Moved over from @rougescribe
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairing: Cobra(Erik)xLevy
Genre: Fluff/Romance
Written for @brenslow-moved
@fairytail-rarepairs
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It was their little secret.
For the longest time, her Guild Members thought she and Gajeel would get together. The teasing was constant and even Levy, once thought that was path her life was taking. Days, months and even more time passed and somehow- what looked to be a growing relationship, had grown apart. If anyone had asked her, the Script-Mage could have given them no answer.
How it had happened, she didn’t know. She didn’t feel pain for it. The Iron Dragon Slayer was close to her heart and always would be. He was still her family, he was still part of her home. There were no other words that needed to be said.
Still, the time came and went. Offers for dates came to. And much as she had done in the past, Levy turned them down. She wasn’t seeking a relationship right now. She was busy. There would be time to consider dating later. Let’s just stay friends for a while. Thank you, I’m flattered, but I just don’t see you that way. Levy Mcgarden had always been good at turning others down. Unfortunate years of practice with her two best friends, Jet, and Droy.
As well as practice, dodging the questions of reporters. And yet- still, others persisted to ask her. “Do you have someone to watch the Rainbow Sakura Trees with?”
“I’m fine with just viewing them with my Guild!” She’d tell them, and the honesty and bright smile that glowed on her face were hard to take as false. It wasn’t. Not in the way that most would think. The truth was … just... A bit more complicated.
“Still not sharing the night with someone?”
“What for? I’ve got his new book I’m currently trying to translate! I’ll be fine!”
“Are you sure you’re not lonely?”
“Of course I’m not, you really don’t have to worry~”
On and on- just when people seemed to stop asking and she felt she had a moment to breathe, the questions would start up all over again. - that was fine. She truly didn’t mind it. Lucy, Jet, even Droy- they all worried about her. That she knew. Even Cana and Mirajane, all worried and wanted to ensure she was happy.
Of course, she was happy, just as the rest of her guild was. - but there were secrets, hidden in the deep recesses of her apartment, that kept the loneliness at bay. Hidden stocks of poisons that her magic had created, sitting safely in the cabinets. Extra cleaning supplies, all toxic, carefully kept and maintained. These were small things- hidden things, that no one really knew enough to question.
Even the books she had on different poison types went by unnoticed. Levy was always known for her collection of books, who would question her finding a new subject to study?
And those whispers- mentions of her being seen, randomly for a few days at a time, months apart, walking through the market with a cloaked male at her side. Not everyone was sure if they were true or not and not many saw enough to really beg the Script-Mage to tell them more. Was it just gossip? Rumors? Something she wasn’t telling them?
A touch of hands, a whisper of her laughing as she sat across the table from a stranger that may have been recognizable in the past, but now, no one truly knew.
Surely she wouldn’t be going on dates with someone the council had only recently pardoned, surely not. The figure that randomly seemed to come in through her window, wounded and in dire need of rest and a safe place to drink poisons, it must have been a cruel joke caused by a spurned stranger.
At least, that’s what some at the Guild could think. Or maybe, they just knew better than to press Levy for details. She would come to them at her own time if there was anything really to tell, wouldn’t she?
“Maybe… when you feel you don’t have to travel anymore… maybe then I can tell them.” She said offhandedly, fingers pressing on the pages of a new book, marking her place as she sat at the base of her own couch. Other books lay strewn about, but the legs and torso of her company took up most of her couch.
She could just imagine his one eye opened as she spoke, gaze glancing towards hers even as his magic probed through her mind, a place where she could never hide anything from him. “Do you really want to?”
Half the time their conversations didn’t quite revolve around this kept secret between them. How it came that they even grew to see one another. The strange job that put her directly in his path or how he slowly began to visit her in Magnolia with no real reason given. It was just a thing that happened, that grew- and she learned to accept it.
Learned to accept him.
“- sometime, yes.” She answered, soft smile forming wistfully across her face, “but only when you’re ready. You know, I don’t think they’d honestly care, you WERE pardoned after all.”
“Tch, I don’t give a damn about their opinions.” The reply was so terse and so HIM, she couldn’t hold back the giggle.
“- yeah, but…” The book was set aside as she tilted her brown hues back towards him, glimmering with a bit of mischief and teasing, “you care about mine.”
A brief silence followed- not an awkward one, she was well aware what was going through her head and the point she was making at this time. Even if her cheeks still grew red when he rose an eyebrow and lips slanted to reveal a fanged smirk. A dangerous one at that. Dangerous, yes it never failed to make her heart race or blood pressure rise in a far more…. Pleasant feeling.
It had been quite some time since she’d ever felt intimidated or endangered when in his presence. A very long time and she knew he was aware of it. There was hardly anything he wasn’t aware of unless he obstinately tried to ignore it himself. (A little hard to do, considering every little thought she had around him was more than easy to hear.) Those very thoughts were quickly interrupted when he decided to move. There were no words to follow her statement.
Just the rustling of his coat as he leaned over, one tanned hand reaching for her face to tilt it up and towards him, dark eyes staring into hers before the heat of his breath washed across her face and his smirk grew even more feral. He could hear the sudden thought that jumped into her mind, the quiet, simple, plea that made her mouth run dry.
The little question of his motives that Levy wouldn’t dare to say. Not while she was so enthralled by the stare he gave her or the curiosity towards his actions. What was he thinking? “ - … it’s not fair you can see what I want when I don’t even know what you’re thinking.”
His smirk only grew impossibly more smug -and tempting- at that, a deep chuckle escaped while his nose brushed against hers.
“You know more than you think, Nanoshrimp,” And there the adrenaline rushing through her was replaced by a quick huff at the strange nickname he’d given her quite some time ago. Almost a mood killer in a way, but she didn’t try to move from him, rather a more... exasperated whine escaped as he laughed. “Hah, was that not what you wanted to hear? Sorry, I can’t ALWAYS give you what you want.”
“Oooh, stupid viper, you don’t have to TEASE me!” Her ears were practically red then, knowing full well he’d ensnared her into his little trap. How frustrating that could be, she almost wanted to push him back and dump the small bucket of poison she’d made for him! “What do you know about what I want anywa- !”
She squeaked then, words being swallowed and interrupted by his own lips, ghosting over hers before pressing firmer, taking in her flustered ire and every thought that wrecked and skidded to a halt inside her mind. It didn’t matter how often he was gone, or how long it took him to come back, none of that mattered at all. In that precise moment, her body relaxed, eyes fluttered shut and body turned fully to reach him, fingers moving for the lapels of his coat to keep him hovering over her.
He’d be gone in the morning. They both knew that. And she’d be alone all over again. Selfishness he called it. Wanting her to stay loyal to him despite his inability to stay in one place. She didn’t care. Didn’t WANT him to stop being that greedy snake she figured him to be. Her own lips moved in tandem with his, another whine escaping as she took what he willingly gave into herself and seared it to her memories.
A nip to her lips, a shudder down her spine at the feel of his fangs- and even a lapsing of tongues- it was a sudden kiss that couldn’t fail to take her breath away, but it ended all too soon. Eyes half-lidded and watching as he pulled away- intense gaze far softer and warmer in the dim light of her room.
There still was hardly any space between them when he stopped, hand brushing stray strands of blue hair back behind her ear as a low hum of contentment escaped him. It was... Almost magical to a degree.
“... I can’t give you what you want,” He muttered, finally returning to his original position, smirk turning down into his usual scowl, but Levy could hear the promise in his words. “Not yet, but you’re smart enough to know I value your opinion no matter what.”
The moment snapped, and she found herself back into reality, eyes blinking while swollen lips returned to the smile she held earlier. There was an accepting sadness in them that mirrored his own expression, but she wasn’t unhappy.
Far from it.
“... and I value every moment you come to see me.” She whispered, hand finally reaching for her book to start it up again.
Life was not the way she or anyone else had assumed it would go. Things beyond the expected had occurred, but there was one thing Levy Mcgarden knew for sure. Erik was a free man, and it didn’t matter where he went.
She would wait and accept him every time. Their little secret- but it held them together.
