Her chocolate eyes met his, pleading silently for him to stay. His hand slipped into hers underneath the table and gave it a squeeze. "Relax, I'll be fine."

It wasn't that she doubted his strength. Hell, Gajeel was made of iron but something in her gut warned her about this mission.

"Bunny, it's a simple capture and deliver mission. It won't take more than a few days. It's not like I'm going alone. Lily will be with me."

No matter how he tried to reassure her, she felt like she could not get enough air.

"Come on." He said, tugging her lightly to her feet and pulling her outside. When they were out of earshot of the guild, he pulled her into his chest and kissed her temple lightly. "I'll see you in a few days, alright?"

She gave a silent nod and stood on her tiptoes to press a light kiss to his rough lips. They spent a few more moments holding one another before Lily arrived.

"Hello Lucy." Polite as always.

"Hey Lil." She gave the large exceed a hug. "You take care of him for me alright?"

With a smirk almost identical to his best friend, Lily said, "I will make sure he brushes his teeth and is in bed by 9."

"Good boy." She smiled and with one more kiss on her dragon's cheek, she watched them leave, praying to the celestial king that it would not be the last time.

They walked around for what seemed like hours. "This is bullshit," he mumbled. "How hard can a show off mage be to find?" The mission was simple. Find an overzealous mage, bring him back to the council and return home to his bunny and their home.

The guild still didn't know that their precious celestial mage slept next to the anti-social slayer every night. Hell, it had taken him awhile to man up and ask her to move in. Getting beyond that was hard enough without every nut in that drunk house asking about it. He knew the distance he kept at the guild wasn't something she preferred but as always, Lucy understood and gave him the time he needed. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that she was always waiting on him. She waited for him to realize he had feelings for her and waited even longer for him to admit it out loud. It's why his bunny was a freaking saint. She bided her time and never bitched. He needed to remind her of that when he got home, but missing her right now wasn't going to help him get home any faster. A sigh escaped his lips. "Lil, where are we headed next?"

When he didn't hear anything, he turned around to an empty forest. "What the fuck?"

He retraced his steps around a corner to find his partner sprawled out on the ground, blood pooled around his temple. Before Gajeel's muscles had time to react, something hit him over the head and everything went dark.

Excruciating female screams burned his ear drums. His crimson eyes shot open and his hands flew to cover his ears. He stared at his surroundings. The cell he was kept in wasn't metal like most. No, it was made of dragon bone. Whoever did this, knew him and they were going to pay. The screams broke his concentration. His hearing ranged the distance out. Whoever or whatever was being tortured, was on the other side of the room being hidden by a makeshift wall. His heart plummeted when he heard two words. "Gajeel, stop!" He knew that voice anywhere.

"Lucy!" He reached up to the bars, not caring that the enchantment on it burnt his skin. "Lucy, I'm coming!"

Suddenly, all he was met with was silence. His eyes stared at the wall, waiting for some sound, something to prove that his mate was okay. A smell met his nose and soon, a red liquid began to leak from underneath the wall.

Sharp pain jolted him awake. Someone was pounding his stomach. He did his best to kick out at them, only to realize he was shackled to some sort of board. Another hit to the jaw shot his head back, slamming it into the metal behind him. A man with red hair smirked, holding up a knife to Gajeel's stomach. "Ah, yes, the iron dragon. Shall we see if your insides are iron as well?" A growl was the only response he needed before the man began to slice.

Gajeel stood on the second floor of the guild, looking down as he himself approached the celestial mage. "Hey bunny, can we talk?"

He knew this moment anywhere. It was when he finally decided to tell her exactly what she meant to him. It was the scariest day of his life. Everyone kept talking about her and the pyro. He couldn't risk losing his chance because he couldn't grow a pair.

Before she could reply, her pink haired teammate pulled her by the waist. "Why the hell would she want to talk to you?"

"Pyro, stuff it for a minute. Lucy please…"

"Lucy please," Natsu mimicked.

Gajeel reached out to touch her, but Natsu's flames hit him first. "The hell do you think you're touching my girl for, metal head?"

That was all it took for everything to click into place.

Gajeel looked around the room to see the red haired man meditating in front of him. Silently, he looked down to see that the magical bindings had been released. Maybe the mage in front of him couldn't concentrate on two things at once, maybe he didn't think a slayer who lost so much blood was dangerous anymore. Whatever it was, Gajeel was glad. He instantly turned himself to shadow, reminding himself to thank the Sabertooth punk for teaching him how later. Gajeel had his hand around the mages throat before he could gasp.

"You know, it's a pretty good trick you've got there." The mage's eyes widened in fear. "For a minute, I forgot the mind games you could play. You know what did ya in? That pink haired punk couldn't lay a punch on me. Even if he could, the one thing I can promise is that my bunny sure as hell wouldn't be his girl." His crimson eyes darkened. "Now, it's my turn to play."

–

By the time Gajeel returned the man to the council, his hair was not the only thing that was red. Seeing the state he was in, the council wasn't sure whose blood was whose and decided to simply give him his reward and send him to be healed. Gajeel made sure to bring Lily to a healing facility, but escaped himself before they could do more than bandage his most severe wounds. No, he had someone to see.

–

Her fingers tapped nervously against the bar. Mira eyed her cautiously, sliding a water in front of the anxious mage. She nodded her thanks in fear that if her mouth opened, she would vomit. She knew he shouldn't have gone. A few days, he said, a few days her ass. He had been gone for over a week and something was very wrong.

Everything was erased from her mind when she heard the guild door slam open. He limped toward her, bloodied and bruised. Before she could ask what the hell happened, he grabbed the sides of her face. Chocolate eyes met crimson, telling her all she needed to know. Whatever happened, it was bad. Without another thought, his lips smashed against hers. His tongue pleaded for entry into her mouth. His kiss was dripping with devastation. Her heart sank and her arms reached around his neck. Her hands slipped into his hair and gave it a pull, pushing their bodies as close together as humanly possible. Something told her he needed to be reminded that she loved him and that above all else, she was okay.

When the kiss broke, his forehead fell to her shoulder. She felt the wetness before her mind comprehended that something had broken him so completely that he was crying.

"Gaj?"

Taking in her scent, he muttered, "I missed you."

This one-shot was written from a prompt sent to me by my amazing, lovely friend dragonshost. The prompt said "miss you kiss" and GaLu. Hope you enjoyed it!