A/N: I wrote this at like 1 in the morning and I tried to edit to make it better, but it's a lost cause. The theme today was Loss and I almost ended up just tossing it and doing my own theme because oh my god I couldn't write anything. I tried sad, I tried sad three different times and each time it was awful. So I decided to go with loss of control... sort of. (Didn't want things to get explicit).

It's pretty OOC to me, but then again I always see flaws in my own work so maybe it's not that bad. Gajeel is hard for me to get, I don't know why. Maybe because I've only written like two fics with him in it...

I hope you enjoy this installment.

Levy was starting to get annoyed. Whenever she tried to talk to Gajeel, whenever she got within five feet of him, he suddenly had something else to do.

She was being avoided and she didn't like it.

She tried to not dwell on it, it wasn't like they were even really friends. Sure she'd hoped that maybe something was happening between them, something that might make them more than friends, but maybe she'd read the situation wrong. Maybe Gajeel didn't want to be even friends.

She sighed and glanced up from the book she wasn't reading to stare at her friend. Lucy was experienced, maybe she'd know what to do.

"Lucy, has Natsu been acting weird lately?" Lucy had her head buried in a book and she didn't even look up at Levy's question.

"You'll have to be more specific, this is Natsu we're talking about after all."

Levy tugged at her hair and fiddled with the book in her hand. "Has he been... avoiding you?"

Lucy didn't speak for a moment, looking up from her book to stare at Levy who was suddenly very interested in her own book.

"Something tells me this isn't about Natsu," Lucy said. There was a quiet snap as she shut her book and then she was next to Levy. "Gajeel's been avoiding you?"

She nodded and Lucy sighed, taking the book out of her lap. "We're not even really friends, I mean I was hoping that maybe he considered me one, but maybe he doesn't. Maybe that's why he's avoiding me. He doesn't want to be my friend but he doesn't know how to let me down gently."

"Gentle isn't in his vocabulary," Lucy snorted and Levy's head snapped up with a glare.

"Gajeel isn't a bad person. Yes he's done bad things, but everyone makes mistakes."

"I didn't say he was. I just meant that Gajeel doesn't really consider people's feelings all that much, well most people."

"You're implying something."

"You're right. I am." Lucy grinned and bumped her shoulder. "He treats you different. Gentle isn't in his vocabulary unless he's with you. You bring out a softer side of him. He cares about you."

Levy's lips turned down in a small frown. "Then why is he avoiding me?"

Lucy laughed and threw her arms around Levy's shoulders, squeezing her. "That's why he's avoiding you. Gajeel doesn't know how to treat someone with kindness." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think that he's afraid of hurting you."

Levy gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought. She wasn't sure if Gajeel really cared for her, he treated her the same as everyone else as far as she could tell, but maybe he did. Maybe Lucy was right and he just didn't know what to do.

"Thanks Luce," she said, standing suddenly. "I've got to go take care of something."

"Go get him girl!" Lucy called after her.

x

Levy had to search the entire guild, but she finally found him in the training rooms with Lily.

"Gajeel!" she called, stomping across the matts. Gajeel just barely blocked the strike from Lily and he whirled with a snarl, but when his eyes landed on Levy all the fight drained out of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you," she said, pausing in front of him. Lily glanced between them and cleared his throat.

"I'll just be taking my leave then," he said, transforming into his smaller form and flying from the room.

"What do you need?" Gajeel asked. His eyes darted through the room, before pausing to stare at something above her head and she huffed.

"I need you to look at me."

"I am looking at ya," he growled, making her snort.

"No. You're looking above me. Look at me." Suddenly she stepped closer and grabbed him by the back of his neck, yanking his head down until they were eye level and he had no choice but to stare into her eyes. She'd never been this close to him before and she found it hard to focus on anything but his crimson eyes.

"You're avoiding me," she stated, yanking herself out of whatever trance his eyes put her in. She released his neck but didn't move away. "Why?"

"Am I?" She gazed at him and didn't speak, just waited for him to break. She thought it would be harder than it was, it only took a minute before he was sighing and lowering his eyes. "Maybe I am."

"Why?" she repeated.

"Why?" His eyes snapped back to hers and she saw fire flickering where it wasn't before. "Because your scent drives me crazy. Because if I see you with those idiots again I'm not sure I'll be able to keep myself from killing. Because if I get close to you then I'll corrupt you. Because you make me lose control." He snapped his mouth shut and glared, but she was too busy thinking to notice.

"Lucy was right," she murmured, her lips twitching in a smile.

"What?"

"You like me."

His eyes widened and his scowl faltered. "What?"

She smiled and stepped impossibly closer to him, finding a confidence she didn't know she had. "You don't have to be afraid." She smiled when he scoffed and rested her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not as fragile as I look."

He seemed to struggle with something before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up so to their mouths were breaths apart.

"You're not afraid I might lose control?" he breathed, eyes boring into her.

She could see the worry now, the concern. He didn't want to hurt her, didn't want to scare her away. With a smile she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry. I can handle it."