"Erza!" Mirajane called from the other end of the hallway and startled her out of her thoughts. "Erza, wait up!"

Erza shut her locker and composed herself before spinning around. Mirajane's books were crushed against her chest as she rushed to catch up.

"Wow," Mirajane said, half out of breath. "I was afraid I'd miss you."

"Sorry. I'm in a hurry today." Erza's lips curled into a smirk. "I know you told me why you stopped bringing your backpack to school but I'll never understand it."

"Not all of us met their future husband when they were still in diapers, Erza." Mirajane laughed and bit her lip. "When boys, gentlemen, think you need them to carry something, they'll line up to do it."

Mirajane's interest in male attention wasn't a new thing at all but her methods were becoming more and more flagrant. Over the last summer, she'd started wearing the kinds of bras that made Erza flush with embarrassment – the same lacy variety she knew her mother kept in a separate drawer from the underthings she wore to work and to the ballet studio.

"If you say so but Jellal isn't my boyfriend or my husband." Erza glanced over her shoulder and through the glass exit doors. "I really do need to get to the bus stop, though."

"Let me guess. Important dance stuff?" Mirajane laughed when Erza opened her mouth awkwardly to reply. "I'm teasing, Erza. I just wanted to give you this!" Mirajane offered her a pastel blue envelope with curly silver lettering scrawled on the front. "My birthday party is in two weeks and even though you never need a paper invite, I wanted you to have one anyway."

"Ah," Erza said with a grin. "I'd never forget your birthday, Mira."

"I'd never let that happen even if it did slip your mind for a second." Mirajane's smile was a mile wide. "And, listen, you can bring Jellal if you want. I don't mind."

"Yeah? I don't know if he'll be able to but –"

"Oh, just ask him, Erza. He'll come if you ask."

"Probably."

"I'll tell everyone you're bringing a date and then you'll be off the hook."

"What hook?"

"You know the one," Mirajane said with a sigh. "He's had a thing for you since the fourth grade and grew about six inches this summer."

"Oh," Erza whispered. "That hook."

"Even if Jellal doesn't come, I'll make sure you have a fabulous time and Simon won't bug you."

"Thanks, Mira."

"Alright." Mirajane fluffed her hair with one hand and adjusted her books. "It's time for me to dig up a boy to carry my stuff home for me."

"What are you going to do when you have too many books for one set of arms?" Erza asked jokingly.

"I'll just have to snag two boys then." Mirajane tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned back in the other direction. "I'll see you, Erza."

Erza slid the blue envelope between the pages of one of her textbooks in her backpack, pushed through the doors, and sprinted to the bus stop. Once she was safely on the bus, she focused on the rest of the day. This particular afternoon would be very important for both her and Jellal. All the hint dropping and casual mentions of how much she desperately wanted to leave traditional ballet behind in favor of something more acrobatic was about to come to a head. Anna would be an easy sell, but Eileen might be skeptical.

Her view of the passing city wasn't hindered by splattering raindrops until just before the bus squealed to a slow halt one block down from the dance academy. Erza stepped off the bus and felt the rain kiss her face with a light sheen of moisture. She thought maybe she should pull the raincoat from her bag but decided getting a little wet wasn't too bad. When she rounded the corner, Jellal's shoes came into view first. Though he went to a more exclusive school, he regularly flouted the dress code with sneakers instead of the more traditional black oxfords. He always said his feet were the most tired part of his body and deserved better than uncomfortable dress shoes all day. The rain fell just beyond his toes and the sidewalk was now a whole shade darker.

Erza had never regretted not protecting herself from the rain more than when she heard a familiar, and somewhat snide, feminine laugh from the top of the academy's concrete stairs. Jenny Realite sneered from where she leaned against the covered portion of the handrails. Her hair was in a perfectly braided bun and the pair of pointe shoes looped over her shoulder were the expensive variety that most dangers their age reserved for performances. Jenny wore these for practice. Erza could roll her eyes for days at the gross show of pretense but chose to let it go. Her desire to leave the ballet class and focus on acrobatics instead had nothing to do with Jenny but the fact that she wasn't in any of the acro classes certainly added a cherry to Erza's cake.

"Honestly, Erza, you should really invest in an umbrella," she said in a voice dripping with disdain. "I don't know what I'd do if I had to rely on the city bus system. My father's driver will take me anywhere I want to go." Jenny clucked her tongue once. "Jellal, help her out would you? She looks like a drowned cat."

"Erza hates umbrellas," Jellal said with a grin. It was true. She didn't like having to hold on to extra things. Jellal uncrossed his feet and stood. "You ready for today?"

"Yeah, I think so." His confidence bolstered hers.

"You think?"

Erza smiled and Jenny faded into the background. "Yeah, okay. I'm ready."

"Good." Jellal offered her a hand and Erza took it easily. He led her past Jenny without so much as a sideways glance. "Sorry about her," he murmured once they were inside the building. "I didn't ask her to wait with me."

"It's fine, Jellal. I'm pretty used to your entourage by now," Erza said loftily.

"My entourage?"

"Your fan club of wannabe ballerinas. They're going to hate me for dragging you into acro."

"Who cares? Jenny's a snob." He shrugged. "She's not even very good. There's no way she'd ever make it into a professional troupe like you and your mom."

"I'm not a professional yet, Jellal, and don't discount your own stock."

"You know why my mom stayed for so long and it had nothing to do with drive or ambition."

"Fair enough," Erza murmured.

The topic of their mothers wasn't one they usually dissected. Jellal was of the opinion that it wasn't their business and Erza only wished for her mother's happiness. After his parents quiet divorce, Jellal's shoulders lost some of their stiffness when he spoke of his father and life at home.

At thirteen, Erza still didn't quite understand all the many forms of love. She loved her mother the same as Jellal loved his parents. She knew Anna and Eileen shared another type of love. And then there was the love Jellal's parents had that was wholly different and something she thought was more along the lines of respect. Jellal existed in a completely separate box in Erza's mind – one she opened often but always put away for another day. That box felt risky and scared her a little.

Jellal pulled the stairwell door open and when they reached the landing halfway between the first and second floors, he stopped.

"What is it?" Erza asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We're partners, right?" He asked softly.

"Of course." Erza's head tilted to the side.

"Erza –" Jellal pursed his lips and his eyes fell to his shoes. "Erza, you know you don't need me, don't you? You could be just as good as your mom on your own. I don't want you to feel like you need to keep me as a partner if that's not what you want anymore."

"I'm not my mother," Erza whispered. "I don't want to be her. I want to be me and I need a partner. Are you saying you want to quit? Because –"

"No, I don't want to quit. I don't know what I'd do with my time if I weren't here with you. It's fun and challenging but I'm never going to be a soloist, Erza. That's what I'm saying. Do you understand?"

Erza frowned. She understood his words but the way he said them made her feel like she was missing something. A door opened up on the third floor with a metal clang and a group of young dancers came barreling down. The noise they made was deafening. Once they'd passed, so had Jellal's mood. He smiled and Erza pushed his question out of her mind.


The rink was as loud as only a public rink could be. Eileen watched Erza cling to Jellal's side as he coaxed her further out onto the ice. For all her grace as a dancer, Erza couldn't stay upright on her rented skates.

"What do you think?" Anna asked from beside her. Eileen sucked in a deep breath and glanced over.

"I think very soon it won't matter what I think. They're old enough to make these choices with minimal input from us."

Anna breathed a laugh and turned away from the ice to face the row of cafes behind them. "I have to admit, Erza's confidence today was visibly more stable than during any of her ballet routines. Acro suits her."

"And Jellal?"

Anna shrugged. "He's going to do whatever Erza wants. He's a fast learner and will pick up his own slack."

"That doesn't bother you at all?"

"Does what bother me?" Anna asked distractedly. Eileen smiled to herself. Anna had eventually gained her ten pounds of promised fluff but leveled out. Now that she'd worked her way over the hump of school and the never ending drama of building renovations, Anna was no longer stress eating. Not that Eileen cared either way. After eight years she still found her lover to be just as exciting and beautiful as ever.

"The fact that your son follows my daughter around without any hesitancy. Does that bother you?"

"Not really. He'd quit if he was unhappy and I think Erza would know if he wanted out. They don't take advantage of each other," she added in a quiet voice.

"No, they don't," Eileen agreed. "I do worry, though."

"You're always worrying," Anna said with a soft laugh. "I save my worrying for when I'm sloppy and drunk."

"He's in love with her. It's painfully obvious."

"So?"

"Erza is…"

"Not sure?"

"Unaware."

"Maybe." Anna shrugged and leaned around the shrubbery planter to throw away her paper coffee cup. "But that's not really a thing we should be interfering in."

Eileen turned to find Anna's eyes searching her face. She smiled and Eileen felt a familiar basket of butterflies take flight in her chest. Anna reached into the small distance between them and squeezed her fingers reassuringly.

"Love is a tricky thing. They'll figure it out one way or another." Anna suddenly grinned. "I'm starving."

"Of course you are." Eileen didn't let go of Anna's hand until they had to pick a table and sit.


"You're too stiff," the instructor clipped. He met Erza's eyes and pursed his lips. "You can't do that when you go into the lift. This isn't just Jellal holding dead weight, Erza. You have to be more fluid than that or he'll drop you and it won't be all his fault."

"I'm sorry," Erza whispered. "I'll try harder."

"Let's break for a bit, yeah?" He nodded and spun on his heel. Once the door closed behind him, Erza sighed. She hadn't felt so insecure since before Jellal talked her into a partnership.

"What is it?" Jellal asked, with his hands on his hips. "We've done lifts almost just like this a million times. You've never been so rigid."

"I don't know." Erza felt like crying. "I just feel so out of place. Maybe acro was a bad idea –"

"It wasn't a bad idea," Jellal insisted. "You've been fine for two weeks. Today you're stiff. Did something happen at school last week? What's going on with you?"

Erza chewed her lip and wished her hair wasn't coiled in a bun. She needed to fidget.

"Erza?"

"Jenny found me in the dressing rooms this morning."

Jellal's face crumpled into a frown. Erza sighed and grabbed his arm. She pulled him to the row of chairs on the opposite wall and took his hand into her lap.

"Don't get mad, okay? Jenny is how she is. It won't change just because you're mad."

"She shouldn't even be talking to you. What's her problem anyway?"

"She likes you," Erza blurted. "You really can't tell?"

"I just don't care," Jellal said with a shrug. "She's just as mean at school as she is here." He finally exhaled his frustration and pressed his palm against Erza's. "What did she say to you?"

"She made a comment about my mom's age. Apparently she's 'past her prime' or something, I don't know."

"She's thirty-two! Jenny's mom is ancient anyway!"

"I don't even care about that. I just really can't stand Jenny and I don't like that she knows she can upset me." Erza paused and decided to just spill everything. "She said I look like a floppy elephant when we practice and I'll crush you."

"…What?" Jellal blinked and shook his head. "She said you… what?"

"It's really stupid and I shouldn't have said anything." Erza tried to walk away but Jellal wouldn't release her hand.

"Hey, don't walk off! Erza, please, sit back down." Jellal inched closer and held her hand close. "Listen to me, okay? Jenny… well, she is what she is. We can't change that. You said it yourself." He paused and exhaled heavily. "Is this about her having a thing for me? Because honestly, Erza, she's said lots of dumb stuff to you and it's never bugged you like this before."

"I know I can't keep you, Jellal," Erza whispered. "I know you don't belong to me and one day you'll look at another girl and that's…" She sucked in a deep breath. "That's fine, I guess. But I can't stand the thought of you liking someone as shallow and awful as Jenny."

Jellal's face twisted in a way she didn't recognize. It hurt her heart in a place she hadn't put a name to yet. He recovered quickly and smiled.

"I'm not into Jenny. Do you want me to promise?"

"You don't have to promise me anything. It's just been a crappy day. I'll try to be less stiff."

The door to the room swung open and the instructor clapped his hands.

"Alright, let's try this again. Erza, I want you to consciously carry your own weight. You were stiff as a corpse before."

Jellal pulled her to her feet and Erza put the whole conversation at the back of her mind. She'd think about Jellal's expression later. Always later.