Author's Note: Ba-ding! Quicker update than usual for this final chapter. I never intended Limits to be a long story; it was always only 5 chapters. I don't know if people will feel like it's incomplete or something, but this is complete for me.

Thank you to all my readers and especially to you reviewers who are kind enough to take some time out of your day to drop me some feedback. I will always write because I love to, but really, it's always gratifying to know what your readers think.

Anyway, it's been good, everyone! Please read on.

Limits by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 5 – Sometimes

It was easy to stay entertained when he was with Levy. Not a word had to be spoken to keep him content. All she had to do was be there, doing her own thing—whatever it was—and he could watch her. Gajeel knew this wasn't always going to be the case, but for now, it was because she was such a bright light in life while he was just some sort of dim lamp or something.

The way she smiled when she looked at something was wonderful. It was probably something that was ridiculous to get excited over, but he couldn't help himself. He was a full-on dork when it came to her, though he was definitely never going to admit that out loud. If Levy were to ever find out how he admired her when she was preoccupied, he was never going to live it down. Sure, she looked innocent enough, but she was not above torturing him with her teasing.

And...he didn't know how in the hell he was going to get out of this. The words were stuck in his stupid throat, which was the most annoying thing that could possibly happen since basically ever since he'd wanted to say it, he had been acting like some lovesick little girl that couldn't stop staring at her crush. He just wanted to get it off his chest, let her know, but every time he tried to, he just couldn't. He couldn't figure out why. It was just not working.

Gajeel felt horribly guilty every time she said it to him. She always looked so happy when the words rolled off her tongue and he wondered how she did it, because they both felt it, yet she was the only one who could say it so freely.

He wish he could just do it. He longed for that sense of relief that he simply couldn't get a hold of. Why couldn't he...why couldn't he just say it?

Right now was the perfect time to bring it up. She was lying on her stomach on the bed, tapping the end of her pen on her chin thoughtfully as she hummed softly. She looked so relaxed, comfortable in a pair of gray sweatpants and orange tank top in his apartment. They were alone, just the two of them. They were a couple, right? They were so in tune with each other right now, and it still wasn't happening.

And so he simply sat and stared, inwardly glowering because he could easily get the puke out of his mouth after going on a particularly irritating train ride, but words apparently liked to hang out right at the top of his throat without exiting despite all intentions.

This was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

"Are you okay?" her voice cut through his train of thought.

Gajeel looked up from his spot in his single seat, slumped back, more from his grumpy state of mind than for his own personal preference. The position certainly wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but he didn't tell her that. She was peeking back over her shoulder where she was working on a birthday card for Lucy, looking more worried really than anything else. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't okay at all. She probably already knew, but she was always completely respectful of him when it came to this sort of thing. She always had been, though he was the one that was more lenient with spilling his guts to her now. He'd learned from his mistakes and he didn't plan on ever getting that close to losing her again. Besides, Gajeel knew he could trust her and that was all that was what solidified this.

"I'm...fine," he lied, though he could tell she could see right through that. He wasn't trying to hide it from her really anyway. He just couldn't talk about it.

Levy could've easily pried, but she didn't. Instead, she simply turned back around and continued to work on her little piece of art. "Okay."

Augh, damn it. Even with her being infinitely patient, he still couldn't get a word out.

"You're going to help out with Lucy's party, right?" she asked, not looking up this time.

Right, another party. If there was one thing he actually felt his guild went overboard with, it was definitely the number of celebrations, or bashes, or festivities—whatever the hell the various names for them were—that were held amongst their family on a yearly basis. Oh hell, on a weekly basis, the amount of parties they had was ridiculous. Of course, he didn't really complain because they involved him having an excuse to play guitar without feeling embarrassed about his hobby and he generally had a good time all around.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," he replied airily, not really caring too much. The big birthday party had been Natsu's idea anyway, and he hadn't picked that idiot out to be a giant sap, but Gajeel found he'd guessed wrong. For some reason, the guy found it extremely important because it was Lucy's third year in the guild. Bah, whatever.

He heard her sigh and his heart stopped for a second. Crap, was she mad? Was he in trouble? No, no, no, he hated it when she was mad at him. There were shitty feelings all around and then every time he apologized, he felt a little fragment of his pride breaking and shattering on the floor. He was pretty sure that in the next three years, he wasn't going to have a shred of pride left. But she mattered more than that, so it was a sacrifice he willingly made but no.

She's not mad, right? What the fuck did I do wrong? I put the seat down earlier, didn't I? Did I forget some special event or something?

Gajeel was basically frozen in place as Levy got off the bed, only able to relax when she turned around and he was able to see her face which wasn't in any way showing signs of irritation. Air finally returned to his lungs and he wasn't quite sure what her intention was anymore, but at least she wasn't mad.

She simply grabbed his wrist and tugged his arm a bit. "Come on. Draw with me. I have no idea why you're sulking so much, but I think it'll help if you do something therapeutic."

Therapeutic? Drawing? Uh, yeah right. There was no possible way making some ugly picture was going to make him feel better. Besides, she was the artist. She was the one who loved to create, give life through a pen. He liked musical artistry, not lines on a paper.

Still, complying with her request was probably more productive than just sitting here slumped in his chair. And it would make her happy, which was ultimately what he wanted to accomplish. Wasn't the reason he was so in turmoil with himself about not being able to voice his feelings was because he thought it would hurt her?

Well, no, not completely. He just...

"Fine, but you can't look. And if I catch you peeking, you're dancin' at all my gigs," he agreed, making sure to leave a teasing threat behind.

"Gajeel! I won't look, okay? Just get over here!" she whined, exasperated as she jerked him away from the chair and towards the bed.

"Didn't know you were so forward," Gajeel said with a smirk. Her face absolutely glowed red and he felt a wave of satisfaction. The reaction she had to those types of comments were always the same. He couldn't help himself.

Levy flicked one of her pens at him in retaliation, trying to save herself from embarrassment. Unfortunately, his dodge reflexes failed him and the opened pen left a dark blue dot on his arm. He went to retrieve the object, grinning like an idiot as she huffed and leapt onto the bed to continue her work. So very worth it.

He splayed out next to her on his stomach, looking over curiously at her drawing. She was working on an elegant sketch of a carnation on the front of Lucy's card. Levy only even really drew for fun, but damn, the dragon slayer really hoped she knew how talented she was.

Without so much as a glance, Levy snatched her sketchbook from its place higher up on the bed and slammed it down in front of her boyfriend. He frowned. What the hell was he going to do on this thing that could possibly make him feel any better? Heck, the blank sheet was already making him feel worse. Therapeutic indeed. He didn't know how she could just go at it like that. This stupid white piece of paper was menacing.

"Just start with anything," Levy suggested, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

...But she didn't know. Maybe it was troubling not knowing what to start with on a blank sheet of paper, but knowing what he wanted to say and not being able to say it was far worse. It was so stupid, so trivial. He didn't understand why it couldn't just roll off his tongue. He was never one for so much sentiment, but this wasn't supposed to be this difficult. It wasn't supposed to be harder than putting something down on paper. This wasn't supposed to be a big deal...

Gajeel let out a puff of air and drew a line on the paper.

Levy found solace in drawing. Reading would always be her favourite hobby, but she had been an artsy person for her entire life. As an intellectual, losing herself in the arts was relaxing because she didn't have to think; she simply did what came naturally and let it flow from her fingers.

Occasionally, she wanted to think though. While she shaded in the shadows of the flower she was working on, she pondered Gajeel's actions of late. He was a bit strange recently, being more of a grump than usual and seemingly inwardly scolding himself. About what, she hadn't the slightest clue, but admittedly, wondering what was going through his mind got a little frustrating at times. She had been around him long enough to figure out that there were times when she could pry and there were times when she had to wait it out. This issue addressed the latter. She could tell that this one wasn't leaving the iron dragon slayer's mouth without some sort of peace of mind.

"Shit," he muttered from his place adjacent to her, causing her to look up and over at him.

She hadn't meant to, but her eyes caught sight of his little masterpiece. There was a wolf with very sporadic spiky hair and angry eyes that appeared to have extra lengthy anterior legs. Then there was the bloody, mangled bunny rabbit that was locked within the jaws of said wolf. The thing that was most evident, however, was the great detail put into the blood trail and spatter from the predator's victory. Gajeel seemed to be grappling with the rabbit's tail now and having trouble with the way he wanted it to look. Overall, her impression of his work was that he had put very little effort into the wolf drawing, but had put such explicit detail into the appearance of the bunny.

...What the heck...?

"You're lookin'," Gajeel accused her, eyes narrowing.

Levy jumped at his sudden assertion, smiling nervously as he glowered at her. Perfect; if there was one thing Gajeel enjoyed making her do, it was sticking her in that ridiculous bunny costume. In fact, she kind of felt that the idiotic bunny costume was way overused in their guild. Erza probably loved that thing more than she loved Jellal—of course, she actually had the assets to pull it off, but still.

"I...wasn't looking," she muttered weakly in a last attempt to put up some sort of fight. It was pretty much a losing battle, but she still had to try.

"Please, bunny girl, don't bother trying to cover up," he snickered as he lazily shuffled over to cover her with his arm.

She pushed her card away and snuggled up to him instead. This dragon boy and his flirting took up too much of her time and she had absolutely no problem with that. She could finish her card later.

"I'm not covering up anything. You're just mean," Levy shot back playfully.

"Don't think you should be insulting me when you're at my mercy." He squeezed his arm around her waist to emphasize his point and she wriggled in response.

"It's not an insult if it's the truth," she retorted pointedly.

"Tryin'a be smart with me," Gajeel snorted, and she squeaked when he pulled her closer, squishing her against the mattress with his weight. He was far from light, considering his significant height advantage and muscled build. His damn testosterone won him these battles too often for her tastes. She was glad he actually listened to her, but he seemed to let her have her way most of the time, despite pretending to put up a fight. In return, she respected his ego and tried her best not to damage his pride.

Levy didn't exactly have to pretend when it came to things like this though. He actually was squishing her and her small frame wasn't equipped to handle his weight, even if it wasn't hurting her. "Gajeel, you're too heavy!" she shrilled, squirming underneath his body as she manoeuvred herself to get her arms free. Once she did, trying to shove him off was no easy feat.

"No manners," he chided, resisting her attempts to get out from under him.

"Just mean!" the solid script mage countered. Feeling slightly vengeful, she attacked his weak spot, gripping his ribs relentlessly.

The dragon slayer rose off her quickly onto his knees, a stupid grin on his face while he scratched his area of injury. "Damn it, midget!"

Freedom finally back, she attacked him again, this time hugging him tight around the torso. She peered up from his midsection and smiled at his soft expression. She never needed him to be romantic or a giant sap, declaring his feelings for her off rooftops; she just wanted things to be like this. They were stupid and he was cute—something he would never show anyone else, but that was all that was necessary. Knowing that he was committed to her, to making them work and to letting her in...she didn't need the words. They were already with her.

"Hi there," Levy greeted, her lips curving at the edges.

He ruffled her messy hair. "Hey."

Gajeel sank back into the back, pulling her into his lap and kissing her gently. She moved her arms around his neck, deepening the contact for a moment before planting a two smaller kisses on his lips, then leaned onto his shoulder. The feeling was golden. Just the amount of tribulations they had gone through to get to this point left her feeling a tranquility now she wouldn't have been as grateful for.

"I love you, Gajeel," she told him. Sometimes she just wanted to say it. Sometimes, she just wanted him to let him know even if he already knew it. He had never said it back, but she was fine with that. This wasn't like all those months ago where she was so uncertain as to where their relationship was going. She knew he wanted to be with her just as much as she wanted to be with him. She knew he trusted her enough to let her in. All those insecurities that used to be there were gone. He didn't have to say a word.

"I know," he replied quietly, Levy more feeling his response from the vibration in his throat as she rested her forehead against the side of his neck. He seemed more subdued than normal lately and she briefly wondered if it had to do with why he was brooding so much recently.

"So what's with the violent rabbit imagery?" the solid script mage asked curiously.

"So you admit you saw it."

"Maybe."

Gajeel didn't anger at all, shrugging it off a little carelessly. "I just felt like it."

She blinked in confusion. "You felt like...the rabbit?"

He looked conflicted for a moment, like was wasn't sure if he was ready to tell her yet. "Yeah, I felt like the rabbit," he confirmed after a few more seconds.

"Is that why there was blood everywhere? Something big's bothering you," Levy deduced worriedly. She held the side of his face and pecked his cheek. "It's alright."

"I don't know why you're always so patient with me," he muttered as he glared at the wall.

"Well, you are a pain sometimes," she admitted thoughtfully. "I mean, you're always messing up my hair, and you call me short all the time, and then you make me dress up in those bunny suits that I can't even fill out..."

His eyes narrowed at her. She poked him on the cheek. "But I love you, you know. And sometimes those things annoy me and sometimes they don't. The important thing is that I know those things about you and I know those things about me, but I love you anyway."

Gajeel didn't say a word, simply holding her silently as he processed her confession. She rarely had to reassure him, but she did, she knew it had to be for good reason. Even if it didn't ease his mind, she wanted to be able to soothe his troubled thoughts for a bit.

"...Thanks."

Levy looked at him quizzically, not expecting that in the least. Being sentimental hardly ever yielded that kind of reply. She couldn't help but think he must be feeling really horrible if he was saying something like that so easily.

"No problem."

She was a little distracted after that herself, having eventually untangled herself from his grasp and moved over to the desk across the room. Her attempt to continue drawing Lucy's card was a complete failure. Focus without thought was thrown out the window and her brain was muddled with questions. What was he so worried about? What could possibly have him acting like this?

Levy huffed in her seat, turning to lean on the side of the back support of the chair. Gajeel had fallen asleep a short while ago, passed out on the bed where she left him. If anything, his sleep was peaceful. At least she'd gotten him to rest enough for that.

Ugh, maybe I'll just go to sleep too, she thought restlessly as she stood from the table. The solid script mage sauntered over to Gajeel's dresser, pulling open the drawer he had awkwardly gifted her last month (in a gruff manner with the reddest face she'd ever seen while so eloquently saying, "Just put your shit in here," before he walked away and left her standing in the middle of the room with an empty wooden drawer). She peered into her storage only to find that her pajama shorts and one of her t-shirts were missing. Odd... Levy was organized about her things, almost to the point of being neurotic. She knew for certain that she had made sure everything was tucked away into the correct location before she had closed her drawer.

Grumbling to herself, she closed her drawer, absent-mindedly thinking perhaps she'd left it elsewhere until the drawer didn't close quite properly. She pushed against it again, feeling it recoil slightly off something soft behind it. Levy chewed the side of her cheek in annoyance as she realized what it was. Sometimes it was a hassle being a girl, having so many clothes even at a place that wasn't her own.

"Must've fallen back there when I opened it..." she muttered in exasperation. She gripped the handle of the drawer below her own and attempted to open it, but it only gave slightly. She frowned and tugged a little harder. I never thought a pair of shorts and a t-shirt could irritate me this much.

Running low on patience, she braced herself with her left hand on the dresser on the right on the handle, then yanked. Hard.

...She should've known better. It was like going back in time, trying to open that stubborn pack of candy as a child without a pair of scissors. If I pull harder, eventually I'll get it open. Levy saw the drawer flying out of her hand in slow motion, mostly mortified that she would disturb Gajeel's slumber and make a giant mess of his drawer.

It hit the floor with a crash, in a terrifying moment where she had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming out in both shock and despair. Boxers went flying everywhere, at least two or three pairs falling behind her head and bundle of socks splashing at her feet. She stood there for a moment, hands still over her mouth as she turned like a creaking door to look at the bed.

However, something else caught her eye before she could check to see if Gajeel had woken up or not. The sound of beads against the floor came a split second before she saw what it was, but she wasn't quite able to process that such an item was in his house. There was no way. He didn't... He never...

"...The fuck was...?" came the half-finished thought from behind her. He made a remark about the underwear explosion that had occurred in his room, but she couldn't really discern what it was. She was too preoccupied kneeling down to pick up the object to focus entirely on what he was saying.

"This is from..." Levy breathed, staring at the pearl bracelet in the palm of her hands.

She finally turned to look at him, seeing the absolutely dumbfounded look on his face telling her that she wasn't supposed to have seen this. He looked as petrified as she had just a minute ago.

He was not the kind of guy that gave gifts, and she was perfectly fine with that. He had never told her that he loved her either, and she was fine with that too, because she knew it. The effort he had put into opening up to her was more than he would do for anyone else. That made her special. That made her the one he loved. She could feel it in every last fibre of her being because she got everything that nobody else did.

And he'd bought this pearl bracelet she had been looking at back at the festival months ago. There was no possible way he had been able to buy it when they had been walking around together, and then she had basically yelled at him and gave him an ultimatum. He had gotten this after their fight, after she'd told him that what he was giving her wasn't enough.

"Why do you have this, Gajeel?"

He blanched, not really knowing what to say to the little blunette currently staring him down. His brain was far too scrambled from being caught off-guard to think of a legitimate excuse as to why he had the pearl bracelet she'd wanted at the Spring Festival. Another option, of course, was telling the truth, but the truth sounded too dumb, because in all honesty, Gajeel didn't even know why he had gone back to purchase that bracelet after the horrible events of that night. He'd thought she was wrong for asking more and yet he'd gone there anyway and bought that wretched piece of jewellery, then threw it in the last place he'd think about it and banished it from his mind. He hated that stupid thing. He absolutely hated it.

It...had made her smile when he couldn't.

Augh, and damn it, she was never supposed to have seen that thing. Ever. He had forgotten it entirely too. Evidently, the universe was completely against him when it came to keeping secrets from Levy.

But here was another opportunity. Yes, the truth sounded ridiculous, but the bottom line was that he loved her and he wanted her to know that. He wanted her to know that even if he couldn't say it. He wasn't going to be the rabbit anymore; he was going to be the wolf. Besides, he was feeling slightly less uncertain about this since she'd coaxed him to sleep not too long ago.

"Just take it. It's yours," he told her, putting his much larger hand around hers to enclose the bracelet within her palm.

Levy seemed a bit befuddled, but she nodded in response. "But...why—"

"Because you're a pain sometimes," Gajeel snorted loudly, cutting her off while she punched him lightly on the chest, "and sometimes you do stupid shit like make me draw or make it seem like being tall is a crime cuz you're so midgety—"

"Gajeel!"

"And sometimes you annoy the hell out of me, but I know that, and...I just don't give a fuck about any of it."

She laughed, mumbling a "meanie" at him before she pulled him into a hug and he knew she understood.

I love you anyway.

The end. Thank you for reading.