Summary: Levy and Gazille take steps forwards and backwards, life takes twists, paths take turns. The evolution of their relationship. Series of interrelated oneshots; nonchronological. Five: Girls play dress up, Levy is insecure, Gazille is in shock, and wins over another piece of Levy's heart.

of steps, twists, and turns

levy x gazille

five: glamorous

Erza stared at Lucy's table and its contents warily. "Are you sure about this?" she asked finally.

"Of course!" Lucy said as she dragged over a full-length mirror. "No girl needs make-up, but every girl should know how to use it!"

"It'll be fun!" Levy chimed in happily. Beside her, Lluvia looked just as wary as Erza and a tad frightened. Wendy, on the other hand, was just as excited as the Spirit and Solid Script mages.

"So it can be considered a skill?" Erza mused. "Interesting. Proceed, then." Lucy grinned and eyed her scarlet-haired friend critically, deciding what colors to use.

"Wendy's still too young," Charle objected as the Sky Dragon Slayer pored over the countless bottles, tubes, palettes, brushes, and clips that the female mages had pooled together.

"Charle," Wendy rolled her eyes. "I'm almost eighteen—I'm definitely old enough. Besides, it's like Erza said! It's a skill." Charle settled down by Wendy grumpily, but also mildly intrigued by a tube of electric red lipstick.

"Yeah," Cana cackled from her lazy position on Lucy's bed, "for luring in men."

"Oh, Cana," Mirajane huffed disapprovingly. "It's not about men, it's about women. We know we're beautiful, but sometimes we need things to help us feel it. And then we're confident, and we are at our most beautiful!"

"And it's fun," Levy smiled as she rifled through warm spring colors for Wendy's nails. "Robin's egg blue sound good?" Wendy nodded eagerly. "What girl doesn't like dressing up and going all-out glamorous once in a while?"

"You know, I think this calls for a girls' night out," Lisanna declared as she began to straighten Lluvia's hair.

Lucy swept pale pink lipstick over Erza's lips expertly before straightening and declaring, "We need music!"

"We could go to that new fancy restaurant that opened up," Lluvia offered.

"Ooh, perfect!" Mirajane squealed. "Maybe we should turn it into a huge date night," she suggested.

"That defeats the purpose of a girls' night out," Lisanna argued. They all jumped slightly when Lucy began blasting music.

"I've heard very high praises of the restaurant," Erza remarked as Lucy returned to carefully brush eyeshadow over her eyelids.

"Then it's settled," Lisanna smiled.

"Levy," Wendy said, "I thought you had a date with Gazille tonight though?"

"Well, that's no reason for you all to not have fun tonight," Levy smiled, finishing off the teen's last pinky. "I'll be there next time."

"That was very fast," Lluvia commented, impressed. The other blue-haired mage grinned as Wendy ooh-ed over her nails.

"Being a Solid Script mage gives me practice," she joked, screwing the bottle shut. "Okay, Wendy, do you want to try to copy me while I put on make-up or do you want me to put it on for you?"

"Copy?"

"Okay, so…"

"Macao, have you seen Gazille?" The older mage turned at Levy's question and let out a whistle.

"You look great, Levy-chan," he grinned. "Special occasion?"

"Not really. All the girls were at Lucy's and we kind of went crazy with the make-up," Levy admitted. Macao chuckled.

"Women."

"Hey!" She whacked him with her purse.

"Female mages—ow! Ow, okay, okay. Why couldn't you have grown up being nice and not scary like all the other women," he grumbled jokingly. Levy raised her purse again threateningly.

"I will use this," she warned.

"All right, all right," the man chuckled. "What happened to respecting your elders?"

"You're not that old…yet," Levy teased.

"I resent that. Anyways, the kid said something about showering before finding you."

"Thanks, Macao," Levy pecked him on the cheek before flouncing out of the guild.

Wakaba's head turned noticeably as he returned to the table with food for him and Macao.

"Was that…?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Kids," Macao sighed as he dug into his potatoes, "they grow up so fast."

"Gazille?" Levy let herself into Gazille's apartment. "It's me. Are you home?"

No response.

"Gazille," she called again. "Lily?"

The Exceed padded out of his bedroom. "Gazille's in the show—wow," he smiled warmly. "You look great, Levy. Is tonight special or something?"

Levy held her arms out for the Exceed to jump into. "The girls and I were playing around with make-up," the Solid Script mage replied as she hugged him tightly before releasing him. "Lisanna insisted on straightening my hair," she explained, tugging on a long blue lock self-consciously.

"It's different, but not in a bad way," Pantherlily reassured her.

Levy's wavy locks had been straightened and then swept back one side by a pair of glittering butterfly clips. Her cinnamon brown eyes were lined by black and shadowed by smoky, shimmering gray and black.

"You don't think Gazille will think I'm…being ridiculous?" she whispered.

"Gazille doesn't care about appearances, but he's not incapable of appreciating them. You know that."

"I know, I know," Levy sighed. "I've just never dressed up quite so much…" She touched the glittering crystals that dangled from her earlobes. "I even put on lipstick. I hate lipstick. Do you know how long it's been since I've worn a dress?"

"I assume it has been a while."

"It's been almost two years," she groaned, wishing she could rub her eyes. She resisted the urge for the sake of the sparkling colors on her eyelids.

"They are not really necessary for jobs," Pantherlily pointed out.

"And heels," she showed him the strappy black stilettos that Lucy had loaned her. "Four inches. I'm not used to it. Maybe I should just go home and change," she sighed. "This isn't me."

"Are you uncomfortable or worried about what Gazille will think?"

Levy sat down on the couch heavily. "I know he wouldn't just partner up with me for missions randomly, and I know we've been together for a while, but…still. I just want him to take me seriously, you know?" Pantherlily looked up at her seriously.

"You are a skilled, talented, and powerful mage. You are extremely intelligent and humorous and kind. Gazille knows this. He is not the kind of person to be attracted to a woman solely based on appearances." The Exceed shrugged. "The fact that you are extraordinarily beautiful is merely a bonus."

Levy flushed. Lucy and Erza and all the other women of the guild were extraordinarily beautiful. She usually just hoped for cute, especially because of her height.

"You do not need to worry about him taking you seriously. He always has. And he is still here, is he not?" Pantherlily patted her leg reassuringly. "Also, I have come to understand that women enjoy dressing up like this," he gestured to her eveningwear. "If you like it, why not wear it?"

The Solid Script mage smoothed her hands over her dress with a smile. She was wearing a strapless, violet dress that clung to her body in all the right places and ended just above her knees, the color muted by an overlay of sheer black fabric that glittered with hundreds of tiny crystals. A simple black wrap hung around her arms and she held a matching black purse in one hand.

Levy had seen the dress while on a rare shopping trip with Lucy—who had, at the time, just begun to enjoy and maintain steady income unimpeded by Natsu's, Gray's, and Erza's destructive rampages—and fallen in love with it. Even knowing she might never have the opportunity to wear it, she had still purchased it. Wearing it made her feel like a princess.

"You're right. Thanks, Lily."

The Exceed patted her leg once more. "Anytime." His ears twitched in the direction of the bathroom. "Sounds like he's finally done. He is as bad as I hear women are supposed to be."

"Oi," Gazille growled loudly, "I heard that, cat."

"I know," Pantherlily replied unrepentantly.

"I'll be ready soon, Levy. Got back from my job later than I thought I would," Gazille called.

"It's fine, no rush," Levy called back. Nevertheless, Gazille stepped into the living room just five minutes later as he buttoned up his shirt.

"Let's…go…" his voice died when he looked up at Levy, who had stood from the couch when she heard his loud footsteps heading her way. He goggled slightly. "Uh."

Levy had only seen him at a loss for words a few times before. Still, she flushed more from embarrassment than the happiness—and smugness—that flooded through her at his stunned reaction to her appearance.

"Wow," he said collecting himself. Gazille cleared his throat. "You look…uh…" he cleared his throat. "You look really nice."

A smile blossomed across Levy's face and she tucked away a laugh at Pantherlily's exasperated expression. "Thanks," she said shyly. "You too."

Gazille glanced down. "Maybe I should…match you." Levy's heels clicked across the wood floor of the apartment as she walked over to the Iron Dragon Slayer and looped her arm around his. She was pleasantly surprised when she found her heels propelled her to just above Gazille's shoulder.

"Come on, we'll be late for our reservation." She smiled brightly at him and tugged him towards the door.

"Are you sure?" he muttered gruffly. "You're all…" Levy leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"We match just fine. Don't worry about it."

"I don't want you to be embarrassed." Onyx colored eyes focused determinedly on the floor as a slight flush rose on the Iron Dragon Slayer's neck.

"What?" Levy asked, astonished. "Gazille, there is nothing about you I would ever be embarrassed about, least of all how you look!" Before she could add more, Pantherlily dropped a black blazer on top of Gazille's head.

"I hate jackets," the Iron Dragon Slayer grumbled, yanking it on in spite of his words.

"It's fancier," the Exceed retorted. "At least I'm not making you wear a tie." Levy hid a smile behind her hands.

"Making me!" Gazille said, outraged.

"I can't have my human embarrassing me," Pantherlily all but sniffed.

"Why, you—"

"And don't wear your boots," the Exceed added as he dodged a swipe. Levy couldn't contain a giggle.

"Bossy cat, I'll show you," Gazille growled under his breath as he shoved his feet into a pair of dress shoes that had obviously only been worn a handful of times, likely for jobs that had dress codes.

Levy kissed him on the cheek when he straightened and slipped her arm into his. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Lily, lock up for us," Gazille half-asked, half-ordered. The Exceed rolled his eyes and pushed them out the door.

"Have fun," he replied as the couple walked down the stairs that led up to Gazille's apartment.

"Bye, Lily!" Levy waved.

"I'm turning off the light," Gazille said. "Do you need anything?"

"No," Levy replied as she tucked herself under the covers of his bed. "I'm good."

The light flicked off, and a moment later, Gazille slid into the bed. His arm automatically curled around her, pulling her into him. Levy sighed happily at the warmth on her back. "I had a lot of fun today," she told him softly.

"Me too," he mumbled into her hair. It had been a long day for him, although enjoyable nonetheless.

"We could have put off our date," Levy began worriedly. She always wanted to give him the day to rest when he came back from jobs, but he always insisted that he was fine.

"I'm fine," Gazille said firmly, kissing the top of her head. "Besides…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You—it would have been different." As always, she guessed what he had been about to say, although this time it had a little more to do with the fact that it was something she had been worrying over all night.

"Was it weird? Did I look weird?" Levy whispered into the dark, unaware that he had turned slightly red moments earlier.

"No," he murmured, "I was goin' to say that if we had put it off, I wouldn't have gotten to see you all dolled up."

Gazille was definitely red now. Sure, he didn't care about appearances, but damn. It wasn't that he didn't think Levy was beautiful—he did, and regularly had to stop himself from staring at her, although that wasn't all to do with her beauty—but he'd never seen her dressed up like that, and he'd be lying if he said that it didn't inflate is manly ego a great deal to think that she had dressed up, well, for him. Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

"You…you looked amazing. But," he added, "you don't need all the extra stuff."

"But it wasn't weird?" Levy turned to look at him, curling into his warmth. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could make out the outline of his face.

"Look, I'm pretty sure this is one of those girl things that I'll never understand," Gazille said gruffly. "It's weird to me, but if it's fun and you like it, then, it doesn't matter what I think," a large hand brushed against her cheek with a gentleness no one would have thought the Iron Dragon Slayer possessed, "you can do whatever the hell you want. You always look…" he trailed off and sighed.

Gazille curled his arm around the petite Solid Script mage and pulled her into him even more. He kissed her forehead. "You're always beautiful to me, Levy," he murmured.

An enormous smile blossomed across her face, along with a blush she was glad the darkness hid. She snuggled into him even more.

"You're not so bad yourself," she teased.

He snorted in amusement and tucked his chin into her hair. "Go to sleep, woman."

disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything related to it; I do, however, own this story idea/plotline/etc.

written: 1 May 2011 - 26 August 2011 (Look at how long that took!)

published: 26 August 2011

word count: 2,266

notes:

-I am SO sorry that it took me so long to update! I have no excuses. Well, I do. They involve life and writer's block.

-This is intended to be another "step." Yes, it's pretty sappy. That wasn't really my intention. I wanted it to be about Levy being insecure about her beauty, about how Gazille thinks she's beautiful anyways, inside and out. Of course, the inside part didn't really come up directly, but I meant for there to be the implication with the whole Gazille doesn't care about appearances thing. And I wanted to make a statement about how they're partners in every sense of the word, and they support and love each other (although it hasn't been said at this point in the timeline), because Levy isn't the only one with insecurities.

-Are you guys at all interested in seeing me actually write a date for them? I considered adding it in, but I didn't really know what to write, and I didn't want to get off topic.

-Thank you to those who reviewed/favorited this story!

request(s):

-If you caught any mistakes (of any kind), please let me know!

-Tell me how it turned out and review, yeah? (Please! I'm always eager to know your opinions, constructive criticism and whatnot.)

-Come back for the next storydrabblething if you liked it?