"We need to be at the train station by noon and you're not even packed!" Levy scolded the much taller Dragonslayer, her hands on her hips as she glared up at him.
Gajeel's eyes were closed as if he couldn't be bothered, his own arms across his wide chest as yawned without covering his mouth.
Jet and Droy both sneered at him, as if disgusted by his lack of good manners though not surprised. They'd spent the entire morning trying to talk Levy into letting one or both of them pose as her husband to no avail. She'd instead gone to Erza for packing advice and neither male was stupid enough to barge in on that.
Master Makarov sat on the bar with his arms and legs both crossed, watching everything while appearing to be bored. He wasn't. Mirajane leaned over the bar beside him, watching avidly, and openly. "Are you sure this is the best course of action?" He asked.
"See!" Jet pointed at the older man and the guild's mentor and basic father figure. "He doesn't think the two of you belong together!"
"Bad idea!" Droy waved his hands in front of him like a giant X.
"I meant taking the noon train." Makarov clarified. "There's an express train earlier than that one." His words left both male members of Team Shadow Gear on the floor in a small heap of dejection.
Levy blushed slightly and shook her head, her lips firming. "We are supposed to playing a runaway couple without family support. The express train costs three times as much. And we might be able to mingle with some other couples heading in the same direction, get some intel."
Jet and Droy, near tears, both nodded in support of Levy. "She's so smarrrrt." They echoed one another.
"It means more time together, just the two of you." Mirajane piped up sweetly, her voice not insinuating anything, merely pointing out the obvious.
"If you think I want to spend extra time with Gajeel you may move your thoughts along." Levy lifted her chin haughtily.
"Same for me, sweetheart." The endearment was said with utter sarcasm and bite. Gajeel looked down his nose at the petite wizard who would be pretending to be his wife. That was easy, as she was over a foot shorter than he. Barely came up to the upper swell of his chest. In boots.
Gray Fullbuster, the guild's resident Ice-Make wizard, laughed while appearing uninterested as he leaned back in his chair across from the bar. "Gajeel, you're supposed to be going undercover as a runaway groom. On his honeymoon. You need more than the clothes on your back, especially as ragged as that tunic is right now."
Red eyes flashed as Gajeel cut a look in the other wizard's direction even as he lifted a small bag barely large enough for a trip to the grocers. "I have a change."
"Of what? Underpants?" Gray sniffed derisively.
"Don't wear those." Gajeel teased darkly but in such a way that no one could tell if he was kidding …or not.
Levy, her mouth open to yell at him again, starting coughing as she nearly swallowed her tongue at the very thought. Her eyes went to his loose cut tan trousers and then away again, lest she be caught looking.
Behind one of the room's pillars poor Juvia, who'd been secretly watching Gray like any good stalker or obsessed fangirl, immediately pictured HER love without underpants. The water girl nearly went up in steam at the mental image. She was glad she was in hiding so no one could see her.
Everyone else in the bar area ignored Juvia, for she was not nearly as secretive as she'd like to think.
"Before you go, Gajeel, I found a pile of scrap iron out back of the guild hall this morning. Feeling hungry?" Master Makarov asked, alluding to the fact that the Iron Dragonslayer routinely ate iron in order to fuel his particular magic.
Interestingly, the dark-haired wizard full of piercings and muscles, blushed slightly as he shook his head. "Can't eat my own iron." Much like any of the Dragonslayers and their magic-affinity, what they themselves produced through magic could not act as fuel for them. It had to come from an outside source.
"You made a mess out there, son." The Master said with a mixture of grumpiness and fondness.
"Rings." Gajeel snorted softly as he marveled at how Makarov had accepted him into the guild, despite how he'd participated in the attempted destruction of Fairy Tail. "You'll need rings to carry this out. I mean we, have to look the part."
Mirajane brightened. "I have my parent's rings, they'll be just the thing. Only I need to get my sibling's approval. Oh, and I don't know if they'll fit!"
"Wakaba could lend you his." Gray said then shook his own head. "He rarely acts as if he's married anyway."
"No." Makarov said with some finality in his voice. "Never you mind how the man acts, I know for a fact he goes home to his wife every night he's not working. And SHE would never lend us her ring, much less his."
"Have you seen the way Wakaba stares at Juvia?" Gray asked, making the hidden girl behind him nearly swoon at the thought that he cared. "Or at Lucy's chest?"
Juvia, caught in mid-bliss, nearly went up like a volcano at the thought that GRAY had noticed Lucy even had a chest.
"Erza. Laki. Cana." Gray shrugged. "No one is safe."
"I am." Levy said trying not to sound distraught. Not that she wanted Wakaba's notice, only that even a letch like that didn't spare her a look. She was more than a little shy in the bosom department compared to her teammates.
"No you're not." Makarov said. "You have a terrific backside my girl." He then stilled as he noticed a deep, rumbling growl. He turned placating eyes onto Gajeel with some surprise. "Everyone has seen him looking, how did you not see that?"
"Because he was too busy looking himself." Jet mumbled miserably, pointing out the embarrassingly obvious.
Levy blushed and shook her head, putting the whole thing down as friends trying to comfort her. If she was a bit warm under the skin at the thought of Gajeel noticing anything about her that was enticing, then that was her business alone. "The fact remains that Gajeel is right, we need rings. It's on my list, but I was hoping to borrow something from someone."
"Here." Gajeel mumbled. "Was going to give these out later, but since you're so hung up on it."
Everyone blinked and then moved to get a better view. The Iron Dragonslayer was holding out one hand with two rings resting on the open palm. He himself wasn't looking, appearing as if he didn't care one way or another how the rings were accepted. In fact, Gajeel just looked bored with it all. Still his hand was stretched out toward Levy with two rings. Iron rings.
Makarov flicked a glance at Gajeel's face in speculation, reading the disinterest as what it was, fake. At least now he knew why there was a pile of scrap metal out back this morning. The Iron Dragonslayer had been hard at work, and it looked like he'd put quite a lot of effort and thought into it as well. "Hmmm."
The first ring was rather plain at initial inspection, until looking deeper. Dark iron, but as Levy, and everyone else leaned in, there were even flattened areas circling the band almost like facets on a jewel. They reflected light in an understated way and there was the lightest fletching around each one that could only be described as a design. Dragon scales, that's what they looked like. This was his, obviously, being far too big and heavy to even fit Levy's thumbs. It would have fallen right off.
The second ring was much more feminine and small. Wire thin, but no one was fooled by the delicate appearance of the metal. There was strength in the iron as it formed a leafy vine that twisted smoothly around and around thrice before forming a setting like the opening of a flower. In the middle of the setting was a strange, light blue stone that seemed to shimmer as the light caught it.
No one said a word, indeed Levy and Mirajane weren't breathing as they both stared.
Gajeel's face reddened along his sharp cheekbones, though he still wasn't looking at their reactions. "It's nothing special." He sneered to no one.
"Where did find larimar?" Makarov asked, something paternally satisfied in his tone.
"It's not a gem stone or nothing." Gajeel deflected as he shrugged. "Just a pretty rock I found back on Tenrou island." He didn't say how the color and shine had reminded him of Levy for no reason that he could pinpoint. It didn't match her hair or eye color, but something about the shimmer seemed fairy like and delicate despite it being a stone. "You don't have to wear it if you don't like it."
As the Dragonslayer started to draw back his hand he found himself robbed. The rings were suddenly gone and Levy was holding them both while giving him a good long glare. "Don't you dare demean them, they're beautiful!" She knew, just knew that he'd made them out of iron he'd produced from his own body, such was his magic. That meant the designs were his and that thought made her lungs ache somehow.
"Just something for the job." He said defensively. Nothing for the world would he admit to staying up all night making them just so. "No big deal."
Jet and Droy were torn. Rings made this 'wedding' seem too real. But iron was hardly romantic. Then again, Levy seemed pleased and that didn't please the two of them.
Little Asuka rushed into the guild hollering and whooping like children should when happy, her toy gun that was modelled on her father's waving in the air. "Levy, Levy! How long are you going to be gone! There's a MOUNTAIN of luggage that mama says is yours."
"Erza's actually." Levy demurred, shaking her head. They'd been back for a very short time, but the little girl had already made herself a guild favorite.
Seven years was a long time to be missing, especially since only a day passed as far as those caught up in the magic were concerned. One of the biggest shocks was coming back to find guild-mates married and with a beautiful little girl who idolized them already through their parents memories and stories.
"I could go with you!" Asuka said with a bright grin. "If you're pretending to be married I could be your little girl!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa little darling." Alzack said as he sauntered in after his rambunctious offspring. "Don't let your mother know you're looking to replace her."
"It could be my first job for Fairy Tail!" The child called out gleefully and without any dimming to her enthusiasm. She launched herself at Gajeel and the Dragonslayer had to catch her or let the child fall.
Every one of the adults basically froze.
Gajeel stared with overly wide eyes at the grinning face of the little girl who was currently poking her finger at the studs decorating the ridge over his left eye with curiosity.
Levy watched, her nerves settling a bit as she clutched the iron rings in her hand. Gajeel was over six foot of muscle and strength and attitude with long dark untamed hair which suited all of the above. He'd been one of the Phantom Lords, and out of all of that guild he'd been one to basically destroy much of their old hall and even caught and strung up Levy and her teammates. Slowly he'd been settling into life as a member of Fairy Tail, gaining in acceptance little by little though most still held a wariness, a slight distance. But not Asuka.
Bisca and Alzack's child had never met the old Gajeel, had never seen him as an enemy. To her he was one of them, full out. Levy smiled as she saw the other guild members slowly relax as they all listened to Asuka chatter on about the decorations in the Dragonslayer's face.
"Can I have one?" The little girl asked breathlessly, pointing to her own eyebrow.
At this Alzack laughed and at last reached for his daughter, whom Gajeel gratefully passed back. "Maybe when you're much older."
"He said they don't hurt." Asuka protested as she laid her head against her father's shoulder and gave him 'the look' full of woebegone eyes and longing.
Gajeel protested quickly. "They don't hurt ME." He corrected. "It would hurt for you, since you don't have iron magic." He hoped she was old enough to understand. "And they did sting a bit." He added just in case. It wasn't weakness to admit to that, right?
"They'd bleed." Cautioned Alzack who knew his daughter far better than anyone outside of his wife. Asuka immediately withdrew her request. For now. She filed it away for later like a little squirrel.
Gajeel, somewhat wanting to get out of hugging range from Asuka as he was unused to such, moved over to look out the front doors. He scowled. "How much luggage are you taking, sweetheart?" Again, the endearment was sour rather than sweet.
Levy sighed. "It's to blend in. I'm only taking half of Erza's luggage." She defended herself.
"Really?" Gajeel turned and narrowed his gaze on her with a sneer. "Darling wife, we'll be on our honeymoon. The idea is for less clothing, not more."
"Why?" Asuka piped up.
Gajeel froze, having forgotten little ears. He shook his head. "Nevermind." He muttered as Gray smirked at him. He briefly considered punching the Ice-Make wizard across the room but dismissed the impulse as too much effort as it would rouse Juvia and he was finally dried off from their last mission.
"You really do need more than that one change of clothing." Mirajane pointed at his bag. "Why not just run back home and grab a few things? This mission will take over three days by train to even get to Burlone, and then it's undercover work really. Could take at least a month or longer."
Gajeel shrugged, uncaring. "I can get things there."
Levy huffed out a breath, blowing an errant strand of wavy blue bangs out of her face. "More expensive in a resort area. Makes more sense to pack."
Makarov suddenly held up a hand with sudden suspicion. "Gajeel? Boy, I've heard from everyone else about back rent. Some, like Lucy, can't get into their places without paying off that debt. I'm sorry to say the guild coffers can't stretch to pay everyone's shortfall. But I've given out some emergency funds for the basics to those in need."
"I ain't looking for charity!" Barked the Dragonslayer with sudden affronted rage, his red eyes flashing dangerously.
"A loan. No interest. Short-term." Makarov nodded for emphasis.
"Not interested!" Huffed Gajeel, crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Neither was Natsu." The Guild Master shook his head. "Stubborn, pig headed …"
Levy blushed, she hadn't considered this when pushing Gajeel to come up with more luggage. "Actually, Jet and Droy kept my place rented for me. Even dusted. I forget not everyone had such going for them. I owe them for seven years worth of rent."
"Do not!" Jet and Droy both straightened up looking shocked at the very idea of being paid back.
Gajeel growled low in his throat, backing off only as Levy firmly shook her head. "No. I will pay you back every cent, your gift of friendship is more than enough to humble me and I treasure that more than anything in my apartment." She nodded and smiled.
These words nearly destroyed Jet and Droy as she reaffirmed their 'friendship' and nothing further. Mirajane watched the two of them slump into a heap on the floor. To no one she said, "I'll go redouble the bar's order for the week. Looks like it might be needed."
Gajeel nodded in satisfaction though he would have been hard pressed to say why. He took a positive kick out of seeing Jet and Droy brought so low, though he approved their efforts to keep Levy's things safe for the last seven years.
"Are your things being held hostage?" Gray asked curiously. "Mine are too. Though I've paid down the debt enough to have the landlord let me back in for some clothing." He grinned and winked at no one, though Juvia dreamed it was for her alone. "I haven't changed in the last seven years and everything still fits."
"When you bother to wear it." Makarov muttered even as he nodded encouragingly. "And none of us changed, foolish child."
"It was a joke, old man!" Gray snarked without heat.
Juvia raced forward, falling to her knees next to the ice wizard's chair and taking his hands in hers. "Juvia finds your words amusing and quite clever!"
"Juvia needs to stop speaking in third person, I'm bored with it already!"
"But Juvia is not speaking to you!" The blue-haired water wizard chirped unhappily. "Gray loves the way Juvia speaks!"
Gray closed one eye as he considered her words. "Can't say I really care, but it does get a bit old."
"WHAT?!" Juvia nearly fell flat in shock and began begging for Gray's forgiveness.
Levy looked back and forth between Gray and Gajeel, not immune to Juvia's crush but knowing better than to interfere. "You know, the two of you are the same height just about. I'll bet you could borrow some clothes from Gray."
"Like hell." The Ice-Make wizard shook his head. "I only have a few things until I finish another job and pay back some more to my landlord."
Levy walked over and picked up Gray's discarded shirt and vest, folding them neatly. "Thank you."
Bare chested, Gray looked around in shock that he'd disrobed once again without thought or plan.
"Trousers." Levy made a motion at him to continue.
Gray bared his teeth and shook his head. "Never! Juvia! Defend me, tell them they can't have my clothes!"
For once the fangirl had nothing to say, her mouth opening and closing like a hooked fish on land. Of course she'd choose Gray's side in any argument …but if it meant that her beloved would be running around in his boxers she really didn't have much of a problem with it.
Seeing the dilemma Mirajane smiled sweetly. "Juvia? If Gray has no clothes than ALL the girls could see him."
That settled that. Levy blinked, suddenly finding herself holding nothing but air. Gray's clothes were now in the possession of his number one fan. "You! You! You wanted to see my beloved without his shirt! He's mine!" Juvia advanced on Levy who did not back away. "You can't have him!"
"Don't want him." The petite girl said calmly.
"WHAT?! You deny that my Gray is in your sights! Well I can fight your for …." Juvia fell back as suddenly a wall of iron was in front of Levy. She threw a betrayed look at Gajeel, who looked as if he'd not moved a muscle. Yet, realistically, who else could or would have done it?
"Don't want sissy-boy's clothes and we have a train to catch." Gajeel yawned and deliberately turned away from the drama.
Levy rushed to match her steps to his, and he slowed to accommodate her shorter stride. They fell into synch as they left the guild hall.
Mirajane blinked suddenly, then smiled. "I need to ask Cana to read their cards." She said softly.
"Really?" Makarov sounded surprised at her. "Anyone could see where that particular train is heading." He nodded sagely.
Asuka piped up with excitement. "I know, I know!" She held her hand up eagerly.
Her father looked in surprise down at his not-quite-seven year old daughter. "I doubt it."
"The train is going to Burlone!" Asuka provided the answer, not understanding the groans of amusement that met her words. "Well …it is! Isn't it? That's where they're going?" She paused and then leaned into her father as she whispered in the way of children, which is to say, everyone could hear her. "Why are Jet and Droy crying again?"
Outside the guild Gajeel was glaring at the wagon loaded down with suitcase after suitcase. He turned and looked at Levy, running his eyes up and down her petite form. He grunted.
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot with impatience. "What? It's what I need for this mission."
Gajeel gestured toward her and then shook his head in disbelief. "There's hardly anything to you, sweetheart. You're a shrimp in disguise. Clothing for you wouldn't need much fabric cuz there's nothing there! So how come you need so much luggage?"
The Dragonslayer turned to look at her and then nearly fell over himself to apologize without actually saying the words 'I'm' or 'Sorry'. Levy looked pale as a ghost and completely devastated. He wasn't even sure what he'd said that could be that bad.
Levy swayed, feeling awkward, dizzy, and …damn it! She had nearly the same figure as baby Asuka! She didn't have the curves of Juvia, Erza or Lucy but did Gajeel have to mock her for it? Coming to herself she shook her head, firming her lips to glare at the much taller male who was promising to pull the cart of luggage all the way to the train station for her. No fool, she agreed and started walking.
Gajeel, left watching her very fine backside sway as she headed down the road, groaned. He glowered at the cart, but gamely grabbed the handles and pulled. It didn't budge much. Gritting his teeth he managed to get it rolling and momentum helped ease the load as he caught up with his partner.
Silence fell between the two, but instead of awkward, it felt almost intimate. Levy had grown up in a large family, scrambling for any peace and quiet to read in a clan that didn't value either of those things. Then after losing her family to illness brought on by war she'd been consigned to an orphanage. There she'd been lost in a sea of children just like her, only she was too little to be of use, or even noticed. Most often people thought her far younger than her years and treated her like a baby. Peace and quiet were simply not something to be had there.
Magic had bloomed within her and rather than let it be, she'd pursued it. Haunting the only place she knew where knowledge was kept. A library. Fortunately her orphanage was in a large enough town to have a fine university and Levy had snuck in on a daily basis, grabbing onto words like a drowning victim.
Makarov had found her squeezed into a corner with a book larger than she. He'd tried to exchange it for a picture book. She'd asked him highly technical questions about what she didn't understand, which wasn't much. She'd left the library with a new family that day and had never looked back.
Jet and Droy were loves, dear to her heart. Special beyond belief. She'd die for them. But they didn't understand her need for quiet sometimes. Didn't understand needing to watch and observe.
Gajeel.
Like recognized like. She didn't need to know his story, though she'd pieced together a fair portion of it, to realize he was a man comfortable with silence. They weren't the same, on any level. But on this they were in tune.
Quiet stretched out between them. A bird chirped and both looked. A bell pealed out over the area and neither reacted.
Levy finally pointed down a side road leading to some apartments. "Do you want to get anything of your stuff? I have room in the luggage Erza lent me."
"Doesn't feel like it." He muttered, then shook his head. "My landlord doesn't love me like you other Fairies. He didn't save my place for seven years and let the rent pile up. He didn't store my things at all. Threw it out the week after we went missing."
Levy stopped in the middle of the road, appalled. Gajeel grunted as he stopped, the cart pushing him forward a step before it too came to a halt. "It's no big thing."
"Nothing's left?" She sounded horrified, and angry.
Gajeel watched her face, sensing her rising temper, and on his behalf. He grinned. "There wasn't much in the first place."
"But some things." She said with vehemence. "Something." It was a statement and a question.
Gajeel shrugged and turned away. "We need to get moving."
"Yes. We do." Levy turned toward his former apartment with determination, not walking but marching as if off to war.
Gajeel tilted his head, watching her short skirted dress swish around her very fine back end before finally shaking himself free of some rather wicked thoughts. "Yo! Sweetheart. The train is the other way!"
"I know." She said, making him strain to hear her. She turned and gave him a bright smile that boded nothing good. "You go get the luggage stowed and pick up our reservations. I'll meet you there!"
"No!" He yelped, his eyes widening. "Sweetheart! We've got a job to do. There's nothing left anyway."
"I'll meet you at the station!" Levy called back to him.
Gajeel ground his teeth together when a voice came from behind him. "Want me to go with her?"
The Dragonslayer relaxed as he heard Pantherlily's distinct voice. "Aye. You take the luggage, I'll go after her. Wait! Shit! Come back!" Gajeel said some truly bad words as he watched his cat race after his gir….his partner. "Damn it!"
Well. The cart wasn't built for the smaller side streets, damn that Erza and her luggage. And Lily was with Levy, his cat would be able to take care of just about anything, especially his skinny old landlord.
And Levy needed to learn he wasn't going to be rushing off after her on every whim! Yeah! Exactly. He turned toward the train station and cursed under his breath the whole way there.
The reservations were ready for them, as if anyone in this down would dare let Mirajane down. The luggage was stored, and if there was any satisfaction in watching the porters struggle with one bag much less all of the ones he'd dragged all by himself, he didn't say much about it but grinned nastily at them.
He was just about to race off to find his errant partner and cat when they showed up behind him. Gajeel turned with a glare and then nearly sputtered. She was directing the station master to store some boxes and …. "my guitar!"
Levy grinned. "No one throws things out around here, that would be wasteful. I knew he still had to have some of your stuff that he'd not sold." She then shook her head. "There's not much left, I'm afraid. A few trinkets and your guitar."
"I'll write a song in your honor." He avowed.
An oddly strangled look passed over Levy's face as she puckered her lips for a second. "I'd rather you didn't." She said cautiously.
Gajeel was busy rescuing his guitar from the station master and having it added to the luggage going with them to Burlone. Levy sighed heavily, one side of her left eye twitching as she thought about his …'singing'. "Maybe I could have left that." She muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing!" Levy chirped brightly. "Here!"
Gajeel swiped the bag from her, surprised to realize it was a purse. One that wasn't empty. "What's this?" He asked, looking dumbfounded.
"Monies and interest earned from selling your belongings." Levy rose up on her toes, rocking forward and then back again. She crossed her eyes at him and if it wasn't the most adorable thing ever he'd be a rotten egg.
"Interest?" He crooned gleefully.
Levy smirked and turned, walking toward their train before climbing on. "You could have gotten it back." She scolded him slightly.
"When I joined Fairy Tail I promised Makarov that I wouldn't hurt any of the townspeople." Gajeel shrugged.
On the top step of the train Levy turned, glaring down at him. She'd been the first one he'd hurt back then.
He gave her a cheesy grin. "Hey. I'm trying. And that was before I joined your guild."
Levy watched him, trying to read his expression but failing utterly. Finally she gave a soft snort. "We have a change in trains day after tomorrow, we can shop for some clothing for you there."
"This trip just go so much better! I can sing for our supper!" He turned and pushed the porter out of the way to get his guitar out from luggage storage. "I can practice on the train!"
Levy shook her head wildly, her stomach sinking as she sighed in resignation. "Well damn. What have I done?"
"Something good." Pantherlily answered her meant-to-be-rhetorical question. His tail waved in the air as the cat entered the train car before her, finding the most defensively protected seat with the best access to the amenities and the cleanest windows to let the sunshine in to warm them as well a functional shade for when it became too much.
Levy got pushed aside as Gajeel bounded up the stairs into the train car and began arguing with his cat that he needed a seat with the best acoustics instead.
"What have I done?" She whimpered again.