In Secret (Sequel to Behind the Scenes)

A Secret Revealed

Levy's P.O.V.

"Ya gotta promise to keep this to yerself. No matter what. Gimme yer word." I looked at him for a moment, thinking hard before answering. It felt like he was about to trust me with a huge part of his life. "Okay. I give you my word. And words are everything to me." He nodded and stood up. "Then come with me." Gajeel turned and started walking away without looking to see if I was following. I scrambled out of my seat, tucking my notepad and my book into the satchel I was wearing.

I had to run for a minute to almost catch up with him. Why do people with long legs have to walk so fast?! His shirt was sleeveless, leaving my view of his muscular arms unimpeded. It clung to his back, showing the sculpted muscles there too. I ripped my gaze away as Gajeel slowed down and looked over his shoulder at me. I looked away and took in the area we were in. The buildings were somewhat shabby, several of them having the appearance of being abandoned. "Umm, Gajeel?" I looked back to see him staring at me. "Yeah, Shrimp?" His red eyes were distracting, they were so bright. I felt my cheeks flush. "Uh, well, it's just, where are we going?" Gajeel's gaze left me to skim our surroundings. He seemed to be looking for something. I'd guess he was satisfied with what he saw, because he looked back to me before walking down a different street. "This way."

"This way? That's a direction, not a destination... What are we doing?" Now that I was jogging to stay even with him, I saw his eyes constantly roaming, watching the people around us. He decided not to answer me, but changed directions again, turning us down yet another street. A few more abrupt changes like this and I was lost and trailing behind him again. I was pretty sure we'd gone in at least one circle.

Finally, he came to a stop, catching me off guard. I ran into his back and squeaked, bouncing off and falling. I felt a strong hand grip my elbow and keep me from colliding with the ground though, and glanced up to see his face very close to mine. Up close, that red isn't as scary, really. His eyes are kind of... entrancing... I shook my head to clear my thoughts as he stood us back up. "Sorry." I mumbled. Looking down, I saw that he still had hold of my elbow. Gajeel seemed to notice at the same time, and snatched his hand away. "Nah, don't worry about it, Shrimp. Not like ya hurt me or nothin'."

I looked around again, and saw an old warehouse nestled between a few other buildings in various states of disrepair. Unconsciously, I stepped closer to Gajeel, feeling uncomfortable with my surroundings. "Gajeel, what are we doing here?"

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Gajeel's P.O.V.

I had taken the more difficult way to get to the warehouse, but it didn't take that much longer. Even though I had to walk really slow so the short one could keep up. As we came up to the building, I stopped, but she must not have been paying attention, because she collided with me. I whirled around as she let out a sound and caught her before she could fall.

She looked up at me with her large hazel eyes, and I heard her heart rate spike. I was careful not to breathe too deeply, not wanting to know she was afraid. I pulled her fully upright, and couldn't help but notice how soft her skin was under my hand. She looked down at my hand holding her arm though, and I dropped it as quick as I could. I swallowed as she looked away, trying to figure out what was going on with my own heart rate. Why is it racing? Levy stepped closer to me as she looked around, but I don't think she meant to. "Gajeel, what are we doing here?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I need ya to help me teach someone how to read." I watched her for a reaction. She whipped her face back around to look at me, surprise written clearly in her eyes. "Look, I'll give ya more details later if ya really feel ya need 'em. But for now, know that I'm takin' care of these youngins, and I don't want anyone else to know about them." I didn't give her any more chance to respond as I stomped up to the door and opened it, knocking as I went in.