Chapter 20

New

Natsu and Gajeel followed behind the girls, a ways back, but still in eyeshot.

"So, Metal Head," Natsu said, his hands behind his neck.

"Can it!" Gajeel spat.

"What? I was just going to ask what it was like," he said.

Gajeel looked at him, annoyed that he would even ask. "What do you wanna know for? It's not like you're making any moves any time soon."

"Hey! That's not true!" The fire dragon said, getting riled up.

"Yeah?" Gajeel snorted. "Bunny Girl is a trooper for sticking around."

Natsu took his words into consideration. Maybe Lucy was waiting on him to make the first move. Gajeel didn't understand what he was waiting for, anyway. It was obvious Flame Brain had feelings for her, but he really didn't care enough to talk about he and the blonde's love life.

"So, what made you finally make the first move? Or did Levy come at you first?" Natsu continued, trying to get as much information out of him as possible.

"None of yer damn business!"

"You can keep quiet about it all you want, but all someone has to do is look at her to know you were there!"

That's how he wanted it. He wanted the world to know she was his, ironically enough, he wasn't one to kiss and tell. His personal life was just that, his. Could there be a balance between wanting everyone to know she was his and not talking about it at all?

"You're gonna have to figure this one out yourself," Gajeel said, dismissing the entire conversation.

He wasn't stupid. He knew what the pink-haired idiot was up to, but it wasn't his place to help or… whatever the hell he wanted. They hung around Fairy Hills, keeping watch for anything unusual while the girls and the cats packed Levy's things.

"Hey, do you hear crying?" Natsu asked, looking up at the apartment building.

Gajeel knew it was Levy, and it pained him seeing her like this, but at the moment, there wasn't anything he could do. He looked at Natsu, his face contorted with anger.

"You wanna go?!" The fire dragon slayer yelled, fire coming from his palms and mouth. He hadn't even done anything to Gajeel, but he was the closest target, and Gajeel needed to relieve some stress. Natsu, as always, was ready to spar at any given moment, so he took his antagonizing look as an invitation.

The group walked out of the building to head back to Gajeel's place, stopping when they saw the two slayers going at it.

"Oh, lord," Lucy says, going to interfere, but being stopped by Lily.

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea to try and stop them," the black exceed said. "Gajeel seems to be blowing off some steam." He'd been around Gajeel long enough to know the difference in his fighting style. Right now, he was in 'destroy' mode, where he just wants to destroy everything he sees.

They watched as tree after tree fell, fire and iron appearing and disappearing. Levy was tired; she just wanted to wind down, but that didn't look like it was happening any time soon. She sat her bags down, calmly walking toward the fighting dragons.

"Gajeel," she said softly, unintentionally distracting him.

Natsu took advantage of the distraction, landing a solid punch to Gajeel's face, sending him whizzing past the blue-haired girl.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, running toward the commotion.

"Heh, is that all you got?!" Gajeel said, dusting himself off, as he started toward Salamander, his eyes flaming.

Levy was getting fed up. She just wanted to go home… or wherever. She grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

Gajeel looked at his mate and knew she was at her wit's end. He knew there was a time and a place for everything, and this wasn't the time for him to be fighting. He turned to a rowdy Salamander.

"Rain check, Hot Head," he said.

"Sounds like defeat to me," Natsu said, grinning.

Gajeel ignored his attempt to egg him on. "Me and Shrimp are gonna go look for a place off the grid," he said, wrapping an arm around her.

"Ooo," Lucy said excitedly. "That sounds fun! Any ideas where?"

"I said. Off. The grid. That means nobody will know where we are, including you, Salamander, and that blue cat."

Gajeel didn't really mean to snap at the blonde, but he was all worked up, wanting to relax just as much as his Shrimp. Thankfully, Lucy understood his misdirected hostility.

"Alright, guys," she gave Levy a long hug. "Please be safe."

"I will."

"And let me know if you need anything," Lucy said, dragging Natsu in the opposite direction.

"Come on, Blue," Gajeel said. "Where's all your stuff?"

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "It's all destroyed. Everything. My books, my clothes… I have nothing." She looked at the ground beneath her, rethinking her words. "Actually," she says, looking up, her eyes meeting crimson red ones staring back at her. "I have you, and I have Lily, and that's all I need." And she meant that. Wherever they were, was home.

He and Lily grabbed what little she did have and headed toward his place.

A few weeks later…

Gajeel and Levy had found a secluded hut in the mountains, close enough for them to get to the guild and back comfortably, and close enough to the heavily forested area for him to train. It was small, but not too small, with two decent sized bedrooms. Gajeel was fairly rooted in his new hut with his mate and his cat, and he wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

The hut was as he planned, off grid. There was no trace of anything leading to their home. Whoever was after Levy was going to have a hell of a hard time finding her, and by the time they did, Gajeel would have already figured out someone was there. He had the upper hand in the mountains, with plenty of shadowy areas and a direct escape route to the woods.

Gajeel wasn't quite as content as he wanted to be, as Levy had been spending a lot of time at the guild lately. That meant he had to go with her when she went, which was super annoying because they were still hiding their relationship. The only time he wouldn't go with her was if she was heading over to Lucy's apartment. He knew Bunny Girl would take care of Levy, and if anything bad happened, Lucy got one of Cana's cards and given it to Gajeel, so they could just call him if needed. Unfortunately for Levy, that meant Cana knew about them. It was hard to convince the brunette to not tell anyone, so Gajeel offered to buy her beer anytime they ran into each other at the guild in exchange for her silence. They'd gotten better at sneaking around, but they'd almost gotten caught a few times. It was pretty thrilling, but scary, nonetheless.

They hadn't taken another job since the one almost a month ago. The payout was pretty big and they didn't have to pay much for their hut, surprisingly. Levy was a bit disappointed that there wasn't enough space for her books, but she was finally able to relax, which was a win in her book.

She'd spend most of her time in the guild's library, reading old books or studying new ones. She felt bad because Gajeel had to follow her everywhere, even though she told him not to. She understood why. It seemed every time she left his sight, she was in trouble... It bothered Levy that she seemed to be the main target, but she was grateful to feel protected at all times. So far, things were quiet. After her apartment was destroyed, there hadn't been another attack. Lucy used Virgo to clean up her friend's apartment before anyone noticed the mess. 'What would I do without her?' Levy thought to herself, smiling.

Tonight, Gajeel and levy were hanging out at the guild, where it was an especially happy night, for no good reason. Everyone was in a great mood. People were drinking, eating, talking, and playing games. If music were added it'd be a party. Gajeel sat in his usual spot, watching from the corner. He didn't really like to socialize much unless it involved drinking, and if he drank, he was going to be all over Levy. He watched as she drank and mingled with the other mages.

He zeroed in on Freed making his way toward her. Gajeel always suspected him of being fond of Levy. It made sense, their magic seeming to go hand in hand; them both sharing different variations of Letter Magic, but the dragon slayer wasn't having any of that.

"Hey, Levy," Freed walked up to her, handing her a drink.

"Thanks," grinned a tipsy Levy.

"What's up? How have you been?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing, just catchin' up on reading and stuff," she said, taking a sip of the fruity drink he handed her. "What about you?"

"Oh, just working with Laxus," he beamed. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Levy's ability to read people's emotions goes out the door once alcohol enters her system, so she didn't notice how nervous Freed was.

Gajeel gritted his teeth at the sight. Freed was about to cross a line no one should dare cross. But to be fair, Freed didn't know a relationship between Levy and Gajeel even existed. He sat there, watching and waiting for Freed's next move.

"You just did, silly!" Levy burst into fits of laughter at her own joke, seeming to slightly annoy the green-haired mage.

"Levy," Freed said. "I'm serious."

"Alright, what is it?" She said, smiling.

Freed always thought she was cute, but he never had the courage to go for it. The alcohol was helping him greatly.

"I was wondering… if maybe… you would like to go on a date with me sometime?" He asked sheepishly.

It took every ounce of control in Gajeel's body not to lose his shit. He crept up behind Levy.

"Beat it," the slayer said, popping up out of nowhere. She knew it was only a matter of time before he showed himself. She giggled drunkenly.

"What's this got to do with you?" Freed said, annoyed.

"I said, beat it," The dark-haired man growled, sending shivers down Freed's spine.

"Gajeel," Levy said as Freed scurried away.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But he was really pissing me off," he said crossing his arms.

"No, not that." She stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

"I want you," she said, her warm breath giving him goosebumps. She was less cautious when she was drunk. He wanted to be public for a while now, and abiding by her rule to keep it silent was tiring and tedious. Tonight, she didn't seem to have a care in the world and he loved it. Levy giggled and quickly ran off somewhere, making Gajeel find her; knowing he loved a hunt.

Mira saw the whole ordeal, from Freed asking Levy out, to Levy running off and Gajeel headed after her. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but something was definitely going on between those two.

Levy ran outside and found somewhere to hide. Or, at least she thought she did. She stopped by one of the side entrances to the guild, thinking she was safe and spun around, smacking into something hard.

"Gihi," Large arms wrapped around her body. "You're drunk, Shrimp. And even if you weren't," he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'd still find ya," he said, grabbing a handful of her ass.

"Don't start something you can't finish," she said, feeling bold.

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Challenge accepted.

"I will take you right here, right now," he growled.

"I'm waiting."

"Fuck," he hissed under his breath. He loved spontaneous Levy. She finally got out of her comfort zone.

He bit down on her neck, knowing that was the best way to get a noise out of her. In the heat of the moment, she didn't care if anyone heard her and if she didn't care, neither did he.

"Gajeel…" Levy moaned as he slipped two fingers up her dress and in between her legs. She kissed him with drunken vigor, him returning the favor, keeping his fingers inside her pool of moisture.

"Uh…"

Gajeel and Levy broke apart, Levy's face a bright shade of red.

"S-Sorry! Juvia didn't mean to interrupt!"

Juvia and Gray were exiting through the side door Levy had stopped at. Juvia was waving her hands frantically, and Gray was standing there with his arms crossed, smirking.

"Well, it's about time!" The ice wizard smacked Gajeel on the back.

Gajeel was a bit annoyed that they'd actually gotten caught this time, but he was glad because who knows what they would have done out there if those two hadn't showed up. At the same time, he wanted to see just how far Levy would take it, hoping to have public sex for the first time. He tried convincing her before, but she was a hard nut to crack. He looked down at his Shrimp, who looked very embarrassed.

"Yeah, well, just keep it to yourself, would ya?" Gajeel said, clearly frustrated.

"Gray-sama, Juvia thinks we should leave them alone," she said blushing, pulling her beloved Gray away. She looked at Gajeel. "Juvia won't tell anyone."

"I don't really care enough to tell," Gray said, dismissing it and walking off with Juvia.

Gajeel pulled Levy close again, still riled up from before. "I dunno about you, but I want you so bad right now," he said into her neck, making her weak in the knees. He wanted to take her right there, but at the sake of not getting caught again, he decided to take her home and do it there… if he could keep his hands off her long enough to make it home.

He kissed her deeply and swooped her up in his arms, darting off toward the woods. Mira happened to be taking some of the kitchen's trash out and caught a glimpse of he and Levy before they disappeared. She was determined to figure out their game.