tumblr anon asks: Can I request an awkward meeting the parents ? Jerza feat. Irene, please.

notes: ah! thank you! it's been a while since I've fulfilled requests in my inbox and I'm happy to start my day doing this one! thank you for asking me, and I think that I'll keep this on the short simple sweet end, if you don't mind!

also warning warning! spoiler alert for those of you who aren't caught up with the manga!

Jellal thought he would have been ready to meet Erza's family after three months of dating her, but yet standing on her porch, right before the front door of her home, his once-confident fist still hesitates over the white-painted wood.

It's totally fine, he assures himself. He planned to arrive here just (and only) fifteen minutes earlier than their reservation at that fancy dinner place to pick Erza up because he figured that fifteen minutes is more than enough time to have casual small talk with Erza's relatives before slipping away for dinner right when they might start asking more dissecting personal questions.

Jellal trusted in his social skills and affirmed to himself that there is nothing that he has to hide anyway—well, save the things that should stay between him and Erza exclusively.

But ignoring positions in bed that she particularly favors and that one time they took a vacation out-of-the-country without telling a soul, this meeting with the family should not be all that bad, and so he musters strength into his knuckles and raps quickly on the door.

Then he waits for what seems like hours before he sees the subtle flicker in the eyehole of the door, then the click of the lock, and then he braces himself with his most charming smile as the door swings open.

When he sees the fierce mane of thick red hair—braided into two long braids—behind the door that most decidedly is not Erza, he reminds himself that gene inheritance is most definitely a thing and that she is probably where Erza got everything.

He gulps. She stands nowhere close to him in height, yet he is intimidated by her intense stare. He needs to keep it together. He wills his right hand forward.

"Oh, hi, uh—"

"Call me Eileen," she tells him, stretching out her hand for him to shake.

"Eileen," he repeats. "I'm Jellal."

"Right," she replies. "Erza told us that you would be here to pick her up."

"Yes," is all he can say to this.

"Come in," she beckons, and when she turns around, Jellal grabs a quick breath of air before stepping through the door.

The smell of Erza's home calms him a little. And as he scans the living room that he is lead into, he sees that terribly comfy black couch that they've spent plenty of weekend nights watching movies and cuddling on, as well as the coffee table with the wine stain—hopefully unnoticed—on its corner from a makeshift fancy homemade dinner at her place.

The sight of the familiar scene calms him slightly—it's not the first time he's been here—however, he's only been within Erza's family's space when the rest of them aren't there sharing it, and it most definitely is the first time he's been here in the presence of another Scarlet.

He sits across from Eileen, as casually proper as he can, and tries to forget the fact that the older woman is most definitely studying him from head to toe. He can't seem like he's trying too hard, but at the same time he can't be completely off guard and be careless with what he does.

He forces himself to make eye contact, and good god—she is fearsome.

"So…Jellal, " Eileen states, as if she is amused that this is the first time she is formally addressing him. She crosses her legs and folds her arms across her well-rounded chest—which Jellal (albeit with disappointment in himself for having unconsciously noted) realizes is probably another something that Erza adopted from her mother.

"Tell me about yourself."

It is like he is being interviewed for a job. Except ten-thousand times worse.

Impress, impress, he has to impress. He just has to impress.

Erza told him plenty of times before that he didn't have to do this and that her family didn't really care, but Jellal is much less worried about what Erza's family could potentially think of him than how much he's worried about how Erza's family would feel about her when they assess what kind of a person she brought into her life.

"Well," he starts. "I'm Jellal and I'm also a senior. We're in the same level math class—which is where we met."

"Oh, yeah, I'm aware," Eileen interjects. "Erza hasn't been just keeping quiet about you, you know?"

"Ah, of course," he replies, cutting his train of words and moving onto another paragraph about his life. "Well…I don't know if Erza's told you this about me but my family just moved in from Alvarez last year because my mother recently switched jobs."

He sees Eileen's eyebrow raise.

"What does your mom do?"

"She's an engineer," Jellal replies, worrying about how close the questions are getting about. "A mechanical engineer."

"I see," she says. And then before Jellal can continue, she asks, "Are you trying to be an engineer as well?"

"Uh, no," he admits. "I haven't really decided what I want to do yet, but I'll figure that out when I get to college, I guess."

"Erza told me that you were going to Fiore University."

Jellal forces as modest of a smile as he can. "Yes, that I am."

Eileen gives him some form of an approving look. "That's impressive. Fiore is top, you know?"

"Ah, yeah," he says. "I'm pretty lucky."

The older woman is just about to ask him another question but then Erza, his savior, rounds the corner—looking beautiful as ever. She's slipped into a fuzzy sweatshirt and a pleated skirt, and she's outlined her eyes with the slightest bit of eyeliner, and best of all, she's kept her hair down—long and flowing down her shoulders.

He wants to keep looking but he's afraid if he stares too long he'll get a scoff and an ahem from the bigger Scarlet.

"You have such blue hair," Eileen says suddenly, when he turns to face her again.

Erza smiles graciously at him while she takes a seat next to her mother. Her warm smile comforts him, and he nods as he gathers up some more assurance.

"From my dad," he explains. And then he tries a light remark. "I…I can see where Erza got her hair from as well."

Eileen nods, with the slightest of smiles. "Naturally."

Jellal thinks it best for him to change the topic as quickly as possible.

"But it's very nice to finally meet you in person!" he exclaims, with as much strained enthusiasm as he can. "I've heard so much about you. Erza tells me that you make delicious homemade ramen and that you even make the noodles from scratch!"

A beat.

When Erza blinks several times, he knows that he's done something wrong.

Jellal wants to shoot himself.

Oh god, what the hell did he do this time? Did he mistake a story about Laxus's mother with Erza's mother? Whose mother was the one that made apparently awesome ramen anyway? Did he just insult her in some way by pronouncing the name of the dish wrong? Did he just invade some personal space? Did he just imply that Erza and him have been dating for longer than Erza might have told her mother? Had Erza even lied about her relationship with him to her mother without telling him? That was impossible, right? But what if—

"Um…" Erza starts, looking back and forth between Eileen and him.

Jellal braces. He doesn't know what to expect—but he knows it's going to be bad.

"Actually…Eileen is my older sister," Erza explains, with a small smile. "She's not my mom."

Well then.

end note: how this became more than 1,000 words, I don't know. no wonder it took me longer than I expected.