chapter three
"Oh my god, Lucy, it was so embarassing, you have no idea..." Levy moaned, pressing her forehead against her cold ice tea.
Lucy patted her head comfortingly.
"Well, look on the bright side! My plan is in progress!" she said brightly before taking a huge bite of her taco. Levy raised her head and gave a short laugh. "The irony is that I wasn't actually trying to put your plan into action... I started excercising when I was sure that Gajeel was out, and I didn't mean to forget my change of clothes before showering..."
"Mere bagatelles, dear child." Lucy said, flapping her hand as she finished chewing. "The point is that you did it. What I find really interesting is the puddle of orange juice you mentioned." Levy moaned again, burying her face in her hands.
"I know, to leave so much on the ground, he must have seen almost all of it!" Lucy grinned slyly and pointed at Levy.
"Exactly. He must have seen almost all of it."
"That's what I said, it's so embarassing-"
"Levy, you are looking at this the wrong way! Where you see utter humiliation, I see something much better." Levy raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"What good could you possibly see? He was watching! The whole time, practically!" Lucy smirked.
"Yeah. That puddle was big enough to indicate that he'd been standing there for possibly fifteen minutes, maybe even twenty. Why would he stand there so long?" she asked. Levy blinked.
"Well, I don't know... he usually doesn't pay attention to what I do-"
"Exactly." Lucy said triumphantly. "Like I said, by exercising in something a little skimpier, and leaving the door open so he could see, you gave yourself an opportunity. I'll bet you anything that Gajeel was standing there for so long because he couldn't take his steely eyes off of you. And I'll bet he kept quiet so he could watch for as long as possible." Lucy explained smugly. Levy gaped at her.
"But- but- but, that's crazy!" she cried, but even as she said it, she knew there was a possibility of Lucy being at least half-right... after all, Gajeel would have had no reason to stay there for that long, unless he was watching her. "He might have had a cramp in his leg and couldn't move..." she suggested weakly. Lucy gave a sarcastic laugh.
"Right, because Gajeel just happened to get a leg cramp in the door way of the room you happened to be in, coincidentally dressed like a sex bomb, doing the splits. Coincidentally." Levy blushed.
"Don't say it so loud." she begged, glancing around the little Taco bistro in case anybody they knew were there.
"What, you don't want your sex-on-fire workout routine broadcast to the world?" Lucy teased, but in a lowered voice. "But what happened afterwards?" She asked, dipping her taquito in hotsauce and nibbling on the end.
"If you keep eating such spicy food, you're going to end up like Natsu." Levy warned teasingly, avoiding the hand her friend sent swatting her way. "Well, I was really embarassed-"
"I would never have guessed." Lucy interrupted drily.
"Anyway," Levy continued with a sigh, "I rushed straight into the shower, and was basically banging my head against the wall for a while, but when I got out, I realized I'd forgotten to bring a change of clothes in with me, and I had to come out in a towel-"
"Just like I said you should..." Lucy interrupted again, triumph shining in her eyes.
"Yes, but it was an accident... and there he was! Again! Right outside!"
"So let me guess, you stood there looking gorgeous, water dripping down below your towel, the cold air bringing pink to your cheeks, your hair tousled and wet... and he stood there with his jaw on the floor and his dick reaching for the ceiling?"
"Lucy!" Levy hissed, shocked and blushing.
"Kidding, kidding. But was I sort of right?"
"Well, um... he was staring, and he didn't say anything... well, neither did I..."
"You should have invited him into the shower with you!"
"Lucy!" Levy gasped, swatting her friend's arm.
"Oh, Levy, I'm just teasing. But he didn't say anything? Really? I guess he was just shocked... you sure hit him with a double-whammy, though." she said with a grin. "Did Pantherlily say anything when you chatted?" Levy popped a guacamole-laden chip into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully.
"Well, yes and no. I mean, Lily's such a serious sort of kitty, he'd never gossip or anything..."
"Unlike Happy, that damn cat..." Lucy muttered with a grin.
"Yeah, very unlike Happy. But he did say that I should have more confidence... what was it? That he values me more than I think, or something."
"Typical Lily, huh? In other words, as I suspected, Gajeel's got the hots for you."
"That is not what he said at all!" Levy insisted. Lucy laughed.
"Think what you like, sweetie, think what you like. But we should come up with a plan for day number two... we have to keep him excited." she said, rubbing her nose thoughtfully.
"Lucy, are you sure this is a good idea? If I keep doing all this sexy stuff or whatever, won't he realize I'm acting differently? I never do anything like this." Levy mumbled, looking around again nervously. Lucy shook her head.
"Gajeel's as thick as a post- there's no danger of him catching on to what you're doing, at least not right away. You need to get him hooked! Worry about all the emotional stuff later. He's not going to bother with feelings until he realizes that you're a red-hot commodity!" she insisted, pointing her finger at Levy, who looked very unconvinced.
"In any case, let's lay out the plan..."
Levy let out a heavy sigh. She stood in the middle of Gajeel's kitchen, wearing a frilly apron (borrowed from Lucy) over a tight black mini dress (bought by Lucy) and thigh-high stockings (also bought by Lucy).
The 'plan' was to cook a fabulous meal for Gajeel, to flirt with him over dessert, to flounce around in the apron, perhaps spill a little wine, and to seductivly wipe it up. From the get-go, Levy had spotted several major holes in the plan, namely that she couldn't cook to save her life, she'd never flirted with anyone before, and that leaning over someone to mop up a spill was only seductive if you had a big chest, a department in which Levy was definitely lacking. Levy slid off of the steel barstool she'd been glued to for the past fifteen minutes and glanced at the clock. Gajeel was due home in a half-hour. The chicken was in the oven, the potatoes were boiling, the soup was stewing, the dessert was chilling in the fridge, and the sauteed vegetables were sauteeing away. All was well.
Twenty-five minutes later, smoke was billowing from the oven, half of the soup was stuck to the bottom of the pan while the other have seemed to have curdled into a yellow brick, the dessert had fallen icing-side-out onto the floor, and most of the sauteed vegetables had been reduced to little more than bits of coal.
Levy was near hysterics, opening windows and fanning out smoke, setting fire to oven gloves, stepping in chocolate frosting and burning herself on flying embers from what once was a beautiful appetizer.
"Oh my god, oh my god, there is no way I'm going to be able to deal with this before Gajeel gets home..." she moaned, wiping her eyes and leaving a streak of chocolate over her cheek. Right on cue, she heard the front door open. Levy froze, feeling a very strong urge to hide. A few seconds later, Gajeel appeared in the kitchen doorway, frowning around at what plainly looked like a disaster zone.
"What the f-" he muttered, stopping as his eyes fell on Levy. She bristled under his gaze, preparing herself for shouts and anger- or she tried to, anyways. He had only been looking at her for a few seconds before she burst into tears.
"Hey, hey.." he said uncomfortably, his arms reaching up impulsively as if to hug her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she bawled, covering her face with her hands, feeling utterly ridiculous, but unable to stop herself. "I wanted to make you something nice, because you've been really kind, letting me stay and everything, even though I'm in your way all the time..." her words were slurred, barely intelligible as she sobbed through her hands, interrupted every few seconds by a shuddering breath.
"You... you're not in my way..." Gajeel interjected, still very obviously uncomfortable with the situation- not that Levy, had she recovered her senses sooner, could blame him, considering the way there was a hysterical, crying chick standing in his kitchen with one foot in a dessert and smelling of curdled soup. Through her hands, she saw Gajeel's gaze leave the smoking oven and instead skim down her body, wrapped tightly in the black dress, the apron long since burnt and abandoned.
Great, she thought glumly, still hysterical, and the complete extent of my lack of curves is made known.
"But I suck at cooking, and I know I shouldn't have tried, but I just wanted..." her words were completely gone now as she just stood and sobbed. Gajeel's lip twitched in what could have been a split-second-smile, and he stepped towards her and patted her brusquely on the head. Levy hiccoughed, rubbing her eyes.
"Cheer up, shortie. Go pick out a movie while I clean up in here." he said, gesturing with his thumb towards the living room. Levy nodded and fled the scene, wiping at her streaming face.
Once alone in the living room, she curled up on the floor, hugging a pillow to her tightly, trying to muffle any sound she made. She had completely blown it. Lucy's dinner of seduction had been replaced by burnt food and crocodile tears. Levy rubbed her damp face on the pillow and sighed out the last of her tears. At least Gajeel hadn't yelled at her, she thought, one side of her mouth tipping up a little. He hadn't even seemed angry.
Thinking of Gajeel made her remember what she was supposed to be doing, and she put the pillow aside and crawled over to Gajeel's stack of dvds, eager to choose one. She had been very pleased to discover that they shared the same taste in movies. After browsing for a few minutes, she grabbed the first disc of Kill Bill, which she hadn't seen in ages, and popped it into the player. She picked up the pillow again and hugged it to her chest, now waiting nervously for Gajeel to reappear.
She sort of really wanted a hug, but knew it would be ridiculous to ask. She might have asked Lily, had he been around, but she remembered him mentioning he was going to spend the evening with Charle and Happy. Levy sighed and settled down to wait.
About ten minutes later, Gajeel reappeared, carrying two plates, piled with pizza slices. Levy sat up nervously. "I'm really sorry about-" she began, but stopped when Gajeel shook his head.
"Don't worry about it." he said shortly, passing her one of the plates and sitting next to her on the floor. Levy looked away and smiled.
Half an hour later, both their plates were empty, and The Bride was on her way to start her roaring rampage of revenge. Levy was stretched out on her side, her head propped up on her hand, half-watching, half-dozing. Gajeel sat behind her, leaning back against the empty couch. Levy's heavy eyelids were just dropping down again when she felt something touch her hair softly. She turned her head, glancing at Gajeel in confusion. His hand ghosted over her hair again before he re-folded his arms.
"Do you cut it like that? Or does it grow that way?" he asked after a brief silence and held gaze.
"What?" Levy asked after a second.
"Your hair. It's choppy." Gajeel pointed at the top of her head, where her hair was short and burst out from behind her hairband in wild twists, then dropped his hand down to point at the bottom of it, the long tendrils that bounced by her shoulders at the front and bobbed at the back of her neck. "Oh." Levy ran a self-conscious hand through it, tousling it a little.
"I cut it shorter sometimes, and leave the longer bits at the front, but it actually grows unevenly anyways." she admitted a little ruefully, embarassed- she liked her hair and found it practical, but she also envied Mira, Erza, and Bisca for their long, smooth styles.
"It's nice." Levy looked up again, but Gajeel's gaze was once again fixed on the screen.
She supposed she'd been hearing things, and likewise concentrated again on the movie.
The next thing she was aware of was how cold her feet felt. She blinked back into consciousness, tried to turn over, and found herself pinned down. Suddenly very awake, and a little scared, she looked around slowly, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. A familiar shape next to her calmed her down, and she quickly realized that she was perfectly safe. She realized that she must have fallen asleep on top of Gajeel, thus preventing him from going to bed without waking her up. The thought that he'd been considerate enough to worry about waking her up was startling enough, but what surprised her even more was the heavy, muscular arm that was slung around her waist.
She raised her head slightly and realized that it -and most of her body- was resting on Gajeel's chest. She shut her eyes and relaxed for a minute, smiling as she listened to his steady hearbeat, his slow breathing calming her down. She snapped her eyes open again after realizing that she might be taken for a pervert, and tried to figure out a way to slip away without waking him- after all, it would be horribly awkward to wake up together... as nice as that sounded. Levy told herself to get a grip, but blushed nonetheless.
She began to scoot slowly down Gajeel's body, trying to slide unnoticed out from under his arm. It had seemed easy enough when she'd started, but she was scooting down on her back, and after a few minutes, Gajeel's hand was right on top of her chest. She lay still and took a deep breath. If he woke up now, she would never live this down. Steeling herself, Levy planted her feet firmly on the floor and slid her body down towards them, biting down painfully hard on her lip as Gajeel's hand ghosted over her breasts, then softly over her collarbones and neck. She turned her face away on the last scoot, letting his hand pet her hair as she escaped from his grip.
She felt triumphant, but also cold as she stood up, stretching her complaining, stiff limbs. She tiptoed away, headed for the linen closet to fetch Gajeel a blanket -after all, he might catch cold lying on the floor alone- but by the time she'd returned, as silently as she could, he'd gone. She cocked her head to the side, confused- he had seemed fast asleep only a few minutes earlier- but ultimately tiredness won her over, and she stumbled into Pantherlily's room, flopping gratefully down onto her mattress, snuggling into the blankets, smiling into her pillow when she realized she could smell Gajeel on herself.
"He's a nice guy.." she murmured just before falling back asleep.
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