Hello, it's me again. Thanks a lot for the beautiful reviews on the previous chapter; it means a lot to know that you understand!
Also, just clear the small misunderstanding; that raven haired man on the previous chapter was NOT Gray. In fact, he isn't someone from the FT universe, just someone random that popped in my head. Okie? :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.
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Jellal glanced warily at the pink-haired man that had just dropped his head on the bar with a loud thud. Ever since the man came around, he had been doing nothing else other than drinking and slurring and whining at the redhead seated next to him. Dude was toasted one hundred percent. Jellal had lost the count of how many drinks and shots he had served him.
However, what he was mostly concerned about was the worried look on his obsession's face.
"Natsu," she called, nudging him on the shoulder, "Natsu, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," the other mumbled, "My chest hurts, Scarlet."
For some strange reason, the pink haired man, Natsu, called the woman Scarlet. Was that her actual name or just a nickname based on the color of he hair? Jellal was quite unsure.
Oh and another thing; Scarlet and Natsu were simply cousins after all. He had sighed a long sigh of relief when he found out - via eavesdropping nonetheless but hey, he was checking out his competition people.
She patted affectionately his spiky hair, her face soft and worried. "It's okay, Natsu. You'll find the right girl that deserves you, I promise."
"But I want Lucy!", wailed the other loudly, hitting his fist hard on the maroon wood.
Ah. Love is such a cruel thing sometimes, right?
"I understand that," she said soothingly, placing her hand over his thrusting one, "But she let you go first, out of her own stupidity and greediness only." A soft drunken sob escaped the man's throat and Scarlet's expression morphed to the one of pain. "Please don't cry; it kills me to see you so sad, mate."
Jesus Christ, she is so nice. So kind. I want to kiss her.
The other looked up from his hiding place, his eyes wide and watery before he nodded and rubbed one of them. "I sometimes wish you weren't my cousin."
Huh? What does that suppose to mean?
Scarlet smiled fondly at him, still petting his head. "I don't think you'd like to be with me. I'm pretty weird myself."
Heh. What a joke. Who wouldn't want to be with you, my dear angel?
"No, you're kind and caring, even if yer scary most o'the times...", muttered the other and dropped his head between his arms once more. "What did I do wrong?"
The red haired woman frowned apologetically once more. "Natsu, please. You are absolutely fine, she was the hooker in your relationship."
"Don't call her that."
"But she was!", she exclaimed, "She went all hanky panky with that other guy while she was with you! What does that make her?"
She has a point, Natsu.
"A slut," the other slurred.
"See?"
Natsu's pink head started to rise again, his dilated brown eyes scanning the place lazily up until they finally fell on Jellal. "Oi, squinty eyes! C'mere!"
Jellal stopped cleaning the crystal glasses and the mental commentary on their conversation, frowning at the rude name he had just been called. Squinty eyes? What the eff? He slowly made his way to the drunk customer, rather delighted to see the red-haired woman whack Natsu at the back of his head. "Don't be a twat," she scolded.
"Stop sayin' weird british words," grumbled the other with a confused frown, then his attention went back on Jellal. Before the blunet had the chance to talk, the order was placed. "Gimme another vodka shot."
"No," Scarlet shook her head, "You're not getting another." She gave Jellal a meaningful, pleading look, "The check please, we will take our leave."
"Of course," the blunet nodded and pressed a few buttons on the machine very conveniently situated next to him. Unfortunately though, the pink-haired man wasn't very happy about the breaking news of his and Scarlet's departure.
Neither was Jellal but that was a whole different subject.
"No!", he shouted angrily, attracting the other customers' unwanted attention, "Lemme drink!"
Scarlet sighed and put some bills into Jellal's chest pocket. She then smiled weakly at him. "Keep the change."
Jellal watched, quite astonished, as she effortlessly hefted the pink haired man and threw one of his hands over her shoulder, supporting his body onto hers. Her balance faltered, Jellal saw that too and before he realized what he was doing, he had untied the apron around his waist and thrown it over to an approaching and confused Urtear, shouting at her to take care of the rest. The woman complained of course but Jellal was far long gone to listen to her ramble.
As quick as a sound wave, he was in front of the redhead and her companion. "Please, I'll help you carry him home."
She shook her head defiantly. "It's okay. You've got work to do."
"I insist," Jellal said sternly and in his utter relief, Scarlet sighed and nodded affirmatively.
"Okay. Thank you."
With no further ado, Jellal threw the pink haired man over both of his shoulders, carrying him in a piggyback while he followed the red-haired woman towards a car.
"Are you sober?", she asked, once Natsu was safe and sound on the back seat. Jellal sighed.
"I've had three or four shots already."
She nodded. "I'll drive then."
They all drove to Natsu's house in perfect silence. Jellal took the seat right next to her and he couldn't help his eyes which strayed more than once every few minutes on her face. He knew it wasn't the right time to make his move but he was so used to watching her from afar that he wanted to take advantage of their sudden proximity. She was so painfully gorgeous; the freckles on her face were much more visible in the dim light, eyes focused solely on the road in front of them, her full lips pressed in a thin line. Jellal couldn't tell if she was worried or angry so he stayed silent not to disturb her.
What he also noticed was that she was driving in a really, really slow pace. Was she a new driver?
"Excuse me," he said, clearing his throat, "No disrespect or anything but... Why are we going so slow?"
She glanced at him with the corner of her eyes and chuckled in amusement. What? Had he said something funny?
"Natsu has an extreme case of motion sickness," she cut Jellal off as soon as he had opened his mouth to speak - apologize - again, "He is bladdered too. I don't want him honking all over the car."
"Oh," Jellal mumbled lamely in understanding, his eyes fixating on the road once more. Well that made sense. Even though he wasn't the one who barfed as soon as someone else barfed, Jellal was sure he didn't want to clean the mess Drunk Natsu would leave on his wake.
Damn it. There was that silence between them again. No, it wasn't awkward or anything; it was rather calm and soothing, to be totally honest. It just wasn't enough. Jellal was literally craving to talk to her, to start a conversation about everything and nothing, just for the sake of listening to her melodic, sweet voice at his heart's content, yet he didn't really know how to get them going.
He was also worried about another thing: Would he have another chance like this one?
While Jellal had his inner debate, the redhead had pulled over in front of a large building and she was briskly exiting the car. Following suit, Jellal was out and with Scarlet's help, Natsu was once more on his shoulders, mumbling something unintelligible in his sleep.
The stupid idiot had fallen asleep.
Jellal followed his woman in an elevator towards the fifth floor and then they took a short, silent walk to the apartment seventy two. She expertly fished Natsu's keys from the man's ass pocket and unlocked the apartment's door, the unfortunate action having both him and Scarlet cringe and groan in disgust. There was a horrific smell resonating from the apartment, strong and kinda rotten, violently assaulting their nostrils.
Holy shit. Natsu lived in that junk?
"Oh my God almighty," the redhead mumbled in a state of shock, as she hesitantly stepped into the hazardous area, "I'll have to call the cleaning lady."
"Are you sure that the cleaning lady will agree to even come near this mess?", Jellal asked sarcastically, carefully not to stomp onto some kind of strange, green mush plastered on the door's mat.
Scarlet laughed heartily and shook her head. "Good one, mate."
Ah, his heart. Please, someone stop it or else she'll hear it.
Thankful that the redhead didn't seem to hear his heart jumping enthusiastically in his chest, Jellal followed his obsession to where had to be Natsu's bedroom. That place was somehow cleaner than the rest of the house.
"Drop him off to bed and make sure he is on his stomach," she instructed.
Jellal nodded and smiled internally, while placing Natsu on the bed, on his stomach. The pink haired drunk groaned and snuggled closer to his pillow.
"I'll fetch some meds. You stay here," Scarlet said and quickly exited the room, missing the longing brown eyes glued on her back. Jellal sighed in defeat and waited, deciding that it was a good distraction to study the messy room; although it wasn't as dirty as the living room, it was still messy as hell. Clothes and underwear were thrown all over the place, forgotten glasses with some strange looking liquid inside, dirty plates, cans of beer and coca cola...
"It really is a junk in here, isn't it?", a soft voice suddenly spoke from his left, startling the hell out of him. Scarlet smiled apologetically at him. "I'm sorry I startled you."
"No, it's fine," Jellal assured her, willing his heart to stop tap-dancing on his tongue.
The red haired woman nodded and placed two Tylenols and a glass of water on the bedside table, next to the sleeping man. "You'll need these when you wake up, you hear me, twat?" She ruffled affectionately his hair with a kind smile before she finally stood up and turned to Jellal.
"Let's go."
They were soon out of the messy apartment, after he and Scarlet gathered all of the dirty clothes into a pile, while she folded the clean ones neatly, and they quietly made their way to the exit of the main building. Once outside, Scarlet stopped and turned to look at Jellal with a smile that left him breathless.
"So," she began, "Thank you very much."
"Don't sweat it." It was supposed to sound cool, manly, maybe a little dominating. It sounded weak and pathetic instead. Damn, what was she doing to him?
"I am going that way," she said and motioned with her hand towards the road right behind her, "I bid you farewell."
"Do you seriously expect me to let you walk home alone?", Jellal asked incredulously, quirking an eyebrow. Scarlet simply stared at him in confusion, saying nothing. That was kinda odd. "What?", Jellal asked, now feeling a little nervous, "Is it bad?"
"You don't have to get out of your way," she mumbled, averting her gaze onto the ground, shifting nervously on her feet. "I know how to get there."
Jellal rolled his eyes and snorted but internally he was crooning loudly at how cute she looked like this. "I am a gentleman. I never let a lady walk home all by herself." He stepped closer to her, motioning towards the way. "Besides, my house is on this way too," he added.
It wasn't a lie. His apartment really was towards that way.
Scarlet nodded numbly and followed him without any more remarks. She was silent for a long while, staring at the pavement with a blank expression that made Jellal's skin crawl from the nervousness. She was so damned unfathomable, he couldn't read her at all. What was she thinking? Was she mad? Confused? Shy? What?
"We never introduced ourselves," she said suddenly, finally looking up at him with a nervous smile, "I'm Erza Scarlet." She offered her delicate hand at him and in his pleasantly surprised state, without realizing it, Jellal grasped the soft appendage and brought it to his lips, kissing the top.
Erza.
Erza.
Erza...
Yeah, he definitely liked that name.
Plus, Scarlet was her surname after all. How oddly fitting, especially with her hair.
"Pleasure to meet you, Erza," he said, allowing his lips to brush over soft skin, "I'm Jellal Fernandes."
"Jellal?", she asked and pulled her hand away, her cheeks a little redder than before, "That's an odd name, I've never heard it before."
"It is pretty odd, isn't it?", he smiled, hoping that the seizures of his heart weren't showing on his face in the form of an embarrassing blush. She had called him by his name, people. How did you expect he would react? Thank the Gods he wasn't sporting a boner already.
"I-I didn't mean it in a bad way," she adorably stuttered and Jellal swore he was ready to just eat her, "It's the good kind of odd..."
"Yeah, I know," he grinned from ear to ear. He was literally holding himself from tackling her to the ground. She was so freakishly cute! "I'm not offended or anything, so don't worry so much."
She nodded and looked back down on the pavement, "Oh okay. That's-That's good."
"I thought your name was Scarlet in the beginning," Jellal continued, not willing to have her stop talking, "But it seems I was mistaken."
"Natsu generally calls me by my surname," she explained, her tone amused, "Depends on his moods. Most people call me Erza though."
Jellal had to chuckle at that. "Well, your full name certainly suits you, that's for sure."
Erza smiled playfully at him and touched her blushing cheeks with both hands. "Be quiet, you're making me blush."
"Why? I'm just honest," Jellal assured her confidently. Inside of him however, he could feel his heart getting stabbed by merciless arrows coming from a sadistic and very excited Cupid.
She was so cute when she smiled at him like this. "Thanks, I guess."
If this was a dream, please don't wake him up. He would murder anyone who dared to destroy this sudden ray of bliss.
Jellal was literally crossing all his fingers and toes, praying that what he was experiencing right now wasn't some kind of a game his mind had conjured up to mock him. Erza - finally, she had a name! - was actually very adorable compared to the stoic and serious aura she usually gave off. Jellal rarely saw her smile and right now she was smiling shyly at him, as if she was provoking him to ravish her.
It was true; he wanted to ravish her. He wanted to make her scream until her throat went sore, he wanted to make her speak in a different language, a language that didn't even exist preferably.
Jellal shook his head to clear it from the dirty thoughts. No, he didn't want to do just that. She deserved much more than that. She seemed like a girl who needed to be treated nicely, with love and care and as much as sexually frustrated he was, he was willing to suppress his inner desires, if one asked him to.
When was the last time he got laid, anyway?
Uuh...
"I am really sorry my cousin was such a burden on you," she suddenly spoke up, pulling him out of his musings. He looked at her, baffled for a few seconds before her words sunk in.
"Like I said, don't worry about it," he shrugged, "Though I must say that he is quite a handful when he is drunk."
She cracked a dazzling, sideways grin. "He's a handful when sober as well."
Jellal laughed heartily. Once he sobered up though, he continued with another question that gad been boggling his mind for a while now. Not that he didn't have an idea already but eh. "If I may ask, why was he drinking so much?"
Erza sighed in defeat and rubbed her hand over her face. "He was getting stroppy because his babe cheated on him with one of his colleagues at work," she explained casually.
Jellal was confused. Well excuse him for not understanding British English! He was a pure blooded American for God's sake. "What do you mean, stroppy?", he asked curiously.
Erza laughed but blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I tend to forget that people do not understand my British vocabulary," she apologized with a weak smile, "Stroppy means that he was upset and irritable."
"Oh," Jellal exclaimed, feeling a little dump nevertheless, "I-I see."
"So, that's why he got plastered. He's really a baby sometimes."
"Maybe he loved her a lot," Jellal muttered with a nonchalant shrug.
"He did. He really did," Erza said with a defeated sigh. "That's why I hate that bimbo."
Jellal nodded in agreement, not really sure of what else to say. Actually, he didn't know if it was his position to say anything more other than agree with her. Because he did agree with her. Cheating is unforgivable and stung like a motherfucker.
However, Erza didn't seem willing to stop just yet. "I mean," she continued with a little more heat, "Your babe is yours and only, not someone else's... Am I the only one to believe this anymore?"
"No," Jellal said quietly, "I agree with you. What she did wasn't alright at all."
"She's obnoxious," Erza hissed angrily, "An annoying, too full of herself bimbo."
"So you're a possessive one?", Jellal asked, somehow amused by her aggressive attitude. It was cute. Like a kitten trying to roar.
"Heck yeah," she said as a matter of factly, scowling up at Jellal, "My man is mine and only. I'll kill whoever tries to take him from me and I'll castrate him if he ever cheats on me."
Jellal sucked his teeth and shook his head. "That's a little violent, don't you think?"
"I'll make it look like an accident," she assured him, with a small but nonetheless playful smile.
Jellal out right laughed. She was serious when needed to but she had a seriously awesome sense of humor. Much like his own, cynical one.
"Why you laughing? Don't you agree with me?", she asked in fake shock. He smirked at her.
"I'll carry the bodies," Jellal offered and his chest swelled with male pride when she giggled, the little sounds cheerful and cute.
"I really like you, mate," she said, patting his shoulder friendly, "It's rare to find a man that understands my mentality so well."
"I'll take that as a complement, mate," Jellal teased.
They kept talking like this, freely, as if they knew each other for years. Jellal was happy, so incredibly happy and absorbed into the woman's little smiles and talks that he didn't realize they had walked into the building he was currently staying, until they were inside the elevator.
He jumped in surprise, blinking as he took in his surroundings.
"What's the matter?", Erza asked him, curious.
"You live here?"
She quirked one curious, red eyebrow. "Yes... Why?"
How was that possible? She... She had been here the whole time, living in a radius closer than a hundred meters from him, yet he hadn't... Noticed her existence? There had to be some kind of explanation. It was impossible that they had never bumped on each other, not even accidentally.
Jellal gaped at the redhead for a few seconds before blinking his way into consciousness. "I live here too," he mumbled, "And I've never seen you around."
Brown eyes widened, her mouth opened slack and everything. "Seriously?", she asked.
"Yeah," he breathed, not knowing what else to say or do. Neither did Erza, but that was only for a short while.
"Bloody hell," she sighed, staring at him in shock, "This world is so bloody small."
"Damn. That small?", Jellal mumbled, just as dazed as she was.
"Seems so."
They went silent after that, each one focused on their own thoughts. It was fucking unbelievable. How... How was it possible that they had never seen each other before? And to say that Jellal simply walked around with his head in the clouds, not noticing the world around him wasn't an one hundred percent true statement. What about Erza though? She would have shown some sort of recognition if she had seen him before right? Like, this was what normal people did. It seemed as if she too hadn't seen him before in her life.
Jellal didn't snap out of his musings up until a soft "Bing!" tickled his ears. Second floor. One floor below his apartment. That was so absurd he wanted to laugh like a possessed hyena. Not willing to scare his crush away so early in the game, he instead let Erza step out first and followed her with both his eyes and legs until he had a very sudden and very intense flash of déjà vu.
He'd been down the same road before.
It suddenly dawned on him and he froze on the spot. Shit. He'd been here before, this very morning in fact, when he went to-
"Ah," Erza sighed in defeat, picking up a small, rectangular paper from her door mat, "It seems that I've made myself unpopular again." She huffed in agitation and crumbled the small paper into her palm. "I have to apologize this time."
Jellal watched in utter shock as the small memo he'd left on the doormat of apartment 21 in the morning before he left being destroyed by the hands of the woman's he was obsessed with. So this meant that the loud, obnoxious "guy" living just below his apartment... is her?
Just how many surprises do you think I can handle in one day, Universe?, he thought to himself dryly.
"I-it's okay," he stuttered, feeling totally embarrassed, awkward and bad for how many times he had hoped she would just move out, "You don't have to apologize."
She gave him an incredulous stare before she chuckled. "It is the third time this note has reached me. I can tell that it is the same person by the handwriting. I've received from other neighbors as well." She smiled sympathetically. "He or she is the politest one."
As much as her smile made Jellal's insides flutter excitedly, there were two things bothering him; one: did she distinguish between their handwrittings? And two: how could he tell her that he was the one to write these notes? What if she got mad? What if she got upset?
You know what Jellal, he mentally scolded, You're a man. If there's shit to be cleared up, you gotta do it. Stop being a weenie, for God's sake. He shifted nervously on his feet, thinking of the correct words to say, to inform her that he was the one to...
"I left the note," he finally sighed. There. He said it. But he still couldn't really meet her gaze; he simply stared off to a random direction above her head. Erza raised one fine, red eyebrow, wordlessly asking for further explanation and Jellal clicked his tongue nervously before he spoke again.
"I live right above you," he explained, "A-And I sometimes, when I try to study or sleep, you play music loudly...It distracts me. Not that I don't like the music, it's just that-"
"Jellal," Erza cut him off efficiently, her brown eyes dancing with amusement, "I understand, don't get so flustered over nothing."
"Still, I just wanna make sure you... You're not offended or anything," the blunet muttered, scratching the back of his head. Erza stared at him for a couple of seconds before she tipped her head back and her adorable laughter caressed his ears all over again, making his tense body relax.
"God, you're so adorable, mate!", she giggled behind her closed fist.
Jellal sighed in relief. He'd been so worried. Worried that she'd get mad at him and the good start he had made with her would go to waste. But, once again, he was mistaken. Erza was cool with it - she was cool in general - and she didn't seem to mind one bit. Actually she looked more amused than anything. Plus, she had just claimed that he was adorable.
Stahp this torture, please. Or I'll eat her right now.
She had used his first name again, too. Jellal wanted to shiver, to pick her up, wrap her long legs around his middle and kiss her stupid. He liked the way it rolled off her tongue. He wished to know how she would sound while he made her tremble and scream and see stars. How would his name roll off her mouth then?
One couldn't help but wonder.
"Seriously, don't worry," Erza spoke again, her soft voice forcing Jellal to push his naughty thoughts temporarily away or else she would become very familiar with his buddy, little Jellal, "I should be the one explaining myself, not you."
"But-"
"Shush," she scolded and took a deep breath, before looking into Jellal's eyes. She was so serious and adorable at the same time. "I apologize that I disturbed your studying and your sleep," she added earnestly, "I had never such intentions in the fist place. It's just that I tend not to realize on the spot that my actions can actually annoy someone else. I act on impulse and that's a very bad habit of mine. I'll... I'll work on it okay?"
"It's-it's okay," Jellal said, scratching the back of his head again, "It's not a bad thing to be impulsive. If not awesome, it sure makes you a very interesting fellow."
She snickered, the chocolate brown of her eyes molten and dancing playfully. "I'm way too spontaneous then."
"I like that about you," he blurted without realizing. He only realized it when Erza's ears turned pink around the edges. Aw, seriously now? Jellal wished he could just shut his big mouth, to bite that tongue of his off. Not only his statement was creepy as hell but it also made his crush blush like there was no tomorrow and avert her gaze. Aka, it made her uncomfortable. Jellal wanted her to be as comfortable as possible around him. Comfortable enough to take her clothes off and be naked and-
Jellal. Stop. Now. Seriously. Don't do this to yourself. You sound like a deprived pervert.
"Thanks... I guess," she muttered shyly. Jellal could feel his face getting hotter and hotter by every passing minute.
"Hn," he grunted uncomfortably.
"I'll... I'll see you around then," she said with a small smile. Jellal grinned nervously too.
"I live a few stairs above after all."
"Heh. Yes," she agreed and opened her purse. Once the keys were in her hands, she looked up back at Jellal. "Thanks again for today, Jellal."
There it goes again. Seriously, whenever Erza was around him, there should be an ambulance stand-by to resuscitate his heart. Those eyes of hers made it skid a great many of necessary beats.
Jellal smiled. Damn it, he was a love sick idiot but eh, he loved every single moment of it.
"Don't mention it."
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Thanks for reading.