"Anonymous asked: Imagine Person A of your OTP is a single parent with an adopted child. One day they go shopping and Person A spots Person B from the other side of the store, and Person A is not able to look away. Then, Person A's child asks why they're staring at Person B, then without an answer, goes up to them and smiles innocently, "Hi there Mr/Miss! My mommy/daddy thinks you're really pretty/handsome!" Making Person B smile and look up to see a very flustered and embarrassed Person A."

I've never actually been inside of a Justice store but I'm assured it's just as bad as all this.


Shopping With Meredy


Everything about the store felt completely alien. The shelves and displays were all pink and white and stacked with clothing just as garishly bright. Sparkling belts, bags and other accessories lined the walls and the overhead lighting threatened to bring on the worst kind of headache. Sugary pop music blared from hidden speakers and for a brief moment he considered turning around and walking right back out. An insistent tugging on his wrist brought Jellal's train of thought to a halt.

"Hey!" Meredy scowled up at him in a very Ultear Way and planted her hands on her hips. There were times when she looked so much like her mother it startled him. Not that his cousin ever sported the same wild pink hair or girly girl tastes but the facial expressions... Jellal cringed when she poked him in the ribs. "Are you paying attention?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I've never been... here before and it's a little off-putting. Are you sure this is where you want to shop?"

"Of, course," she said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "This is my favorite store."

"So you've been here before?"

"No! But I've been to their website and it looks amazing!"

Jellal's eyes swept over the store again. "Right. Amazing."

Meredy dragged him through a maze of racks and shelves to paw through a mess of skirts on hangers. He had absolutely no clue what to do with himself but she needed new things for school and there was no getting around shopping. None of the clothes she'd brought with her had fit right and until he had a proper list of sizes, online stores couldn't be trusted... which is how he found himself in the bizarro world of Justice For Girls on a Saturday afternoon three days before she started school.

In a sea of electric-colored everything there was a flash of red and Jellal's eye snagged on something incredible. The woman was inspecting a display of lotions and body sprays. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the way she twisted a strand of her absolutely spectacular hair around her finger.

"Jellal!" Meredy's voice snapped him out of an embarrassing trance.

"Hm? What?"

"Here," she said as she shoved an armful of clothes at him. "Hold these."

"Wow this is... a lot..." Jellal shifted the load in his arms and glanced at the fluttering tags. It wasn't the prices that boggled his mind – he'd expected to drop a small fortune – it was the wide array of sizes. "Uh, hey, Meredy?"

"Yeah?"

"You've got about four different sizes here. I don't even think these will fit you." He held out a skirt with a waistband as wide as her shoulders.

"Well how am I supposed to know what size I need unless I try them all on?"

"What size do you wear now?"

"I don't know! My mom always took care of that." Her eyes fell to the floor and she awkwardly fidgeted with the hanging clothes.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to –"

"It's fine. We'll just have to figure it out on our own," she said quietly and returned to browsing through the racks. Jellal couldn't stop himself from glancing back to the redhead. She was now testing body sprays on her own arm. "It might help if you stopped staring at that lady."

"Excuse me?" Jellal squawked.

"That girl with the red hair," she pointed out casually. "You've been staring at her."

"I have not!"

"My mom always said you should never lie to kids, Jellal. Go talk to her if you think she's so great." Meredy scrutinized the woman in a way that made him uncomfortable. "She's pretty but... her hair's a little too red."

Jellal snorted. "It's not too red."

"So you like red, then? Is that your type or whatever?" She went back to sliding the t-shirts decorated with weirdly colored animals and flowers across the metal rack.

"I'm not talking about this with you," he said with an attempt at a firm voice.

"Why not?"

"Because you're eleven and hopefully know nothing about types and romance and all that."

"So you're into romance and not just –"

"Meredy!" Jellal hissed. "Can we not?" When she looked up at him the expression of defiant determination lodged a hard knot in his stomach. Without another word Meredy spun around and made straight for the woman. Jellal's feet refused to move. He watched with mounting horror as Meredy gently pat the woman's arm and smiled.

"Hi," she said in a deceptively sweet voice. "My cousin thinks you're pretty and can't stop staring at your hair. Can you go and talk to him so we can finish shopping? I think we'll be stuck here all day if you don't." Meredy pointed in his direction and when the woman turned toward him, Jellal wanted to sink into the floor. Worst of all, he couldn't look away when her face flushed pink.

Jellal's arms tightened around the mound of clothing he still clutched against his chest. The woman looked back down at Meredy.

"Sure, but first maybe you can help me out. Which one of these do you like better?" she asked with a smile and handed over two bright pink bottles for Meredy to sample. Unlike the woman, his too-clever cousin snatched a couple of scent cards from the display and tested both of the sprays. She returned one bottle to the woman and replaced the other on the shelf with a wrinkled nose.

"Florals are always better than citrus," Meredy said with a nod. She then boldly took the woman's hand and pulled her back toward him. "Hey you're going to wrinkle these!"

Jellal didn't protest when she pulled the pile of clothes from his arms and straightened them to hang in her hand. The woman smiled at him and every word he might have said flew right out of his head.

"Hi," he muttered. Meredy sighed irritably.

"I'm gonna try this stuff on," she declared and disappeared into the dressing rooms. The woman finally laughed and held out her hand. Jellal stared at it.

"I'm Erza."

"Jellal." He finally took her hand but couldn't quite bring himself to let go. "Sorry about my cousin. She's a little overwhelming sometimes."

"Little girls can be that way." She smiled at him and he felt his face heat up. "It's nice of you to take her shopping, though."

"Well," he began awkwardly. "She's kind of my... ward? I guess? I mean, I'm her guardian. There's really... no one else..." Jellal cleared his throat. He was rambling.

"It's still very sweet of you. I'm sure a lot of guys would've just sent her in with a credit card."

"That would probably create more problems than it would solve," he said with a laugh. "We're still working things out."

"Well it seems like you're off to a nice start." She was standing close enough for him to finally notice how many different body sprays she'd tested on herself.

"Do you have a daughter too or –"

Erza chuckled and he decided he loved the sound. "No, I'm here looking for a birthday gift. I uh –" She rubbed her wrist on the leg of her shorts. "I may have gone a little overboard with the scent. I didn't even notice the cards. I'm sure I smell terrible now."

"Not at all! You smell great."

"Thank you," she said turning pink again. "I –"

"Well, it turns out I wear a size eleven," Meredy announced as she emerged from the dressing rooms. She eyed them both with raised eyebrows and Jellal realized – to his embarrassment – he was still holding Erza's hand. He released it immediately and shoved his own hands into his pockets.

"Pick out whatever you want, Meredy. I don't think your shoes fit too good either." He nodded down at her feet and Meredy's face fell.

"I don't know what size shoe I wear. This is so hard."

"Hey no!" Horrified at the prospect of tears, Jellal pried the clothes from her hands and directed her back to the racks of clothing. "One thing at a time. Clothes first, then shoes. It's fine. We still have time! Don't cry, okay?"

Erza touched Meredy's shoulder gently. "Measuring your feet is the easiest thing in the world. It's a lot less work to find out your shoe size than clothes."

Jellal watched the smile crawl across Meredy's face. She nodded and went back to pick out more size appropriate clothing.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"You're welcome. Little girls her age can be a mess of emotion sometimes. I remember being twelve once, too."

"She's eleven but that's close enough."

"It is."

Jellal heaved a breath. "Listen, do you maybe want to grab coffee sometime? Or –"

"Yes," Erza interrupted. She promptly turned an even darker shade of pink. "I mean, uh, I didn't mean to assume you were asking me out or anything."

"I was." He smiled widely.

"Good," Meredy cut in. She shoved another pile of clothing into his arms and held three shoeboxes against her own chest. "I'm glad you two have worked things out."

Meredy surprised him by reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. She handed it to Erza who quirked an eyebrow.

"What's this for?"

"Go ahead and get your number in there. I'm starving and this is taking forever."

For the second time that day Jellal wanted to fall into a hole in the floor. By the time he and Meredy left the store he had a painful credit card receipt for a few hundred dollars, a headache from the toxic cocktail of body spray, and Erza's phone number.

He would send a text later and apologize for Meredy's forwardness but Jellal couldn't bring himself to actually be upset with her.