My friend Eien helped come up with the current title "Standing By" which is why this story's called that. I honestly can't remember the original title. Thanks again Eien for helping with that and other parts of this fic.
Their entry was the same as always, with Jellal going inside first to announce their presence.
"Jellal!" Erza said happily through a mouthful of her prized strawberry cake. She was in quite the good mood since seeing Gray and Natsu off on their shared mission together. (No one had the heart to tell her that the only reason they took it was to evade her wrath since they had been arguing at the request board for over ten minutes.)
"Hello again, Erza," Jellal replied with a smile as the rest of Crime Sorciere spilled out into the guild. Meredy immediately pulled off her hood and ran towards Juvia who embraced her in a tight hug before pulling apart and talking excitedly about all the stuff that had happened at either guild since the last time they were together. Racer headed towards Jet and Droy's table and was welcomed with plenty of drinks while Hoteye chatted pleasantly with Lisanna who giggled instead of groaned every time he made a "love" statement.
Sorano complained loudly about Gray not being there but nonetheless moved over to the Thunder Legion's table to have a discussion with Evergreen. Midnight followed her to the table as well, even though his nodding head suggested that he wasn't going to be of much conversation at the moment. Jellal sat across from Erza, one part of him trying to make small talk and the other part simply content on seeing her again, happy and enjoying her favorite food.
Cobra held himself back from gagging, Zeref his boss could be so cringe-worthy sometimes. He made a mental note to tease him about it later before glancing around. Where was he going to sit again?