Chapter 5

Almost

"You know, you really shouldn't leave your window open all the time," Gajeel said, standing in front of the window.

Levy looked like a deer caught in headlights.

He froze in place when he realized what was going on. The woman was touching herself! 'No, no, no! This can't be happening!' He panicked. He'd only wanted to tell her what time to arrive at the station and quickly leave, but his body was stuck. Watching her. He cursed his inner dragon for pulling him into a trap like this. This definitely couldn't have been a coincidence. How the fuck did it know what she was doing?

Gajeel stood there quietly, contemplating his next move. It didn't seem as though the dragon had taken over… at least not yet. Levy watched him, trying to read his face, but it was too dark.

Seeing Levy like this caused something in Gajeel's pants to stir. She was magnificent. Her royal blue locks framing her now blushed face. Her short, but somehow long legs that looked oh, so smooth. Her big honey-pot eyes. She made him weak. He had to get out of there.

Gathering what little strength he had, he mustered the words "Be at the train station at noon tomorrow," and as quickly as he came in, he was gone.

Levy got up from the couch and darted over to the window almost immediately after he left. Her eyes scanned the forested area, but he was nowhere to be found. 'Oh my God! I scared him off! What if he heard me?' Levy was visibly freaking out, very embarrassed that he saw her but also worried that he would look at her differently now. For whatever reason, she wanted to call out after him.

Gajeel had never left anywhere as quickly as he did then. He safely made it far enough in the woods that he couldn't see or smell her, so he thought it was a good idea to stop and gather his thoughts. He thought back to what just happened. 'I could have sworn I heard her say my name….maybe I'm just going crazy.' Yeah, Gajeel thought it best to leave it at that.

He suddenly heard something. It was faint. Coming from the direction Levy was in. He stopped and tuned into his senses. He heard it again. It was his name. Being called by Levy. She'd only called his name twice, and it was once more than he needed to hear as he quickly made his way back to her place. 'What the hell am I doing?' He asked himself. He would do anything for Levy. She was his world. His body wouldn't allow him to ignore her calls for him.

"Gajeel!" Levy called out the window for him. She didn't want to be too loud and wake the other girls in the apartment. Men were not allowed inside of Fairy Hills and Erza would have his –AND her head if she caught him there. She wondered if he heard her.

"Gajeel!" She called again. Why was she calling for him? She was beyond embarrassed and she definitely didn't know how she was going to face him after that whole ordeal, yet she still called. Relieved, thinking he didn't hear her, Levy walked away from the window.

Gajeel made it to her building and stopped. He contemplated. Should he go in there? What would happen if he did? Could he control himself? He'd literally walked in on her fucking herself and that's all he could think about. 'Maybe this is a bad idea…' he thought. Gajeel was tired, though. He was tired of fighting, tired of hiding, tired of not having Levy. He just didn't want to do anything until he heard it from her lips, that she was ready, and that she wanted him. 'Fuck it, I'm going in there.' He slipped into the shadows and went up the wall to her window. As he slid inside, he saw her, and since she'd walked away from the window, she didn't see him.

Levy was standing at her bedroom door, about to turn the knob to enter, when Gajeel planted both his hands on the door. Levy halted, trapped in between the door and his body, her mind running a million miles a minute. Her back was still to him, and Gajeel could smell the nerves on her. Wanting to make her feel safe, he leaned down and nuzzled her neck breathing in her scent. "Ya know," he started, almost whispering in her ear. "That was pretty hot, what you were doin' earlier."

The color drained from Levy's body as she tried to flee into her bedroom. He grabbed her by the waist and turned her around. His hands resting on her hips. He studied her. She was clearly embarrassed. Her eyes stained with worry. Gajeel frowned. "Shrimp." He stared at her intently. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing… I'm just tired," Levy says, still trying to get away, failing. She knew he was looking for an answer to why she called him. She didn't have one. "I'm sorry."

He grabbed her chin with his index finger and thumb. "For what?"

Levy was practically sweating, she was so hot. His face slowly inching closer to hers. "F-for calling you over here," she replied softly.

Gajeel was surprisingly holding his composure pretty well, but it could snap at any moment. "You don't need to apologize, Shrimp." 'I'd do anything for you,' He thinks as he twirls a few strands of her hair with his index finger, still hovering over her.

"I know you haven't really been wanting to be around me much," she says.

Gajeel stared at her, wanting to explain everything, but man, was it hard. How do you tell the woman you hurt so badly, that you love her? He was never good at expressing his feelings, but he did notice that it was a bit easier when she was around.

All he could do was pull her close, hoping that was enough to let her know that wasn't the case.

Levy was confused. One point, he's hovering over her and doing almost everything he can to be around her, and the next moment, he's shunning her and leaving her to be alone and stuff. What was up with all these mixed signals?

She slowly wrapped her arms around his midsection as he hugged her. She loved his natural scent. It seemed to relax her when she needed it, maybe that's why she always welcomed his company.

A low rumble came from Gajeel as Levy held him. Almost right after she returned the embrace, his sanity snapped. He bent down low and hugged her by her thighs, picking her up, and hanging her over his shoulder. He opened her bedroom door aggressively, placed her on the bed and crawled on top of her so that he was now hovering –yes, hovering again- over her. There was a fire in Levy's eyes, a fire he'd never had the pleasure of seeing before and it fueled him.

"Levy…" He said into her neck.

"Gajeel…what…." Levy was interrupted.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Crap!" Levy scrambled off the bed and looked at Gajeel, panic written all over her face. Gajeel, angry that he was interrupted, but also relieved because he didn't want to do anything to make Levy see him in a bad light. His dragon had taken over and was going to do who knows what to her. He just didn't want to hurt her. Yes, he was a dragon slayer, but since picking a mate was a once in a lifetime thing, he was ignorant to what all it entailed. Levy may know, he thought. 'She's always reading, I wouldn't be surprised if she has read up on dragons and their rituals.'

KNOCK KNOCK

Whoever it was clearly wasn't going away. Levy huffed, as she exited her bedroom, closing the door behind her so Gajeel was hidden.

"Levy," The person said as she opened the door.

"Oh, hey Erza." Levy was scared shitless as Erza welcomed herself into her space, worried that she would find the dark-haired man in her bedroom.

"Levy," Erza looked at her with a look that could strike fear in a grown man's heart. "I heard you yelling for Gajeel. You do know there are no men allowed at Fairy Hills right?"

"Yes, I-I know that, I saw him off in the distance and wanted to run something by him for our job tomorrow," Levy stammered, trying to come up with anything that would send the redhead away. "I'm so sorry if I woke you."

Erza was a bit tired, so she didn't pay any mind to Levy's stammering. "It better not happen again." She casts one more serious look at Levy. "I will be on my way then, good night."

"Night, Erza," Levy said as she closed the door after her.

Levy sighed a breath of relief and went back into her bedroom. She opened the door and was saddened at what she saw. The window open, her bedroom empty. She knew why he left. Hell, Levy probably wouldn't have been able to control herself either. 'Maybe that's not such a bad thing,' she thought. No, she wasn't sure she was ready to go that far yet, even though she was fully comfortable with him being on top of her like that.

Morning came and Gajeel was already at the train station.

"Remind me again why we're here two hours early," Pantherlily said.

"Who knows, the shrimp may want to get a head start. Just in case she does, I want to be here to catch the next train out," Gajeel explained. "Plus, I figured we could train for a little bit."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Gajeel. You don't know what could happen en route to our destination. We need you at full strength just in case."

"Well, I ain't gonna be much help to ya anyway! As soon as I step on that thing I'll be out of commission." Gajeel folded his arms over his chest.

"Luckily it will only be a few hours," Lily reasoned.

Levy woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go. She took a quick bath, and gathered her things in the living room. After grabbing a few fruits from the fridge, she packed them away for later and departed for the job.

She arrived at about 11:30 to find Gajeel already there and waiting. She didn't anticipate him being there early. She blushed, remembering the previous night's events and walked up to them.

"Hello Levy," the exceed greeted.

"Hey Lil," Levy scoops the pet up for a hug and them places him back down.

"Gajeel, what are you doing here so early?" Levy asked.

"I didn't know if you were going to be here early. Just in case you did, I wanted to catch the next train out."

"Oh, well why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten up earlier." Levy said.

"It's fine, Shrimp. Come on," He says as he motions for them to sit on the bench.

About 40 minutes later, they were on the train and it was moving; Gajeel incapacitated.

"Why don't you try to sleep, maybe it'll get your mind off this sickness," Levy said to the defenseless man. He grumbled and shuffled in his seat, trying to get comfortable.

"A nap doesn't sound like a bad idea, Levy." Lily said perched on her lap.

"I'll stay awake, I want to touch up on a few of the translation books I brought," Levy says, pulling a book from her bag.

"Alright, wake me up if there's any trouble," the black ball of fur said before curling up and closing his eyes.

The job they were going on required the delivery and translation of several very valuable tablets. The buyer apparently lived a ways away from the seller, which wasn't too bad given the tablets were going to take a while to translate anyway. The buyer was supposedly paying a lot of Jewel, and they were entrusted to deliver all of them safely and bring back the payment. They did, of course, get a large chunk; the reward was 500,000 Jewel!

Levy thought of what she could do with her share of the loot. She could finally move out of Fairy Hills and get a place big enough to store all her books. She was giddy with the thought.

Gajeel surprisingly slept through the whole ride. Levy gently nudged him at an attempt to wake him up. He didn't budge. She leaned in closely so that her lips were barely brushing his ear. "Gajeel, it's time to get up," she said softly.

Gajeel's body immediately reacted to her and his eyes cracked open. "You shouldn't do that, Shorty." Gajeel grinned deviously as Levy backed away, realizing how her actions came off.

"U-uh I didn't mean—"

"Of course not, short stuff. Let's go."

They gathered their things and started off on their journey.