New Year's Resolutions, part 2

Characters: Gajeel/Levy

Genre: Romance, K+

Summary: I'll be true to my feelings.

New Year's Resolutions

Levy looked around while the other Fairy Tail mages gathered outside the guild to watch the fireworks. She sighed deeply when the person she wanted to talk to was nowhere to be seen.

"Waiting for me?" She flinched with surprise when a deep voice spoke close to her ear. As she turned to look at him, Gajeel greeted her with a wild grin and she almost immediately looked away again, trying to hide her blushing face.

"A-Actually, I was searching for Lu-chan. We were going to share our New Year's resolutions." Levy stated, but the Dragon Slayer's grin only widened at her response, which made her shoot him an angry look. "What?!"

"New Year's resolutions, eh? Right." He crossed his arms, unconvinced. "What is that, anyway?"

"What do you mean by 'what is that'?" She snorted. "Isn't it pretty obvious?"

Gajeel suddenly got serious and looked away uncomfortably. He shoved his hands in his pockets before speaking. "I don't know anything about stupid traditions, Shrimp, this is the first time I spend New Year's with other people."

Levy was taken aback by his declaration, wanting to smack her own face for being so oblivious. Since Metalicana's disappearance, he had been all alone, with no family or friends to explain him the true significance of the holidays.

Thinking about how hard his life must have been before Fairy Tail made her sad.

"Hey, I'm still waiting." Gajeel growled, pulling her out of her ramblings. "Stop pitying me and just explain it, shorty."

"Nevermind, it's silly." Was her shy reply, which only made Gajeel more pissed.

"I want to know!" He yelled.

"Fine, fine!" Levy sighed. "It's just a list of goals you have to accomplish along the year."

Gajeel looked away again with a thoughtful expression and they fell into silence for a few seconds before he finally spoke. "Goals, huh?"

"Yes."

"So what are yours?"

Levy took a small piece of paper from her back pocket and fumbled with it, blushing once more. "It's private."

"Liar, you were going to share it with blondie." The iron mage grabbed the list from her hands unceremoniously, ignoring her shouts of protest, and lifted it up above his head so she couldn't reach it.

"Stupid Gajeel, give it back!" Levy jumped as high as she could, still unable to retrieve the list. She grunted and kicked him in the leg, but he didn't even flinch.

"Learning to cook at least three new dishes? Seems easy to me." His grin was back on his face as he slid his eyes through the items. "Reading more books? Come on, you can't do better than that."

"It's a specific set of books." Levy corrected him, gritting her teeth. "Now give it back!"

"Oh, this one is good." Gajeel pointed a finger at the third line. "Be more courageous. What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'll train harder to be the one who protects other people, not the one who is always protected by someone else." She straightened herself while speaking, determination in her eyes. "It means that I'll do the things that scare me, even the small ones, such as-"

Levy stopped abruptly, pressing her lips closed. Her face turned into the color of a tomato when she realized what she was about to say.

The Dragon Slayer, however, already had a brow raised in curiosity and didn't seem like he would let go of the subject so easily.

"Such as…?" He pressed, bending forward so their heads were on the same level.

"S-Such as…" Levy fidgeted nervously with his direct gaze, feeling there was nowhere to run. "t-telling people how much they… mean… to me."

"Oh," His grin turned into a predatory one. "so you are going to confess."

"Ugh." The blue-haired mage moaned, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

"Well, Shrimp," Gajeel straightened his body, resting a hand on his hip. "I think this idea of resolutions is really stupid."

"Wha…?!" Levy stared at him with a mixture of shock and anger. "It's not!"

"Of course it is." He rolled his eyes, shrugging dismissively. "If you want to do something, just go ahead and do it, don't wait until another year or so. Here, I'll give you an example."

Gajeel grabbed her chin and pulled her face closer, locking their lips together. Levy froze in surprise at first, but didn't take long to close her eyes and kiss him back.

The countdown started, but they didn't seem to notice for a while, too entangled in each other to care about anything else.

"Now you get how it's done?" Gajeel whispered amusingly against her lips when the fireworks announced the beginning of a new year. She flinched, suddenly aware of what just happened, which made him smirk. "Gihihihi."

"S-Shut up, you idiot." Levy pulled away, staring at her own feet.

"I still expect a confession, though, since it's already on your list and stuff." The Dragon Slayer laughed when she turned to look at him wide-eyed.

Levy opened and closed her mouth several times, struggling to say something, but stopped trying when Gajeel embraced her by the shoulders and pulled her closer again.

"Come on, let's watch the fireworks, shorty."

Levy bit her lip hesitantly with the looks they were getting by the people nearby, but quickly loosened up. She had written on her list that she would do the things that scared her, right? So maybe she would accept Gajeel's advice and begin right away.