chapter two
Levy jumped in surprise and looked up at Gajeel, who was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, Pantherlily on his shoulder.
"Gajeel!" Levy gasped, well aware of the colour rising in her cheeks. She looked away quickly, scuffing her foot on the pavement. "Weren't you supposed to be back late tonight?" she asked. He tossed his head and re-folded his arms.
"Didn't you say you wanted my help with something?" he said in a voice that was mostly a rough grunt.
"W-Well, yes, but I didn't mean to trouble-"
"Well, I'm here now." he interrupted, and began to walk towards his apartment. After a few seconds, Levy followed, a little smile on her face.
"Thank you." she said belatedly, earning herself a grunt in return. They walked towards the setting sun, Levy in Gajeel's shadow, for the next two blocks in silence.
Levy thought again about Lucy's enthusiastic advice and shook her head- there was no way anything could ever happen, no matter what she did. Gajeel wasn't the friendliest of people, so surely romance was completely out of the question as well.
"So what exactly did you need me for?" he asked in a bored voice once they'd reached the apartment and Levy had brought him to the room she was currently sharing with Pantherlily.
"Um, up there..." she pointed at the top shelf in the bookcase, far out of her reach, even if she stood on a chair. "Can you get the blue book down for me? Please?" she asked. Gajeel put his hands on his hips as he looked where she pointed, then grinned, showing his pointed teeth.
"And why is that all the way up there? There's no way a shrimp like you could've put it there in the first place." he said, patting her on the head like he always did when commenting on her height. Levy swatted his hands away and glared at him.
"Hey! Why are you always teasing me about my height? It's not like your insults are going to make me grow!" she said hotly, but felt bad immediately afterwards- after all, he was going to help her. "Pantherlily flew it up there for me, but he forgot to bring it back down." she said, smiling at the black cat on Gajeel's shoulder. Pantherlily nodded.
"Sorry, Levy. Gajeel and I were training early this morning, and although I initially merely didn't want to wake you, I admit that I did forget about it." he said. Gajeel rolled his eyes at the cat, reached up, grabbed the book, and tossed it at Levy, who caught it gratefully.
"You sure are a pain..." Gajeel yawned, and walked out of the room. Levy glared after him, then dropped her gaze to the book in her arms.
"Yeah, right, Lucy... I don't even know why I like this jerk..." she muttered as she sat down to read.
Hours later, Levy glanced up from the book and realized it was completely dark outside. She stood up and switched off her lamp, wincing as her feet stung as she stumbled to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She glanced at the clock on the way and shook her head in embarassment, realizing it would be dawn in just a half-hour or so. She always lost track of time while reading- but to be honest, that was something she loved to do. The more time she lost deep in a world of knowledge, the longer she could avoid the confusion that now seemed to plague her days.
When she finally returned to her room and flopped into the bed Gajeel had set up for her next to Pantherlily's huge monogrammed bed suite, she could barely keep her eyes open, but her mind was now buzzing with guilt- she hadn't even started to set Lucy's plan into action. She was supposed to have talked to Pantherlily, but she didn't dare wake him up at this hour... She yawned and stretched, snuggling down into the black sheets and pillows, which all smelled faintly of Gajeel...
"Oh dear..." she muttered, shaking her head and blushing.
"Something troubling you?" Levy felt like she'd jumped a mile.
"Pantherlily!" she whispered, staring up at the little cat who was flying down to her bed from his tall sleeping palace. "Did I wake you up?" she asked, sitting up. The cat shook his head after landing on the pillow next to her.
"Don't worry. I am a very light sleeper, and Exceeds don't need as much sleep as much as humans, anyway- although Happy may be an exception."
"Oh!" Levy laughed, relaxing.
"I thought you looked troubled. Is there something on your mind?" Lily asked. Levy sighed and patted the cat's head softly.
"Sort of. I don't want to trouble you about it- it's really nothing." she said. Lily flapped over closer and perched on her knees.
"You are Gajeel's friend. What troubles you troubles him, and thus me. Besides..." he cleared his throat. "It has been a pleasant change, having you stay here. I've grown to like you very much, Levy. I... would like to help you, if I can." Levy pressed her hands to her cheeks, smiling like a little kid.
"Oh Lily! I've loved staying with you too!" she cried, reaching forward and hugging the kitty, who purred quietly before coming back to his serious self.
"So, what is the problem? Something up with your team?" he asked. Levy shook her head.
"No, Jet and Droy are no problem..." Levy bit her lip. "It's just hard to talk about this, because it's really quite silly... and you're his cat..." Levy murmured. Lily folded his tiny arms.
"Gajeel, hmm? Have you had a fight?" Levy sighed and stroked Lily's ears. He normally would have protested -he usually found such casual contact inappropriate- but he had grown quite fond of Levy, and she seemed out of sorts.
"No, I just... I wish he would notice me more. It's ridiculous to say that, I mean, I'm inconveniencing him by staying here...and I know I'm not strong, and I can't train with him or fight with him or be his friend in the way Natsu and Gray and you are... in spite of that, though... I wish I could make him see me more..." Tears welled up in Levy's eyes, and she wiped them away, embarassed and surprised. "Sorry, I didn't... I didn't think it was a big deal, but-" she mumbled, shocked that she was crying over something so trivial. Lily put a paw on her arm.
"Don't cry, Levy. Gajeel is not the easiest person to get along with, and it's true that he values strength... however," the cat continued, folding his arms again. "I do believe that he values you more than you think. Gajeel surprised even me by allowing you to stay here- if he thought you were an inconvenience, I'm sure he would not have invited you here in the first place. You should have more confidence." Lily said, before giving Levy a final nod and flying back up to his loft. "Thanks, Lily." Levy murmured with a smile, and lay back down to sleep, thinking over what he had said.
A few hours later, Levy crawled out of bed, brushed her teeth, and put Lucy's plan into action. She dug around in her bag for her training outfit and held it up, looking at it critically. She found it comfortable, and it was perfect, considering the amount of physical exertion she usually went through (not much), but she was sure that Lucy wouldn't consider capris and a loose t-shirt as quite the right sort of thing to attract Gajeel's attention.
Levy sighed and searched her bag again, this time emerging with her black spandex shorts, bright blue crossback sports bra, and loose, black cropped tank top. She pulled them on, pulled her choppy hair back with a black hairband, secured tape over the balls of her feet, and shoved her cd into Gajeel's player. He and Lily were out doing their morning training session, so Levy was sure she wouldn't be interrupted- although the entire point was for Gajeel to see her, she really wasn't confident that being a sweaty mess was going to work magic, although she knew Lucy would beg to differ.
As her music began to play, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself and to empty her mind, and then just let her body follow the motions it had been practicing for years.
She slipped into splits, reaching both arms over her head to her left foot, then her right. She placed both hands palm-down on the floor, swung her legs back behind her and raised her head up, pushing her torso off the ground. She smoothly leant her weight back, pressed her heels down against the floor, straightened her legs, and formed a triangle, stretching out her arms, calves, and back.
She sucked in a sharp breath and pushed forwards, raising her feet off the ground, tucking her legs in towards her bum and holding her entire weight up on her hands. She rolled out, propped herself up and raised first one leg, then the other, straight into the air, pulling them against her chest. She rolled up into a standing position, and relaxed her torso, folding down at her hips to pull her face to her knees, enjoying the burn of her thighs and calves. She slid her feet out, placed one hand on the floor between them, twisted her back and raised the other straight into the air, then switched sides and did the same.
Feeling more herself, happier now that her mind was clear while she stretched, she let herself play a little, and bent her hands back down on to the floor, raising her legs up again, and walked to Gajeel's pull-up bar on her hands. She wasn't very strong, and she was no where near big enough to be any competition in hand-to-hand combat, but Levy had always been determined to use her body to its full capacity, and she was pleased that her goal had been fulfilled: had the S-class trial been soley based on agility, she was pretty certain she'd've won it easily.
She jumped lightly up to the bar, grabbed it firmly, and swung her legs up between her stomach and the bar, letting her weight stretch out her arms. She slid out of the position, swung back and forth for momentum, and pulled her body up over the bar, holding her legs out in a straddle, things resting on her elbows, holding herself up, glad of Gajeel's high ceiling, which allowed her more than enough space.
She was panting- she got tired much faster than Jet and Droy, so her early-morning workouts had been an effort to increase her endurance. She swung down, and, feeling energized, walked over to the cd player and switched tracks to a heavy club beat. She began to run in place, her feet thudding on the floor faster and faster, matching the 5-beat-per-second bassline. She swung her head around, letting her hair fly away from her sweaty face as she span in place, her legs hot from the constant motion. She raised her hands up and sang along to the song for a few bars, circling her hips as she worked up to her fastest pace, her feet drumming on the floor.
Levy had long ago realized that she would never exceed most members of the guild in terms of stamina or speed- and strength was certainly out of the question- but she needed to be able to keep up. She closed her eyes, timing the beats of her feet with the beat of the music, feeling it in her bones. Sweat was flying away from her in drops as she span, twisting and turning with the music. She span out of her run and swung her hands down to her feet, raising one leg straight up as she did so. She held it for as long as she could, pushing her leg back until it was vertical, held it more, than switched, doing the same with the other leg. She pressed both palms into the ground, raised her feet again into a handstand, tucked her knees in, and bent her arms. She could only manage five of these push-up variants, but she was determined to improve her upper-body strength, and her core was weak enough to make normal ones uncomfortable.
She swung her legs up straight again, and tipped them over her head until they touched the ground, flipping herself back onto her feet. She slid her feet out sideways, down once again into the splits, but this time pressed her palms into the ground in front of her and raised herself up. She flexed her feet upwards, feeling the burn in her abs, watching her arms tremble under the strain. She swung her legs back, then over her head again, this time holding the bridge for a few seconds before raising first one, then the other leg into the air. She rolled out, lay on her back, and raised her hips. This was the core excercize she always found the most embarassing, but she liked it best because it worked well for her. She took a breath to feel the beat again, then raised and lowered her hips to it. She did this for the last quarter of the song, then got up and walked over to Gajeel's punching bag.
It was made of steel, so obviously she never used it for its intended purpose- she would end up in the hospital faster than she could say 'ow'- but she had found a use for it. With a deep breath, she jumped up, grabbing the chain that held it off the floor in her hands. Her legs wrapped around the top half of it, squeezing tightly. Once she was sure she had a good grip with her thighs, she let go her hands and leant back, relaxing her back until her torso hung down towards the floor, her body only held up by her legs. The next song came on, and she held her neck with her hands as she pulled herself up, doing vertical sit-ups, her abs burning, her thighs pressing tightly against the metal pillar. She couldn't do more than fifteen, and dropped down, landing in a hand-stand, which she rolled out from.
She was breathing heavily, covered in drops of sweat. Her workouts might be nothing more than glorified stretches, but they sure tired her out. She skipped tracks again to a slower song, and re-did her starting stretches, spending more time on the splits, pressing her chest to the floor in a centre-splits between her right and left-leg pulls. Her stomach pressed to the ground, she sighed and reached back, rubbing her sore bum- not that anyone had noticed, she thought sourly, but her butt had gotten bigger after she started adding more squats to her regular workouts. She would normally call this a plus -any sort of curves were definitely welcome- but it was always sore after working out. She pouted and rubbed it some more.
A sound from behind her made her freeze in place, in centre splits with her hand on her butt.
"Gajeel?" she whispered, raising her head and turning it to check- ridiculous as it might sound, she got ambushed so much on missions, she usually thought anybody sneaking up on her was an enemy. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she spotted her temporary housemate, standing in the doorway, looking very uncomfortable. Levy gasped and sat up, her face burning bright red.
"I didn't- sorry- I thought you weren't coming back until-" she stammered, getting up and running over to the cd player, fumbling for the power button, very, very aware now of what she was and was not wearing. She faced him, her arms wrapped around her bare stomach. She wouldn't meet his eyes- she was covered in sweat, her hair hanging down in damp spirals, her loose, cropped tank sticking to her skin...
Gajeel still hadn't said anything, so Levy's eyes fixed on what he was holding. He had plainly gone shopping on his way home- his arms were full of groceries, including a large carton of orange juice, which was leaking- drops of it were falling to the floor even as he stood there. Levy was trying to slow her breathing down, well aware that she sounded like an asthmatic vacuum. She followed the drips of orange juice to the floor, and frowned at the surprisingly large puddle on the floor.
Gajeel's voice snapped her out of her daze; "Just make sure you clean up when you're done." he said, his voice somehow even gruffer than usual.
"I will..." Levy called after him, still practically rooted to the spot from embarassment.
After she'd wiped the sweat off of the floor and equipment, she grabbed her cd and walked out, headed for the shower. She slipped suddenly and grabbed onto the nearest steel bar (copius amounts of which were sticking out from every wall, presumably Gajeel's homely touches) for support as her feet shot from under her. She steadied herself and stared once again at the large puddle of orange juice on the floor.
"But how..." she began, wondering how such a large puddle could have been formed from just a few drips, until she realized that Gajeel must have been standing there for longer than she thought. Judging by the size of the puddle... maybe even fifteen minutes. Levy dashed into the bathroom, her face burning, her palms clammy. There was embarassment, and then there was this soul-stabbing feeling of utter humiliation. Gajeel had been watching, watching everything she'd done... Levy pressed her shaking hands against her face and leant back against the wall. Splits... straddles... handstands... pelvic thrusts... he had possibly seen it all.
"Oh my god..." Levy cried weakly, nearly falling into the shower, peeling her clothes off and unwrapping the tape on her feet before shoving the water on, keeping it cold. She moaned and let her head fall against the wall of the shower. She wanted to curl up and die. Either that or somehow knock Gajeel into last week to make him forget everything he'd seen. Impossible, of course, as she was the dandelion to Gajeel's battering ram, but if it were possible, she would gladly do it, just to make all this go away.
She shook her head as she soaped her body down. Up until this moment, the most humiliating moment of her life had been when she'd tripped and shown her underwear to Gildartsby mistake. That was as nothing compared to this utter mortification. She washed her hair thouroughly, her embarassment not quite overpowering her dislike of sweaty hair. When she'd finished, she turned off the tap and shoved the curtain aside, reaching for a towel and drying herself down.
"I can not believe he saw all that... holy fucking fuck..." she muttered darkly to herself. The air chilled her cold skin even further, and a breeze from the window blew unwelcome air over her bare skin. She shivered and wrapped the towel around her. "And my clothes are in my room. Great, just great." she groaned, picking up her discarded outfit and stalking towards the door.
"..and then the splits... and my ass, I was massaging my ass HOLY MOTHERFUCK-" her muttering, which had grown quite a bit louder, stopped suddenly as she swung the door open and came face-to-face with Gajeel, who once again seemed to be passing by at the worst possible time.
He swallowed, but said nothing.
Levy stared at him.
Seconds seemed to tick by.
Finally, Levy scooted around him and dashed back into Pantherlily's room, slamming the door behind her.
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