Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

- Pixie Dust… -

A crisp wind blew down the street, making Levy shiver slightly, but she smiled, enjoying the cold weather while it lasted. Magnolia was not known for especially low temperatures, but lately it had been closing in on freezing. Plus, there was talk that there would be snow in time for Christmas. She held out her arms as she walked along the slightly raised ridge, knowing that if she lost her balance, a tumble into the canal would not be fun. A more cautious person wouldn't be walking on the edge of the cobbled walkway so close to the water, but Levy relished the feeling she got from indulging her more whimsical desires.

"Careful there, Levy!"

Levy laughed, shrugging her slim shoulders as she waved at the tiny old man sweeping in front of his store.

"You know I always am, Yajima," She responded jovially, "Getting ready for the morning rush of students?"

"Aye. Finals have my place filled more days than not." Yajima nodded, leaning lightly on his broom. There wasn't much to sweep because of the occasional gust, but Levy knew he enjoyed watching the city wake up. Magnolia wasn't a small town, but locals like Yajima knew everyone else by name. Levy herself hadn't been born in Magnolia, but after moving in with her grandmother in grade school, she wished she had been. Magnolia was, easily, the best place she'd ever lived in.

"I remember finals. They're awful. Be nice to the students, okay?" Levy teased, knowing full well that Yajima was nothing but nice to everyone, even the undeserving customers.

"Don't act like you're not a spring chicken, young lady." Yajima chastised, shaking his head at Levy's bright smile. She just shrugged again, wishing him a nice day as she continued down the street. It was a bit ironic, since she had only graduated from college last year, but the year apart from cramming for tests and owning her own business made Levy feel older than she really was. At twenty-three, she had a degree in business (and had double minored in communications and computer science), and was running a very successful store with some of her best friends. She was incredibly content with her life and would not exchange it for anything else. Despite her rocky start in Magnolia and extremely trying time in high school, she knew she didn't want to be in any other city. Her four years at university in Crocus had taught her more than just what she got her degree for.

Levy started humming to herself as she continued walking down the street, watching where she put her feet. She really didn't want to fall into the canal. Her friend, Lucy, had slipped in a few times, and Lucy wouldn't recommend it, especially if the temperature outside was lower than seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Once she got to her shop, Levy paused outside, hands on her hips as she beamed at the clean, glistening glass and flower decorations on the front displays. The words "Pixie Dust" were splayed across the top of the front window in an "Old English" style font. Sucking in a deep breath looking at her pride and joy, Levy jumped off of the marginally raised surface of the edge of the canal and headed inside, the little bells over the front door tinkling and announcing her presence to the bear of the man behind the front desk.

"Good morning, Elfman!" Levy called, shedding her knee-length trench coat once the door was closed behind her. Ethan "Elfman" Strauss, one of her friends, was a huge man, standing at six and a half feet tall, and was built like a Clydesdale horse. He barely fit behind the counter in the tiny desk chair and looked quite out of place in Pixie Dust… until one realized what the store was.

"Mornin', Levy." Elfman grinned, barely able to hold back a jaw-cracking yawn as he stood and stretched. Levy was happy she wasn't a seam in his shirt; she could've sworn she heard a few of them popping, which wasn't unusual.

"Did you have to kick anyone out last night?" Levy asked, hanging her coat on the wooden coat stand in the corner behind the desk; she grabbed Elfman's jacket off of one of the hooks before going to his side.

"Nah, no drunks or anythin' last night. It was pretty quiet. The college kids aren't back to play yet." Elfman said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, calloused hands catching slightly on the scar beneath his right eye. He towered over Levy as he collected his few belongings scattered over the desk, shoving them all haphazardly into his backpack.

"That's good. The word has finally sunk in, I guess." Levy grinned, flopping into the chair, still warm from Elfman's body heat, and reaching under it to adjust it for her much shorter legs. Elfman snorted, shaking his head as Levy carefully placed her book-filled messenger bag on the now clean desktop before handing him his jacket.

"Yeah, s'pose it has. I'll be leavin' now, then, and be back later." He said, pulling one strap of his backpack over his shoulder after donning his coat. It looked like a child's bag on his broad back.

"You know you could've left when your shift ended, right?" Levy chided gently, gaze resting on the dark circles forming under Elfman's eyes. He worked the night shift as one of her artists and as Pixie Dust's "bouncer." Elfman's shift officially ended around four in the morning when Pixie Dust closed, but he tended to stay overtime when the nights got longer in the winter.

"I know. And I also know you like comin' in early to work the books. As a man, I can't overlook you comin' 'round when it's still dark out." Elfman grunted, cheeks reddening. Despite his mean-looking countenance, he was a giant teddy bear that loved taking care of his family and friends.

"But you'll be tired when your shift starts, Elfman. I can't have you losing sleep over little ol' me. I do have my retractable baton on me at all times, even though Magnolia is the safest place I've ever been in." Levy smiled softly, shaking her head at her friend and employee. Despite the fact Magnolia was, as she stated, a very safe place, just a few shops down the street, the hotel chains and bars started. Tourists, visitors, people passing through Magnolia headed for other towns like Hargeon, and drunks were always a possible threat.

"Plus, Lily is next door!" Levy added, giggling slightly. Usually, Elfman would agree, but today he just shrugged, shuffling his feet awkwardly.

"There's a new man comin' 'round lately early in the mornin'. He's pretty big – might be bigger than Lily. Dunno why he's been hangin' 'round, but he's done so consistently 'round five in the mornin'. I think he might be casin' Lily's shop, for whatever reason. I don't want to risk it." Elfman said, meeting Levy's cheery gaze with a worried one. His words surprised Levy. She thought he was just doing his normal winter ritual until his girlfriend, Evergreen, came and screeched at him that getting five hours of sleep (without her) was not acceptable.

"What do you mean, 'bigger than Lily?' Only you and Laxus are… Laxus is probably the same size, actually…" Levy questioned, concern leaking into her voice. Elfman was definitely the tallest and most muscular guy in Magnolia, but Pantherlily Faust and Laxus Dreyar came in together, tied, as a close second. Both men were six foot five and had almost as much muscle as Elfman did. There were no other Magnolians that big. There were a few tall people, like Reedus Jonah, another one of Levy's employees, but they were all thin as rails.

"I'll talk to Lily about it today, then, and see if he knows anything. Thank you for looking out for me." Levy said, smiling gratefully up at him. It was a bit disconcerting to think someone was lurking around Lily's shop, but she would have to wait until Lily showed up to open his flower shop at nine to talk to him.

"'S nothin'. I just hope Ever will let me explain before chewin' my head off." Elfman laughed, waving tiredly as he left. Levy returned the wave to his retreating back, checking the clock. 6:15 AM. She had some time to look through the finance books and perhaps even the novels she brought with her, before she'd head over to Extalia, the flower shop Lily ran with his wife, Shagotte.

Time flowed easily once Levy cracked open the books, taking notes of what expenses needed to be reduced and making a list of items needed to fill their inventory. It was work most people would find dreary, but Levy liked it. It was a language to her, and, if there was one thing Levy loved the most, it was languages. She'd actually been double majoring in computer engineering and linguistics before she'd switched to business since she loved learning about languages so much.

When a large, dark form passed the front door headed towards Extalia, Levy figured it was Lily. Looking at the slim watch on her wrist, Levy decided that Lily must be heading in a bit early since it was only 8:30. She took a long look at the flowers sitting in her front window, thinking it looked a bit bare. Lily had set her up with a few beautiful flower arrangements, but none included heather, which Levy wanted for an ironic nod to the name "Pixie Dust" since pixies were supposed to favor heather. Deciding that today might be the day she got it, Levy stood up from the desk chair, straightening the waistband of her orange plaited skirt since it had bunched up uncomfortably around her hips. Levy momentarily considered donning her coat again, since it was pretty cold to be running around in only a sweater, skirt, and leggings, but since the front door to Extalia was literally only fifteen feet away from Pixie Dust's front door, she decided against it. She quickly left Pixie Dust, keeping the front sign on "Closed," flitting into Extalia before she could really feel the chill in the outside air. Inside, Extalia felt incredibly warm, almost like a sauna. Levy rolled up her sleeves to her elbows as she walked between the aisles, looking for some heather flowers on her way to the back. The front couple of shelves were shorter than Levy, but they got taller the further one went back. She couldn't even see the check out counter from the front.

Halfway down an aisle that had shelves too far up for her to touch, Levy paused in her trek, spotting bright purple flowers on a shelf above her head. Though she was sure it was heather, Levy reached up for the label to be certain it was. Just as her fingers brushed the laminated paper, a voice made her shriek and jump in surprise.

"Ya know we ain't open fer business yet, short stuff?"

Clutching the soft fabric over her heart, Levy whirled around to face the man, words dying in her throat when she saw his face. From the way his eyes widened, he recognized her, too. It had been seven years since she'd seen his face, and she could honestly say she would have been incredibly happy to never see it again. It was different, to be sure, but it was undeniably the face of the boy who had ruined her high school years. Neither one of them noticed when the heather pot shifted to the edge of the shelf when she unconsciously took a step back and pressed her back into the wooden shelving unit holding it. Levy's heart started racing in anticipation of what would come out of his vile mouth as his name slipped from her lips in a quiet, shaking whisper.

"Gajeel Redfox."

- … and a Little Bit of Rust -

"I am an adult. I don't need to fear him." Levy reminded herself, although the hand not clutching her sweater gripped one of the shelves behind her so tightly that the skin over her knuckles appeared deathly white. Her eyes wandered over his body, taking in the changes to it. In the past seven years, he'd grown from a lean, gangly young man into… well, what looked like a body builder. Just like Elfman, the material of his long sleeved t-shirt strained against his arms and was stretched over his chest. He'd grown taller, too, since Levy could clearly remember easily butting his chin with the crown of her head; now, the top of her head came a little short to being even with his clavicle, though her untamed hair made her seem taller than it.

"Easy, Pipsqueak, I ain't gonna do anythin' to ya." Gajeel held up his hands that were covered by fingerless gloves. From what little of his dark skin she could see, his fingers were riddled with callouses. Levy finally looked up into his narrow eyes, into the amber irises that had haunted her nightmares for years, and glared. Despite her fierce look, she didn't say anything, not trusting herself to be able to speak without stuttering.

"Look, what'cha need, Shrimp? Lil's gonna have my head if he knows someone got in early, 'fore openin'." Gajeel sighed, hands still up in the air. Levy didn't answer him, too busy counting the piercings decorating his face. Considering he'd had some in high school, she knew she shouldn't be surprised, but she honestly didn't know someone could have that many holes in their head. A set of two horizontal piercings replaced his eyebrow hair, three studs climbed up each side of his nose, a vertical piercing was stuck in his chin, and five studs ran up from his lobe to his cartilage in each ear. Who needed twenty-six piercing holes in their head?

"Look, I know ya don't think I'm a good guy – not that I blame ya, I was a lil' shit – but—"

"—Where's Lily? I'll call the cops on you." Levy interrupted him, not paying attention at all to what he'd been saying.

"Hah?" Gajeel's upper lip curled in confusion, revealing his sharp canine teeth.

"Why'd you break in here?" Levy asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He still looked every bit the delinquent she knew he was, though now he appeared far more dangerous. She was regretting not grabbing her bag before leaving since that was where she kept her retractable baton.

"'Break in?' Look, Shortie, this here is the goddamn key t' this place. I didn't 'break in.'" Gajeel growled, jamming one hand into the pocket of his loosely fitting pants to pull out a little bronze colored key. Levy looked at in confusion. How… why would Lily give Gajeel the key? Did they even know each other? Ever since buying the building next to his, Levy had become very good friends with Lily. He'd never mentioned Gajeel before, even when she'd talked about her high school days with him. She'd never called Gajeel by name, but not many people had the qualifications to be a "stupidly tall, pierced jerk."

"Can I see the key?" Levy asked suspiciously, raising a thin eyebrow at him challengingly. She'd locked up Extalia plenty of times before as a favor for Lily when he and Shagotte had to leave early to pick up their daughter, Carla, from school. Carla was a good girl, but she had a bit of a mouth on her that got her in trouble more than her parents liked. No one was quite sure where she got her blunt, tactless manners from since both Lily and Shagotte were always courteous even when they disliked someone.

"Eh? Sure. Whatever ya want, Shrimp. 'S long as ya don't call the cops." Gajeel shrugged his broad shoulders, holding his hand out, palm up with the key sitting innocently in it. Levy released her death grip on the shelf, accidentally upsetting the pot sitting precariously over the edge above her head. It teetered as her hand closed in on Gajeel's, trying to best gravity but ultimately failing. In a matter of seconds, Levy's view of Gajeel changed for the better.

Levy hissed in anger when Gajeel grabbed her hand with his, the key falling to the ground between them. She knew he couldn't be trusted! Her eyes widened as she heard the metallic clangs of the key hitting the concrete ground and her face simultaneously rammed into Gajeel's chest. She could feel his pectorals moving with his other arm under her smarting face, his free hand coming to gently keep her head to his chest, and wondered just what he was up to. It would be just her luck to not only have been his favorite chew toy in high school but also his new victim after college (if he went to college, which she severely doubted).

"What the hell, Redfox?!" Levy pulled her face back from Gajeel's warmth, taking advantage of how lax the hand in her hair was, but her hand was still held tightly within his behind his back to secure her to his torso. The shattering of a pot mingled with her outraged voice.

"'What the hell, Redfox' is right. Lily's gonna chew me out." Gajeel grumbled, letting go of Levy now that she couldn't accidentally put herself in the falling pot's path. He sighed through his nose, brushing past Levy to crouch down and inspect the mess of soil, roots, pottery shards, and heather. Levy watched him, dumbfounded, as he scratched the back of his head beneath his half ponytail. She backed a few paces away from him when he stood up, but he didn't turn around to face her again. Instead, he walked to the back of the store, presumably to get a broom.

In his absence, Levy stared at the dark stain of soil on the ground, trying to process what had just happened. In high school, she'd watched him laugh at others' pain. She'd watched him intentionally trip people, happier if their arms were full carrying something. She'd watched him do nothing when he was standing right next to someone who tripped on the second to last stair and fell onto their face. She'd watched him, that vulgar grin on his face, enjoy every moment of someone else walking into a wall since their attention had been firmly placed on the textbook they were reading. She'd watched him, helpless, as he beat her best friends unconscious after hooking her collar onto a coatrack in the boy's locker room. She'd watched him turn to her, bloodied knuckles brushing against his nose, bright amber eyes looking her up and down as he contemplated what to do with her.

And yet, Levy reflected as she rubbed her smarting nose, he'd just saved her from what probably would have been a concussion had the pot landed on her head. Plus, she was pretty sure she'd caused it to fall. Gajeel Redfox, the terror of Magnolia High School who enjoyed watching others fall far too much to be human, had just saved her from and accident she caused. Before, she would have questioned if he knew that word existed.

Levy jumped when she spotted him walking back, hand broom and dustpan in one hand, a new pot in the other. Her eyes widened as he crouched down again next to the mess, setting the pot and broom down on a clear patch of concrete. With large, gentle hands, he guided most of the scattered soil into a pile near some of the exposed roots, and he scooped up a good portion of that pile along with the heather, tenderly setting the plant down in the fresh pot. Gajeel inspected the side of the heather that would be bruised, weathered fingers combing through the stems to find the broken ones.

"Wait, it's not going to die?" Levy asked, curiosity about the plant besting her nervousness of talking to him. She didn't know what to think of him, at the moment. She knew people changed as they grew up, but this was a radical change, especially since she had always envisioned him to be in prison by now. It had been her favorite consolation when she still had nightmares about him. A bit extreme, yeah, but it made her feel better about herself and helped her get over what he'd done to Jet and Droy.

"Eh, not if it's well cared for. Nobody is gonna want it, though. This side is gonna look fucked up." Gajeel explained as he scooped up more soil with his hands to put into the pot. He brushed his fingers lightly against the side the heather had fallen on, frowning.

"Everything can be saved, though. Even something like this, which could'a died and is still in danger. It just needs a bit'a help, 's all." He explained, and Levy felt like he'd just punched her in the stomach. The air left her lungs and wouldn't come back immediately, constricting her chest. A chill did the tango up her spine, and she stared with her mouth slightly agape as he put the heather aside and started sweeping up the pot shards, bits of unsalvageable soil, and leaves and flowers that had broken off. When he got to the soil that had spread to where they'd been standing, he picked up the key from the ground and threw it over to Levy. She barely caught it, not expecting the toss.

"Ya wanted it, before…" Gajeel said, not giving her any room to reply since he turned away from her, lying on his stomach to reach beneath the shelving unit to retrieve pieces of the broken pot that had skittered there. Levy looked down at the little key with a streak of pink in the center, a bit unsurprised that it was the real deal. She'd brushed nail polish over the serial code stamped into it to help Lily easily discern which key belonged to Extalia and which belonged to his house.

"Ya run the parlor next door, don't'cha?" Gajeel asked suddenly, peering up at Levy from his position on the floor. Levy flushed, looking away. She felt unsettled by him and had lost all footing she once had with his character; he was making her nervous. She chose to remember all that he'd done to regain peace of mind.

"Yeah, I do. How'd you know? Your name isn't in any of my books." Levy stated, wrapping her arms around herself. She wasn't particularly cold, but at the same time, she was shivering. She needed time to process this Gajeel that helped her, the one Lily trusted enough to open up Extalia for him.

"Th' Salamander. Said ya helped him design the dragon on his chest. Yer really somethin', ya know." Gajeel said, pushing himself off of the ground after collecting all the shards. He started moving things, taking the debris-filled dustpan to the trashcan by the cash register.

"I didn't ink his dragon, though – Elfman did. I just helped with the prelim designs and inked the word 'Igneel' for him." Levy said, flustered from his praise, when he came back empty-handed.

"Yeah, I know. Natsu still has yer concept art framed in his design office, though. Ain't as good as the one on his chest, I'll give ya that, but it's still pretty damn cool. I remember ya bein' smart as hell, but ya keep surprisin' me." Gajeel smirked at her, flashing a bit of his canines before bending down to pick up the bruised heather. Levy didn't respond to that, cheeks flaming. It was her natural reaction to being praised, even though she found it hard to believe who was praising her. He'd even mentioned their high school days, sort of.

"Now, what to do with ya…" Gajeel pondered out loud, holding the heather in front of his eyes to inspect it more closely. He rotated the pot to see the plant from all angles. When he got back to the bruised side, Levy decided to buy it.

"I'll take it. And I'll cover the cost for the broken pot."

"Eh?"

Gajeel looked so earnestly surprised that Levy had to laugh at him. She shook her head, hands tightening on her sides.

"I was here for some heather. And since I caused that… I'll take it." She explained, though she didn't approach him. He had definitely changed, but her body still remembered the old him. And who said he wasn't still violent and a terrible person, but just a good enough actor to hide it from Lily?

"I wasn't complainin', Shrimp. It was an accident - ya don't have anythin' t' be sorry for." Gajeel's brows quirked downward in his confusion. Levy wondered if he realized he was cradling the heather to his chest protectively, as if he was trying to hide it from her.

"Well, I'll rephrase it, then. I wanted to get some heather, and since my parlor is abnormal enough as it's not dark and dreary, I'll care for some weird-looking heather." She shrugged. She did feel responsible, but he was right that it was an accident. He had also made a good point earlier when he said no one would want it because it was bruised.

"Yer sure? 'Cause I can just take it home with me. Or Shagotte'd take care of it. It's gonna need a bit more care than usual." He looked at her suspiciously. Levy smiled and nodded, taking a hesitant step towards Gajeel. His lower lip puckered out slightly, but he turned around and walked back to the register nonetheless. Levy trailed after him, still hugging herself, wondering if she'd see more of him now. She wasn't sure what to make of that, since she didn't want to see him, but… if he was going to be civil, she could, too.

"I ain't unintentionally bullyin' ya into this, am I? 'Cause…" Gajeel's words died on tongue when she got to the register, and he wasn't looking at Levy. The atmosphere felt heavy, but Levy wasn't going to alleviate it. She'd never done anything to him, so if he wanted this gone, he'd have to do something himself. Levy placed the key onto the counter before wringing her hands in front of her body, fingers twisting into knots around each other.

"No, you're not. But I left my bag in my shop, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be—"

"Nah, jus' take it. Yer doin' me a favor by wantin' this thing, so I owe ya." Gajeel quickly interrupted her gruffly. Levy didn't have time to respond before he thrust the heather at her, though he kept his hands on the pot just in case she didn't react fast enough to keep it from falling to the ground for a second time. He let go when he knew it rested securely in her much smaller hands.

"Ya ain't gonna pay fer this lil' thing no matter what ya say, all right? Now scat 'fore Lily comes and sees ya in here before openin' time." Gajeel waved her off, ignoring Levy when she started to protest. To further his decision, he disappeared into the back room. Levy was about to follow him when she heard the lock turn.

"You've changed, Gajeel Redfox." She said lowly to the closed door, frowning at it.

"But only slightly. You're still a stubborn oaf."

A/N: Yo, fellow Gajevy/GaLe shippers! :D This isn't gonna be too long, but it will have chapters (and idk if they'll have consistent lengths).

Inspiration: A post on Tumblr where songofthestarwhale said, "I passed a flower shop next to a tattoo shop and at first I laughed because I thought it was ironic and then i freaked because IMAGINE YOUR OTP IN A FLORIST/TATTOO ARTIST AU" and killer—ink replied, "then imagine whoever would obviously be which one and switch them."

Placing that at the end bc semi-surprise factor? Also, this has been sitting on my laptop, finished, since November 2015… but I didn't post it bc of several reasons… mostly bc I won't be updating it on a regular schedule or often. Uni life sucks lol. But it is a fic idea I'm fond of, so it'll be finished eventually.

~ Stitch