Fish must love Fish
(otherwise who would ?)
It was always like that.
Parents' day in nursery school.
All the five-year-olds would start babbling away about how amazing their parents were, some even excitedly telling their dumbfounded friends about their dragon relatives going on some complicated quest. All but two.
Jellal hated that day and Erza didn't have much to say.
Sure, Grey didn't know his father, Lucy's was abusive, a lot of kids' parents were divorced, and Jellal himself had trouble remembering his.
But at least, his parents had never wished to kill him, they'd been tricked into putting him into the wrong orphanage. Erza's mother had willingly left her daughter at that deranged place.
Thankfully, they had both been rescued a while ago, but some scars are indelible. This was exactly why Jellal hated parents' day.
Little Jellal glanced sadly at his red haired friend. All those stupid kids were too animated to notice Erza's stillness. Even the teacher was dumb enough to ask the children to come to the front of the class and talk about their parents. Jellal wanted to take Erza away, drag her to the playground and play sword, because that made her happy. Way happier than she was now. Maybe he could sneak both of them out when Natsu's turn came up... ?
"Thank you sweetie. Erza, the floor is yours."
What ? Already ? But S was pretty far in the alphabet, so her turn shouldn't be before a few kids' yet ! Jellal looked around in panic as he realised that the teacher was working her way through the seats instead of following the surnames.
He couldn't do anything now. Pretend to be crazy and scream to divert attention to himself ? Why not, but then the teacher would send him outside and he wouldn't be able to protect Erza anymore. And he didn't know how to start a fire...
Jellal watched helplessly as his best friend slowly made her way to the front desk, calm and unbothered. One would have trouble differentiating her from the other kids.
As she faced her classmates, Erza seemed to think for a bit, her tiny index pressed to her chin, visibly looking for something to say. She only hesitated briefly and began scratching the back of her head apologetically, as if she was sorry for not having much to tell her friends. The girl cracked a lopsided smile before speaking.
"I don't know Daddy."
The other children were used to being friends with single parented kids, so none of them were shocked.
"But I do know that he tried to kill me when I was still in Mommy's tummy, so I guess Daddy didn't want to meet me."
But this, the five-year-olds were not accustomed to. Neither was the teacher, who grew silent along with her students. Erza did not seem to mind, Jellal noticed lamentably.
"Mommy wanted to meet me, but afterwards she put me in a cold and mean place and left because I was a bother. I think Daddy could see the future because he knew that I was gonna be a nu- a nuisance, so he wanted to save Mommy from the pain. I'm not sure what a nuisance is, but Mommy used to call me this a lot."
When the little girl closed her mouth, she slightly deflated at her classmates' silence, and peered timidly at her shell-shocked teacher, not sure if she had done something wrong. Seeing that nobody reacted, Erza turned back towards her class and bowed, apologising for saying something boring. She then trotted a bit faster than usual to her seat, hiding behind an unfazed mask.
Erza quietly plopped down, waiting for the next student to present their parents. The kids quickly recovered from their stupefaction, going back to being chatty and eagerly expecting Grey to talk, completely forgetting Erza.
No one saw. No one could see.
Behind this beautiful mass of hair, behind that polite expression, behind those clouded eyes. Under the desk, the broken girl was wringing her hands.
No one saw. Except Jellal.
He knew, he had always known. From the moment he had met her up until today, Jellal could always see the pain hidden beneath, the suffering that a five-year-old shouldn't feel.
But even though he was aware of it, there was nothing the little boy could do. Because Erza didn't let him. She pretended, from morning to evening, day to night, that she was fine. Even when they were alone together.
And that broke Jellal's heart more than seeing her still and quiet, facing her lack of family.
She looked so unbothered by everything, so careless, that Jellal began to feel his fists clenching.
"Fish must love fish."
One of the only things he remembered from his mother. She would mindlessly mumble it while cooking, or while stroking his hair to put him to sleep. The night before she left, she had grabbed his shoulders and planted her eyes into his own, whispering those four words in a steady voice.
At the time, Jellal hadn't understood. But now he did.
If Erza wasn't going to show any reaction to her horrible past, then Jellal was going to hurt for her.
He was going to feel her pain.
Slamming his little fists onto his desk and successfully grabbing everyone's attention, Jellal pushed Grey away and firmly positioned himself in front of the dumbfounded class, the teacher not knowing whether she should react.
"Fish must love fish."
If he wasn't going to love Erza, then nobody would.
Jellal took a big breath and spoke up.
His friend was definitely not going to cry on her own anymore.
"My family," he glared around the room, as if daring anyone to disprove him. "My family is Erza."
The room went silent again. But the only reaction Jellal was focused on was the redhead's.
The little girl was staring at him in sheer shock, speechless. Her eyes were gradually widening in realisation, cheeks reddening in joy, shoulders finally relaxing into a stunned position.
"She is the only person I've ever cared for and who has ever cared for me, she is my best friend and the best person to play sword with, her hair is really pretty and she's very strong. I will never share my candies with anyone else."
Fists on his hips, feet rooted on the spot, Jellal stood confidently, proud of himself.
That is, until he heard a sniffle and noticed Erza trying her best to keep the sobs from erupting, her fists gripped, keeping her head high and mouth tightly shut. Panicking, the boy rushed to her side, flailing around, concerned about those tears that he had never seen before. Why was she crying ?! He had said this to stop her tears, not provoke them !!
Suddenly the girl started totally bawling or laughing her heart out, Jellal wasn't sure which. So he awkwardly put his arms around her and patted her head, searching for soothing words in vain. Then he heard a shy, strained whisper, "It was very scary... "
Slightly backing away from her, Jellal gazed at Erza in surprise. She slowly raised her head to reveal a small smile just for him, tears drying on her cheeks. "The orphanage was scary. Thank you for staying with me."
The blue haired five-year-old's ears turned red in embarrassment, and he squeezed his friend tight in his arms as he looked away and proclaimed loud enough for potential rivals to hear :
"I'll always stay with you. We'll even marry. It's a promise."
At this, the girl he was holding blushed harder than the scar on his right eye. She hid her face in his chest as the girls squealed in delight and the boys hollered at Jellal's manly action.
"Fish must love fish." His mother had said. But it wasn't true. The real saying should be "Jellal must love Erza."
If he ever got to meet his mother again, Jellal promised himself he'd correct her.
A/N- I came up with this while trying to sleep, and it did not help hahaha
I felt the need to write instead T.T which was great tho cause I've been stuck with my other fanfic for a while so writing another felt amazing.
Hope you liked it! And that they're not too OOC, although they're 5.
I do not own Fairy Tail nor the picture. All credit for it goes to Wu Yi Ning Si.