Not much happened at work which means I'm getting paid for writing FanFiction xD Life can be good…
Also, thank you all for commenting so much on Jura! I wasn't aware how popular he is – I'm really happy to know side characters to be appreciated (and this much)!
Mitzy123, thank you so much for your review! Haha, I'm so glad you like the pigeon so much! It's really fun to write but I don't think I would have elaborated on it so much without the support, thanks! Also thank you so much for letting me know about the typo – I fixed it, thanks to you. I love your rambling, there was so much fangirling in there, yay!
CheesyDelphox, thank you so much for your review and the kind praise! It's always such a huge compliment to be told to write characters in… character :D You'll have to hold your breath for the mistletoe but don't worry, it's coming. Erza will make sure of that.
Isanien, thanks so much for your review! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about wanting to work from home – they'd kill me if I did xD
foxydame, your message had to be shortened due to length. Thaaank you! And just in time to thank you, too! Ah, it's like a diary, commenting alongside the story, it's so lovely for me to read! and how you analyse everything – perfectly, I might add. Fairy Tail not knowing the first thing about boundaries, the workaholic not noticing trees being brought and thinking about the armour; you really cracked me up xD And you're absolutely right, she would have missed it had she taken longer on the job (first time I notice, haha)… you're so sweet, I'm so overjoyed to know how much effort you put into writing the review, reading the chapter over again; I'm honoured!
Now then, I hope you'll enjoy!
The sun was not yet up when Jellal let out a sigh. With his arm around her waist, he held her close, regarding the parted lips and closed eyes on his shoulder with a sting of guilt. He could not just ask her to abandon all of her plans. She might have a job today. She might find it – which he fully understood – too short a notice, too hectic to organise. She might also just not want to go, he realised. Or be too tired.
"You're overthinking," Erza's voice lowly croaked up at him. Blinking for his vision to focus, he met the slits of her eyes. She heaved herself up, though merely enough to reach his cheek for a greeting peck. "You don't alternate between your fingers this much when untroubled," she explained, making him aware of the random patterns he had been drawing into her skin.
"Sorry,"
"Don't stop," Erza laid her head back, returning the favour by tracing small circles over his chest with the tips of two fingers. "What's wrong? Did you speak about a complex case?"
"No, we…" he sighed again, dutifully resuming his caresses on her stomach. Just like she would take hold of him during the night, his hands crept around in search of bare skin in his sleep. "There's something I wanted to ask you-"
"Wait, I'll wear something else," she nearly jumped up.
"No, not that," Jellal almost had to laugh, exhaling strongly instead. She settled back down, propping her head up on one hand, the other never ceasing to lightly run over him. It lured out goose bumps and she had to smile upon noticing. "They're… The Council is having a gala – a Christmas party – and all staff has to be there; I'm afraid it's obligatory…" he glanced to the side, already feeling bad to be dropping it onto her. What if she had already made plans for the weekend? They had wanted to leave for Magnolia as soon as possible.
"Oh," Erza's shoulders sank but her ears perked when he continued.
"And you don't have to come, really, only if you want to, but… would you mind accompanying me?" He gave an unconvincing grin, falling into surprise at her with enthusiasm sparkling eyes.
"Would I mind?" She almost burst. "A Christmas party! Oh, we'll have to find some dashing clothes, we're going shopping first thing tomorrow; maybe tonight – oh, wait, the shops close early today…"
"Uh, that will have to be you shopping, not us," Jellal wanted to look elsewhere again but her delight was too captivating to miss. She was even more beautiful when happy. "I still have to work today,"
"So? We'll go tomorrow,"
"That's why I left you the choice. It's tonight," he illuminated. Her eyes widened. "He only told me yesterday evening, too. Had he not spontaneously come along, I wouldn't have known until now – or rather in a couple of hours when trying to leave…" he grumbled.
"Don't worry, then I'll do the shopping. They have fabulous boutiques here – even a Heart Kreuz one! I'll go there right after breakfast – I could have a dress tailored!"
"Tonight, remember?"
"They'll just have to hurry; we can afford it," she all of a sudden drowned in her own ambition, completely disregarding the previous aim of paying off two houses. He let her, knowing now that they were not going to have two anyway, as well as wanting her to fully enjoy herself. She was going to save (and/or embarrass) him, he anticipated, being more than grateful to be taking a friend to rely on with him. A saviour amidst a majority of snobs.
"And there's another issue," Jellal interrupted her animate mumbling. The circles had turned into her hand excitedly squeezing the pillow next to his head. With a questioning hum, she returned to the present. "I sort of don't have anything to wear yet, either," he confessed.
"I can take care of that," she smiled. How she managed to soothe his heart while at the same time making it skip a beat, he did not understand. But it never failed.
"I was thinking I can sneak out in my lunch break or maybe right after work,"
"That won't be necessary," Erza's finger trailed back over his chest, tickling like a feather where she enticed a hitched breath. She smirked. "I know your measurements," her lids lowered slightly and she rose up to place a long, reassuring kiss on his lips. It felt so loving and appeasing, he was not prepared for it after that look on her face. She giggled at his dazed stare. "Come on," she threw the blanket aside, cold air sharply hitting bare skin. "We should get going."
Jellal stood when there was a knock on his door. He was done with his case, anyway, just about to saunter down to the archives and look for something additional to do – something to keep his anxiety of the social event at a minimum when the constant hectic steps and shouts in the corridors would not stop reminding him of the upcoming evening.
"You can't just go in there! You need to wait- oh, Master Fernandes, this woman-"
"Can go in here as she pleases," Erza lifted her chin as she strutted into his office, followed closely by one of the interior messengers of the Council and hesitantly by a middle-aged lady Jellal did not know.
"You may not!" The anthropomorphic amphibian spun towards him. "Tell her she-"
"She can come in here whenever she wants," Jellal calmly backed her up, enticing a delighted smile and a furious frown respectively. "Thank you," he nodded to the frog creature who fumed upon being signalled to leave, however politely . He did, and without another word that was not angry muttering, probably about being full-on ignored by the Queen of the Fairies. And he was not wrong, Jellal knew, saving up the talk of how to behave in the Council with his beloved for another time.
"Behind the shelf," Erza was instructing. He closed the door, catching a glimpse of the long bag the to him unknown woman was hustling after her behind one of the walls of shelves.
"What's all this?" He asked as he followed his beloved around the corner.
"Your suit. I'm not sure how long you'd like your sleeves so I had it brought here," she briskly informed. She was blooming in her task of styling both of them for the occasion, and he began to worry whether it would be too much for her with that daily fatigue she seemed to have developed. She showed no such signs now, eyes sparkling with excitement as she helped her assistance unzip the bag.
They revealed an elegant suit of the darkest blue, bordering black, alongside a vest of the same colour and a white shirt. The woman who introduced herself as a seamstress unfolded the corresponding trousers while Erza rummaged for the tie.
"Here, look," she skipped over to him, "we match," she whispered loudly, holding the red tie to her head. He had to smile widely at that, running his fingers through a stand of scarlet.
"It's a little darker," he noted.
"So will my hair be in dim light," she said, clearly having thought everything through in detail already. Should he decide on gifting her a trip for Christmas, she would have her plan it, he thought to himself, knowing she would happily be up to the task.
With the ladies discussing hairstyles on the other side of the shelves, Jellal changed into what he found was actually very close to a perfect fit. He left the choice of the sleeves to Erza when she simply continued to chatter with the seamstress after examining him, exchanging what sounded like expert opinions on men in suits.
"Master Fernandes?" A different employee, this time a researcher, entered after being bid in. "The…" she trailed, staring at him so suddenly in different clothes. "Uh, the Magic Council awaits us for the case," she checked her file, "92.0 in the conference hall," she announced, still a little puzzled.
"In just a minute; I shall meet you there," he said, disappearing behind the shelves when the frog creature left again with a short bow.
"Sorry, I have to-"
"Don't worry," Erza pecked his cheek, taking the jacket from him, then the vest. "I've got it all covered," she proudly puffed her cheeks.
"You're an angel," he reached for her hand, kissing the dorsum. Smiling warmly, she met his eyes in a reassuring manner.
"It'll be perfect. Nothing to be concerned about so that you can focus on gossiping with the old geezers," she made him laugh. "A boost of confidence,"
"You're my confidence," he returned her smile with a gentle one. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the seamstress quickly shuffle around the shelves when having noticed him to be unbuttoning his shirt next. Erza overtook the task the second they were unwatched.
"I'll slice whoever bothers you in half," she purred as if confessing her love and not making death threats. She met his lips with hers, sweetly yet possessively claiming him until the meeting with his superiors nearly slipped his mind again.
On his way down to the conference, he called over a messenger, handing over an envelope.
"Please have the biggest bouquet of flowers you can get delivered to here by tomorrow," he ordered, handing over five thousand Jewel to be spent entirely alongside an address in his best handwriting.
Jellal paced nervously. Why had that pigeon not returned yet? Why did it only work one way, even though it must have wanted to come back – it had been in his office long enough without leaving! He had already broken a sweat, cursing at the many missed opportunities to buy a portable communication lacrima for himself. And if it was one of those cliché crystal balls, he did not care anymore.
"Erza…" Jellal let out a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. She was always so prudent to be on time, why was she not now? He glanced at the clock. Then back out the window. He stood to the side, half behind the curtain, watching how the guests pooled in.
Ostentatious carriages arrived, flouncing dresses squeezing out and onto the carpets the Council had had rolled out. Luckily for them, Jura had formed a dry elevated path beforehand and it did not look as if it would be snowing that night. Most of the ladies wore something red, trying to merge with the Christmas decoration, one dress more hideously pompous than the other. In his opinion, anyway. It all looked so… false. So exaggerated and puffy and unnecessarily big in places that had nothing to show otherwise.
Only for a brief moment did his thoughts ease from the upcoming horrors he feared, recalling his and Erza's game of estimating a woman's magical abilities by her cup size.
A knock on the door startled him. Finally, Jellal thought, storming towards the door when it opened. He halted abruptly.
"Ah, Jellal," Jura smiled friendlily. Jellal's shoulders sank. "I thought you'd still be here – we must go now," he reminded, fresh panic giving his subordinate's stomach a loop. "These came for you," he lifted up the bag of clothes from hours before. Jellal blinked.
"Did… Erza not bring them?" He asked, hesitating to reach out when noticing his hand to have started shaking lightly.
"I wouldn't know, I only received them from a messenger."
"Oh…" the bag rustled where his fingers dug into it.
"Surely, she knows the etiquette well and will be waiting downstairs," Jura tried to be cheerful, even though it was evident that he was a tad nervous as well. Not as much as Jellal, though, yet not for entirely different reasons. And while reputation was important to both of them, the latter merely wished to survive an onslaught of spiteful officials. "She is not allowed in right now to begin with," the Wizard Saint said.
"Like that's ever stopped her before…" Jellal muttered under his breath. He glanced up then, meeting unknowing, excitedly urgent eyes. So he sighed, taking the clothes behind the shelf once more. "Just a minute."
It really was a marvellous suit, fitting just right and, as she had anticipated, lifted the burden of having to worry about his appearance. All apart from his face, of course, where he would have liked to burn half off more than ever at that moment. Or so he thought not ten minutes later.
Their shoes clacked across the marble to the balcony above the great hall. They echoed in his head, pounding in his ears, making him want to faint. The only thing drowning them out was the noise from below, suddenly so roaring he froze on the balcony. The Wizard Saints stopped a few steps further, overlooking the now richly filled ball room. Quite literally.
The chattering died down as the Magic Council welcomed with well-chosen words but Jellal heard none of them. He felt the stares. And he had expected funny questions or awkward silences, even rude comments but when the gazes wandered and found him, there radiated with hatred. And not just a handful of them.
Why did he have to stand atop with them? Why did he have to get this much attention when he had wanted none to begin with? This was not his job; this was not what he had signed up for. He should have pretended to be sick, he thought to himself, knowing it to be too late and wishful thinking not to change anything.
He winced when there was a pat on his back.
"Come on, we're starting," Jura was saying. Jellal blinked his vision clear, realising the speech to be over and most of the people to have gone back to their conversations. Wolfheim was already halfway down the massive central staircase, eager to make the best of the occasion. Draculos remained where he was, scanning the crowd and Jellal wanted nothing more than just follow suit, though it would not be approved of and he did not connect well enough to the serious man to join him.
He stumbled a little when Jura pushed him along, on Warrod's heels who happily barged in on any topic he liked, no matter the talkers. Dresses swished and laugher sounded from all around, the clinking of glasses and cutlery muffled in the hundreds of voices. It was like a queue for an amusement park ride, everyone close and unintendedly pushing and loud. Even a man like Jura was hard to spot now.
And just like that, he was alone.
"Siegrain, is it?" A rather sneery tone came from the side. Jellal's eyes flashed to the man, only then seeing to be directly addressed and not gossiped about. Somehow, he would have preferred the second option.
"Jellal," he cleared his throat most uncomfortably, "Jellal Fernandes," he politely introduced himself. Eyes narrowed and he quickly – probably too quickly – named his department. His breath was already coming short. A battle of words was so much more straining to him than when it came to physical exercise. If only they would not verbally punch him in the face, he would almost gladly take the hits.
"For a moment there, you looked just like him," the man harped on about it, his thick plump fingers tightening the slightest bit around the bowl of his wine glass. Jellal felt his neck heat up, sweat unable to cool it while his mind ran amok. Some nouveau riche, he assumed, judging by the several unnecessary golden cufflinks and improper way of holding his drink.
"It's his twin brother, remember? The one who fired Etherion," another, younger man said, his moustache growing bristly to give the illusion of a much more mature age.
"No, that was Siegrain, I'm sure of it," a third man said, a woman on his arm who partially hid her face behind a fan as if shielding herself from Jellal would protect her from the scandalous betrayal he was being held responsible for. Not that it was entirely untrue.
"It's a little more complicated than that," Jellal began with an as much polite and first of all firm voice as he could muster. He did not know how else to excuse it and he was not going to tell them the entire story. Anyone for that matter.
"Well, anyway, don't go blowing up the Council again," the second man said and all of the surrounding eavesdroppers broke out into laugher. Some a little dirtily, Jellal noted, his face heating up even more.
"Don't say that! He'll sell you to the Council!" A woman whispered loud enough for the group to hear, as indecent as all of them. Unused to belonging to the actual class of high society, not having been brought up with manners and private lessons and a devotion to respect even Jellal knew better to utilise.
"I heard he executes people himself," came another voice, somewhere withing the now murmuring and staring round. Jellal just stood there, unable to defend himself, not knowing what to do. He could not just leave things unresolved but he could not lie either and besmirch the Council's name. He would rather have been executed himself right then and there than continue to listen what he could not close his ears to. How did one answer to mass murder accusations?
He frowned when the laughter suddenly abated. Not only the people in front of him, he became aware of, but the entire hall receded into silence. An astonished silence. Following where all the faces had turned, Jellal's eyes widened upon being met with the sight at the top of the stairs.
Down the carpet in a leisurely confident stride came the love of his life, masterfully directing all attention to her. Her scarlet hair was niftily braided into a crown around her head, her bangs and fine strands naturally framing her face. With her cleavage exposed to her sternum, a V-shape pulling down from the back of her neck to above her naval, a clear sky's blue softly melted into a deeply dark hue where the fabric hugged her curves, one leg's front exposed by a slit that reached her thigh.
The whispers picked back up, though only when the Queen of the Fairies had completely descended, parting the crowd with nothing but speechless admiration. Jellal was as if frozen in place, staring as blankly as everyone around him until she was merely a metre away. The ravishing beauty of her smile brought his senses back and he felt his heart sink in relief alongside his shoulders.
"I must apologise for being late," she said where her gaze mesmerised him in a gentle manner. She wore lip gloss, her already perfect lips sparkling as much as her breath-taking, thinly black-bordered eyes. And he had thought heels to be the ultimate weapon but that had been in a time he had not even begun to imagine the existence of makeup. And currently, she was wearing both.
It brought him back to that conversation they had had and he now knew without a doubt that there was no such thing as attraction expressing itself in a bleeding nose. He would have already bled to death if that were the case, alongside the rest of the male guests. She was overwhelming.
"I do hope you've had a pleasant chat or two in the meantime," she smiled sweetly at the group behind him but even Jellal flinched at the butcherly spark in her eyes. The men nodded – those who could already move – stammering nonsense she did not pay any mind.
Taking his arm, Erza lead her beloved away and through the slowly normalising hall.
"Those fiends, I shall have their heads," her expression darkened as soon as they had sheered off far enough. He almost had to chuckle, his churning insides becoming light, almost giddy, fears as if washing away by her never abating tides.
"You came," was all he managed at first.
"Why of course, I did. You asked me to," she threw him a teasing glance that made his heart flutter with gladness. "And I saw how they cornered you; that will have consequences," she seriously said and he felt himself sweat nervously in the best way he had that night.
They reached the buffet and Erza immediately took a turn where he was about to order her a drink, diving in for the desserts instead.
"Don't let me embarrass you by getting drunk," she quietly said and this time, he had to laugh.
"You couldn't," he took the hand that was not occupied with grabbing a fruit filled tart, kissing her palm. Her eyes softened. "I was wondering why you chose blue," he referred to her dress when they found themselves a nice spot beside the food and after he had finished his shower of compliments at her appearance. Her smile had widened at each of them.
"I did like it for myself but I mainly decided on it because I thought black is more of a…" she trailed, eyes looking him up and down without coming to rest on his, "wedding highlight," she dared to glance up, and he smiled. He could see the shining in her eyes brighten at that.
"You know, I'm starting to think you're trying to tell me something," he speculated, her elbow nudging his side. She giggled into her treat, impressing him at how composed she enjoyed the pastry instead of gobbling it up like she would at home. She really was a Queen. And she was his Queen.