THIS WAS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER TO WRITE I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT
Although it was a sunny, Saturday evening, Gray and Erza were inside studying. Or rather, Erza was studying, working diligently at the desk in her room. Gray, on the other hand, was laying on his back, sprawled across Erza's orange and coral themed bedsheets. He stared at the ceiling, twirling a pencil in his hand. He tilted his head, seeing a pencil cup across the room. He narrowed his eyes, and giving the pencil a calculated toss-
"Hey!" Erza exclaimed, jumping back from the flying object. She looked at him, eyes wide.
"Sorry." he responded, realizing that Erza was sitting very close to the pencil cup.
"You could have taken my eye out!" she told him.
"Sorry." he repeated, now looking at his hands.
Erza frowned. "Okay, what's the matter?" she asked curiously.
Gray groaned, stretching across the bed. "I'm sooo bored!" he whined loudly.
Erza snorted. "Right. We'll see if bored is how you feel when Mr. Alors gives you the test on Monday."
"I don't care! I already studied, there's no point for me to do any more."
"What's this? The Great Gray is too good for studying?" she joked.
Gray glared at her. "C'mon. I finished those worksheets forever ago, there's no way you're still working on them."
"You're right," Erza nodded, "I'm doing the extra credit packet right now."
"See? Extra work. Something I don't need."
"With your current attitude and borderline grade I'd say it's exactly what you'd need."
"My grade is not borderline. And you know what I need?" He leaned towards her. "Chicken."
To his surprise, Erza chuckled. "Okay. I'll finish this problem, and then we can get some chicken."
Gray raised his eyebrows. "O-okay!" he stammered, sitting up in the bed. It wasn't like her to agree this fast. He smiled to himself- they had finally reached that stage of comfortability, huh?
"But why chicken? It's almost 6," Erza reminded him, closing her notebook. "Doesn't your family dinner start soon?"
Gray groaned, remembering the event. "Ugh, I nearly forgot. But yes, I do. And I'm not looking forward to it." He fell back onto her down sheets, stretching again. "I'd rather stay in your oddly comfortable bed."
"I don't know why you're not looking forward to it. I would love a family gathering, more so one where I can talk about all my accomplishments and future endeavors." She stood up, nodding at the door. "Come on."
Gray rolled his eyes, getting up and following her down the stairs. "That's because you love bragging." he muttered.
"What?"
"What?" he repeated, silently laughing to himself.
"Anyway," Erza shook her head, "I think you should look at this positively. You might get something out of it."
He stared at her. "Wait," He put a hand on her arm, stopping her on the stairs. "Why don't you come with me?" he asked, feeling his heart beat quicker.
She widened her eyes. "What?"
"It doesn't start too soon. You're done studying, I'm done studying, and we can leave early and hang out!"
"Gray- "
"We'd get there right on time for dinner. And it's not like you'd have to get ready, I mean you're already pretty, so- "
"Gray, I- wait, what was that?" she asked, arching her eyebrow.
Gray's face reddened. "I mean, you're already pretty. So you don't have to take forever with that...y'know, makeup stuff."
"One more time? I'm what?" she smirked, cupping a hand around her ear.
"Shut up." Gray responded, face reddening.
She laughed, walking to the front door. "Sorry, I had to be sure." She sighed. "But...I can't go. I have plans with Lucy, and this time they're pretty uncancellable."
He felt his shoulders sink. "Oh. Well, that's fine. No worries." He reached for the door.
She stepped forward. "Maybe next time?" she asked hopefully.
Gray smiled, nodding. "Definitely."
His hand had barely touched the door, when she stepped forward again. "Wait!"
Gray turned around. "Yeah?"
"I...um…" She took a deep breath. "I wanted to thank you. For spending time with me."
He chuckled slightly. "Yeah, no big."
"No, really." She rocked on her heels. "You've helped me a lot, and I've been a lot happier. So...thank you. Very much." She bowed her head, hoping he wouldn't think too weirdly of her gratitude.
"Erza, come on. You don't need to thank me." Gray shook his head.
"Yes I do. If it weren't for you, I'd be stuck in an uncharacteristic cycle of sadness."
"But you're not anymore, and it's because of you."
"...What do you mean?"
"You were stuck in that cycle, sure. But you got yourself out of it." He shrugged. "It's all you. I'm just on the sidelines." he laughed.
She smiled shyly to herself. "Oh. Well, thank you, anyway." she murmured.
Gray smiled at her, taking her hand. "I'll tell you how dinner goes, huh?" he laughed. He squeezed her hand the slightest bit, before leaving out the door.
Erza stared after him, holding one hand in the other. Did that just...She felt her blush deepen. Did that just happen?! She could feel every quick heartbeat, every butterfly...but above all that, she felt confident. Gray was right: she only needed faith in herself. But he definitely helped a lot. She smiled to herself- the airy feeling in her head made it absolutely clear: she had feelings for him.
She felt a vibrating in her pocket. She pulled her phone out, and recognizing the number felt a split second of fear. But Gray's words echoed in her head, and she felt herself calm. Taking a deep breath she raised her phone to her ear, answering the call.
"Hello?"
Ultear's living room was filled with nosy relatives and family friends of all sorts, which normally, was enough to make her nervous for the entire night. But today, she was nervous for another reason. She twirled her hair between her fingers as she watched Jellal across the room, talking animatedly with her parents. She took another gulp of the water glass in her hand- maybe bringing her boyfriend to a family gathering this soon was, well, too soon.
Boyfriend. That was another situation entirely. While she and Jellal had confessed their feelings for each other, they never explicitly said they were dating. They had agreed to take things slow, which was fine with her- she still had a lot of trust to put in him. But at the same time she and Jellal knew each other for too long to not be dating… She shook her head. It was all too confusing. What she needed right now was nothing but a nice, relaxing evening-
"You okay? You look stressed." Jellal spoke, now standing next to her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." she assured him, waving his words off.
"Well, I'm glad. I think I hit it off with your parents; your mom really seems to like me." he chuckled.
Ultear grimaced, already imagining ten different and embarrassing things her mother definitely told him. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Y'know, meet my parents. And all their friends." she told him.
Jellal scoffed, wrapping an arm around her. "Please. You invited me, and I honor that. Besides, I can only stay for a bit, so I might as well make the most of it, right?"
Ultear stared at him, almost surprised: the Jellal she knew before would never have come here- that would be showing too much commitment. She smiled at him, almost laughing. "Wow, how kind of you! Are you okay?" she asked sarcastically.
He nudged her side, shaking his head. "Of course I am. This is something I should have done ages ago, and I'm finally doing it now."
Ultear smiled- she was so lucky. "Well, if my mom tells you anything too uncomfortable, let me know."
He laughed. "I think we're past that."
"Hey, what'd I miss?" a new voice asked. The two turned to see Gray walking towards them.
Ultear shook her head. "Not much. We only got started a bit ago, everyone's still talking." she informed him.
Gray sighed in relief "Good. If I was late your mom would definitely hold that over my head throughout the night." He looked beside her at Jellal, giving him a wary glance. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh." Jellal responded, looking between him and Ultear. "I- uh, we're- um, we just- "
"I invited him!" Ultear blurted.
"Yes! She invited me." he agreed, nodding hastily.
Gray looked between them, but instead of being angry, smiled. "Well, good to see you." he responded, firmly shaking Jellal's hand. If he was here with Ultear, that further confirmed his feelings for Erza were gone, which in turn, made Gray happy.
"Gray! Nice to see you!" The three turned now to see Ur, Ultear's mother, walking towards them. "I'm glad I found you normally, instead of, y'know, following the 'trail of clothes.'" she joked.
While everyone laughed Gray crossed his arms, looking down in embarrassment. "That's not even a real problem..." he murmured.
"Speaking of clothes, look at yours! This is the first time I've seen you look…" She snapped her fingers, searching for a word.
"Put together?" Ultear finished. Ur nodded, clapping her hands in approval.
"Put together? I always look 'put together,' thank you very much." Gray grumbled.
"We don't need to talk about your fashion choices, Gray. But I will say, that's a very nice shirt." Ur complimented.
Gray looked down proudly at the blue chambray shirt Erza had picked out for him. "Yeah, it is."
"Anyway, I've already met Jellal, but where's your girlfriend? You are seeing someone, right?" the older woman prodded, leaning towards Gray.
A certain redhead immediately came to mind. Gray's face reddened as he shook his head. "No, I'm not." he responded.
Ur narrowed her eyes at him, before cracking into a smile. "Suuure. We'll get back to that." she winked, and looked at her watch. "Hey, did you take Lyon with you?" she asked.
Gray frowned. "He's not here?"
"Nope. Guess he doesn't get any food." she laughed. "Dinner will be ready soon, I hope you're all hungry! Especially you, Jellal. It's not fair if you're all muscle, huh?" She gave the blue haired boy a friendly nudge, before leaving them.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry." Ultear groaned, apologizing for Ur's behavior. "She plays way too much."
Jellal waved her off. "It's fine. I think she's hilarious." he laughed, wrapping his arm around Ultear's waist.
Gray watched the two of them, and couldn't help but smile to himself. She looks happy, for once. "I'm gonna call Lyon." he told them, excusing himself. He walked to the quiet foyer of the house, still smiling- if Jellal and Ultear were this happy, then maybe he and Erza could be too.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." Lyon murmured, finally arriving to Ultear's house. He looped around the street, not a parking spot in sight. "Why do we have family get togethers on the randomest days," he muttered, craning his neck as he drove, "We're not even celebrating anything."
And if they were celebrating something, he wouldn't know- he was currently two hours and seven minutes late. He could already hear Ur roasting him and his tardiness at the dinner table while he ate the scarce leftovers of whatever they were having for dinner.
"Finally!" Lyon cheered, seeing an open spot a ways up the street. He parked his car and got out, slamming the door behind him. "I guess this is punishment for being late." he muttered as he began walking uphill to Ultear's house. But it wasn't like he was late for a bad reason- he was, in reality, hanging out with Meredy. They had gone ice skating, and despite all of Meredy's complaints to the cold and him having to push her in a chair half the time, it had gone really well. He would have invited her to the dinner tonight, if she hadn't had a work shift at the same time.
He finally reached Ultear's door. He was about to open it, when it opened for him. He stopped in his tracks, brows raised in surprise: in front of him, coming out of Ultear's house and dressed in nice clothes, was none other than Jellal Fernandes. While he didn't know Jellal as well, other than Erza's frequent ex boyfriend, he did know that he was close friends with both Meredy and Ultear.
Nevertheless, he was surprised to see him in front of him. "Oh. Uh, hello." he greeted choppily.
"Lyon." Jellal responded, scrutinizing him.
Lyon gulped, stepping forward and putting his hand out. "Hey! Um, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Ultear invited me, actually. Unfortunately I have to go home, but you're here." he responded, making no effort to accept Lyon's handshake.
Lyon awkwardly pulled his hand back. "Oh. Yes, I am." he agreed. What does he want? he thought, unsure as to what Jellal was doing.
"Great." He pulled out his car keys, swinging the key ring around his finger. "Let's take a drive, shall we?"
Lyon chuckled. "Sorry, Jellal, but I have to get inside. I'm very late, and Ur will kill me if I- "
"You're already late, it's not like it'll make a difference. Besides, what's a little drive?" Jellal interrupted, already walking to his car. "Shall we?"
Is this it? Lyon thought, following him cautiously. Is this where he murders me and I have to tell my friends what happened as a ghost? He shook his head. This is just Jellal, it's just a drive, relax...He put his hand around the handle of the passenger seat, opening the door.
"Nope." Jellal told him, shaking his head. "You're sitting in the back."
Lyon gave him a confused stare. "But…there's stuff in the back." he pointed out, referring to Jellal's massive soccer bags that occupied the backseat.
"Hm. You'll sit behind me, then." Jellal told him, getting in the car. Lyon hesitantly nodded, walking around the car and sitting in the backseat behind Jellal. "Make sure your seatbelt is on. I'd hate to have an accident happen."
Lyon gulped. It was confirmed: Jellal was going to kill him. Might as well be safe about it, he thought, clicking himself into his seat. "Yep, seatbelt is on, A-OK." he responded. He looked out the window, seeing that it was already quite dark outside. It's been nice, world.
"Alright. We're off, then." Jellal told him, pulling into the street.
They drove in near silence, nothing between them but the low murmur of the radio. Lyon recognized the upbeat pop song, chuckling softly. "Oh, uh, you like this song, huh?" he asked, hoping to lower the awkwardness in the car.
"Just the radio. Which we can turn off, now that you mention it." he responded, clicking the audio off.
Lyon sank in his seat, the silence settling in the car. He tried to meet Jellal's eyes in the rearview mirror, but the blue haired boy had his eyes on the road. Lyon felt how cramped he was in the car, and how small he felt in comparison to Jellal. "Can you, um, move your seat up?" he suggested.
"No."
They fell in silence again, until after a while Lyon cleared his throat. "So, uh, where are we going?" he asked, looking at the streets around him.
"So you and Meredy, huh?" Jellal asked.
Lyon's eyes widened- he hadn't told anyone, not even his friend group about his new thing with the pink haired girl. "Um, yes, what about her?"
"You guys are dating?"
"Um, not quite yet, I think."
"You think?"
"I mean, I don't think. I mean I do think, but I…" He saw Jellal eye him in the mirror, and immediately looked away. "I hope to be dating her soon."
"Mm. Interesting." Jellal commented.
Lyon almost laughed. "Yes, I suppose it is- " He was cut off when Jellal suddenly slammed on the breaks, causing Lyon to slam his head in the headrest of the driver's seat. "Yo, what the fuc- "
"Alright Lyon, I'll make this quick. Not because you're late, but because I actually have to be home." he explained. "I'm sure you know by now that Meredy is a very, very happy girl. She's not only strong, but her energy is boundless. One of the many reasons why she's one of my closest friends."
Lyon froze in his seat, not sure as to where Jellal was going with all this.
"I've been friends with her for around seven years now. And after seven years, you notice things about your best friends. Like exactly when they're happy, annoyed, excited, or when they're upset. Which is why if I ever, ever see her the slightest bit unhappy because of you," Jellal then turned around, locking eyes with him, "I'll spend every waking moment making your life miserable." He narrowed his eyes. "Do we have a deal?"
While Lyon was scared shitless, he did see the truth to Jellal's words: he really did like Meredy, and the last thing he'd ever want was to hurt her. Lyon nodded panickedly, hoping Jellal wouldn't notice that his hair was nearly as white as his face. "We have a deal. Yes. One deal here. For sure. Yep." he stammered.
Hearing his response, Jellal's dark expression lifted and he smiled at Lyon. "Great!" he responded cheerily, putting the car back in motion. "Let's get back to our evening activities then, shall we?" he laughed.
Lyon looked at him in the mirror once more, seeing the smile on Jellal's face. His mind was racing with a million thoughts, but so far the only clear one was 'what the fuck is happening.'
"By the way, I meant to ask you something too." Jellal spoke again.
Lyon felt himself freeze. What is it this time? My biggest fear? How I'd like to die? What's in my will? Instead of answering, he remained silent in the backseat. At this point he had no idea what to think of Jellal, but after all this he knew not to say anything until he was safely back at Ultear's house.
"As you know, I'm dating Ultear. Well, kind of. Not officially. But you've known Ultear. And you're friends with Erza, so you probably know how complicated it was til this point." He sighed. "I wanted to ask your opinion."
My opinion? What for? He looked at Jellal from the mirror: the blue haired boy looked oddly nervous.
"It took a lot of trust to get Ultear to take me back...again. And I really like her. But I don't know how to really, really show her how much I like her." Jellal flicked his eyes to the mirror, meeting Lyon's. "Do you have any ideas?"
Lyon felt his fear leave, now furrowing his brows in seriousness. "Why don't you date her officially then?"
Jellal shook his head. "I wish it were that easy. Like I said, it's complicated. And she won't admit this, but I need to prove myself to her." The car slowed to a stop as they finally pulled into Ultear's driveway. "Well, anyway, forget that. That was a nice drive, no?" Jellal smiled.
Lyon gulped, feeling the fear come back. "Yes. It was very nice. Yep." he agreed.
"I'm glad. And just so we're still on the same page," Jellal turned around, glaring, "I'll see to it that you're treating Meredy well. And you better. Or you'll wish you were a vegan and lived in Australia."
Lyon gulped. "Of course!" he responded stiffly.
"Good. See you Monday! And who knows, maybe we can double date!" Jellal responded cheerfully, unlocking the car door.
"Yeah okay sounds great!" Lyon practically shouted, sprinting out of the car. He ran inside the house, not even caring whether Jellal had left or not. He slammed the front door behind him, closing his eyes and breathing a sigh of relief. I almost didn't make it…
"Lyon? Where have you been?" Ultear suddenly appeared, walking towards him, Gray next to her.
Gray reached over and smacked his head lightly, only to retract his hand immediately. "And you're sweating, jeez! What's wrong with you?" he asked in disgust.
"You have no idea what just happened." Lyon panted. He pointed at Ultear. "Your boyfriend, is freaking- "
Ur walked into the foyer at that moment, joining their trio. "Lyon, you're here, great!" she greeted, pulling him into a hug. "Just in time too, we have lots of dishes that need to be washed!" she laughed.
While Gray and Ultear laughed at him, all Lyon could do was sigh in relief. In comparison to the situation he had just endured, dishwashing sounded like heaven.
I think Lyon and Jellal is my ultimate BROTP. They clash so much, and if you add Meredy to the equation you get protective older brother Jellal, which makes it 10x better, haha. I hope you all enjoyed, and don't forget that review! See u soon :-)
-Pinky