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The cups clinked when Meredy handed them to Jellal for drying. He set one down, focusing on the other first.
"It must have slipped my mind," he said, switching to the other cup.
"Yeah, mine too, but I suppose that's why they call it 'birdbrain'," Meredy pulled a face.
"It's a shame, but the whole Animal Soul shenanigan was more important," Lucy sighed, dropping her chin into her palm. "There's no postponing spectacles of nature, but at least it's annual," she encouraged.
"You'll be seeing the Rainbow Tree for the first time next year, just like our baby," Erza placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, pecking his cheek. He smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist to give a tug. Juvia sighed dreamily, and they could all bet she was replacing the couple's heads with her own and that of Gray again.
"Hey," Meredy leaned against the counter, "have you thought about names yet?"
"That's right," Lucy sat up straighter. Wendy's eyes gained a similar shine of curiosity. The boys had left after breakfast for a mission – separately, of course, Natsu departing with Happy and Gray decidedly on his own. Juvia consoled herself with the thought of it involving a surprise for her. "I know Levy has a few, and Gajeel wants to convince her to something weird," she giggled.
"Do you have an idea?" Wendy asked.
"Erza keeps the list," Jellal casually said. Puffing out her chest, Erza then summoned said list – a scroll of parchment that unfolded until nearly reaching the floor when she held it up. The others blinked, taken aback.
"Where do you even buy a sheet that long…?" Meredy quietly wondered.
"It's alphabetised," Erza proudly declared. "Jellal sorted it."
"I'm the sort-er and she's the name-r," he confirmed matter-of-factly.
"Oh, oh, I also had an idea," Meredy piped up again, "during the wedding preparation," she raised her hands to spread her fingers dramatically. "Violet," she proposed. "Cause of the hair an' all," she grinned.
"That's not how genetics work," Jellal frowned with amusement. Still, Erza had already made a pen appear, now collecting their list to squeeze the name in between the others.
"That's really cute though," Lucy nodded, Wendy agreeing.
"It'll be its codename until birth," Erza determined. "At least," she smiled to herself, obviously fond of the suggestion. With Jellal still holding her, she only had to tilt her head back a little, leaning it against his shoulder as she glanced up lovingly. "The next one can be 'Plum' until birth," she fluttered her lids. His baffled expression made the others burst into laughter. Erza bit her lip when he scowled, flustered. He could not help but gulp.
Because Jellal knew that when Erza Scarlet wanted something, she would almost always get it.
The sun was nearing its peak, but Jellal was not hungry. Breakfast had been sumptuous – which was why he could not understand Erza's eagerness when it came to eating out with her friends already. Still, he was happy she did, giving him time to catch up with work. And unable to force him to eat.
The attic window opened with a crack when he pushed, Erza's lacrima at his ear. A gentle breeze brought a chill, though the spring air felt warmer than even just a day before.
"About time you called," he was greeted, "I was beginning to fear you'd forgotten you worked at all," Ambrose sounded relieved.
"I can work here just fine," Jellal countered. "No old men to disturb my work."
"Only young, beautiful women – I don't see how you did not have that here, boy, with your wife coming by more frequently than the post man," Ambrose returned. Jellal had to chuckle, beaten at his own game. "I trust whatever delayed you has been solved?" He asked. Erza had called him rather frantically, yet never said why. He must have been imagining pregnancy issues, rather than feline ones.
"That it has indeed," Jellal could not suppress a sigh of relief. The inability of speech had been truly bothersome.
"And now you're stuck, crawling back without having the courtesy of doing so in person?" Ambrose quipped. "You must know, these modern magical gimmicks challenge me to the bitter end," he tutted. He was using Jura's lacrima until his own would arrive – Warren was still mostly sold out and happily so. Not that Ambrose minded; he had reacted almost allergic when first having to use it.
"Just keen on hearing what's wreaking havoc nowadays," Jellal nonchalantly brushed off his request of consultation. He lifted his chin to peek outside, watching a few people pass by on the street.
"Not much actually – you're the one who attracts chaos, so it seems," Ambrose gave back just as laid-back.
"Right, blame the new guy."
"Righteously so," Jellal was already wearing a grin when Ambrose's own became audible, "whenever something extraordinarily dramatic happens, you're usually our main actor."
"What can I say, I love the limelight."
"I can tell,"
"Although I do remember to have arrived after those extraordinary dramas; you need to step up your game if you want to accuse me, old man," Jellal's grin broadened, his cool voice betraying him nonetheless.
"Oh, please, the most exciting thing that has happened before you started working here was a woman throwing high-heeled shoes at her soon-to-be-divorced husband," Ambrose gave back.
"I read the files and I beg to differ," Jellal retorted. Not that it had been comparable to his latest cases, but there had been more to it than his co-worker made it out to be. There was no defeating him when it came to documented facts.
"You just don't know when you've lost," Ambrose said despite obviously having lost himself. Both had to laugh. Jellal closed the window, sitting down at the desk once the laughter had faded.
"So then I take it there are no new catastrophes you need me for?"
"It doubt the home office would quite serve its purpose if you returned so soon – for now the files you've taken will suffice. I've left you a particularly nasty case since you seem so eager on working into the night, and also I was getting a headache just looking at it," Ambrose retold. It made Jellal chuckle anew – he knew exactly which one was meant. It was purposefully at the bottom of everything else.
"I appreciate it," his tone dripped with sarcasm. If this was the price he had to pay for staying with Erza, he would gladly take it. Another upside was that he could read everything while no one would see him with his glasses. Only Erza and Ambrose had seen him wear them, and while she praised them to heaven, Ambrose had not commented once. Which Jellal was grateful for.
"My pleasure,"
"Evidently," Jellal assessed.
He asked about the few problems he had encountered with the cases already done or nearly completed. Ambrose sent a few messengers to the archives to supply him with files, supporting his argumentation and confirming or disproving Jellal's conclusions. Jellal would not have noticed it to be well past lunchtime had Ambrose not been interrupted by someone reminding him.
"It's alright, this will do for now," Jellal consented. "I'll call again to bother you next week," he jested. "Let the Council know I said 'hello',"
"He says 'hello'," Ambrose deadpanned.
"Ambrose!" Jellal panicked for just a second, unbelieving of his senior holding a joke-laced conversation such as theirs in front of their superiors. Ambrose's laughter proved him wrong, prompting him to shake his head.
He heard the creaking of the ladder, Erza's head poking in a heartbeat later. She returned his welcoming smile, climbing all the way up.
"Oh, and I'll pay you back for all the pigeon food," he remembered then, leaning one arm over the backrest of his chair. Erza raised a single brow. A strict one. Jellal sucked in a breath, reminded of their 'therapy' when she paired her glance with crossed arms. "I mean, what I was going to say was that if you worked only a fraction as much as I did, you'd have a promotion that could finance your fascination with my bird," he corrected, laughter echoing through the lacrima most immediately.
Erza nodded firmly, and he gave her a sheepish grin.
"In that case, do say 'hello' to Erza for me," Ambrose knowingly replied.
"I like Violet," Erza said. "At least as a moniker until it's here," she smiled, running a hand down her belly. Jellal had to smile as he sat down at the end of the bed that evening. A mother was not something he had ever imagined the fierce Titania to become, but it suited her more than he could put into words.
His next coherent ones were stolen when she spoke up again.
"And Plum for the second – maybe Lavender or Amethyst after that…" she pondered aloud. Jellal blankly stared at her. The second… and after that…? Erza gave him the same bitten lip as before, lowering her lids – also in order not to laugh at his stupidly opened mouth. And rising blush.
She giggled – much closer than he had expected, because he had not seen her approach, suddenly finding her sinking down on his lap.
"We can discuss that another time," Erza drew circles on his chest with the tip of her finger, "but for now, perhaps we should just make use of that cold of yours being gone." Her head came closer. Jellal was quick in swallowing his previous shock when his gaze fell to her lips – like grapes rather than the plums his mind had conjured up; plump and ripe for harvest.
"Yes, let's," he managed breathlessly, making her laugh again. The sweetest of sounds. He nearly regretted drowning it out when pressing his mouth to hers. Nearly. The noises she made when he kissed her, trailed her lips with his tongue and then her own were not sweet anymore but spicy. Like a jack knife that flicking open, he drew sharp inhales out of her.
Already.
Jellal clandestinely decided to do a test, so he stroked down her back with no rush whatsoever. When arriving on her rear however, Erza shuddered. Their lips parted with a smack, her forehead falling to his shoulder. He kept his frown to himself.
"Jellal," she rasped, as if out of breath – again, already. He leaned his temple to hers.
"Are you quite alright, love?" He asked. Too close to her ear, he noticed when her abdomen tensed. Anything in the direction of 'yes' would be a lie.
"Fine," she panted anyway. "I'm just a little excited," she brought out. He raised a brow.
With one of his hands, he travelled lower, the other plucking her shirt out of the prison that was her skirt. Going up, grazing along the suppleness of her spine, he expertly unclasped her bra before travelling around to and past the side of her breast. She almost bit off his shoulder when his fingers arrived at their destination.
"A little?" He teased, at the same time stunned. Pregnancy hormones made her more sensitive, that much was clear, but coming undone this quickly had to do with the deprivation of the past days.
How was it going to be once she was at nine months? Or when the baby was there? From what Ambrose had told him, there was little to no time spent together in quiet and peace – or at all, the baby becoming the centre of attention. Erza was either going to crumble to pieces or eat him alive.
For now, Jellal held still, allowing her to adjust – not least himself to her oversensitivity. He had read about it in the pregnancy books, but this was an entirely new level. She was as if starved not only of his touch but any thought straying from it. Worked up by nothing but her own anticipation.
"I…" Erza gasped, feeling the need to justify herself. He would have stopped her had he not been keen to hear the reason behind that frantic clawing of her nails to his arms. She had let go of his shoulder only just so, lips still brushing the teeth-marked spot. "I missed you," she finally confessed.
A moment passed, Jellal's thoughts coming to keep up with his impulsiveness. Erza remained stiff from head to toe, waiting as patiently as she did impatiently for his coming move. She was not yet ready when he did move, any protests remaining in their infant stage of drawing a much-needed breath.
Taking his hands away from where she so painfully obviously wanted them, he slid them down to her thighs. With a strong tug, he rucked her up against his body. His other arm wound around her back, allowing him to stand. She held on, chewing off her lip when not knowing what he had in mind.
Turning towards the bed, Jellal crawled on with his knees. Bending over, he lowered her into the sheets with such care, it came close to bugging her. He even grabbed a pillow for her head to rest on. But the mood returned before having vanished when his lips were right next to her ear without her having noticed.
"I'm sorry," Jellal murmured, "for having made you wait," he apologised. She could not yet form words, only hold on tightly with her legs clamping his hips as he raised to kneel upright. Her breath was hitching when he took off his shirt, and he felt his own body heat up in return. He dropped his shirt to the side, still on the bed – something so Jellal, Erza melted into the mattress.
It would be right there, not on the floor and ready to be folded – if it went his way. Something they both knew it would not. No, it was there to become hers; for her to bathe in the scent and wisp around her torso, lulling her into sleep. Smelling of him but not of the sweat that was to ensue. What a brilliant man she had married indeed.
He felt the tension return to her body when it were his hands that wisped around it. With his own shirt gone, it would only be logical that hers was to follow. And so, with that gentle roughness he felt was not within his power anymore – and where she shuddered merely thinking about it – he slipped one button after the other out of their holes. His lips followed without delay. One of her hands flew to rake through his hair, pulling him closer while the other dug into his back.
Like embers, they singed then flared in the pace he conducted, her breath at the speed of his heart.
Jellal awoke to a nudge in his back. Repeatedly. Small fingers prodded him. A voice constantly blabbed until he had blinked enough sleep out of his eyes to fall towards his back and recognise the silhouette of his son.
"Papa, here," he was saying. Jellal squeezed his eyes shut the moment the lacrima screen was shoved towards him. With a groan from the back of his throat, he released his wife to put a hand over the screen. Lowering it, he glanced up into big, awake chocolate eyes. "It's the Council," he was told.
Jellal felt like giving another groan, substituting it with a sigh instead.
"Not all calls need to be answered," he explained in a croaking voice. "It's the weekend and not even seven in the morning," he added. How that child was awake before him would remain a mystery forever. There was no mixture in that – no relaxed in between of break of dawn and midday, no, it had to be an extreme of either. In this case, he had gotten the early riser.
"I already accepted," Jellal was being informed to his dismay. So he reached out and received the lacrima. His arm's hair stood on end when the chilly air outside of the blanket haven engulfed his skin. Erza gave a small sound that signalled him how she had woken up. She would have anyway, seeing as her son hopped up onto the bed and crawled straight over her and under the covers.
Jellal listened drowsily to what Jura had to say while he watched his wife's arms wind around their son. Those big eyes were looking back at him, one curiously peeking over Erza's shoulder. Trying to read his expression when the words coming from the other side were unintelligible.
A sheepish grin spread over the boy's face once Jellal had ended the call. The lacrima slid onto the nightstand, unheeded. The chocolate orbs disappeared. He hid in his mother to escape Jellal who was pursing his lips with what little annoyance his sleepy self could muster.
"What did they say?" Their son asked excitedly. Jellal could bet any and all money they possessed that Erza had not even opened her eyes once. Sinking down on the pillow with a sigh, he turned again to her back facing him, winding his arm around both her and his son as he propped his chin on to her head. He inhaled the scent of her hair before drawing a breath to answer.
"I'll be going to Era for a few days," he announced, eyes falling shut again.
"What?" Their son gasped. Perhaps this would teach him not to pick up any more calls unasked. "But what am I going to eat-" he choked on his reply when Jellal gave him a warning poke. Then he choked even more when his mother squished him tightly to herself. He ventured a glance at her face, and when she had still not opened her eyes, merely a tired moan acting as reprimand, he giggled. With a sly grin, he twinkled at Jellal.
The grin vanished into an 'o' when Erza squeezed him more, then pulled him with her as she turned on her back. Jellal scooted back, and she dropped their son in between them before turning over herself. He was giggling madly at her actions, wiggling like a fish on land to get the mattress to wobble again.
Erza's hands found her husband – still without looking – taking hold and drawing herself closer. Like a scrap metal press, she caged their son in, a light smile playing on her lips at how he squealed when being squashed between them.
"I'll have to cancel that request then…" she cawed. Another gasp. Wiggling and huffing, the deep blue-haired boy scrambled to face her.
"I want to go on a mission!" He declared. "Take me with you, Mama, please!" He grasped her shirt. She breathed in response, almost as if falling back asleep. He complained immediately, repeating his plea and raking on her shirt. Another smile broke out across her lips. She feigned it every morning and he would make a fuss every time all the same.
"I'm leaving after lunch; that way I'll be home sooner again," Jellal suggested. She hummed raspingly in response.
"Then I'll be here," Erza yawned.
"I wanna go to the Council, too!" Their son tried anew. Throwing his head back, he stared up at his father with excitement and a pouting lip. "I can help you,"
"You can hold the fort while I'm out," Jellal proposed. "Just don't write over my documents again," he frowned his lips in recollection.
"But they were important cases," his son justified his playing office. "I'm going to be the bestest bad guy hunter in all of Fairy Tail- no, in Fiore! I'll catch them myself like Mama, and then I'll put them in jail for a hundred years like Papa," he beamed.
"That's a tad harsh," Jellal noted.
"The plum doesn't fall far from the tree," was Erza's only comment.
"That's the apple, love," Jellal teased. In the place of a tut, he received a small, knowing smile.
"And I'm the Violet," their son reminded them. "Can I have a brother?" He glanced back at his mother. Her smile only grew. Jellal frowned.
"Erza, love?" He asked, suspicious. The smile broadened. "Erza," he tried anew, suspecting more than he dared put into words. Her eyes opened then, venturing a glance at him from below. His mouth dried out.
"Who says you don't have one already?" She replied to their son. The latter gasped so much, he coughed as he hasted to turn back over, practically pressing his face to his mother's. He cheered when she nodded. Freeing himself, accidently kicking Jellal, he jumped up and down on the bed, the mattress squeaking in time with his whooping.
Jellal paled for a moment, but when Erza chuckled at both of her boys' reactions, he gave her a look. She apologised for the sudden announcement with a kiss – something their son made nauseated sounds at, but something Jellal enjoyed wholeheartedly nonetheless.
Erza awoke when being smothered. Blinking her eyes open, her lashes tickled his face enough to make him stir. She could not keep from snorting quietly when noticing how he was pressing a clumsy, unaware kiss to her brow. He must have thought it were her lips. What she would not give to sneak a peek into his dream right now. She did not know how happy it would have made her, currently hoping for something by far less pure.
Jellal grumbled unintelligibly when she kept laughing. Another tug and his fingers teasingly travelling towards her ribs made her regain some self-control. At least it made her force it onto herself. The smile remained, amusement shining in her eyes when he reluctantly peeled his own open to see what it was that made her crack up. His caution revealed perfectly how he assumed himself to be the cause.
"Good morning," he muttered, just as carefully. Erza's smile only widened.
"Good morning to you," she drew circles into his shoulder blade. "I trust you slept well with what you… did in your sleep," she provoked. He swallowed. She could not help but chuckle again when the first thing he did was tense his legs to feel for inappropriate action.
"Was I talking?"
"No," she pecked his lips, "but I do hope it was me you were kissing so devoutly in your dream," she arched a brow. His smile surprised her. It was soft and content, and was he blushing?
"Have I done something to cast even a shred of doubt?" He gave back without missing a beat. She was tempted to use the fiancée fiasco, now that they had settled things once and for all and that she truly harboured no more doubts whatsoever. But Erza had sworn to herself to never bring it up. Not in dispute and not in fun. She was rather hoping that he would be the one to tell the story once their child was old enough to ask.
"Then what did I do to deserve such ardour?" She tilted her head into the pillow. She could feel his hand beneath the pillow. He twitched it slightly, the heel of his thumb registering the shifting weight of her head just as she did his movement. It was a miracle she could not guess his dreams when his thoughts were mostly her own.
"Well, to tell the truth," Jellal began. Then stopped. It made her thirst for the answer increase tenfold.
"Was it me? Was it the baby?" She could not restrain herself. Him thinking about the baby was thrilling, but him dreaming about it made her as keen as mustard. Jellal raised his brows – her excitement must have been that obvious.
He took a breath before he continued. She could tell he was doing his utmost as not to awkwardly look away.
"The 'baby' was already old enough to run around the house, answer calls from work and jump on the bed," he retold. She melted a little at his words, listening intently. "He was quite feisty, which I blame entirely on you,"
"Fair enough," Erza nodded matter-of-factly.
"And, well, he…" Jellal trailed, fading out. She waited, finally tapping his back to animate him. He was not meeting her eyes anymore, alternating between pressing his lips together and chewing on the inside of his cheek.
"He?" She drawled.
"He said something I also blame on you, because you brought it up yesterday and my subconsciousness is not half as cool as I pretend to be, so when he asked to have a little brother you might have perchance mentioned something vague hinting at that and now that I think about it, I'm fairly sure you were being serious and already, you know," Jellal blabbed, directing his gaze as far up the ceiling as he could instead of just closing his eyes. He would feel hers regardless, he knew. Erza had a hard time keeping from squeaking.
When she did, he grumbled more nonsense. She giggled once he buried himself in her neck to avoid her face. His own was flaming. Still, she felt the clandestine smile against her sternum.
"I'm afraid I fail to see your issue, dearest," she audibly smiled, too. "If he was old enough for all of that, I must be quite patient after the first one," she quipped.
"Who says there weren't more? At least one of them will inherit your sleeping-in genes – say, why are you awake before me anyway?" He lifted his head back up. He had not been prepared for her sudden kiss, a muffled sound escaping him against her lips. It turned into a hum that made a shiver travel down her spine.
"Because I love you," she said once they parted. He frowned with amusement.
"That's not even remotely an answer to my-" she cut him off in the best way possible. In her mind. He did not seem to mind too much though, responding to her kiss with an equal keenness.