Gajeel and Levy are a typical example of when good girls dig bad boys. Levy’s the sweet, cute nerdy girl (gotta love her in her glasses!) who meets and falls for the rough, rocker guy. Gajeel has quite the dark past and Levy even experienced it first hand when he attacked, tied and branded her – not in the cool sexy way either. However, after Gajeel repented and joined Fairy Tail, Levy was able to see the heart of gold that lies beneath his iron-studded metal-head look that might scare away most girly girls, but not Levy.

She forgave his past sins immediately and was her kind self towards him, which only softened Gajeel’s heart even more. This helped ease his entry into the Fairy Tail family and surely it was another motivation to be one of the good guys. Gajeel is the perfect combination of bad-boy and good guy and Levy has a perfect balance of intelligence, beauty and a caring personality. And you can’t deny that there’s something super warm and fuzzy about a tiny, soft and cute girl being embraced and protected by metal and muscles!

Right after Gajeel turned a new leaf and joined Fairy Tail, he got bullied by Jet, Droy and Laxus and refused to fight. Of course, being as kind as she is, Levy asked Laxus to stop even after what Gajeel had put her through just recently. In typical Laxus form, he turns to attack poor Levy with his lightning for butting in, which prompts Gajeel to jump in front of her to block the attack. This act of chivalry won him a little piece of Levy’s heart. Later, when Levy’s selected for the S Class Trial, Gajeel offers to help her since she feels insecure in her abilities and he wants her to succeed and be her support (#relationshipgoals!).

Gajeel’s not the only one throwing himself into the flames (or lightning in this case). Levy is always concerned for Gajeel’s well-being during his matches like when she begs Rogue to stop strangling Gajeel during their fight fearing he may die.

But Levy doesn’t just support him from the sidelines. During the battle against the Eclipse Celestial Spirit King, the king fires a beam at Gajeel and Levy promptly jumps in to protect him by taking the hit herself. And later on in the Tartarus arc, she jumps into poisonous water to give Gajeel a breath of life just as he was about to lose consciousness; again, sacrificing herself. And each time, Levy’s actions inspire Gajeel to fight, to protect her and make him more aware of his feelings for her.

It may seem like Levy does more for Gajeel than he does for her, but that’s just because he is the shyest tough guy around (which just makes him even more lovable!). He expresses his attraction and feelings for her by disguising it as teasing or annoyance like when he tells her: “It’s hard looking for someone so small. So don’t leave my side”. (Awwww). Every time he takes a jab at her height, you know what he’s really thinking is “I love that you’re so tiny, I want to protect you!”.

He also refuses to ask her out to dance but promptly grabs her - adorably awkwardly - and without saying anything starts dancing with her when Droy and Jet ask her to dance. Hey, he did say he wasn’t going to ask! He’s a man of his word.

There’s also that adorable scene where Gajeel mentions Laxus and Natsu are writing songs about him for saving them and Levy jokingly tells him he should write a song for her since she just saved him. Gajeel immediately puts down the unconscious Laxus he was carrying on his shoulder and starts – embarrassingly – improvising a song for Levy! She blushes and stops him when he gets to “…fade in to a little form…” not so much because his singing is terrible, but because she’s too embarrassed to hear a glory song about her. I really wish we could’ve heard the rest of that song! I’m sure it would’ve been super sweet!!

In the 5th Fairy Tail OVA episode Dokidoki Ryuuzetsu Land, we get to see Levy and Gajeel hanging out at a water amusement park along with Happy, Pantherlily and Charles (Usually Charla or Carla in the subs). When Levy says they should go with the Exceeds to the aquarium, Gajeel’s first reaction is to say “what am I going to do there?” at which point Levy is visibly disappointed and Gajeel immediately catches on and tags along anyway.

When the group get attacked by giant fish, Gajeel quickly jumps in to protect Levy by using his Iron Fist on them and Levy holds his arm asking him not to go overboard. And then later when they end up sliding uncontrollably down the Love-Love Slide thanks to Natsu, Gajeel holds on to Levy for dear life and tells her to hold on to stay in his arms (though it’s mostly his motion sickness talking). Finally, while being aggressively held in Gajeel’s arms and feeling a bit awkward, Levy says she’d be embarrassed if people saw them that close together, though “personally I wouldn’t mind if they saw us”…

Most couples in Fairy Tail either argue and bicker or don’t even want to admit they have feelings for each other; and some guys are just plain mean to the girls who are after them (yes, that’s you Gray). But not Gajeel and Levy! They don’t usually have childish arguments like Natsu and Lucy who also won’t even realize or admit that they clearly have some feelings for each other. During the S Class Trial, Gajeel makes fun of Levy’s height and tells her to get stronger while patting her head, like he does. It really pisses Levy off that Gajeel thinks she’s weak and she runs off on her own. Telling herself that she hates him and he’s an idiot, she remembers all their times together and seems to realize that she not only doesn’t hate him but quite the opposite. When she’s attacked and Gajeel appears to save her, she seems to admit her feelings to herself after Gajeel tells her not to leave his side.

They are both aware of their feelings, and even though they’re shy about it, they show it and they don’t seem to resist them as shown by all the times they choose to spend time with each other, like during the S Class Trial and the aquarium. Both Gajeel and Levy can often be seen adorably blushing during their interactions and awkward situations, but you’ll rarely see a tsundere reaction from Levy. And especially, Gajeel is sweet to Levy and accepts her love, unlike Gray who is a total @#$%&’ to Juvia on the daily…