48th: Strawberry Cake

Summary: A more or less serious conversation … a few days at the beach … old love – and strawberry cake result in a very … interesting mix.

The red-haired woman smirked at the blue-haired man who sat in a dark room as he stared out the window where stars gleamed brightly. She closed the door behind her as she crossed the room and sat down on an empty chair.

"You have been hiding here all the time since your guild reached the beach resort as well," she stated calmly as she crossed her arms. "Even Ultear is swimming and challenging others to little spars like there is no tomorrow and Meredy has been enjoying herself as well. You are the only one who stays away from everyone … and even Lyon who seems to be avoiding Ultear lately isn't as bad as you are, Jellal."

"He has been avoiding here because he is scared of getting a nosebleed when he sees her in her bikini," Jellal said drily. "She has to be very disappointed. She chose the bikini to get his attention after all … pretty pathetic for her usual standards."

"You should show more understanding for her situation, Jellal," she said with a sigh. "True, this is pathetic for her standards but you have to be avoiding someone as well, don't you?"

He paused for a moment. "Yeah," he finally admitted. "But for different reasons, alright?"

"Mind to share?" she asked as she raised one eyebrow. "I don't want to annoy you but the reason why we are here is that we all get to relax after the Crimson Blade disaster and you seem to be tense every time I see you somewhere."

"Someone has to be on guard all the time, right?" he asked with a faint smile. "See, Erza, I hardly did anything productive during the fights so I need to do my part now."

She rolled her eyes as she took a bite from her strawberry cake. "Compared to Juvia, everyone did a bad job," she shrugged, "but that's alright now because it's finally over and we can relax now. C'mon, you should join us at the pool tomorrow."

"The last time I did just that … it didn't end well as you might remember," he said as a deep blush covered his face. "I think it's saver for me to stay inside – in save distance."

She chuckled. "You aren't really avoiding me because of this, are you?" she asked. "Really, Jellal, I know that you didn't this on purpose. By the way, you are in good company with that incident … Gray accidentally did the same to Juvia when they first met."

"I never thought that he would be indecent enough to do this mere minutes upon meeting."

She sent him a glare. "So you think that it would have been alright if they had known each other a little bit better before he froze her body and touched her indecently?" she growled.

"Hell, of course not – he did paralyse her first? That's ungentlemanly!"

"There, take a slice of strawberry cake and relax, Jellal," she sighed. "You should know that he didn't do this on purpose. He even said that he nearly fainted when he realised what he had just done … and I believe as much."

The blue-haired man gladly accepted the once-in-a-lifetime-chance to get strawberry cake while she was around. "Say, what's going on between Wendy and the little fire mage anyway?" he asked. "While I was watching you guys from the roof today, I spotted them hiding in one of the apartment buildings … and they seemed to have a sunburn … both."

"If Romeo dares to put a single hand onto innocent little Wendy, I'll have to kill him … slowly and painfully!" she threatened. "Just because he grew into the cute teenage boy stage while I was gone, he shouldn't believe that he'd get away with such things…"

The blue-haired man rolled his eyes. "Either you are really that overprotective which I doubt or you are slightly jealous because you haven't been kissed yet," he said before he suddenly realised that this had been a very stupid thing to say because her face darkened.

"H-how did you figure this one out?" she asked hoarsely, looking extremely vulnerable for a split second. "I didn't tell anyone … hell, I lied to Levy when she asked me a few years ago … Lucy never doubted it anyway…"

"I believed it to be strange if you had gotten your first kiss while I am still waiting for mine," he shrugged. "You should have seen Ultear's face when she tried me to get to tell Meredy a few things about the Birds and the Bees and I had to admit that I hadn't even have my first kiss … let's say it this way … we all had trouble in that department."

"Having a bounty on your head surely doesn't make it any easier to get your first kiss, huh? Ultear is really pretty so she won't have any trouble with getting a first kiss … but I have my doubts that someone might dare to kiss you…" She smirked impishly. "Well, I heard that even your Edolas-counterpart had a girlfriend once … and you are forever alone!"

For a moment he wondered why she was acting this silly and tensed at the same time before he realised that she had been spending a whole day in the sun – without a hat on her head and he knew that she often had trouble with staying all business afterwards.

Suddenly, she leaned in and placed a chaste kiss onto his lips before she pulled back and in this split second, she came back to her senses and her eyes widened. "Oh my god, what did I just do?" she whispered as she slapped herself. "I am so, so sorry, Jellal! I am so-"

A pair of lips onto hers shut her up. "Relax, Erza," he said. "It's no big deal."

She glared at him after he had pulled back and seemed to count down the three seconds left to the moment in which she would requip and beat the hell out of him. "Jellal…"

"Erza," he replied with a smirk. "Say, what kind of lipstick do you use because it totally tasted like strawberry cake? Or wait a moment … maybe it was strawberry ice cream…" He kissed her again, desperately hoping that this would prevent his untimely death. "No, definitively strawberry cake," he muttered.

She calmed down after inhaling and exhaling a few times and bit her lower lip. "Are you sure that we are doing this kissing-thing right?" she asked as she tilted her head.

He relaxed as he realised that she wasn't going to murder him. "Uh, I don't know," he admitted. "I think it's pretty good but if you'd like to try again…"

"Yeah, I think that we can still improve," she said with a serious nod. "And before you feel strange for doing this … I know."

He froze inwardly – and this wasn't like that one time Ultear had gotten him with an Ice Make Flower during their training. This time, it happened deep inside. She knew. She knew what he had tried to hide so desperately albeit pretty clumsily according to his nakama.

"So … if you know…" he muttered with a moment of hesitation.

"…I also happen to feel the same, don't worry," she said as she raised her hands. "I'd never go around kissing someone I have no feelings for."

"T-that's good…"