Paying Attention

Happy birthday SparklingYaoi! I was torn between ideas for this so I wrote you two little things instead of one oneshot…

It was freezing. There were many other things about that day that Erik could note, but mostly it was just freezing. He was chilled to the bone and fairly sure icicles were forming on his skin somewhere. The only good thing about that day was the company.

One of Jellal's plans to combat the cold weather was 'oh hooray' to get a fire going, nobody really had the magical power available to start one that way, so Crime Sorcière had disbanded temporarily to fetch items… at first, Erik hadn't been sure whether it was a blessing or a thorn in his side but he was stuck with Meredy searching for firewood. The first thing he'd ever say about her was 'bubbly'; she always seemed so happy on the outside and messed around playing pranks on guild members.

Of course he knew better.

Absolutely everything she did that way was a front; he didn't even need his awesome hearing to know that, the signs were all over her. After spending so much time with the Oracion Seis, things like that were easy to pick up on; Meredy didn't eat much, always had small bags under her eyes, tossed and turned in her sleep and was currently incredibly tense… not that he was paying any particular attention.

"You can stop staring you know; it's kind of weird Erik." Trying to tease him with a cheerful voice, blushing cheeks and staring at him cheekily, 'bubbly' was definitely the right word to describe her personality, at least the one she let everybody see. She waved her hair around, skipping, even through the cold, as if she was her own heat source, her back to him and Erik wondering just why and when he'd started staring in the first place.

One other thing about today was that he was incredibly glad she couldn't hear thoughts like he could. The consequences at that moment would've gone on for years knowing his guildmates.

Erik himself was never going to get over how he'd just thought she was cute.

*/*\*

The first time they really talked was a month after that day when Meredy had got everyone with water balloons; Erik had managed to dodge thanks to hearing it coming and was running through the woods with her to avoid the guildmates trying to get them.

He could've told them it was coming, but present situation aside, the opportunity had been far too good to pass up.

They must have run together for a mile or two before they stopped, adrenalin leaving their systems and any signs of their comrades left far behind.

Meredy was leaning against a tree, arms hanging by her sides as she panted, chest heaving up and down and no he was not looking. "Well… that was fun~"

Erik was still a little too out of breath to say much, so he found himself content with just nodding; anything else seemed like too much energy anyway. When he managed to look at her, she was smiling brightly and even though it was her usual expression, it looked… off.

This was maybe worth mustering up the energy for. "Hey pinkie, why do you do that all the time?"

She was pouting. Shit, that was adorable, he'd committed crimes before but something being that cute had to be illegal. "Do what? Playing pranks?"

If he wanted to do anything, it was maybe hit himself. "No, smile all the time when you don't mean it. That's what I'm talking about." Her face dropped a little, looking down as shadows came over her eyes.

Had he not been a little eager for her to say why, he might have felt sorrier.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar."

"I'm not!"

"Liar."

"Oh, you're reading my thoughts right? Then why do you even need to ask me that?!" She looked like she wanted to start crying and he might've started feeling guilty about that, but he'd been stuck with five other people with issues that he'd heard constantly. 'Wisdom came with experience' and at this point it was pretty damn obvious that talking about it made things feel better in the long run. That little piece of information he'd had far too much experience with.

"If you know that I know, and you're already riled up, it should be no problem to vent right?" Ah choices, he could gamble that Meredy wouldn't talk about a 'softer side', that wasn't there, to prevent him from bringing up the conversation that made her thoughts so dark.

It was silent for a moment, and Erik shifted uncomfortably from where he was resting, a slight headache coming on as Meredy started thinking about a volcano; random but annoying, the sound of the rumbling was hurting his ears quite a bit.

"On one point your logic makes no sense, I shouldn't have to vent." True, his attempt at getting her to talk was admittedly crappy. "But on another, seeing as you really do know anyway, there's no point in me trying to hide it. I could stand to get it off my chest." He kept a close eye on her as she slid down the tree, sinking to the ground and hugging her knees to her chest. "I'm not sure if Jellal ever told you – I never paid attention to that – but a former member of our guild was my adoptive mother… she left us, left me, after the incident at the Grand Magic Games. All I got was a letter and I just wish I could've seen her more time before 'her time was up', it's like in the end I didn't mean anything to her at all." Head resting on her arms, shoulders shaking and the small smell of salt, ah crying… that didn't surprise him much, Erik would never claim he knew everything, it would likely make his head spin if he did, but he did know how to try and comfort someone when they were upset… perhaps at another time when she didn't want to rip his head off, he'd thank Sorano.

That thought was forgotten completely as he moved next to Meredy, bark digging into his back as an arm slung over the back of her neck to rest his fingers on her far shoulder. Erik felt straight away how she tensed and he sighed, this was going to take a while.

But maybe, just maybe, he could see that cute smile back again.

*/*\*

It was another fortnight until Erik managed to catch her for more than a passing 'hello' or casual 'what's up?' and she looked like she was feeling a little better than when she'd talked to him in the woods. Crime Sorcière had moved location again, staying by the base of a growing dark guild on stake out before they struck. Meredy was there as they'd been put into groups; Erik was there, at the point furthest away in the 'spying set up' as it had been named, for his great listening.

Which of course never applied to just professional situations, the Second Generation Slayer was being driven a little mad with the thoughts spinning in his partner's head constantly.

"Would you calm down a little?" He hadn't meant to growl and felt a little sorry when she flinched.

"Oops, sorry." Taking deep breaths, Meredy tried breathing deeply to clear her head; the new lack of confusion and reduction of his headache helped a lot and soon they were in action against the guild.

All of it was over pretty quickly; those pathetic black wizards hadn't stood a chance against a former wizard saint and former members of the Baram Alliance. Dragging the unconscious bodies into a pile in one room, Erik had the chance to discuss things with her again.

"You seem better than you were last time I was alone with you." Speaking in hushed tones so nobody else would hear, he managed to (finally) get in a word between work.

"Well… I guess I just feel a lot better since then." She was pouting, damn it. He still believed that should be illegal! The mood was sombre, to be expected when surrounded by darkness, but the feel of things just didn't sit right with him.

Coughing awkwardly behind his hand, Erik tried remembering a few jokes he'd heard before that may lighten the mood, a particular one he'd heard from the Salamander before was his first choice.

It worked brilliantly, she was on the floor in seconds, giggling uncontrollably and trying to clutch her stomach and bang her hand on the floor at the same time. Heads turned to look at the noise in what had previously been a quiet place and they were soon all thinking 'question marks', he didn't care much about the attention – though he pretended to still be hard at work – and shrugged off the questions they were mentally throwing at him.

Erik didn't care as long as she kept smiling like that.

*/*\*

One month later and the two of them were on great terms, Meredy made friends easily and while Erik had seemed to be a little put off at the idea, he was grateful for it. She smiled a lot, laughed loudly, still played pranks only to run off with a cheeky smile gracing her face and became more herself. It was a great thing to see and he'd definitely remember it for a long time to come.

Meredy was currently teasing Jellal about Erza and some other things; the look on the guild master's face was pretty amusing, when Sorano sidled up next to him.

"So Erik, you've been hanging around little Meredy quite a bit, I've rarely seen you!" Oh hello drama queen. "How are things?" As if that would have ever fooled him, he didn't need to read her thoughts to know what she was after, it was all said plainly through the smirk on her face.

"Cut the crap, there's nothing going on between us." Breathing out a heavy sigh, he leaned back against a nearby tree and prepared for an onslaught of curious thought questions.

"Well that's not what I see, I honestly never thought things would get to the point where your ears would be more useless than seeing the obvious." Erik could humour her once in a while, but if the insults went on then he was gonna lose it… a Poison Dragon's Roar may just be headed her way eventually; that was definitely his primary thought when she continued talking, annoying questions still bouncing around in her head. "I know you well enough to see that you actually care about her and the way she looks at you is a dead giveaway on how she feels." He'd want proof; she must have known that, he'd never once been the type to accept something like that without evidence.

Sorano would've been told just that too if she hadn't started speaking again. "I can't give you much material proof, but call it a woman's intuition." Not even given the chance to retort, the self-proclaimed angel stepped away, beginning to bother racer and Hot Eye about something trivial. She even managed to shut out all of her thoughts about the conversation she'd just had with him, very clever… and actually irritating.

Any scowl he might've been wearing vanished when Meredy skipped over to him. "Hey Erik!"

"Meredy." Just nodding, he saw the expression on her face; her cheeks were puffed out and her eyes went 'chibi'… Never before had anything looked so cute.

"Awww, what's with that reply? Lame…" He could hear how much she wanted to smirk, but he'd respect that she was trying to keep her playful pout in place.

"Nothing's 'with that reply', it's just the best way to answer."

"Is not! You could've gone 'Oh hey Meredy!' or at least seemed a little more excited." She was smirking now, though it was a little impressive how she'd stopped herself from doing that before.

"I'll keep that in mind then." It looked like her eyes were sparkling, it suited her; the playful, cheeky type. Her thoughts were almost blank though, which was unusual, she must've been talking to Sorano about ways to hide important information… She might've given him a clue about that too, Meredy was starting to speak before Jellal called her back about something he needed her for.

Crap, time together was pretty short those days, work had been a pain and exhaustion was an almost constant factor in everything, but it was still always a shame watching her go.

"Hey Erik? Meet me in the woods later, there's something I want to tell you." An order; how sweet, trying to act in charge that way and leaving to help her comrade before letting him reply.

There were a few guesses to make about what 'later' was going to be, some he enjoyed, some he didn't… though the hints of a smile and a pink flush to her cheeks as she walked away may have been an indication.

Not that he was ever really paying attention.

I apologize for crappiness with this; these two are actually pretty hard to write… I hope the next part is better!