Hospitality
Chapter 1
It wasn't like it was the best of ideas from the get go. It was actually one of her impulsive thoughts that found its way out of her mouth, causing her almost immediately to regret it.
"Stay with you?" Jellal repeated as Meredy, who was at his side, grinned. "Why would we-"
Never one to ever admit that she was having second thoughts about something (especially after only having a moment to think it over), Erza only smiled back.
"It would be just silly to camp outside of Magnolia or even pay for a motel. And I just bought this new house," she went on. She'd met Jellal and Meredy as she was headed there, actually, to her home. "And besides, I could use your help."
"My help?'
"Both of you," she said, nodding at them. "You can stay in my place and help me unpack a little, if you don't mind. This is the first time I have lived outside of Fairy Hills, and I seemed to have acquired many things."
"Well-" Jellal started, but his younger associate wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.
"Of course we'll help you, Erza," the pink haired wizard said, grinning at her. "We'd love to."
Jellal glanced at her, but Meredy was still only grinning at Erza, who nodded in return before setting off once more.
"I am just coming from the guild, in fact," she told them as they took to following her. They had actually been headed to Fairy Tail as well given that anytime they were in town, Meredy liked to drop in.
…And though he'd never admit it, so did Jellal. A lot.
"Was Juvia there?' Meredy asked, falling more into step with her as Jellal hung back, still trying to figure a way out of staying with Erza. But if she really did have the room, he figured it'd be nice for Meredy to have a chance to stay in an actual home for once. They mostly spent all their time camping out, after all.
"Actually, no," Erza said. "It was very peculiar. Yesterday, it seemed everyone was around when I went to round up some people to help me carry all of my stuff from Fairy Hills to my new home. But today, when I showed up, there was no one there, but Mirajane."
"Really?"
"I think they might have been hiding from me," she admitted. Then, balling up her fist, she punched it into her open palm, as if in annoyance. "If I find this to be true then, well, I will take matters into my own hands. There is not a single one of them that I would not have helped move, much less unpack."
Jellal's eyes widened. Clearing his throat, he spoke up.
"How much stuff did you say there was, Erza?" he asked, reading the actions of her guild mates easily, it giving him a very foreboding feeling. If they didn't even want to help their 'queen' then what the heck were he and Meredy doing?
"Not much," she assured him, though he could hear the hesitance in her voice at that. "Believe me, there's hardly anything at all."
In all his years he had never seen 'hardly anything' turn out to be so much. So very, very much.
"What is all this?" Meredy asked as, after making it to Erza's tiny home, they went inside to discovered boxes upon boxes. "Erza?"
"According to Lucy," she said as she led them in, "I have a problem with throwing things away."
Jellal only blinked. "I could understand that sort of diagnosis, yes."
She sent him a look. "You do not understand. Most of these things are armor and such."
"You do have quite the arsenal of armor," Meredy agreed slowly.
"Yes," she agreed. "That is simply what they do not understand. And then I have my high number of costumes-"
"Costumes?" Jellal asked.
"Mmmhmm. I do not know if you are aware or not, but I am quite the actress."
"Really now?"
"Of course," she said, glancing over at him. "Ask anyone."
"I'll take your word for it," he mumbled though, after having done so with her lie about how many boxes there were, he wasn't so sure that was a good idea.
Erza showed them both to the only two guest rooms she had in her home. One had a bed in it, which Jellal readily gave to Meredy, while the other was mostly bare.
"I figured it would be nice to sleep on hardwood floor than it would be dirt," Erza explained to him.
"It shall," he agreed as he went to set his pack down on the floor. "I thank you, Erza, for your hospitality."
And because Meredy was off in the other room, it was only the two of them meaning they both felt that awkwardness, the lack of honesty and past relations between the two of them that filled the silence. Eventually, Erza bowed out, telling him the bathroom was at the end of the hall and she'd be in the living room, taking care of the boxes.
Though a shower sounded nice, Jellal allowed Meredy to get a crack at it first, which she immediately took. He did remind her though that they were guests and in the house of a woman that he did not always have the best relationship with. Meredy only patted him on the shoulder though and grinned.
"It's a relationship now, is it?"
"Well of course it is. Just as I have a relationship with everyone I know. I-"
"You don't have to explain it to me," she giggled as he only made a face, out there in the hallway. Meredy just turned to walk into the bathroom then. "I won't take long. Then you can have your turn, huh?"
After she disappeared into the bathroom, he was left with facing Erza once more. And though that wasn't as daunting of a task as it had once been, it still did bring him some hesitance every time it happened. When he came upon her though, she was busy pulling different weapons out of a box, daggers and other blades of sorts, making him hesitant.
"I can help," he announced as he came closer. "With whatever you'd like."
Erza only glanced at him with a slight smile. "How about you start on the boxes on the other side of the room, yes? I have indicated on each of them where the stuff inside them belongs. Most of it should be armor and such, which I plan on putting in the room you are currently using."
He bowed his head before going to do as she asked.
"I fear though that tomorrow we shall not be able to help you much," he told her as he picked up a box and turned to carry it into the other room. "Meredy and I are tracking a dark guild, after all. If things pan out right, we might not even stay here for more than the night."
"My home is open whenever you are in town," she told him simply. "I find myself to rather enjoy guests. Though, now that I have a place for him, I am slightly worried Natsu will spend as much time here as he does with at Lucy's. Perhaps whichever has more food will be how he decides."
"Sounds like him," Jellal agreed.
They spent some time in just that way, going around and moving boxes, unpacking them. Eventually Meredy joined them though, after she mentioned she wished to see some of the other guild members, Erza quickly dismissed her to head down to Fairy Tail.
"If you can find them," she said, "then let them all know that I shall be hunting them down very shortly. So they all had better have the best of excuses."
And then there were two. Jellal could see it in her eyes too, Meredy's, as she left. For some reason she'd always liked to…tease him about Erza. She thought it was funny. It was hardly humorous to him, however, leaving him unable to understand why she found it to be.
Then again, humor wasn't his strong suit. Perhaps there was something he was just missing about the whole thing?
Still though, he and Erza worked diligently. They both had that quality about them, the way that if they were given something to do, they just did it. There were hardly any words between them, but not in an awkward way. No, with something to do, they were both finally able to act normal around one another, striving towards a common goal.
"Erza," Jellal did find himself calling out at one point. "This box had bedroom written on it. I'm assuming it goes in yours, but-"
"It's probably clothes," he heard her respond from above. She was up in the attic, the stairs that led there having pulled down from the hallway. "It's right next door to the room Meredy is using. Just take them in there, please."
"Right, of course," he said, heading off that way. For some reason though, he got a knot in his stomach about it. Which was just plain silly. It was just a room. Her room. That she hardly even had had a chance to use yet.
It was probably the weight of the box that made him uncertain though. It felt far too heavy to just be clothes. So, upon entering her mostly bare bedroom, he went to set the box on the bed before opening it.
"Ah," he said upon opening it. "It's only novels. That is-"
He stopped though as his eyes fell to the title of one of the books. And then the next.
"I did not know that Erza was into romance novels," he mumbled, still slightly shocked. He had taken her more for an action or adventure type of person. Then, smiling slightly, he remarked softly to himself, "Well, I suppose she gets enough of that in her normal life."
Which, if he followed that logic, he was happy to conclude that she got no romance and had to resort to the books to compensate.
…Not that he wanted Erza to be lonely or something. That was just silly. It was just…
Lifting his eyes then from the box, he found that in the corner of the room, under the window, was a tiny bookcase. Grinning, he headed over there.
"I suppose she would like it if I went ahead and put these away for her," he decided. Though Erza being such an avid reader was still a little fresh to him. Enough so that she had a bookcase literally in her bedroom? Something to keep her occupied, he figured.
It was when he went over to the bookcase though, having to get down on his knees to do so, that it happened. He just picked the first book out of the packed box, planning on putting it in the bookshelf, when something came over him. He figured he'd just peek inside. Glance at a few paragraphs. He didn't know why.
Maybe his brain was just still all jumbled about even being in Erza's house.
When he opened the book, it was to a page that was already dog-eared, her having no doubt read it at some point. Upon glancing at it though, he about passed out.
It was a…a…sex scene. In a book! And a rather detailed one at that. His eyes widened as he read over it, face turning red from just the words alone.
Erza…read such things?
Of course not, he decided as he quickly put the book down. No. That just had to be a…a…fluke. That was it. It was a fluke. Plain and simple. So of course he picked up another book and flipped it to a certain page in order to prove it was just that one book, only to be, once again, accosted by a very graphic erotic moment going on.
"Are all these books erotica?" he complained, glancing into the box. It was one thing to him, for her to enjoy romance novels but for some reason, the dirty aspect of them was bothering him.
It'd be a lie though to say that they also didn't interest him, at least some what.
All the books, or at least all the ones he glanced at, appeared to be smut. Or a mild form of it in some cases.
"Jellal?" he heard them from the other room. It was Erza, apparently thinking he had been gone for too long. "You can just set them on the bed. You don't have to-"
And then she was in the doorway, looking in on him, only causing his blush to grown a substantial extent then.
"What are you-" He didn't cut her off. She just stopped talking as it became abundantly clear what was going on.
"I-I," he stuttered as he got to his feet, one of the books still clasped in his hands. "When I opened the box, I saw it was books, so I thought-"
"You thought that you could what?" She was blushing as well and wouldn't meet his eyes. It was a rare time, he was certain, for Erza's face to heat up in such a way.
"I was only helping," he told her, making a show then of setting the book down. "I was going to put them away, yes? In the bookshelf? That's all."
"Well," she said slowly, still seemingly unsure about what he'd read or what he knew of the book he had just been holding. "You don't have to. I will do that later. I like to keep them organized, you know? On the shelves?"
"Of course. It was foolish of me to think otherwise." His own face was losing its tint then as he only bowed his head slightly and came closer. "I will get back to unpacking then."
"N-No, it's fine. You haven't had a chance to shower as of yet. You can do that now, yes? I think we've done enough for the day."
"If you're sure," he said slowly though, honestly, a shower sounded divine in that moment. It would certainly help cool him off, at the very least.
"I am," she said, letting him pass then. As he was walking away though, towards the room he was staying in to get his things for his shower, she spoke again. "Jellal?"
"Yes?"
"…They're only books," she said, turning after him, into the hall. He only glanced back at her though and smiled.
"Of course. What else would they be?"
He'd eased her fears then, something he'd always found simple when it came to the two of them. With a shake of his head, he continued on to get the things from his pack before going into the bathroom.
It would be a long night.
This'll probably just be another five chapter story with short chapters (about the size of this one), but I feel like I always start by saying that and end up with a ten chapter story if not more. Sigh.