I am roughly a minute away from losing my shit.

It's a surprisingly hot day in Magnolia which certainly isn't helping matters, the heat along with my increasing heart palpitations are not making for a pleasant experience. My palms are sweaty, and I have to forcibly stretch my fingers to keep them from curling into fists at my side. I haven't been able to sense Gajeel for the past 10 minutes as Lily and I stroll towards the Fairy Tail guildhall, "nearly there, your friends will be inside and it's going to be fine," I will myself to believe.

Lily had been idly chittering away about this and that the entire time, I know he is trying to make light of the situation and I did my best to sound bright and cheery with my replies, although deep down I knew my smile didn't quite reach my eyes.

"So, Levy, do you have anything you might, uh, want to talk about with me?" stammers Lily, one hand scratching the back of his head, his eyes quickly looking away from me as I stare up at him in confusion.

"Should I have something to discuss with you?" I reply, my voice is low and even despite the fire that has begun to trickle into my veins. Lily and Gajeel were clearly talking about me back at the apartment, "do they think I'm broken?" This is not a conversation that I want to be having, certainly not out on the streets and definitely not with Lily.

"Well, it's just, you know that Gajeel cares for you more than anything, uh…" Lily rambles, "he, no, I mean WE are a bit concerned that you aren't coping with certain -"

"Are you seriously trying to force this conversation on me in the middle of the street?" I hiss at the Exseed startling him, "do you honestly think this is the best time and place for you to start acting like my personal shrink?" I am perfectly furious at my 'friend' for this foolish line of questioning. One thing for sure is that I am no longer dwelling on a certain metal headed idiot's absence right now.

Rounding on Lily to block his path, I can barely hear my words over the rushing in my own ears, "you tell that big metal jerk that if he wants to talk to me then he should be the one to do it, he shouldn't be asking others to interfere!" I'm practically shouting at this point; Lily's eyes watch me warily and I can see the hurt that he is trying to mask. That realisation is enough to pour some water over my anger, my shoulders slump and I can feel the tension I wasn't even aware of drain out of them.

"Look, I'm sorry Lily, I -"

"No, I'm the one that is sorry. You're right, this isn't the right time or place. I promise that Gajeel didn't ask me to speak to you about it. I'll be honest, I'm pretty sure he is going to kick my butt when he finds out that I upset you, but I want you to know that I am here if you ever do wish to talk." Lily rushes out, his face cast down.

Instinctively I wrap my arms around the much larger man, hugging his midsection tight. After a second, Lily's hands move around my shoulders as he returns the hug.

"How about we call a truce, we are both sorry and this conversation never happened, deal?" I ask, smiling at him, a true smile. We shake on it and continue to the guild hall, "besides, I don't want to see my two favourite guys slugging it out, not unless its training!"

Lily visibly brightens beside me, and once more we fall into comfortable idle chatter.

The guildhall is pretty quiet today, glancing around there are only a dozen or so people inside. Lily squeezes my shoulder before moving towards the table where Wendy, Erza and Carla are seated eating their breakfast and chatting merrily.

It might be early but clearly not too early for Cana, she is already situated in her favourite spot nursing a tankard of something alcoholic no doubt. Macao and Wakaba are squabbling as usual with Cana throwing her opinion into the argument every now and then for her own wicked amusement.

"Levy!" cheers Jet and Droy in unison. Smiling at my two long-time friends and partners in Team Shadowgear, I drift towards their table and join them.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" I ask brightly, as Droy devours the mountainous plate of breakfast set before him.

"Not good Levy, jobs just aren't the same without you…" whines Jet, he looks to me with sad puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, you two, I'm only taking a small break from jobs right now. I want to make sure that Magnolia has finished rebuilding before I head out on adventures again, but it won't be long, I promise." I do my best to reassure my friends, quietly in the back of my mind a nasty voice pipes up, "will you be strong enough to go on adventures again? What if Gajeel doesn't want to tag along with your precious Team Shadowgear?" I stretch my arms up to the ceiling to disguise the involuntary shudder that passes through my body at those nasty thoughts. My eyes glance at the giant clock by the bar, Gajeel has been gone for 20 minutes now, where the hell is he?

I am pulled from my reverie by two voices, they seem to be getting louder and louder. Mirajane and Laxus are huddled by the back of the bar and appear to be in the middle of an intense argument.

"Will you keep your voice down?" Mira hisses through her teeth at the towering blonde before her. It's not often that Mira gets riled up, her normally fair skin is stained a deep pink and it looks like she is shaking.

"What is going on there?" I ask, never taking my eyes off the two powerful wizards that are clearly trying and failing to keep the attention away from them.

Droy glances over before returning to his food, "dunno, but they have been arguing like that since we arrived, right Jet?" Jet nods his agreement, his eyes darting to and from the couple as if he is scared to be caught looking.

"FINE! Whatever you want Mira!" Laxus explodes from his position, shouting at the trembling petite girl in front of him and striding away. His icy blue eyes quickly scanned the room, it had gone deadly quiet since his outburst, and finally they settle on our table, shit.

With a shit eating grin plastered on his face, Laxus drops heavily into the seat opposite me, this can only mean trouble, for sure.

"Good morning Laxus." I manage to squeak out, my eyes darting from his face to the bar behind him. Cana has made her way to Mira and seems to be trying to soothe the normally calm and collected mage down, it doesn't appear to be working as Mira swats Cana's hand away and angrily starts wiping down the counters with more force than is necessary. Mira's gaze travels to where Laxus is now seated, and I can clearly read the anger and hurt that is showing on her tear-stained face. I have no idea what is going on between them, but whatever it is, I don't want to be involved.

Laxus grunts at my welcome as he stares down Jet and Droy, the pair are becoming paler and paler by the second. Oh no, they are going to bolt on me, aren't they?

"Hey Droy, we gotta get a move on, that job we took is going to take us awhile to get to, don't you think?" Jet rushes to his feet, his legs banging into the table as he stands, it's as if he was reading my mind. Some teammates they are, ditching me with a terrifying looking Laxus!

"Bye Laxus" followed by a much quieter "Sorry Levy," Droy mumbles as the two men swiftly exit the guildhall, at an impressive speed especially for Droy at his current size. Taking a deep breath, I glance back to Laxus who is staring at me intently, I have no idea what to do and I think he knows that and is enjoying my obvious discomfort.

My heart rate begins to spike, which aggravates me as I had been enjoying a period of calm despite the lack of Gajeel's presence for the first time in what felt like forever. My fingers dig into the flesh of my thighs beneath the table, I know there will be marks if I don't ease up, but I can't seem to make my fingers relax.

"Levy," Laxus begins, his words dripping with what seems like a mixture of venom and honey, a very unusual combination, "how are things with you and the Iron Dragon?"

"Oh, things are great, thanks for asking." I answer shortly. I do not appreciate the way he is referring to Gajeel, the disdain is far too obvious and why is he asking me this, where is this going?

"Let me ask you little one, how do things…work?" Laxus sneers glancing down my body, "with such a big size difference."

My face lights up like a bonfire, a deep blush covers my entire face at the crassness of his question and my legs tremble uncontrollably, I shift in discomfort and search for words, any words. I don't think I have ever felt as awkward as I do right now, is Laxus really asking me how Gajeel and I have sex?

Laxus leans forward, he looks like a mountain looming over my small frame, and I panic as it seems like he is going to touch me, his heavily muscled arm reaches over the table and I tense up. I can feel that every eye in the guildhall is on me and although I know that they are watching with concern, it is still deeply unnerving to be the centre of attention.

His fingers are mere inches from my face when suddenly I sense a familiar presence and scent, a tangy metallic fragrance fills my mind and nose, and I am instantly soothed.

"What the fuck do ya think you are doing Thunder Face? Don't you dare touch my girl!" an angry booming voice rings out from the doors that have been fully thrown open.

Turning to see Gajeel standing dead centre, his face twisted into an angry snarl, shadows are starting to rise from his body and the explosion of power that emitted from him stole my breath. His eyes drifted to me for a split second before returning to Laxus.

In that moment, all I could think was that shit was about to get real, and that I wanted Gajeel right here and now.

My iron protector.