After Gajeel dropped Levy off, he headed home, his mind still reeling from the night's events. Soon he'd arrived back at his place and parked the car before heading in. He opened the door and was greeted by a small meow from Lily, who was sitting as though he sensed his owner's arrival.

"Hey," Gajeel grumbled, bending down to give the cat a small scratch behind its ears, causing Lily to purr. He had grown to love the small cat, though he would deny cuddling the thing, despite Levy's photos which proved otherwise. He decided to head to bed, knowing he'd hear from her in the morning. Quickly changing into a pair of boxers and an old black shirt, he fell asleep, unaware of the chaos befalling Levy just a few miles away.

...

He was right. Then again when was he not? At 5 AM (technically the morning) he was awakened by his phone ringing. He squinted at the ID, which said Unknown. Normally he'd just refuse the call and roll over, but something made him accept the call.

"Who is this?" he asked gruffly, not even hiding the aggression in his voice. It was 5 am for god's sake. He didn't need to sound all happy, not that he ever did on the phone. Except with Levy of course, but that was completely different.

"G-gajeel?"

He immediately sat up, recognising Levy's voice. She sounded shaken and he could tell that something was wrong.

"Where are you?" he asked. She shouldn't be calling from an unknown number.

"I-I'm at my neighbours house," she continued softly, causing Gajeel to frown.

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"T-there was a fire…"

Gajeel felt time still for a moment as he let her words sink in.

"What?"

"I-I must have left the stove on or something and I woke up to smoke and I'm so sorry-"

"Are you okay?" he jumped in, interrupting her babbling.

"Not really," she murmured, sniffling. Gajeel wanted to learn time travel just so he could go back and slap himself. Are you okay? Clearly she was not okay. However, he tried to recover from his idiocy.

"But physically?"

"I'm not hurt," she replied," the paramedics arrived and checked me over, but I got out quickly so no smoke damage or anything."

"How bad was the fire?" he asked, putting his phone on speaker as he got changed quickly. Lily sat up from his cat bed, confused by his gruff owner's actions.

"It was pretty bad," she continued, her voice echoing in the room. There was a pause before Levy sighed and continued," I-I don't think I can stay there…"

"I'm on my way," he said, grabbing his keys and phone as he walked out the door.

…

Levy had never been more happy to see Gajeel as he pulled up in his white pick up truck, parking carelessly.

She'd been informed by one of the firemen that the flames had destroyed her kitchen and living room, basically leaving her with a bedroom and a bathroom. Not to mention that everything smelled of smoke.

She'd also been told that she'd be having a meeting with her insurance company later and that she'd need to find somewhere to stay in the meantime. She'd also need to contact her landlord and inform him of the incident. That made her nervous.

Gajeel stepped out of the car and walked briskly over to her, giving her a hug. She closed her eyes and snuggled into him. He smelled of pine and iron, a strange combination but it was comforting as the scent of smoke hung in the air, a grim reminder of Levy's bad luck.

He didn't need to say anything and chose to embrace the silence for a little while, holding her tight as the firemen packed up and left. But soon enough, they had to speak.

"Gajeel, I need you to help me out," Levy said, breaking the silence between them.

"Anything," he replied swiftly. He would do anything for her.

"Would you be okay dropping me off at my parents place?" she said softly. Gajeel frowned, looking down at her.

"I thought you didn't wanna rely on them."

"That was before the fire," she chuckled softly, her laughter doing nothing to conceal her frustration and exhaustion at the events of the past 24 hours.

"It's an hour away in the car," he mused, continuing.

"It's not like I have a job to get to," she shrugged, the pathetic gesture tugging at Gajeel's heartstrings. What kind of boyfriend was he? His Levy had lost nearly everything in such a short amount of time and now she was going to move back with her parents.

"No."

Levy looked up at him, his face stern.

"Huh? No?" Levy repeated, confused.

"I can't take you to your parents," he said gruffly. Levy slowly pulled herself away from him.

"I-I'll just call Lucy or something then," she mumbled, hurt. She'd been sure that Gajeel wouldn't mind the drive, but his stubborn refusal made her feel… insignificant. Suddenly she was pressed back into his chest, held tight.

"No shrimp," he sighed, realising he needed to clarify," You're staying with me."

"EH?!"

….

"Is this the last box?" Natsu groaned, dropping said box onto the floor. He was sweating hard and each cardboard container seemed to weigh more than the last one.

"No," Gray snickered, following him from behind," why, too tired?"

"No!" Natsu yelled, running back out to prove him wrong.

After hearing about the fire, some of their friends at the gym had volunteered, more like insisted, on helping Levy move in and get herself settled. Natsu and Gray had been placed on moving duty, along with Gajeel, whilst Lucy, Juvia and Levy went shopping to replace some of the items she'd lost in the fire.

It had been a few weeks since the incident and Levy had ended up going back to her parents' place, whilst her boyfriend prepared the house for his girlfriend's arrival.

Her family reacted in many ways as Levy explained how she had suddenly lost both her home and her job. Her father had fainted upon hearing the news and once awakened with the smelling salts, had proceeded to cry for his sweet little angel. Her mother had comforted her before turning to the tarot cards, trying to find out more about her daughter's near future. Levy had had to beg her brother not to call her local council as he began to search for the number, insisting he'd do whatever was necessary to get his baby sister's job back. Meanwhile, Lana had immediately begun taking notes.

"It's like a romance story!" she exclaimed, eyes shining," The sweet girl loses everything and turns to her lover for comfort, leading to hot, sweaty, passionate-"

Lana had been sent to her room at this point.

Her landlord had been incredibly kind, immediately ensuring that she was alright rather than being angry about the incident. He'd told her not to worry too much as the contract of lease had a small clause ensuring that any accidental fires would not result in heavy fines. Sure, she'd have to help repay, but he wasn't bothered about when.

Levy had also been contacted by her insurance which said that due to the fire being the result of an accident, they'd help her replace her lost items by giving her a decent amount of cash.

With the money from her insurance company, she'd placed a large amount in the bank as she'd not need to replace her furniture whilst with Gajeel. This left her with a small amount to purchase smaller things like a new phone, laptop, rain jacket and more. Those kinds of items were not in her room and had ended up being destroyed.

The shopping trip was fun, though Levy ended up receiving many "presents" from Lucy and Juvia who would insist that she tried on bits and pieces before not so secretly having them bagged up for her. However, Levy's protests were met with no kind of reaction so she gave up, mentally noting that she'd repay them some day.

Later that evening, Levy drove herself home… well to Gajeel's home. Well, now her home too.. Agh, so complicated.

She went up to the door and pulled out a set of keys he'd given her, swiftly unlocking the door.

Levy hadn't moved much in, choosing to leave her bedroom furniture in the old house, which her landlord had said was fine whilst she was busy moving. That meant that most of what she'd brought over was her books, clothing and personal things. The books. Oh God….

Levy had her own personal library and she was sure she was blessed by some deity as all her books had survived the fire, albeit a little smokey. However, she hadn't wanted to leave them in the house, afraid someone would take them. Gajeel had laughed at her logic, asking who in their right mind would steal books, but she'd been adamant about taking them. Now though, she felt a little guilty, wondering where she'd put them all. Gajeel had been kind enough to let her stay with him and now she was repaying him by cluttering up his house.

However, as she walked into the living room, Gajeel stood there, smirking.

"Welcome home, Levy."

Behind him was a bookshelf.

It was made of some kind of metal and was massive, with multiple wide shelves. Little vines crept up the bars, with small flowers blooming. At the top was an intricate weave of roses and leaves, with a small hollow heart in the middle. On the floor sat multiple boxes of her books, waiting for her to shelve.

"Gajeel," she said softly, feeling herself choking up," Where did you get this?"

"I made it," he said, not even blinking as she turned to him, mouth agape.

"You made this?!"

"When I'm not teaching at the gym or rescuing pretty librarians, I like to mess about with metalwork."

Levy walked over to it, reaching out to touch one of the flowers. It was so fine and detailed that she had a hard time believing that her boyfriend's large, calloused hands could craft such a thing. Yet she knew he had.

"When did you do this?"

"A couple days after the fire, after you'd gone to your parents place. I wanted to surprise you and well," he rubbed his neck, clearly a little embarrassed," this is your home now too. I wanted to show you that."

"Oh, Gajeel!" Levy cried out, rushing at him. She began to cry, hugging him," I love it. Thank you so much!"

He awkwardly patted her head, not used to the praise.

"It's nothing."

"No, it's not nothing," she insisted, standing on her tippy toes to give him a kiss," I love you, Gajeel."

"I love you too, Shrimp."