A/N: The first section of this was originally going to be on the last chapter, but I thought it would be better to move here. Since the last chapter was so lacking in fluff, this one has fluff incoming.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail


Erza had arrived at the guildhall early – earlier than anyone but Mira. She had to catch the first train of the day out for a solo S-class job she was setting out on, but she wanted some homecooked breakfast first.

Erza sat at the bar as Mira set up shop for the day and ordered her breakfast. After taking her order Mira plopped an issue of the Fiore Times in front of her. She was shocked to see that Jellal was on the cover – so much so that she stuttered out his name.

"They did a profile of him. I picked up a copy thinking you might want to read it," Mira told her. "Unfortunately this is a respectable publication, so there's no sexy pictures of him for you to peruse."

Erza glared at Mira before looking at the paper. The first picture showed Jellal sitting at a lavish desk. A smaller picture below showed a more candid Jellal lost in his thoughts. Flipping to another page she saw a picture of Jellal taking an ancient book off of a shelf in what appeared to be a planning room. One final picture showed him sitting in a large chair chatting comfortably with Meredy and Richard.

The last picture was her favorite. She wanted to cut it out to keep.

"He looks really sexy in that suit, doesn't he?" Mira asked.

"Sexy?" Erza replied. She began to look back at the pictures. Looking at the perfect tailoring of the long coat and shirt she could see how that would be sexy. In fact, she was so focused on the pictures that she didn't catch the drop of drool until it lands on the paper.

Mira giggled, setting Erza's plate down. "Erik told me you liked to drool on him."

"W- what?!" Erza choked on her words.

"When he visited, he spilled everything to Kinana. She knew she couldn't tell anyone but me, so she told me some of the stuff Erik was saying," Mira replied.

"Like what?"

"Well, for one, Jellal was concerned that your tendency to drool on his chest when you slept would become a habit," Mira answered.

Erza blushed, but her expression remained focused. "What else?"

"Well, Kinana said she couldn't tell it as well as Erik, but she did say he laughed as he related Jellal's thoughts about you bleeding after you had sex for the first time," Mira replied.

"No! He wasn't in the room," Erza said.

"Apparently he was next door," Mira corrected her.

Erza looked down at the counter.

"Oh! And apparently Erik says Jellal is incredibly happy right now. Erik was apparently debating if he thinks angsty Jellal or happy Jellal is more annoying," Mira concluded.

"Of course he does," Erza sighed. "Speaking of men, how's Laxus?"

"And how do you know I'm sleeping with him?"

"I know you well enough to tell when you're sleeping with someone," Erza told her. "You act more horny in general."

"But how do you know it's Laxus?"

"He will 'mysteriously' disappear with you sometimes and come out of the experience looking completely drained," Erza replied. "Almost as if a succubus had her way with him."

"He likes it though," Mira smiled deviously. "Maybe you would as well?"

"No," Erza replied, pushing her half-empty plate towards Mira. "Anyways, I need to go." She stomped out of the guildhall and towards the train station, hoping the demon wasn't giving herself any ideas.


At the end of what had been a bloody and violent (if easier than anticipated) monster-killing mission, Erza walked through the streets of Crocus towards the Palace. She initially hadn't planned on this little diversion, but sometime during the week she had convinced herself that it was a good idea. She had no idea if it would work out, but she was never one for not trying.

Erza confidently approached the Palace guardhouse. She knocked on the window and waited for a guard to greet her. A gruff middle-aged man eventually came to the window. His breath smelled heavily of cigar smoke and his expression was hardened.

"Name?" His rough voice croaked.

"Erza Scarlet."

"You're not on the list," he replied, staring her down.

"I'm here to visit Crime Sorciere."

"Those guys?" He snorted. "Should've figured with you being a mage and all. But still, you can't be trusted since you're a mage."

Erza knew the upper classes didn't have a high opinion of mages, but she'd never met anyone who would state it outright. It only made her want to be more insistent. "Then ask them." She sent him a hard stare for emphasis.

The guard glared at her before grabbing a communication lacrima off of the counter. "Yeah. There's someone here for you. … You weren't expecting anyone? Figures. … She says she's," he looked over to her to ask her name again.

"Erza Scarlet."

"Erza Scarlet," he said into the lacrima. "You'll take her? Fine. Good." He hung up the phone. "I'm opening the gates. I'll have one of my men show you where you're going."

Erza dragged her cart through the gate and waited on the other side. A flustered young soldier scrambled out of the guardhouse.

"M- Miss Scarlet," the young guard greeted her. Erza could hear the other guards snickering behind him. "Please follow me."

She didn't say anything as she followed him along a winding path towards the back of the Palace. Among barracks, stables, and dining halls for the staff was a building that looked much older than the rest. It looked absolutely decrepit and much smaller in size than it would need to be to house Crime Sorciere.

The guard knocked at the door, suggesting to her that this was the right place. He quickly backed away after knocking, obviously afraid of what was inside.

The door opened to reveal Meredy standing in a room much larger than the outside of the building would suggest.

"Good afternoon, Erza! I wasn't expecting you to come here," she greeted cheerfully. She waved Erza inside. "Marcus, would you mind unloading Erza's luggage."

Erza turned around, wanting to unload her own luggage/emergency food supply, but was quickly knocked off balance by Meredy looping her arm into Erza's elbow.

"Why don't we go talk for a bit?" Meredy asked.

"Where's Jellal?" Erza figured that because Crime Sorciere knew about their relationship, there was no use in hiding why she'd come.

"Oh, he's in meetings until after dinner," Meredy answered. "But I figure you're hungry for some dinner yourself."

Erza found herself standing in a kitchen, so curious about the building that she hadn't noticed where they were going. She was about to ask Meredy when the girl opened her mouth again.

"We don't have any cake. I'm sure you could order some from the palace kitchen, but Sawyer's been on a health kick and is determined to drag the rest of us into it. Do you want any chicken for dinner?"

Erza moved to the fridge to look inside, trying to find any food she'd want. She sighed and closed the door. "Chicken would be fine. Do you need any help?"

"No! I'm okay," Meredy assured her. "I'm excited that I'm finally learning how to cook real food on a stove instead of dead prey over a campfire."

"Maybe you should ask Juvia or Mira to teach you," Erza replied. "I can cook when necessary, but their cooking is restaurant-quality."

Meredy giggled into her hand as she started the stove. "Maybe in a couple weeks. Right now we're all trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives now that we're free. I'm pretty comfortable here, but also have someone I want to visit more."

Erza stared at her. "You – you-"

"Yes, don't tell Jellal, but I believe I have a boyfriend," Meredy told her.

Erza knew why Meredy would request that: Jellal thought of Meredy as a daughter of sorts. He'd be furious to find out that his "daughter" was dating someone – even if he'd never admit it.

"Who is it?" Erza whispered, almost afraid to ask.

"Lyon Vastia," Meredy said.

"Lyon?!"

"We've run into each other a couple times, but always at a bad time, so I've made a point of asking him out," Meredy replied. "Actually, we went on a couple dates before the pardon, but nothing real. You know how Jellal is – he made sure we never settled down too long, and he made excuses to move more if he thought I was about to go on a date."

"Are you ever going to tell him?"

"No," Meredy said. "Maybe when I'm pregnant, but I hope by then he'll be distracted enough by his own children. It'll be easier that way."

"I suppose," Erza sighed. "What is everyone else doing?"

"Mostly brooding," Meredy joked. "But no, really we're all waiting. I think we all thought freedom would be fun, but somehow we all miss hunting down dark guilds. We're waiting for a new one to pop up and defeat."

"But shouldn't they have some alternative?" Erza asked.

"We're working on it," Meredy replied. "I think Sorano's flip-flopping like usual. She wants to go to Sabertooth to spend time with Yukino, but she also likes being in Crocus. I also know she's been wanting to work on magical vehicles, and Queen Hisui's offered to hook her up with craftspeople that make them, but who knows if she'll say yes."

"It would be helpful if she could make them more efficient. They tend to wipe me out, so I doubt they're very practical for most mages or humans," Erza lamented.

Meredy nodded. "I think Sawyer wants to work on that as well, but he's distracted."

"Distracted?"

"On his month off, he found out that Alvarez has a magical motorcycle racing league. He either wants to join it or expand the brand to Ishgar," Meredy replied. "We'll see where he gets with that – I think he's too stubborn to partner with anyone well."

"And Richard? Has he found Wally?"

"No. He's got some leads in Bosco, but I guess Wally and Sho haven't bought communication lacrimas. He's already gone back out to look for them again," Meredy replied.

"I would like to see them," Erza said, obviously disappointed.

"Yeah, I think Jellal wants to apologize to them as well," Meredy replied. "But we have to wait. Actually, I was waiting to ask you something – is Erik dating Kinana? He seems happier lately, but he refuses to tell any of us what happened."

"I don't know. Mira seems to think so, but there's nothing to say they are," Erza answered her question. "I know they have been visiting with each other, as much as Erik likes to deny it."

Meredy nodded. "He thinks he's so sneaky – like a snake. He really isn't."

"What's Macbeth doing? Jellal seemed oddly interested in him last we talked," Erza said.

"Oh! Yeah," Meredy said. "Jellal and him didn't really talk before the pardon, and they still don't talk much, but I think they have a common goal now that both have the resources to work on."

Erza tilted her head, curious.

"You know that Midnight likes to research lost and new ways to use magic, just like his father. With access to the magic library he's been starting to look more into that. Actually, he manipulated the exterior to make the building seem smaller – his first use of a spell he learned," Meredy explained. "Jellal is better at learning magic faster, and he's interested in the scholarly aspects of magic, so they've been discussing working together. When we were in Crime Sorciere he served to help us figure out magic we were unfamiliar with, so Queen Hisui's been asking him to work on some sort of quick reference into types of magic for non-mages to read. I think right now though he's working on creating a sealed chamber to test magic in. Eventually Jellal hopes he'll become a scholar to help lead some magic training academy or research institution."

"That would be useful," Erza replied. "Even I don't know every kind of magic, and having a room to test things out on would help prepare mages for battle."

"I don't get why they can't just use the pandemonium set up with fewer monsters, but I guess lost magic is just that dangerous," Meredy said. "But the truth is, hardly any of us have gotten started on what we want to do, so who knows if it'll work out in the end."

"I'm sure it will," Erza replied. "You've only been free for a couple of months. You have a lot of time and opportunities ahead of you."

Meredy nodded. "Yeah, we know."


After dinner and cake, Meredy had brought Erza up to Jellal's room. She marveled in the fine decorations, knowing Queen Hisui had picked them out for him.

His bathroom was equally as nice. She soaked herself in the large bathtub for a good hour and used the top-of-the-line hairdryer to dry off. She knew Jellal wouldn't appreciate the fine equipment, so she made sure to put it to good use.

While she could have easily requipped into her normal pajamas, Erza wanted to impress Jellal. Unfortunately, with this being a spur-of-the-moment detour, she hadn't brought any lingerie.

Because of that, she had to resort to a technique she'd only read about: wearing one of her boyfriend's shirts. She opened his drawers to find them without any button-ups. Even in his closet the carefully tailored suits (obviously picked out by Meredy and Sorano) didn't have a normal white dress shirt. Beginning to get frustrated, she looked back into the drawers and pulled out one of the T-shirts she knew he sometimes wore to bed. She slipped that on and snuggled up into bed with a book she'd been keeping in her requip space for such an occasion.

As time passed, Erza would glance over at the clock, wondering when Jellal would be back. Meredy had said it would be after dinner, but it was already a good two hours after dinner.


Jellal was exhausted. His day had been full of meetings, and not just meetings, but meetings that were entirely irrelevant to him. The dinner he'd been asked to attend dragged long past the scheduled hour. At that dinner he'd been introduced to various nobles and politicians who were all trying to get something out of him. While the food was good, it was not worth the trouble.

He thanked his lucky stars that Macbeth had taught him an easy cloaking spell so he could sneak out to his home without any "noble" sycophants following him. Jellal was so tired he barely took note of the suitcases piled in the entry hall. It barely registered as unusual with all the Crime Sorciere members working to personalize their rooms.

Upstairs, he noticed that his door was unlocked. He usually locked it out of fear that one of his guildmates would come in and annoy him. Despite being adults, he found they interfered: Meredy liked to redecorate, Sorano liked that his bed was fluffier than her own, Macbeth occasionally took books from his shelves, and Erik would often come in to express anger about something or another.

When he opened his door he was even more convinced this was some sick joke, for tucked into his bed was Erza. She was wearing one of his shirts and was now peering over the edge of a book at him as if she had been waiting for him. He didn't know why Macbeth would pull such a prank, but Jellal knew that Macbeth was the only one capable of it, unless…

Jellal walked over to his bed as Erza watched silently. He was surprised she hadn't stuttered out his name in that cute way she typically did – that was another reason to believe this was indeed a prank. He gently guided her book down to the bed and lay a kiss on her lips. The warmth suggested this was really Erza and not some hyper-realistic illusion.

"Erza?" He asked, pulling away. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on the way back from a job, and I wanted to see you," Erza told him. She put a bookmark into the book, closed it, and sent it back to her requip space in a flash of light. Erza wrapped her arms around his neck and slid her hands down to move his coat off his shoulders.

Jellal got the idea, and even if he was tired, he couldn't help but take advantage of one of the few nights he had with Erza. He could never predict the timing of the next night, so he was determined to use each one he got to the fullest. Erza helped him take his shirt off over his head and slipped his belt off. Jellal, not wanting to be fully undressed, pounced once she went to pull his pants off.

He pulled his shirt over Erza's head. Although he was ashamed to admit it, finding that Erza wasn't wearing a bra was an incredibly welcome discovery. To thank her, he kissed her deeply. Erza, still determined to take his pants off, reached her hands down the back of his pants to squeeze his butt.

She laughed has he tried not to yelp into her mouth. Jellal moved his head down to in between her breasts and tried not to laugh. He brought his mouth over to one of her breasts, hoping occupying his mouth would help quell the laughter, but Erza's rare laugh was contagious. Once again he buried his head into her chest and began to laugh with her.

Erza took advantage of his distraction to roll them over and tug his pants down. That immediately stopped Jellal's laughing fit.

"I see you're as adept at strategy in the bedroom as you are on the battlefield," Jellal mused.

"Am I?" Erza asked, genuinely surprised by his observation. That maneuver hadn't been strategy as much as it had reflected an opportunity she saw open – though that was also a skill she used in battle.

Jellal reached his face up to nuzzle her nose. "One should never underestimate the mighty Titania."

Erza smiled, now more determined than ever to get what she wanted. Usually she was trying to prove Jellal wrong, but now she was ready to prove him so, so right.


Erza, after a quick trip to freshen up in the bathroom, flopped right on top of a still naked Jellal and wrapped her arms around him. She sighed contentedly.

Jellal brought one of his arms to rest in her hair and began to stroke it. "I really needed that tonight. I thought you were an illusion Macbeth made to prank me, knowing I wanted to see you so badly."

Erza smiled and opened her eyes to look up at him. Jellal kissed the top of her head.

"Honestly I thought all I'd want to do when I saw it was really you was snuggle," Jellal said. "I'm exhausted from dealing with nobles."

"And yet you managed three rounds tonight," Erza pointed out.

"One for each marriage proposal I received tonight," Jellal told her.

"Marriage proposal?"

"Apparently if you are young and attractive enough – well, I can't even say those are requirements – rather, if you have the ear of the Queen and a high enough government position, you are seen as a top candidate for husband of any eligible woman," Jellal sighed. "Even if I reject a man offering his daughter one night, he'll be back the next."

"I would assume you don't lead them on," Erza suggested.

"No. I tell them I'm not interested in the least," Jellal replied.

"Maybe you need to be more firm, tell them 'no.'"

"I've tried putting it in simple terms, but they can never remember."

"You should ask Hisui," Erza offered. "Or put a fake ring on."

"If I'm putting a ring on, it will be a real one," Jellal told her. He didn't add that it would match a ring on her finger, afraid that she would reject such a big step before he was ready to take it.

"When do you think that will be?" Erza questioned.

"I don't know," Jellal sighed, not sure what Erza's question meant. "But I do know I'm rather content right now."

Erza nodded against his bare chest. "This was not at all what I was expecting. Even six months ago I would have said this would never happen, but I'm glad it did. I'm glad you said yes."

"I am too," Jellal admitted. "A year ago I never thought I'd say yes."

"You'll have plenty of chances to say 'yes' again. Maybe even tomorrow," Erza said suggestively. "But for tonight, I believe it would be best for both of us to get some sleep."

"Good night, Erza," Jellal said, kissing the top of her head.

"Good night, Jellal."

They lay there for a long time, listening to each others' breathing slow as they fell asleep, happy to be together once more.


Omake

Meredy heard a soft groaning coming somewhere from inside the headquarters. She initially thought it was Jellal, but it was much too frustrated to be a man with the girl he was in love with. She suspected it was Erik.

She went down to the supply closet to grab a bottle of his favorite poison and brought it up to his room. Without knocking (she knew he wouldn't open the door on his own) she entered and set the bottle down as loudly as possible. Erik turned his face towards her and glared.

"What's wrong?" Meredy asked.

"Titania and Jellal have been going at it for two hours," Erik replied. "I thought he'd be too wiped for one round, but no…"

"Look, why don't we see if we can get someone to soundproof your room tomorrow. There has to be some rune mages in Crocus," Meredy suggested, wanting to return to bed with minimal whining for Erik. "You know what? I bet Jellal could figure out how to do it. Or maybe Midnight?"

"Jellal?" Erik questioned. "Jellal? I don't even want to look at him anymore. This is disgusting to listen to – especially his thoughts. Right now she's giving him-"

"No. Just because you have to hear it doesn't mean I have to," Meredy replied, turning towards the door.

"Then let me be," Erik hissed.

"Why don't you call Kinana and have yourself some phonesex? Maybe use Jellal's thoughts for some inspiration?"

"You would do that with Lyon, wouldn't you?" Erik accused her. "Besides, both of them are so vanilla. The worst thing Jellal ever thinks is the occasional desire to slap her ass, which I'm sure every guy wants to do to their girl at some point."

"You're disgusting," Meredy told him. "Maybe I'll have to take drastic measures."

Erik stared in horror as a pink band appeared around his wrist.

Meredy had considered linking him with Erza or Jellal, but figured she should give them their privacy. Instead she went to her room. She grabbed the lotion with a scent she knew he hated more than anything and began to play the most girly pop music she could. Now she just had to figure out something to eat he hated. Sorano was truly a bad influence, but if it allowed Erza and Jellal to continue uninterrupted, she would have to follow her lead.


A/N: Crime Sorciere is best guild.

I hope that was fluffy enough? Please R&R!