Chapter 3
Levy ended up beating Mira to the guild by 10 minutes in the morning. She wanted to ensure that Gajeel wouldn't just grab his breakfast and leave before Levy could get to the guild. Levy also wanted to get there before the thunderstorm started, and got all wet. She was going to sit in a corner on the opposite side of the guild he usually hangs out in and wait for him all day. Gajeel had woken up at 6:30 his normal time, and stared at the ceiling, contemplating if he would go to the guild. He really didn't want to face anyone today, even if she told or not it would be embarrassing to show his face in the guild today. But if he didn't go, then he would be bored out of his fucking mind all day, having no TV and no Lily to keep him company, and he couldn't read the request board, so popping in even to grab a mission for 2 minutes was even out of the question. Maybe he could train? But if he did that someone else going on a mission might see him, and then what? He wasn't a coward or anything, he just didn't want to deal with childish nonsense. Yeah, that's what he decided to tell himself. He also decided we was going to stay in today. A little time to himself should be good, there's nothing that says he HAS to leave his house everyday is there? No there's fucking not! Yeah, screw you daily routine! Levy stayed in the same spot in the guild all day, and surprisingly no one but Mira noticed she was at the guild because she wasn't just staying away from Gajeel's usual spot, she was staying away from HER usual spot as well. As she predicted, it's working, she's been undetected all day and it's already noon. Not even by Jet and Droy. The only thing upsetting Levy though was the fact that Gajeel hadn't shown up, and from what she's observed over the past few months since he's joined is that he usually shows up at around 9 or 10, he should've been here 2 or 3 hours ago! She didn't know what to do, he was definitely mad at her, there's no way he's on a job, unless he broke in last night and took one, but even if he grabbed a flyer he couldn't read it...unless he asked a pedestrian where to go. Chances are though either they would be to scared of him to ask, or his ego is too big to ask in the first place...she's going with the second one. Mira came over with a plate of food, and put it in front of Levy. Mira noticed Levy looked uneasy, but didn't want to say anything.
"Don't worry, I got Kinana to watch the bar for me for at least a half hour, and everyone thinks I left, no one knows I'm over here." Levy let out a breath of relief. "Why did you come today if you didn't want anyone knowing you're here?" Mira asked carefully.
"Because I 'm trying to see if someone else happens to come in today." She said softly.
"Gajeel?" Mira concluded. Levy turned tomato red, eyes went wider.
"N-no, I'm not waiting for Gajeel! Why would I wait for a jerk like that, I'm uh..waiting for Lu-chan to get here!" Levy said, trying to keep her cover.
"But Levy...Lucy and Natsu got her an hour after I opened the guild hall…" And in that moment, Levy knew she was screwed. She knew because Mira got that look in her eye.
"Oh? Do we have someone stalking Gajeel?" Mira said devilishly.
"Wh-what! No of course not! That's not it at all!" Levy said, shaking her hands defensively in front of her.
"Then why else would you sit back here waiting for him to show up? Unless you're already secretly dating!" Mira squealed.
"No, No, that's not it either, I'm just...ugh it's hard to explain, this is about yesterday, I made him angry." Levy said, connecting her forehead with the table.
"Oh Levy, I'm sure he's not that mad, maybe he's just taking a day off, you have those sometimes. Once you didn't show up for a whole week!" Mira said reasurringly.
"Then did he have to take one the day after he got mad at me! He could have waited for me to apologize to him." Just then the sky opened up and loud clap of thunder erupted from the sky. Everyone but Levy cheered, Levy was still scared of Thunder, it was one of her worst fears, and no one knew, not even Jet and Droy. Her eyes went wide and she went paralyzed from the fear because of the thunder. Thankfully Mira didn't notice.
"Oops, sorry Levy, my half hour is up, I'll see you later ok? Good luck with your stalking!" Mira teased as she walked away from Levy back to the bar. Soon it was 9:45 at night, 15 minutes until the guild closed. Mira was dragging she was so tired, it was Monday, and a lot of guild members take breaks over the weekend, only to rush back in on Monday.
"I'M CLOSING DOWN THE GUILD HALL EARLY EVERYONE, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY OUT!" Mira announced across the almost empty hall. Upon hearing this Levy made a mad dash down the hall toward the back of the guild. She heard the few people left murmur.
"Wait? Levy was here today? What the hell?" One of her guildmates said.
"Sorry Mira! Please hold on a minute, I need to do something before you close!" Levy said as she ran. Mira sighed, but patiently waited.
Gajeel looked at the time on the clock 10:00, looks like he's run out of time to go to the guild today, and successfully stayed away. He was actually thinking about sucking it up and going at around 3 today, but his urge to nap won that argument. He was wide awake, sitting on his couch lounging, thinking to himself. Should he go to the guild tomorrow? Would he take another day off? His thoughts were disturbed by a knock at his door. Who had the nerve to come to his house at such a late hour? And in the pouring rain too, it's raining cats and dogs outside! He got up with a frustrated grunt and opened the door.
"Who the hell is at my door at this hour?" He said to who was standing there, he casted his eyes down a bit, to see a mop of wet blue hair sticking to its owner's face. He looked at Levy completely shocked. She was soaked down to the core. Her dress was sticking to her form, he could see her undergarments a little through her dress, it clung to her that closely. Her hair was completely flat and stuck to her cheeks and forehead, it also took on a color so dark her hair almost looked black. Even in the severe storm he could tell she had been crying, her makeup was completely washed off of her face, due to the rain or her own tears, Gajeel would never know. Her feet were exposed in her red sandals, her toes cold and curled to try and keep warm. He noticed she carried with her a little backpack that she usually didn't carry. What did she have in there? She finally spoke.
"Gajeel..I_" the thunder clapped again from above and she seemed to be paralyzed with fear. She squeaked in surprise and fear, her eyes went wide, and she started to shiver more than she already was. Was she scared of the thunder? Gajeel thought.
"Levy?" Gajeel asked, actually using her name for once. He tried to tug on her arm, but she didn't budge, didn't even realize she was being spoken to or touched.
"OI, LEVY!" Gajeel yelled trying to get her out of her trance. The Phantom Lord Gajeel would have slammed the door in her face, the Fairy Tail Gajeel couldn't do that, he had to do SOMETHING. He lifted Levy up and brought her into his home, he went to get a towel so he can dry her. He came back and a small but powerful mass hit his torso. He looked down and saw it was Levy hugging him tightly, Gajeel didn't know what to do, he's not used to the kind of contact with other people. She was still crying.
"I'm sorry Gajeel! I'm so so sorry! I'm sorry I pushed you past your comfort zone, I'm sorry I bullied you into telling me your secret!" Gajeel could tell she had been bothered by this for a long time, he didn't know what to do, except to hug her back, and that's what he did. He didn't say a word as he lead her to his couch, he went to his bedroom and got a pair of his pajama pant and one of his sweatshirts.
"Change into this, you'll turn my house into a pool if you don't, and might as well take off everything, I'll throw it into the dryer for you." A blush sprinkled her cheeks as she went into the bathroom that caught her eye, she gave Gajeel all of her clothes, including her undergarments, which took her a long time to ponder whether she should or not. She made herself comfortable on his couch and he sat beside her after her clothes were taken care of.
"Why did you come here at this hour? And especially with no umbrella?" He asked her.
"You didn't come to the guild today…" She said softly.
"Were you waiting for me?" He asked confused. She nodded her head in response. "Why?"
"I wanted to apologize for yesterday, I shouldn't have made you tell me, and I'm really sorry." She said quietly, looking at her folded hands.
"It's not like it was a big deal Shrimp." He said that but that's not how he really felt, and she picked up on that.
"If it wasn't a big deal you wouldn't have no wanted to tell, stormed out of the guild, and then not show up today." Water dripped down her face, and he wasn't sure if it was tears or rain from her hair. Then he realized what she had said. It's not that he didn't want to tell her, he just liked her so much he wasn't sure if she would judge him for his reading capability. And it's not that she wanted to push him, she liked him so much she just wanted to help him with whatever was bothering him.
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you…" he said, unable to meet her eyes. She blushed a bit
"Then what is it?"
"Nothin'" He said, refusing to meet her gaze. "You're sleeping here tonight, no way you're going home in that." He said and got up to make his way to his room.
"Gajeel wait!" Levy said, going through her bag, and pulling out several books.
"What's with the books?" He asked, though he has a feeling he knew where this was going.
"I'm going to teach you how to read Gajeel!" She said to him, her face lighting up with excitement. His cheeks dusted pink, he had an image to maintain and now she was ruining it, exposing herself to his weaknesses. Damn this little fairy girl! He walked over to look at the books...what the fuck?
"You're going to teach me to read...with kids books?" His ego could not be taking a bigger hit than this.
"Of course, you expect to learn with Stephen King? Or Pat Conroy?" I guess she had a point.
"Look? Can we start learning tomorrow? I'm tired as fuck."
"Yeah, I'll see you in the morn_" Another clap of thunder hit and she froze, just as she had in the doorway.
"Shrimp! Oy what's the deal with thunder with you?" He asked shaking her. No response, just that far off gaze in her eyes. The worst part is that the thunder just kept booming over and over again, like it was right over his house. He couldn't snap her out of her trance. He went to his last resort. He leaned in and closed the distance between them, her lips plump and soft, her trance was broken, but she was soon in another, shocked at what she had "woken up" to. She leaned into his kiss, she put both hands on his chest pushing up to give herself better access to his mouth, another boom of thunder sounded but it went unnoticed. His thumb behind her ear, hand on the back of her neck he deepened the kiss. Soon they separated she was flustered and confused, not sure of what to think of it.
"That's why I couldn't tell you. I wasn't sure what you'd think of me not being able to read, and you being the best fucking reader in all of Magnolia." She giggled. Glad the feelings of love she had for him were returned.
"Well now we both know a deep dark secret about each other."
"Yeah? And what do I know about you?"
"You're the only one in the guild that knows I'm scared of thunder."
"In that case maybe you should sleep with me, to make sure you don't get scared in the middle of the night." He said huskily.
"O-Ok" she said blushing. She followed him to his room, where they slept side by side, cuddling the night away.
