*Author's note before we start: Just wanted to give a shoutout to a personal friend of mine and fellow writer Takamura Rules. I've known him since my senior year of high school, so we're pretty close now (that was at least six months after my writer's block, dang, that was like six years ago). Anyway, he said he would get mad if I didn't give him shout out, plus it would up my word count…but he's partially the reason I started writing again, and writing more, I used to write such short little chapters when I was young, now look at me…unfortunately I don't have as many readers, but hey, what can you do in a dying fandom. Back to Takamura Rules, he's writing a Percy Jackson/Persona crossover, which is getting a lot of traction, so if you like either of those series, you should check it out. It follows the story from the first book, but with the Phantom Thieves thrust in the mix, truly a crossover, which is why I decided to change this from a crossover (can't limit myself with a dead fandom and slightly dying one). Author's note, done, now back to your regularly scheduled fic!*
It was Thursday morning, the professor and Porlyusica had cleared Levy to go to school. The bruises on her neck weren't that sore anymore, but still kind of greenish in color. So, to hide them, she opted for a green turtleneck with cold shoulder sleeves and a white miniskirt. Her voice was also back to normal, thankful that she sounded like herself again. While she had been home, she made sure to do all her homework to not fall behind; making a jumpstart on learning about certain weapons she felt comfortable making; other than that, she read. Laxus hadn't spoken to her since their falling out either, making it clear that he did respect her to some extent, but maybe not all the time.
It was a bit brisker on the way to school, signaling the fact that Fall was coming soon. It had to have been her favorite type of weather. Primarily because she enjoyed wearing her long sleeve tops or off the shoulder dresses, her signature style. When she walked into the school building, she saw the typical familiar faces of her peers. Juvia ran up to her, hugging her tightly, exclaiming that she was so worried about her being sick at home. When she calmed down, Levy could see how emotional Juvia had been, making her realize that Juvia was truly genuine about how much she worried. When Gray walked up, that was when the attention shifted from Levy to Gray's almost fully healed eye. The short blunette went to her locker, placing items from her book bag inside for safe keeping. The only things she kept inside her bag was her homework, writing utensils, notebooks, and whatever book she happened to be reading. As she closed the locker door and turned around, she saw Gajeel right behind her.
"Good to see you finally back in your natural habitat, Shrimp." Gajeel jokingly said this with a chuckle.
"Good to see that you still make jokes. So, are we just going to ignore what you did Monday afternoon?" She said with a blank gaze, referring to the kiss he planted on her lips.
She could see his face start turning red, remembering the kiss before saying, "Only if you want to gihi." He gave a little embarrassed grin.
"I like you Gajeel, and it's apparent that you like me, but I'm worried about a lot of things and I'm not quite sure if I'm ready for a real relationship. If anything, I'd just want to take things slowly…" Levy thought of everything that had happened in such a short time; him beating her up, her hiding that she was a mutant, and the thought of needing to keep distance from him. She didn't want to just turn him down and deny her own feelings, so going slowly seemed like a perfect compromise.
"I getcha pipsqueak, we can go as slow as you like. Nothing between us has to change just yet, and we don't gotta put labels on whatever we end up being. I'm just glad I didn't have to verbalize my feelings. Do you know how much anxiety I had from the thought of you rejecting me Shrimp?" Gajeel gave his response and then had a smirk on his face from his relief.
"I really appreciate it, Gajeel. And I guess your "friend" is pretty relieved about his situation then?" She said through a smile, having figured out that he was the friend after they kissed.
"Yeah, he's just peachy." Gajeel blushed and turned away for a split second.
"It's been a few days, so we should probably do some studying right? Maybe over at your place after school?" Levy suggested.
"Uh, totally." Gajeel agreed.
They went their separate ways, going to their first classes of the day. Despite having missed three days in a row, Levy was right back into the swing of things thanks to the notes Jet and Droy had taken for her. She never missed a beat, raising her hand to answer questions, helping her classmates, she was her normal self. Some of her teachers were a tad bit concerned, but they were just happy she was feeling better. Lunchtime went by like usual, Natsu sat with his crew while Zeref and Mavis were off on their own, and of course Gajeel sat with Levy and company. The four of them at their school lunch, the only things to choose from were pizza, nachos, and salad. Pizza was on the menu every day, but the other two items switched every day. Droy and Levy ate salad, Jet had nachos, and Gajeel ate his pizza. While they ate, they discussed weekend plans, plans that none of them actually had. Levy said she still wanted to take it easy from her "cold," but she actually planned on training with Laxus. Jet said he was gonna train to run a bit faster, which was half true. Gajeel expected him to train to be faster for the track team, but in reality, Jet wanted to get his top running speed up so he could make better use of it in an emergency situation; the last thing he wanted was to be too slow and not save everyone. Droy said he just wanted to work in the garden, which was the whole truth, he needed to replant the ones Zeref had killed. Then Jet had a curious question to ask Gajeel about his powers.
"Hey, so, when you go into your steel form, do you get heavier?" He asked.
"Not sure, I know my punches hit harder. I don't really worry about stuff like that." Gajeel shrugged.
"Hm, you never thought of studying your powers? Like looking for weaknesses or trying to figure out how they might work?" Droy asked, shocked.
"Nope, why would I want to learn my weaknesses? Seems a bit counterproductive to me. I just wanna use my powers and call it a day." Gajeel leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head.
"Well, think of it like Superman, he's weak to green kryptonite and can't see through lead, right? So, he knows his limits and tries his best to stay away from green kryptonite." Levy explained, making good use of their outing on Saturday.
"Yeah, but everyone else knows his weaknesses too. I'm not gonna search em' out just so it'll get exploited by whoever I'm fighting." Gajeel explained, knowing he was right.
"Dude you're a teenager, not like you have an arch enemy out there." Droy said, making what he said sound silly.
"Yeah, but I did run into a bunch of losers over the weekend. Who knows if they'll be back for a rematch. Don't need them getting one up over me."
"Gajeel, how would they know what your weakness is anyway? I doubt they even remember what you look like." Jet made a point, knowing Gajeel was speaking about Levy, Laxus and Gray.
"Let me tell you a little secret," Gajeel leaned in close to the table, "they were mutants too. I'd never seen them before, and they were wearing some silly outfits. They covered their faces and maybe some voice modifiers. It was weird, but I won, even got one guy in the face." Gajeel lied, and gloated. If he hadn't been a little dense, or if Gray and Natsu didn't fight often, he might have been suspicious of Gray's own black eye.
"Ohh…" Jet and Droy said in unison, not knowing that Gajeel was that observant.
"Okay, well, I don't think there's a need to worry much. I mean, I'm sure they get the message that you're not one to mess with. Anyway, are we still on to study tonight Gajeel?" Levy said, trying to think of a way to change the subject
"Obviously, when would I ever say no to studying with you." It was true, Gajeel always made time to study with Levy, never making excuses or letting anything take time away from it, except last Friday when Laxus interrupted.
"Great, do we need to pick up any snacks before, or is there enough?" Levy asked, knowing that only half the time, there were snacks available.
"We got it covered. You two wanna get in on our study sesh?" Gajeel asked, he wasn't serious, but he wanted to seem at least a little considerate.
The other two boys shook their heads and quickly said no to the offer, each of them having a red face now. The way Gajeel had said it made it sound a bit more suggestive than it actually was, making them think that either it was just a joke, or he genuinely didn't check his tone.
Normally after finishing with a study session, Levy would eat with whoever she was with, or go somewhere fun to balance out any hardcore studying. If she was with Jet and Droy, it'd typically just be some snacks they bought or a nice place in town. With Lucy, which was a bit rare, they'd go shopping and then to any fancy place Levy wanted. Any of her other housemates always opted to order pizza or anything else they could get delivered. But whenever it was her time to study with Gajeel, he typically wanted to eat someplace new, in his words, he wanted to "spice things up."
When school was over, she bid goodbye to her friends as she, Gajeel, Gray, and Juvia walked to the orphanage. Totomaru was going to join them until he heard Gray was coming, he did not want to be in the house with two couples. And even though Gajeel and Levy weren't dating, he knew it would happen eventually, just didn't know when. So instead of coming home, he took a little detour to a small martial art's studio. He never told anyone, but he always wanted to be a teacher, his dream was to work in a dojo or other martial arts institute. He didn't know his parents at all, being raised in a dojo himself during his youth. Unfortunately, when his powers were coming in, he had caused the dojo to burn down, later being ousted for his mistake. He knew starting his own dojo would be difficult, but if he could start working at a studio, he could help grow his name and fulfill his dream. He also wanted to make himself be a modern-day ninja and doing Jose's bidding helped him put his skills to the test; however, he wasn't too happy about the shadiness of Jose and his companions.
When the quartet got to their destination, they entered the house casually. The house was an older model, it was blue and black on the outside and kept the same colors inside. Their abode was two stories with 6 rooms, two on the first floor and 4 on top. Jose's was the master bedroom on the bottom floor, and two were currently vacant. The living room was off from the foyer, where Juvia and Gray usually spent their time, which was no different from today, planning to watch a movie or two while Levy and Gajeel studied upstairs in his room.
Juvia suggested watching a new romance film that came out, although Gray wasn't opposed, he preferred action. He sat on the couch, waiting for her to put the movie on, looking around the room. The house wasn't bad looking, just older, but he knew why she was curious about where he lived, they always hung out here. The one thing that was always off was that there weren't any personal items in the common areas, like his friends didn't even live there aside from their own rooms. He guessed it made sense that it was an orphanage, but it also meant that maybe the owner wasn't very personal to the kids either.
When Juvia picked the movie, she sat with Gray, sitting on his lap, and snuggling into him. He put his arms around her eyes glued to the movie. He'd been trying not to be weird all week over what happened Saturday night. It made him wonder if there was more, she was hiding from him. The way they fought meant they weren't noobs, and considering it was their first encounter, there was no telling where they had begun stealing beforehand. His thoughts were interrupted by Juvia, leaning her head into his chest, looking up at him with her dark blue eyes.
"What's wrong Gray?" She asked him, putting a hand on his cheek.
"Nothin, just enjoying the movie…" he hesitated.
"You're lying…" she said sternly, face blank.
Gray sighed, tilting his head back and looking at the sealing, trying to figure out what to say to her. "I just realized there are no personal items out here of you, Gajeel, or Totomaru. Just thought it was a little odd."
"Oh, Jose said he just didn't want anything like that outside the rooms. Juvia thinks it's okay, that way no one can touch her stuff."
"Ju, I told you that you don't need to talk like that with me." Gray noted that she really was different from how she acted when they fought.
"R-right, I-I'm sorry. Let's get back to the movie." She struggled to get the words out, quickly mentioning the movie to stop drawing attention to herself.
Upstairs was a different story, Gajeel was struggling with math, and Levy was struggling to teach it to him. He just wasn't understanding it fully, of course the teacher couldn't break it down enough, but Levy was trying her best to help. She hated to admit it, but even though she struggled a bit in her math courses, thankfully it didn't affect her class rank. Despite her struggles, teachers put weight on her shoulders to strive for greatness and push herself, leading to advanced courses. She could do most things when it came to math, but that just meant she had to study to understand the things she was bad at. At this point, there wasn't anything Gajeel needed help with aside from that subject, so they both tried collaborating on a problem before looking at the answers in the back of the book. They were both sitting on Gajeel's bed, already having been made this morning. It always surprised Levy that Gajeel's room wasn't really cluttered, but the irony was that he only kept it that way in case she wanted to come over on the random occasion. His room was pretty basic, being painted black with gray accents. He had two guitars, a tan acoustic one and white electric one that looked custom made.
"Can I take a break? My brain hurts." Gajeel sighed and leaned back until he was lying flat on his bed.
"Yeah, we're halfway done with your homework, so a little break seems appropriate." Levy reached her arms above her head, stretching herself out.
"You hungry yet? I could go down to get a snack." Gajeel quickly sat up, looking at her as they were face to face now.
"Yeah, I could go for a little snack, but it might be a little awkward if Juvia and Gray are making out." She blushed and laughed uncomfortably, having walked in on them multiple times, here and at school.
"Pfft, no doubt. But unlike you, I'm not fazed by it, maybe a little annoyed, but not phased." He got up from the bed and left the room, walking down the stairs until he heard the television on. The living room was right off from the kitchen and to no one's surprise, Juvia and Gray were in fact, making out. Gajeel rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to grab drinks, slamming it shut. That caused Juvia to jump and look at Gajeel in embarrassment.
"Sorry…Gajeel." She squealed and turned her head away.
"Haven't I told you guys that if you want to do that, you need to get a room? You can't just do it in the living room where everyone can see." He shook his head, leaving the kitchen with two sodas and a bag of chips.
"Sorry man, just kinda happened." Gray laughed as he shouted his words at Gajeel, to be sure he was gone, they actually paid attention to the screen before Juvia leaned in for another kiss.
When Gajeel got back to his room, Levy was laid out on his bed, already starting to read one of the books from her bag. He set the sodas and chips on the nightstand and looked over at her to inspect the book. He gazed at the tile and cover, it wasn't one he'd heard of, but the cover told him everything he needed to know. The cover had a man and woman on the front, it was weird because he was blue and shirtless, his hair was even blue. But he wasn't facing the reader, instead he was facing the woman, who had her arms around his neck and head. Gajeel could only guess it was a romance novel, but the name didn't convey anything of sort to him personally, Ice Planet Barbarians. He then asked her about the book, and she quickly shut it, making sure to save the page; her face was beet red as she tried to explain herself. She stumbled over her words, telling him people online were talking about it, so she was curious and got her hands on a copy. He raised his eyebrow, leaning in and asking what genre, she replied with one word, "romance." He smirked, trying to pick up the book, but Levy grabbed it too, not letting go. Her face was even more red now, trying to keep him from seeing what the book was about, but he was stronger, and she couldn't hold on. Upon gaining access to the book, Gajeel flipped to a random page and started reading aloud, just wanting to mess with her, but he quickly realized his mistake. As he read on, his face got hot and a blush crept up on his cheeks, but he continued; as it went on, he went into his steel mode suddenly, then put the book down and left the room. Levy's own face was still bright red, not thinking Gajeel would be interested in what she was reading, the only people who knew her reading habits like that were Lucy, Erza, and Laki. Even her other male companions didn't know she read stuff like that. Calming down, she put the book back in her bag and closed it, sitting in silence until Gajeel came back.
The tall, raven-haired boy needed to douse water on his face to cool down. Never in a million years did he think Levy, innocent, little Levy would read a book of that caliber. He always joked to himself that those types of books were for lonely, middle-aged women; but now he realized that the girl he liked actually read those things. He was shocked, what he had just read aloud was not for the faint of heart, it took a lot of will power to get through that. He needed to calm down, he took slow breaths, finally reverting from his steel form. He couldn't let Levy see he was still phased by what he just read, so he put on his game face, trying to downplay his reaction. Walking down the hall and back into the room, he put on a signature smirk and sat on the bed.
"It should be illegal for shrimps like you to read books like that, you know." He said, trying to smile without blushing.
"Well, it isn't, and like I said, people were talking about it, and I was curious." She said with a straight face, looking at her knees.
"Then be honest, that's not your first dirty book, is it?" Gajeel looked at her, being very serious.
"And what if it wasn't? It's not your business…and you have homework to finish." Levy's voice was nervous, knowing good and well this was not her first book of that nature, but she didn't want to admit it to Gajeel of all people, so she deflected, pointing at his math work.
"Fine, fine, be secretive all you want, Shrimpy." He turned and picked his math work, reading a question as Levy picked up one of the sodas, he brought up earlier.
They continued doing his homework. It was still challenging, but at least Gajeel was gonna get an 'A' on his homework assignment. Gajeel loved having Levy help him with his studies, she was so smart and never looked down on him when he didn't understand something. Once they were finished, Gajeel breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like he just climbed over a huge hurdle. Downstairs, the movie Juvia and Gray put on had finished, and at that point, he was just waiting to walk home with Levy. Totomaru had come home a few minutes prior to the movie finishing and was thankful that everything seemed normal in the house. He made himself some dinner from the freezer, he noted that Jose hadn't come home yet. Jose was usually pretty absent during the week, only showing his face around evening time or on the weekends. Gray greeted Totomaru with a smile 'hey' while Juvia shot him a smile. Totomaru could tell that they'd already been kissing, so hopefully they could control themselves while he was there. They allowed him to put on whatever he wanted to watch, so he just flipped through the channels until he found something suitable. Back upstairs, Levy and Gajeel were just chillin in his room until she was ready to leave. She didn't trust pulling her book out, so she scrolled through her phone while lying on her friend's bed. Gajeel wanted to set the mood however, picking up his acoustic guitar and strumming away. He wasn't playing anything in particular, just making it up as he went on. Then he started singing, but it was more of a whisper. It sounded like a sweet song from his playing, but Levy couldn't hear the words. He was actually singing about her, her hair, her eyes, everything. He wanted to formulate a new song specifically for and about her. He wanted to convince her that actually being his girlfriend was a positive thing.
After a couple more minutes of scrolling and listening, Levy got up from the bed and picked up her bag, ready to take her leave. Gajeel stopped playing, setting the guitar down, acknowledging her. They walked downstairs, seeing Totomaru watching television as Gray and Juvia were cuddling. Levy looked at Gray, saying she was ready if he was, he nodded and kissed Juvia softly, moving her legs so he could stand. Before they could leave however, a man came through the door. He was tall, had tan skin, with dark red hair styled into a ponytail with a mustache of the same color. It was Jose, the owner of the orphanage, he said he wouldn't be back until late, so technically he was home early. He was still trying to get into the good graces of the client they were supposed to get the book for. He raised his eyebrow, wondering why there were two extra teens in his house. Totomaru spoke up, explaining that they were the partners of Gajeel and Juvia. Gray held out his hand, wanting to shake Jose's hand, he just looked at the boy's hand and back at his face. This was their first-time meeting, and that gesture meant it wasn't a pleasure. Levy stood frozen, she had never met Jose before, but something about him seemed familiar, like they had met at some point before, maybe in passing or when she was a kid. She didn't know, but her body ran cold as he looked at her, his own face revealing that he felt a familiarity towards her as well. Gajeel could feel the awkwardness in the air and cut through it, saying that Gray and Levy needed to head home since it was still a school night, leading them to the door and closing it.
"That girl, who was she exactly?" Jose asked, looking towards Gajeel.
"Levy, she's kind of like my girlfriend. We go to school together." Gajeel said it simply.
"No, what's her last name, who're her parents? Who is she?" Jose questioned.
"McGarden, she lives at the mansion with Gray, she's an orphan." Juvia blurted out.
"McGarden, I knew a man named Lloyd McGarden back in the day, but he's dead now, so I wonder if there's any relation." Jose said this in a devilishly dark tone, shadowy figures surrounding him. The three teens looked at him, nervous about what the implications were.
Saturday morning had been chosen as training time for everyone. Laxus wanted everyone to train as a group, doing warmups as well as sparring. Usually everyone trained at their leisure, but he needed to be stricter if he didn't want a repeat of what happened a week prior. The only people he couldn't force into this were the older adults, people like Gildarts, Alzack, and Bisca. Alzack could form bullets out of anything, even air, he didn't use it unless he was hunting animals, he didn't harm actual people. Bisca on the other hand had perfect aim, she could feel anything in an area, making her a perfect sharpshooter; she swore she never missed. Bisca and Alzack were married, both meeting prior to coming to the mansion. No one knew their exact history, but a bullet maker and a perfect shot, was a match made in heaven. Makarov oversaw everyone's training, making sure Laxus wasn't being out of line. Through the week, Laxus had concocted and scrapped his little war game. He realized that it didn't make sense to have everyone duke it out when they regularly sparred with each other. He hoped that if they ran into Gajeel and Juvia while on a mission, there wouldn't be the same hesitation as before.
Everyone was sparring with training dummies at the moment, using their powers or just hand to hand combat. People who couldn't emit things from their hands, like Mest, just used hand to hand combat on the dummy, testing their agility or trying new things. Natsu used a combination, using his flames as fire balls or punching the dummy while his fist was flaming. In a regular situation, he wouldn't do this, but it was training, and he wanted to stay fresh. Laxus had tired motivating Levy to use weapons, so she created a pair of spiked kubatons to practice with. It was a short stabbing weapon with two extra protruding spikes to go between her fingers to make her punches more powerful. She hoped that it might help her in some fights, but then again, there was no guarantee. The night before, Laxus had helped her with her stances, not being used to using weapons. He was more skilled in it from his time working with Freed, who used a sword back when he was on Laxus' team. Porlyusica also stood by, making sure she didn't push herself too hard.
Outside, it was a battle of the wills. Droy and Laki were training together one on one. Laki could control wood, but it had to be living, so it was more like just controlling trees. She and Droy's powers could go hand in hand if they really worked together, but they preferred a little rivalry. This morning, Droy made a large tree grow for them to train with. He was trying to keep it straight while she tried to make it move. It was a little unbalanced since Droy could control the whole tree, but it gave Laki a good challenge. Despite her powers, she really wasn't much of a nature person, she just liked how the wood could move to her liking, like how Droy himself could shape the topiaries in the front yard. The two weren't really friends like that, but they didn't dislike each other.
After a few more hours of training, everyone was finished and went about their day. Everyone except Laxus and Levy. She wanted a little extra practice using her new weapons, wanting to gain more confidence with them. She had begged Porlyusica to let her, and the older woman just shrugged and walked away, giving her two cents. The small blunette wanted to prove that she had what it took and wasn't as fragile as she seemed; being a bookworm meant others around you didn't know your true strength, and she wanted to prove them wrong, especially Laxus. Her task today was to land a hit on him using her weapons, a task he wasn't gonna let her complete easily. He even gave himself a handicap, he couldn't use his powers or fight back; essentially it was a game of tag where all he did was dodge as she tried to hit him. Levy was smaller than him, so she could move around him with ease, but Laxus was faster, just like the lightning he usually used. With each punch she threw, he would dodge and go the other way, leading to her trying to jab him with the more pointed end of the kubaton, but he still evaded. It felt like the usual sparring session between them, but with a twist and no banter. Laxus loved playful banter when sparring but considering how rocky he and Levy's relationship had been that week, he kept his mouth shut; the only noises coming from them was breathing.
"Alright, time out." Laxus said, standing still, he was sweating, but still had stamina left.
"Why, I'm not finished yet." Levy put her hands to her sides, still holding firm to her kubatons, breathing heavily.
"You need a break, and we need to work on how fast and where you can hit an opponent." Laxus walked over to a cooler full of water and tossed one at Levy. She caught it, although she did fumble slightly, dropping her weapons to get a sip of relief.
As she drank, Laxus started speaking again, "I noticed you were really interested in punching me in the face, there are other places you know. You could try going for the neck, the abdomen, the knee, or the foot. You should've used your legs to your advantage to lower me to the ground, yet you chose to go for my face immediately." Laxus talks to her, knowing she was still a bit upset with him, and making sure not to mention a particular spot that would truly immobilize him.
"I was going for your face because I wanted to wipe off that smug look you always have." She finished the water, drying the water from her lips with the back of her hand.
"You'd rather do that than literally knock me down a peg? If that's the case c'mon, I'll give you a free shot." Laxus knelt down, holding his arms out, baring it all to her. He looked into her eyes, waiting for her to hit him.
"I don't want to hit you Laxus, not like this." She turned away, leaving the training room and Laxus.
Laxus got off the floor, looking over the empty room to make sure he was leaving nothing behind. He should apologize, that's something he didn't do since she slapped him. He gave her space, only talking to her when it dealt with training and what she could do. Gray told him that she was kinda-sorta dating Gajeel now, just going with the flow rather than hoping headfirst into a relationship with him. Who could blame her, Gajeel seemed like a better version of himself, and maybe that's why he was jealous, because it could've been him if he wasn't stupid as a teen. But that was the past, and this is now, he needed to move on, but still protect and support her like he promised when they were kids. The tall blond was stuck in his thoughts, absentmindedly passing his housemates through the hall. It was like he was the only thing that existed, until he was snapped out of it by Mest, literally. Mest had been walking backwards, trying to get Laxus to pay attention, he'd noticed that the lights were flickering in the hall as Laxus was passing by, which was new. Mest had him sit down in the nearest common area so they could talk. Laxus said nothing was wrong, but from how the lights were acting up, it was a lie. So rather than try pulling teeth, Mest changed the subject.
"How's the war game going?"
"Scrapped it." Laxus said it bluntly, not giving an explanation.
"So, you're not gonna tell me why? You're just gonna leave it at that huh?" Mest asked, folding his arms. He'd changed into a red sleeveless turtleneck after training, trying to cool off while staying slightly warm.
"I realized how stupid it was. Having a tournament or two sides fighting means nothing if we regularly train together. Even Natsu and Gray go at it seriously when they spar, and they aren't even trying to kill each other!" He threw his hands up and held his head back, sighing in defeat.
"Yeah, I can see how that can be discouraging. If it means anything, I was looking forward to watching it."
Both men looked at each other, one in awe and the other was a hint of disappointment and relief. Mest wasn't gonna fight, but he'd watch. He didn't want to risk fighting Wendy, he wouldn't dare lay a finger on her; even when they spared, he was the one blocking and dodging, allowing her to try different air attacks. Laxus on the other hand thought it was surprising that Mest would even look forward to something that involved fighting. He rarely trained with anyone, and never truly acted like he was part of any sort of team; so, coming from him, it was like a badge of honor. And with their conversation being over as quickly as it began, both men left the room, Laxus going to his own room and Mest going to the kitchen. It was about lunch time, and all he had was a protein shake to get the day started, so a little bit of real food seemed good to him. When he got there, Levy was already making herself a sandwich. She had on one headphone, listening to who knows what. As Mest rummaged through the fridge to find some take out from the night before, he noticed Levy looking at him. She wasn't one to talk to him, making him feel like she was gonna ask for his assistance on a matter. But she didn't ask him anything, she just went back to her sandwich. Mest was still suspicious, so he went to heat his food up in the microwave, the buzzing being the only sounds between them. It was insanely awkward for both of them, Levy didn't want to just spring her question on him, but she knew it was gonna sound bad. Once the microwave beeped, and Levy was done making her own food, they both sat at the kitchen island, looking at each other, not eating, just a staring contest. It was getting tense, Levy looked down at Mest's food, and he looked at hers. She had cold cuts on her sandwich, but his food was gonna get cold if one of them didn't talk.
"Just spit it out, I'm starving!" Mest finally said, just wanting to eat in peace.
"Uh, alright…so there's this guy I'm kind of dating-" Levy started with a stammer before being interrupted.
"Gajeel, I've heard of him." The spiky haired boy said, digging into his food.
"It's not about him, it's about the guy who runs the orphanage he lives at. I feel like I know him, but I can't put my finger on it…something about him. I wanted to see if you could help me."
"Can't." Mest said between chews.
"Can't, or won't?" Levy asked, looking at him before biting into her food.
"Can't. Would if I could, but my powers don't work like that. I can't help you remember anything, and it sounds like you either forgot that guy or you repressed the heck out of his memory. It's probably best that you don't remember him though…"
"I guess you're right, Mest." She said it in a low tone, knowing he was right, and continuing to eat.
As they sat in silence, Natsu had gotten a call from Gajeel. It was unusual for him to call, he'd really only text people if he wanted to talk. But Natsu answered the phone.
Natsu answered in a funny voice, saying, "Yello?"
"Hey Natsu, got somethin' weird to talk about. Lev was readin' this weird book the other day, Ice something, I can't remember, but it was weird." Gajeel felt chills across his body as he remembered.
"You mean Ice Planet Barbarians? Isn't that the one where the women get-" Natsu spoke and then was quickly interrupted by Gajeel's surprised tone.
"You know that book!? You don't even read idiot, why do you know what that book is?"
"For your information, I do read Metal Head. I'm aware of that book because Lucy reads it and talks about it with Levy…and I sneak into Levy's room on occasion to read it as well." Natsu explained himself matter-of-factly.
"Okayyyyy, well then, you might know the answer to this then. Is that the only book, of that nature, that she's read?"
"No clue, but she has a ton of books, so she's bound to have some more." Natsu replied, shrugging.
"Mind checking it out for me?" Gajeel asked as softly as he could, wanting more info on his almost girlfriend.
"No way pervert, I only sneak into people's rooms for my own reasons, not because of other people."
"You're the perv here, pink hair! I'm not the one sneaking in to read other people's dirty books!" Gajeel yelled over the phone.
They had a screaming match for a while longer, both parties just insulting each other at this point. It had gotten late in the night by the time they stopped arguing and finally hung up the phone. Gajeel got up and made himself some dinner to eat. It'd been a week since he and Juvia had encountered those three mutants. He was glad Jose hadn't been home that evening, things would have been even worse. They hadn't let Jose know that he and Juvia had somehow gotten home, despite being knocked out. All he knew was that Totomaru said the doorbell rang and that's where they were, so he pulled them inside. Which begged the question, did the other mutants know them? Did they remove their masks and see who they were? It all bothered Gajeel, and shook him to his core, just the thought that they knew where he lived. It put everyone in danger, but considering they hadn't come after them, it gave him some sort of peace. And although he tried not to think about it, it was actually concerned for the girl he had choked that night. He was sure he hadn't killed her, especially since that lightning rod guy shocked him, but how much more pressure would it have taken to squeeze the life out of her? He didn't want to think of that, he knew if he saw her again, it would mean he wasn't a killer; he wouldn't apologize since they're enemies, but it would alleviate some guilt in his mind.