Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
"This is stupid."
"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't crunched my glasses under those anvils you call feet."
Right, that's how he got himself into this mess. In his defense, they were left on the floor.
In her defense, it's where she had spread out for the afternoon and where there were books stacked all around her and the aforementioned frames.
"I don't see how readin' slower is such a bad thing."
"I use those glasses as regular reading glasses as well, Gajeel."
He'd singlehandedly smashed the frames to bits and hindered her from reading at all. To be honest, he's surprised she's let him live this long for that fact alone. And now he's stuck agreeing to her plans because he does sort of owe it to her now.
Gajeel scratches the back of his head and submits to her request, "I'll meet ya back here tomorrow at noon."
Her arms cross and she draws her lips tight in repressed aggravation.
He didn't sleep well that night.
And because of it, he's going to be stuck spending the day cranky and attempting to pronounce seventeen syllable knock outs that she spouts off like children's nursery rhymes.
He takes his time getting to the library and the usual room she holes up in. How's he supposed to read the ancient tomes she carries around for light reading?
He's going to make a fool of himself and she's never going let him live it down.
Only, it's not that at all. She leads him to a corner with two plush chairs angled toward each other and a regular book. A book of short horror stories that kind of terrifies him, because she chose it and she's getting a rise out of this sort of thing, but a storybook nonetheless. Part of him tries to be suspicious that she's being smug about his reading capabilities, but she scoffs at the mention of it.
Read the damn book, Gajeel.
He's still worried that she hates him for the glasses and for the way his voice butchers the clean sentences.
"I like your voice, Gajeel, it suits the stories far better than my own."
Gajeel catches himself off guard with the turn of the last page, he had hoped it would go on a little longer. It's addictive, this adrenaline rush, but she's completely nonplussed by the abrupt ending. Just stretches out as she stands from the chair and gathers her things, blabbing about getting dinner at the guild.
"See, I told you it wouldn't be so bad." Levy winks down at him as he glowers at the book. She's almost worried that he'll challenge the poor paperbound to a fight, he's that cross.
"That's it?"
She laughs at the question and places her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Yeah, they tend to do that to you." Levy makes to pull away, but he catches her wrist and his eyes pin on her, not transfixed on the black leather in his hands.
"Here." His other hand snakes to the pocket in his trousers and produce a pair of glasses. Obsidian steel with the same replicated feather on the eyepiece twinkles in the old chandeliers. "They're not enchanted like the other ones, but I figured it'd at least last ya until you can find a replacement pair."
Her smile is blinding and the frames are smooth against her palms.
#71; Gajeel accidentally breaks Levy's glasses and has to read to her until she gets a new pair.
originally posted: 8-20-13
A/N: I actually have a longer version of this gather dust in a folder, I may be convinced to post that one in the future.