Gajeel walked through the guild doors, tired from his mission. He sat down at the bar and looked around the guild, but he was looking for someone in particular. Her. He had thought about her a lot on his mission. A LOT. Mostly, because Lily had asked him a LOT of questions.

"What are you going to do about her?"

He didn't know.

"You have feelings for her don't you?"

NO. Maybe. He didn't know.

"Well, you kissed her didn't you?"

Yes. Kinda. Did that count? He didn't know.

"Well, do you want to kiss her again or not?"

Yes. NO. He didn't know!

"What do you mean you don't KNOW?"

He didn't KNOW. He wanted her. But he couldn't have her, right?

"Why not?"

Because… He'd hurt her once already, right? So he was bound to do it again, right?

"And you're not willing to take that chance? To trust yourself that you won't hurt her?"

Yes. No. Wait. What?

"You're not going to hurt her, Gajeel. Surely you must know that you care about her too much to do that?"

Silence.

"And if you say you don't know one more time…"

He didn't KNOW, okay? He just… didn't know.

"She's not here." His thoughts were interrupted by Mira standing behind him, polishing a glass. "She went on a mission with Jet and Droy. She should be back tomorrow."

Gajeel huffed. "I didn't ask." He turned away from her.

Mira frowned. "If you hurt her, Gajeel Redfox, I'll-"

Wrong thing to say. Gajeel looked at her sharply. "Don't worry Demon, I ain't gonna do anything." He stood up. He didn't have to listen to this from her too. He knew already.

"That's exactly my point, Gajeel." Mira stopped him.

Wait, what? "What the hell're you talking about?"

Mira put the glass down and put her hands on her hips. "I'm saying that you'll hurt her if you don't do anything Gajeel." Mira sighed. "Just… don't push her away, okay?"

Gajeel glared at her, turned and walked out of the guild.

Push her away so that he couldn't hurt her, or hurt her by pushing her away? Wait, does either of those even make any sense? HE JUST DIDN'T KNOW!

XXXXxxxx

Levy entered the guild the next morning. She had come home late from her mission and went straight to bed because she was exhausted. When she entered the guild, her eyes were searching for one person. Not that she had to look hard, he was in his usual corner, sulking. She smiled slightly; she wouldn't really expect anything less of him. She sat down beside him at the bar, smiling. Smiling at him.

"Hello Gajeel! How was your mission?"

He looked at her smiling face and shrugged. "Fine. Yours?"

Her grin widened. "Great!"

And she started talking about her mission. How nice the old man was. How evil the dark mages were. How bravely Jet and Droy fought. How tired she was when she got back. He could listen to her talk like this for hours. He wasn't good at talking, but she was, so he just sat and listened.

"So…" She seemed to be thinking about something. "I guess we'll just have to have your lessons here from now on. I'd have you come to Fairy Hills, but I don't think Erza would like that very much…"

"Nonsense." Lily flew over and landed on the bar between the two. Gajeel muttered something about 'eavesdropping cats' before Lily continued. "You can have the lessons at our house."

"R-really?" Levy looked skeptically at the iron dragonslayer before her. "Are you sure that's okay, Gajeel?"

Gajeel shrugged. "It's fine, Shrimp. Lily made me clean up the place yesterday so you won't trip and kill yourself on anything sharp." He grinned and Levy couldn't help but notice that his teeth were… sharp.

"Oh. Okay then!" Levy smiled and grabbed her bag of books. "Shall we then?"

Lily flew off in the lead, followed closely by Levy and then Gajeel beside her.

XXXXxxxx

There was a lot of iron. Granted, she should have expected that. But, since he said that he had cleaned up, she had thought the place would be moderately, well, clean. It wasn't. It seemed like everything was made of iron. The furniture was either made out of or supported by metal, the decorations (what few he had) were lined with iron and there were metal scraps and contraptions lying…. Everywhere.

"W-wow, Gajeel…" Levy looked around in amusement.

"I know." Lily hopped off Gajeel's shoulder. "It's still really messy." The cat then walked out of the room towards the kitchen.

"Is not!" Gajeel shouted. "It's perfectly fine!"

Lily and Levy both rolled their eyes. "Alright Gajeel let's get started." Levy smiled and sat down on the couch, Gajeel sitting beside her. Levy put her books on the table and selected one out of the stack. "I think you're ready to try something, Gajeel." She handed the small book to him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Just try reading it, okay?"

He looked at the cover. He recognized these letters! "Jake. The…. Dog."

Levy smiled. "Keep going."

Gajeel sighed and opened it to the first page. "See. The. Dog." So far so good, next page. "See the dog… run." Next page… "See the dog run….fast." Next page! "The dog's…. name?" He looked at Levy for approval, and she nodded. "The dog's name is Jake."

"You're doing great, Gajeel!" Levy was grinning like a proud teacher would.

He turned back to the next page. "Jake is a dog." Next. "Jake has a…" He looked back to Levy.

"Friend." She answered.

"Jake has a friend." Okay, good. Next page. "His… friend's… name. Is Finn." Gajeel looked back to Levy. "What the hell kind of story is this?"

Levy frowned. "Just keep going!"

Gajeel sighed. Next page. "Finn is a… human." Well duh! Next page. "Finn and Jake…" Gajeel looked back to Levy for help.

"Just try sounding it out." She encouraged.

Gajeel furrowed his brows in concentration and glared at the page. "Finn and Jake… rake?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

She giggled. "Close. It's race, with an 's' sound."

"Oh." Gajeel frowned. "Okay, so Finn and Jake race. Makes more sense." Next page. "Jake. Wins. The race." Next page… "Jake is a fast dog." Didn't they say that already? Next page. "Finn…." He glanced at Levy who gave him an encouraging nod. "L-loooaaaves?"

She smiled up at him, amusement shining in her eyes. "Loves, Gajeel. It's loves."

"Oh. Right. Finn…loves… Jake." The hell? Why was his heart beating faster! It's just a word! He turned the page over sharply. "The. End." He looked at her while she looked at him. She was grinning like a madwoman. "What?"

She smiled wider. "Gajeel…. You just read! You read your first book!" She squealed and was nearly bouncing with excitement.

He rolled his eyes and looked away from her. "Tch. Dumbest book ever." Not like he'd know…

But she didn't care that he insulted the book. She through her arms around his neck and… hugged him. "I'm so proud of you!"

He was tempted to push her off of him. But she was so… warm. And soft. And small. So instead, he put one hand between her shoulder blades and the other on the small of her back. He pulled her a tiny bit closer. He was going to say that it wasn't a big deal. Instead, he ended up saying, "Thanks Bookworm".

She pulled her arms back, smiling at him, but then realized their position. She was basically sitting on his lap. She blushed and jumped up, gathering her belongings, leaving a few books similar to the one he just read on the coffee table. "U-uhm, I have to go now, but j-just look at those and see if you can read them. O-okay? A-and we'll work on more tomorrow."

Wait, she was leaving already? How long did it take him to finish that one stupid book!? He nodded and watched her as she shouted her goodbyes to Lily, waved and left. He picked up the books and started to read them. They were dumb, pointless stories, but each one got easier to read. He read as it got late into the evening, at some point Lily sat on his shoulder. At some point it started to rain, to storm even. And at some point, somebody knocked on the door. And then they knocked again.

Gajeel sighed, put the book down, and stood up, disrupting Lily from his slumber. He stormed over to the door and swung it open. The figure was shadowed in darkness and rain. When the lightning struck he could make out who it was, but it wouldn't have mattered. He would recognize this scent anywhere. Still, his eyes widened in surprise to see her here. "Juvia?"

AN: What? No kiss? I know… not yet… but they had an awkward hug! And then suddenly… Juvia. Next chapter has GajeelxJuvia friendship and more GaLe fluff! Fear not fans! Their kiss will come! Eventually… Review Please?