Hey guys! I'm back :) Here is a Jerza one-shot! I'm sorry if it's a bit confusing with all the Model UN terms... I hope you guys enjoy it :) This is a sort of apology for not updating all of last week, I've been super busy and I've been working on this... but enjoy :)

-The Demon :P

Foreign Policy

"Hey that's me and I want you only

Don't turn me home again"

-Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

"Did you send the message to Syria like I had asked?" Erza questioned, leaning over to her fellow delegate, Lucy. It was her first ever Model United Nations conference and she was trying to act calm and collected. But, it was a lot for her to handle to be such a large country like Iran.

When her teacher, Mr. Makarov, had come up to her after history class and asked her to join the Model UN club, she wanted to laugh in his face. She considered herself a good enough social studies student, but compared to other students in her class, it was a bit ridiculous of him to have singled her out. Nonetheless, she followed him to the dusty, old schoolroom where a bunch of honors students sat, discussing the latest political news and debating about the Syria conflict. The redhead stood at the doorway, shell shocked and unable to utter a word as all eyes turned to her.

She walked in, pretending to be unfazed. Eventually everything continued around her as if she didn't exist, until Mr. Makarov came in and explained to them the next conference. It was confusing at first and no one paused to explain anything to Erza, but she sat there, diligently taking notes and refusing to put up her hand to ask dumb questions like what a "delegate" was (spoiler: it's the person who represents a country). She just sat there and did what she could. She worked hard, attending every meeting and never complained. A month later, the countries were announced for the next conference, one that would take place at the local college.

When Mr. Makarov called her over and told her she would be Iran - one of the largest and most important countries in the conference, she panicked. Feeling nervous and excited all at once, she rushed out to do her research.

And now, here she was, representing a massive country with her best friend as her fellow delegate. After dragging her to a few meetings, Erza got Lucy to be her partner to be Iran. Lucy didn't want to make speeches or pitch ideas to the other, older kids. Instead, she was Erza's shadow, taking notes, writing to other countries, and doing other best-friend duties like pointing out the hot guys.

Of course, being Lucy, the only hot boy she ever pointed out was Saudi Arabia, also known as Erik, the guy she had been head over heels in love with for the past six months. And, also being Lucy, she was too thick to realize how much he loved her back. Even though the maroon-haired man was sitting across from them, four rows in front, he kept trying to look back, to sneak looks at his beloved. When he went up to present for his country, he would stare right at her as he spoke.

Shaking her head at her friend's antics, she continued reading out the messages she wanted the blond to send out. At the conference, countries could write messages on little note papers and people named pages would come around to pick them up. They were useful to make alliances and fun to pass to friends. But, since this was her first time, she was taking her job ridiculously seriously and only sent "official" notes. For a few moments, Erza could actually pretend she was a real delegate, really representing her country.

The seventeen year old redhead paid close attention as the next speaker went up to talk about chemical weapons in Syria. She watched as the delegate for South Korea stood up at the podium, organising some papers with one hand and twirling a pen in the other. The boy cleared his throat and started on a tagine about how the only way to assure that those countries no longer could make chemical weapons would be to cut them off by imposing sanctions on not only them, but also their allies. He continued on to list said countries, naming Iran in the process.

"You're not going to just let him do that, right?" Lucy questioned, outraged. Even if this was make-believe, it seemed she too had started to take their job as representatives of Iran seriously. "Do you want me to send him a note?"

Erza turned slowly to face her friend. She felt frozen in time for a second, confused and unsure of what to say. She hadn't been expecting a direct attack at her, especially since it was her first conference.

And especially not from him.

Him being Jellal Fernandes. Gorgeous beyond belief, musically talented (he can play piano, french horn and the boy can sing!), sweet in the dorkiest way possible and intelligent enough to correct teachers on a regular basis.

It's not like Erza was in love with the boy, or anything. There was just a spark of interest she had in him, especially after hearing him play piano before a Model UN meeting the week before. There was something attractive about a man whose fingers could land perfectly on the right chords every time, who looked emotionally invested in a piece of music.

Even then, she wouldn't want to have a relationship with him or anything, he just interested her. She was shocked she'd lived to see the day when he acknowledged her, even if he was just doing his job as a delegate for South Korea.

"No, it's okay, let me handle this one myself." Erza said, looking her friend directly in the eyes. Lucy raised her eyebrow ever so slightly, knowing that the redhead found Jellal cute. Erza felt her cheeks flushed and rushed to correct herself. "It's not because he looks good in his suit-"

"Which he does." Lucy interrupted.

"Which he does," Erza conceded. "It's because this was a direct attack and I think it will involve lots of talking, which I know you don't want to do."

That was partially the reason, but, Lucy, being good at her job as best friend, saw through the veil and smirked as Erza stood up at the next unmod. Being an unmod period, delegates were free to roam around, making alliances, making enemies and generally goofing around. Within seconds, the redhead found her target. Jellal Fernandes seemed to be surrounded by people, all of them eagerly trying to get his attention. His speech seemed to have sparked outrage within many countries, while others seemed to be pledging their support for his "cause".

The redhead ignored everyone, budding her way through the small mob to reach the epicenter. Finally reaching him, she wasted no time in exclaiming her displeasure.

"What do you think you're doing?" she shouted at Jellal. He turned, seemingly shocked that someone would try and address him in such a manner. His eyes slowly glided over her, placing her face in his mind. "Not only are your ideas to place sanctions on war torn countries despicable and immoral, the way you presented your paper and the way you hope to accomplish the cruel deed is illegal."

At this point, Erza sort of wished she had better control over her feelings. She wasn't even sure if what she was saying was true, she was just upset because she had been doing so well in the conference up until then, winning support from many countries.

"Iran," Jellal started, standing up from where he sat. Once at his full height, he easily towered over her, making her want to cower back. She couldn't pull herself from his gorgeous eyes, though, and found herself staring shamelessly. "Do you even know foreign policy? Have you even done your research?"

In fact, Erza had done her research - thirty pages of it. She had wanted to come prepared and did more than the status-quo. It took everything in her to stop herself from slapping him across his face. He might be attractive and talented, but he was infuriating with the manner he spoke down to her as if she were too simpleminded to understand him.

"Ok, South Korea," she responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Get off your high horse for just one millisecond and take a look around you. We're in a room surrounded by noobs, and you're actually yelling at one of the few people who did their research."

"Well, this isn't your first conference, correct?" he questioned, looking down at her from his lofty height. His eyes widened ever so slightly in shock when she shook her head, but he caught his composure and continued. "Regardless, you should know foreign policy."

"What does any of this have to do with anything?" she yelled, frustrated.

"My point is this," he pushed back, closing the distance between them with one small step. From the closer distance, she could clearly see his gorgeous eyes. They stared straight back at her and she couldn't pull herself from them. It was as if they were sucking her in. "You should know better than to argue with such a strong country with strong allies. I recommend you go back to work on your paper, even though it won't pass, and leave the big countries to do the real work."

Insulted and angry, Erza took a step forward. They were so close at this point that she could smell his cologne (it smelled amazing even if she wouldn't admit it). He took a step back in surprise, but his smirk stayed firmly in place. With an over exaggerated flip of her red waves, she turned on her heel and stormed off, finding Lucy in the confusion of the conference.

After conveying what had just had happened to her best friend, the two of them, along with all of their very powerful allies worked on their paper. The entire point of a conference was to write a paper that suggested a solution. All the delegates would then vote on each of the individual papers presented and ones with the majority would be passed. Even though she knew it would be hard, Erza was praying that her paper would somehow gather enough support to pass. With the added incentive from Jellal, she was more eager than ever to find more people to sponsor it and to make it as good and detailed as she could.

Twenty minutes later, with her beautiful paper ready to be pitched to the assembly, she walked up to the podium in the front to read it out. She spoke clearly about how sanctions would not help the already war torn and poor countries and that the solution would be to have inspectors go in to see if Syria has any chemical weapons. She then opened up for questions. At first, no one seemed to have any. Many people had been nodding as she spoke and seemed to agree with her statements. The redhead smiled to herself. Maybe her paper would pass.

"I have a question."

The clear, deep voice rang out in the relatively quiet auditorium. From where she stood in the front, Erza could easily see him as he stood up.

"South Korea would like to know how you intend to go into Syria," Jellal said, his deep voice giving her goosebumps.

"With inspectors, of course. They will go in to conduct random searches."

"Yes, but does Syria accept your inspectors?"

"Yes, they agreed," she responded, now getting confused. All of this was clearly written in her paper. She didn't understand why he was making her repeat herself.

"But then," he continued, turning around to the audience as he did so for effect. "Couldn't Syria just hide their weapons if they know when the inspectors are coming?"

"Well, the inspections would be random-"

"And, why should we trust you? Isn't Iran one of Syria's closest allies?" he cut her off, pushing his points forward.

"I-uh-"

"Exactly," the blue haired delegate concluded, sitting down. "Nothing more to say."

"Um-" Erza stood up there, stuttering, having completely lost her train of thought. She tried to find it again but all she could do was stand in front of all of her colleagues and make random noises. She wanted to run off stage but she had to wait for the time limit to run out.

"Thank you delegate," the moderator called from next to her, marking the end of her speech. Embarrassed and ashamed, the girl took her things and rushed off stage. She knew now that there was no chance of her paper passing. All that hard work, all that preparation, all that research for nothing.

All because of stupid Jellal Fernandes.

Ignoring everyone's pitiful looks, she walked off, quickly making her way to the exit. Once she had left the conference room, she took off running. Erza heard noises coming from behind her and the sound of someone trying to follow her. She rammed up the speed, hoping to lose her tail. But, because of her ridiculously high heels and tight skirt, she was forced to stop.

Feeling defeated, she slumped on the ground, feeling the warm, wet tears streak her rosy cheeks. She wanted to wipe them but she felt no need. What was the point anyways? She felt degraded, embarrassed and ashamed. The poor girl wanted nothing more than to hide. Out of her peripherals, she could see someone rapidly catching up to her.

"Erza?" She heard a familiar voice from further down the hall.

"Erza?" Closer, this time.

"Erza," this time, the voice came from right in front of her. She looked in front of her to see the person she least wanted to see.

Jellal Fernandes.

"Don't. Talk. To. Me." she growled, looking up at him from under her lashes.

"Listen, Erza," he crouched down, meeting her at eye level. "I'm so sorry. I did what I had to. This is my job," he said, making a wide motion to their surroundings with his hands.

"This is my dream, Erza. I apologize for the way I put you on the spot, but I did it for a reason. I respect you greatly and I was shocked when I found out this was your first meeting because you held yourself together so well. At my first conference, I was a nervous wreck, throwing notes at pages and yelling at my partner. I felt like a fool and I still do, looking back. But the way you presented and spoke to the other countries was amazing. I wish I look like that when I go up to.

"I only said those things to you because I needed your paper to fail, which is cruel but I needed to. There are people from universities here today and I'm a senior. It would look good for me to have all of this on a resumé and it would be even better if they can get me places on university teams. I'm so so sorry for acting selfish. I never should have pulled it apart like that, especially not in front of everyone, especially not when your paper was so good. I'm so sorry."

She looked at him with those wide brown eyes of hers and he felt the guilt in his stomach start to consume his body. He felt so horrible for those things he had said. He knew better than anyone else who difficult it is to stand up in front of a large crowd and present something you had done. Him adding a curveball into the mix definitely didn't do anything to help her.

He had been so selfish. Of course, getting into a university, especially one where he would have a place on their Model UN team was important to him. The bigger conferences were often scouted by law firms and other respectable places that often asked students to intern. It would be amazing for him to get scouted and ever since his first conference two years ago, it had been his dream to succeed. That's why he took it so seriously. For other people, it might have seemed foolish, but to Jellal, it was his life. His future.

But this wasn't just anyone he had ripped to shreds in front of everyone. This was Erza Scarlet. The gorgeous junior who usually kept to herself. The one he had slowly been developing a crush on ever since they started sitting near each other in band. This was the girl who made his heart beat every time he crossed her in the hallway, but had been too shy to say hello to. This was the girl whose brilliant red hair intruded in his dreams, this was the girl he fell asleep thinking about.

This was the girl he had fallen in love with.

Yet, she barely knew who he was. And now that she did, she probably hated him.

She watched as the emotions crossed his face. Jellal looked so guilty that she couldn't help but feel a bit bad. Erza had been beyond hurt and upset after being publicly shamed, but for her, it was just a fun activity. She was only a junior and she didn't need to be getting scouted by universities just yet. Although, this wasn't the case for the blue haired man in front of her. This was something he had needed to do and he did it. She couldn't hold his ambition against him, especially not when he had followed her out to make sure she was okay. In fact, the redhead respected him for his skill and in turn, felt bad for making him worry so.

"How about we go to lunch? Just the two of us? We could talk about the conference and I might be able to give you some advice, if you'd like. " he slowly asked suddenly, watching the change in her features. She stared back at him, her whole expression confused and excited. She opened her mouth a few times but nothing came out. She then broke out in a grin that made her eyes sparkle and made Jellal's heart skip a beat.

"I'd love to."