If there was one thing Simon and Macbeth could agree on, it was their dislike of how close Jellal and Erza were - Simon because he had a crush on the latter, and Macbeth because he was an attention whore.

Despite this, there was no denying that Jellal and Erza's relationship was not going to go anywhere, and was, in fact, only growing stronger. At the moment, Jellal was helping Erza with her sword practice, somehow keeping up with her despite the redhead's obvious superiority in skill.

"Where did you learn to use a sword?" Erza asked, braid swinging as she parried a swipe from her sparring partner.

"Saving you, actually," Jellal confessed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I never used a sword before that."

"You have a lot of natural talent," Erza observed, smiling. "I may have some competition." Jellal laughed.

"I don't think I'm anywhere near your level," he replied. "I know you're going easy on me." Simon and Macbeth exchanged a look and rolled their eyes.

"Aren't they cute?" Erik asked, poking his head between them. Macbeth gagged, and Erik snickered. Simon made to hit the young Dragon Slayer, but Sorano got there first.

"Don't be a dick, dick." She snapped. Erik scowled, rubbing his arm.

"Jeez, take a joke," he muttered. "Erza likes him, sure, but he's way too dumb to notice." Simon looked down.

"I doubt it," the one-eyed boy said quietly. "He ran off to save her when–"

"He literally would've done that for any of us," Erik interrupted. "But he gave Erza her last name, so of course they're close." A clanging noise caused them to glance back at the fight. Erza had pinned Jellal to the floor, her sword at his throat. He smiled at her.

"You win," he said simply. "Again." Erza blinked, realized how close they were, and jumped back.

"Right!" she squeaked. "Um, good fight!" She helped him to his feet, face red.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep up," Jellal admitted. "Sparring with you is fun, but you always end up going easy on me. If you don't get a better sparring partner, you're not going to improve."

"I know," Erza admitted. "But I just..." she broke off, cheeks red. "We never spend time together anymore," she blurted. Jellal tilted his head, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked, frowning.

"It's been ages since you spent any time with us," Sorano cut in. "You're always off with Master Hades or Brain." Jellal was silent.

"I hadn't noticed," he said, scratching the back of his neck. He looked down at the floor. "I'll go talk to Hades right now and see if I can make more room for you guys in my schedule." He grinned, and darted out of the room.

"He has a schedule?" Simon asked, frowning. "I didn't know that."

"Neither did I," Erza said.

"Same," Macbeth muttered, staring after the blue-haired boy.

"Is it just me, or has he been acting really weird lately?" Erik grumbled, eyes narrowed.

"It's not just you," the other four said together.

"I think he's just excited," Erza said, shaking her head with an exasperated smile. "Brain's been asking for his help a lot lately. He likes being helpful, especially since his magic isn't great."

That was true - while the others were all well on their way to mastering their chosen magics, Jellal had yet to find a magic that agreed with him, and often ended up feeling useless and left behind. Thus, every time one of the older members of the guild (especially Brain or Hades) asked for help, he would leap for the opportunity. He loved to help the others train as well, though they all ended up feeling like they were showing off (they were, but Jellal never seemed to mind). True to his optimistic and patient nature, Jellal firmly believed that he would find the magic that was right for him in due time, and that he should at least be as helpful as possible until then.

Despite being very sure of herself and her understanding of one of her closest friends, Erza couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt in her gut.

It's fine, she told herself. Everything is fine.

Maybe if she said it enough, she'd believe it.