#uh more tags to tage eventually lol but i think that's all i can squeeze outta this chapter for tags XD

[theolddarkmachine]

Must Love Cats- Chapter One

Levy hadn't planned on being a pet sitter when she'd moved into the city. She also hadn't planned on pet sitting for a sex god either, but here she was.

AKA the one where Levy is a pet sitter, Gajeel is her client, and Lily is the glue that binds them together.

So it turns out y’all really liked the idea of the Pet Sitter!AU, which is good, because I really liked it too. I’ll most likely shoot for updating this thing once a week. (Most likely on Wednesdays given they’re my days off.) But this week we’ll make an exception since Chapter One doesn’t really count since it’s just the prompt from the Gajevy Week Challenge that got us onto this idea to begin with. Expect the actual new chapter within the next day or two! Also, I love to get feedback, so if at any point you’d like to throw me some constructive criticism or some love, hit a girl up! Thanks in advance for swinging by, and a special shoutout and thank you to those who read the original warmup prompt from the Gajevy Week and asked for more! Y’all the true MVPs and this one is for you <3

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As far as jobs went, being a pet sitter wasn’t all too bad. Sure, the days were long if you actually wanted to make any money, and the driving all over the place sucked, but the freedom of being able to work when you wanted and to be paid to hangout with other people’s pets honestly made up for it. Levy had been a pet sitter for about six months now and while she certainly hadn’t moved into the city to do it, it was paying the bills while she was pitching her movie ideas around town. Weirdly enough, she’d ended up pet sitting for big names in the industry and though she never actually met any of them– they probably wouldn’t need her services if they were home– it did seem pretty cool to know she was still just one degree away.

The house she was currently headed to was one of her regulars. The owner, one Mr. Gajeel Redfox, had been gone for about two months now and requested that he have the same sitter as much as possible. Given that she worked six days a week, the man’s visits ended up on her schedule more often than not. She was going to really miss seeing Pantherlily almost everyday when his owner finally returned. (Now that she thought about it, she was sure he was supposed to be home soon.) He almost felt like her cat at this point. In fact, she almost felt like she even knew this Redfox character too. She could deduce from the dark furniture, clothes abandoned in various areas around the apartment, and lack of sentimental items such as photos that he was most likely a bachelor. A bachelor with money given he had an apartment overlooking the ocean with walls made entirely of windows just to look out over them, and the ability to pay for visits twice a day for two months straight. She quickly did the math in her head as she pulled into a guest parking spot in the parking garage for the man’s apartment complex and shuddered. She could pay her rent in her apartment with her three roommates for almost five months with what he’d paid for the visits for so long.

“Must be nice,” she mumbled to herself as she hopped out of her car. Locking the door and clipping her keys to her belt loop– she had a really nasty habit of locking her keys in her car and learned this was the best way to avoid anymore unfortunate incidents– she pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and on top of her scarf she had had tied around her azure hair to keep it pulled back. Walking into the lobby through the door in the garage, she nodded to the man at the counter as she sauntered by. He’d stopped having her sign in after a few weeks, knowing full well that she had the code to the lockbox on the Redfox residence’s door and that if she did do something terrible the security could easily apprehend her. (Her small frame was both a blessing and a curse with this job, not that she would ever steal from a client, but it would be nice to know she could at least have a small semblance of a chance to get away if she did.)

She got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 5th floor and waited for the short ride up. Levy admired herself in the reflection of the mirrored elevator, and chuckled to herself as she took in her disheveled hair that tried to escape her scarf, the worn jeans with a stain from an earlier visit and her shirt emblazoned with her company’s logo. The first time she’d arrived to this visit she had been so self conscious and had felt so out of place. She had been certain that for a second the people at the front must have thought she was a homeless person wandering into their lobby, especially since she distinctly remembered she hadn’t showered that day and had pulled on her oldest pair of sneakers and some sweats. It wasn’t like the pets cared if she tried, but had she’d known she was going to end up some place like this, she would have at least brushed her hair. How quickly that had changed with time. Now she felt almost like she was returning to her own home. It helped that she always started her days and ended her days with Lily. It was just a short walk from the elevator to the front door, where she quickly pushed the numbers into the box so she could open the little door that would allow her to get the key.

As she started to unlock the door, she heard the purring that signaled the black cat was awaiting her just on the other side and the sound filled her with joy. His owner wasn’t one to respond to updates, but he had replied once and all he had said was that Lily didn’t like just anybody. That was pretty obvious just by looking over the updates that had been sent in on the days Levy didn’t work as the sitter that covered her shifts when she wasn’t working had yet to meet Lily at all.

“Hello handsome,” she cooed as she pushed her way into the apartment. The Bombay purred again in response as he started to rub himself against her legs. Squatting down, she started to pet him to make sure he remembered that even though his owner still wasn’t home he was still very much loved. “You’re the best way to end the day, ya know.”

“So I’ve been told,” a deep voice replied. Now, Levy liked to think she was very rational. When faced with a problem, she was very level headed, and thought through every possible scenario of what could happen and every possible solution to find the right one. But in that moment, the only possible explanation that came to her mind was that Lily had just responded to her. Which, was definitely new to say the least. She stared at the cat wide-eyed for a fraction of a second longer before the logical part of her brain realized she wasn’t the only human in the apartment. An inhuman squeak that could probably only be heard by Lily and any other animals in the close vicinity escaped her lips as her head snapped up to see a very tall, very muscular, and very half naked man standing in the entrance between the living area and the bedroom where Lily’s stuff could be found. He had long black hair that looked almost as unruly as hers was, eyes that seemed to stare straight through her, and more piercings than should could count. (And that was just from what she could see. Not that she was thinking about any she might not be able to see. Except, he was very attractive.)

“I-” she started, before locking eyes with the man and completely losing her train of thought. After another couple of seconds she just placed her hand on her chest and said “Pet sitter.”

Wow Lev, she thought to herself as dryly as one can possibly think to themselves, you write entire movies with their own worlds and characters and you can’t even string together a full sentence. There was another long pause before the man burst out into raucous laughter.

“I am so sorry,” he said, smiling at her. His smile was like the smile of a devil, beautiful and dangerous. “I forgot to inform your office that I was getting home early and that I didn’t need the visit this evening.”

This was when she should respond, she knew that. It was just that that damn smile had erased any thoughts from her mind, at least all the ones that wouldn’t get her in trouble for saying out loud. Even that annoying ass voice in her mind was dumbfounded. It was possible that since it had been so long since she’d even had any contact with the opposite sex, but he was the single most sexy human being she had ever seen. It was that, or she was cat sitting for an actual sex god. That was also a possibility. After everything they’d been though, you’d have thought Lily would have told her.

“Since you’re here, if you want you can still spend the 30 minutes with him. You don’t need to feed him or anything, I already took care of that,” the sex god continued, apparently unaware he had the power to strike mere mortals speechless. “You must be the girl he seems to love. He’s a great judge of character, you know.”

That snapped her out of the trance as a smile broke across her face.

“Thanks!” She beamed in response. “I love this little guy. I’m not supposed to pick favorites, but between you and me, he’s mine.” She stage whispered at the end and winked. Oh god, what had even gotten into her. She looked back at Lily and smiled at him as well before scratching behind his ears. Had she continued looking at his owner, she’d have seen the blush that spread across his cheeks.

“Well, make yourself at home, I suspect you know where water is if you’d like to have some,” Gajeel said. “I just got back and was headed for the shower, feel free to leave early if you want, just lock up when you go.” She nodded in response as he turned to go back into the room. She sat down next to Lily, who at this point had laid down and rolled over to get his belly scratched. “Oh, and Levy?” Her heart leapt when she heard her name roll off his tongue.

“Yeah?” She asked, looking up. The man smiled that damn smile again.

“Thanks for taking such good care of Lil while I was away. I know I’m not supposed to pick favorites either, but between you and me, you’re mine.”

And with that, he went back into his room, unaware that he had just completely stopped her heart and left her there like she wasn’t going to need medical attention. Once she heard the water turn on in the bathroom, she looked down at Lily, who was looking up at her and wondering why she’d stopped scratching his belly.

“You really could have warned me about your owner looking like that.”

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He knew that the sitter would be gone by the time he got out of his shower, but that didn’t stop him from being slightly disappointed when he got out of his shower and saw Lily curled up on the foot of his bed all by himself. He didn’t want to say he was jealous of a fucking cat, but here he was jealous that his cat got to spend so much time with such a breathtaking human being.

“God dammit, Lil,” he growled as his heart stuttered when he thought of her wink. “You really could have warned me about your sitter looking like that.”