notes— Important notes at the end (containing spoilers).
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6 ; hello, hello
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When she sees him, Erza has to stop herself from turning back around and running the other way. He doesn't notice her until she's just a few steps away from him, and her sudden presence makes him start with surprise.
"Erza?! What are you doing here?"
"I— My dad's here," she mumbles, rubbing self-consciously at her forearm. He said she wasn't allowed to tell anybody, but... well, Jellal wouldn't understand anyway, so it's fine, right? Still, she quickly goes on to ask, "Why are you here?"
"My sister," he says, eyes wide and bright.
That surprises her. "I didn't know you had a sister."
Jellal shakes his head. "Not yet, but I will in a bit. Dad says she's being borned right now. I'm gonna meet her after that, I'm not allowed to yet."
"Oh!" Erza beams. "You're getting a sister!" She glances behind him where a man with the same hazel eyes and eye tattoo as Jellal is looking at her with mild curiosity, a light smile playing at his lips. It must be his father. "Is your mum getting her right now?"
The boy hums a yes, glancing back at his dad for confirmation.
"My mum never came back from getting me," Erza continues without much thought. "When I was borned she died. That's what my dad told me. It's hard getting a baby."
"I'm not scared, though," Jellal announces, puffing out his chest a little. "I know she'll be okay."
"Of course she will!" Erza nods firmly. "If you came okay, your sister will, too."
They continue like that, bantering back and forth about something and everything and nothing at all. When the conversation lulls a bit, Jellal repeats that he isn't afraid, but inches closer to her all the same.
"Can I hold your hand?" he asks, pouting. "I'm not scared, but—"
Erza holds her hand out without a second thought, and he grasps it gratefully, squeezing in a way only kids can. His palm is hot against hers, the warmth steadying, a deep comfort.
"Can I meet your sister?" she asks quietly after a moment of silence.
It makes him laugh, sudden and happy. "Not before me! But yeah, sure, if you wanna!"
She squeezes his hand back in thanks, and they stay like that, clutching at each other, until the nurse tells his dad it's okay for them to go in.
notes— Okay, now that we're at Chapter 20 I'm going to assume that if you've read this far you plan to stick around (—thanks, friend!). We're about a fifth of the way through, so I'm now going to tag warnings for triggers and squicks here. I know it gives away spoilers about future events but I think it's more important that readers who need to be aware of this stuff can be informed about what they read. Feel free to skip these if you don't want to be spoiled~.
The important ones are explicit: hospitalization; terminal illness; and major character death.
There's also implicit: minor character death; physical, emotional and sexual abuse; substance abuse; whatever else crops up will be appropriately prefaced (and I'll also come back and update this note, too).
As always, thank you for reading! Your reviews inspire me to write like nothing else.
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Edit: I stress that if the triggers/squicks worry you but you want to keep reading that you message me off anon! I can tell you exactly what is planned for each one. While anons do get the message across, they're frustrating for both of us and, on occasion, upsetting.
miffed anon: there is no molestation in this fic, nor is there any 'on-screen' abuse of any kind. The sexual abuse is neither explicit nor 'extreme'; I would classify it as harassment, at most. I left the warnings this late because it's a relatively mild fic, and also because I didn't know for sure what they would even be. The plot isn't all planned in advance.