuckled and pressed his hand between her shoulder blades. Levy sighed, "Yeah, let's just get this over with," and began walking once more.

Her sour mood shifted into sympathy when Lucy and Happy passed them by, sluggish and just as miserable as they were. She saw Lucy's mouth twist in distaste as Natsu's laugh echoed around them - jovial in being near a volcano again. Levy wasn't sure how Gray, Erza, and Juvia were fairing on their side of the mountain, but she wished Natsu had been assigned to their team instead.

Gajeel kept instep with her this time, his heavy palm swaying her body as his hand dropped heavily to her head once more. "Just think, we still have to take the train home, Salamander won't feel so hot then."

She groaned, "That has got to be the worst pun I've heard in my life. Besides," she swatted his side, momentarily forgetting that he wasn't wearing a shirt. She blushed - from the heat or the back of her hand meeting unyielding muscle, or both. "You suffer from motion sickness too, you idiot." Levy snatched his hand from her hair, embarrassed by how wet it had become from sweating so much. She didn't let go of his hand immediately.

"Yeah, but I doubt anyone's gonna go out of their way to let him be and rest it off. And I've got you on my side, figured if I behaved you'd be inclined to use yer magic to help us cool off."

She laughed at that, her head reeled and she felt lightheaded from the expense of energy it took. Levy trailed her fingers over the the back of his hand and tugged him forward. "You're incorrigible."

Gajeel chuckled. He caught on that she only meant to tell him something or to catch back up with their team, but he met her the rest of the way anyway. The humidity and their exhaustion was a heady mix between them before he pressed his mouth to hers. It definitely wasn't an earth shattering one - the heat made it less fun, but even that couldn't kill his satisfactiory buzz of getting her to loosen up a bit.

Gajeel broke the kiss, pulling back and arching his eyebrow smugly at her, "C'mon, shrimp."

Levy scoffed and dropped his hand like she'd been burned, only to smack his chest in retaliation, "So arrogant. I was just going to say thanks for not leaving me behind."

"Yeah, sure."


prompt: hot, steamy kiss

op: 9-3-13

A/N: Filled this one up a bit.