As a small person, Levy McGarden had to face a lot of problems when she was young. Always getting picked on by other kids, her self-esteem started to wane. The fact that she was considered a nerd did not help her case; in 6th grade, ignorant and snobbish kids would bully her and tell her to stop reading kids' books. She tried to make them understand that kids' books weren't as dumb as they thought they were but they would never listen, making fun of her small height proved to be more interesting.

Years flew by – well, limped by – and her parents decided to move to another city for financial reasons. Coincidentally, the angry hormones from puberty started to kick in, at last. At 15, it was about time that she did something about her lack of sass when it came to mean or idiotic comments about her height. About damn time, she thought.

The first thing she wanted to fix as soon as possible was an occurrence that usually happened outside – if it happened inside, seriously, they were doing it on purpose. When you're a short person, or worse, when you're short and a girl, people tend to look over your head. Literally. They don't pay much attention to things or people that could be below them, and they bump into you and often say 'Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there' or 'Oh, sorry, I'm in a hurry'. Stupid and inconsiderate tall people. It didn't take her a long time to get the habit of avoiding people, quickly sliding to the side, or even contorting her body as she walked in crowded areas.

No more!

She had read some articles about self-esteem and confidence in public in the past few days, and the thing that came up a lot was that the way a person walked could change how a random stranger judged the said person. She had to change her overall gait. She had to make herself stand out more. Head high, eyes staring straight ahead, shoulders a tiny bit higher, slightly longer steps, and everything should be good.

She had studied the theory for far too long, and today was the day she decided to use everything she had learned. Since moving from a city to another had taken a lot of time and effort, and since she had already registered for high school, she took this opportunity to properly visit the city she was in. She liked it there, even though her parents had said they were moving for financial reasons, this neighbourhood felt much nicer.

Levy started with the rather large park a few minutes away from her new home. It had a nice smell to it, people looked friendly and the sun was out. It was a bright beautiful day.

Following the instructions from the articles she read, strolling around the garden felt more pleasant, her new gait gave her confidence and she couldn't help but smile at people passing by. A few minutes after stepping into the park, a common yet new obstacle had to be overcome.

A rather tall boy was walking right towards her. If she didn't focus so much on not avoiding him, she would have internally commented on how handsone she thought he looked. It wasn't like she wanted to start a fight or anything, she just wanted him to step out of her way 'Beware the beast' style – or beware the 5ft tall blue cactus, as her parents would call her.

Levy held her ground and marched on. She was not going to back down at such a crucial moment.

Three seconds before impact. He's definitely going to step aside, he probably already saw me by now.

Two seconds. Wow, he really is tall. 20 centimeters taller maybe. Tanned skin. Oh, long and kinda spiky hair. Nice.

One. Okay, he's going to shift his body at the last second and I won't even have to do a thing. Do not worry. Everything is fine.

...

For heaven's sake!

They bumped into each other, and being the shortest and obviously the weakest of the two, Levy almost flew backwards. She would have loved to say that their heads collided, but no they didn't, her face just crashed into his chest. As for the tall boy, he almost tripped but managed to prevent Levy from falling by holding on to her frail arms.

The startled Levy shook her head and after two seconds of not moving, the tall boy released his grip on her arms when he made sure she wasn't dangerously leaning backwards anymore. He stared down at her with seemingly dead eyes for two other seconds, then proceeded to roll them.

"Dammit, you coulda looked where you were going, shorty," the boy hissed. His voice was rather rough but didn't sound threatening at all.

"Huh!?" Her eyes opened wide, clearly offended by the fact that he was the one complaining. "I looked where I was going and you still bumped into me," she retorted.

She could feel her cheeks turning red. Stupid complexion. It was a mix of surprise and anger, something that never really happened before. She didn't know if it was something she was supposed to be happy about since it meant that her character changed and that she wasn't putting with anybody's shit anymore, or if she was supposed to be afraid because this kind of attitude could get her in trouble. At this precise moment, she wasn't scared, she secretly enjoyed it, a kind of high overflowed her body.

"If ya knew where ya were going ya wouldn't have bumped into me!" He growled.

Levy's eyes widened, only to promptly go back to a blank expression. She blinked, then facepalmed. Okay, that might have hurt a little bit. She stared at him with dead eyes through the openings between her fingers. "Well, if you knew where you were going, you wouldn't have bumped into me either, idiot."

She froze. Did I just do that? Did I just say that? She was petrified, she may have overdone it. A sudden chill ran down her spine as she scrutinized his every movements, trying to get ready for what he might to do her.

His answer to this insult consisted in an intense glare, she could even have sworn his eyes turned red. It was probably the adrenaline though. His frown deepened and he took a step forward, not to make himself look even taller in front of her, but apparently to take a closer look at her face. With his hands in the back pockets of his black pants, he bent over and cocked his head to the side as if he was examining the visible part of her face that was not hidden by the palm of her hand. And after a few seconds of perfect stillness... he showed a toothy smile.

"Geehee, headstrong, I like that!" He blurted. He regained his tall stature, crossed his arms in front of him and laughed, eyes closed, immaculate teeth showing.

Levy stepped back and her hand slipped away from her face to reveal a confused frown. A radiant glow surrounded his face, he was all she could see – because his tall figure hid the sun behind his head.

He smirked. "What's your name, shorty?"

'Headstrong, I like that'. "Don't call me shorty," she answered simply..

He snorted. "Alright, what's your name?" He repeated, for some reason, he seemed to hide his impatience.

Her mouth drew a pleased lopsided smile on her now relaxed face. "Levy. My name's Levy." It was the first time a stranger she had just literally bumped into asked her name, she was delighted but showed nothing.

Despite everything, she didn't want to appear too friendly so she thought about something. She reached in her purse, pulled out her phone and put it just below her face.

"What's your name?" She asked, an innocent smile painting her face.

He quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, someone's not wasting time, huh?" He bit his lower lip and followed it with a playful smile. "Gajeel. Gajeel Redfox."

"Okay."

Click!

Gajeel Redfox's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "What the f- Did you j-j-just take a picture of me!?" He stuttered, pointing a finger at her because of how deeply offended and scared he got. Levy was delighted, and she showed it, it was her turn to show her toothy smile.

"Geehee," she mimicked, "I'll file a complaint for street harassment, I have your name and your picture, you'll get caught in no time." Her tone was threatening and playful, and for the first time in her life, she looked up at someone while knowing that she had the advantage. What a feeling that was.

"Are you kidding me!? That wasn't street harassment!" He argued, wide eyes filled with denial.

She quirked an eyebrow. "You push me, grab me, then proceed to shamelessly hit on me? Seems like street harassment to me."

"Hey! You're twisting the story here. That ain't wha-"

"Sure," she interrupted, "I'm sure the police will believe you," she seemed to concede, but her lopsided smile said something else entirely. Levy didn't give him the time to talk back. "Well, I'm gonna go now," she cocked her head to the side and offered him a cheeky smile, "it was a pleasuure to talk to you."

"Wha-"

"Oh, and don't try to follow me, it's useless. Look around you, plenty of witnesses, it would only help me get you into more trouble than you're already in."

And on those words, without letting him say anything for the third time, she turned her back and simply walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Gajeel Redfox behind her.

A few steps away from him now, Levy couldn't hear him following her. Her threat had apparently done the trick. She didn't bend her back because she thought he was still looking at her, but she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let her shoulders relax. A long and tired sigh escaped her mouth. Relief, at last. She could not believe she managed to put on this act for this long.

Technically, it wasn't a victory, he still bumped into her, she was still short and he didn't pay attention to her at first. Nonetheless, she didn't back down, she stayed awfully cool the whole time, and she managed to get out of this situation with blinding brilliance. It wasn't the victory she had wanted at first, it was a victory that was much better.

Proud of herself, she smirked. And so did he.

Gajeel Redfox knew that filing a complaint to the police station for something so trivial wouldn't lead to anything. As for Levy McGarden, she knew she would see him again. Indeed, she saw him when she registered for high school, he was just in front of her. He even bumped into her shoulder when he was done. He didn't apologize, he didn't even see her.

A few days later, in this park, he could do nothing but see her. She knew it, and it was such a satisfying feeling.

And now the cherry on top, let's go out with a bang. Her smirk didn't leave her. Still walking away and without turning around, she slipped a hand in her pocket and lifted the other up in the air. "See ya, Gajeel Redfox!"

How's that for a shorty?

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! :). As a short person myself, I felt like it was my duty to write about Levy's potential height problems. This was the first chapter of a loose series of interconnected oneshots. I don't know yet if I will add an actual plot as I go along, but for now, the next chapters will focus on specific moments of her life as a small high schooler. Please, tell me what you thought of this chapter and if you'd like me to continue with this in the reviews :). And if you have some suggestions or prompts that could help me write other chapters focusing on a problem short people have, just tell me, I'll be glad to try and work on them! :)