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They had only planned on a snack. A little something to bite, just a teensy bit between meals, something for her to draw on during the mission.
That was long forgotten. Both the mission and the food.
Erza had sat on the counter where he had rummaged through, her legs having grown tired, much better rested on his shoulders. Neither had realised until it had been too late, his rising to his feet having thrown her backwards, his reflexes of catching her only bending her legs further upwards.
They were around his hips now, ankles locking behind his back. Her chest heaved against his and she had to resort to grabbing the back of his shirt since she did not allow a centimetre of space between their torsos. Once he had come as near as when holding her, there was no way she would allow him to leave.
The kettle whistled with boiling water, completely ignored.
Their lips moved relentlessly, nearly swallowing the other whole. She moaned when his tongue wrestled hers for dominance. Pulling on him, forcing his head down with one hand in his hair, Erza tilted her chin up to meet his already swollen lips even fiercer. A shiver ran down his spine when she twisted a strand of hair on his nape around her finger and she smirked against him.
A gasp escaped her when he mirrored her tactic, sabotaging by running his hands up and down her flanks, occasionally teasing with a brush along the sides of her breasts. He smiled back when it enticed her to arch her back and she groaned at the contact of his teeth on her lips, the fervent sucking undoubtedly giving her stomach flutters.
Panting into his mouth, never ceasing to sigh and moan and capture his lips over and over again, she trailed a hand down from his neck to his chest. He felt it find the first button of his shirt, sliding it out of its hole in a swift, adept motion. His own hand had wandered back down to the small of her back, already plucking her blouse out from her skirt. She shook lightly when the other one leisurely travelled along her thigh, nearing the hem of her already hitched up skirt.
"I can't see, what's going on?" The couple jumped when a voice reached them from outside the tilted window.
"Natsu!" Lucy hissed.
"Get away from there!" Gray joined her just as urgently.
"Why? I can smell them, they're-" he choked on his next word, clearly due to the others.
"I think we should try to knock again," Wendy piped up from further away.
Scarlet was not enough to describe the colour of their faces anymore. Erza met Jellal's eyes, huge and panicked, his previously heavy breathing non-existent. She dared to glance to the side from the corner of her eye, spotting three pairs of wide eyes. For once, she seemed to understand his point of view, her own cheeks feverish with blush.
Natsu jerked away, too, when his teammates dragged on him.
"We'll just wait here," Gray announced loudly, obviously for Erza to hear.
"That's right," she was only slowly recovering, the shock and previous haze of making out still clouding her mind, "I forgot all about the mission," she panted.
"Then I wish you good luck," Jellal managed, already cooling down now that their spectators had disappeared. It had happened so suddenly, there was hardly time to comprehend – making it not half as bad as he would have assumed.
"Well, now it's going to be fun…" she played with the collar of his shirt, still embarrassed to be caught. He smirked.
"That's why I'm staying right here," he said in a low voice and she returned his expression, narrowing her eyes teasingly.
"Coward,"
"You don't have it easy with me," he leaned down for a farewell kiss. Their lips met far more tenderly than before and she encircled his neck once again, pulling him further down. Being counterproductive as usual.
"I certainly don't…" she muttered between kisses, neither aware of their actions prolonging, sweet gestures and longing touches of their lips luring them back into a world that consisted solely of them.
Erza frowned, returning to the present only moments later, reluctantly pulling away.
"I have to go," she breathed against him, throwing another look towards the window for emphasis. Three pairs of gaping eyes lurked through the flowers outside, peering right at them.
Jellal winced when she exploded, retreating to give her space as she leapt down the counter and stormed through the hall, marching to the front door with hollered menaces. The three mages winced, scrambling away.
"Mind your skirt…" Jellal's called after her as quietly as possible while still reaching her. She shoved it down, throwing the door open. Wendy greeted her nicely, confused and embarrassed and insecure, most of all.
"H-hi," Lucy waved a nervously tense hand, grinning her most obviously innocent grin, "we didn't see anythi-"
"Did you just kiss?!" Natsu chopped in, immediately receiving panicked punches from Gray and Lucy.
"They're in looove," Happy snickered, covering his mouth with both paws.
Erza requipped into her Purgatory Armour. The four shrieked, running and flying as fast as they could while she pursued them with even more threats.
Jellal sighed with amusement, standing in the doorway. He returned Wendy's polite greeting when she saw him, guessing her to have witnessed nothing, fortunately being too short to peek in through the window. Charle, on the other hand, did not share her partner's innocence, drilling him with her most judging looks.
"She's never late, so we thought we'd check if everything is okay," the Sky Dragon Slayer said.
"I see," he nodded.
"We're going to free a village which is being occupied by criminals," she explained, "you can help, of course, the more the safer," she told him, earning a disapproving shaking of her Exceed's head. Not at the safety part, but being in danger somehow even overweighed the fact of him coming along. No worries there, Jellal thought to himself.
"I'm sure you're more than capable of handling them,"
"Actually," Lucy peeped around the corner, having survived her guildmate's wrath, "I've done some research on them," she said while the others limped over, a glowering Erza on their heels, "and they're a Dark Guild."
"Which means we cannot put a stop to their game," Erza gravely added up.
"What? Why not?" Natsu exclaimed while rubbing the bumps on his head.
"Because we're a legal guild," Lucy supplied.
"It's forbidden," Gray elaborated, rolling his eyes at the furious fuming of the Fire Wizard.
"What?!" Natsu raged, "so we can't fight them?"
"We can try to negotiate," Erza pondered, neither she or anyone from her team too happy with their discovery.
"But Jellal's not legal! We can just beat them up and say it was him," Natsu proposed, still upset. They all fell silent. He had a point. A smart one on top of that.
"Not… legal?" Jellal said under his breath, frowning, everyone's eyes on him. Oh, no…
He was not sure how they had gotten him to agree, but somehow, Jellal had found himself walking along cartways, trailing behind the team.
The couple had kept apart, pretending as if nothing had happened, not even talking all the way there.
Jellal halted in his tracks once they arrived, overlooking an oddly deserted village, vandalised and run down though seemingly only recently. Just as expected of them.
"I smell them, let's go!" Natsu popped his knuckles, thrusting a fist into his palm.
"Yeah," Gray's hands steamed with mist of ice, a confident grin on his face. Erza, having requipped into her usual Heart Kreuz armour since they had left, summoned a sword while Lucy's hand went to her belt, rattling with keys.
"Wait," Jellal interrupted. They stopped dead, staring at him – in the boys' cases impatiently. "I know them," he narrowed his eyes, never ceasing to observe the seemingly empty buildings. He turned to meet expecting eyes. "Let's get closer first," he said it so seriously that no one protested, following as unsuspiciously as possible.
"Meredy and I have been investigating and shadowed some of their other hideouts," he illuminated once they had noiselessly climbed to the top of an unoccupied building. Everyone was on their fronts, prying over the edge of the flat roof, scanning the streets below. "They put up alarms to warn them against intruders and they equip their stolen goods with tar traps, ruining everything in the case of someone trying to steal it,"
"So what? We don't want their money,"
"Yes, we do," Lucy growled at Natsu who looked uninterested and itching for a fight.
"Although it's unfair to the people who were robbed, he's right, it's not the priority," Jellal agreed, triggering a grin from the Dragon Slayer. "The real problem is that," his voice was grim as he jerked his head in the direction of a bigger building to the centre of the village. Wendy gasped next to him.
"They stab their hostages if they feel threatened," he continued, anger rising within him as they all watched a young woman tied up through a glassless window, "so we have to knock them out without setting off any alarms or allowing them to contact their leader – he is bald and wears his guild mark on his forehead,"
"But how do we know where the alarms are?" Wendy asked. Jellal glanced at her, then studied the closest building to theirs. The entrances had no doors, the sandstone walls brittle but with the tiniest spot of black on the frame. He exchanged a look with Erza and she understood.
Using the same telekinesis she had her swords dance with, she threw over a rake next to the entrance, letting it seem as if the wind had blown it over. Immediately, a dark figure appeared next to the door, carefully looking at what had happened. Its mouth moved beneath the mask of black fabric. Wendy and Natsu tensed, having heard the alarm that was too faint for regular human ears.
"They have communication devices," Wendy disclosed.
"He said he has to replace the alarm," Natsu added. A grin formed on his face. They crawled backwards, away from the edge, sharing decisive nods, understanding the plan without having to spell it out. Set off an alarm to render it useless.
"And don't let yourself be seen," Erza reminded her team, "Jellal is the only one whom the enemy is allowed to remember," she said, gesturing with her arm for them to spread out.
The plan worked nearly flawlessly. Everyone strategized together, smoothing out others' mistakes and helping wherever needed. The entire battle reminded Jellal of the time he had helped Erza get rid of the dragon hatchlings after the Grand Magic Games. Despite the situation, it had been a dream to fight side by side and he now dreamed of the day they would fight together again, just the two of them, complementing each other's magic and reaping nothing short of victories.
He reported to Meredy with Erza's lacrima, leaving the knocked out and tied up dark mages to Crime Sorcière. Team Natsu meanwhile took care of the hostages and stolen treasures, receiving their rewards for returning them to their families or owners. They insisted on treating Jellal to a drink, eating together before finding a nice spot to rest for the night.
Lucy awoke when her bladder urged her to. She suppressed an uncomfortable groan, shuffling out of the girls' tent. She noticed Erza's spot to be empty.
Creeping into the surrounding forest, she sighed when finally relieving herself. The sun was just rising, telling her that they had all slept well into the morning. Carefully lifting her feet as not to soak her pyjama with the morning dew of the surrounding thicket, she made her way through the bushes. She stopped when voices reached her. Familiar voices.
Following them, she had to sneak up closer, the gurgling of the creak nearby interfering with the words she thought to belong to her guildmate.
"I know what you're getting at," Jellal said. He was sitting against a tree, while Erza stood a few steps away, further towards the water that bickered in front of them. She was wearing her black turtleneck and black tights beneath the chequered skirt she had sometimes worn between matches in Crocus. It gave Lucy shivers just to see how utterly underdressed Jellal was in comparison to her, his clothes seeming thin and not adapted to the weather at all.
"I won't pester you anymore with joining the guild, don't worry," Erza replied, staring ahead.
"Thank you,"
"But I still hope that you think about it," she stressed. Lucy was surprised that they talked about it when the last time she had encountered them together, they had hardly talked about anything, least of all a topic this serious.
"Erza-"
"At least that you acknowledge what this mission has come to show," she cut him off. He sighed.
"That I can punch people while others are watching?" His tone was flat, making her tighten her already crossed arms.
"There's more to a mission than just fighting,"
"And there's more to a guild than just joining…" he argued back. Erza turned her head slightly, glancing at him from the side, waiting for him to go on. Lucy only now noticed to be holding her breath.
"You always speak of how guild members are like family to one another. They share their hopes and dreams and laugh together," he went on and she frowned, turning a little more to have her side face him. There was no chance to catch his eyes, cast downward, head lowered. "Did you see me do any of those things during the past hours?" He looked up from below, somewhat sadly. "If anything, this mission proves my inability to be a member of Fairy Tail. I'm not worthy of such company,"
"Don't be a fool!" She started to get angry, and Lucy thought she was going to slap him. Erza now stood with her legs wide, towering over him, fists clenched. "I was worse than you are now when I first joined the guild. I was always crying and keeping to myself, never letting anyone in," she stared him down but he had already dropped his gaze again. "I didn't know what family was until they changed me for the better," she became more quiet, turning away, perhaps to hide tears, "don't be like me, Jellal… let someone save you…" she whispered and Lucy stood on her toes to catch every single word.
Jellal lifted his gaze then, reaching out a hand to take her balled-up one.
Much to Lucy's surprise, she let him, sinking down onto her knees in the moist grass in front of him. Gently, he tugged on her and she fell forward, into him, sitting between his legs where she let herself be hugged and comforted.
It reminded the Celestial Wizard of that time on the train.
"You already have," he said, almost too softly to be understood. Erza sighed deeply, then caught herself again. With her hands on his chest, she pushed herself up to sit back, eyes wandering along the canopy of the tree above, across the clear sky. The sun's beams were chasing the last shadows of the night, warming the still chilly earth.
"We should go back; I don't need any more comments…" Erza rose to her feet, pulling Jellal up with her. Lucy panicked when they started to walk towards the woods where she was hiding. She froze, holding her breath when something rustled through the thicket, stepping in the way of the surprised couple.
"Uhm…" Wendy wagged her knees together, hands behind her back, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, I heard voices and wanted to see if everything was okay," she said, glancing up at them from below. They exchanged a glance, and Erza was the first to speak.
"It's alright," she passed her not-so-secret-beloved, allowing her eyes to soften as she stepped in front of Wendy. "I hope we didn't wake you up," she gave an apologetic smile. Wendy shook her head, seeming embarrassed for a second. She looked at Jellal, taking a deep inhale in preparation.
"I, uhm…" even with fleeting courage, she held his gaze, "I just wanted to say that I'm glad that you came along." She confessed. He stared at her, obviously stunned, speechless for an instant. Lucy covered her mouth in order not to give herself away with breathing. The unrivalled sense of smell of a Dragon Slayer momentarily slipped her mind.
"I only ever knew Mystogan and didn't have a chance to properly get to know you; I'm sorry I confused you before,"
"It's… nothing," Jellal managed, still taken aback.
"Though we didn't talk much yesterday, I really enjoyed the mission and hope you will join us more often." She beamed at him. "You work so well as a team; it was amazing just to watch," she turned to Erza, who blushed.
"We all do," Erza said, smiling warmly at her, putting a hand on the crown of her head. "Let's go wake the others, shall we?" She suggested, leading the way back to camp. Wendy smiled over her shoulder at Jellal and he even returned it, if shyly.
"I think Lucy's up already; I didn't see her when I woke up," Wendy put a finger to her chin, thoughtfully glancing upwards. Lucy winced. She saw Erza throw a slightly panicked glance over her shoulder, Jellal returning it with a flustered, unconvincing smile. It made her wonder if talking had been all they had been doing that morning.
"Perhaps she is already back by now," Erza said.
The second they were out of earshot, Lucy sank down against the tree she had been hiding behind. Now how was she going to get back there? And without being annihilated by Erza… There was only one way – cross half the forest, unnoticed, to unsuspiciously return from the other side of their camp.