notes: somehow i didn't realize that i had actually finished writing this chapter ages ago. well then, here is the update! (as always – late, with profuse apologies.) in any case, i am almost done with this story! i absolutely cannot wait to put an end to everything, yes yes.
(also i just noticed that today marks the anniversary of this story lol. it has officially been one year since i first posted this!)
the vanilla
This is one of the things I love and hate about you.
What was that supposed to mean?
Erza found herself chewing her bottom lip at this thought, but then Jellal suddenly interrupted her in the middle of her musings.
"Hey," he greeted her, with a disarming smile, looking over at her from the other side of the seat. "You okay there?"
She laughed, affirming that everything was fine and that she was most definitely not thinking about what he had said to her earlier. Not at all.
She refocused channeling her magic through the cables of the vehicle, staring ahead at the road.
They're on their way to Shirotsume to get vanilla now, taking turns running the magical car from the field of the giant chicken to the small trader town along the borders of Fiore, where Erza had long ago researched had the best quality vanilla.
And of course, for her most perfect strawberry shortcake, there was no other choice but to trek all the way over there.
"Oh, good," he replied. "I was afraid that the chicken might have actually traumatized you."
She rolled her eyes, but then dared to look back in his direction, only to find that he was looking straight back at her.
She could have blushed and glanced away, but instead, she held his eyes and they traded smiles. She could have sworn he scooted in a little closer to her, but she tried to ignore the closing distance between their bodies for the remainder of the long road trip.
There was an ease that settled in her heart, rumbling lower than the murmur of her heartbeat, the vibration of the car's tires against the gravel road. There was no one ahead of them and no one behind them for miles and miles to be seen, but there was a comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone on this journey for the most perfect strawberry shortcake, and that he was there with her.
break
To Erza's surprise, finding the merchant with the most perfect vanilla was a lot more difficult than anticipated. Shirotsume—despite its many foreign visitors that came in and out of the town seeking craft-quality ingredients—was not the easiest to navigate, and she soon found Jellal and her lost among all the hussle and bussle of the marketplace.
Erza, of course, was too stubborn to come close to admitting that she was frustrated after what seemed like hours of walking around in circles, but Jellal was quick to notice her deteriorating spirit.
"We should go ask someone that might know where to find the vanilla vendor," he suggested, quickly ducking his head under the tent cover of the nearest merchant before she could protest.
Jellal returned to her after a few minutes, looking irritated.
"What happened?"
"She says she's never heard of this famous vanilla merchant," he explained, storming past Erza to the next tent.
Jellal later popped out of the tent—looking increasingly furious.
Erza stifled a laugh. "That vendor didn't know about any vanilla either, I presume?"
With his lack of answer and his narrowed eyes, she could tell the answer, and she bit her lip to keep from smiling too much at his cute frustration.
It wasn't long before the two of them realized that as difficult as it was to actually find the vanilla vendor, it was difficult even just to find someone that knew who they were talking about.
Finally after asking seven people, the eighth vendor—a younger woman selling medicinal herbs—was able to lead them in the right direction—
"Oh," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing. "The old man four tents down must be who you're looking for."
"Thank you," Jellal said, with a great sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think—"
"But he's fickle and might not sell you the vanilla," the herb vendor added.
Erza could hear Jellal hold his breath.
"There's another vanilla merchant down this aisle though," the seller explained. "He doesn't have the most perfect vanilla that you're looking for, but—"
"That will be alright," Erza interrupted. "I'm only here for the best."
And before Jellal could stop her, the scarlet-haired warrior was on her way, ducking her head under the tent four spots down.
"Good afternoon, sir. I was told that you might have what I need," she greeted.
The man just blinked at her.
"Vanilla? I was told that you have the best."
"No," the elder denied.
Erza blinked twice. "But—" she said, her mouth opening and closing.
"No," the vendor repeated. The old man continued to stare at her, and after a long minute, Jellal tapped Erza on the back.
"Come on, let's go," Jellal said. "Let's go to the other vendor."
But Erza held her ground. "No. I was told that he has the best and I will not give up that easily for my most perfect strawberry shortcake." And so she planted her feet into the ground, crossed her arms, and glared hard back at the man.
The vendor gave Erza a hard stare-one that she didn't back away from, and after about a minute of simply staring at each other, the vendor seemed to assess her level as a person and then demanded, "You seem like a strong spirit and one worthy of the best vanilla. I demand 800 gold coins."
Erza's eyes widened at the price demanded. That was more than the amount of money she would expect to receive after 5 intermediate-leveled missions back at the guild!
"For how much would that price be for?" Jellal asked quickly, and before he could finish his sentence, the man produced something from behind the counter—a vial no taller than his pinky and just as wide.
Jellal was appalled. "What? That is a ridiculous amount of money for what you're giving us!"
"No haggling!" the vendor spat. "You wanted the best vanilla. What do you expect to pay for the best?"
"It's okay, Jellal," Erza said, deciding that fighting down to the coins was not worth it with the vanilla trader. She popped upon her purse and lifted a thousand-coin bill into the air. "Will this be enough then?" she asked the seller.
The elderly man squinted at the shiny crisp bill in Erza's hand, inspecting it for almost as much as he was inspecting Erza's character, and then outstretched his hand to receive the money. "Deal," he said, holding up the small dark brown vial in his other hand.
"Thank you," Erza said. "I'll assure you that your product is put to good use." She triumphantly took the vial—holding the vanilla to the air as if it were a trophy—and stepped back out of the tent, her mission to find the most perfect vanilla complete.
Jellal followed behind, still displeasured at the atrociously overpriced product. He reached over to take the vanilla in his hand, looking down at it with disdain.
"Such a small quantity of vanilla," he said, scrunching his nose, still clearly distrustful of the purchase that Erza had made.
He popped open the tiny bottle and brought it close to his nose quickly, and sniffed, but then jerked back when the strong aroma of vanilla hit the back of his nose and went straight to jolt him in the senses.
"O-Oh wow, that's strong," he admitted, passing the bottle to her and covering his nose.
She grinned. "I knew it. I told you this would be the best," she reminded him, and then grabbed the bottle from him, before bringing it up to her own nose to smell the vanilla. And even though she very well knew and expected the strong aroma to hit her, she still brought it too close to her face, so much that she bumped the vial of vanilla against her skin and immediately jerked it back upon feeling the smell whack her senses.
She couldn't help but gasp, and Jellal most definitely saw the mistake that she made, teasing her with a poke to her stomach.
"Told you," he replied and she frowned jokingly at him.
"So the vanilla was worth it then," she concluded, pocketing the vial. "This will most definitely be the best for my most perfect strawberry shortcake."
"Yes, for our most perfect strawberry shortcake," he repeated.
She blinked a few times when hearing him use the word 'ours' and then felt bad that she had said 'my' instead of sharing the creation with him when he had been with her practically every step of the ingredient way, and she was about to open her mouth and correct herself, but then she noticed that he was staring at her lips with a small smile on his mouth.
Her heart skipped a few beats, wondering exactly why he was looking at her in that way, but then he surprised her again when he raised his hand and pointed his finger at her nose.
"You got some on your nose," he told her.
"Oh," she said, and then stared down cross eyed to where he was pointing, where she did indeed see a small dab of black. She lifted her hand to wipe it off, but his own hand reached forward before she could do so and with a gentle rub, he wiped off the smudge of vanilla from her nose. He turned his finger around to look at the black grainy dab at the edge of his finger.
"Hm, maybe I'll give it a taste test, too," he murmured, and then suddenly lifted his finger to his mouth to taste the vanilla.
Just a second, and his lips curled into disgust. "Bitter," he choked.
She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Of course, it is!" she laughed. "You can't just eat vanilla paste straight up!"
He had such a look of repulsion and shock from this discovery that she couldn't help but laugh harder at his misery. He looked so adorable, so cute, and she couldn't resist the bubbling of joy that welled within her. She reached up for both sides of his face and cradled his jaw, bringing him down to her eye level to cherish him.
"You're so funny," she told him.
And that's when she realized just how close she had brought his face to hers and she panicked for a moment when she saw that his lips were inches from him and she felt her heart beat hard and loud in her ears and the heat rise up to blush her cheeks, and-
A smile graced his lips and he rose back up, sliding his face out of her grasp. He stood up to his full height, chuckling, a deep rumble in his chest, and before she could react, he swooped back down and closed the distance between them, embracing her tightly and pressing a warm and firm kiss to her forehead.
Her eyes widened, but she felt her arms return the hug to him, wrapping around his waist and bringing him closer to her.
There were crowds and crowds of people around them, but for some reason there was just a small bubble there and everything felt right. Strangers all around them and no one knew who they were or what their history was, they would just see the two of them standing together and smiling in each other's companies and assume that the two of them were together.
She thought of this and then soon realized that she didn't mind at all if they confused the two of them for lovers at all.
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