There be bad language under this warning!
"Gajeel".
No, was the thought resonating through his skull as a sweet voice called to him.
"Gajeel".
Go away, he wanted to yell at the voice without opening his mouth. He was tired - exhausted, really - and ready to sleep for at least another six hours.
"Gajeel!"
"Alright, I'm awake!" He rolled over, grimacing at the sunlight pouring into the room. "How the fuck are ya so chipper right now? Didn't I wear ya out enough?"
"You wore me out plenty, I think I actually have a limp" Levy giggled, sitting on the edge of their bed right by his hip. "But you have to get up, sleepy head. Cousin Christmas, remember?"
Gajeel just waggled his eyebrows, choosing to ignore the last part of her comment. "I'm always up for ya, Shrimp".
His innuendo earnt him a snort, followed by a slap as she rose from the bed with an eye roll. "Just get out of bed already, silly Gajeel".
He was half tempted to ignore her, to roll back over and bury his face in the soft darkness of his pillow, but then his eyes trailed down her curves and with a groan, Gajeel realised she was wearing those shorts, the lower curvature of her ass peeking from below the hem whenever she took a step, her gait ever so slightly unbalanced, he noted with a smirk. Finally noticing just how stuffy it was in the room, his own temperature seeming to have skyrocketed at the sight of his girl walking away - his Pop's had a saying about that, what was it again? Something about watching her leave? - he settled for running a hand through his tangled hair, hissing when his fingers caught on a tangle, and swung his legs out from under the covers, reluctantly standing and setting about helping his Levy set up for the dinner they were hosting that afternoon.
Levy paused at the top of the steps, looking down into the courtyard that was almost overflowing with her dearest friends - her family, she realised with a smile. The afternoon sun shone warmly down on them, blissfully protected from its rays where they sat under the shade sail, and the conversations that drifted to her ears were easy, unhurried, the kind of idle chatter that was born out of close relationships, and as Gajeel turned to smile at her, Levy finally knew she was home.
"Levy! Come down here, we gotta open presents!" Natsu called, bouncing in his chair with childlike enthusiasm as she skipped down the steps and dropped the ugliest Santa hat she could find onto his head.
"You brought it up, you hand 'em out" she laughed, perching herself on the arm of Gajeel's chair where she could watch everyone as Natsu got to work, studiously reading tags and cards, carefully passing out gifts until the pile under the Christmas 'tree' - which was really just a funny looking shrub Gajeel had haphazardly thrown tinsel on - was gone.
The only noise for a brief while was that of rustling paper and envelopes being torn before people were weaving their way around, delivering tight hugs as way of saying thank you. If there was one thing the Redfox-Dragnell-Marvell family was, outside of peculiar, it was huggers, Levy laughed to herself as she was caught up in yet another bone crushing squeeze from Wendy, the small bluenettes arms oddly strong considering her slight frame.
Gifts passed around, they settled back to enjoy each other's company, a quiet moment of respite after a long few weeks on the road, and ahead of the insanity that was Christmas Day, with all the drama that it invariably brought.
"Quit fidgeting, Shrimp. 'Sonly the family, ain't like yer meetin' the king or somethin'. Ya know Pop's loves ya." Gajeel reassured her as he helped her climb down from his car, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they made their way to the door.
"I know, I just... It's Christmas. I remember it being, interesting..." she chuckled nervously. The last Christmas Levy had spent with Gajeel and his family had certainly been eventful. As long as they made it through the day without someone throwing a carving fork again, it was bound to be an improvement.
Gajeel laughed, remembering the same series of events as he pushed open the door, not bothering to know, sighing in relief that the air conditioning had clearly been running all morning, the house a significantly more tolerable temperature than outside.
"Oi, Pops, ya here?"
The response came in the form of the clattering of pots, before a head poked out from the kitchen. "Get in here an' gimme a hand, ya sack o' bolts."
Levy had to bite back a giggle as she followed Gajeel through the swinging door and into the kitchen.
Metalicana Redfox, her soon-to-be father in law, was an imposing man, standing a few inches taller than his son. His long, once dark, hair was tied neatly back with a leather strap, the silver strands laying down his back in a far more orderly fashion than Gajeel's ever did. He had piercing red eyes and a strong jaw, and he still carried himself with the poise of a man who could kill you six different ways with a pencil, before you could blink. The visage of danger was ruined, however, by the tea towel slung over one shoulder and the pink apron tied around his waist. Former special ops soldier or not, no one could look intimidating wearing a "kiss the cook" apron with flour smeared on one cheek.
"Levy! Glad to see my moron of a son finally got somethin' right!" He smiled toothily, exposing the sharp canines that were a family trait, and opened his arms to sweep her into a hug that lifted her clean off the ground as she laughed, her nerves completely forgotten. Gajeel was right, his father really did have a soft spot for the girl, and Levy adored him right back.
"Oi, wouldya put my girl down Pop's? Yer squeezin' her ta death"
"Nonsense!" Metalicana retorted, setting her down anyway with one last squeeze. "Yer here early, for once."
"Blame the Shrimp" Gajeel just rolled his eyes, leaning against the bench with his arms crossed.
"We thought you might need some help!" Levy offered brightly, smiling at the two men.
"No offense, little one, but I ain't letting ya touch anythin' we're plannin' on eating." Metalicana flicked her nose as he stepped around her, throwing his tea towel at his son. "You, on the other hand, boy, can make yaself useful and roast those taters."
Grumbling about how it didn't make sense to have roast lunch in the middle of summer, Gajeel set about prepping the potatoes as requested. He might be a grown man, but his father still scared the daylights out of him at times.
Jumping up to sit on the bench by the sink, Levy started hulling strawberries - about the only thing she was allowed to do - as Metalicana rinsed crockery and loaded the dishwasher for the first load of the day.
"This seems like a lot of effort, even for you, Metalicana. Extra guests for lunch?"
"Little one, we're family, just call me Pop's like my brat does. An' yeah, ya could say that. Whole damn lot of 'em are comin'. Gonna get crazy in this big ol' house before too long" he laughed at the look on her face. "Why'd ya think yer all here fer lunch, not some place else? Ain't no one else got the room!"
Gajeel groaned as he dropped his utensils in the sink, ignoring the matching glares he got from his girl and his father, turning to pull two beers from the fridge, remembering Levy didn't really drink in the heat.
"When ya say 'the lot of 'em' d'ya mean all of 'em?"
"Even yer uncle 'Logia, so wouldya just behave yerself, boy, an' not embarrass us? 'Sides, it's yer fault anyway. Ya the one who went and proposed, an' ya know they're a bunch o' gossips".
Gajeel just groaned, banging his forehead against the fridge door.
Whatever Levy had been expecting from Gajeel's extended family, it certainly wasn't this, she thought as she watched Igneel sulk after being forcibly removed from the kitchen. She had long ago grown used to the odd relationship Gajeel's father had with his siblings, Natsu's father and Wendy's mother. Looking at them from a distance, you never would pick they were related, but she supposed that had something to do with the fact that their long-dead father was the kind of man who would "sleep with anythin' that hadda pulse" as Metalicana had once so eloquently phrased it.
The real surprise for Levy, however, had been Metalicana's older brother, Acnologia. The second he walked in the room, she could tell they were related - Gajeel even bore an uncanny resemblance to his uncle, almost as much as he did to his own father. It didn't surprise her to learn he was also retired special forces, the pale aqua hair doing nothing to temper the aura of danger he carried - he was a man who killed people, and he didn't care if you knew it.
Once she'd gotten over her trepidation - and been evicted from the kitchen, lest she kill anyone with her attempts at cooking - she found him to be a smart man, well read and well traveled, and easy to talk to, even if he did have the same gruff nature as his brother and nephew.
"I hear that brat finally got it right and proposed?"
Levy giggled - one day she would find out why everyone called Gajeel a brat. "Yeah, he caught me by surprise that's for sure."
"I'm surprised you put up with him. He doesn't even have eyebrows, for heaven's sake! He's lucky to have you, Lord knows we need some intelligence in this family."
"Quit flirtin' with me daughter-in-law, 'Logia. Lunch is ready."
Excusing herself, Levy went to find Wendy and their seats at the table, oblivious to the three sets of red eyes following her.
"Hate to see her go, but sure like to watch her leave, hey boy?" Metalicana nudged his son with an elbow, winking at his brother.
"How'd you ever get so lucky, brat?" Acnologia grinned, waggling his eyebrows which made his hair dance across his forehead.
"That's my fiancé, ya dirty old perverts".
"Hey, Gajeel?"
"Hmm?" He looked up from his lap at the sound of her soft voice, hands pausing in their stroking of Lily's soft fur as she held out a small white box, tied with a simple bow.
"Merry Christmas".
He took the gift from her hands, noticing the way they trembled slightly, and with a curious look at her face, which was carefully schooled into neutrality, he tugged on the ribbon, lifting the lid on the box. Pulling the tissue paper out, he frowned as he tried to work out what was hiding within.
Levy felt like she'd forgotten how to breathe as she watched his face change, from quizzical, through confused and then, only when a smile started to spread across his face in understanding, did her heart kick back into a normal rhythm.
Gajeel didn't say anything, just set the box and it's contents on the table before him, setting Lily off to the side as he stood, gathering Levy into his arms and swinging her around, kissing her like he'd never kissed anyone before.
Lily just watched his humans acting strangely, stepping over to the table to smell the weird box, as if sniffing at it would make it so he could understand the word printed on the weird stick of plastic.
Pregnant.
I know it's only short, but it's better than nothing, right! I'm working on the next chapter for Scars but I need to borrow lore from another author, so I'm waiting for permission before I finalize anything. Hopefully this little piece of fluff will tide you over, and the convoluted family tree isn't too confusing!
Basically it goes a little something like this -
•Grandpa Redfox = Acnologia Metalicana
•Metalicana ? = Gajeel
•Grandpa Dragneel = Igneel
•Igneel ? = Natsu
•Grandpa Marvell = Grandeeny
• Grandeeny ? = Wendy
I don't want to foreshadow anything, but the next few chapters for this are going to be HARD - both for you guys, and for me to actually write.So if you could, please please review, I seriously can't overstate how much reading them motivates and inspires me to keep at it!