Disclaimer: I own nothing

The Key to Conversation

She didn't know why she went into the bar, other than the cliché 'it seemed like a good idea at the time.' Heartbroken, she decided that she wasn't ready to sober up and deal with the truth. One shot had led to two and two led to three...until, eventually, consciousness became hazed and reality suspended.

She woke up stripped to her boy-shorts and bra, the after taste of sick at the back of her throat with swollen-eyes encrusted in 'sleep' grit, and curled against a body far too familiar to hers…

Cheek resting on the defined swell of a bicep, she was acutely aware of fingers combing through her hair. Calloused fingertips tracing the slope of her neck and along her collarbone.

Such a delicate, tender touch.

Loving.

This had to be a dream.

"I know you're awake." The voice grated through her body. Muscles tense and shifted as long legs were stretched out, easing her to sit upon what felt like a cold tiled floor, only for her to be caged in once more when knees drew back up and arms lassoed about her.

The movement, however slight caused the angry headache of her merciless hang-over to spike and throb. What came out of her mouth was more of a pitiful whimper than any attempt at coherent dialogue.

Fingers gently probed through her hair, massaging at her scalp and temples. "Yeah, I know you have to be in pain, Babe. Head throbbing and stomach rolling," now that he mentioned it… "but I think we are long overdue for a talk and now is better than later."

Why now?

The moan she uttered rather than words—burying her face in his chest, which she now realized as naked—must have conveyed enough of her emotions for Gajeel to know what she had wanted to say if the ability to speak was within her current wheel house of skills.

"Because you can't look at me in the eye at the moment, and what I need to say needs to be done without you looking at me with those big, innocent eyes of yours. Reminds me of all the dirty things I have done to you and…well, we need to keep on topic." The last part seemed to be more of a reminder to himself than anything.

One hand moved from her hair to the curve of her spine, stroking along the length while his other continued to rub away tension at her temple, dipping along her jaw.

"I suck at talking…at the whole 'emotional' side of having a girlfriend, which may be why you are my first."

She snorted.

"Not my first fuck, but…you know…basically my first everything else. Definitely the first person I put a label to."

"What?" Her voice was a dried husk, breaking and turning into a cough. "Everything else?" What was that supposed to mean and, really, why did he want to have this conversation when her mind was running so...slow...

"You know, everything else. For one thing, until you, I never brought someone, girl…or anyone else for that matter, here—"

The burning in her throat from spewing bile limited her conversation skills to one word thoughts. "Juvia."

"Used to live here. She was my foster sister at one particularly terrible house and, when we ran from there, the only family I have. When she got married, she moved out but kept the key. You see, Juvia is very much a drama-queen. Whenever she gets mad or jealous at her husband—who used to work as a stripper, a history that causes much anxiety and stress on Juvia's psycho mind—Juvia lets herself in here until he comes and claims her back. One time out of five, this involves me getting punched."

So that was how he got the impressive bruise on his jaw. Juvia's husband did that. Juvia had a husband...not that it really meant anything to absolve Levy's concerns.

Coughing, almost heaving, Levy forced herself beyond her one-word sentences. "She shows up; you tell me to leave."

"Because I didn't want you to deal with her drama; the woman is like a sister to me, and I can only take it in small doses."

Levy didn't know if she would be able to work up the strength to speak so close after the earlier sentence, so she just—once more—snorted her disbelief and insult at how easily he thought she would be fooled. Juvia may be married, her husband might even be the baby's father, that didn't mean that Gajeel wasn't in love with the woman he shared so much of his life with.

"You never gave me a key yet your ex-'roommate' can come and go as she pleases. " Her lips formed the words, croaked out of her mouth, without knowing they were spoken.

"I offered you one."

"When!? You always make me be buzzed up every time." That is, unless she was breaking and entering

"A few weeks after we started dating, right before you got the job at the publisher. You were texting me about how your roommates were driving you mad and how you wanted to go hide somewhere. I told you to sweep by the shop and I would give you a key so you could lay low here."

"Telling a girl that she could lay-low at your place for a few hours is not offering her a permanent key."

"Sorry, I wasn't aware that a formal ceremony was required."

Again, she didn't need to say something for him to understand her thoughts.

"Seriously, Spazz, do you think I'm a man who puts up with something I don't want? Do you think I would have spent the night on the bathroom floor, being covered in puke and cleaning you up, if I wanted someone else?"

Can't have the one that he wanted, might as well 'fuck'—as he so romantically put it—whatever was available.

Sighing, he once more settled on resting his arms on her shoulders, caging her in. "Do you think that I dress up in a ridiculous suit just to stop by the work of someone who I wasn't invested in for the long run?"

"You said you had a job interview."

"Yeah, well, I panicked at the time. The original plan involved me swinging up to your office and take you to a real restaurant, with table clothes and everything, but…" he sighed again, "I panicked."

"What?"

"I. Panicked. I mean, the opening of our conversation was you scolding me for scaring the door boy, reminded me of how much I embrace you—"

"What!?" Shoving away from his chest, Levy forced herself to look at his eyes. Her knees shook from maintaining her weight from where she knelt. Warm, large hands on her hips kept her upright. "What are you talking about?"

"It's alright, Spazz, I understand why. I never thought myself the kind of person someone like you would proudly be associated with—"

"What are you talking about?"

Combing sweat damp locks from her face, he gave her a small smile that may be touched with sadness. "You make sure you are never with your friends when I am around. The one time I offered to pick you up at your place, you flat out said no-"

"Only because Cana is hot for your body."

"What?"

"Cana, who was home that night, saw you from afar when we were spying on…I mean, when we happened to drive past the garage soon after the incident with you dragging me out of the river. She made it known that she would not be disinclined to have a go at you if the offer ever presented itself."

"And you thought I would take one look at her, rip off her clothes, and start banging her right in front of you?"

Levy's chin drooped; she spoke into her less than notable chest. Why hadn't she worn a cuter bra? "Not right in front of me."

"Levy—"

"You never saw Cana…Every guy we have ever met preferred her over not only me but also Lucy, who is a busty blonde who likes to dress up...basically the fantasy, yet every one of them would give an arm at a shot with Cana."

"That's ridiculous. Why would I trade in something legitimate for some random piece of ass?"

Levy lifted her eyes, looking through her lashes to glare at him. "Something legitimate? What would that be? Us? You won't even take me out on a real date." The break in her voice was from emotion rather than her throat's raw condition. "I'm just a convenient lay—"

Hands went from her hips to cup her face, there might have been anger in his eyes. An expression he never wore around her, or—at least—never directed towards her. "I love you. Someone as smart as you should have long realized that, even if I don't smother you with whatever it is that women build up in their minds as what constitutes as 'real.' Dates? We make plans to go places, plans I have every intention to follow through with. Then you show up here and somehow end up in bed with take-out or on the couch with a movie. You never said anything against these courses of events nor did you ever seem inclined against them when they are occuring…instigating them more times than not. How the fuck was I to know that you weren't happy?"

When he put it like that…

"I didn't know how to start 'the talk.'"

"The talk?"

"The 'what are we' talk to determine our relationship."

"What is it about the world that people have to talk about everything? Shouldn't actions be enough?" Levy's expression must have conveyed her thoughts for a third time, or he simply knew her well enough to know what was spiraling through her mind. "Fine, how about this for your ominous talk?" He lowered his forehead to touch hers. "You're mine. I'm yours. Neither of us share. Ever. Got that?"

She shook her head, not certain if it was from denial of what he was saying or trying to process the words drifting about her mind.

Wait, had Gajeel said that he loved her earlier?

Not letting her go, pulling her in even closer, Gajeel's hands went from Levy's hips to her waist. Lips touching her brow before moving to her eyes, once more closed, and then her nose. "Tell me how to make this work, okay? Do you want flowers sent to your office every day and for me to recite poetry when you get home? I may gag during the second part, but I would do it if that is what I takes."

And this was too much to take in on a hang-over and…

Jumping up, free of his grasp and would have fallen back onto the tiles if he hadn't served as an anchor, Levy felt panic begin to raise along with her heart rate. "I'm going to be late for work!" There was no way she could get home, get ready, and get to work on time. And she couldn't call off...

"No you won't." Standing, slowly, maintaining his hold on her, Gajeel shepherded her out of the bath and into the second bedroom that must have once belonged to Juvia, but Gajeel used to storage. "At least one of these boxes has clothes in it that she left behind. Pick something and I'll drive you in."

"Gajeel—"

"Do you have any other clothes? The ones from last night are basically ruined."

Grinding her teeth, Levy shooed Gajeel away and dug about until she found some feasible garments then—after a quick time check—commandeered Gajeel's shower for a brief rinse-off to obtain the semblance of humanity.

Not that it would help; she was going to be a mess regardless.

Had Gajeel meant what he said? All of it, including what she wasn't completely certain she had heard?

Her answer came when she opened the door, and found Gajeel kneeling on the other side. A box in hand.

First thought: How long had he been waiting there?

Second thought: What was going on?

"I want to give you something with the knowledge that whatever you decide to give, or not give, in response is fine with me. At the moment, I would be happy with whatever I can get. Any hope available that this isn't the last time."

The box opened…

Levy laughed, falling to her knees and hitting his chest for the bad joke.

A key, with a chain swung through it, rested on the bottom of the box.

"I'm serious."

"I know; your timing is just…" Sighing, Levy looped the chain over her head. The key rested between the swell of her breasts.

He lifted it from this spot and gave the metal a kiss before pulling her into his arms once more. "I'll pick you up tonight," he spoke into her hair. "We'll get food wherever you want and go wherever else you want for that matter. A 'proper' date."

"Rain check. All I want tonight is take out in bed…with you clarifying something I think you said earlier."

"And what would that be?"

"Don't act like you don't know." Her voice was barely louder than a whisper as his lips brushed hers.

Three little words were whispered before the agreement was sealed.

[A/N: Thanks, again, for all the Alerts/Favorites/Comments given so far…there are also typos. I know this; you know this—I will get to them in the near future. This is the end of this story but I have another idea—longer and more plot-based—brewing in my head.]