A/N: So a wonderful anon requested this prompt on tumblr, and I loved the idea so much that I'm posting it here too. Tell me whatcha think! Thanks for reading!
I have a few more request that I will finish before the week is over. I'm sorry to have kept you who have requested waiting, but I promise I haven't forgotten you. Thank you for being so patient.
Today is also Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day. I posted this on tumblr, but it is a long message, so here is the condensed version:
To all my fellow writers: Thank you for what you have done. You are so extremely talented and I am grateful that you continue to do what you do best to make readers happy.
To readers: Review on stories. PM authors. Let them know how you felt about their works, new and old. Share your ideas. Provide insights and thoughts. Give constructive criticism. But let the author know how that you've read their works and appreciate their effort to do this. Authors deserve the appreciation and respect. Remember, we don't have to do this. It is not our job, but we do it because we like making ourselves, and others, happy. So make an author's day and take ten seconds out of you life to hit that review button and put a smile on someone's face.
Sense
"Sight is an asset to plenty of things. But it is not the reason why I fell in love with you."
She longs to see his eyes even though he'll never see hers.
They've been neighbors for well over a year now, and Erza has come to realize that she not only cherishes seeing his face every day, but she cherishes every moment spent with him. But he will never see the smile on her face when she sees him sitting on his porch, never see her eyes shine when he eats her cake that she bakes daily, never see how her breath hitches whenever he touches her.
He is blind, a fact that Erza discovered when she saw him on his porch that momentous occasion. Unable to tame her curious spirit about her new neighbor, she walked over to his house a year ago with a cake in one hand and a welcoming bottle of merlot in the other. When she saw him, however, she knew something was off.
His initial appearance took Erza's breath away. He had long, shaggy cerulean hair, soft and silky to the touch (as she would later find out). Light skin, high cheekbones, a strong and angular jaw. Full lips, so rare on men that it was a beautiful and welcoming sight.
But she couldn't see his eyes. That was due mainly from the wide black blindfold that covered them, also partially hiding an elaborate red tattoo that ran down his right cheek.
But Erza was a polite woman. She did not pry into the blindfold, but instead offered the cake and wine, to which he graciously accepted. His name was Jellal, and he had moved to Magnolia from Crocus. She never expected to really talk to him again, but over the months after he moved in, she found herself gravitating over to his house again and again, bringing more snacks and drinks over until he finally gave her a key to come in whenever she liked.
She never brought up his blindness, until one day he did. "I'm blind," he'd said, making her look up from her slice of cake. He was sitting in his usual place on the porch, his face turned slightly in her direction. "I was born like this."
"I'm sorry," she had replied, unable to find a response. He hadn't responded, but continued to keep his head pointed at her while she ate. She looked at him, staring at the spots where his eyes were, and for the first time, wonders what color they are, and how she wished she could see them.
That very thought would continue to plague her mind for the rest of their friendship.
The memory finds its way back into Erza's thoughts. She's sitting on the loveseat next to him, curled into his chest while one of his arms is wrapped around her shoulder. He is absentmindedly playing with her hair, twisting the ends of her red locks through his fingers.
"Scarlet," he murmurs, rousing her attention. "It suits you."
She frowns. "How could you tell if you can't see?" His blindness isn't an awkward subject around them anymore, so she doesn't worry about offending him. After all, as he once so put it, they can't "ignore the elephant in the room".
He shrugs. "I don't know, exactly," he replies sheepishly, turning his head towards her voice. "There's just something about it that's fitting. 'Erza Scarlet.' I can't forget a name like that."
She blushes, and is once again saddened how he'll never see her face redden because of him.
"You know," he says, making her look up at him again. "Just because I can't see you blush doesn't mean I don't know you are."
She wonders suddenly if he can read her mind, but before she can voice her thoughts he interrupts her. "I can feel your heartbeat. When it races, it means I've said something you like to hear. When your breath hitches, it means I've done something that pleases you. And when you are silent and huffing, I know I've angered you. Just because I'm blind does not mean I do not know how things work. And it took me a year to figure you out, Erza Scarlet, but I think I've got you pretty well."
She's silent, and bites her lips. Then, once she takes a breath, does she speak. "You never told me you knew this before," she says quietly.
His arm tightens. "You never brought it up."
"I was unhappy, I suppose," she replies, feeling him tense underneath her. "I was sad that you'd never truly be able to see me, and see what you do to me."
He laughs, a beautiful baritone chuckle that sends Erza's heart racing. "Erza," he says, chuckling. "I don't need sight to know how beautiful you are. Sight can't help someone feel a racing heart, or sense the heat on one's face. Sight doesn't help me feel your smooth skin, smell your perfume of strawberries and vanilla. It doesn't help me feel the silkiness of your hair, or hear the joyous way you laugh.
"Sight is an asset to plenty of things," he continues, his head turned in her direction. "But it is not the reason why I fell in love with you."
Her breath hitches in her throat at his words. She's been in love with him for months, but she has no inkling that he'd felt the same way for her. Her eyes trace the blindfold covering his eyes, and she gulps.
"Jellal," she whispers, and then moves, straddling his hips and settling down on his lap. He grunts in surprise, but places his hands on her hips while she cups his face, running her thumbs over his smooth cheeks, tracing his mark.
"May I look at your eyes?"
He stiffens. His mouth opens, but Erza cuts him off. "Please," she whispers. "I just want to see you completely. I need to do this, if you'll let me." Before I lose my courage.
He's quiet for a moment, and Erza is quite sure that he's going to reject her request. But then the tension in his shoulders loosen and he nods slight. "Okay," he whispers, and Erza hears the trust in his words. He has never show his eyes to anyone before- Erza knows this- so she understands his fear.
Holding her breath, she reaches behind his head, finding the knot in the blindfold. Deftly, she unties it, holding it into place as it loosens. She returns her gaze to his face as she gently lowers the cloth, expecting to see-
Green. Vivid green eyes, unfocused and cloudy, but breathtaking. She gasps, dropping the blindfold. She is mesmerized by his beautiful eyes, which also have hints of brown muddling the green, making his eyes appear to reflect a forest.
They blink and look off to Erza's right. Jellal's chest is heaving under her, so she cups his cheeks again. Her touch calms him, and he heaves a breath.
"Jellal," she say. "Look at me."
He does, focusing on a spot just above her eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispers. "My eyes-"
"Are beautiful," she interrupts, leaning down. "I love them."
She kisses his mouth gently, clasping his cheeks while tears of happiness race down her face. She can feel his eyelashes against her face, hear the breath leaving his lungs, taste the cake on his lips, and see the tears pooling in his blind eyes.
She pulls away, watching as he blinks in wonders. His mouth is slack, and his hands tighten around her waist, pulling her close. She smiles, taking one hand and bringing it to her mouth so he can feel the smile on her lips.
"I love you, Jellal," she whispers, before sealing her lips over his once more.
Because love doesn't always have to come from sight.