I'm a Gajeel fan so this one is just me having some fun. Feedback is welcome, I'm getting back into writing after a few years off from it so I appreciate help. Content might get mature as this one progresses, in fact, I'm pretty sure it will.

It was relatively late, the lights of the guild hall were a relief to see as Gajeel approached. He was exhausted physically but his head wouldn't stop clattering things around and let him sleep. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he often struggled to sleep, too many nightmares, too much he regretted haunting him. Tonight was no different, he'd just finished a job with Natsus team, gotten back before dark, so tired all he wanted was to sleep but as soon as he had laid down memories he didn't want to revisit had assaulted him, things he had done he wished to hell he hadn't done.

He pushed the door open, a few cold beers would go a long way to making his head fuzzy enough so he could sleep and he preferred it fresh from the tap. As the light from inside spilled over him he lifted his eyes to pick out where he would head and winced when he saw the pretty little mage with the curly blue hair bent over several books and notebook.

He kept his head down as he walked by her, they were getting along really well, she was nothing but kind to him and he enjoyed her company more than anyones but right now, with memories of what he had done to her at the front of his mind tormenting him, he didn't want to look into those sweet hazel eyes.

He knew if he looked into them he'd see them wide with horror and pain as they had been that night he had attacked her and her team, bolted them to a tree and hot branded her stomach with Phantom Lords emblem after taunting her, ripping her clothing to bare her skin for him to scar.

"Gajeel! I thought you'd be resting! Didn't you just get back from a job?" He didn't wince at her voice but he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, willing his thoughts away from where they had been for hours before he gave her a weary half smile. "Yeah…it was a long one." He said, meeting those bright eyes, she was genuinely happy to see him, it showed, but it made him feel worse. He kept walking back to the bar and Mirajane, seeing his expression, poured him his favorite without a word, placing it before him before he had even sat down.

He gave her a grateful look but she just smiled and drifted back to cleaning and putting things away from the busy day. He was just a few deep gulps into the mug when books were slammed down onto the bar next to him and the determined bluenette climbed onto the stool beside him. She said nothing, opening her books, spreading out her notebook again and resuming what she had been doing at the table without a word, only casting a couple of friendly open small smiles at him as she settled in.

Gajeel closed his eyes as her scent engulfed him, she liked fruity bath soaps and body sprays that were bright and a little spicey, like her, he thought with a hint of a smile.

If you only knew how much you affected me just by sitting next to me Levy. He thought.

Keeping his attention on his drink until he was almost through his third they sat in silence, Levy didn't push him to talk and he didn't want to. His head eased off broadcasting his worst moments for him and he stole some sidelong glances at her sitting there, twirling her sandal from her toe, her pale green dress sitting high on her toned leg.

Gajeel tightened his grip on his mug and drew a breath, his thoughts always seemed to go that way when he was around her for long these days. He'd never had the problem before, too consumed with his dark behavior and activities, too lost in that darkness to even think about women as anything but occasional playthings or targets for some sort of cruelty.

She was so pretty, such a smart, determined, loving person with a fiery temper he secretly admired. If she asked him to, he would do anything for her without much question, had already thrown himself in front of death a few times to make sure she was safe. He looked at the bar surface, she owned him, he knew it, he just didn't know what to do about it.

It was a sweet sort of pain he lived in with her, wanting her so badly but utterly convinced he was the worst thing for her. So, he would just stay as he was, a friend at a distance. If she needed him for anything, he would be there, and he would never tell her how he felt.

She might have cared for him if he did, she was forgiving enough. He glanced at her again, chewing on the end of a lightpen lost in the books in front of her. There was attraction between them, he knew she felt that, his nose told him she did, a few times now she had been close to him and he had caught that delicious pheromone from her, the one that told him she wanted him.

He froze then, catching her looking at him, her eyes sliding down his bare arm, and there it was, so sweet, her desire mingling with that spicey body spray and the faint smell of the cherry lipgloss she had on. He had to close his eyes again, his heart was speeding up, his blood was heating as the dragon in him responded to the scent of a woman that wanted him.

He had to get his mind off the sight of that creamy skinned leg, the silky hair, the swell of her breast under the gauzy cloth of the little green dress and that intoxicating pheromone she put off every time her eyes moved over him. "So what are you reading shorty?" He asked, willing to initiate conversation if it meant ending this session of torture on his too keen senses.

"She smiled, keeping her face mostly turned toward her book, looking through her thick lashes at him "A history of Dragon Slayers." She said. His eyes widened and he looked at her with full interest now "Really? Why would you be studying us?" He asked, she turned more toward him and he had to rein in his senses trying to focus his sharp eyes on the lovely cleavage she unwittingly turned toward him.

She tilted the book up so he could see the pages, a black skinned dragon curled around the top of the pages, he couldn't read the language it was written in though.

"I have my reasons. How old are you Gajeel?" she asked. He blinked, having to actually think about it for a moment, it wasn't something he cared much about.

"I'm not sure really, 20 I think, it's not like Metalicana gave me my birth certificate or anything before he vanished." She nodded, turning and writing in her notebook.

He frowned a little "adding me to your research?" He asked, not sure how he felt about that.

"Natsu is 17, Laxus is 23 and Wendy is 12." Levy said and Gajeel turned fully toward her now. "Why does it matter?" He asked.

Levy smiled "Spring is about here, I wanted to know which of you might feel that in a week or two. You're all of age, except for Wendy, Sting and Rogue are 19 so spring should be pretty…active for all of you guys with so many males of age in one kingdom."

Gajeel sat silent for a moment not sure if he was hearing her right. "Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?" He asked, hoping he was wrong.

"Master asked me to research the dragon mating season, since we have 4 Dragon Slayers in the guild and 3 of them are likely to be effected by it. He wanted to know how you were all likely to react, in case safety measures need to be taken."

Gajeel turned back to his mug wide eyed, she WAS talking about what he thought she was. "I don't think I want to have this conversation." He said darkly.