Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Gajeel had been minding his own business, leaning against the stands all the way at the back of the tent. An elephant attraction sans elephant piqued his curiosity and he wanted to see what the half pint had come up with in such a short amount of time.
Imagine his surprise, definitely not with a touch of covetousness, when she stepped out with the redhead who was relentlessly after her heart. They danced; she would coquettishly turn and escape and twist from her partner's attempts to woo her. Levy slipped from Jet's grasp with backflips and other acrobatics in her repertoire. They'd even altered her costume for the change. Her top covered her stomach for once and extra fabric had been sewn over the waist band of her harlem pants. The edges met at the front of her waist, open in the front to give her legs the freedom to move, but covered in the back to resemble a skirt. Gajeel didn't particularly care one way or another what any dame chose to wear or not wear, but she pulled off the odd take on a ball gown well.
As the drums and strings came to a heart pounding speed, Jet finally won the cat-and-mouse game, catching her right as she finished off an aerial. Many younger members of the crowd burst into fits of giggles at her pretend look of surprise. The crowd cheered for the underdog, for finally convincing his love to dance with him. A brave few shouted catcalls, urging Jet to kiss his girl. The sword juggler rolled his eyes and crossed his arms; the audience knew nothing.
They twirled around the ring instead, Gajeel catching glimpses of her flushed and happy face. Cana had lined Levy's eyes in dark kohl and brushed rose powder against her cheeks, making those yeux de biche of hers all the more unreal to him.
When the time came, he clapped politely with the rest, then moved to leave when something pulled his pants leg. Gajeel cursed his luck, probably caught on another nail; Lily wasn't going to be happy about having to patch up another pair of his trousers. Gajeel glanced down, almost wishing it had been a nail instead of the young boy with his brow set firmly and sixpence lifted back to meet Gajeel's glower.
His little chest puffed as he gathered his courage, "You're friends with Miss Levy?"
"You could say that." Gajeel could hear Lily rolling his eyes at him in his head and it unnerved him, as it seemed he couldn't have a moments peace from the man. He rolled his shoulders, watching the aforementioned elephant rider stride giddily out of the big top.
The youth nodded, his bravado cracking slightly as a nervous hand scratched roughly at the back of his head. "Could you give her something for me?"
"Depends. What is it?"
"My mom told me about Aurora and how we couldn't see her tonight, so I made her a card. If I gave it to you, could you see that Miss Levy gets it?"
Gajeel surveyed the boy for a few moments. Most adults refused to meet his eye and he was impressed with the kid's guts. "I'm nobody's messenger. Why not just give it to her yourself?"
"You could do that?" The boy's brown eyes widened up at him.
"Aye, we could track her down for ya. She's probably on her way to the menagerie now."
"Thanks, mister."
Gajeel lifted his head and met the eyes of a woman twisted 'round in her seat, eyeing him and the child warily. She reeked of contained threat; she was obviously the kid's mother. He glanced back down at the boy who waved at the woman, her figure relaxing as she wiggled her fingers back at him. He met her gaze once more and nodded in a silent agreement to keep a good eye on him. "C'mon, kid."
They wove through the stands, Gajeel's easy stride taking the boy an extra three steps to keep up. The man found the hidden spot on the tent Freed left dispelled for the acts' exists easily enough and held it open for the youth. He was glad the kid didn't seem to be much of a talker, kept things straight forward and didn't talk his ear off just to fill the silence, as he already had more than enough of that.
His keen eyes caught her wild hair and moonlight glinting in her show clothes. "Oi, Half pint!"
The girl in question halted, her chest still heaving with the effort to catch her breath after the performance. Levy stayed silent in her wait for him to reach her, only rebelliously jutting her hip out and crossing her arms irately. Gajeel smirked and took his sweet time, the kid trailing behind him nearly smacking into his legs from the abrupt change of pace. He finally stopped in front of her and snorted at her peevish expression, his odd laugh drifting to her ears with the breeze. "You've gotta promise yer not going to cry."
"Cry? Gajeel, what're you on about no-" He effectively cut her off when he stepped aside and nudged the little boy that was behind his legs towards her with his boot. Levy raised her eyebrows suspiciously at Gajeel as she sat back on her heels in front of the child, while he snorted and jammed his hands into his pockets in answer to her unspoken question. She pursed her lips, turning her bight smile to the little boy in the next moment. "Hi there."
The child glanced back over his shoulder at Gajeel, but the older man only shrugged his shoulders as his sign of support. The boy gulped and smiled nervously at the elephant rider who sat at his eye level. It was more than apparent that Jet and Droy weren't the only ones brought to their knees by Levy McGarden's charm. "Missus Levy, I heard Miss Aurora was sick."
Levy's nose crinkled as she rocked slightly on her heels and set an assuring hand on the concerned's shoulder. "She is, but we've got her resting up and we're feeding peanuts to her every hour, on the hour. We've got a close eye on her and a great elephant doctor patching her up. Aurora will be back in the bigtop before you know it."
Satisfied with her answer, he nodded. "I made her a 'Get Well' card," he exclaimed, excitedly pulling a bright piece of folded construction paper from his boot and handing it her. "I also have this!" He opened his mackintosh and retrieved the daisy pressed into the folds of the fabric.
Her smile was warm and bright in the cool evening, just barely luminescent from the moon's glow. "Oh, Aurora will love this. Did you know her favorite flowers are daisies?"
"I didn't know that! B-but the flower's for you, Missus Levy. I know you must miss her. You and Mister Jet had a good act, though!" The little boy stumbled closer to her and stuck the stem of the flower into her headband, right above her ear. His little hands soft as they brushed past her cheek to secure the stem in place.
"Well, thank you! I'm not sure what to say. This was very sweet of you and I greatly appreciate it; this has been a wonderful surprise. Pinky swear, I'll hang your card in her cage the first chance I get." She winked at him and, without warning, he shot forward, wrapping his arms tight around her neck. The force of it nearly knocked her off her feet.
Her bell-like laughter filled the air around them and she brought her own arms tightly around the child. Levy pulled back from his grip and planted a kiss on his cheek. Gajeel suppressed his mirth when the boy's face turned red and he fished for something to say.
"Now, I would bet your mother's wondering where her sweet little boy ran off to." As if on Levy's cue, a name was hollered out.
The boy perked up, spluttering out a flurry of farewells before rocketing away from them. His small legs pumped with all their might towards the woman that stood in the distance with her hands cupped around her mouth to call for him. Levy rose from the dirt and waved enthusiastically to the woman. The two visitors turned for the front entrance as Gajeel cunningly faced his company.
"You couldn't've just put the poor kid out of his misery?"
She rolled her eyes and scoffed at the insinuation. "Oh, please."
"Sorry sap was all but taken with you. Thought he might have died right where he stood when you planted one on 'im." Gajeel smirked down at her, lightly elbowing her in the ribs.
She shoved his hand away and cocked her hip confidently. "Jealous, are ya?"
"'Fraid older women aren't my type, Missus Levy."
"And just what is Gajeel Redfox's type?" Her arms crossed her chest, her head tilting teasingly.
Gajeel regarded her for a minute as wild wisps of her hair trailed against the sides of her face. He smiled crookedly at her once he decided on his answer. "Not very ladylike, as it is."
Levy blinked, her mouth opening just the tiniest bit in shock. She had undoubtedly not expected the unveiled dose of honesty in his tone. "Gajeel-," His name was all but a spoken hitch in her throat and she willed her knees not to knock together with her bout of nerves.
Gajeel rolled his eyes good-naturedly, gently nudging her head in the direction of the menagerie. "Don't you have a pachyderm waitin' on you?"
Levy hummed and drew up her shoulders and turned to leave, her hand lifting from her side enough to wave, "Good night, Gajeel."
Gajeel knocked his noggin on Lily's bunk again as he shot up at the frantic knocking on his door.
He stumbled out of the tangled cocoon of sheets and shoved the door back hard enough to have it bounce back on the track, but all of his anger died at the wide brown eyes welled with tears and small trembling mouth with the effort of keeping a stiff upper lip.
Wendy roughly wiped at her eyes and sucked in a shallow breath. "Carla's-" The little tight rope walker hiccuped and sniffled.
Gajeel knelt down and tugged at the girl's wild mess of hair. He was not the best at words of comfort, but he was going to give it his best shot. He rested a heavy hand on the crown of her head and cleared his throat, opening his mouth to say something he hoped would be somewhere in the ballpark of reassuring, when they were interrupted.
"Wendy! I don't think G-!" Levy barreled into view, a sight in her rumpled bedclothes and hair. She leaned against a wall, struggling to catch her breath when she finally noticed the two before her. "Oh, Gajeel."
He looked Levy over, snickering as he moved to stand again. His hand stayed on the girl's head, ruffling his hand through her long hair. "Tch. Nice look."
Wendy sniffed once more, chuckling at Gajeel's comment and the light blush that appeared on the other girl's puffed out cheeks.
Levy leveled him with a look that would strike lesser men dead before she crouched down to Wendy, her hands smoothing the girl's hair and passing her thumbs over tear streaked cheeks. "Hey, Carla's okay. I promise, she's not in any trouble. It's just time for her to have the cub."
The younger girl nodded her head nervously and took a deep breath, "What do we do now?"
"Well, Lily's in town with Master right now, but Gajeel and Erza are here. And you know what?"
Wendy blinked away the rest of her tears. "What?"
"There's also a whole circus ready to come running to the rescue, as well. In the meantime, we just have to make her comfortable and wait, okay?" Levy ran her hands over Wendy's small shoulders, her own smile feeding the growing force of the tightrope walker's.
Gajeel's tense figure deflated with the rush of relief at Levy's words. Wendy Marvell wasn't someone that came running to him; no one did, really. However, he'd been ready to run a marathon and kill a man at the sight of her crumpled form in his doorway. Worst case scenarios had corroded his mind in seconds. He snorted and ran his hand through her hair again, successfully sabotaging Levy's attempt to smooth out the errant locks. "Geez, kid. You've gotta work on your delivery."
Wendy laughed and mumbled out a bashful apology, as she hadn't meant to startle him so.
"C'mon, we'll see what we can do for the cat." He sighed dramatically, grabbing her arm and helping her to scramble up on his back. Her tiny frame shook against his strong back and he still wasn't sure he wasn't still ready to off somebody just to dispel the edge. Gajeel glanced back to make sure Levy followed and laughed at her disheveled bed head, "You look like you could use a strong drink."
She bristled at the dig, narrowing her eyes on him, "Keep it up and I'll need a shovel and muscle to carry the body too."
"Ah, so the eternal ray of sunshine isn't a morning person, huh?" His brow raised teasingly at her, Wendy's small laugh muffled into his shoulder.
Levy narrowed her eyes, cunningly folding her arms over her chest. "So, it wasn't your door nearly thrown off its facing at a little wakeup call?"
"Shuddup."
The trio shuffled out of the train and into the crisp, dewy morning. The sun momentarily blinded them as it fought past the horizon, the breeze that followed sharp against their thinner nightclothes.
A crowd of sleep deprived clowns had gathered outside of the cages; Juvia asleep standing up, her head nestled on Gray's shoulder, Ultear practically holding Meredy up, and Lucy and Natsu back to back on the ground, fast asleep. Mirajane and Erza were in the lions' cage, running careful hands over the lioness' torso and tilting a water bowl to her mouth. The latter uncharacteristically wore patched up trousers as she worked in the menagerie. The pants were undoubtedly borrowed from Scarlet, rather than her younger brother.
Gajeel let Wendy slide off his back before hopping into the cage. Happy halfheartedly growled at his presence and continued to pace one side of the floor. He kept a close eye on the lion as he neared the laboring lioness. "How long she been like this?"
"Couple hours, at the most? Carla was perfectly fine when we closed up for the night and when Wendy saw her this morning, the cat wasn't in any distress. Though, she doesn't have much further to go." Erza rolled up the sleeves of the men's button up shirt she wore and kneeled down beside Carla.
"Lil' picked a fine time to go into town, didn't he?" Gajeel dropped down to the hay floor and smoothed his fingers over Carla's forehead, checking her eyes as she watched him. She seemed to not be having any difficulties yet, and the fact she remained calm was just a testament to her personality.
"Well, seeing as we wouldn't have had enough to fix for a proper breakfast, he's a saint." Mirajane laughed and offered the heaving lion another cool drink.
Aurora's distressed trumpet interrupted the otherwise quiet dawn.
The ones present laughed raucously as Juvia and Meredy jumped into the air and Natsu and Lucy tangled into a startled heap on the ground. Levy scanned her eyes over the elephant's cage, her jaw dropping to the ground when Aurora's trunk slipped through the bars and removed the pin holding the door closed. Her friends' laughter continued to crow in the soft light as the door was flung open and the elephant stepped out to freedom.
"Whose the wise guy that taught her that?!" She rushed to the elephant's side and yanked her way up Aurora's shoulder to sit on her back, using her heels to gently guide her to the lion's cage. Wendy watched, amused by the old creature's antics, her smile widening when Levy winked down at her. "Wendy, wanna better view?"
"Hu-, oh, I-," Without preamble, the tusker hefted the girl up by the scruff of her nightgown and plopped her into Levy's lap.
Even Meredy made her way onto the elephant's back. She slipped back into sleep slumped against Levy's back, earning her a gentle smirk from Ultear. Levy held Wendy in her lap, passing the time by whispering stories to the girl about the lions and elephants that ran wild in Africa. The poor girl fought her fatigue valiantly, because she didn't want to miss the birth. She wanted to be there the second Carla needed her. A wide yawn escaped her mouth, interrupted halfway when a cry broke with the sun finally cresting the hills and bruising the sky.
Erza, Mirajane, and Gajeel worked to settle Happy and spread out the blankets Elfman had brought earlier.
Juvia leaned into Gray's ear, her hand slid down to catch with his. "Isn't this exciting?"
Levy rolled her shoulders, "Meredy. Meredy, wake up or you'll miss it."
The girl rose with a snort and moved quick to stand on her knees to peer over Levy's shoulder.
Wendy's breath caught in her throat as Carla's spent body gave one last heave and Erza was cradling a tiny cub in her arms. The new addition was proffered to his mother, and the lioness began to purr and clean her child. Happy ambled up to them as the others cleared away, slinking down behind Carla and nuzzling her forehead as she continued to clean the baby. He stretched his neck over her shoulder and rested curled around her. A nearly silent mewl came from the cub as his mother's tongue knocked him off his feet and nestled him between her front paws.
Lucy rubbed her forearm vigorously over her eyes while Natsu lightly elbowed her in the ribs, "Why are you cryin', ya weirdo?" Lucy let out strangled scoff as Natsu roughly brought her head to his chest and whooped into the clear sky.
"C-Can I go in there?" Wendy looked up at Levy, her eyes wide and pleading up at the older girl.
"I-I don't know. I suppose you can try, but just be careful."
"I will."
"Aurora, s'agenouiller." Aurora followed Levy's command and slowly bowed, one knee tucked under to bring her front to the ground. Levy assisted the younger girls in sliding down the wide shoulder before going herself.
Meredy stumbled into a sloppy side hug from Ultear, a smile beaming from her round face.
Wendy took baby steps toward the cage, her hands twitching nervously at her sides with the knowledge of everyone's eyes being on her. It was Erza that saved her pressure of their gazes.
"All right everyone, let's get ready for the day."
Everyone obediently disbanded back for their rooms in hopes of another couple hours of shut eye before they really did have to be up and moving. Natsu kept his arm tight around Lucy's shoulder as tears still glossed over her eyes; the fire breather dragged her along, laughing at her overemotional silliness. Mirajane and Erza headed for the kitchens to start tea and coffee for those that decided to stay awake, leaving Gajeel and Levy to stand in front of the cages as Wendy cautiously willed herself to continue.
The tightrope walker hobbled onto the platform and sat to the edge, satisfied just to watch for the time being. She hoped Carla would notice her and give her some signal that it was okay, that she was more than welcome among the little family. Lionesses were notorious for their tempers and protective instincts over their young, but it would break Wendy's heart if Carla felt threatened by her presence.
Levy wiped at her own misty eyes, averting her graze to the golden horizon and trying to covertly sniff without drawing attention. She should have known it wouldn't go unnoticed by the man next to her.
"What, now you're gonna cry, too?" Gajeel bumped his arm to her shoulder to get her to look at him. He only chuckled at the sight of her red-tipped nose and glassy eyes.
She halfheartedly elbowed his ribs, growling past the lump caught in her throat. "Oh, leave it be would ya?"
Aurora lumbered closer to them and lightly pulled at Gajeel's long ponytail, holding her trunk up to his eye level once he turned around. Gajeel gave Levy a questioning look, but the rider was as equally confused by the sentiment. He raised his hand and hit his palm against her nostrils. She trumpeted playfully and ruffled his hair.
"Maybe she thinks you did a good job?" Levy chuckled, lightly scratching the wrinkled hide over Aurora's trunk hanging on her shoulder.
"Could be, but I think it's fed somethin' else. I taught her how to get out of the cage."
"Wha-Gajeel!" Levy was too lost in her laughter too feign annoyance with him, her mirth finally sending the tears collected in her eyes rolling down her cheeks. "I ca-can't believe you!"
Wendy drew her knees up to her chest and set her chin on her knees, her smile stretching serenely across her face as she watched the other two carry on. She'd once overheard Mirajane say they acted like a married couple. After being given the opportunity to be audience to their interactions, she couldn't help but agree that Mirajane had been spot-on, no matter what anyone else said on the subject. She sighed and swung her head back to the lions.
Carla's head raised and her eyes pinned directly on Wendy, all the while purring.
The tiny girl took this as her sign that it would be okay to get closer, so she scooted across the space between them and held her open palm out to the white lioness. The new mother licked at the small appendage. It tickled and caused Wendy to laugh as she closed the remaining space between them and wound her arms around her old friend's neck. She had been so worried something was wrong that relief rushed over her in great waves. Wendy stretched her arm further and tangled her hand in Happy's mane, her blunt nails raking over the lion's craned neck.
Gajeel cocked his head in the direction Mirajane and Erza had disappeared to, in suggestion for Levy to follow him. Levy blinked away the mist clouding her eyes and smiled.
"Tch, such a sap." He playfully ruffled her hair before sticking his hands in his trouser pockets.
She followed after him, rolling her shoulders easily. "I've never denied it, you'll just have to get used to it. Tch."
The knife thrower only returned her smirk, adamantly ignoring the tired happiness hanging in the shadowed corner of her mouth and the bright reflections of sunlight filtering through her vibrant hair.
-French
s'agenouiller: kneel
yeux de biche: doe eyes
-Slang
macintosh: a full-length waterproof coat
A/N: Self-indulgent Gajeel and Levy parenting situations. No regrets, just love.
Obviously updates are an unsure thing. I've been kept busy as the retail world slowly sucks the life force out of me and my beta has school and life and other commitments. In addition, as we get closer to these upper chapters, there's less written and more editing to be done. I'm grateful for the patience thus far, though.