Wow! It took me FOREVER to get this done! Mainly because of school and partly because I didn't know how to end it without it sounding stupid. It still kind-of is a bad ending, so please forgive me! But this is officially the last part of this fanfic and I thank you guys so much for reading! ^-^ Dango Out!
I awoke to the sound of giggling and snickering, snuggling closer to the warmth that radiated from the body I currently laid on. Rubbing my face against his chest, I felt his arms squeeze me tighter against him letting my sleepy mind drift back to dreamland. But, the constant sound of hushed voices and the sound of clicking stirred me awake. My mouth stretched in a big yawn as I reluctantly raised my head to look at the man who was stirring awake too. His eyes fluttered opened but then spread open wide in shock.
"What da hell?!" He hollered shooting up, nearly throwing me off of him, but pulling me close to his chest when I started to fall back.
Due to the sudden movement, my body was completely awake even though my mind still was hazy from my sleep.
"Aw, why did you have to wake up? I was taking some good pictures of you two." I heard Natsu say with a smile in his voice causing my face turn pink.
"Your hair also looks pretty cute, Gajeel." Lucy snickered causing my face to turn completely red as I pushed myself away from him slightly, in order to look up at him.
A snort escaped my nose as I saw the way his hair crinkled and curled from the braids that I put in last night. He looked like some rough version of Fabio from the covers of sappy romance novels.
"OI! Levy! Stop ya laughing!" he yelled pinching my exposed thigh that stuck out from his oversized black hoodie.
My giggle turned into an outright laughter as I leaned against him grasping my stomach as it surged with slight pain. He gently pushed me down onto the bed glaring at me, then at the other two people that woken us up.
"I'm sorry, but you do look pretty cute." I breathed trying to get control of my giggling as I lay on my back looking at him. "When did you take them out?" I asked cocking my head to the side. I remember us laying down together and falling asleep before him but I would've woken up if he left my side.
"They were bothering me like hell while I slept, so I took them out. Took me a hell-of-a long time too, by the way."
I shot him an apologetic smile, as I nudged my foot against his chest, rousing a small smirk curling his lips.
"I'm glad to see you guys made up." Lucy said with a slight tilt of her head and bright smile, holding Pantherlily close to her chest.
My eyes lit up as I saw the small ball of fur wiggle in her grasp and leap forward into mine. A twinge of regret pinched my heart as I totally forgot about my furry companion. I was so angry at Gajeel last night that I didn't realize he was missing and I'm pretty sure the last remnants of alcohol didn't help with my memory.
"I've missed you too." I grinned as he vibrated and purred loudly against my palm as I patted him.
"Nice face, Gajeel." Natsu smirked as his camera made a clicking noise. "Aw, you look so cute. I think the University newspaper would love to publish this." He cheesed facing his phone screen toward us.
Natsu's phone screen was unnaturally bright for my eyes, spiking a slight headache and stinging pain behind my eyes. I may not be able to hold my liquor as good, but at least I don't get a full fledge hangover.
But even with the discomfort in my eyes, I still stared intently at the picture. Gajeel was looking down at me, with eyes I've never seen before and a smirk that made my insides melt. I've never seen his eyes shine like bright rubies, with the look of intense care and love. My stomach twisted and my heart fluttered rapidly against my ribs, trying desperately to break free and land right in Gajeel's lap.
My head swiftly looked at him, seeing his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink and his eyes wide with surprise.
"Delete that now, Natsu!" He growled turning away from me, but I could still see how red his face was.
"Nah, I think I'll keep it. It may come in handy one day."
"Natsu! Delete it or else!" he said leaning over slightly, grabbing the edge of the bed as if ready to leap off and attack the pink haired boy.
"Gotta catch me first, metal head!" Natsu bellowed with laughter, bolting out the room, with Gajeel close behind him.
His movements nearly knocked me off the bed, but I steadied myself, watching his curly black hair flash before my eyes as he chased after Natsu, screaming at him to take a beating like a man.
"Well, good to see that you're not suffering from a hangover, with as much alcohol you drunk last night. How are you feeling?" Lucy asked me as she lifted herself up onto the open spot beside on Gajeel's bed.
Shrugging my shoulders, "I'm feeling pretty good, actually. My head and eyes hurt a little but I don't feel like I'm going to die. I think I sweated out most of the alcohol when I barged into Gajeel's welding session last night." I spoke, finger-detangling the knots out of my hair.
"You did what? Oh, you definitely have to tell me everything that happened last night." She beamed, getting comfortable in her spot.
Giggling, I turned around to face her, starting from the very beginning when I dashed out of Cana's apartment. She listened intently, only nodding her head and smiling wider as I talked, not even once interrupting me.
"Oh. My. Mavis. You two are dating!" she squealed bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Yep, but now what? I haven't been in a relationship in a long time, but even so, this is Gajeel we're talking about. I don't know what he expects out of a girlfriend."
My mind was basically eating itself up with doubts and fears, of the possibility of messing this up. I have strong feelings for him and the last thing I want is for this relationship to go south really quickly and ruin our friendship. What if it's not what we think it is and we got our hopes up too soon? What if I'm not the one for him or he's not the one for me?
"Levy, I know that face. You're overthinking things again."
"How can I not, Lucy? There's too many if's with this situation." I frowned looking down at my hands as I wrung them in my lap.
Lucy let out a sigh, scooting closer to me and grabbing my hands, causing me to look up at her. "Listen to me. Everything will be ok. I know what I see and what I see is two people with profound love for each other. If you guys aren't meant to be then you're not, but at least you'll have the memories and experiences to help you in the future. And who knows, you guys might get married and have kids." She said winking at the last comment.
Covering my cheeks, I shook my head. "No! We're not thinking about that right now! We just started!"
"Twins. You'll most definitely have twins." She cheesed then erupted in laughter as I flopped down onto the bed groaning.
Thanks to Lucy, my nerves were calmed but my mind kept wondering to the concept of a family with Gajeel. No, it's too early for these things, we'll talk about that when we're both ready and right now, I'm not ready for that conversation.
Taking a deep breath, I sat up, thanking my best friend for the pep talk and believing in me.
"No problem. You know I'm always here for you, no matter what?"
"I know you are. Now how about we go back to our dorm so I can shower and change out of these clothes."
"Ok, I'll text Natsu so they can know where to meet us after they're done fooling around." She said pulling out her phone as I followed her out of the boy's room.
Walking barefoot back to our building, I was glad for Gajeel's hoodie falling a little past knees, covering most of my exposed skin. But it still felt oddly like I was doing the walk of shame with my best friend.
Giggling to myself, I shook my head wondering how I got into this mess anyway.
After a nice shower and clean clothes, Lucy and I left our dorm building to meet up with the guys to go get breakfast before we decided on what to do with the rest of our day.
They met us at a small coffee shop down the street from the university, bickering at each other like always in front of Gajeel's truck. He leaned against it with his arms crossed over his broad chest glaring down his cousin that bubbled with laughter over something I'm sure we'll find out later.
But my focus was glued to his face as he straightened up when we approached, giving me a lopsided grin that made my heart explode in my chest.
"Took you guys long enough to get here." He spoke.
"Says the guy with curly hair." I giggled tugging at a strand. I could tell he ran a brush through it probably a dozen times trying to smooth it back out but his hair held steady and refused his efforts.
Wrapping his arm around my waist he pinched my hip making me jump and yelp in pain. I shot him a frown, but all he gave me was a teasing grin.
My stomach growled impatiently as we sat down at our table, looking over the menu of endless delicious possibilities. Natsu of course picked on me a little for catching me in bed with Gajeel, but I only joked and laughed with him. Egging him on a little as I saw Gajeel's cheeks turn pink the more we talked about it.
As soon as our food was devoured, we were stuck to our seats our conversation to enticing to leave, but Lucy interjected, coughing slightly in her fist earning patient stares.
"Um, Natsu and I actually have to be off." She said earning a confused look from the pink haired boy.
"What? No, we-"
"I promised to show him the medieval section of the library that is filled with books on dragons."
Natsu confused stare turned into an excited gleam of hope as he leaped out of his seat, pulling Lucy up with him. "What?! Why didn't you tell me this sooner? We gotta go!"
"See ya guys later." Lucy giggled as she was dragged out of the dinner and towards her car.
Gajeel and I couldn't say anything as we watched Natsu nearly peel out of the parking lot leaving small puffs of dirt clouds in their wake. We stared at each other then out the window before laughing hysterically with our hands clutching our stomachs.
When our laughter finally subsided, I leaned my head against his shoulder, not knowing what to do next and I'm pretty sure he was thinking the same thing.
"So, what now?" He asked slowly slipping his fingers in-between mine, causing my belly to tingle with delight.
Leaning in closer to him, shrugging, "I don't know. Walk around town?" I suggested rubbing my thumb against his rough hand.
"Beats being here, let's go."
We got up from our seats, paid for the meal and left the diner. Leaving his truck in the parking lot, we embraced the light cool breeze and cloudy skies hand-in-hand. We were silent for a while, but it wasn't awkward or tense, it was comfortable and needed. Time to collect our thoughts and sort things out in our minds and to also enjoy the beauty of the city. The clouds were covering the sun, making the temperature a lot cooler, but for some reason my body was hot. Nervousness and excitement coursing through my veins causing my palms to sweat, but I could tell he was feeling the same way. Taking a peak up at him, I could see that his cheeks were starting to turn a dusty pink and that made me feel better that I wasn't the only having these feelings.
We stopped into local shops, laughing and chatting about this and that, exploring as many things as we could. Family, school and random likes and dislikes would be our topics of conversation. It was like it didn't have a meaning but it didn't need to, we were just enjoying our time together.
With a slight skip in my step, I swung the little gift bag I had in my hand, that housed a small dragon sculpture made out of iron wrapped in tissue paper. Gajeel secretly bought it for me while I was too busy looking at other nick-knacks. Said, my room needed a little something extra other than a crap ton girly things. But I think he really got because I told him it reminded me of him.
As we walked along the sidewalk, I felt him suddenly stop and pull me into a side alley. He embraced me tightly, catching me off guard by the sudden movements he made.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't wait." He said rubbing a thumb against my cheek.
The confusion on my face was blatant and before I could voice my question as to what he was talking about, his hands grabbed my face and lips came crashing down. My cheeks flushed as my eyes quickly closed and my hands shot up around his neck, pulling him closer to me. One of his hands immediately left my face in order to grab a handful of nothing but ass. Our last kisses were soft or just clumsily but this was just pure desire. Us wanting our bodies to touch and to the feel each other. My heart was pounding in my ears and I could feel his heart rapidly beating in his chest as he pulled me closer to him. Giving in to the sensation, I kissed him back with as much intensity as he kissed me. Stealing each other little gasps of air until we couldn't take it anymore and separated from the lack of oxygen.
"I-I'm sorry, about that. You just looked so cute and I couldn't help myself." He said rubbing my swollen lips with his thumb.
Shaking my head, I giggled, "its ok. No need to be sorry. I don't mind."
"Do you mind if we continue?" he asked his eyes looking down at my lips slowly leaning in.
"I do." We heard someone as they cleared their throat.
"Dammit, Natsu!" Gajeel said glaring at him as my face heated up with embarrassment for the second time today.
Lucy and I giggled as the two guys threw insult after insult at each other, as Gajeel released me and slid his hand into mine.
"To be continued?" I asked as we followed behind the Lucy and Natsu.
"Most definitely." He smiled back, squeezing my hand.
Yea, I could do this. I could see a family with this guy. Who knew me pepper spraying someone could lead to a weird love story of how I met your mother. I guess we have to make new memories and stories to tell for the future.