AN: I'm really sorry that this one took longer, I got sick with my third cold this year :/ But I've been feeling better these days an wanted to give you the newest chapter ;)

In trying to refine my writing techniques, I re-read a lot of my favs, something I didn't do in a long time. And it was so worth it, reading about the FT gang doing their shenanigans gives me soooo much joy ;D

Passive Aggressive Post-it's is probably already well known in the community, but if you haven't read it yet, absolutely do it! It's long, well written and just super fun to read! I love it to bits!

Have fun reading :3

Chapter 8 - Habit

"WHAT?! This place has a library and none of you told me?" Levy had to keep herself from just leaving the breakfast table and go looking for it, as everyone else was trying to stifle their laughter. "Sorry Lev, we wanted to at least see you this week, so that was the only way." Lucy chuckled and her petite friend got a flustered look on her face "Now you're over exaggerating, I'm not that bad." She grumbled, which earned her a giggle from Lucy and Natsu.

"Since we haven't really planned anything today, I could show you the library if you want. If anything, I can carry you back out, so we won't lose you to the books." Gajeel offered with a grin and Levy looked at him with stars in her eyes, not even hearing his last comment. "Really? I look forward to seeing it, thank you!" she smiled and happily dug into her breakfast again.

"Well, Lily will be on official business later, but maybe you guys will join us?" Gajeel then asked Lucy and Natsu, who looked at each other for a moment "I originally wanted to ask your guards or Lily to show me some new techniques, but Lucy heard that there will be some kind of eating contest in town later, you know I have to try it." Natsu grinned and Lucy added: "I will cheer him on, of course! You guys just go and have fun. But be warned Gajeel, you will be ignored." Levy gave her best friend a slightly offended look, but as the resident bookworm and librarian of the palace in Chrate, she couldn't exactly deny her statement.

"Before we go in, you have to promise that you will come out again. I have a hunch that Lucy wasn't over exaggerating earlier." Gajeel grinned and held his hand out to the petite woman at his side. She smiled and shook his hand. "Promise."

He nodded and opened the lock on the large doors, before pushing them open and holding his hand out again. Levy took it, still smiling and he led her inside, where she immediately fell into a state between shock and awe when she looked up.

"Oh…Jhuvaia help me. This is so incredible." She breathed and Gajeel just grinned at her starstruck look. She didn't even notice him, as she was way too busy with taking everything in.

She was standing on wood, instead of the ever present stone. Every possible wall was laced with books, even the parts where stairs spiraled like the house of a very bookish snail. The stairs ascended until they hit wood again, Levy felt as if she was standing in an endless loop of books. Every one of them was illuminated in the soft glow of the sun outside, streaming in through the coloured glass that made up many of the windows in the castle, letting the whole library shine in a colourful dance of light.

"I guess that means you like it?" Gajeel asked and Levy turned her head back to him "Are you kidding? Like? I love it!" in her excitement, she squeezed her hand around his, only now noticing that she was still holding it. But he started talking before she could really decide what to do about that.

"I can give you a tour if you want, show you how it's organized and where the best books are." He offered and she completely forgot about his hand at the words "best books", so she just nodded and he led her towards the shelves in front of them.

"Down here is the catalogue where we keep track of what books we have, when and how we got them and how to find them. Someone thought up a specific system, based on the way the tower is built. It's also the archive where we note everything that goes on in the castle, like spending, personnel matters and even marriages, deaths, births or coronations." He pulled two books out of the shelves and brought them over to a table facing the doors.

One was rather simple, bound in parchment and rather worn, while the other was more intriguing, bound in dark, soft leather with golden pattern inlays. Gajeel opened the leather-bound book and flipped a few pages, as Levy tried to peek inside. He stopped at a page with an intricately designed first letter, indicating a new chapter.

The Letter was an M and Levy read the rest of the word belonging to it "Metalicana…" she mumbled and Gajeel gave the page a fond look. "The name of my father. This is his page in the book of kings, detailing his coronation and accomplished feats as king of Terya."

Levy gave him a wide-eyed look "Oh, 'Book of Kings', that must be such an important book to the kingdom! Wait. Does this mean, you have a page as well?" She grinned slyly and carefully flipped the page, to find only his name. The letter G was still intricately drawn, but the page lacked any text, other than "Gajeel Redfox, seventeenth King of Terya". What? But he is king, so why?

Gajeel sighed "I was crowned right after the war, and the royal scribe had fallen to the rebels. We have records, of course, but they haven't found their way into the book yet." He explained and Levy closed the book again. "I would offer to do it, but I think my skills of inscribing are not quite good enough to write in such an important book." She explained sheepishly and Gajeel just smiled half-heartedly "It'll be there, eventually. The other book is one of the catalogues, I'm actually curious if you can figure out how our system works."

He nodded towards the worn out tome and Levy got that look on her face. Gajeel recognized it, she'd given him the same look when he proposed a race two days earlier; this immediate willingness to jump on a challenge that had bewitched him that day as well.

He watched the blue-haired woman as she carefully flipped through the pages, mumbling to herself "So…that's the main part…wait, what do these letters mean? Oh, right, it uses the tower. But why these numbers? Hmm…" she turned around and Gajeel gave her a questioning look, inclining his head for her to talk.

"I almost have it, but there is one thing that throws me off. So, the letters stand for the levels of the tower, and most of the books seem to be sorted by subject, according to the levels and their corresponding letters. Each level is sorted by numbers as well, that's what the larger numbers mean. The only thing I don't understand are these other underlined numbers, what are those for?" she explained and Gajeel started grinning, clearly impressed with her quick understanding. "They're indicating what size the books are. Come on, I'll show you." He held his hand out to Levy and she only hesitated for a moment, before she smiled and took it, following him to the stairs.

The two of them spent the next few hours in the library, Levy flitting from shelf to shelf, climbing the ladders almost as fast as the stairs. Sometimes she'd pull a book from its shelf and only flip through the first pages before putting it back. Some other times she'd sit down for longer, almost absorbing the pages, rather than reading them. Afterwards, the book in question would either return to the shelf or join an evergrowing stack that stretched through every level that had a table. Gajeel would follow her closely, providing some information here and there, helping her with the old Teryan dialect or just reading beside her. He didn't mind being ignored half the time, just watching her practically fly around the library gave him almost as much joy as seeing how careful she treated the books, almost as if they were livng beings. He decided that it was a very adorable quirk.

"So, will you come back on your own free will, or do I have to throw you in a bag and carry you out?" Gajeel grinned and looked up at Levy, who was standing on top of a ladder, trying to get a book from a particularly high shelf. "I promised you, didn't I? Although, not making me promise when exactly I had to leave wasn't a particularly good idea." She turned her head around, giving him a wink and a smirk, which Gajeel just answered with a raised eyebrow.

She was about to turn around gain, but she'd leaned too far back and the momentum caught up to her, causing her to lose her balance. The ladder started to fall back when she tried to regain it, and Levy felt her heart skip several beats when she found herself falling with it. She let out a startled scream and braced herself for the impact on cold hard ground. Instead, she only heard the ladder clatter onto said ground and found herself to have a much…softer landing.

"Are you gonna make a habit out of that?" Gajeel asked when she'd calmed down and looked up at him from her landing spot in his arms. "Well, you're always catching me." She answered with a bright grin and he almost dropped her on the spot. "Guess I am." He smiled softly and set her back onto her feet. Remembering Lucy's support and advice to act on her feelings, Levy gathered all of her courage, stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. When he gave her a surprised look, she just smiled and said "Thanks for looking out for me."

She was about to turn back to the books when a large hand pulled her back softly and she turned back, confused.

Her heart melted when she saw the overflow of emotions on Gajeels face. Happiness, uncertainty and so much longing danced across it, she wondered how he could have hidden so well in the past. She looked into his eyes and everything was suddenly alright, her own uncertainty and anxiety being replaced with the warmth of his hands and the pure excitement beating fast in her chest.

When he cradled her face in his hand and pulled her against his chest with the other, she wrapped her arms around his neck and their lips met in a duet that only two united hearts can sing.

Their kiss was soft, careful and tender at first, but when Gajeel was about to pull back, Levy captured him again; not wanting this moment to end, relishing in the contrast of strong arms and soft lips when he answered with the same intensity. There they stood, fallen ladder long forgotten, at the top of the library tower, only breaking the kiss when they couldn't contain their respective smiles any longer.

"I didn't expect how much I wanted this." Gajeel admitted breathlessly and Levy giggled, burying her face against his neck. "Well, I'm glad you do." She answered, still giggling and breathless, but Gajeel just grinned and hugged her tighter.

/

Finally! Right? ;)

I was actually not sure if I wanted to end this chapter here, but then it just felt right.

The real action will start after this one, I actually have some more stuff planned for this universe, even though I have many ideas for other fics. I'll probably write something more modern after this, but we'll see.

I hope you liked this chapter, you're all welcome to leave reviews :)

To my amazing, motivating reviewers:

finch6: don't worry, the action will only increase from here ;)

Livalibus: Am I the only on who squeals with joy when other ff's describe him as an ehrm, quote "balck-haired sex-god"? honestly, it's what he deserves. And the thruth ;D Thanks for reassuring me about the ending :3

trienniagala: ashkdj, yes I know, and it motivates me so much, thamks :3

Dragonfly2311: Wow, thanks, that's really nice of you to say! Hope you liked this one :)

Have an amazing week, you passive-aggressive people ;)

(Seriously, read it!)