A/N: Well, this chapter are has been hard to get out... If you follow me on tumblr, you must have witnessed my epic meltdown last week over technical difficulties with my laptop. And then, when I had things almost fully finished, I decided I didn't like it and scrapped like 80%. It is still not completely the way I wanted it but it's as close as it's going to get, I think.
Warning: This one is an M (not a hard M since it doesn't show that part but still an M)
One of the things about being a fugitive was that one didn't have time to do many things for the sake of relaxation and recreation… especially fugitives with an infamous facial tattoo, which seemed to be resistant to all sorts of transformation magic. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the first time Jellal Fernandes walked into a spa was, in fact, Magnolia Spa (which, as it turned out, was a recently-opened and a rebranded version of the town's dingy old bathhouse) on that very same Valentine's day.
His first impression: there was little love for fabric in spas. And by very little, he meant very, very little.
It started with the changing rooms, where they were ushered on arrival by a male clerk, who instructed them to strip completely and change into robes provided by the Spa. The existence of a robe was soothing in the way that it, at least, preserved some of their modesty but such a thing was dampened by the fact that it basically only stayed on in the hallways, not being permitted, for instance, in the sauna or the steam room, where they were expected to wear only a towel, or even the mud bath that someone had oh-so-kindly booked for them, which they were supposed to take without a stitch on.
(He had a feeling that someone in that blasted FTAFTASL might be mocking them because, as much the reception clerk assured him that, no, it wasn't regular backyard mud and that it did wonders to the skin, bathing in 'mud' felt like an extremely silly thing to do – something that, in a couple of years, he could see himself trying to stop his son from doing).
Of course, it was not everybody else's near-nakedness that bothered him. No, he could very well ignore the many half-naked men and women prancing around without a blink of an eye. However, Erza's eager adherence to the near-nudist atmosphere of the Spa was another story altogether. A story that brought him not one, but instead two problems, especially in the sauna and the steam room (where they had been instructed to go ahead of their scheduled mud bath for the sake of 'opening their pores'): one – the natural reaction of his body to the sight of his beloved's body covered only by a towel (a towel that, due to her post-pregnancy-increased assets, frequently threatened to slip off); two – the mindless jealousy he got every time some bastard dared to look at her the wrong way. If looks could kill, he would have committed mass murder after a fifteen-minute session in the sauna.
It only got worse when they moved from the sauna to the steam room, which just happened to be empty, aside from the two of them.
"Oh my god, Erza, what are you doing?!" he asked in alarm when he saw her starting to pry the towel from around herself as soon as he closed the door behind him.
"Taking the towel off," she said, naturally.
"B-but you can't do that!" he protest.
She stopped tugging at the towel, moving her hands to her waist in a clearly 'displeased' sort of pose. "Why not? The point of a steam room is having the hot dampness of the air reach your skin and unclog your pores, so wearing a towel as a barrier defeats that purpose," she rationalized.
"But… but…"
Erza frowned at him. "I don't understand why you're acting like that. You're never this prudish at home."
"P-prudish?" he said slightly offended (even though he had to admit that he might be a little prudish indeed). "But home is home and it's just the two of us!"
"It's just the two of us in here too," she remarked, gesturing to their surroundings.
"For now! Somebody could walk in at any moment and see you!"
She shrugged. "I have no problems with being seen naked," she said. "People can be so fussy about little things like that…"
Well, I do! he thought, although he refrained himself from stating so because it just sounded too possessive. Desperate, he looked around in search for an argument to use against her… and, for one, fate was kind enough to give him one. "Look!" he stated, pointing at a sign by the door. "It says 'no nudity'! It's forbidden!"
The redhead looked at it and frowned. "Well, that just doesn't make sense! Why would they even have steam rooms if people can't get naked in them?!" she protested. "That''s just pointless!"
But Erza was Erza and because rules were rules, she would follow them, even if she wasn't happy about it.
At her apparent defeat, Jellal sighed in relief – it was a little victory. Honestly, he didn't think would be able to handle resisting her naked body when he was already so hot and bothered by the fact that she was sitting by his side, sweaty and scantily clad. It was so hard doing so already when he felt blood reaching south every time he saw a little droplet of sweat slip down from her neck, cross the path between her clavicles and finally diving sensually down the vale between her breas…
Ouch.
Extremely uncomfortable, he cursed whoever's sadistic mind had come up with the brilliant idea of a Spa trip on that twisted little group that had kidnapped his son. Maybe he should have just let Erza hunt them down and kill them like she'd wanted to at first. He would have been spared a world of trouble for sure…
His lust for Erza became slightly easier to control when, as he had predicted, they were joined in the steam room by several other couples. In the company of other people, a slightly less perverted side of him took over, reducing his pull to jump her and have his way with her right then and there out of shame and social awareness. Also, there was also the fact that he was busy glaring daggers at the dirty old man whose eyes were positively glued to Erza's cleavage.
After maybe twenty minutes, Erza grew bored of the steam room and suggested they leave for the mud bath, whose appointed time was growing near, since they would still need to rinse off the sweat in the showers before heading there. He agreed eagerly, relieved to leave that cursed, scorching hot room and they took separate ways to their respective gender-segregated changing rooms, agreeing to meet again near the towel counter a few minutes later.
And so, after some time under his second cold shower of the day, Jellal made his way back to the agreed meeting place feeling somewhat less tense. Erza was already there (as expected, from someone who could get in and out of clothes in the blink of an eye), he noticed, and something about her was… odd. There was a frown on her face and she was holding herself in a rather… defensive pose.
"What's wrong?" he asked once he reached her.
"I feel strange," she informed him.
"Strange?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Is it your stomach? Mavis, I knew I shouldn't have let you eat all those sweets…"
"It is not my stomach and there was nothing wrong with the sweets! They were deliciously decadent. It's just a feeling I'm having… like… like I'm prey for something…"
Jellal frowned. "Prey…? You mean for some sort of wild animal or something?"
And then…
"My honey!" came a familiar suave voice from somewhere nearby
"Kyaaaaaa!" Erza screamed loudly before literally jumping towards Jellal, holding onto him for protection in a way that was unspeakably out-of-character.
Jellal stared in disbelief at the man who was standing in front of him. "I-Ichiya-san?!" he stuttered.
"Jelall-san, my rival in love," the short man said in greeting before turning to face Erza, who still seemed mortified. "What a marvelous coincidence that I would run into my flower on the day of love…"
"Coincidence?!" she shrieked. "You expect me to believe that this is a coincidence?!"
"Ah… Fate, perhaps…"
She let out a thoroughly inhuman howl just as somebody nearby cleared their throat.
"Excuse me," the female clerk who has been previously manning the towel counter said, having approached them to see what all the noise was about. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, perfectly," Jellal assured. "I apologized for our excitement this was an… unexpected run-in."
"A… are you sure?" the girl asked, watching it as Erza murdered Ichiya with her eyes.
Jellal nodded. "We will try to keep it down from now on."
"I-if you say so…" she mumbled, walking away even though she wasn't fully reassured. Just as long as they didn't start a fight…
After she was gone, Jellal made a point of trying to calm Erza down. "Erza, please don't do anything crazy in here or you'll get us kicked out," he reminded her, touching her shoulder.
If she heard his words, she certainly didn't acknowledge them. Instead, she took a step towards Ichiya and pointed her finger towards him. "I have had just about enough of you," she told him. "I may respect you as a fellow mage and even… even maybe as a friend." And she used that term very, very loosely. "But I do not have the sort of feelings for you that you want me to have! I am getting married to another man! I have a child by him! What more do I need to do for you to get the message and stop chasing me?!"
As her tone reached new heights towards the end, Jellal couldn't help but glance at the girl on the counter, only to see her frowning. If they kept that up, she'd be calling security in no time.
"But no, my honey. It is nothing like that. Although my heart will always beat for you and weep for my inability to charm you into being a part of my life, my mind has already accepted that the flames of our love will never burn as hot as the ones you share with your beau," Ichiya declared.
Eh? That was unexpected. Had he just declared defeat.
"Then what on Earthland are you doing here?!" Erza demanded, although her tone wasn't as loud as before.
"Why, I came to spend this marvelous day with my other halves, of course."
"Your other halves?" Erza asked in utter disbelief.
And then, another very similar voice came from her side, causing her to let out a little yelp. "You smell… exquisite."
It was the exceed – the one that looked just like Ichiya. She was surrounded. Help!
"You have met Nichiya before, I believe," Ichiya introduced his companion. "As you well-know, he is my Edolas counterpart. As such, we are two halves of a whole."
"Two faces of the same coin," Nichiya supplied.
"Partners for life," the man declared. "And what is that if not love?"
Jellal blinked, trying to understand what was going on as Erza clutched onto his arm like a vice, positively horrified that the source her uncomfortableness had just doubled. Had Ichiya just admitted to having an affair with his… cat counterpart? Or was it a platonic life-partnership? It felt very confusing… and considerably disturbing. Not only were they different species, but also they were essentially the same person… And also… "But didn't you say 'halves'? As in… plural?" Jellal had to ask.
"But of course! My third half! The second object of my love and adoration! My beloved younger sister, blood of my blood!" Ichiya declared.
There was a moment of silence. "You have a sister?" Erza asked in disbelief. She had never heard of such a thing.
"Indeed. Ichiko studies far away in the country of Pergrande, the land of the most exquisite scents, to be a perfume mage just like her brother. She came to Fiore to visit us, her flesh and blood, in this glorious occasion and Master Bob gave us vouchers for this trendy new Spa. Ichiko is a flower among women!" he declared. "Her perfume has the intensity of a thousand suns!"
Sweet Mavis, Jellal thought. Not only was he potentially dating his cat but also his words just screamed 'sis-con' for everyone to hear. "That's… that's very touching to hear," Jellal said diplomatically.
By then, Erza was feeling more than a little awkward due to her earlier speech. "I see that this was a coincidence indeed. I apologize if my words sounded… harsh, then," she mumbled, looking away.
"Oh, no, my love. The matters of the heart must be settled clearly, else people may be led on unknowingly," he reassured her, looking far more composed than any of them would expect him to. In fact, he was taking the whole situation extremely well and in no way close to the endless waterworks Erza and Jellal might have pictured beforehand. "You mentioned that there were wedding bells in the horizon, my honey," Ichiya said. "Is there a date yet? Shall I expect an invitation soon?"
"No. The baby has kept us occupied," Erza replied. She didn't say anything about the invitation – she was actually surprised that he wanted to be invited. With the way he acted around her, she would have expected him to spend her entire wedding day weeping over chocolate and wine or something equally decadent. He was a never-ending parade of surprises that day.
"Ah, yes, the child. The flawless fruit my honey's body bore," he said dramatically. "I believe I have not had a chance to feel his perfume yet. Tell me, how is the boy?"
"He… he should be okay," she mumbled, pouting a little. Part of her wanted to go and check on the veracity of that statement immediately.
"Should?"
"It's a long story," Jellal simply said, not wanting to get into detail about the unorthodox babysitting arrangements..
"Ah…"
"Big brother!" came a voice from a distance. They looked towards the source and found… well, a female version of Ichiya.
She was, basically, Ichiya with breasts and dressed up in drag. They had the same, short, stocky build, the same rectangular face with a large, flat nose, the same tanned skin, the same hair color cropped into slightly different hairstyles, the same everything aside from the developed chest, lack of adam's apple and stubble… it was, to put it simply, an extremely disturbing sight.
"Ah, Ichiko, my angel," Ichiya greeted his sister as she approached. "Come and meet somebody very important to me. My honey, Erza Scarlet."
"Oh, the one you always talk about," female Ichiya said, some resentment in her tone (not completely out of place, Jellal rationalized, as Erza was the object of Ichiya's unrequited love).
"And, of course, her beloved, Jellal Fernandes," Ichiya added, sounding a little pained.
Ichiko gave him a look and, judging by her face, was not impressed. "A pleasure to meet you both," she said in an airy tone, even though she clearly didn't mean it. Then, she turned back to Ichiya. "Are we going into the sauna first, big brother?" she asked.
"If that is what you wish, my angel. We are your humble servants today," he spoke to his sister (with a tone that nobody should use with someone they were related to by blood). He then looked at Erza and made a little bow. "Farewell, my honey. It was a delight seeing you today, in such a special day. And Jellal-san as well, of course. My feline counterpart and I must leave."
"Farewell," Nichiya echoed, floating on wings after Ichiya.
And, just as bizarrely as they'd come, they were gone. Of course, not all versions of Ichiya had abandoned deck yet.
"Now, you listen up, you hussy!"
It took Jellal and Erza about five seconds to realize that the 'hussy' in question was Erza herself.
"Excuse me?!" Erza replied.
"Yes, excuse you! You had better stop playing my big brother around! He can do much better than you!"
"I am not playing anybody's brother around!" Erza said in disbelief before pointing at Jellal. "I'm engaged to him!"
Ichiko snorted. "Please. Who would prefer…" she hesitated, looking at Jellal and thinking of a word to describe him "… that over my perfect older brother? Ichiya is a perfect specimen of a man! Suave… well-dressed… masculine… What's so good about that blue-haired guy of yours?! He's too tall… and too pretty! Like a girl! And what is that tattoo about? Is he yakuza or something?"
Jellal gaped at the insult. A girl?! And yakuza? He had been accused of many things in his time, but being a member of the mob was not one of them.
Erza, somehow, was even more offended. "How dare you spew such nonsense?!"
"Yeah, yeah! Go on playing difficult! Just do it away from big brother! He's mine!" And, with that said, Ichiko Vandalay Kotobuki walked away, leaving them both standing there, utterly stunned.
"Did that… just happen?" Jellal asked weakly.
"That… that…" Erza just let out a sound of frustration. "That demented little bro-con! What is wrong that that family?!"
"I'm a little scared on Ichiya's behalf," Jellal mumbled.
"She… she… she said you looked like a girl! How dare she?! You – a girl! It's preposterous! Just how warped is her mind? I mean, look at you! Your abs! Did she see your abs? No, she did not. Maybe you should have shown her – I would have liked to see her calling those 'girly'!
"Oh, god, Erza, please stop," Jellal begged. She wasn't exactly speaking in hushed tones and they were starting to get strange looks from people, which was too embarrassing for him to take. "I promise that I am confident about my lack of 'girly-ness'. You don't need to convince me."
"Good. You should be," she said in a tone of finality. "A girl… crazy!"
He sighed. "Come on, let's just go to that… ugh, mud bath," he said, a little disgusted. "We're cutting it close already."
For all his squeamishness on the matter, the mud bath actually turned out to be the least stressful of the activities he had been put through at that Spa, Jellal considered as he lay neck-deep in grey goo.
The suite they'd been led into was a pleasant one, illuminated by candlelight and with soft, nature sounds playing on the background. It had a two-person bathtub on the center full to the brim with the aforementioned grey goo and it was wide enough that they lay comfortably side by side without being piled onto each other, resting against opposite ends of the tub so that they were facing each other at a distance.
But, of course, if he had to name one favorite thing about the mud bath he was currently in, he wouldn't stop to think twice about it: opaqueness.
That was right: what he liked the most was the fact the he couldn't see anything below the water line… or rather, the mud line. There could be fish swimming somewhere in there and he wouldn't be able to see it… just as he would not be able to see Erza's tempting naked body. Sure, there was still closeness and gentle brushes of Erza's hand against his leg or his hand against hers, but without her body on full display, it was fully bearable. And even if it wasn't and his blood travelled south, she couldn't see it any more than he could see her.
No more torture. No more tension. No more need to have full control of his blood circulation. It was, in all, the perfect arrangement.
Or so he thought, for the first ten to fifteen minutes of the mud bath. Because after those minutes passed, he felt the mud shifting around him, prompting him to snap his eyes open and pull his mind away from the nap he had been about to take. Right there, in front of him, Erza was shifting in the tub and… moving towards him.
"Erza, what…?"
"That backrest wasn't feeling all that comfortable to my back," she told him, resting on her hands and knees right above him. "And then, I found myself thinking – why should I just have to bear with it when I have a much better back rest right here?"
"Wha…?"
Before he knew it, she was using one knee to part his legs, turning her body around 180 degrees and sitting right between them, her back resting against his front.
Her back against his front.
Torture had returned. Tension threw havoc. His blood circulation went haywire. The perfect arrangement was no more.
"You don't mind, do you?" she asked.
He did. Very much so. "No, not at all," he said instead, hiding the strain in his tone as best as he could.
He had a problem. A big problem.
"Mmm… this mud feels so nice and warm," she mumbled, settling comfortably against him. "I wonder what temperature they keep it…"
"Actually, there's a thermometer right over there," he said, gesturing at the object hanging from the edge of the tub a few feet ahead.
"There is?" she said in surprise.
And then, blessedly, she was no longer pressing her back against his tense front, giving him some relief, even if momentary, as she leaned forward to reach the thermometer. Said relief, didn't last long, however. Why? Because as soon as his eyes landed on her forward-leaning self, he noticed that she wasn't quite straight, but instead a little sideways, facing slightly towards the edge which, in turned, caused a little bit of sideboob to show.
By then, he was done. He was so exhausted of that torture that no amount of effort could have stopped his blood from moving right to his groin, became was very noticeable to her once she finally leaned back again and got poked by… well, it.
"Wha…?" Erza mumbled in confused. "Did they leave a soap bar in here?" she cluelessly asked. And then, she reached back to grab said 'soap bar' and… "Oh."
He wanted to hide. He wanted to dive completely into that mud and just be left there to drown. They could just let his body go down the drain with the afterwards – he didn't even deserve a proper burial. Death was the only answer. Nobody could survive such… such humiliation.
Unfortunately, he was not that lucky that death would come for him at that very moment…
She looked back, her face very red. "Jellal, are you…?"
"I'm sorry!" he nearly wailed. "I'm so sorry! It just… it just appeared on its own! I couldn't help it! Just… just ignore it and it will go away. Please."
But then, the embarrassment on her face turned into annoyance. "Are you really that opposed to sleeping with me now?!"
He blinked. "W-what?" he asked in confusion.
"Is it the baby weight?! Because I've already shed most of it!"
"What? No! Of course not! You… you're perfect! At any size!" Did she really think he was that insensitive?
"Oh, I see then… you feel squamish about down there, don't you? Just because I had a baby, it doesn't mean it got me all messed up! Everything is where it is supposed to be! Porlyusica said I was good to go!"
He shook his head repeatedly. "No, it's not that either!"
"Then what?!"
"I…" he hesitated. "I thought you didn't want to?"
She frowned. "What? Why wouldn't I want to? We're getting married, Jellal."
"I know! But… but I thought you might not feel ready yet or that you just didn't feel like it… I mean, you're usually really forward, you know? But since you haven't said anything…"
"Forwardness takes inspiration," she declared. "How was I supposed to get any if you weren't showing any interest either?"
"But I had interest! I always have interest," he declared immediately, before reading the desperation on his words and blushing. "I was just trying to be sensitive about it… if you didn't want to, I…"
"But I do want to!" she insisted. "It's been two months, Jellal! I am not a nun!"
"But hormones can…"
"Blast hormones!" she shouted.
"O-okay… then all this time I was holding out…"
"There was no reason for you to do so," Erza stated.
"Then…"
Silence. Absolute silence for close to thirty seconds. And finally…
Erza launched herself at him in a searing, hungry kiss – the type he had missed; the type he had needed. One of his hands dug into her hair, careless about the mud covering it, as the other rested on her lower back she sat astride him.
As they ruthlessly devoured each other, the mud around them splashed, moved in waves, overflowed past the edge of the tub, making a complete mess on the floor. But they didn't care. They were too busy with each other, not letting their kiss break away because it felt like if they did let it happen, they would completely break apart into tiny pieces.
Never had their love been so desperate. Or so messy. They shifted positions several times in the midst of their kissing, the rush of their moves likely gracing them with future bruises, one after another. They just didn't seem able to stop…
That is, until Jellal started to sink. Literally.
"Slipping," he said, out of breath after breaking the kiss.
"What?"
"I'm slipping!" he repeated. But it was too late. Under Erza's weight, he slipped down the backrest, half of his face sinking into the mud before he could do anything. By the time he managed to get out, he was winding deeply. "Blergh… there's mud in my mouth… disgusting."
"This is not a very practical arrangement," Erza admitted as her fiancé reached for a clean towel that had been placed outside the tub and used it to try and wipe the mud from his tongue.
"Tell me about it," he agreed, pausing for a moment. "And beyond unsanitary… I think we have to stop."
Deep in thought, Erza didn't respond immediately. And then, when it seemed like she'd reached some conclusion, rather than speaking, she got up, fully exposing her naked, mud-covered body. Jellal's eyes nearly shot out of his skull.
"That is not helping me want to stop!" he said immediately.
"Get in the showers!" she demanded.
And, again, his eyes widened, convinced that she was just about to have her way with him in the shower instead, which wouldn't be a problem, were they home or even behind a locked door, which wasn't the case. Their session was due to end soon – a member of the staff was due to check on them at any time!
Thankfully, he was wrong about his assumption and she was, in fact, rushing him to the shower so they could scrub the mud off their bodies and leave to somewhere private. She might be lax about her own nudity, but when it came to lovemaking, she was no exhibitionist. Most of the time, at least.
It was, without a doubt, the fastest, yet most thorough shower they had ever shared, scrubbing each other clean from the grey muck like there was no tomorrow. By the time the staff member overseeing the mud baths knocked on their suite's door to warn them of the time, they were already back in their robes and rushing out to the changing rooms, where they retrieved their clothes.
"Leaving so soon?" the reception clerk asked in surprise when he saw them hurrying into the lobby. "Your package still had a few hours of hot spring usage included…"
"Sudden emergency," Erza replied.
"I think I left the oven on," Jellal said instead.
For a moment, they were both silent, thinking of how to mix both excuses. "We need to make sure the oven is turned off," Erza finally provided. "Urgently."
"Oh, you really do! My auntie's house burned down like that! She thought she was just being silly about not being sure if she'd turned the oven on, ignored it and then came back home to a pile of ash."
Either the guy was really gullible or genuinely traumatized by his aunt's plight. "Yes, that's what makes it an emergency!" Jellal eagerly agreed.
Erza shuddered. He really was a horrible liar.
They settled the bill in a flash and probably over-payed by a lot because 'a flash' consisted of Erza placing a pile of random bills on the counter and telling the man to keep the change before running out. They were about ten yards past the door when the clerk ran after them, handing over an envelope.
"I was given this to deliver to you on your way out. I guess it's sooner than planned but at least you have it."
"Thank you," Jellal said in a hurry, only having the time to take the envelope and shove it into his pants' pocket before Erza grabbed his arm and all but dragged him away.
He didn't protest at all, just letting himself be pulled like luggage… that is, until he found them going the wrong way.
"Erza, the way to our house is on the opposite direction!" he warned her.
"Forget home. We'll never make it there."
"Then where…" He stopped speaking as she pulled them into dingy alley and his eyes widened in alarm. "Erza, you can't mean to… for us to… here!"
"Shh… don't be too noisy. They don't like attention called into this place," Erza said in a hushed tone.
"What?"
She dragged him all the way to the back of the alley and then pushed a rather discrete door open, through which they walked. Suddenly, Jellal found himself standing in a bare room, which seemed to have nothing but a vending machine and an archway leading to another room in it. He raised an eyebrow when Erza let go of his hand and approached the machine, feeding a bill to it that prompted something to fall down, into the collection receptacle. When she turned around and showed him that the fallen object was a key, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Oh my god, is this a love hotel?!"
"Shhh!" she hushed him, taking his arm again and dragging him to a hallway, which they walked along, towards the room with whatever number was in her key. When they reached it, she opened the door and dragged him in, closing the door behind them.
The room didn't have windows, likely for the sake of privacy. It didn't look like anything special but it didn't seem like a dump either. At least it seemed clean, Jellal observed, and he couldn't help but be curious about how on Earthland Erza knew that in that dingy alley, behind some non-descript door, there was a love hotel. A love hotel with a vending machine for a reception desk. He certainly had never heard of such a strange arrangement.
Before he had a chance to even open his mouth, however, he was pushed onto the bed by Erza, who climbed over him and unceremoniously resumed the make-out session they had begun in the mud bath.
Her mouth was even more demanding than before, travelling quickly from his mouth to his neck, doing positively sinful things that had his eyes rolling to the back of his head. And once she felt like continuing further down the path she was tracing and his shirt turned out to be on the way, the upper-body garment became the first victim of their lust.
"Erza!" He nearly shrieked when she ripped it to shreds. "Why are you in such a hurry?!"
"The room is only ours for the next two hours," she declared, pulling away a little and straightening herself up, so he could fully see her as he looked up at her. Then, when she was sure his eyes were on her, she gave him an eyeful by using her requip magic to shed every single piece of clothing on her body.
His jaw dropped. He could see her naked body a million times and it would never get old.
"Shall we make that time worth the money?" she suggested.
Well… who was he to disagree?
It wouldn't be until later that he'd consider that those should not be the Valentine's Day plans that the FTAFTASL had in mind.
A/N2: Fair warning, don't expect smut next chapter. Just the afterglow. I'm not really inspired to write smut right now...
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Tell me your thoughts. Next chapter should be the last one in this fic.
