Chances

Her base form was even cuter than her battle form. Gajeel liked it. She'd not willingly let him see her base form, of course, but he'd come across her picking berries a few times in the past few weeks. She had previously tried to be in her battle form as much as she could be, but that form was exhausting to stay in for such a young dragon. Not to mention, she was deprived of her precious berries in that form, and restricted to the game she could catch that way. Gajeel had taken note of the female's obsession with berries. She went to great efforts to get the sweet treats, and had seemingly planted several bushes near her den for this reason.

Her den was small and nestled at the base of one of the mountains. It was a fairly small cave, just big enough for her base form to live comfortably. No space for her battle form to stretch out. There was a reason for this, of course, the very same reason she had not marked her territory. She was trying to stay as hidden as possible. If male dragons knew there was a female in the area, they would flock to this territory and lay with her, even if she wasn't fully mature… even if she wasn't willing. It was not uncommon for young females to be raped. They were too weak to defend themselves from adult males, after all. By not marking her territory and by staying in her base form more often, she was actually quite hidden from males. Gajeel just got lucky by finding her in this valley.

And she was lucky he wasn't the raping type.

As for her base form, as mentioned earlier, she was even cuter in her base form. She was short and slender, with the gentle curves of a maturing woman and wavy blue hair that came down to her shoulder blades. She was so young, she didn't even have wings in this form yet. Compared to humans, she looked to be around sixteen summers, and this only confirmed Gajeel's suspicions that she was somewhere around two hundred years of age. She was almost mature, but not quite. He assumed she would hit maturity in about five years or so. When that happened, she would get a little bit of a growth spurt, and she would become a little stronger. She would grow larger and stronger with age. It had taken Gajeel about a hundred years after his maturation to get to the size he was now, and he was still growing. It was a slow process.

Levy was glad that Gajeel gave her space. He'd quickly realized she would not be open to courting if he kept pestering her. So he'd backed off to give her some space while he explored his new lands and got settled in. He checked in on her here and there, but they rarely interacted. Gajeel saw no need to rush things. He had plenty of time to win her affections. At least five years. Once she matured she might leave, but he was certain he would be courting her before then.

It had been six months since Gajeel arrived, and Levy was waking up every morning to find a basket of berries outside her den. It was no wonder who left them there. And every morning she debated on accepting the basket or ignoring it.

She didn't forget that that male dragon was trying to initiate a courtship with her. These berries were gifts. The first time they'd appeared, she knew it had been an apology for annoying her. She'd accepted that one. But the others she'd declined. If she accepted any more, then she was telling him she was willing to court. So she left the berries where they were.

She had to admit, she was impressed with his tenacity. Every morning, the berries were there. They were always fresh, too. Never the berries from the day before. The basket remained the same, but the berries were always freshly picked. She had also noticed that all the berry bushes near her den were still full of ripe berries. He wasn't depriving her of her treats, which she picked for herself. No, he was picking them far across the valley, where she rarely went, so that her own supply would not be harmed. He was taking great care to please her.

The berry basket was always gone when she returned from her morning bath at the river, a sign that he knew he'd been rejected yet again. Levy wondered what he did with the berries. Males didn't tend to like sweet things. They mostly needed meat. Females were smaller and could have a more versatile diet as they didn't need only meat to survive. Levy, honestly, enjoyed many foods that the valley offered. Mushrooms, roots, berries, forest vegetables… they were all yummy and she'd found ways to make them taste even better.

But males didn't usually branch out much. They usually only ate meat, fish, and a couple vegetables. So Levy didn't imagine that Gajeel would be eating the berries. It seemed like a waste that all those berries were just being tossed out… but Levy refused to make things easy for the male.

Levy was currently picking mushrooms in the forest. It would be winter soon, and she could dry the mushrooms now so she could have something tasty to eat through the winter. Mushroom and rabbit stew was perfect in the winter. Alas, she would be without her berries once the snow came and killed the plants. But the hearty mushrooms and vegetables she was picking now to dry would help her cope without her sweets.

She was thinking about everything she needed to do before winter to prepare. Her den wasn't large enough for her battle form, so she needed to find a way to stay warm through the winter. Her base form was prone to the cold, whereas her battle form had scales to protect her from it. Still, even in that form, she was susceptible to extreme cold. Either way she needed a plan to stay warm.

Usually, she would board up the entrance to her den with logs and branches to keep the cold out. While she was still too young to breathe fire, she could make sparks already, which would start a fire she could keep warm with. She had been curing and saving the skins of the animals she'd killed, so she had a nice warm bed to sleep in already, and plenty of furs to make a new dress with. What she needed now was firewood, lots of it, and probably some dried meats and fish. She needed to stock up before the first snow hit, because she would be staying in her den, where it was warm, for the majority of winter.

It took a few days, but Levy got everything done. In her battle form, she'd moved large logs and branches to her den and built them up around the entrance. She left a small space for her to enter and exit from, and a small hole at the top for smoke to escape. She put deer hides between two layers of logs, hoping they would help to prevent the cold from seeping in. Then, just outside her den, she'd built up her supply of firewood. It would get wet in the snow, but she could bring several logs inside her den to dry before they would end up in the fire. Finally, she caught and killed several deer and rabbits and fish, then dried their meat so she could eat on them through the winter.

Every day there were more berries outside her den, as usual.

Then, one day, after she'd finished fortifying her den, there was an extra gift. Several large black scales lined her fortifications, acting as shields against the wind and cold. They were placed with care and secured so firmly that Levy could not remove them without removing her entire structure. And she was left in a predicament. She didn't know if these were courting gifts or not, and being forced to accept something this way was not proper for courting. She didn't know what to do… so she waited by the berry basket until Gajeel came for them.

He was not surprised to find her waiting for him today. He knew his new gift would only leave her with questions. So he approached her in his base form, knowing she would want to talk. He noticed that she took note of his bandaged arm… where he'd taken his scales from in his battle form. It's not like scales just came off. They hard to be torn off… and it hurt. But he'd torn off four large scales for her, and had even secured them in place for her.

"Why did you do this?" her voice was soft and melodic. He loved to hear it. He looked towards the scales and then back to her, giving her a grin.

"Can't have ya getting sick on my watch." He explained. He knew how young ones were susceptible to cold. He, personally, would be fine all winter without any additional fortifications to his nest. But the female… she was young and could get sick. If he wanted to court her, he needed to ensure she stayed healthy. "It's not a courting gift… if that's what yer wonderin." He saw the question in her eyes before she could even voice it. "Just think of it as a sign of good will."

"I… um…" she looked between him and the scales, a small blush on her cheeks. "T-thank you." She finally whispered out. She knew his scales would keep her den extra warm this winter, and she knew how painful it was for him to gift them to her. She'd only lost a scale once before, and it had been incredibly painful. It had taken months to grow back, too. Gajeel smiled at her appreciation, and then he picked up the basket of berries.

"No today, too?" he offered the berries again. She blushed deeper and slowly shook her head. It was one thing to reject the berries when he wasn't there… it was another to actually look at him and deny his offer. He gave a soft, amused sigh and a small smirk. He'd just have to keep trying. "Tomorrow, then." He smirked at her in farewell before taking to the air. He knew he was making progress, at least. She wouldn't be blushing if he didn't have a chance.

Hi everyone! I finally got time to post an update! That said, I'm going to be gone for at least two weeks. Sorry! Going on Vacation, won't have wifi.

Side note: there's a reason the dialog between them is a bit, er, scarce. Dragons are usually loners, so they don't talk in their base forms much. I was kind of hoping that would be picked up in the context but hopefully this clears things up a bit. Don't worry, there will be more and more dialog as things go on. This is mostly just me playing around with a different writing style haha.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading! Please tell me what you think!

-Nerdy12