Chapter 51

Gajeel looked between the two men before him, and then his wife. He didn't like the way they were staring at her like lovesick puppies. Lily had mentioned that they fawned over Levy when they were growing up, and her supposed death hit them hard. Here she was, back from the dead in their eyes. Not only that, but she wasn't some scrappy little tomboy anymore. She was a woman, a very beautiful one. And she was his, and they were tripping over themselves every time they saw her, and he didn't like it. Not. One. Fucking. Bit.

Levy was oblivious to it, to boot, so he couldn't exactly complain to her without seeming to be overly jealous. Maybe he was. He didn't want her upset about it, and she was enjoying catching up with the idiots. After lunch and his promise to think over their deal, she had insisted on catching up and giving them a tour of downtown Magnolia, which really was a nice place to be. Lush parks right next to adorable shops and high-class restaurants made for a great scene. But the men weren't even focusing on the scenery, they were focusing on her. Gajeel trailed along behind, letting his wife catch up with her old friends, but there was a vein bulging in his forehead and a constant frown on his face.

Part of him was trying to calm himself. It was just two childhood friends of hers. He really should calm down and let them enjoy their time together. She was married to him, and that's all that mattered... he knew his wife was loyal. But then he'd see Jet look her over or Droy blush for some unknown reason, and he'd clench his jaw and have to fight off the urge to break their necks. They knew she was married yet they were acting like they had a chance! And it pissed him off! What's worse, Levy would be pissed off if he did anything about it. Plus he would look weak if he showed his jealous side to them, and him looking weak made the family look weak. He'd just have to deal with it and talk to Levy about it later.

So he followed in silence, walking beside Lily, who seemed rather amused by the situation. He was keeping his mouth shut, thankfully, but Gajeel did not like that amused glint in the man's eyes.

"Levy, this place looks interesting. Can we check it out?" Jet asked suddenly, gesturing to a little antique shop they were walking past. Levy looked into the shop's window and smiled widely.

"Sure! It looks so charming, and I bet there's a lot of cool stuff in here." she said happily, leading the way into the store. Gajeel sighed softly and followed, knowing they'd be in there for a while. Levy loved shops like this. He had to admit, they were interesting... but not really his cup of tea.

They split up once inside the store, Jet and Droy wanting to look at different things than Levy did. Gajeel followed his wife to keep an eye on her, and Lily stayed by the door in a guarding position. Gajeel smirked when his wife went, of course, straight to the book section. He remembered seeing her apartment, all full of books which, unfortunately, were ruined in the fire. Their house right now had a growing collection. It helped that the mansion had a full library, so she didn't buy as many as she would have because she had constant access to that library.

"These are ancient." Levy marveled as she pulled a few books off the shelf to look at them. Gajeel smiled at his adorable wife, coming up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder as she browsed. She smiled up at him briefly before returning to her books. "I'm sorry we've been dragging you around all day." she hummed softly.

"It's fine, shrimp." he sighed into her hair.

"You sure? Cause you looked upset a while ago." she glanced up at him again. Damn, so she caught on to his soured mood.

"I'm fine. I just... don't like how they're lookin at ya." he answered honestly. Levy raised a brow at him, confused, and Gajeel checked to make sure the idiots were out of hearing distance before continuing. "Jet's looked ya over more than once... and Droy keeps blushin fer some reason. They're actin like little love sick puppies... and it's really gettin on my nerves." he grumbled against her hair in a quiet voice, his arms tightening around her just a bit. Levy's eyes went wide at this, and then she let out a soft giggle, turning in his arms to face him.

"Gajeel... are you jealous?" she gave him a teasing smile. He frowned down at her.

"Course I am. Yer my wife." he scoffed.

"Hm, well you're right about that." Levy's teasing smile softened into a true one as she realized how much this was affecting him. "I'm your wife, Gajeel. I'm happily taken. I didn't know they were acting that way but, even if they are, who cares? There's no need to be jealous. I'm yours, and you're mine, and that's all that matters, right?" she told him with a sweet smile as she played with the lapel of his suit jacket. She couldn't help but think that he was really cute when he pouted, like he was doing now. He still didn't like that the guys were looking at her. But she had a point. He let out a soft sigh and gave his wife a small smirk.

"Yer right, shrimp. But don't act like ya ain't the jealous type, too. I've seen ya look about ready ta fight another woman over me before, ya know." it was his turn to tease, and he loved the tiny blush that came to her cheeks. Oh, yes. He saw the way she pouted every time a woman looked at him like he was eye candy. Their honeymoon had been interesting, too, because even married women had stopped to ogle him on the beach... in front of their husbands, no less. It had been amusing to see the husbands react... and then to see that fire in Levy's eyes. She was rather clingy most of that trip... he'd loved it. "I ain't the only one with a possessive streak."

"No, you're not." she agreed with a small sigh of admission. "I know my husband is attractive and I can't stop people from staring. But I also know he'd never cheat on me." she smiled at him now, and he grinned back.

"And my wife wouldn't ever cheat on me." he countered.

"See? Then what's the point in dwelling on the jealousy?" she hummed, standing on her tip toes to give him a small peck on the lips. He just grinned and turned the chaste kiss into a deep one, pulling her closer as he did. Levy slid her arms around his neck and returned the kiss happily, an adorable blush on her cheeks.

"Hey, Levy, look what we... found..." Jet's excited voice trailed off as he and Droy rounded the corner to find Gajeel and Levy lip-locked in the middle of the book section. Levy broke away from the kiss at the sound of his voice, blushing deeply. She looked to Jet and Droy, both of whom also had red cheeks. Gajeel just chuckled, the only non-embarrassed one there.

"Um, w-what did you find... Jet?" Levy powered through her blush to ask, hoping that talking would resolve the embarrassing situation. Jet coughed a bit before holding it out. It was a large, beautiful, hand-carved wooden gear made of teak wood and polished beautifully to show the wood's natural grains. "Woah, that's really cool..." Levy's voice was full of awe as she looked at the gear. Gajeel just raised a brow.

"It's... a weird cog. So?"

"It's got, um... meaning for us." Droy commented. Gajeel looked to his wife for explanation, and she blushed again.

"U-um, we were really into superhero teams growing up. You know how kids are, they want to be like their favorite heroes." she told him. "Um, all three of us really liked this one show, I forgot the name of it, but it was about super hero teams of three."

"We wanted to make our own team." Jet chuckled lightly. "So we did."

"We called ourselves Team Shadow Gear." Droy added with a smile. "And we went around terrorizing our parents, pretending to be super heroes."

"Right..." Gajeel drawled, looking between the three. They seemed to be both embarrassed and proud of it. "So... finding a random gear means somethin?"

"W-well, the way we saw it," Droy spoke up with his own blush, "It's kind of like a sign. That Team Shadow Gear is back together."

"Aw, you guys!" Levy giggled happily, throwing her arms around both men, despite her husband's annoyed huff at her doing so. "That's so sweet."

Several minutes later found them checking out. Jet bought the gear, Droy got a flower vase, and Levy was the last to check out, placing a heavy old book on the counter. She dug around in her purse and pulled out a card to pay for the book. Gajeel grabbed her wrist before she could hand the card over to the clerk.

"Shrimp, please tell me ya ain't been usin yer card this whole time?" Gajeel frowned at his wife as he handed cash to the clerk, motioning for him to keep the change. "Well?"

"Um... y-yea..." Levy blushed a bit, earning a heavy sigh from her husband as he led them out of the shop.

"What's the big deal?" Jet questioned with a frown. "She can have her own money."

"Course she can." Gajeel scoffed and rolled his eyes at Jet. He turned serious eyes to his wife. He wasn't upset... but it just made him realize that there was more to teach her about this life than he'd thought. "Levy, why do you think I always pay with cash?"

"I... don't know?" she tilted her head curiously. Now that she thought about it, she'd never seen him pay with a card. Always cash.

"Cause you like to flaunt your money?" Jet guessed, earning a deadpanned look from Gajeel.

"Alright, listen up. You two, too." Gajeel sighed, crossing his arms in front of him. "Ya weren't kiddin about bein bad at this, huh? Look, there's a reason everything Fairy Tail does is cash based. Banks can be hacked, cards can be traced. Police can search yer records. They can see where and when you used yer card. It's dangerous. Cash is safer." All three of them had wide eyes at his words. They'd never thought about that. Gajeel looked to Levy now.

"I give ya cash fer a reason, shrimp. It ain't an allowance or anything, ya can have as much as ya want. My money is yers too. But stop usin yer card unless it's an emergency." he insisted. Levy nodded with a small pout, and she honestly looked like she was about to cry. She had no idea. What if she'd already caused trouble for Gajeel because of this. "Hey..." Gajeel sighed softly and put a hand on top of her head. When she blinked up at him, he gave her a small smile. "Shrimp, relax. I ain't mad. And it's not like police are lookin fer you. But it's better to be safe than sorry."

"I understand." Levy nodded, managing to give him a small smile. It was just something else she'd have to be careful about.

They stood there in silence for a moment, taking in Gajeel's words of wisdom. The silence was broken up by a loud motorcycle pulling up beside them on the road. Gray hopped off Gajeel's bike with a smile.

"Here ya are, boss, sorry it took so long." he nodded towards the bike as he held out Gajeel's helmet, which he'd briefly borrowed.

"Eh? Why'd you have Gray get your motorcycle?" Levy blinked up at her husband curiously.

"Cause we are goin home, shrimp. It's gettin late, and yer meetin up with Wendy in the mornin, in case ya forgot." Gajeel smirked, approaching his bike. He took Levy's helmet out of the storage compartment and held it out to her.

"I didn't forget. But... I wanted to catch up some more." she pouted cutely, glancing back at Jet and Droy. There was so much to catch up on, and they still didn't even know how she was still alive, or how she came to be in Fairy Tail.

"We're staying in town until we get an answer, Levy, don't worry." Jet gave her an easy smile.

"We have plenty of time to catch up." Droy added. Levy looked between them for a moment before giving a soft sigh and a small smile.

"Alright. See you guys later." she waved to them before taking the helmet from Gajeel and putting it on. He checked to make sure it was on right, then hopped on the bike. Levy got on behind him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. No matter how often she rode with him, it was still a little scary at first.

Gajeel revved the bike before taking off, chuckling at Levy's startled squeak. He'd get an earful later for scaring her, but he knew she loved the adrenaline rush as much as he did. Besides, he loved to see her angry. She was beautiful with that fire in her eyes and that angry pout on her lips.

His wife was a real spitfire. And she was all his.

Woo, another chapter. Welcome to attempt two at this whole planning thing I'm trying out. I'm gonna shoot for weekly updates, if I can. To be fair, finals are right around the corner, so I might stumble a bit around there. But after June 1st everything should be back to normal. Just hang in there with me!

Please tell me what y'all think. I want lots and lots of comments. Good, bad, I don't care (just be respectful and no profanity please). I take constructive criticism and suggestions are always nice!

Go take a look at my one shot series "Shots, shots, shots!" I definitely take suggestions and requests there, but that one will be updated randomly based on when I get new material finished. I need more suggestions for one shot prompts (go comment those on that story, not here please).

Anyways, like always, thanks for reading! You guys rock, and I'm so glad I have so many devoted readers! Love y'all!

Thanks!

-Everythingnerd12, I mean, Nerdy12 (It's so hard to change old habits, gah!)