Jealousy isn't envy

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything. Sorry, but I hope you'll enjoy this one-shot. I think I'm going to post more one-shots, because I can't seem to find a good idea for a multiple chapter story. Please, please send me prompts.

Enjoy

I do not own Fairy Tail.

A/N: to understand this properly:

Jealousy: a feeling of possession; fear someone might take away what you have

Envy: To want something you don't have, but another.

(I don't know if it's the same in English, so thought I'd clear up what they meant in this fic)

In Magnolia, Fairy Tail, everything was going well, except for three people. The unhappiest at the moment was still lucky, considering the other two were locked with runes in the basement. The man in question, Freed Justine, was sulking on the stairs. Lucy and Erza, on the other hand, were angrily sitting in opposing corners and looking furiously at each other now and then. They didn't seem as if they were planning on saying something.

How did they get into such a situation?

Well, for starters, Lucy and Natsu had been hanging out abnormally long. It was normal for the two best friends to take jobs and be around each other, but lately, it was different. At least in Erza's eyes. Certainly since Lucy and her had grown so close lately. Stay-overs, strawberry cakes, confessions and a lot of fun had become daily habit. It was easily explained: neither woman had ever had a female friend. Lucy, being locked up in the Heartfilia Mansion, and Erza, enslaved in the Tower of Heaven and her later distance from her guildmates, they had found each other. One would never have expected it from them to be like two giggling, careless girls at night; they were quite the opposite alright.

But it was perfect. Three months passed, without a single fight or problem between them. Everybody always shook their heads smiling if the duo came in, so out of character no foe would have guessed they were Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet. Almost as if they were in love.

It was that same thought that occurred to Mirajane Strauss. It was odd, something she never anticipated, but once you suspected it, the couple was as obvious as Gajeel and Levy. They were best friends, always close, threw lingering gazes and whatever else you could imagine.

It was only logical Mira would bring it up; subtly confronting one of them. Her picked target was Lucy.

So, when one day, Lucy came in without Erza by her side, she took the opportunity.

"Good morning, Lucy. How are you?"

"Hi, Mira, I'm fine, thanks. And you?"

"I'm doing great. It's still early, so not many customers. I see you're alone today?"

Lucy waved oblivious and took a seat at the bar. "Yeah, Erza wanted to sleep in, so I thought I'd come by and perhaps pick a request for later."

"You're going with Erza, I suppose?"

"Yeah normally I am. Why do you ask?" Lucy stretched her hands behind her back, trying to wake up a little more.

Mira looked at her with those innocent eyes. "Well, you two seem to be hanging out so much lately, I wondered how come."

Lucy looked confused. "I don't know, we just grew close. She's fun and nice to talk to." Then she narrowed her eyelids. "Are you matchmaking again?"

Mirajane tilted her head a little. "What? Where did you get that idea?"

Lucy shook her head in response. She and Erza… She couldn't say she never thought about it, but never this concrete. Turning it this way made her blush at the idea. If she and Erza…

That night, she was lying in bed, unable to stop her train of thoughts. Erza was already asleep next to her, judging on her breathing pattern. The dark of the room made it easier to admit. Looking at the beautiful, kind face that smiled even in her sleep, calmed her down. She was very aware of her presence. The desire to hold her and caress her was overwhelming suddenly it shocked to the bone. But she did nothing, letting those feelings pass her by as she wondered where she got the strength to deny herself what she wanted the most. All she did that night was scoop just a little closer, let memories and sleep overwhelm her, only to dream about Erza.

The next day, she talked to Natsu about it and he was shocked, but later encouraging. She talked about Erza and her feelings for almost an hour. From Jellal to strawberry cake and the colour Scarlet, her mind was filled with the redheaded girl.

But at the same time, it was nerve-wrecking not to be with said girl. She wanted to be close to her, but only to be close and nothing more was torture. Above all, she wanted to make her happy. To do that, she should be a friend. To be a friend, she shouldn't have feelings for the other girl.

As a temporary solution, she started to talk to Erza less. They still were close and cosy, but the distance was necessary. It was necessary to hide her feelings, and yet, and yet, she wanted nothing more to tell her. To make a big gesture, a romantic one, grand and epic, and suddenly it would appear Erza was in love with her too. She fantasized countless times about such scenarios, but reality was an entirely different story. Reality was cruel. And still, it was so beautiful. Being close to Erza was a blessing, but something she had to restrain herself from.

Of course, Erza noticed. The redhead was hurt, but didn't show it. She couldn't describe her feelings for Lucy, but she couldn't deny them either. Erza accepted Lucy's sudden retreat. At the same time, she was jealous of Natsu for being her best friend. No. Not jealous; envious. She did not possess Lucy in any way.

That was their relationship as they were forced into a rune trap. They had cooled down, both angry at themselves.

As for the third person, he was the one that set the rune trap, of course. But it wasn't intended for Erza and Lucy.

Mirajane had noticed the situation between Erza and Lucy. The white-haired barmaid asked Lucy to get a bottle from the wine cellar; she'd told the Requip Mage that there was strawberry cake in the wine cellar. Both of them had fallen effortlessly for the trap.

But when Mirajane made sure no one else was in the said place, she overlooked one mage, somehow. She never thought a second of Freed as she locked the door and threw the key away. She knew well enough Erza could break out in a moment, but the situation hadn't escalated that far for Erza to destroy the door. She hoped.

So Freed was let in the basement, in the hopes of catching his secret crush. It was weird, but he coincidentally knew the person loved the particular wine he set the trap near.

He was walking up the stairs passing Lucy and Erza a moment later, but didn't thought anything about it. How big was the chance they would walk right in that spot?

But as he realized the door was locked and he couldn't get it open with any method, he waked back down, hoping the key would lie around somewhere.

He certainly did not expect the two women sitting there, moping and glaring.

Was it coincidence or not?

Well, what did you think? Was it coincidence or not?

Please review? Sorry for this short part, but it's too late to write the entire fic at once and I really wanted to post something.