Levy joined Lucy and Mirajane at a table in the lunch room shortly after class, discussing their partners for biology. Lucy and Mira seemed happy with their partners, but Lucy asked, "Your partner looked like he was mad at you, Levy. Do you know him?"

   "I met him a couple nights ago on the bus, but he seemed nice then," Levy shrugged it off, "Oh well, but now I have a bio partner who hates me. Great way to start the year, you know?"

     "Hey, you three," Natsu Dragneel dropped down beside Lucy at the table, "Mind if we join you?"

     Laxus and Gajeel sat down as well, looking slightly annoyed by their places at the girl's table. The girls shifted over to give them room, and Lucy replied, "Not at all! I'm Lucy, and that's Levy and Mira."

     "I'm Natsu, and that's Laxus and Gajeel," he grinned at her, "We figured we should probably figure out a time for our project! So what days would work for you?"

     While they talked and Mira struck up a conversation with Laxus, Levy glanced over at Gajeel. "So, um, we need to do this lab," she began awkwardly, but he ignored her, just taking a bite from his salad that sat in front of him. "Um... would you like me to come to your dorm or you to mine?" Still no reply.

     Fine. Time to get to the point. She set her fork down on the table, locking her eyes on his face, "Are you mad at me for some reason? Because I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to you."

    "I ain't mad. Just annoyed would be more like it."

     "Care to tell me why?"

       "Let's just say I ain't a big fan of what you write in the paper," he growled, then didn't speak again though she pressed.

     "What a jerk!" Levy said as she and Lucy walked down the hall to their next class about an hour later, "I'm going to fail this lab because he can't cooperate!"

     "Ask the teacher for a new partner," Lucy suggested.

    "Already did. Emailed him twenty minutes ago, but all he said was he'd talk to Gajeel about it. He said every one else was already taken, so we'd have to sort it out." Levy sighed as she stared at the screen of her phone, "So darn it."

   "Wow, that stinks," Lucy said, shaking her head at her friend's predicament. "If I can help in anyway, just tell me."

    "Thanks, Lu," Levy smiled appreciatively at her friend, then entered the classroom for history.

     At the end of the day, Levy was sitting in her dorm room by herself, writing up a report for History. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand next to her, and she sighed, picking it up and putting it to her ear.

    "Hi, this is Lucy. Um, Gajeel's going to your dorm as we speak so you guys can do the discussion or whatnot. Apparently our teacher talked to him about it..... And be careful, 'cause he got detention when he sassed the teacher. And he blames you."

    "What?! He'll kill me, Lu!"

     "Then he'll get more detention. I don't think he will." Lucy only half sounded confident as if she doubted her own words.

     Levy faceplanted into her bed, "I'm doomed."

     A knock at the door echoed through the room, and Levy set her phone down on her bed. The bed creaked as she got to her feet, opening the door. Gajeel pushed past her, then sat down on her bed as she closed the door again.

    "So," he growled darkly, "I'm paying more than enough for this pain in the neck. I got detention because of you ratting on me."

    "Yes, I heard," Levy frowned at him, "I'm sorry about that. If it helps, I'll help you with your detention."

     He raised an eyebrow, "You wanna clean the locker rooms with me? Doubtful."

     Levy cringed, knowing full well the locker rooms werw gross, "I suppose. It's my fault you're in detention to begin with, so I don't see why I shouldn't help you."

     Gajeel didn't seem to be quite as annoyed when he grumbled, "I'll hold ya to that."

         "But we have some things for bio that need to be done. Would you like to do the discussion or the lab first?"

    He snorted, folding his arms across his chest, "Don't care."

      "So we'll do the discussion," Levy decided, "About death and its meaning. We need to look up death and its meaning to write it down in a neat paragraph, then explain why we do or don't agree with it."

    "Yeah, but I suck at writing," Gajeel scowled, "You don't."

     "I thought you had a problem with my writing," Levy frowned at him, crossing her arms as she stared at him expectantly.

    "I have a problem with what you write, not how you write. You're a decent writer, so give me a hand."

     "Why do you have a problem about what I write?" Levy pressed, not wanting to let the subject go.

    Gajeel paused. Telling her might compromise his identity as Blacksteel. "I... ain't a fan of the way you write about some of the characters."

    "Which ones?"

       "A couple. But mainly Blacksteel. You make him seem like a huge bad guy in everything you write." Gajeel tried to sound casual as he spoke, "You make him look like he only helps people to show up the cops."

    Levy rolled her eyes, "Oh, that. Blacksteel isn't a hero, he's just an individual who likes butting into other people's lives and making cops look bad. I truly believe he's making things worse for our economy and all that, so I portray him the way I see him."

     Gajeel scowled. "I think he's doin' a good thing. He looks out for individual people the government cares nothin' about. I know for a fact he's saved lives, but no one gives me credit for that."

     Levy was too focused on the argument to notice his slip up of 'me', "But people have also died. Four people almost died the other day because Blacksteel was too late."

     "So you count the guys who died on his watch instead of the ones he saved?"

    "What matters more to a person— the ones still with them or the ones who are gone?"

      Gajeel broke off, noticing a flash of pain in her eyes, "Hold on... how is this personal?"

    "No one said anything was personal," Levy said tersely, speaking in a tight voice of discomfort.

     "You're speakin' from example, shrimp. What's the real reason you hate Blacksteel so much?" Gajeel asked, his red eyes narrowing as he watched her expression carefully.

    Levy went rigid, then said in a tight voice, "You should probably go now, Gajeel." Before he could protest, she pushed him outside the room, locked the door behind them, then sprinted down the hall away from him.