A/N: I am awfully busy at the moment but still, thankyouthankyou for the support. You guys are keeping me alive—literally lol. To all those who added this story and the rest of my works to their favorites, those who continue to follow both me and my stories and of course to the very special reviewers who spare a minute or two to provide me the oxygen needed to update sooner. This is dedicated to all you lovelies. :D
To Kiddo88 - I just sort of narrowed their hair color down to the simplest and basic color which is yellow. LOL
Jerza Fernandes - thankyou! Don't worry I won't haha, this I can promise because I made this story to be really all about the fluff and stuff, so yeah, no Gods to intervene and diseases in between (OMG! THEY RHYMED! FORGIVE MY RANDOM OUTBURSTS LOL)
THANKS TO jerza0691, Kohtaru, Ajerzaaddict, grip on gravity, choikimmy, Kandros Fir, Thalia Ginny C, Mariohno, Vermillion Steps, XxxJerza4everxxX, Miere, Firebird04, The Secret Dreamer, Elite-chan, Afienasm, imahappyperson, Arcobaleno-lover, Ash Lite, Fowy Pup, Thunderfall, PinkC0bra, nimsim, maya shiro, SeptemberGurl, mosspoolkz, Vanilla Blues, Ripace, heart sunken, Scarlet Fernandes, BlizzardXII, penguin trainer, and of course the multiple guestsss :)
Disclaimer applied
Poetry In Motion
the final downpour of metaphors
Chapter Ten: How To Kill A Blue Jay
A few days had passed since she last visited the orphanage. Of course the redhead was preoccupied with tons of papers and case studies she had to attend to but whenever she had a free time, she'd approach her roommate and with his permission, they'd both visit the kids. It's not that she couldn't visit them alone by herself, because even in those few moments the kids were already attached to her and vice versa. It's just that she doesn't want to go without the ultramarine knowing or going, for after all, he was the one who connected her to the children so it was only safe to say that she was at least being modest by using this kind of friendly approach to him.
She came home tired from being bombarded by their slave driver of a professor. Itching desperately for a rest in her room on the soft mattress of her bed, Erza haphazardly inserted the key and turned.
"Oi, Erza!"
The redhead must be hallucinating because that couldn't have been Natsu's voice inside her own personal space, right?
"Took you long enough. We got tired of waiting for you."
And that couldn't have been Gray's naked torso flashing from across the living room with his voice filling her ears up.
"Sorry for the intrusion." Lucy apologetically stated.
"You guys are here." the fact sounded more of a query than a statement.
"Of course we are." a voice coming from the kitchen alarmed the redhead immediately.
"Cana, Levy?" Nobody could measure the degree of shock present on her face, the stress and fatigue eating up most of her patience as her head throb at the noise ringing from all parts of the room. Natsu was laughing out loud while Gray was helping himself with the fridge. Cana was too focused on chopping bunny apples for everyone to even provide even the vaguest explanation as to why they were invading her safe haven. Levy excused herself to use the bathroom and Lucy was just feeling the moment with a magazine on both hands, flipping casually through the pages.
The outburst would usually be loud and—for the love of God, explosive—but she was interrupted by another voice that had just made its presence known to her.
"Did you invite these guys in?" Erza irritably asked, not minding the indifferent looks of her friends. She was tired and annoyed, so she figured nothing else mattered and she'd apologize to them right after her anger episode.
The ultramarine shrugged.
"The more, the merrier right?"
"I'm not happy." she dryly replied.
"But they are. You'll live." he countered.
"You got a nice place here, Erza." the brunette chuckled, shoving slices of apples into her mouth.
"And you guys sure are getting too much comfortable."
Natsu groaned in disapproval.
"We're actually invited by upperclassman Jellal for a play." Lucy told the redhead excitedly and that piqued Erza's interest. The curse of the long day being lifted from her being already.
"I'm gonna play the Big Bad Wolf!" Natsu got on all fours and howled.
"You're disturbing the neighborhood you pea-brain!" Gray smacked him at the head and the two went on for a second round of brawl.
"Natsu's playing the Big Bad Wolf?" Erza turned to Jellal who just laughed.
"Nope," Lucy laughed humorlessly, dislodging the said guy from Gray and slapped with a force that sent Natsu down on the couch. "He's just going to be Tree Number One during the play."
"HAHAHA! You just got bitch slapped you—"
SLAP!
Levy smiled ruefully while Erza smirked in satisfaction for reducing the two annoying guys to a mere puddle at the blonde's feet, whimpering and uttering their apologies.
"And Gray's going to play Tree Number Two. Levy and I are going to help with the props." Lucy concluded.
Erza did a head count and first glanced at Cana who was already smirking proudly.
"Don't tell me..." the redhead's heart sank lower at the possibility.
"Yup, I'm gonna be the good ol' gramma!"
"What?" she blurted out, clearly confused. "If you're not the Big Bad Wolf, who is?"
She felt a nudge from Levy and stared at the guy the blue-haired girl was pointing at.
"You're also in the play? And you're playing the Big Bad Wolf?"
Jellal smirked.
"Who said I wasn't? Besides, I am the first cast for the play. Ultear handpicked me."
"I think you're more fitting to be the lumberjack." Erza sarcastically stated.
"Oh, but we're not doing that version of Little Red Riding Hood, Ginger."
Cana threw her hands up in the air as she dragged herself and Levy to join the rest.
"If you guys are gonna flirt, do it somewhere privately." she chuckled darkly and that made Erza shiver.
"We're not?"
"We are."
"No. I mean, we're not doing the lumberjack version?"
Jellal grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and sipped the carbonated content, a sly smile and playful look present in his phthalo orbs.
"We're not. Because we're doing the other version where..." he took two huge steps forward to reach Erza and when they were close enough to his liking, he bent down and whispered to her ear. "Red gets eaten by the Big Bad Wolf."
Jellal was hoping for a hard slap to the face or punch to the gut, but all he got was her hard push, her tight grip on both his arms and a genuine—but confused look on her face.
"Eaten? Won't that traumatize the kids?"
The ultramarine's jaw hang open.
Is she really numb now to my innuendos or am I really losing my touch at this?
He ran a careless hand through tousled cerulean locks and shrugged. Because really, what can he say after she just cock blocked him.
"No, we're not doing this unless it's the lumberjack version." the finality in her voice made him frown.
"You're not the one deciding things here. I am. And as far as I'm concerned, you owe me. Not the other way around."
"No."
"What's the difference? The lumberjack kills the wolf, so? There's still killing and violence involved."
"Because! Bad guys aren't supposed to win! What do you think the kids will feel afterwards huh?"
Jellal heaved off a weary sigh. Erza may really get his attention and interest him, but every time she'd act bossily like this to him, he really doesn't like her. One. Bit.
"Alright. We'll compromise. I'll ask Laxus to play lumberjack but if he refuses, we do it with the other version deal?"
"I haven't stated my thoughts on the matter yet." Erza retorted back.
Jellal groaned.
"If Laxus refuses, we'll have Red kill the Big Bad Wolf."
"That's defeating the purpose of the story itself. Red is a helpless girl. That's a major modification; the kids won't buy it." came his uninterested reply.
"They will." she strongly held her stand.
"And if they don't?" he raised an eyebrow, waiting for her countermeasure.
The redhead thought deep and after a few seconds she looked into his eyes.
"If it fails, I'll do whatever you want."
Jellal this time jumped at the opportunity, blurting the first thing that came to his mind.
"Go on a date with me then." he half-jokingly said.
"Okay."
"Great, I'll be looking forward to—wait, what? Okay?" his eyes turned to saucers and he cursed himself for stuttering like a fool when he reiterated what she had just said.
You idiot she just said okay! Don't go and make her change her mind!
"I said, anything you want." she flatly stated.
"You're okay with dating me?"
Wow, this was news to him that his heart was pounding into his chest and there was an unexplainable stirring going on in his stomach.
He was feeling light and happy.
Erza raised a brow.
"Of course. I mean, if you had asked when you were an asshole before I would've rejected you in a split second. But now I got the chance to know you better, you're not really that bad of a person Jellal."
The ultramarine's chest tightened pleasantly at her words and he found himself laughing wholeheartedly to himself. Jellal knew what was happening to him during that moment. He knew for a fact that Erza Scarlet was not one of those stalkers or those building-shrines kind of girls. She was real, and so was he. His different fucked up faces were all accepted by this woman, and whether or not she had fully accepted him, it wasn't a problem to him because now he had found someone who sees him for who he really is. A person who would not hold back to lash out at him when he'd done wrong; a person who'd patiently cope up with his emotional chemical imbalances. And...
And he could never be thankful and grateful enough.
"You still there?" Erza waved a hand to get his attention and the ultramarine blinked, shaking his head from side to side.
"Yeah," he whispered so softly that the redhead thought of it as melancholy.
"Come on, stop being so melodramatic." she teased and playfully punched him on his right arm. Jellal flinched as his face scrunched up in a twisted and painful way.
Erza was taken aback by this.
"I-I'm sorry, are you alright?"
The ultramarine whimpered before silently nodding.
Did I punch too hard?
"A-Anyway," he straightened up, although there was that strange strain in his voice that told Erza he was not doing fine. "I'll look forward to that date." he tapped her gently on the shoulder before leaving and heading straight to his room.
Erza was loving the red cape that draped all the way down silkily to her brown boots. The basket in her hand was already trembling together with the redhead's figure. It was from both excitement and nervousness. She was in such good spirits that she didn't think anything could ruin her mood.
She easily memorized her lines as they were just short and easy since the dialogues remained faithful to the story. She was ecstatic during practice and rehearsals the most because when they were having fun acting their roles out, she'd see the props as they one by one create a beautiful and cinematic setting.
Laxus rejected the idea even before it was presented to him, and since she and Jellal had a deal, they stuck to her plan of Red being the hero of the story.
Erza peeped at the curtains and saw the excited faces of the kids. There was Wendy who was waiting with huge and anticipatory eyes beside a tender-loving Ultear; Romeo who could hardly wait in his seat, squirming and whispering how awesome the play was going to be.
The redhead checked the cast. Natsu was doing a good job of standing still for a moment with his head peeking out of the tree trunk costume Lucy and Levy had sewn, and so was Gray. They were doing so good the leaves on the branches were actually kept in place.
Not a single leaf has fallen!
Cana was behaving as well, taking into character her role of a grandma instead of being a hip and loud lady drinker she once was.
Oh how the kids could dictate their attitude.
Erza was ready to signal Levy for the start of the play; she was ready to start the play and ready to feel the blonde wig flow with her movements when a hand from behind that felt heavy drained all her enthusiasm and excitement down.
"Lucy? What's wrong?"
The blonde had a disappointed and panicked look on her face as her lips trembled to say the words.
"It's Jellal. He's not here."
A/N: Whaaaa? Where's Jelly? And how is the play going to turn out? Will Jelly and Er-chan's relationship be back to square one? :O
P.S. OMG it's my first 10-chap fic! TvT Rejoice! More chapters to come to those who patiently wait :)