Coming home
The streetlights are all she can see beyond the window glass when he strolls in at half passed midnight. His uniform is wrinkled and his rucksack is heavy – she can tell by the way his shoulders sag – but he smiles. She stuffs away a flirtatious impuse and grabs her notepad.
He falls into a booth bench and sighs. She's worked and lived in this town long enough to recognize a soldier fresh off a plane when she sees one. Even though he is clearly travel tired, his smile stays true. There's a menu in front of him but she knows he won't need it.
"Coffee, please," he says in a tone that makes her want to blush.
"Nothing to eat?"
"Well, I'd ask for something sweet but I don't want to bother anyone." There's a dimple in his left cheek and she struggles to ignore it.
"It's not a bother."
"Cake, then." His smile widens. "Strawberry."
"Not a lot of soldiers stroll in here asking for cake and coffee."
"I'm glad to be a singularity."
She feels her cheeks finally warm and spins on her heel, leaving him alone at the table. Coffee and cake is easy enough. The cook behind the counter doesn't even look up from his magazine. She cuts the soldier a sizable slice of the cake and fills a mug with black coffee. When she returns to his table, he's still smiling.
"That's a pretty big piece of cake. I might need help finishing it off."
She smirks. "I'm sure you won't have trouble with that." When she sets the mug down on the table he doesn't even look at it.
"No cream or sugar?"
"I think you've got enough sugar in the cake." In a moment of boldness she winks at him and his eyes twinkle. "Don't you?"
"A guy can't have too much sweetness in his life."
A laugh breaks through her attempt at remaining aloof. "You say that now but you'll wind up a diabetic if you're not careful."
"Maybe I'll find a pretty nurse to take care of me, then."
The waitress rolls her eyes and accepts defeat. She'd never been very good at this game.
Erza drops her sweater on the stack of textbooks that take up half the dining table. Her sneakers are left in the kitchen next to the fridge. Inside, she finds more than half a slice of strawberry cake. She laughs and scarfs it down in three bites over the sink.
The pieces of her work uniform are left in an already growing pile on the closet floor – folds of green and brown are covered by the button up shirt that still has her nametag pinned to it. Steam rolls from under the half closed bathroom door and she finds him under the spray of hot water. Despite the obvious exhaustion, he smiles and she rises on her toes to kiss the dimple in his left cheek.
"Your breath smells like cake," he says with the same smile that she's loved since fifteen.
"If you didn't like it, you wouldn't have ordered it."
"I missed you." His lips find hers and he pulls her beneath the spray.
"Did you?" Her arms wind around his neck and she enjoys his hard body against hers. It's been weeks. "Are you sure you're not off flirting with waitresses in cities I've never heard of?"
"I've tried it once or twice," he says, pressing her against the wet tiles. "But none of them brought me big enough slices of cake."
"You just want an enabler." Erza clings to him and crosses her ankles when he lifts her.
"You caught me." When he enters her, it's slow and delicious. "I'm taking advantage of your side job and your future job."
Her eyes slide closed and she's lost in the feel of him against her and inside of her. His kisses land all over the surface of the heart that's been his for a very long time.
"I love you," he whispers in her ear. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I'm –"
"Enough."
The word finishes his sentence but is also a command. Erza never wants to hear his apologies. She doesn't fault him for the absences. His hand releases her hip and moves between her legs. When she finishes, it's a gasp against his mouth.
"Take me to bed, Jellal." He blots her hair dry and follows her to the bed that isn't ever quite made nicely. She doesn't like being a waitress anymore than he likes being a soldier but they'll manage. They've always managed.
He kisses her until he's half asleep. Tomorrow he'll spend half his day on base and she'll work her shift on top of a full day of classes but they'll always have this.
Well, this and the cake.