deleting him
Characters: Evergreen, Elfman Strauss
Summary: If only it would be easy like this.
Warning: Beware AU and imagined Crack
She threw her bag into the corner of her room as she angrily stalked over to the coffee maschine and glared at it as she pushed the buttons. She would not calm down, no matter what Mira had said. She was sick and tired of Elfman running around, helping Cana wherever she walked as if he owned that doe-eyed little flirt anything on this planet. And the worst thing: she had no real reason to be mad because it was not like he was her boyfriend or anything.
She rested her aching forehead against the cold tiles of her kitchenette as she exhaled. Truly, to fall for her co-worker had been the dumbest decision she had ever made. Then again, falling in love was hardly a rational decision and so, she could not even blame her lousy luck for that one.
A sharp knock at the door made her twirl around but before she could move, the door already opened as the trio barged into her apartment. Lucy Heartfilia was as bubbly and cheerful as on any other fucking day, Juvia Lockser was silent and slightly gloomy as usual and Lisanna Strauss, the sister of the reason why she felt so terribly right now, was polite and casual as always.
"You left your books at work and so the boss sent me to bring them," the white-haired woman said as she held out a bag. "Juvia and Lucy decided to tag along but we won't disturb you much longer, Evergreen-san. They want to go shopping with Erza and I need to start on dinner."
She pressed her lips together as she accepted the bag. "Doesn't your brother usually do the cooking?" she asked, barely concealing the venom in her voice.
Blue eyes full of innocence widened instantly. "Why, yes," she nodded. "It's just that he promised Cana-san and Laxus-san to help them with the preparations for Mira-nee's surprise party and so, he won't be back until midnight or so and before Mira-nee notices that no one cooks today, Freed-san and I promised to distract her. We will make her favourite dinner."
"Which means that Lisanna will chop everything into neat little pieces while Freed does the actual cooking," Lucy chuckled as she hugged her friend. "Don't feel bad about it, Lisanna, huh?"
"I can cook!" the slightly younger woman defended herself. "Just not that fancy stuff Mira-nee likes the most and so I gladly help Freed-san when he cooks."
"Evergreen-san," Juvia addressed her, blue eyes full of doubt and questioning. "You have been off at work lately and Juvia wonders what makes you frown this much. Even Erza-san noticed it."
And this meant a lot, considering Scarlet's obliviousness to most things that were connected to emotions and similar things. Evergreen sighed deeply as she shrugged. "Cana is getting on my nerves lately," she finally admitted. "I am not happy with the way she behaves since last week … always barging into my office to chat with Elfman … it's terrible."
"Huh?" Lucy smirked as she crossed her arms. "I thought you said that you'd pay someone if he or she just stops him from yelling 'man' every three minutes. Cana stops him, doesn't she?"
"Or is Mira-nee right for once and you are jealous of Cana's friendship with Elf-nii?"
"As if anyone would be jealous of the friendship that drunk has with him," the brunette spat out as she busied herself with the coffee machine. "Only a complete and utter idiot would fall in love with someone who is that blind and oblivious."
Juvia raised an eyebrow. "Lisanna-san said nothing about love, Evergreen-san, that was you who mentioned that," she said. "Juvia thinks that you do have feelings for Elfman-san and that you are jealous of Cana-san. Juvia also noticed that you have been wearing different, more … womanly clothes ever since you started working with Elfman-san … maybe to impress him?"
"I guess there's a reason why you had always the best or our graded back at school, Juvia-chan," Lisanna said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, yeah, that's true, isn't it, Evergreen? You have been changing your attire and it has been weeks since you smashed a book onto his head when he called you 'Ever' … could it be that you are finally opening up to him?"
"And you are angry because just when you finally admitted to yourself that you like him in a non-platonic way, Cana swept him and started to spend a lot more time with him, right? And socially awkward as you are, you couldn't express this anger," Lucy said as she clapped her hands. "You can admire my brilliancy later on, Evergreen, but for now, we are postponing the shopping trip. You need to get this anger out of your system before you get a bad skin."
"Where are we taking her, Lucy?" Lisanna asked as she watched the scene unfold.
"Remember that kick box giftcard Erza got me for my birthday? I guess I can put it to some use after all," the blonde grinned. "Get going, Evergreen, we don't have all day."
"I won't go kickboxing just because of that idiot!" the brunette screeched.
"Juvia apologises, Evergreen-san, but she agrees with Lucy-san … this is not healthy for anyone. There is so much anger inside of you, you need to get rid of it."
"I will call Freed-san and tell him to start without me," Lisanna sighed. "Well, he might want to use the change to woo Mira-nee anyway. This would be easier without me lurking around."
"My, aren't you a smart one?" Lucy teased as she messed with her friend's hair. "Anyway, we really should hurry up and someone might want to call Erza."
Evergreen collapsed on her office chair and swore not to move for the rest of the day. She had originally assumed that Lucy had been kidding about the giftcard about obviously, Erza had really a terrible sense for presents and so, it had been all true and there had been no way to back out once the trio had pushed her into that hall where Erza had joined them. And while she had to admit that she felt better now, that she had gotten rid of the aggression and the anger inside of her, Evergreen was bruised and generally sore from the unfamiliar workout.
Elfman waltzed into the office, carrying the usual amount of files and protein shakes – not that he needed them – which he unceremoniously dumped onto his desk before he went to grab coffee. He finally stopped in front of her desk and held out one mug. "I heard that you were kickboxing yesterday," he remarked. "I wouldn't have guessed but … that's a manly thing to do."
She glared at him as she accepted the mug. "That was hardly manly," she snapped. "How was party planning with Cana and Laxus?" she asked venomously.
"Laxus kept suggesting the strangest things and … he had an unhealthy and unmanly obsession with the scarf Cana was wearing, kept messing with it," he said disappointedly. "I thought that he is a real man but no man teases a woman about scarves. That's plain unmanly."
Evergreen pursed her lips. "Boys in elementary school tease the girls they like," she remarked.
"And they are about as manly as him," he said as he grabbed his protein shake. "By the way, Cana told me to get a date for the party … looks like she's going with scarf boy and since she doesn't want to admit that she's dating him, she wants to make a date mandatory."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Cana and Laxus?" she asked as if she could hardly believe it.
"They have been all over each other in their unmanly way since she was a senior," he shrugged. "According to Onee-san, it has always been merely a matter of time."
"Did … you already ask someone?" she asked, cursing her voice for wavering.
"Nah, I don't think that anyone would go with me … they all think that I am crazy … that's why I will go on my own. Who are you going to ask? Bixslow's taken and so is Freed…"
She looked at him with a scandalised expression on her face. "They and Laxus, they are like my brothers," she said as she shook her head. "No, if we are both going alone, we should go alone together … if that makes any sense."
"Evergreen Rajin, are you asking me out in the most manly way possible?" he asked.
She sighed. "Yes, but don't make me regret this," she said because if she could be kickboxing against Erza Scarlet and achieve a tie, she could also ask out Elfman Strauss without dying from embarrassment. And in any case, he would make a far better date than the last one she had dated which had been a few months back and the man had never had a chance to measure up to her ridiculously high standards – and if this failed, she would make Lisanna, Lucy and Juvia pay for this because they had encouraged her to ask him out.