Pheromones, yanderes, and lemons. Oh my!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Levy's POV

I watched in stunned silence as the door slammed shut behind Lu-chan, Lisanna, and Mira.

"Goddamn barmaid..." Gajeel grumbled, massaging his scalp.

"Wh-what did you...?"

"I got hungry and snacked on some silverware. It was either that or the stove, so you'd think she'd be grateful!" I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off. "Tsk, doesn't matter. Looks like I'm stuck in here with ya, so what're we doin'?"

Stuck in here with me? He says it...like a bad thing... "Um, Lu-chan and I were dusting the shelves and reorganizing the books when the shelves were dry enough for the books to be put back on."

"Gihee. Maybe it was best that I got dragged in here. You're too short to reach some of the shelves." He laughed.

I just sighed. "This shelf is next." We worked for about 45 minutes, with Gajeel making snarky comments about my height every time I used a ladder. It wasn't like he would have been able to reach the top shelves either, but I didn't bother trying to correct him. Whenever I had similar conversations with him before, responding usually made things worse. Gradually, less and less was said, until we didn't speak at all and worked in complete silence.

It was nice that he wasn't teasing me anymore, but the silence actually hurt more. Gajeel had gone back to normal and anything he did before, he'd forgotten. At least when he was teasing, he was speaking to me. Now...I felt farther away from him than ever.

"Oi, Shrimp, what's that?"

"Huh?" I was startled out of my thoughts and looked down to see that his ring, which I had been wearing, had slipped out of my top. "O-oh, this is-!"

"Is it mine?"

"Y-yes..." Will...he figure it out?!

"Gihee. No wonder ya had to wear it as a necklace! Even your fingers're tiny!"

I just stared at him as he laughed. I turned away from him quickly and began walking back towards the last bookshelf. I picked up the bucket and rags we'd been using and started towards the door. "Shrimp? Where're ya goin'?"

"The shelves are dry." I said dully, my back still to him. "Since apparently I'm too short to be of any use, I'll get out of your way. I'll just go see if Mira has any other jobs she needs done." My voice cracked and I mentally cursed myself. He didn't say anything and I kept walking, desperately trying to control myself until I was alone. However, as I reached for the doorknob, it was yanked open from the other side.

"Levy, Mira wants to know how it's-Whoa, are you crying?!" Droy went from happy to shocked in a heartbeat.

"N-no, I'm-"

"This is ridiculous!" Droy marched around me to face Gajeel. Lu-chan poked her head past the doorway curiously.

"Look, I get that you don't remember, but don't make Levy cry!!"

"What? What's going on?" Lisanna joined Lu-chan.

"What the hell are ya talkin' about?! I didn't-!"

"Droy, please, I didn't cry. Leave him alone." I cut Gajeel off, not really wanting to discuss this. I just want to be alone...

"You were clearly about to cry, Levy-chan. Stop defending him." Droy snorted.

"What did he do to Levy-chan this time?!" Jet stormed in.

"Jet, I can handle this just fi-" Droy started.

"Ya wanna go, Pineapple Head?!" The whole thing quickly developed into a three-way argument, while Lisanna, Lu-chan, and I just stood there watching.