Ok, first attempt at writing a modern-ish AU. Sorry if it sounds super cliche!

"Where are you, Natsu?" Jellal singsonged as he walked around the arena, gun in hand. Natsu was somewhere here and he needed to die. He walked into a bush and heard a muffled popping sound.

"Damn it!" he cursed. That bastard...

More popping sounds and before he knew it, his screen faded to gray and the words, 'YOU HAVE BEEN KILLED' flashed in front of him.

His Skype played the familiar notes of someone calling and he picked up. On the other line, Natsu was dying of laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU ACTUALLY WALKED INTO ALL OF THEM! AHAHAHA! NICE JOB, BUDDY!"

"Jerk! You cheated!"

"You never said anything about landmines! Just no grenades and snipers! I WIN!"

Jellal remained silent on his end, fuming that he had lost to Natsu. Natsu. The guy whose gaming style was:

1. Pick a person.

2. When the game starts, follow target and shoot wildly.

3. Waste all of your ammo.

4. Die.

5. Respawn and repeat.

"Oi, Jellal? You still here?"

"Yeah..."

"Diner in 10. You remember the bet, right? RIGHT?"

"Got it. See you in 10."

Natsu ended the Skype call. With a sigh, Jellal sunk down on his rolling chair and pushed off. He sat there and stared at the ceiling for a good five minutes.

Well, I'm screwed.

Jellal walked to Strauss' Diner. The popular restaurant was owned by Mirajane Strauss, commonly known as Mira, and it had good food and prices. He pushed open the door and saw his friends wave to him from their regular booth. In return, he gave a halfhearted smile and nodded back.

"Hi, Jellal!" Mira said as she passed by him with a tray of food. She flashed a smile at him and pointed to his friends, who were now hollering his name.

"Oh, thanks," he replied.

"You lost to Natsu?" Gray asked. He slid to the left, making room for Jellal.

"Yep!" Natsu proudly answered.

"He cheated that's why."

"Hey! Landmines weren't part of your rules!"

"What's the dare?"

A couple of days of ago, they decided to have a gaming tournament. The winner got five bucks and would choose a dare for the loser to do. It was childish thing to do, but hey, free money! Sting had won first place and he threatened that his dare would be harsh. He had looked at Natsu with an evil glint in his eyes.

Who would've thought it would be me?

"Dunno. Sting's not here yet. Oi, Jellal! You wanna buy me some food?" Natsu asked.

"You have some though." There was a giant plate of sandwiches in front of him and half was eaten.

"I need fries!"

Next to Jellal, Gray rolled his eyes and muttered something about Natsu getting fat. "Sting's coming with Yukino. Apparently, she had a really good dare for you."

Thank goodness! Yukino was Sting's new girlfriend. From what he could tell, she was quiet and kind. How Sting ended up with her, who knows?

"Good. She has more kindness than Sting will ever know in his life," he said.

"Yeah, but her dare's approved by Sting. That means it's going to destroy you," Gray answered. "Hands off, Flame Brain!" He slapped Natsu's hand away from his fries.

"C'mon! Gimme some!" Natsu pleaded. "I made Jellal lose!"

"Tch, doesn't matter to me. You losing would've been more fun."

"Hey!" Sting was standing near the edge of the table. A couple of feet behind him, Yukino was busy fixing the fallen chairs and apologizing to customers.

"Wonderful boyfriend you are, Sting," Jellal smirked. He motioned to Yukino, who was heading over to their booth.

"Thanks. Now, move over for Yukino," he replied.

"It's fine, I got a chair," the girl interjected. While Sting and Jellal were talking, she had taken the liberty to drag a chair over.

"The dare? We're all waiting," Gray said. Natsu nodded his head.

"Hehe, brace yourselves. Jellal's gonna end up in a grave!" he chortled. He nudged his girlfriend, who looked eager to share.

"You have to go on a date with someone," she softly replied.

"That's it?!" Natsu exclaimed. "Laaame!"

"First time I'll agree with this idiot, but that's lame," Gray added.

"I'm fine with that. Easy!" Jellal smiled. He could always ask one of his old friends, no questions asked. Yukino had to be the most kindhearted person on the planet. So, why did Sting approve again... Oh, well!

"She's not even done yet!" Sting grinned. "Go tell 'em!"

Yukino turned her head to face Jellal and slowly said, "You have to go on a date with Erza Scarlet."

Erza Scarlet was well known for being a demon. She had a no-nonsense attitude and had no problem putting people in their place. According to one of Natsu and Gray's horror stories about her, she had nearly broken all of their bones for not paying attention in class.

The whole group, with the exception of Jellal and Yukino, burst out laughing. Natsu and Gray were slamming the table and Sting was near tears.

"AHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" Natsu shouted. He slammed the table again and high fived Gray.

"Yukino, you... I can't even begin..." Gray laughed. He turned to his victimized friend and said, "You're done for."

While everyone was on the verge of death by laughter, Jellal had millions of thoughts going through his head.

I'm screwed! I take it back! Yukino, you have murdered me. My friends are jerks. I'm going to die! My life is over. I should leave town. Would the school notice if I took a 6 month vacation? Damn Natsu and his landmines! I'm going to die; I should schedule my funeral. On my gravestone, it's going to say, 'Death by a Dare'. I can see the headlines now...

"Hey, Jellal? You want food? We're celebrating!" Sting cheered. Natsu and Gray were already in line.

"Thanks, but no," he replied. They were celebrating him dying; why would he join the party?

"Yukino?"

"I'm not hungry," she answered. "Go ahead, I'll wait here."

As soon as he left, she turned to Jellal and abruptly said, "Do it for me, okay?"

He blinked in confusion and intelligently said, "Huh?"

The girl took a deep breath and quickly spoke. "DoitformeokayErza'sbeenhavingahardtimelatelyandshe'sbeenkindadistantandIthoughtI'dusedthischance" - she took another deep breath - "togethertodosomethingotherthanstudyingandsomeotherschoolstuff."

His expression was blank and she repeated her sentence. "Okay?"

"I was going to do it, anyways. Not that I really want to."

"She's my friend! Erza's really sweet, once you get to know her. You'll live."

"What about all those stories I've been told?"

"Exaggeration. You'll be okay."

He was going to protest against her claim, until he was interrupted by Gray's laughter.

"He's not even gonna make it!"

"What's so funny?" Jellal asked.

"Sting over here had this great idea... Get Erza to fall for you!" Gray answered.

"No!"

"If you can do it, which you probably can't, I'll buy the new game for you," Sting added. "Plus five bucks from each of us."

"Special access and special content, too?"

"Sure, why not?"

Well, then... This is going to be interesting...

In case you couldn't decipher that really long sentence: Do it for me okay? Erza's been having a hard time lately and she's been kinda distant and I thought I'd used this chance to get her to do something other than studying and some other school stuff.

Thanks for reading! If you did enjoy, please follow since I will be randomly updating.