"I'm not going in there, I need new guitar strings. I am not going in there!" Gajeel eyed the clothing shop as if it were a dark guild trap waiting to spring and eat him alive.
Levy tugged on his arm with both of hers, but the Dragonslayer seemed almost not to notice. He moved not an inch. She dropped his arm and ran around to the other side, pushing instead. Gajeel yawned and rolled his eyes. "What is your obsession with my clothing?"
"You have one outfit to change into. ONE!" Levy pushed hard, but Gajeel wasn't budging. He eyed the window of the store with its suits and jackets and shook his head. "We only have two hours before the next train leaves, c'mon! Why are you so stubborn?"
"Iron doesn't give easily." Gajeel said tonelessly. Looking into the reflection of the glass, his eyes caught sight of a woman standing behind them, watching. He turned suddenly, nearly knocking poor Levy down as she squealed in protest and kicked his shin in retaliation.
"You want something?" He growled at the matron from the train, the one who'd protested Pantherlily having a seat and a ticket.
Levy's face was scrunched up in pain as she hobbled over to a chair from the outdoor café next to the shop. She probed at her sore toes that had made contact with Gajeel's shin. "Ow."
The older matron wrapped her expensive animal fur around her and lifted her nose in the air with a sniff. "Barbarian." She said in a snotty tone. "I see it all the time. Perfectly lovely young ladies of fine family and standing throwing their lives away for the thrill of a 'bad boy'. What? Her family didn't approve and you ran off together? Look how you're already treating her. Is that really only the first bruise you've left her with?"
He blanched. The old bat could have no clue how he and Levy had first 'met' and the things he'd done to hurt her. His fists clenched without thought as magic gathered around him as his temper flared. People moved out of the area between the two by instinct alone, eying this dangerous new arrival to their town.
"Gajeel." A soft touch on his arm startled him and he looked down into the softness of Levy's gaze, huge brown eyes nearly melting with a plea to let it go. "Please."
The Iron warrior blinked, letting some of his tension disappear. His fists unclenched as he caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. People about them started breathing normally again. "Did you run off the 'bad' boy, baby?" He teased in a rough rumble of a voice.
Levy blinked slowly then grinned wide, daringly teasing him back. "How do you know you didn't run off with the 'bad' girl? Huh? I think I ran off with the best there is." She stopped suddenly, her cheeks reddening as she realized he might take her teasing for a confession. "I mean ….she's wrong you know? About you. Us." Her cheeks nearly burned as she dug her verbal hole even deeper. Where had her famous facility for words suddenly vanished to?
Gajeel nodded though internally he was confused. Was she trying to tell him something, or simply spinning a 'story' for their cover on this job? "Wrong about what? That I'm not bad or that we didn't run off?"
Levy suddenly shrugged and giggled. "That I'm a lovely young lady of a fine family that disapproves."
"Oh. I can think of several in your 'family' that would highly disapprove." Gajeel crooned in a mocking voice. They both knew he was speaking of Jet and Droy.
Turning a bit serious, Levy gave him a measured look full of meaning. "They're your family now too. All of them."
Gajeel drew back, getting her message but not sure how to take it. Obviously she meant her guild was now his guild, and that everyone there was as much a part of his family as hers. Though he was under no illusions. Levy was something special. If a choice had to be made, the guild would choose her over him. Hell. So would he. Uncomfortable with the depth of his current thoughts he acted on impulse and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the clothing store. "Hurry up, I still want to get those guitar strings when we're done and that train will be leaving soon!"
Lost in the moment, neither noticed they were being watched by someone VERY surprised to see them. Knowing a bit more about such things, the person in question used magic to change their appearance with subtlety, and even shift their own scent enough to mask their presence.
Inside the store Gajeel stopped, standing mesmerized in front of a frothy dream of a nightdress that shimmered and floated like a cloud. Levy looked at it and felt her self-confidence plummet. It was a piece that Lucy or Erza could pull off, but not her. In other words, it needed a bust line.
A sloe-eyed salesgirl with under-cleavage to die for sauntered up to them, looking back and forth between Levy and the dress that seemed to catch Gajeel's attention. Her lips curved up in a snarky smile that wasn't the least bit friendly, at least not towards Levy. "We don't have a children's department."
The petite wizard felt as if cold water had just been dumped over her head. Her arms crossed defensively over her chest while feelings of inadequacy roared like a river through her veins. "We're here for him."
"Oh. I think I can take care of him." The salesgirl licked her lips in anticipation and reached out to run a finger over Gajeel's bare shoulder. Then found she was touching nothing but air. The Dragonslayer had shifted a millimeter to the right, just enough for a miss. He cocked his head toward Levy as if to say this was all her fault.
Levy blushed and turned, pointing at the men's section of the store. "We need the basics. Several pairs of pants, shirts, the works. Fast too, we have a train to catch."
"Well, I can provide anything he needs or could ever want." Purred the sloe-eyed girl, posing so that her body was shown to curvy perfection. "Anything." Levy bit her bottom lip and looked over at Gajeel who was staring off into space with an unreadable expression. Was he clueless to the chirpy or what?
Another salesperson neared them, this one older and possibly someone's grandmother. She was watching them all with a general air of disapproval. "You are travelling without suitcases?"
Levy shook her head, her blush remaining in place. "He …my husband, right before the wedding his apartment was destroyed." Evicted for seven years being missing and not paying rent, though she stretched the truth. "We didn't want to put off the marriage, but now we need to equip him for the honeymoon at the very least."
"I'll bet he's fully ….equipped." The first salesgirl winked at Gajeel and eyed his tall and muscular form. She reached down and boldly ran a hand over his thigh.
Levy started to frown and then froze as the salesgirl leapt backwards as if she'd touched fire. She was wringing her hand, which had turned red. Oh! Gajeel had slapped her hand away!
"Did you not just hear her? That's my wife!" The Dragonslayer growled through clenched teeth. Not clueless to the flirting after all, just not interested.
Levy's jitters calmed as she clearly heard the disgust, and rejection, in his words and tone. The older saleswoman let an eyebrow rise, then nodded in approval. "Very well, this way." At that moment another customer walked into the store, an elderly woman in fine and sturdy fabrics. "Darla, please go help her."
The curvy salesgirl pouted and protested to no use, moving over to help the older woman who'd come in. The elder let the employee rattle on about cloth choices, while she kept a close eye on the Fairy Tail duo. For she recognized them both only too well.
Belno, former Magic Council member, eyed the guild mark on Gajeel's arm. One that was definitely not Phantom Lord, not anymore. She'd once asked him to seek another path and find a different guild. But really, did it have to be Makarov's? She sighed, though not truly unhappily. She nodded, seeing the young lady with the blue hair hold a shirt up against the Dragonslayer while he did his best to look bored.
Really now. Belno had never seen him actually look ….relaxed. The old Gajeel would have started a fight outside. Or in here. Not calm down and actually strip off his shirt to try a new one on. She smiled as she spotted the high spots of color in Ms. McGarden's cheeks. The pretty young wizard wasn't immune to Dragonslayer muscles it seemed. Good. Interestingly good.
She turned and left the shop without making a single purchase, and never saying a word to the slutty girl they had working there who was left fuming without a sales commission.
Her servant looked up as she approached, ignoring the masked appearance and scent of his master. "Well?"
Belno slowly nodded her head. "What is going on in this area? What jobs are around here?"
The servant had already compiled this information, knowing Belno as he did he'd prepared himself while she'd gone into the store. "Nothing here. But those two have tickets heading to Burlone. Some missing couples. Low level job, pay is middling at best. It's my belief they're posing as a married couple."
Belno nodded, though inwardly she was laughing like a loon. Gajeel? Pretend? Oh yes, he could do the basics. But he wouldn't be relaxed, not like this. No. This Levy may not be his wife, but she was something. Something to him at the very least.
"They're only Fairy Tail wizards though." The servant yawned, bored and ready to continue on their journey back home.
Belno turned and gave him a level-eyed look that had the servant suddenly swallowing hard enough to cough for a few moments. "How long have you worked for me?"
"Fi …five years ….ma'am."
"That explains your stupidity on the matter." Belno nodded and turned away. Seven years ago the best and the brightest had disappeared from Fairy Tail, and Fiore as a whole. In that time the guild's reputation had suffered. But now there were rumors of their return. The only problem? There had been rumors and ghost sightings for years. "Make reservations for the next Grand Magic Games."
The servant looked startled. Belno never went to those things! "Ma'am? You hate displays like that."
"Oh. This year will be different. I can feel it in my bones." Belno smiled wickedly. "And now that I'm retired from the Magic Council, I can sit back and laugh myself silly at how they'll deal with it all."
"Ma'am?" The servant looked lost.
That was fine. Belno smiled. Gajeel Redfox. Dragonslayer and thorn in the Magic Council's side. Now in Fairy Tail and no longer 'dead' or missing. She'd lost one son, and while this one wasn't her child, he reminded her enough of her deceased child that it was comforting to know he was alive, kicking, and making trouble once more. As for Ms. McGarden. She wasn't the troublesome wizard that Gajeel could be, smart from all accounts. Oh yes, she was looking forward to seeing what the future held, for all involved.
"Have you found a life worth living?" She murmured, then when her servant looked at her in question she spoke up. "I want the best seats you can find, damn the cost." Belno grinned, moving away in a much better mood than she'd been in for the past seven years.
Yet she wasn't alone in making observations. Though her intentions and hopes for the future were much more benign. Another duo watched from across the street, whispering to one another.
"Fairy Tail. That's a wizard guild." Thug number one shuddered.
Thug number two laughed. "Worst reputation in Fiore. Weak and chased from their own homes. Should have disbanded years ago when all their high ranking members died."
"Heard they were back." The first guy muttered, feeling the sting of his companion's laughter at his expense.
"Fool. Idiot. There are always rumors. No. Besides. I recognize these two. Think about it. Married couple in Fairy Tail? And that cat? Who do they think they're fooling? It's their kid, transformed. These aren't anyone that's come back from the dead. Sure. They're strong and will be trouble. But we have just the thing to contain them if we need to intervene."
"You sure?"
"Yep." Came the smug response.
Inside the store Gajeel suddenly and violently sneezed twice for no reason. Levy gave him a look and pointed at the full length mirror in the shop.
Scowling, Gajeel stepped over and then cocked his head to one side. "Not bad, shorty." He grunted, rather pleased actually. The pants were loose fitting and easy to move in, not constricting. Cut that way, it gathered at the top of his boots and at the waist. Nothing fashionable or trendy, but still managed to look good and rather masculine. The shirt, on the other hand, was tight, tight, tight. A second skin. It showed off his muscles, but also moved with him. Plus? No sleeves. He hated sleeves especially when fighting, he tended to tear them out of tunics and coats on general principle.
"It's great for fighting!" His teeth gleamed back at him from where his mirror image was actually smiling.
"Bad boy image upheld." Levy said triumphantly, pumping one fist in the air. A piece of cloth with a bold geometric design on it fluttered from that fist.
"That's too big to hold back your hair." He pointed out.
"But not for yours." Levy grinned up at him and gestured for him to bring his head down to her level.
Immediately he protested, shaking his head.
Levy gave him a look. It wasn't a puppy-dog look, he might have stood a chance against that. It wasn't a commanding look for he could have rebelled against that easily. It was a look of disappointment, but not in him, but in herself mixed with embarrassment. Gajeel stood zero chance.
She started to move back, he captured her wrist with one hand. Her bones felt so fragile in his grip, yet he knew she was strong. "Gimme." He murmured.
Her breath caught and she turned those eyes back on him with dawning hope and pleasure. "No, let me." He was a goner and he knew it. With a groan he knelt down in front of her.
Levy pulled his hair back and moved around him, stepping over his legs from where he was kneeling down. He closed his eyes against the pleasure of her fingers in his thick hair, the scent of her so close, the warmth of her body near enough for him to grab. Damn.
"You can look now." Gajeel moved fast enough to startle the two ladies, but he needed to get away or he would have found himself holding her with no explanation he could give. Not out loud.
He stared at his image without seeing for a few moments.
"Well?" Levy moved over next to him and her image in the mirror reflected that.
Gajeel stopped breathing. He and Levy. Side by side. He was all muscle and attitude, iron studs piercing his skin and a fierce expression. She was petite and delicate looking, beautiful and fairy-like. She barely topped out at his chest, he had a good foot on her in height. They didn't belong together.
His lungs protested the lack of breath.
"Oh for …are you even listening to me? Gajeel? Don't be stupid! If you don't like it just say so!" She hit him. Slapping his chest and there shouldn't be enough strength there for him to feel, yet he does. It stings. Deliciously stings. The world rights itself.
So what if they didn't belong together? Since when had he EVER listened to fate, authority, or anyone else.
Levy looked delicate and tiny, but he knew her strength. Her inner core. She was as much made of iron as he was. Gajeel bent and scooped his arm beneath her bottom, lifting her up so that she was sitting on his elbow and forearm.
In the mirror they now were the same height, or at least their heads were on the same level. She had a softly colored ribbon in her hair with a flower on it. Should have been ridiculous. He loved it. As for him, Gajeel finally 'saw' the bandanna around his forehead. It was bold and not at all feminine or stupid looking. It held his hair back. And she'd picked it out for him. "I like it."
Her pique disappeared and she gave him a happy grin, laying her head down on his shoulder.
"Now. We get quite a few customers in here on their way to Burlone. And we do give a rather hefty discount to newlyweds. Care to show me your wedding certificate and I can apply that sales price?" The older woman smiled at the couple, rather charmed by the two of them despite her earlier reservations.
"It's in my bag." Levy said before Gajeel could even wonder if they had one of those. He grunted. Of course she'd taken care of it. "You'll have to put me down." She told him.
"Like hell." He muttered so low that Levy was sure she must have heard him wrong.
The saleswoman picked up the bag, stretching up to hand it to Levy with a laugh. "You caught yourself a big fish, young woman."
Levy giggled and nodded. "I did, didn't I?"
"Care to spread the wealth and tell me what kind of bait?" Darla, the sloe-eyed and slutty salesgirl from earlier asked from the front of the store. She looked miffed, and mystified, that any male would chose Levy over her.
"Actually not sure. He won't tell me why he chose me." Levy said, half serious.
Gajeel clamped his jaw shut and shook his head while Levy handed over their wedding certificate with a smile.
The older woman's eyes rounded. "Oh! This won't do, won't do at all."
Levy's spine stiffened. "I'm sure I followed all the correct procedures and filings!" No one ever accused her work of being less than meticulous.
The woman laughed and waved the paper in the air. "It was good until last month. Politics! We elected a new governor and his seal needs to be attached, that's all."
"Sounds like a rip-off to collect extra fees." Levy pouted.
"That's it exactly!" The older woman shrugged. "Still, it would invalidate your license, and you don't want that."
"Look. The clerk is a friend of mine, let's go over there and get this sealed properly." She leaned in with a whisper. "He hates the new governor and might be persuaded to waive the fee since you only missed the new deadline by a day."
That was how Gajeel and Levy found themselves standing in the town hall.
"Can we hurry this along, I have to pick up some things before the train leaves?" Gajeel grumped, getting anxious to work on his precious guitar. He hoped the whole thing didn't need to be refretted. His previous landlord had not taken good care of his baby.
"And I have more shopping to do." Levy said, annoyed that she had missed adding the new seal to the wedding paperwork she'd forged back at the guild hall. There had been no way for her to have known about the chances, but that didn't stop her from feeling put out.
"The new seal is 500 jewel." The clerk sounded bored.
"Oh now, Lessker." The saleswoman said sweetly. "You know it's just a scam to get more money off of people. Hold their marriages hostage. Isn't there some way around this?"
The clerk sighed, peering at the paperwork again. "You did miss the deadline by only a day." He muttered. "No reason you have to pay extra to stay married like the rest of us. Stupid tax. Every couple in this part of the country have to pay 500 jewel in order to validate their marriage, even if they'd been married over sixty years!"
"Wretched governor." The saleswoman agreed.
The clerk nodded, scratched behind one ear and then shrugged. "Only one way to do it and it only costs you 100 jewel."
"We'll take it." Gajeel growled even as Levy asked for more details. "Just get on with it!"
"Short and sweet it is." The man laughed, looked at Levy and then winked. "Definitely short and sweet."
Gajeel made a threatening face and the man straightened up. "Sorry. Short and to the point. Yes. Right. Hey! You …" He gestured a janitor over and told him to watch the goings on.
"You." The clerk pointed at Gajeel. "You promise to love and keep her, bad and good times included and to protect her forever?"
"Sure, whatever."
Levy looked startled. "Uhm, why are you asking …."
"Want to get out of here for under 500 jewel?" The clerk asked her and she nodded. "Well then tell me you'll love and keep him, bad and good times included and that you'll obey him."
Levy's mouth clamped shut and fire nearly spilled out of her eyes.
Gajeel laughed. "You can take out the word obey, you'll never get an answer out of her that way. Torture won't even get her to talk if she don't want. May not be very tall, but strongest damn woman I know. Doesn't know when, or how, to quit." He grimaced and shrugged. Why had he brought that up? Bad memory. "Nevermind. Don't mention obey."
Levy, caught unawares, stared at Gajeel in wonder. He'd sounded …admiring?
"Well, do you little lady?"
"Do I what?" She asked, still in a daze about what Gajeel had just said, and how he'd said it. Like he appreciated her strength.
"The other stuff, not the obey part."
"Yes, sure. Just not obey." She murmured, still distracted. Levy caught her breath as Gajeel sent a quick look at her. He saw her looking at him and they both blushed and turned away from each other in a rush.
"Sign and pay." They both did, with the Dragonslayer handing over the required monies.
"Congratulations." The clerk smiled heartily at them and ripped up their old wedding certificate that Levy had worked so diligently on to forge.
"Hey!" She protested.
The clerk handed over a new certificate to her with a small flourish and a bow. "Sorry. Cheaper to ignore the invalid one and just marry you two all over again. So. Today is your new wedding day and tonight you get a second wedding night. Hubba hubba!"
"Good. Wait. WHAT?" Gajeel roared, stunned as he grabbed the paper Levy had just dropped and then had to scramble before he caught his bride as she near fainted.
"Sorry. It's not the fancy wedding you probably had back at home, but this one is legal at least. I now pronounce you husband and wife." The clerk beamed, secure in the knowledge that he'd done a good deed for the day.