Levy was mad when she found out Gajeel had missed his performance. She was furious when she found out he’d skipped it and gone and gotten himself drunk.
She didn’t know how to react when Juvia told her. The only thing she could do was go with her to make sure Gajeel didn’t do anything stupid—well, anything else.
Levy stormed into Gajeel’s trailer ready to yell at him, but she hadn’t expected to find him looking so…human. He normally carried himself with an aura of confidence and carelessness; now, he just looked defeated.
Her anger slipped away.
"Is—Is he okay?” Levy asked.
“Juvia isn’t sure.”
Hesitantly, Levy made her way over toward Gajeel, who sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at his hands. Levy had never felt pity for Gajeel, but it had never occurred to her that he could be so broken.
She sat down beside him, and for once, he didn’t tell her to get lost. Levy thought for a while about what she should say.
“I—I think we got off on the wrong foot,” she started. “I’m Levy McGarden.” She extended a hand, giving him the best smile she could muster, which wasn’t much of one.
Gajeel laughed a broken sort of laugh, his whole body shaking with the effort, but it didn’t stop Levy from seeing the tear slip down his face.
That’s when she lowered her gaze to his hands. His knuckles were raw, and from the looks of them, Gajeel hadn’t done anything to fix them.
“What happened?” she asked. “Why would you do that to yourself?”
He didn’t say anything. He just moved his hand further away.
“Juvia,” Levy said, turning to face her where she stood in the doorway. “Find a first aid kit.”
“That’ll get infected if you leave it open like that,” she explained.
Gajeel hung his head. “Would you just leave me alone?”
Levy tried to ignore the stench of alcohol on his breath. “Look, I can understand that you’re going through a rough time even if I don’t know why, but I can’t just leave you like this. That needs to be treated.”
“It look like I care?”
“You should.”
“Juvia found a first aid kit!” Juvia said, reentering the trailer and handing Levy the red box.
“Thanks, Juvia. You should probably get back to work.”
Juvia nodded and left quietly, closing the door behind her. Levy treated Gajeel’s hands in silence.
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Like Swallowing Swords (Fairy Tail FanFic)
FanfictionFairy Tail Circus is already in trouble, but when Gildarts Clive, the star of the show, leaves unexpectedly, the circus is at risk of failure. Levy McGarden is forced to work with the secretive Gajeel Redfox, one of the circus's most talented and l...
