Chapter Text
A hand reached out to brush a strand of hair out of Levy’s face, she smiled and looked at Gajeel’s soft smile as he watched his feeding kids. “Thank you.” Levy hummed, looking down at the two children on her breasts.
“How are they still eating?” He wondered quietly.
She shook her head, “I don’t know they’ve been so hungry lately.”
He sighed, “They’re supposed to be having a growth spurt around now, they’re probably preparing for it.” He sat down next to her on the couch. “They’re already so big.”
“Two months tomorrow.” She acknowledged and Gajeel nodded along. “Lucy is visiting tomorrow.”
“I forgot about that,” He said. “It’ll be good to see her.” Levy felt her eyes welling with tears and she let out a little whimper, which immediately caught Gajeel’s attention. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I’m just nervous about hosting.” She explained. “I know they’re two months old, but they’re still such a handful, I don’t think I can entertain guests.”
He rubbed her back. “It’s okay Lucy understands.” He assured her. “She just wants to meet the babies and hang out with you.”
Levy felt the tears escaping from her eyes. “She doesn’t understand, she doesn’t have twins.” She cried. “I’m so tired, we sleep like two hours at a time, I don’t get time to clean or read or breathe.” She stopped to gasp for air. “My nipples hurt so bad.” She choked out.
He rubbed her back and came closer to her. “It’s okay Levy, that’s normal.” He wiped a few tears from her face. “Do you want to tell Lucy to not come tomorrow?”
Levy shook her head “That’s not fair to her, she’s already waited two months to see them.”
“She’ll have so much more time with them as they get older.” He pointed out. “She can miss the first few months.”
“No, I promised her she could come once their immune systems were developed and they had some vaccinations.” She sniffled. “That’s two months, she’s excited, I’m not gonna cancel on her.”
“Okay Levy.” He conceded. “Oh I think Ollie’s done.” She looked down at the baby, who had turned his head and begun babbling, Gajeel carefully took him off her lap. “Hi baby boy!” He laid a burping cloth over his shoulder and began burping the baby, Levy turned her attention back to her hungry daughter.
“Hi Sophie, how are you still hungry?” She whispered. “Don’t you want to get to bed?” She let go of Levy’s nipple, she waited a second to see if she’d re-latch or cry, but she didn’t, “Sophie’s done!” She whispered in excitement as she handed him to Gajeel and took back Oliver. “Is your little tummy all full and ready for bed?”
The next day Lucy came to visit in the early afternoon, soon after she arrived they realized they were almost out of diapers and paper towels so Gajeel left to go to the store. Lucy excitedly held the babies one at a time until they were too tired to be shown off. They were laid in a crib together upstairs and the girls hung out in the living room to chat. They were discussing a terrible date Cana had set Lucy up on, when Lucy’s phone lit up, Lucy didn’t notice, but Levy did, below the latest notification was a message from Gajeel that said ‘I know you wanna catch up with Levy and meet the babies, ‘cus they’re all perfect.’ Her heart fluttered reading that and the message continued. ‘She had a hard night last night please just go easy on her today and keep the visit short, she’s tired.’ He knew her so well, she’d never accept this treatment, but she was glad that didn’t stop him.
“So what’s going on with you and Gajeel?” Lucy asked, pulling Levy from her thoughts.
She felt a heat rise to her face. “What do you mean?”
Lucy scoffed at her. “Look at you, your face is bright red from me just mentioning his name.”
“No it’s not.”
“It totally is.” Lucy insisted. “Is there something in the way of you guys getting together, because it seems like you guys are kind of set up for building a happy life together.”
“Except there’s no feelings there.” Levy could feel the butterflies in her stomach, thinking about Gajeel, his lovely face, his strong hands, his beautiful soul.
“You’re thinking about him right now aren’t you?”
“Okay, maybe I have some feelings, but it’s just because he’s a good person and a good father and that’s attractive.” She leaned back on the couch. “But he doesn’t feel the same.”
Lucy scoffed again. “Levy you idiot!”
“Hey!”
“That man looks at you like nothing else in the world exists, the only time he’s not staring at you is when he’s staring at the kids you had together.” Lucy looked at her like she was insane. “It’s not that complicated, you are in love with the man you are living with, raising kids with, and sharing a bed with. There’s no one else for either of you, just be together and be happy.”
Levy tried to absorb Lucy’s rant, maybe she was right. “How long have you been holding that in for?”
“I didn’t want to stress you out when you were pregnant.” Lucy shrugged. “So tell me what’s up.”
She sighed. “Well the night before I went into labor we had sex.”
“What?” Lucy gasped. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I was kind of distracted by the whole having babies thing.” Levy chortled. “Anyway it was just to induce labor.”
“I mean you had like twenty hours of labor where you could have told me.” Lucy crossed her arms. “But how was it.”
“It felt great, we both kind of got really into it.” She adjusted herself thinking about the way he felt inside her. “Neither of us had had sex since he got me pregnant, so that was probably a big part of it.”
Lucy eyed her friend, trying to figure out what she was thinking. “You guys could be having sex all the time if you just told him how you were feeling.”
“I don’t even know how I’m feeling.” She ran her hand through her hair.
“You’re obviously feeling something, just think about talking to him about it at some point soon.” Lucy gave her friend an encouraging pat on the shoulder and just as she did Gajeel walked in with a few bags of groceries. Soon Lucy went home and it was just the family of four again.
A week later Levy and Gajeel were cleaning up from dinner and Levy was thinking about Lucy’s advice. She had feelings for him, every time he touched her hair or smiled at her butterflies flew through her stomach. She thought maybe if she just told him how she was feeling. “Levy.” He stopped her as she was walking from the fridge to the sink, she creased her eyebrows and examined his face. “Levy, I think we should talk.”
“About what.” She became aware of the hand resting on the small of her back and the lack of distance between them.
His face became red. “Levy I know we’re living together out of convenience, but I have felt some, um, I don’t know how to put it.” She hoped maybe he had been feeling something similar to what she had been feeling, she could feel the tension building. “I, uh, well I.” He stuttered through his phrasing.
She couldn’t stand the anticipation any longer. “I think I’m in love with you.” She blurted out and quickly felt the embarrassment reach her face. She tried to figure out what he was thinking as he stared at her with his mouth ajar. “Please say something.” She whimpered.
“You stole my thunder.” He pulled her closer to him and she reached towards his face, bringing it close to hers. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, their lips grazing as he spoke.
Levy nodded and he pulled her in for a drawn out kiss, they indulged for a bit, their lips securely locked to each other. When they pulled away she smiled. “That was nice.”
“Yeah it was.” He agreed. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while.”
“Really?” She felt the heat in her face building, there was no distance between their bodies anymore. “How long?”
“I think since the last time I kissed you.” She watched his lips pronounce every word. “I think I wanna kiss you again.”
“You can kiss me anytime you want.” She was pulled in for another long kiss, when he pulled away she looked at his somewhat flustered face. “So what are we gonna be?”
Gajeel shrugged. “I guess we could call it dating.”
“We’ve never actually been on a date.” Levy giggled. “I don’t think we’ll find time to go on one anytime soon.”
“Well I’d like to call you my girlfriend.” He mentioned. “It seems like the best fit.”
“Maybe partner, boyfriend and girlfriend seems a little silly for two adults with children together.”
He smiled at her thoughtful rambling. “How about we don’t worry too much about what we call each other and focus on what this relationship is.”
She rubbed her arm and thought about his words. “Well it’s already pretty serious, so I think it’d be good if we called it an official relationship, standard monogamous rules and if something else comes up we’ll deal with it then.” She looked up at his face as he processed what she said. “If you’re okay with that.”
“That sounds perfect.” He smiled at her. “If that means I can kiss you whenever I want?”
She nodded. “It means you have to.”
That night they got into bed after putting the twins in the cot next to them and Levy pulled Gajeel in for a goodnight kiss, he leaned into it, his tongue pressing through her lips into her mouth, she hummed in pleasure. Her hand reached under his shirt as he positioned himself above her, she felt his hand graze up her torso towards her chest. She pushed him away gently. “Wait.” She mumbled.
“Oh sorry.” He sat back on the bed. “Are you okay?”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “I know it seems weird, but I don’t know if I’m ready to have sex with you yet.”
“I wasn’t trying to have sex, I’d rather do that when our kids aren’t right next to us.” He chuckled. “We don’t have to do anything until you’re ready.”
“It feels silly waiting, it’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
He rubbed her shoulder. “Well that was a bit different.”
“I want to have sex with you, but my body’s changed a lot. I know you see it all the time, but seeing me shirtless because I’m breastfeeding is a lot different than seeing me shirtless for sex.” She felt a slight churning in her stomach. “I just want to get some confidence back before we have sex again.”
“Just tell me when you’re ready.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “I think you’re beautiful for the record, all the ways your body has changed just remind me of the incredible thing it did.”
She gave him a pleasant kiss. “Thank you Gajeel.”
On the last day of December Gajeel, Levy and the babies went to Lucy and Cana’s apartment for a New Year’s party. Cold air rushed through the house as another guest arrived a few hours after the family had. Levy approached Gajeel, who was showing his son off to his friends, she tapped his shoulder. “What’s up?” He asked.
He noticed the baby on her shoulder. “Your daughter is fast asleep.”
He watched the sleepy girl resting her head on Levy’s shoulder. “We should probably go home.” He waited for her soft nod of agreement, then she led him to Lucy.
She tapped her friend lightly. “Hey Lu-lu, we gotta go, the twins are up past their bedtime.”
“Aww you can’t even stay a little longer?” Cana whined.
Levy shook her head. “Cana if these kiddos get overtired we will not get to sleep at all tonight, or celebrate the new year.”
Cana chuckled. “I see you two wanna go make another new year miracle.” She winked and ran off.
“That is not what I meant!” Levy yelled as the woman disappeared into the next room. “We really do have to go.”
Lucy smiled. “I understand, have a good night.” She chirped. “See you next year!”
“See you next year!” Levy giggled, then turned to Gajeel. “Let’s get out of here before anyone else tries to talk to us.”
The pair ran out and soon the family was back at their apartment, the twins were set up in a bassinet by the couch, where they quickly fell asleep, meanwhile Gajeel put a new year’s countdown on the TV. He laid in the corner of the couch and Levy leaned up against him, they sat in silence for a while until Gajeel piped up. “This time last year I was drunk, looking for someone to dance with.”
“God I was so drunk.” Levy chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll ever be that drunk again.”
Gajeel nodded. “When would we find the time?”
“That night changed my life so much.” She reminisced. “I wouldn’t change the outcome for anything.” She leaned up and kissed him.
“Me neither.” He smiled at her cute face. “Are we staying up until midnight?”
Levy nodded. “We’re only an hour and a half away.”
“We can make that.” He yawned, but stayed strong, he had to stay up and celebrate with her. They sat in silence as he watched the timer on the almost silent TV count down, showing shots of people dancing and then the host recapping events from the year. “The host keeps making jokes about haircuts.” He noticed out loud, she didn’t respond, he looked down at her, her even breathing making her chest rise and fall, her eyes gently closed, she had fallen asleep. He wanted to wake her up, tell her they were supposed to stay up, but he knew she needed the rest, he just ran his fingers through her hair.
Gajeel was suddenly woken up by a baby’s wails, Sophia was awake, Oliver quickly followed, joining her screams. Levy was already up and setting them up on her breasts. “I know it’s time for you to refill your tummies.” She cooed at the infants, Gajeel watched her carefully set them up and lifted her shirt, “Can I get an assist?” She requested. “I forgot I wore a bra to the party.” He unclipped the cups of her nursing bra and gave her a sneaky kiss then watched her set up the twins with their meal. “Thank you. I think I fell asleep.”
“You sure did.” He affirmed. “I did too.”
“Well now our energy is recharged, so we can make it through the last hour.” She suggested as Gajeel nodded along. She finished up breastfeeding and got the twins back to sleep and they settled back into their comfortable positions. “We can’t fall asleep again, it's only like half an hour more.”
“We can do it.” He vowed, settling in.
“Ten… nine…” The show on the TV quietly counted down the seconds to the new year. “Eight… seven…” Pantherlily lounged over the edge of the couch by Levy’s feet. “Six… five… four…” The twin infants lay sleeping in their bassinet, peacefully unaware of the moment. “Three… two… one…” Levy and Gajeel sat, leaning on one another, fast asleep. “Happy new year!”