A/N: I'm not sure if this is just another wave of spam but there's been some nasty reviews on this story recently. Apologies to anyone who's had to read them. I've reported all of them so far but FF seems to be taking its sweet time in deleting some of them. Thank you again to everyone who leaves an actual review. Stay safe out there.
After a small eternity, he coughed. "Uh…why exactly did you write that before?"
Lucy paused in her thoughts to chuckle. "Well, I thought you could use some encouragement! I know it must have been really hard with that difficult customer."
"Shut it. That's partially your fault you know."
"Right, which is why I helped you to resolve it."
Cobra scratched the back of his head, trying to make it seem like it was out of annoyance and not sheepishness. "Whatever. I just didn't think you'd write something like that."
"Oh-ho. So I can surprise you. And without Macbeth's help even."
"Just barely. Don't get a big head about it."
"…I did like your advice, actually." Cobra's hand froze in place. "It seemed…fitting for them. I'd have wanted to give her something tangible to do…but maybe that would have been no good like you said." Suddenly, Cobra's insides felt strange, and not just from thinking about the previous night. She was still talking about Jellal and Erza, right?
Another moment passed in silence, the sign the only witness between the two. Cobra found himself once again at a loss for words. A dozen different threads of conversation could have been started, only for a dozen threads to die before reaching the door of his mouth.
You know, there's always one thing that makes for good conversation.
Secrets.
A chill rushed through him, and at the same time, Lucy spoke up.