Note: So just for posterity: I know I've been fussy but I wanted to clarify some stuff I honestly can't remember if I said before.

When I started this fic I forgot MIrajane was the oldest. It can't be fixed now so for the purposes of this AU, Elfman is the oldest and is seventeen. Mirajane is sixteen, and Lisanna is fourteen.

I've also done some minor tinkering with the passage of time. I wasn't paying attention before so some small changes have been made to reflect what is taking place and when. Sorry if that was confusing before. It's been handled.

Erza tried to keep her eyes on her own work but she couldn't help the way her gaze slid from the books in front of her to the uncharacteristically messy boy across the library's study area. His leg bounced under the table and his fingers slid through hair that wasn't normally so unkempt. The capped end of Erza's pen found its way into her mouth again as she watched him flip the pages of his text book frustratedly. Something was wrong. Jellal hadn't been so frayed at the edges since his doctor changed his medication dosage the year before. Was he even aware of how off kilter he looked from the outside? Surely his mother had noticed and was on top of it.

She sucked in a breath and refocused on her keyboard but the backlit keys only bumped around like rubber ducks in a bathtub. Erza's thoughts returned to the other side of the room after only a moment. Her stomach twisted anxiously. She knew better than to assume Anna was ever on top of anything. The woman was a mostly unmanaged mess. Jellal was the one who took control of his own condition and medications. He kept a pill management app on his phone to help him remember.

Erza scowled and glanced up again. Jellal's mess of papers and open books looked to be slowly taking over his table. She wanted to offer him a hand in whatever was amiss but didn't feel like she had any right. Certainly not after the way she'd handled Simon's meddling. In hindsight that entire confrontation – and the way it ended – had been her fault.

Simon had been sniffing around her porch for years. They used to be friends. She, Simon, and Jellal played together nearly every day but that friendship had fallen apart even before she and Jellal began dating in the seventh grade. Unlike Jellal, Simon had a jealous streak that manifested in alarming ways. To his credit, Jellal never pissed on her leg or suffocated her with unwanted displays of affection or ownership. In fact, Jellal never once stepped in to throw his dick around when Simon pestered her. He let her handle any awkward confrontations in her own way.

Given Jellal's usually smooth feathers, Erza never considered that Simon's outrageous advances might bother him. She never questioned whether or not he worried she'd one day return Simon's affections and possibly break up with him – or worse, cheat! Had she thought of Jellal's feelings at all she might not have stewed over those horrible, and ultimately meaningless, photos. Instead, she lost every last one of her crackers and upset him to the point of demanding space.

As it turns out, space hurt a lot. Erza hated space. She needed to repair the rift between them but she also knew better than to push Jellal when he didn't want to be pushed. He'd always been a pragmatic and methodical boy – almost to a fault… which is why his recent behavior was so concerning.

Erza tapped her fingers on the tabletop watching Jellal try and focus on his work. It was painful.

"Erza!" Mirajane's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

Mirajane shook her head incredulously. "Can you stop tapping your fingers? It's annoying."

Erza pulled her hands into her lap, embarrassed. Mirajane had been more snappish than usual lately but she wasn't out of line.

"I think something's wrong with Jellal," she whispered.

"You should ask him about it, then," Mirajane murmured, distracted.

"I can't."

"Why not? You two are practically married."

"We're not married," Erza hissed. "Sixteen is too early for that stuff."

"What stuff?" Mirajane's blue eyes snapped back up. "What are you saying?"

"Nothing. What's your problem lately?" Erza frowned and turned back to watch Jellal. "Look at him. He's a mess. Something's wrong." Her voice was low and even though Mirajane was still glaring at her, Erza was lost in her thoughts again.

"Why can't you just put us both out of our misery and ask him?"

"Because he's mad at me." Erza glanced at Mirajane. "I accused him of cheating." Mirajane's eyebrows flew up. "With Lisanna."

"I'm sorry," Mirajane said with a snort. "What?"

"It's stupid," Erza muttered. "The whole thing was fucking stupid."

Mirajane closed her book and leaned over the cover. "What did that conversation look like?"

Erza sighed. "Simon sent me a bunch of pictures of him at your house with Lisanna and I let it get to me."

"Jellal is helping her with her classes. I can guarantee you they aren't… whatever you were thinking." Mirajane leaned back and inspected the ends of her hair. "The only boy Lisanna is interested in these days is Natsu."

"Lucy's back in town," Erza said softly. "She and her mom were in the office this morning before the first bell."

"No wonder Lisanna is mopey."

"I never thought of Natsu as the love triangle type," Erza said with a creeping grin. "Scandalous."

Mirajane tossed her hair over her shoulder and Erza felt a shift in the air between them. "Erza –"

The loud knocking of wood against wood shattered the gravity of the moment. Mirajane spun around in her chair and Erza's eyes shot back over to where the sound had come from. Simon had kicked one of the chairs at Jellal's table into the table leg – and the expression on his face made it pretty clear he hadn't done it on accident. Jellal stood and his hands balled into fists.

"Watch where you're fucking going, Mikazuchi," Jellal said in a tone that made the tiny hairs on her arms stand on end.

"Oh, my bad, Fernandes," Simon drawled, clapping his hand to his chest. "Did I disturb your lonely study session?"

Jellal's eyes were fixated on Simon. Erza's heart thudded in her chest. She wanted to stop this but felt completely helpless to do so.

"Fuck you," Jellal snapped back much too loud.

"No thanks," Simon quipped. "From what I hear you haven't been getting too much of that lately." Erza's skin crawled with rage. "Or maybe you got a little too much?"

"Watch your mouth." Jellal inched around the side of the table. Quicker than Erza could really track his hand shot out and grasped a handful of Simon's shirt. Simon closed his fist around Jellal's wrist and Erza watched his knuckles whiten. Jellal didn't even flinch.

"You're a little edgy today, Fernandes, did you fuck up those meds of yours? Should we be worried you'll snap on us one day?"

"Hey!" The librarian appeared at the end of the rows of tables. She was an elderly woman but her glare cut right through the testosterone. "You two knock it off before I call down to the office."

Without waiting for Simon and Jellal to release one another she spun on the heel of her flats and stalked off. Erza held her breath in the long moment that passed in between the librarian leaving and when Simon finally grinned sharply and let go of Jellal's wrist. Another eternity of seconds ticked by before Jellal loosened his grip on Simon's shirt. Simon didn't budge an inch but Jellal quickly packed up his laptop and left all his work and books on the table.

"Wow," Mirajane whispered. "That was crazy."

"Yeah," Erza muttered. She stood, gathered her own belongings and slid her arms through her backpack straps.

"Are you going to –"

"Yeah." Erza forgot all about whatever Mirajane had been about to say before the almost fight broke out and wove through the tables to where Jellal had been sitting – and where Simon still stood.

"You should be thanking me, Erza," he said in an amicable tone. "An unstable guy like that could turn on you at any moment."

"Fuck off, Simon." Erza shoved past him and began to pick through the books she knew were Jellal's and the ones that needed to stay in the library. If Simon had anything else to say, he kept it to himself. Erza hugged Jellal's things to her chest and followed the direction he'd taken out of the library.

The hallway was empty but she spotted a familiar pair of cleats with bright orange laces poking out from around a corner. Erza bit back a sigh and tried to rally herself.

Jellal was hunched over his knees on the second step. Erza cleared her throat and when he looked up at her, her heart tore in half. His expression was one of helpless frustration.

"I brought your stuff," she whispered. "You, uh, you left in kind of a rush."

"Yeah." He said nothing more so Erza knelt and neatly slid his papers and books into his bag herself. She hesitated for half a second before taking a seat beside him on the step.

"Jellal –"

"Don't." His voice was so quiet she almost didn't hear him.

"I'm worried about you."

"Don't be." Jellal stood jerkily and grabbed his bag. He ducked under the strap and smoothed it over his chest. Erza tried not to notice the way his hands shook. He hadn't left her yet but she knew he was already gone. "Thanks."

Jellal stepped around her and took the stairs two at a time. Erza had never felt more alone in her life.

"You're welcome," she whispered to an empty staircase.

Lisanna set aside her phone and sighed. Jellal wasn't answering her text messages and Natsu had avoided her all day. She saw him exactly twice and he'd been with the blonde girl – Lucy, she remembered – both times. What kind of boy kissed a girl in the apple grove and then flounced? Up until that morning Lisanna would've never assumed Natsu to be that boy.

The full-length mirror attached to the inside of her open closet door caught her eye. Lisanna shed her jacket and stood in front of the mirror. Her silver hair – the same hair both her brother and sister seemed to wear better than her – fell from a sloppy ponytail. She tilted her head to the side and decided her short pleated skirt and leggings printed with flowers were just as childish as her layered shirts. Her boots were old and scuffed. But the worst offender was the chipping glitter nail polish and her pink lip-gloss.

"I look like a baby," Lisanna whispered sadly. "No wonder he's into Lucy." She scowled at her chest that, while still of a respectable size, didn't even fall into the same class as Lucy's. "What is wrong with me?"

Lisanna kicked a stray pair of panties with tiny tubes of lipstick printed on them into her hamper, and whirled around to throw herself into her bed. Mid-spin she froze. An idea bubbled to the surface.

Of course! The best way to keep Natsu would be to prove how she was good for so much more than baby kisses in the apple grove. Natsu was fifteen and clearly needed to be seduced like the mature high school boy he was. Lisanna peeked out of her bedroom and glanced down the hallway. The house was silent. A quick check through her window that overlooked the driveway was enough for Lisanna to assume she was alone.

She took a deep breath, quietly slipped into the hallway, and grasped the knob of Mirajane's bedroom door. Her sister was pregnant which meant she probably had a treasure trove of tantalizing lingerie. Lisanna pulled open the top drawer of her sister's dresser and dug through the rolls of socks and cotton panties. Nothing. Lisanna quickly flipped through the other drawers filled with t-shirts and athletic-wear.

"Oh, come on!" Lisanna huffed. Surely Laxus wasn't so easy that Mirajane could net him with cotton panties and sports bras! She spun around and her eyes settled on the bedside table. Inside she found an empty package of batteries and a couple of worn out paperback novels. Frustrated and disappointed, Lisanna fell backwards into Mirajane's pillows. Her bed smelled like the lilac body spray she doused herself in after every shower.

Lisanna sighed deeply and sat up again. Maybe she'd lost her mind. Seducing Natsu seemed ridiculous outside the confines of her bedroom. She stood and reached up for the cord that hung from the ceiling fan. It wouldn't do to leave Mirajane's light on. Lisanna tugged the cord and as the light flickered out a sliver of something reflective in one of Mirajane's vanity drawers went dark. She tugged the cord again and crossed the room to open the drawer.

"Whoa," she whispered with wide eyes. "Bingo."

Natsu almost dropped his backpack near the front door but seeing his mother fully dressed, awake, and sober startled him. His hands clutched the straps and he stared.

"Do I look alright?" she asked softly.

"Uh, yeah," Natsu sputtered.

"It's not too much is it?" She smoothed her hair and brought the midnight black curls over her shoulder. Natsu's chest hurt. When his mother was drunk she was predictable. He hated the reminder that she could be anything other than useless – because then he couldn't ignore that her uselessness was a choice.

"No, mom," he said awkwardly. "You look fine."

"I have a job interview in a little bit. Zeref said he'd drive me."

"Good!" Natsu blurted. "That's great, mom." He watched her eyes flit to the pack of cigarettes on the top of the upright piano that still sat in the corner of the living room. He didn't know why she'd put anything near the piano much less her cigarettes.

"I'll wait for him outside," she whispered, leaving the pack behind.

"Yeah, okay." Natsu moved away from the door and headed for the hallway.

"Oh, by the way," his mother called after him. "One of your friends came by. She's in your room."

"Friend?"

"The pretty one with the silver hair."

"Lisanna is here?" Natsu whispered.

"In your room," she repeated. "I hope it's okay I told her to wait there. You know how your brother is about people in the house."

"Right. Yes," Natsu agreed choppily. He turned to go but pursed his lips. "Good luck with your interview, mom. You'll do great."

"Thanks, love," she whispered. The screen door shut behind her with a crack and Natsu wished she hadn't called him love. She hadn't bothered since… a long time.

Natsu sighed loudly and faced the hallway. He needed to get Lisanna out before Zeref saw her. The floorboards beneath the carpet groaned like they always did when he walked. Natsu decided when he grew up he'd live in a house that didn't make so much noise. He threw open his bedroom door… and stared. His mouth fell open.

"Hey," Lisanna purred from her spot on his bed. She was stretched out across the length of it wearing something… very much unlike herself. There was a lot of lace and ribbons and a lot of skin.

"Uh –" Natsu's thoughts jumbled into an unintelligible wad of nothingness. Lisanna smiled and reached up to flick a strand of her hair out of her eyes. His gaze caught on the precarious press of her breasts against one another. Something about that in particular cut through his fog. Natsu glanced back down the hallway in a mild panic and shut the door behind him. "Lisanna, you can't be here."

"What?" She blinked. Probably not the reaction she was hoping for – hoping? Natsu absolutely could not think about whatever she was hoping for by lounging on his bed like a… a… whatever.

"If Zeref sees you, he's going to be really angry." Natsu grabbed his fleece blanket with the Pokeballs and Pikachus. He tried to wrap it around Lisanna's shoulders but she only grinned and rose up on her knees.

"Your mom said he would be gone for a while," she whispered, touching his chest.

"Lisanna –" She smelled like something sweet and he wanted to bury his face in it. "You can't –"

"I do what I want, Natsu," she pressed. "What do you want?"

"I –"

"What if I helped you figure it out?" Lisanna gazed up at him with thick, black eyelashes and a perfectly pouty mouth that somehow glistened in the late afternoon sunlight. She leaned into him and kissed him with just the right amount of sweetness and demand.

Natsu's mind shorted out and he could not stop himself from returning her kisses. His hands fell on her lace-covered torso and his thumbs slid between the layers of lingerie at her hips to find the naked skin beneath. Lisanna's finger hooked in the belt loop of his pants.

"Do you want me?" she whispered against his lips.

"Yes," his mouth replied without thinking. The feel of Lisanna's fingertips brushing over the skin of his stomach jarred him. He grabbed her wrist. "But we can't," his brain finally managed.

"Why not?" She kissed him again.

"Because…" Natsu's head was still a mess of peach flavored kisses and lace against his palms. "Because we can't."

Lisanna finally pulled away from him and scowled. "Is this because of Lucy Heartfilia?"

"What? No!"

"Really? Because yesterday you kissed me and it felt like it meant something and today you acted like you didn't know me."

Natsu deflated. "Lisanna, I'm sorry. I kissed you because I did mean it but we can't…"

"We can't what?" she demanded.

"I can't talk about it. There's some stuff with my brother and maybe the cops –"

"What are you talking about?" Lisanna pushed him aside and started throwing on her clothes. "If you regret kissing me, Natsu, you should just fucking say so!"

"No!" Natsu felt the world crumbling around him. Lisanna tugged on her boots and glared.

"Why's it okay for you to hang out with Lucy and not me, then? Is it because she's more mature than me?"

"Lisanna," Natsu breathed. "That's not…" Words tangled on his tongue but he didn't know what to say anyway. His eyes flit to the window and the sun was on its last legs. "You should go. You can't be in the park after dark."

"Fuck you, Natsu," Lisanna said with a vitriol he hadn't thought her capable of. He let her storm past him and when the screen door slammed shut again, Natsu sank down on the edge of his bed. Zeref's words whispered in his ears.

"I've done my time for this family, Natsu. I've dug holes. I've dumped shit in the holes and walked away. If you do digging in the garden, you aren't gonna like what you find there. Stay away from the Strauss family."

He hadn't thought too hard about what any of it meant but the dots were too terrible to connect.

"If you care about that girl, you'll leave her alone."

Natsu crawled into bed and buried his face in the pillows that still smelled like her.

Lisanna's phone was vibrating in her pocket but she had no interest in listening to Mirajane bitching about her being in the park after dark or Natsu's apologies.

She watched the lamps flicker. The darkness twitched as if alive. Her heart raced. A low whistle floated from somewhere near the playground. Lisanna nearly stumbled on her untied boots.

"Hey, silver girlie," said a voice from directly beside her. Lisanna felt her breath catch in her lungs painfully. She hadn't heard anyone approaching. The young man had sleek blonde hair and some kind of markings around his right eye. His grin terrified her.

"Leave me alone," she whispered.

"I don't think I will." He leaned in and Lisanna watched his nostrils flare. "You smell like a peach."

The lamp near the picnic tables flickered out.