AN: You reviewers are just too cute! I'm having so much fun writing this fic and im so happy you guys are enjoying it too! :D
Chapter 3-
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" the rabbit like woman, Dotty, asked in a rusty voice as she and her friend came to a stop beside their table.
"Actually-" began Erza politely.
"It'd be awfully nice of you," cut in Dotty, "We've been staying here a few nights and it seems the other guests are opposed to our company for some reason."
Jellal tried to catch Erza's attention, willing her to get rid of the women as he wasn't in a position to say anything himself, he would rather they not notice him. Erza didn't get his hint and he felt himself growing pale as he watched her crumble in sympathy.
"Alright," Erza acquiesced reluctantly, scooting her chair closer to the corner of the room.
She then looked pointedly at Jellal and he suppressed a sigh before copying her actions by making room for the older pair. Dotty squished herself up against his side while Maddy shuffled her chair close to Erza. Jellal kept his head down and hoped he could pretend he wasn't there.
"So," said Dotty authoritatively, "What brings the two of you here?"
He clenched his hand beneath the table, holding back a snarky comment. Having these two strangers so close was setting him on edge, he needed to calm down before he did something he would regret.
"We're on a job," answered Erza as he pulled in a steadying breath, "We're mages."
"Ooh, how exciting!" cooed Dotty.
"I dated a mage once…" Maddy sighed.
"Oh, how rude of us!" cried Dotty suddenly, "We didn't even introduce ourselves!"
Jellal puffed out an annoyed breath and restrained himself from commenting that not introducing themselves wasn't the only rude thing they had done.
"Indeed!" exclaimed Maddy, "How incredibly rude of us! I'm Maddy and this is my friend, Dotty. It's ever so nice to meet you both."
Dotty nodded emphatically in agreement and then the pair watched them expectantly. Erza painted a tiny smile on her face for the two.
"My name is Erza," she said, then she flicked her gaze over to Jellal, knowing she couldn't use his real name.
He winced as he noticed a mischievous gleam come to her eyes.
"And his name is…" she told them, her smile growing, "Sapphire."
He narrowed his eyes at her and vowed to get revenge.
"Sapphire?" repeated Dotty with a girlish laugh, "A boy named Sapphire?"
"Well," amended Erza, "He's a man named Sapphire."
Dotty and Maddy exchanged glances and giggled.
"He doesn't say much, does he?" remarked Dotty with a grin.
Erza smirked, "He's just shy."
Jellal's eye twitched in annoyance, but he contained himself.
Dotty piped up again, this time with a hint of admonishment, "He may be shy but isn't he also a little rude wearing his hood up like that?"
Erza was about to make an excuse for him, probably something embarrassing, but before she could say anything, Maddy chimed in.
"Yes, he is being rather rude, isn't he?"
"Most definitely," agreed Dotty, "But I suppose he might be hiding an unsightly face?"
Erza tried again to speak up but she was cut off.
"Well, there's one way to find out now, isn't there, Dotty?" Maddy said knowledgeably.
Apprehension shot through Jellal and sent his heart racing, but before he could protest, the woman plastered up against him reached up and yanked his hood back.
He flinched and tried to pull it up again but old Dotty was blessed with a surprisingly strong grip. His panicked eyes met with Erza's and then they froze, waiting for a reaction from the two old women.
"Dotty!" exclaimed Maddy.
"I know!" cried her friend.
Jellal swallowed hard and turned his gaze away shamefacedly.
Erza cleared her throat, "Now, ladies-"
"We forgot to put our glasses on!" Dotty and Maddy blurted in unison.
Jellal's eyes shot up to the woman beside him and then he had to lean away from her as she brought her face close and squinted at him.
"It's no good," Dotty sighed, "I can't tell if he's attractive or not at all!"
"Neither can I," admitted Maddy, also trying to peer at him, "Serves us right for leaving our rooms without our glasses."
Erza slumped in relief, that is until the women both turned to her.
"So, dearie," Dotty said, "Is he attractive?"
He was unable to stop the smirk that appeared on his face as he watched the redhead turn bright pink.
"I, uh, well, um, that is…I," she spluttered, "I, um, sh-shouldn't say."
Erza…spluttering, Jellal never thought he would ever see that.
"I guess that's a 'yes' then, don't you think, Dotty?" asked Maddy.
"I quite agree," Dotty giggled, "I think she liiikkees him."
Erza face palmed and Jellal realised he was feeling the warmth of hope and pride in his chest. He quickly squashed it with guilt and self-loathing.
"I don't think so," he said softly, bringing the attention away from Erza's flustered squirming.
"Oh!" squealed Dotty, "He can talk!"
"And what a nice voice too," Maddy added, "I dated a man with a nice voice once…"
The sound of heavy footsteps travelled over to them and so Jellal quickly pulled his hood back up. The footfalls became louder and then out of the corner of his eye, Jellal saw Mr Davden approaching.
"Miss Dotty!" the man called, "Miss Maddy, I have taken the liberty of preparing a special table for the two of you!"
"What was that?" asked Dotty, peering around suspiciously at the man.
"Why would we want to leave where we are?" Maddy questioned.
Mr Davden came to a stop beside the table, "Well, maybe because these two are on a date?"
The old women gasped, "On a date?"
Erza and Jellal both flushed and Erza went to clear up the misconception but she changed her mind as Mr Davden gave her a subtle 'Just go with it' look.
"Are you two on a date?" Dotty chuckled, going so far as to nudge Jellal with her bony shoulder.
"Yes," answered Erza slowly, "We are."
"Well why didn't you say so sooner?" demanded Maddy playfully, "We'll leave you both in peace now."
They heaved themselves to their feet and began to follow a relieved Mr Davden through the maze of tables and chairs again.
"Have fun, dearies," called Maddy over her shoulder.
"But not too much fun," added Dotty wryly, prompting her friend to burst into peals of obnoxious laughter.
The sounds of the two women faded away over the next few moments while Erza and Jellal fought to free themselves from any lingering blushes. Other people began drifting in and, thankfully, seated themselves at the tables on the far side from where they were.
"Sapphire?" Jellal asked straight-faced, "Really?"
"Do you have a problem with how I named you?" Erza enquired innocently, though her tone did hold a hint of challenge.
"Just…" he sighed, "You couldn't have thought of something...more masculine?"
Erza laughed quietly, "But I thought Sapphire was cute, it suits you."
"Cute?" repeated Jellal with a small frown of confusion.
The redhead coughed uncomfortably but was saved from further awkwardness by Mr Davden, who reappeared at that moment.
"I'm so sorry about Miss Dotty and Miss Maddy," he said brightly and with a grin, "Other guests have complained about them before and, honestly, I sometimes find it hard to find my sunny smile around them sometimes…"
Mr Davden spaced out for a moment, then he shuddered and forced a happy expression.
"I do hope you like roast chicken and vegetables!" he chirped, "I'll be right back with your dinner."
And with that he spun away and headed to a well concealed door near the back of the room, disappearing behind it. Jellal and Erza shared a look of puzzlement.
"Strange place," commented Erza.
"Indeed," Jellal agreed, "I hope we won't be staying here for too long."
Erza's expression tightened, causing him to flinch and add, "Not that spending time with you isn't…um-"
What's the word? he asked himself, nice? Awkward? Painful? A test of strength?
"Interesting," she finished for him.
He let out a relieved breath, "Yes, interesting."
The door at the back of the room opened up again and Mr Davden glided in with a large tray in his hands. He expertly manoeuvred around various objects and headed over to Jellal and Erza's table.
He placed the tray down and, with practised movements, put plates of delicious looking food in front of them and poured them each a glass of chilled water before flittering away to serve the other guests. The two mages ate in their typical, awkward quietness.
They both tried not to think about how 'date-like' the situation appeared to be. Jellal was also pleasantly surprised at how he had managed to survive the meal without saying anything embarrassing.
Maybe this whole thing won't be so bad…
Mr Davden popped up then and scurried away with their dishes before returning a minute later with two plates of dessert.
"Strawberry cheesecake!" exclaimed Erza, her eyes growing huge and damn near sparkling with excitement.
Jellal leaned back in his chair slightly, startled by her sudden enthusiasm.
"You, uh, like cheesecake?" he asked hesitantly as he picked up the dessert fork he had been given.
"It is the best creation!" she declared, then she added as an afterthought, "Well, it's right up there next to soufflés…"
Jellal watched in total fascination as Erza set about slowly eating her cake. Honestly, he could've had Dotty and Maddy leaning all over him and blabbering on and he wouldn't have noticed, because Erza was just so…enthralling. With every mouthful, she closed her eyes in bliss and let out a little moan that made Jellal shift about in his chair.
His heart pounded unevenly while his greedy gaze took in every detail and overrode the voice in his head telling him he was doing something he shouldn't. The beautiful mage went to load up another forkful but then she frowned sadly as she realised she had finished her dessert.
Jellal nudged his plate of untouched cheesecake towards her and her face lit up.
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
He swallowed and nodded, not trusting his voice to speak without embarrassing him. Erza pulled his plate closer to herself and set it on top of her empty one before eagerly digging into the cheesecake. Her happy moan shot straight through him, tingling down his spine, flipping his stomach and causing his pants to feel tight.
A few moments later, when she licked her lips, Jellal groaned helplessly, unwittingly bringing Erza's attention to him. His eyes were glued to her mouth, so the only clue he had that she had caught him staring was the tint of pink in her cheeks.
"Jellal?" she quietly asked.
He forced his eyes up to meet hers, "Yes?"
"Are you alright? You were, um, staring."
He made himself blink in surprise, "Was I?"
The hope was that he could pass it off as simply him spacing out.
Erza nodded, "You must be tired from your journey, we should return to our room for the night, don't you think?"
He answered by getting to his feet and she did the same. He led the way through the furniture strewn room, each step causing nervousness to bubble up in his stomach. As he headed up the stairs with Erza right behind him, he couldn't help but wonder if she was becoming as nervous as he was.
I'm spending the night with Erza, he thought in disbelief, his insides twisting hotly. He glared at the carpeted corridor, No, do not phrase it like that, we're simply sharing a bed…shit, no, we're just sleeping together. No! We're…
He continued to argue with himself over the proper description all the way until he reached their room, 211. Then of course, he realised he hadn't locked their door before they had left earlier, he hoped Erza didn't notice, he didn't want her to think he was completely useless. He reprimanded himself and made a note to make sure he always locked their door whenever they leave.
"Oh right," Erza remarked as he opened the door, "I suppose we didn't lock it, did we?"
Jellal hung his head in shame as he walked into the room and turned on the light.
"We'll have to be more vigilant next time," she said, following him inside and then closing the door.
He nodded and locked them in. Then they just stood there and stared at each other, unsure about what was going to happen next. Erza then looked away and cleared her throat.
"We should probably get an early night," she suggested, "There's no telling what tomorrow and the mission will bring."
Jellal nodded again and removed his cloak before shuffling over to the bed and moving his bag onto the floor. While his back was turned, Erza quickly requipped into her purple cotton PJs.
On the walk back to the room, she had mentally gone through all the nightwear she had with her and had debated about which item she should wear. Besides the conservative outfit she was now wearing, she also had two slinky and lacy nightgowns. She blushed at the thought of wearing them around Jellal.
He probably wouldn't think I was sexy anyway…she told herself as she watched him kneel down and take off his boots, wait, what am I even thinking?! I don't want him to think I'm sexy!
She rushed off into the bathroom so she could calm herself by going through her normal night-time routine. Unfortunately even after she had done everything she needed, she was still confused about what she wanted. She smacked her forehead and told herself to get it together.
Then she exited the bathroom and found that Jellal had pulled back the blankets and was splayed out, his eyes squeezed shut as he muttered something under his breath. Erza's stomach fluttered but she ruthlessly ignored it and her urge to just jump on the man.
She made herself walk over to the bedside table, turn on the small lamp and then move over to the door to switch off the main light. When she turned back to face the bed, Jellal was sitting up and staring wide-eyed at her. A tingling heat rolled through her as her heart lurched and raced in her chest.
Why was he looking at her like that? She self-consciously raised a hand up to her, now undone, hair and smoothed it even more before looking down at her PJs and making sure they were acceptable. She was sure there was nothing wrong with her appearance and so she frowned over at Jellal.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him as she made her way over to the bed.
He looked away and then shook his head of blue hair in a quick movement.
While she had been preparing for bed in the bathroom, he had lain there and begun instructing himself to be on his best behaviour and to think only professional thoughts. Of course all of that had gone out the window when he had seen her standing by the door in her cute PJs.
As he watched her walking towards him now, he hated how his body temperature shot up and his palms grew damp. The woman had no extra skin exposed, even her normal amour showed more than her sleepwear did and yet, he found her to be almost more tempting dressed the way she was right now.
Don't think about what she's wearing under all that cotton, he told himself, taking a deep breath, don't think about undoing all those buttons and unwrapping her like the gift she is, don't think about anything!
Erza climbed onto the bed and burrowed under the blankets.
"Goodnight," she whispered.
"Goodnight," he responded quietly.
Jellal slowly put himself under the blankets too and after Erza turned off the lamp, he rolled so he was facing away from her. It was bad enough that he could smell her sweet, alluring scent; he didn't want to risk adding a visual.
His whole being was tensed up; he locked all his muscles in place to stop from moving and grabbing her. The woman he loved was so close, she was literally in arms reach, but no, he was not allowed to touch, he wasn't even allowed to think about her, lest he give into temptation.
He drew in another deep breath and then swore inwardly as Erza's scent became all he could focus on.
It's not going to happen, Jellal, he said to himself firmly, you're not even worthy to think about her, you're lucky she even talks to you after all you've done.
He held his breath as he sensed Erza rolling over. He wondered if her back was to him or not and then that got him imagining the outline of her body. His thoughts soon became a stream of expletives and sentiments of self-hate.
Just stop, he mentally growled, stop thinking about her!
The woman dominating his thoughts then let out a sigh and he heard her shifting about again. He could so easily turn over and stretch out to touch her…He stifled a groan.
The idea of me actually surviving this night, and getting a restful sleep too is rather…unbelievable, he thought resignedly.
AN: hehe i had fun with this chapter and man, i find the image of Jellal shyly nudging a plate of cheesecake towards Erza to be super cute! Someone should do some fanart ;) ;)