#curiosity finally got the better of me and i downloaded hinge

[i-hate-gravel]

swiping through dating apps and getting continuously more frustrated by the lack of fruit native to the middle east and other regions

[theolddarkmachine]

12 Days of ODM: Day 9

Dedicated to: @whereisthefood123

Prompt: Levy gives Gajeel his first headband.

AO3

                                               I hope you like it.

Truth be told, Gajeel had loved the thin slip of crimson fabric Levy had given him that morning right before she slipped out to head to the guild for the day. He loved the silky feel of it against the roughened, callused palms, and he loved the raised stitching that created a zig zagging pattern across the band. Gajeel especially loved that it was damn near identical to the yellow headband Levy was partial to, the fabric a permanent fixture holding back her bangs and allowing the delicate planes of her face to catch the light.

The problem was, though he loved the piece of silk, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it.

WTF, you won the award for most obscure prompt lol I’m not gonna lie, when I got your message of “Can I ask for a prompt of ‘headband’” I was like I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I’M GONNA MAKE THIS WORTHY OF WTF. But after a minor panic, I freaking love this prompt. I also love that it gave me the opportunity to use a bunch of my pretty downloaded fonts :3 I hope you like it! Merry Christmas!

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                                              I hope you like it.

Truth be told, Gajeel had loved the thin slip of crimson fabric Levy had given him that morning right before she slipped out to head to the guild for the day. He loved the silky feel of it against the roughened, callused palms, and he loved the raised stitching that created a zig zagging pattern across the band. Gajeel especially loved that it was damn near identical to the yellow headband Levy was partial to, the fabric a permanent fixture holding back her bangs and allowing the delicate planes of her face to catch the light.

The problem was, though he loved the piece of silk, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it.

The dragon slayer was a simple man. All he needed for his hair was shampoo, conditioner when he felt like treating himself, and the open air that would dry it. Tying it back with a headband had never been anything he’d ever considered, especially given he wasn’t even sure how to get it on over the wild mess to begin with.

Which, was how he’d ended up in their bathroom for the better part of an hour trying to work the  over the unruly black locks, and only managing to get it around his forehead, the hair beneath it pushed upward into a shape that resembled something more like a deflated mushroom. An angry growl ripped from behind his teeth as he tugged the headband off and threw it at the mirror where it smacked right in the middle of his reflection before falling behind the faucet.

“God damn headband,” he moaned as he turned on his heel, walking out of the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him to further punctuate just how angry he was with the fabric for not cooperating with him. The clap of the door was deafening in the otherwise quiet home, the movement so violent that it shook the walls an shook the bookcase just to the right of the door, effectively knocking two books from their shelves. They fell with all the grace of a baby bird, soft thuds accompanying the inevitable crash as they hit the carpeted ground.

“God damn books,” Gajeel snarled as he leant down to pick them up, his annoyance spiking as it searched for anything else to focus on besides his failure to use Levy’s gift.

It really shouldn’t be this hard, he thought moodily as he scooped up the leather bound tomes that had fallen.

Band. Hair. Make Levy happy.

The steps were obvious, which only made it that much more annoying that he couldn’t seem to get the damn thing onto his head. He groaned again as he turned towards the bookshelf where the line of carefully placed books had fallen over without the help of their companions to keep them up. Much like with everything else she did, Levy had lovingly organized the texts on the shelves, using a system that only seemed to make perfect sense to her.

Gajeel had suspected what the dull throb growing behind his sternum had been, but it hadn’t been until he’d watched her as she stood in front of the wooden bookcase, a book in each hand and a small thoughtful smile on her pink lips as she pushed each onto specific slots on the shelves, that he confirmed it.

Love.

They’d only known each other for a year at that point, dating for just four, when he’d offered his place when she’d finally decided she couldn’t handle living with their guild mates anymore.

         It will be convenient. Plus, we get along just fine, don’t we, Shrimp?

Since then, and since his revelation, Gajeel had kept the four letter word held close to his heart and trapped behind his teeth. It wasn’t that he doubted Levy’s feelings for him. His own reasons rested solely in the hands of his own abandonment issues. Everyone he’d ever loved left.

If he kept that to himself, then she couldn’t disappear as well.

Sighing loudly, Gajeel shook the stray thoughts from his mind as he looked over the shelf, trying desperately to pull the location for both books from the grain of the wood. It was as he searched the shelf for answers, something tucked behind the books caught his eye.

Sitting pressed into the furthest corner of the shelf, was a small square box made of cherry oak wood that he had never seen before. A zing of curiosity shot down to his fingertips, sending a tickle through the pads as he set the fallen books onto the next ledge up before reaching over the top of the books to grab it. The wood had been sanded to an almost velvet softness with vines and flowers carved into delicate patterns over the lid.

It had been beautifully crafted, the care in its making obvious with how fine the details were of the blossoms that folded lovingly as if they were truly alive. His fingers ghosted over the design, smoothing over the lines before they dragged a line down to the golden clasp that held the lid shut.

A small voice in his head admonished him for being nosey. Levy had clearly hidden the box for a reason. If he was a stronger man, he’d put it back where he’d found it, replace the books, and pretend he hadn’t ever seen the hidden box behind all of Levy’s favorite books.

He wasn’t a stronger man though, his hand moving to push the box open before he’d even realized he’d decided to open it. The lid lifted easily as the hinges gave a soft squeak from age, revealing a card on yellowing paper with cursive words painted over it in plum ink that simply said:

Carefully, Gajeel pulled the card from the box, his touch light as he pinched it between his thumb and forefingers. Setting down the box on top of the toppled books, he used his freed hand to open the folded paper, eyes scanning over the note on the inside.

His heart lurched in his chest, a seed of sorrow nestling deep in his gut as he read the words. Levy had mentioned once in passing that her parents had both died when she was young, leaving her to be raised by the guild, but she never got much further than that, and he never pushed her for details. Gajeel understood the kind of scar tissue that got left behind by the loss of family. He recognized the faraway look and the hollow tone she adopted the one time they’d been brought up, his own darkness reflecting back at him in the golden honey of her eyes.

Tearing his eyes from the slightly smudged ink of the card, he looked back at the box to see a photo resting at the bottom beside a single piece of folded yellow fabric. Gently placing the card on the shelf, Gajeel turned his attentions back to the picture, pulling it from the wood.

The photo showed a tall, blue haired man standing with his arm around a blonde woman who had a child balanced on her hip. She couldn’t have been more than five years old in the photo, sky blue hair sticking out in every which way with a single band of yellow holding her bangs out of her face as she smiled up at the parents that beamed brightly at the camera.

Levy’s family. Their happiness radiated from the photograph, captured forever within the card stock. Though she shared the same coloring as her father, she favored her mother. The woman’s smile was identical to the one he’d memorized, full of light and pulled just barely higher on the right side. He felt his heart squeeze as his gaze traced over the photo, matching the goldenrod in Levy’s hair to that of the fabric in the box.

He didn’t need to pull the silk from its wooden confines to know that it would be the same headband from the picture. Similar to the one that always rested in Levy’s sky colored locks, it must have been one of the last things she ever got from her parents before they died. A final, tangible piece of her parents’ love, tucked away with her books in the one place she could always keep it safe.

The sudden understanding of it all stole the breath from his lungs as he carefully tucked the photo and card back into the box.

I hope you like it.

Without his knowing, Levy had given him her love, wholly and completely sewn into the crimson fabric of the headband.

After setting the box back behind the books, he replaced the fallen texts on the shelf, effectively hiding her past away again before he turned back to the bathroom, a new resolve coursing through him as he grabbed the fabric from where it sat on the sink.

***

Levy was lost deep within the curling script of the foreign language, oblivious to the rest of the guild around her as she tried to work out the translation of a particularly tricky sentence, when a solid body dropped down into the bench next to her. Fire erupted deep in her stomach as a strong arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into a broad chest as a nose nuzzled into the hair behind her hair. She felt the featherlight touch of lips against her skin, just below the silk of her headband. The contact pulled a low purr from her throat as she pushed into the touch.

“Hey Gajeel,” she hummed, eyes still fixed on the words before her though her attention rested solely on the warmth of her boyfriend’s body.

“Hi, Lev,” he replied, the coolness of his breath raising goosebumps over her skin as it stirred the hair around her ear. “How’s it going?”

If Levy was being honest, it wasn’t going well. She couldn’t remember the last time a translation job had made her work so hard to find the answers. The challenge had been welcomed, but admittedly, her mind had been left behind with Gajeel and the headband she’d given him that morning. Though they’d been together for half a year now, she’d never felt as nervous with him as she had that morning handing him the simple gift for his birthday. He had no way of knowing just how much the circle of fabric meant to her, or how it was the easiest way she could think of to finally tell him the depth of her feelings for him, but she knew. That very knowledge had kept her mind a mile away, stuck in their house and hidden behind a shelf of books.

“It could be going better,” she admitted, sighing loudly as she slumped into his side. “It’s kicking my ass, actually.”

Gajeel’s quiet laughter vibrated through her as he kissed her again, this time pressing his lips to the top of the headband in her hair. He breathed in as he hummed before pulling away.

“So why don’t you take a break?” His voice was so deep and inviting, her own personal kryptonite that she couldn’t deny, no matter how badly she wished to prove she could figure out the text.

Well, it was just a break anyway.

Finally looking away from the book, Levy turned to face Gajeel, a small squeak of surprise escaping her as she took in his appearance. Stretched over his black hair, was the headband she’d given to him that morning. The crimson silk stood out against the onyx, its color almost the same garnet shade of his eyes as he smiled down at her.

“You’re wearing it.” Reaching up with a tentative hand, her fingers brushing over the fabric and the soft waves of Gajeel’s hair. Her dragon turned his nose into her wrist, his lips brushing over her pulse that ricocheted in her veins at the contact.

“Of course I am,” he said matter-of-factly, as if his wearing it had been as obvious as the sky being blue.

“I wasn’t sure you’d like it,” she said lowly as she dropped her hand into her lap. They both ignored the way her words wobbled slightly as she spoke, their endings watery. Gajeel’s arm tightened around her waist as he spoke.

“I love it.” His eyes danced with light as they searched her hazel ones, his lips quirking upwards as he chose his next words.

“I love you, Levy.”

Her heart paused in her chest before it began to race as the words began to spiral around her, wrapping her in their warm embrace as she rolled them around her mind.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Gajeel’s lips were pliant beneath hers as Levy surged forward, pressing their lips together, her arms anchoring her to him as they wrapped around his neck. Electricity buzzed down to her toes as he returned the pressure in the otherwise chaste kiss. Pulling away slightly, she rested her forehead against his, the fabric of the silk band soft against her skin.

“I love you too,” she whispered, barely getting the words out before Gajeel chased them away with another kiss, filled with nothing but an unsaid promise that was sweet on her tongue. Smiling into it, he pushed into it before pulling away, his eyes smoldering as he looked at her.

“Want to get out of here, Shrimp?”

All Levy could manage was a quick nod, her words lost to the continual hum of three other words.

I love you.

***