"Gajeel give it back!" Levy jumped up and down trying to retrieve her bandana from Gajeel's clutches. Her attempts thus far were failing.
"Reach, Short-stack, reach!" Gajeel laughed at the little girl's pathetic strains. "I know you can make yourself taller than that!"
Levy stuck out her tongue and grew on her tip-toes and finally grabbed hold of her bandana. She hugged it to her chest as if it were her child, then glared back at Gajeel on mock-anger. "Theiving is wrong," she pouted.
"If it's fun I don't give two shits about if it's wrong or not," Gajeel replied with his signature 'Giihee' laugh that always made Levy smile. There were plenty of things hat made her smile about Gajeel, but his laugh was the best. It always made her laugh as well, like it was contagious.
Levy beamed up at him with admiration. There was just something about the iron Dragonslayer that made her heart flutter away like a flock of butterflies when she so muched as looked at him. To her, he was the most perfect thing she'd ever payed eyes on. If only she could tell him, then her world would be complete.
"Wacha staring at Shorty?" Gajeel snapped her out of her fantasy, making her face, once again, turn bright crimson.
"Nothing!" Levy replied all-too quickly.
"Uh-huh." Gajeel said in a sarcastic tone. "That's always your answer Short-stack." he stared at the clouds for a while, waiting for Levy's response.
Guilt flooded Levy's heart. She couldn't keep her feelings a secret any longer or she might explode! "Gajeel, there's something I need to tell you-" CRUNCH!! The ground collapsed from under her feet, and the next thing she knew she was barreling down a rocky cliff side, or, at least it felt like it until Gajeel caught her wrist and hauled her back up to solid ground.
"Up you go Shrimp," he grunted as he pulled her up. "Now, you wanted to tell me something?"
Levy, still shaking from the fall, drew in a trembling breath. "How do I put this... Um..." she couldn't find the words.
"Okay, while you think, we should keep walking," Gajeel started back up the path. Levy had to say it now or she wouldn't get another chance!
"Gajeel, come back!" she called nervously. The Dragonslayer turned around with crossed arms and his gaze in the clouds.
"What?" he asked huffily.
Levy began, "I've been hiding something from you that you really should know about," her voice was dripping with nerves. "I couldn't muster up the courage to tell you, but I guess I have no other choice," then, at last, the words came out, "I-I really like you, Gajeel." she felt her face burn with embarrassment. She knew that she would reject her.
Gajeel's face was frozen in shock, his cheeks a little pink too. Levy covered her face in shame. She braced herself for rejection.
The unexpected came instead. Levy felt Gajeel's arms wrap around her own, and his cheek rest in her hair. Her heart was beating uncontrollably by then, and her face was redder than a ripe tomato.
Gajeel mumbled in her blue curls, "Good," he released her from his embrace and held her shoulders firmly. "Because if you didn't, then I'd feel like a moron volunteering to go on this trip."
