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19 ; first
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"Take my seat."
Erza clenches her jaw and keeps her gaze locked on the window, watching the tunnels race by as the train hurtles forward. The carriage is crowded enough that nobody else notices Jellal's hissed command— "Ugh," and she can't keep the groan in, it just slips out when she's jostled forward and forced onto her swollen ankle, and without hesitation he's getting up himself and grabbing her arm and pushing her towards his vacated seat.
"Ignore me all you want," and his voice is a murmur far gentler than anything she was prepared to deal with, "I can bear it. But you're not putting yourself through unnecessary pain just to spare my feelings, Erza."
Her lips thin as she curls back into the seat reflexively, staring at the ground. He must eventually realise that he's not getting a response from her, but, and she's taken by surprise, the huff that escapes his lips sounds... hurt.
"It's not like I'd resent you," he says quietly. He knows exactly what he's doing — knows he's got her where she can't run away — turn the corner, close the door, end the conversation before he can bring up what she's avoiding even in her thoughts. "If you'd just told me you couldn't return my feelings. It's not like I'd..."
There must be something Jellal sees in her flinch that she hadn't meant to show him, because he shuts up after that. Erza spends the rest of the ride before his stop hating herself with every fibre of her being, wondering what he was going to say, terrified in the back of her mind that she's guessing right.