"Still awake?"
She smiled.
"Couldn't sleep."
"Oh, so even the great Titania has sleeping disorders."
"said the insomniac".
"Touché."
He made some steps towards her and settled next to her. The balcony had been their refuge since the beginning of this mission. A mission chosen by Lucy, which, according to her, would be "easy and quick". Quite funny, it had already passed a week since their arrival, and they still had not found one of the five dark mages that they were supposed to arrest.
It was a special request from the magic council itself and only addressed to five guilds on the continent. Lucy has been the first to respond, and just like that, the four other requests vanished, and they were employed by the council. The job was well paid, but in exchange they were watched. Something that Erza didn't really appreciate, nor did Grey, especially since it was two days. Council constantly asked for progress reports, which coming from the one who failed to intercept the dark wizards first was a little annoying. The council's members were harassing them for results, which was becoming a little suspicious.
"So what were you thinking about?"
" Council. I made my report hours ago; I just needed some fresh air, I guess."
"One hour?"
He looked at her before exhaling; she was wearing a black turtleneck in soft but obviously not warm fabric and a skirt. How could she be that oblivious of the cold?
"Come here."
She looked at him with a muddled look.
"Ravish to notice that you trust me."
"I do".
"So prove it. Come "
And with a still unsure look, she straightened up, moving away from the guardrail she was leaning against, and moved closer to him.
"Now close your eyes."
"Seriously?"
She was a little annoyed, but he was too amused to stop here.
"Thought you trusted me."
His tone was so irritating, but rolling her eyes a bit, she did. He took off his jacket and came closer so that he could hear her reluctant breath, and the care with which she made sure he knew how much he had pissed her off made him smile as he placed it on her shoulders.
"Could you please stop smiling like that?"
"How do you know I do? Your eyes are closed."
"I can feel it, and it's annoying."
He chuckled. Pissed Erza was definitely funny. Then she flinched, feeling his breath against her face, and he realised he was too close. His eyes slid dangerously towards her lips, and then he stepped back.
" Sorry. It was too tempting. You should reopen your eyes."
She did, and he thanks himself for his ability to sound cool and confident, whereas he was destabilised as much as possible. He had moved away until a reasonable distance, and for some seconds he forced himself to look at anything but her.
"Never mind. Thanks.
She put the sleeves on and readjusted it; her nose just grazed the collar, and she breathed the scent of his perfume. She hurried to raise her head before he noticed she did; fortunately for her, he seemed too occupied to look at the landscape.
"So what did they say to you?"
"Nothing new under the sun."
He looked at her puzzled. She was not the kind to quote the Bible.
"Could you elaborate?"
"Of course. First, they are pissed we still had not caught these wizards. Secondly, they want to be informed of all our moves, which leads to a third point : according to them, as the chief of the operation, I have to be more precise in my reports. Finally, they suspected us of not doing our best or at least asked themselves if they had not overestimated us. And they ask we now stay in an official building instead of the inn."
"I see. Now I understand what you were annoyed about."
"No, annoyance was definitely your fault."
" If you say so "
She smiled brightly, and he smirked back. He has been smiling a lot lately, and mostly because of her.
"So what do we do? You still don't want to talk to others"?
"Not for the moment; if Natsu knows that the council threatens us to accelerate, he will definitely confront them or at least be angry and destroy more stuff than necessary. I don't need any more pressure on our lack of discretion. Furthermore, if we put Lucy in the secret, she will be forced to lie to Natsu, which will be nocive for both of them. So for the moment we keep the secret; they don't need to know that the council has contacted us as long as I'm taking the blame for the failure."
"We could at least talk to Wendy."
"You know her; if we tell her, she will feel guilty each time we follow a wild goose chase. Moreover, I prefer to tell no one rather than just some of us. It gives the impression that I don't trust everyone the same way when I actually do."
"Me, who felt special that you told me – that's heartbreaking."
" Correction. You discovered it and harassed me for the truth; I didn't tell you."
"No need. I know you well enough to see when something is off with you, and it was quite obvious.
"Not that obvious if you are the only one to see it."
"Seems that I can read you as an open book. Maybe you should be worried."
"But I'm not."
They look at each other with more intensity. They always played and teased the other in a flirtatious way; it was not new, but they rarely were that ambiguous.
"I trust you; I always did."
"As I do "
She smiled, and once again she straightened up, moving away from the guardrail she was leaning against, and moved closer to him. She was at a kissable distance, only some inches from him. His heart misses a beat. She finally leaned on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before stepping back.
"Good night, Grey."
She was crossing the balcony, leaving him behind. He was still disturbed but succeeded in answering.
"Night Er'z"