Authors Notes- And here I am back again after a long as while being gone. I'm sorry about that. Now, as you can gather I don't own Fairy Tail it belongs to Hiro Mashima. I am merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement. Now that we got that out of the way here is Chapter 8 of Iron Hearted.

He was exhausted. These blasted nightmares were getting the better of him. Every night it was the same thing, every night he would dream of Levy, sweet, beautiful Levy. In these dreams she would cruelly taunt him, before that beast appeared and snatched her from his grasp. And every night he would wake up screaming, sweat pouring down as his face as Mickey trotted up to him. A worried whine escaping his lips as he looked up at him.

This had to stop, he just couldn't go on like this. And he wouldn't, getting up from his desk where he had drifted to sleep he moved towards the window, looking up at the night sky. Thoughts of Levy once again invading his thoughts, a tired smile forming on his lips as he leaned against the window. A soft smile forming on his lips as he pictured himself running his fingers through her soft blue hair. To kiss those lips of hers, to see her blush and giggle, a smile gracing her face. A smile just for him. Keep dreaming. A gruff voice echoed in his head. Gajeel's gruff, taunting voice jerking him from his daydream.

His memories of his dreams coming back to haunt him. Anger swelling in his chest as he thought about the former Phantom Lord member, and now current member of Fairy Tail. His anger rising as he thought about that brute being in the same guild as Levy. That thought alone seemed to set him off, to think that Gajeel was in the same place, let alone breathing the same air as her made his skin crawl. And to make matters worst he knew Gajeel never apologized for what he had done to her and her friend back when he was Fairy Tail's enemy.

And to add insult to injury Levy seemed intent on becoming friends with that beast. He could no longer stand by and see here become friends with him, to become tainted by that beast. So now... now he wasn't going simply watch for much longer, he was going to make Levy his whether she wanted to or not. Smiling he began to work on the perfect plan...

"You okay?" Gajeel asked, as he looked down at Levy. Since finding out that someone had broken into her room she had seemed lost in thought even when Gajeel had all but tore the manager a new asshole claiming that their security should have done better job of making certain of their guess safety.

By the time he was done the poor bastard was nearly in tears. Serves him right, Gajeel thought to himself. God only knew what could have happened if Levy had walked in on whoever was in her room. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. Sure, the kid could hold her own in a battle of wits, but in a real battle? No.

Levy was the type who couldn't really bring herself to hurt anyone, hell, she even felt guilty and apologized to the manager as they left before following him out of the building. Her luggage in tow.

"Don't you think you were a little too hard on him?" she asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Why?" he asked. "If he and his employees had done their job a little better then no one would have broken into your room. And therefore I wouldn't have to go off on him."

"Well, it wasn't really his fault, people could only do so much, and the fact that you're moving me to another hotel is a little extreme, don't you think?" Levy asked.

Gajeel looked to her as she said this. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he just had this bad feeling about the place. "Don't ask me why but I just got bad vibes from that place." He said.

"What do you mean?" Levy asked, though if she was being honest she had the exact same feeling. Like she was being watched. And whenever she would turn around there was no one there. But never less it left her feeling unnerved. Could someone be watching her?

"Hey! Shrimp, Earthland to Levy!" Gajeel's gruff voice cut through her thoughts, making her jump.

"I-I'm sorry did you say something?" she asked, feeling her face heat up when she realized she got lost in thought.

"I said we're here." Gajeel said. "This is where I'm staying as well, and so will you until it's time to go home."

Levy looked to Gajeel as he said this. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"If I wasn't I wouldn't have said anything." Gajeel told her, grabbing her bags and heading to his room, Levy close behind.

Silence permeated as they entered the room, going through the motions of putting her belongings away before moving to sit on the edge of Gajeel's bed. It was then that Levy realized... there was only one bed. And if she was to stay with him then...

"What are you so silent for?" Gajeel asked, looking to her.

"Where am I going to sleep?" she asked, after a moment or two of silence.

"You can take the bed." Gajeel said, "I'll take the floor I've slept in worst places."

"I can't do that, tell you what I'll sleep on the floor. It is after all your room." She told him.

"No, none of that," Gajeel chided, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're my guest, it'd be rude to make you sleep on the floor like some dog." Gajeel insisted

Seeing as there was no point in arguing, however a new idea soon popped into her head. An idea so absurd she could hardly believe it was coming from her. "We...uh...we could..." She stammered, she couldn't believe she was going to suggest this, her face going several shades of red as she looked down at her hands clasped in her lap.

"God, what is wrong with you?" Gajeel asked, red eyes narrowing as he looked at her. Never in a thousand years had he ever seen her so flustered, it was almost cute, in an annoying way.

"We can share the bed." Levy finished quickly, there she had said it now to get ridiculed by the man in question. Squeezing her eyes shut she waited for his response when-

"Sounds good to me." Gajeel said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "I dunno why you were getting so flustered about it, it's no big deal, really."

Levy looked to Gajeel, cheeks still red. "I-if you're okay then sure."

"I just said so, jeez what's with you?" Gajeel muttered, as he got up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom.

After what seemed like forever Levy heard the shower start. What's wrong with me? She thought, trying to cool her heated cheeks. I don't normally get so flustered especially over someone like Gajeel...do I? Levy blinked at her thoughts. What was wrong with her? She never acted like this before, so why was she getting so flustered around him of all people? He was... he was Gajeel, the brash, brutish Dragon Slayer of Former Phantom Lord fame and now a member of her guild. She couldn't possibly be having feelings for him could she? Levy blinked her gaze immediately going to the bathroom, listening to the sounds of the shower going, and the not so soothing sounds of what Gajeel liked to call, singing. Why him? They couldn't be more different and yet... Levy mused as she worried at her bottom lip, more than once he had come to her aid, and now he did so again.

So, maybe it wasn't that impossible for her to develop feelings for him. She was sure she'd fall for Natsu if he came to her aid as much as Gajeel did, now THAT would be an odd pairing. Levy thought letting out a giggle at the thought. Funny, she mused, resting her chin on her hand allowing her mind to wander. All those years ago she, like so many girls her age, had always dreamed of meeting her Prince Charming. Dreams that were inspired by stories she used to read, stories involving handsome heroes coming to rescue of damsels in distress. Though she would admit she never really understood the stories, but Mira had always gotten so starry-eyed whenever she would read them when they were young. Boy, how naïve they were back then. Levy wondered if Mira still dreamed of such a thing, where as Levy had long since given up on finding her Prince Charming.

And yet, here she was with her own... well. She couldn't really call him Prince Charming but never less he had constant come to her rescue whenever she needed it. And now seemed to be by her side almost as much as Jet and Droy. She wondered what everyone would think if she voiced these thoughts to anyone at the guild. She knew if she told Mira, the white haired mage would no doubt get that starry-eyed look again and begin to gush about her and Gajeel's future babies. Levy chuckled, as much as she loved Mira, the She Devil sometimes let her imagination run a little wild.

Where both Jet and Droy would no doubt question her and her choice of man, all while looking a little heart broken that neither of them were her choice. And if she was being honest she was kind of interested in seeing where this was going to go. She wondered, did Gajeel maybe have feelings for her in return? She wasn't certain, but she secretly hoped so. Levy smiled to herself as she heard the water shut off, and the door unlock. Her heart skipping a beat as the door slowly opened, steaming billowing out of the bathroom and out stepped Gajeel clad in nothing but a fluffy towel. Their eyes meeting for the briefest moment before her eyes began to travel downwards, taking in the sight of him. Her cheeks heating up once more as she took in the sight of his muscled chest, and stomach to... to...oh dear...

A small noise escaped her lips as she immediately looked away.

"The hell's your problem?" Gajeel muttered, his eyes narrowing. When he realized what was going on. Eyes widening, his own cheeks flushing when he realized he was horribly undressed, muttering under his breath as he ducked back into the bathroom, all but slamming the door shut.

For the briefest moment he had forgotten she was here, and if he hadn't thought to wrap a towel around himself she would have-

"C-can you pass me my bag I need some clothes." He managed to choke out through the crack in the door, hoping that his little display hadn't caused her to run screaming from the room in terror.

After what seemed like forever her tiny hand appeared in the crack, his bag in hand. Muttering a thanks Gajeel quickly shut the door and busied himself with getting dressed before stepping out once more, greeted by the sight of an even more red-faced Levy who seemed unable to meet his gaze. Great, he had scarred her, granted it wasn't like she had seen anything. And it's not like he didn't notice the appreciative look she had shot him before realization struck.

Now they were sitting here, and awkward silence permeating the room as the two of them fought to come up with something to say. Thankfully, Levy was the first one to cut through the silence.

"You know I'm feeling a little hungry, do you want to get something to eat?" she asked, still unable to meet his gaze.

Worrying at his bottom lip Gajeel nodded as his stomach let out a growl, and he remembered that he hadn't eaten something since breakfast, so safe to say he was ravenous. "Actually that sounds like a good idea, you got anywhere in mind?" he asked.

"There's a place not far from here I've been meaning to try." Levy said, "you want to go?"

Nodding Gajeel watched as she got from where she had been sitting on the edge of the bed, grabbing her purse before moving towards the door. Gajeel following after her.

Authors Notes- And here I am updating Iron Hearted. And man this was a doozy, my back and my butt are sore and it's 10:33PM here so I should go to bed. And I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry about that, anyway I hoped you enjoyed it. This is still fun to write.