Welcome to Ironbound.

These pieces are individual stories that are only loosely connected to each other. They don't follow a chronological timeline, and they can take place at any point between Gajeel and Levy's developing relationship. They can be seen as offshoots of Tempered Steel & Paper Hearts (although TSPH still has a long way to go) but each story can also act as a standalone individual. Without further ado, enjoy the read, and review if you liked it!

Disclaimer - This acts as a mass disclaimer for every chapter - FT doesn't belong to me.

Dragon's Lair

Levy fled, angry tears spilling over despite her attempts to contain them. She could hear Jet and Droy calling for her to stop, more pleading than angry now, but she ran all the faster for it. Howdare they! It wasn't fair! How could they hang such a huge decision on her and expect her to be okay with it? Dangling their friendship over her, forcing her to choose between loyalty to her Guild and her loyalty to them as friends? And to show up at her house! How long had they been waiting to pop that one on her? She was crying in earnest now, sobbing brokenly as she ran.

She couldn't stay at her apartment tonight. Even though she was sure the other girls would have booted Jet and Droy out of Fairy Hills in an instant, she knew they would be waiting for her to return so they could throw themselves at her feet and apologize profusely, and right now she didn't WANT to hear their apologies or else she knew she would forgive them, like every other time before.

Which was why she was running to Lucy's house now, hoping that her best friend would let her stay at her apartment for one night, and maybe she could vent her frustrations and private fears that Shadow Gear was falling apart, all because Jet and Droy were unable to accept the fact that Gajeel deserved a chance to prove himself at Fairy Tail!

Panting and winded, she huffed to a stop outside of Lucy's apartment and stood, leaning against the wall for a minute to catch her breath and scrub vigorously at her face to make it look as if she hadn't been crying. Walking up to Lucy's front door, she pinned a cheery smile on her face and knocked three times. She heard Lucy's voice from within, calling "Just a minute!" before the door opened.

Levy opened her mouth to greet her friend, but barely had time to utter "Hello" before she heard a distinctive crash and a coordinated howl of pain from Natsu and Happy, on top of some colorful language from Gray and Erza. Lucy grinned, looking sheepish.

"Hi Levy! Are you here to join the party?"

Levy gaped at her best friend, then at the chaos within.

"Isn't this yourhouse, Lu-chan?"

Lucy just laughed, embarrassed.

"Yeah! but it might as well belong to th-NATSU PUT THAT DOWN!" she screamed, as Natsu lifted her dining room table in preparation to throw at Gray, who had, in the few seconds of their conversation, managed to rid himself of his shirt and trousers and was preparing to Ice-make in retaliation.

Levy tried to hide her inner turmoil. She really needed to talk to Lucy right now, but that would be impossible with everyone around. It would have to wait for another day. She grinned so that her thoughts wouldn't show on her face as Lucy turned back to her and smiled "So, why areyou here tonight, Levy?"

Levy laughed weakly. "I ran out of reading material so I figured I'd drop by and see how you were doing on your novel!"

Lucy glanced outside at the ink-black sky before looking back at her friend with a confused "Whaaat? but it's so late!"

Levy shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah! Even the library is closed, so I couldn't go there, but I knew you'd still be up!"

Lucy sighed and flapped her hand dramatically. "Well, I haven't gotten anywhere with that ever since these clowns started coming around! You can re-read what I have if you want to though!"

Levy declined with a murmur and Lucy grinned at her friend with a wistful "That bad, huh?" and they both shared a laugh while Levy held up her hands in defense.

"Well, Lu-chan, I better go...it looks like you have more than enough on your hands!" Levy pointed to where Erza had joined the fray, and all 3 combatants were locked in a wrestling match that was quickly decimating Lucy's living room. Lucy tossed a quick "bye-bye" back to her friend before closing the door. Levy grinned as she heard Lucy screaming at the three of them to get out of her house. Of course, no one came out and things quieted down after that.

Now alone with her thoughts and reluctant to return, Levy wandered about Magnolia, trying NOT to think about Jet and Droy. Of course it was impossible and she felt angry tears begin to gather at the corners of her eyes. Now that she had cooled down from her mad dash away from Fairy Hills, she realized that tonight was actually very cold, and all she was wearing was her dress and sandals. She hadn't even the foresight to bring a jacket.

"Stupid," she murmured, kicking angrily at the ground with the toe of her sandal.

With nothing else to do, she sank down against the grey stone wall of her favorite cafe along Magnolia's Main Street and hugged her knees to her chest, hiding her face against the cold. She felt sad and lonely and pathetic and it was all she could do not to cry at the injustice of the whole situation and her overall lameness and had she mentioned that it was cold, and-

She was jolted out of her miserable reverie by a blunt voice that cut straight through all her self-pity.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

She jerked up to see Gajeel, standing in the middle of Main Street glaring at her, a travel bag slung over his shoulder.

Of course, it just had to be him, she thought, hastily brushing away any stray tears with her sleeves. Of all the inopportune moments for him to show up, it had to be now, when she had tears and snot all over her face and horrible blotchy skin from crying. She stood up, glad for the shade that the cafe's canopy cast over her. Maybe he wouldn't be able to see her bad skin tone after all. Shivering at the bite of the cold night air, she replied, her anger making her bold.

"I'm just out for a stroll at midnight, can't you see that, Gajeel? Or would it be rude of me to ask you to mind your business?" The last part was spoken more forcefully than she had intended and she quickly covered her mouth and shrank back.

Gajeel was impressed. The rabbit speaks, he thought to himself, grinning. She had finally looked him straight in the eye and actually talked back to him, without that god-damned quaver of fear in her voice. Obviously her stupid story about going for a midnight stroll was crap, and if she thought that she could hide the fact that she had been crying from him by standing in the shade, she was dumber than he thought. Apparently she didn't count on his sensitive nose and hearing. The cold night air kept smells low to the ground and easy to identify, and he'd heard her pathetic sniffling long before he rounded the corner to Main Street.

Levy could see Gajeel looking her over and despite herself, she shivered at the bad memory before steeling her nerve and telling herself that bygones were bygones. The Gajeel standing in front of her now was a completely different person from the one who had assaulted Shadow Gear.

"What are YOU doing out so late at night, Gajeel?"

He shrugged and gestured at his travel pack.

"I just got back from a mission. You still didn't answer my question."

She looked away from him and didn't say anything, shivering visibly and hugging herself to stay warm. Gajeel frowned, taking in her state of dress (or lack thereof). What the hell was she doing without a jacket?

In a few strides, he crossed the distance between them and plonked his travel bag on the ground, rummaging through it. He tried to ignore how she had leapt away from him the moment he started walking towards her and he ignored her now as she looked at him askance, her entire posture fearful. He tossed her his heavy travel cloak, and she barely caught it, weighted down as it was at the ends with a lining of metal studs.

"I don't know what the hell you're doing strolling about in this weather without a jacket, but that should tide you over until you get back to...wherever the hell you're going."

Gajeel gathered his bag back up and left without another word. He was nearly to the end of Main Street before he glanced back and sighed in frustration. Levy was still standing there looking lost and holding his cloak like it was a snake about to bite her. He yelled at her from down the street, making her jump.

"Isn't your place that way?" He pointed in the general direction of Fairy Hills.

She didn't say anything and whirled on one foot, turning her back to him on purpose. He put one hand up to his temples and tried to massage away the pulsing headache he now had from this whole stupid situation. God damnit. He should have just left well enough alone. Now that he knew she was out, if she turned up dead in the morning, his conscious would never let him live it down.

Gajeel walked the entire way back up the street, cursing mentally all the way until he was finally standing in front of her again. Levy had sank back down against the wall and had his cloak draped awkwardly about her. He fought the urge to put it on her correctly and instead sank down next to her.

"Why the hell aren't you going back to your house?" he asked, with barely contained impatience. Levy sniffled and hugged his cloak and he felt a prickling of dread along his spine. Holding up a hand to forestall her answer, he muttered a quick "Please don't cry."

Her mouth set into a hard line and she looked down and swiped at her eyes, buying time to compose herself. Her voice was small and sad when she finally answered.

"Jet and Droy..."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. Shit. He should have figured that if anyone could make a girl cry, it would be those two idiots.

"What did they do?"

Levy stayed silent, hugging her knees to her but didn't reply.

"It was probably something about me, huh?"

She didn't look him in the eye, but she nodded once, emphatically. Her chin was trembling minutely and she bit her lip fiercely to stop it, but her tears welled up nonetheless, turning her world into a shimmering, blurry landscape of blue and gray.

Gajeel snorted.

"Fucking figures. Well, if that's the reason you aren't going back, that's just stupid. It's cold ou-"

She cut him off sharply. "I don't want to see them."

She was crying silently now, big tears running down her face, and his insides squirmed uncomfortably. When the hell had he gotten so sensitive to girls and their tears?

"I want to stay mad at them, those...those jerks!" She slammed her fists into the ground and winced at the pain. Half-sobbing, half-laughing, she swiped at her eyes again. "Is that so stupid of me? If I see them, I know that I'll forgive them, and right now I just want to be angry."

Gajeel frowned. "It's not stupid. You're not stupid."

He stood up abruptly and tugged at her elbow. "C'mon."

"W-what?" She was looking at him confusedly, and her eyes were huge and soft and uncomprehending and if he looked for too long, he might get suckered into doing anything for her so he snapped his gaze stiffly away.

"You can crash at my place to avoid them."

Levy instantly broke into a bleary smile and he was quick to add "But this is a one-time deal only, got it?"

She smiled at him regardless and his stomach jumped and did a weird flip before settling. Levy was still dusting herself off as Gajeel started walking towards his apartment, looking back occasionally to make sure he wasn't leaving her behind.

"And for god's sake, put the cloak on correctly!" he snarled, stopping to yank his travel cloak roughly over her head, fastening the clasps for her and muttering angrily to himself. Levy jerked in surprise at his sudden movement, but she let him adjust the cloak to his satisfaction, and now she trailed behind him in the too-large outfit, his tiny hooded shadow.

They trekked until they reached a small, shabby-looking house on the outskirts of Magnolia. Levy shivered in trepidation as she saw the crude metal crosses planted forebodingly in his front yard and the bars stapled across the windows, next to the repeating rows of metal studs that lined his front door.

Gajeel yanked open the door and walked in without a backwards glance to usher her in, and she dithered for a second, trying not to think about how much the entrance looked like the gaping, dark mouth of some huge animal, just waiting to swallow her.

Gajeel's impatient "Oi! You comin' in or not?" finally pushed her into action, and without time to hesitate further, she leapt through the open doorway.

It was dark inside, and she shivered weakly and drew the rough fabric of the travel cloak tighter about her as she looked left and right frantically, trying to pierce the darkness. Gajeel's voice cut through the silence, coming from a disembodied point somewhere in front of her.

"It isn't much, but this is where I live."

He tossed his travel bag into a corner, where it landed with a discordant clang of metal. Levy winced, then heard the flick of a match and then there was light as Gajeel lit a candle on a sconce by the door.

She looked around at his apartment, taking it in, completely amazed at how much steel he could fit under one roof. Honestly it looked more like a den than a house, with how he had altered it to fit him. The entire interior was jam-packed with all sorts of metal contraptions and trinkets made with varying degrees of skill. A huge assortment of weapons was stashed throughout the living room, but besides the metal, there was very little to indicate that a living, breathing person lived here.

Levy hurried away from the cold loneliness of the darkened living room to find Gajeel in the kitchen dining area, lighting another candle on the table. The table itself was covered with all manner of bolts and screws and metal attachments. She wondered how it stayed standing with the weight of all that steel packed on top of it. Then Gajeel turned to face her and she was suddenly afraid.

Here she was in the lair of the Iron Dragon, surrounded by the hard glitter of his steel treasure. She swallowed weakly, feeling like a hostage. Gajeel himself didn't help by looking extremely intimidating, his face shadowed harshly in the flickering candlelight so that his eyes reflected at her in red glints.

He turned away from her and the moment was lost and she could breathe again. Walking towards a closed door she hadn't noticed previously, he opened it, gesturing inside.

"That's the bedroom. There's a shower in there if you feel like freshening up. You can stay here tonight, but if you're gonna leave, let me know so I can make sure you get back to your place. It doesn't matter either way."

"I'm not leaving," she said softly.

He shrugged indifferently, moving past her and heading into the kitchen.

She sighed and tried to calm her nerves. It was all right that she was in this relatively unknown man's house by herself. It was all right that she would be staying the night with aforementioned unknown man.

It was...it was NOTall right, she concluded, hanging her head, but looking at Gajeel, who was sitting at the dining table and fiddling with a small metal box, she had the feeling that things might be okay, at least for now. That hopeful, optimistic feeling faded the longer the silence stretched between her and the Iron Dragon.

She scuffed her toe awkwardly against the wooden floorboards, hoping to attract his attention, but he didn't even twitch from what he was doing, which was steadfastly ignoring her, and she felt desperately self-conscious. Silently, she folded her legs under her, sitting with her back to the bedroom wall and buried her face into her knees. She tried not to think about the overwhelming loneliness of having the sole person in the room pretend that she wasn't there, and bit her lip to stifle her tears as her recollection of the day came back to taunt her.

Gajeel froze when he heard her start to sniffle again. Why did she always have to cry?He turned in his chair with a snarl to chew her out.

"YOU-!"

At that moment, she looked up at him hopefully, her eyes soft and shaded with tears and his mouth suddenly went dry and something in his brain seemed to lock up and he didn't really remember what he was saying anymore. He was left with his mouth hanging open and one accusatory finger still jabbed in her direction. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and abruptly turned to hide his flushed face, leaving behind a thoroughly-confused Levy.

She looked at his hunched back, brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what had just happened. He was ignoring her again, so she sighed and looked to her right at the open bedroom door.

Well, a shower did sound good, and she brightened at the prospect. Maybe it would help clear her frazzled mind and soothe her jangled nerves. Silently, she got up and slipped into the master bedroom.

It was as stark as the rest of his house. One large bed sat in the center of the opposite wall, with a single pillow and one thin, flannel blanket that looked scratchy. There was a large wardrobe dominating the wall next to the bed and she wondered if it contained several of the same outfits she always saw him wearing. That was the only explanation for his ability to wear the same thing every single day.

She stuck her head into the master bathroom, noting the scratchy-looking towel hanging on the rack and the dingy state of the tile flooring. Walking to the large tub, she fiddled with the gauges until she was reasonably sure how the shower worked before walking back to lock the bathroom door. She was pretty sure that Gajeel wouldn't just walk in, but then again, you never knew.

She turned the water on and undressed gingerly as steam began to fill the room, continuously shooting nervous glances at the door, which remained firmly shut. Finally, telling herself that she was being ridiculous and paranoid, she stepped into the shower and sighed with relief under the hot water, letting the stream wash away her troubles for the moment.

Reaching for the shampoo, she found that there was nothing on the rounded bathtub ledges except a single bar of soap. Well, how didthatwork, she wondered, tilting her head to look at the single white bar as she tried to figure it out. Did Gajeel wash his hair with his soap too? No way! How did it manage to stay so clean and shiny-looking? Shrugging, she decided that she'd just take another shower tomorrow and wash her hair a little more thoroughly, because no way was she going to use soap on her hair! That was just weird!

She finished up the rest of her shower with no further complications, and it was only as she was thinking about her comfortable pajamas that she realized…

"Gajeel! I-I didn't bring any clothes to change into!"

Gajeel, who had been crouched underneath his table trying to fix the god-awful annoying uneven fourth leg, jerked upright at her shout, banging his head on the underside of his table and sending miscellaneous bolts and screws tumbling to the ground. Clutching his head, he cursed violently. He was blushing, god damnit…

"Fucking shoulda known...Hold on!" He yelled back to her. A minute later his knock came at the door.

Levy opened it timidly and steam swirled out in pale tendrils as it met the cooler outside air. She stuck her head out of the crack in the door, hair dripping an awful mess onto the floorboards and peeked out to see Gajeel standing with his back to the wall on her far left, looking diligently away from the door and holding out some clothes at arms-length.

"Here, you can borrow these for tonight," he muttered sullenly.

Levy managed to snag the clothes from his hand, but he was standing so far away that she had to squeeze her entire arm up to the shoulder through the tiny gap between door and wall to get them. He fled immediately once she had the clothes in hand, and embarrassed, she slammed the bathroom door with a little more force than was necessary before looking down to consider what he had given her.

He'd grabbed a simple pair of boxers, a pair of flannel pajama pants and a sleeveless T-shirt for her, and they all looked far too big, but she set them carefully aside as she climbed back into the bathtub to finish her shower.

She lounged about under the hot water for a few more minutes before sighing and reluctantly turning the water off, wringing her hair out as best she could before reaching for the single towel on the rack. She wrinkled her nose at the dirty grey color, and hoped that it was reasonably clean before tentatively wrapping it around herself and stepping out of the tub.

It was scratchy, she thought, as the cheap fabric bristled against her shower-soft skin. Toweling herself off thoroughly and wrapping the damp towel about her hair so she wouldn't drip, she reached for the boxers and started to get dressed.

They were a reasonable fit, thank god for elastic waistbands, but the pajama pants were hopelessly huge, and she wound the drawstring as tightly as possible, folding the baggy bottoms so they wouldn't drag along on the ground. Holding up the shirt, she considered it apprehensively, looking at the immodest dip of the arm holes. Gajeel's arms were tonsbigger than hers, so when she pulled it on, it naturally exposed more than she would prefer for modesty's sake.

She yelled, knowing he could hear her through the door.

"Gajeel? Do you have a smaller shirt or something that you sleep in? This shirt you gave me is...it's a little too big."

"I sleep without a shirt," was his terse reply through the door, and her face flamed crimson at that totally unnecessary piece of information. Falling into an embarrassed silence, she tied knots into the shoulders to make sure it would stay up.

When she finally exited, rubbing the rest of her hair dry with the scratchy towel, Gajeel turned and snorted incredulously.

"You look ridiculous." He said bluntly.

She blushed angrily.

"Well, your clothes are too big for me!"

"Serves you right for not bringing any. Beggars can't be choosers."

She opened her mouth to retort but then thought the better of it, turning away from him stubbornly. He was fine with that, and returned to his metalwork on the table without giving her a second glance.

Levy went back into the bedroom and sat on the large bed. She bounced up and down angrily, knowing that Gajeel could hear the squeaking springs from outside, and she hoped it was annoying him to pieces! She paused to listen for a reaction, but there was nothing but silence and the occasional clink of metal on metal and she fumed. She'd teach that big iron lunkhead to ignore her!

Standing up, she started to jump up and down on the bed, listening to the springs creak and groan under her overenthusiastic leaping. She bounced for several minutes, until she was breathless and flushed, and finally sank down onto the bed, panting and in a much better mood than when she had started. She cocked an ear towards the door. Still nothing, not even angry muttering. She sighed. The Iron Dragon was incorrigible and there was nothing to be done about it.

She lay on the bed and rolled about until she was bored to tears and static-y all over from the cheap flannel blanket before finally going outside and sitting along the wall to his bedroom to watch him work. She was too far away to actually see what he was doing, but the focused intensity of his expression and the careful, authoritative movements of his hands over the shining metal intrigued her.

She edged closer in tiny increments until she was finally sitting across from him at his kitchen table. Finally satisfied with her view, she drew her legs up to her chest and watched him work, rapt with interest. His fingers are very deft, she thought, watching him examine and easily take apart a delicate bunch of gears, sifting them into makeshift piles according to size.

Gajeel continued to ignore her, although why she would want to watch him do something as boring as sort metal escaped him. He stole a split-second glance at her, to see that she was staring at his hands with a captivated expression, eyes wide and interested.

He gave a mental shrug at her fascination with something so mundane and continued to work, and the silence between them stretched into something more comfortable until he nearly forgot she was there, small as she was, curled into a little ball and practically disappearing in his too-large clothes.

It wasn't until he realized that she was falling asleep where she sat that he stopped to watch as her head dipped and bobbed. He held his breath and tried not to laugh as her head drooped low, almost touching the table before she jerked upright again, only for the process to repeat itself.

He finally took pity on her after she nearly smashed her face into the table on a particularly deep dip. Getting up quietly, he shook her shoulder gently (he didn't want to scare her, that's all, he told himself)

"Go to bed before you give yourself brain damage," he said, trying to sound cranky.

Her eyes were soft with sleep, and she hastily wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist, murmuring a protest about not being sleepy, but he grabbed her upper arm, which was all of his entire wrist – why was she so damn small? and pulled her along behind him, pushing her into his bedroom and closing the door behind her before stalking to his couch.

In the all-encompassing silence, Levy swallowed weakly and fumbled her way over to the bed, climbing in and pulling the thin blanket around her. His room had no windows and the darkness was absolute and she was scared.

Her bedroom in Fairy Hills was warm and cozy and blocked in on every side with books to create a comforting wall of words and paper around her as she slept, but his room was huge and she couldfeel the cold, empty expanse of space as it loomed threateningly overhead and it made her feel vulnerable and exposed, like she was sleeping out in the open and the emptiness was a prelude to attack. She felt like if she spoke, her voice would echo off the bare walls and reflect back at her, so she stayed utterly silent, afraid to even move for fear of the waiting darkness.

She wasn't remotely sleepy anymore as the blackness pressed in close and fear crawled in shivering trails along her spine, and she bolted upright and hugged the single pillow to her chest to ward off the growing panic.

It'll be okay, Levy. Don't be such a silly little crybaby! She admonished herself, squeezing the pillow like a stuffed animal, but her arguments turned feeble as fear built up in her chest with every passing second of darkness. Finally, unable to bear the stony, unending silence and pitch-black loneliness of his room, she called out.

"Gajeel!"

She thought that she was going to scream when finally the door opened and she nearly sobbed with relief as Gajeel entered, holding a lighted candle to find her hugging the pillow to herself like she would disappear if she let go of it.

"What the hell is wrong?" His voice was peeved and his eyes were narrow red slits.

She cast her eyes down to where she was twisting his blankets into knots in her apprehension.

"Spit it out! I don't want to stand here all day," he snarled.

"Gajeel...can you leave the candle here? I-I don't like the dark..."

Her voice was thin with fear, like someone was squeezing the information forcefully out of her and he sighed, passing a hand over his eyes.

"Look. I don't have that many candles to waste on account of you being scared of something as dumb as the dark."

She opened her mouth, terrified and he held up his hand.

"Which is why I'll...I'll sit here til' you fall asleep. Okay?"

Gajeel looked at the worry mark deepening between her eyes, knowing that she was weighing her fear of the dark against her fear of him and suddenly he hated himself for making that offer in the first place, irrationally hoping that she would reject it so he could burn her with a snide comeback. When the hell had he become so soft?

Finally she looked back at him and nodded shakily and he wasn't sure to be relieved or angry, but he jerked his head stiffly away (those eyes), going out to grab a chair from the dining table. Returning, he planted the chair by the doorway with a grumble and sat down himself before blowing out the candle.

The room went dark and still, and he heard Levy grope about for the blanket as she tried to make herself comfortable. He closed his eyes, crossed his arms, tried to get comfortable (which was completely impossible, given that he was sitting in a rickety, badly-made wooden chair), and sighed as Levy's voice floated out of the darkness, small and scared.

"Gajeel? Are you there?"

"Yeah. I'm here."

A few minutes of silence passed and he had just managed to droop into a light doze when her voice came again, tense and uncertain.

"Gajeel?"

He jerked awake with a growl. "Yeah? What?"

"I-it's nothing. Good night."

A couple more minutes passed before her hesitant voice came again.

"Gajeel?"

This time he burst out of the chair, fighting a roar of impatience and stomped over to his bed, cursing as he kicked something in the darkness. He could hear her shrinking away, her heart hammering as he finally managed to find the bedposts in the dark, and he sat himself on the very edge of the bed, as far away from her as possible, with his back to the headboard.

"God damn…Is this better? How the hell are either of us supposed to get any sleep when you keep on fucking checking if I'm there every 5 seconds?"

Levy was quiet, but the fearful hum of her heartbeat settled to a more reasonable rate and he heard the swish of blankets as she gathered the bedding around her again. Finally, there was blessed silence.

He twitched with surprise as her hand landed on his arm in the darkness. She hesitantly patted her way down to his fingers and gently took his index finger into one small hand. He was faintly aware that his heart was battering a wild rhythm against his ribs. What the hell was this?

"I-is this okay?" She squeezed his finger gently.

He didn't think he had enough air in his lungs to answer her, but somehow he managed a weak "Yeah..."

She murmured a shy thanks and he didn't know how to respond. What was this?He asked himself again, swallowing tensely and trying to ignore the fluttering sensation where his heart used to be.

"Gajeel?" She gave his finger a sleepy squeeze.

"Yeah?"

"Your blankets are scratchy."

He grinned in the dark. "Go to sleep, shorty."

And she did.

A/N - This story sorta acts as a prequel to Levy's Secret Santa gift for Gajeel.