Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima and Kodansha. I own nothing of it... unfortunately.

A/N: We all know how violent Erza becomes when she's drunk but I always thought that around Jellal she'd be… different. By which I mean a complete basket case instead. Alcohol-fueled out-of-character alert. Please bear with it. We all get a little weird when we hit the bottle…

Jellal should start by saying that, under normal circumstances, such a thing would have never happened.

He was incapacitated… partially at least. The final showdown with Zeref had taken a toll on him, by which he meant 'had culminated on him remaining in a coma for nearly a month'. And the thing about comas – the normal sort, during which one didn't have copious amounts of etarnamo flowing through their bodies like he had the first time around – was that they did a number on people's bodies… or rather, their muscle tone.

So, although he'd been quite thankful for, well, being awake – especially given the blurry flash of red that had been his first sight – there had been that little detail about him not being able to as much as lift his arms above his head for something like two weeks due to muscle atrophy. And, now, two months past, although his upper-body strength was mostly recovered, his lower body was another matter – rule of thumb was no crutches or surfaces to hold onto, no moving without falling flat on his face at the third step. It was a work in progress.

Which, again, was why the current situation – Erza rubbing herself all over him on his bed – was taking place without him being able to make a run for it. No, not even with meteor. His magic had been iffy since his coma– he had a feeling it wasn't just muscle that tended to atrophy during comas for mages. He might as well be a child now.

In any case, it out started like any other day… except that any other day just happened to be Cana's birthday.

Why did Cana's birthday affect him? Well, he should rewind a bit.

After Tartarus, a sort of 'makeshift' Magic Council had been formed by the surviving previous members. Because they had such a marvelous set of priorities, their first action had been to arrest Jellal's entire guild, former Oración Seis included. Doranbolt, being one of them and acting temporarily as a councilman rather than a military man, had lobbied for their release to no end. That and the outrage among the people had gotten results: Crime Sorcière was freed… and promptly disbanded. Its members were sent on probation and, among other conditions, must mandatorily join legal guilds, though no more than two of them per guild to ensure the disbandment prevailed.

As such, Angel had gone off with her sister to Sabertooth, taking Midnight along, Richard had been welcomed by Lamia Scale at Jura's request with Racer also joining in and Cobra had gone to Fairy Tail (only, he swore to anyone who could hear, so he could beat Natsu up on a daily basis… nothing to do with keeping an eye on his snake-turned-girl Kinana). Although Jellal had been in a coma at the time, Fairy Tail had also made a point of claiming him (as well as Meredy who, due to being a child at the time she committed actual crimes as a member of Grimoire Heart, was fully acquitted, being free to do whatever the hell she wanted… within the law, of course).

As such, not an hour after he'd awoken, he'd found the Master and Mirajane in his hospital room, inquiring him about where he would like to receive his guild mark. Stupid as it might sound, he had actually spent a whole minute wondering about a way to politely decline and instead join another guild. Why? Because of Erza.

There was nothing he cherished more than her presence. Every time she was near, delight flew through his veins. He found it hard to stay away, to fight those unbearable urges to hold her, kiss her, make her his but, for the life of him, he had to because, no matter what, he still thought she deserved better, so much better. So, staying away was for the best because sticking to his beliefs in her presence would be… hard.

And hard it indeed was but he'd had no choice but to face that hard path because Mira, as if reading his mind, had very sweetly explained to him on that day at the hospital that, since his body was too useless for him to fight them at the moment, he should just give in peacefully before the stamp found its way somewhere mortifyingly embarrassing like his butt. Being vaguely familiar with her occasional demonic behavior from their time as fellow Team Fairy Tail B members, he'd known better than to face that as a bluff. And so, the red mark on his left forearm said it all: for good or bad, he was now a member of Fairy Tail.

In the end, he had to admit that joining Fairy Tail had been the right choice. Despite the difficult task of keeping his romantic feelings for Erza at bay, which he mostly achieved by staying away when she was at the guild rather than on jobs, keeping himself occupied by doing paperwork for the master and remaining confined to his room under the guise of resting, at least their friendship had survived – he wasn't sure that would have been the case if he'd betrayed her by choosing to walk away once again even if it was for her own good. Besides, he'd found a home… a very loving, welcoming home to make up for the one that had been taken from him when Crime Sorcière was disbanded.

"Welcome to the weirdest fucking circus you'll ever see," Laxus had told him on the day he'd left the hospital and moved into the little first-floor room at the guild hall, which had been provided for the remainder of his recovery.

It hadn't been long before the warning had been proven accurate.

He was yet to count a day during which a fight of some sort didn't break out. One moment, everything would be calm and then the other somebody, usually Natsu, would charge in and pick a fight with somebody else. And the drinking… once, he saw Elfman putting the empty barrels from a single night away and it must've been a dozen of them at least. True, Cana did most of the drinking. Which was why her birthday brought along the current situation.

His Physical Therapy session at the hospital had ran very late that day, which, along with his and his limited speed, meant that by the time he'd (exhaustedly) arrived at the guild, the party was already well underway. And because of his iffy balance and the mildly dangerous factor annexed to any and all parties taking place in Fairy Tail, especially the ones organize by or for Cana, he chose to go in through the back door rather than the main one to avoid any potential flying objects that might turn out to be a setback on his recovery.

He headed straight for his room, planning to at least take a quick shower before joining everybody else, only to find it locked. Confused, he frowned – he didn't recall locking it upon leaving. Reaching for a key, he wondered if it had been Mirajane or Kinana as a precaution to avoid some drunken couple stumbling into his room and well… fouling beyond repair. Yes, that was probably it – there was, after all, a copy of his key at the bar.

That wasn't it.

Upon opening the door, he felt his jaw dropping as he spotted none other than Erza spread all over his bed, looking dishelved and hugging his pillow while mumbling into it. His eyes widened as he noticed that her usual plaited skirt was hiked so far up her legs that he could see her panties. Blushing, he forced himself to look away.

"Erza? Are you alright?" he asked, mortified.

"Mmhmm, you smell nice, Pillow Jellal," she mumbled against the pillow in question. "I thought you only smelled like him but you sound like him too. Mmhmm. Can I keep you?"

His eyes widened again. Oh, god. She was drunk. Erza was drunk. Erza who, as far as he'd heard, was effectively banned from drinking any alcohol at the guild for unknown reasons, was drunk! He didn't know what to think.

Taking a step back, he backed away from the room and headed to the bar as fast as his crutches would allow him, looking for answers. He found then in the shape of Mirajane, who was serving drinks at the speed of light.

"Hmm… Mira?" he asked awkwardly.

She turned around and smiled while still serving drinks without even looking. Not a single drop was spilled. How did she do that? Did that skill come with the demonic senses? "Jellal. Did you just get back? You usually arrive much earlier."

"Physical Therapy ran late. The hospital is short-staffed because of a flu outburst," he shortly informed her. "I… er…" He scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to ask her about the Erza matter. "Is… is there a specific reason why Erza was locked inside my room?"

"Oh, that!" Mira said, as if she'd just remembered it. She sighed. "Cana decided to give herself a show for her birthday by getting her drunk. Apparently, she kept sneaking spirits into Erza's strawberry milkshakes and since she shotguns those like there's no tomorrow… well, you can imagine how it went. She gets pretty violent when she's drunk and Natsu and Gray were taking the worst of it this time. It took me in demon form plus Laxus and Gildarts to get her away from them and your room was the nearest place with a lock."

He stood there silently for about twenty seconds just taking in the explanation. Erza got violent? Did she mean more violent than usual? But she didn't seem violent at all just now.

"Jellal? Are you there?" Mira asked, noticing he'd spaced out. "I was asking if she'd done a lot of damage to the room. If she did, I promise I'll clean it up as soon as the others start to pass out and the party dies down."

"N-no, it's okay. She seemed… actually, she seemed very relaxed," he informed her.

Mira raised an eyebrow and, for a moment, actually stopped serving drinks. "Really?" she asked, surprised. "Oh my… I guess your soothing effect on her does extend beyond your person…"

He frowned. "What?"

She giggled. "Well, she was positively murderous when we threw her into your room. I half expected her to break the door down, actually. But now you're telling she's actually very relaxed… it must the room itself, or at least or presence in it."

What? "I… I think you're stretching your theory a little too far," he mumbled.

She smiled. "Maybe," she said while clearly fully believing she was right. "Would you mind terribly staying with her for a little while? I was thinking of asking Elfman to take her to Fairy Hills but I'd rather she was more… docile by then so he won't get hurt. I think only you can achieve that."

"Making her docile?" he asked, blushing.

"You'll think of something," she said with a wink before turning her face away from him and back to the drinks, declaring the conversation officially over.

Sighing, Jellal made his way back to his room, wondering what to do about Erza. Well, at least she was mostly unconscious. He guessed he could deal with that.

But he was wrong. By the time he entered his room, he found Erza no longer asleep.

Instead, she was sitting cross-legged and barefoot still clutching his pillow against herself so that only her eyes and the top of her head poked out from behind it – it was as if she was trying to hide behind the pillow, which obviously wouldn't work even if she was half of her size.

Once she spotted him at the door, her eyes firmly fixed on him, she lifted up an arm and pointed it at him in an accusatory manner. "You're late."

He frowned, equal parts confused and nervous. What was he supposed to do with a drunken Erza now? "What for?"

"Stuff," she replied, finally putting the pillow away… only to reveal herself once again in a very… underdressed state. Her blouse appeared to have its buttons undone from her neck to her navel, revealing a scandalous amount of skin, underwear and cleavage to Jellal. Where was her armor when he needed it?!

"E-Erza!" he mumbled. "Your… blouse…"

She looked down and giggled, noticing her state. "Oh… boobs," she said with another giggle. "I've got boobs… ever noticed that, Jellal?"

He blushed tremendously. Well…

"Oh, of course you did! You grabbed them once, didn't you?"

… could the situation get any more mortifying?

"Boobs, boobs, boobs," she spoke as she rolled all over his bed like a little kid tripping on sugar. "They just showed up one day, you know? I had just treated myself to some excellent new armor a month or so before and one day, they popped out and got on the way, so I had to alter all of it." She groaned in displeasure. "Do you like them? I don't."

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "Why wouldn't you like them? They're…" He stopped himself before saying the word 'perfect'. What if she remembered their conversation in the morning – he couldn't have her with the memory of him singing praises to her breasts…

"Useless. That's what they are," she replied. "It doesn't make sense that women would have them before bearing children. I guess they're pretty and men like them but they just keep getting on the way." And, as if to make a point, she squeezed her breasts together in disdain. He widened his eyes, staring. "Stupid boobs. And the bras… Have you ever tried wearing one?"

He nearly passed out right there because, in fact, he had. Or had been made to by Ultear and Meredy during an undercover operation in which he'd had to pose as a girl. And Ultear, because she was so generous had granted him a lovely pair of double-Ds with her transformation magic, which had been murder to his back all through that hellish afternoon he'd give anything to forget.

"They're so constricting and they weigh down on your shoulders," Erza rambled on. "Sometimes I wish I had Levy's boobs. Hers don't get in the way and I bet she doesn't have to wear a bra at all." She went silent for a moment. "Would you still want me if I had Levy's boobs?"

His eyes widened. 'Want her'?! "Wha… what makes you think that I w-want …?" Oh, who was he kidding?

"You told me so, idiot!" she barked. "At the tower, remember? You were evil-ing it up but you still said you wanted me… wait, no. You said you loved me. And then you died but you didn't and you became good and they arrested you and you escaped and then you made up that Fiancée. Boooo! I love you too, Jellal, but sometimes you really suck!"

…

He was dead, right? Yes, he'd died and gone to hell and now Satan was torturing him with scenarios equal parts wonderful and mortifying to annihilate his soul. Oh, what a cruel universe…

But then he got hit on the face with the pillow thrown by a frowning Erza. "Stop standing there looking dumb. Get over here already! You're not going to make a lady get up when the floor and the walls are all spiny, are you?"

Spiny?

"Jellal! Hurry!"

And hurry he did… well, as much as he could with his limitations. When he got close enough to the bed that she could reach him, she caught his arm without a warning and tugged on it, which, seeing as he'd left his crutches by the door and without them his balance was crap, caused him to fall forward onto the bed, just barely missing hitting her.

"You fell," she said with a giggle.

She couldn't be acting more out-of-character if she tried. And at the same time… there was recognition in some way. He wasn't sure where it came from.

"Yes, that appears to be the case," he said, trying to flip around so he could face the ceiling rather than the covers and sit up. He managed the first part at least, but before he could sit up, she pressed a firm hand to his chest and pushed him back down. Before he could do anything about it, she was straddling him. Literally. "E… Erza?"

"Shhh. I want to see something," she said, sounding incredibly childish. She brought her face down towards his. He wondered for a moment if she was going to kiss him. No, that wasn't good! But then, a millimeter before their noses touched, she stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Are they green or are they brown?"

He frowned. "What?"

"Your eyes. Stop blinking," she demanded as he did it a lot because some strands of her hair were practically on top of them. "I could never tell, not even at the tower. Sometimes they look green, others they look brown. Which one is it?"

The moment she said the word 'tower' something clicked in his mind. All of a sudden, he could tell where the recognition came from – her child self. Those childish undertones of her drunken-self reminded him of that little Erza who ran around atop a broomstick telling Grandpa Rob she would fly one day. And suddenly, he felt warm. So, so warm. Where had her guild mates gotten the idea that alcohol turned her into a hellion? As far as he could tell, it simply turned her into that sweet little girl accessorized with a looser tongue and more grown-up mind… and body. Mirajane had probably been joking… odds were she'd set them up or something.

"Which is it?" she asked again. "Green or brown?"

"Neither," he replied in a whisper. "They're hazel. Sometimes, depending on the light, they can look more towards the green or brown side but, really, they're both."

"Hazel…" she mumbled. And then went silent for about a minute.

"Hmm… Erza? This position is getting a little… uncomfortable."

But she didn't move. She just lay there, atop him, staring at his eyes without blinking. He wanted to speak again, ask once more for her to move but her gaze was just spellbinding. It was at least another minute before she spoke.

"Why do you always keep me at a distance? It's not fair," she said, sounding disappointed.

"W-what do you mean? I'm always at the guild," he replied despite knowing exactly what she meant.

She pouted like a child. "In your room. You hardly ever come out when I'm here but when I'm not, people tell me you do. It's not fair! I've waited so long for you to be free… but you never want to be with me now!"

He felt himself growing tense and had to look away. "This is not a good time to talk about those things. You're drunk."

"So?"

"You're not yourself," he told her.

"'Course I am! I'm drunk, not possessed," she pointed out.

He sighed. "In any case, Erza, you might not even remember anything in the morning," he told her.

She sighed, "Yeah… I s'pose you're right there. People always tell me I do things when I'm drunk but I never remember any of it," she said. "But it doesn't matter. I wanna hear it anyway."

"Erza…"

"Don't you want to be my friend anymore?"

"Of course I do," he said immediately. "Your friendship is the most precious thing to me."

"Then why have you been avoiding me since you moved in here?" she asked. "It's mean!"

He looked away. He couldn't face her while saying that. "Because that is all we can be – friends. And being around you all the time makes it too hard not to move past that."

"But we should move past that," she insisted, almost pleadingly. "That's how it's supposed to be: I love you and you…" she paused for a moment, her face falling "… loved me… seven years ago." There was a moment of silence. "Is that it? Did you move on after all those years in Tenrou Island? 'Cause if you did and you don't love me anymore, you need to say it. And not like that fiancée – you need to mean it."

He closed his eyes. Weren't it for her sounding so unlike her stoic self, he might actually mistake her for sober. He wished he were good at lying, that he could tell her he didn't love and make it believable to rid her of his shadow in her life. But he couldn't. He couldn't even bring himself to try and lie to her because he had wanted to say those words for so long and he'd never gotten an opportunity like that one to actually do it without consequences. She won't remember, he told himself.

"I can't tell you that," he told her.

"So you still…"

"… more than anything," he answered the unspoken question. "But it doesn't matter. You need to forget about this side of us."

And so… she snorted with laughter. She pulled herself back, sitting down on his thighs and covered her mouth as she laughed hysterically. Yes, she was definitely still drunk. How anti-climactic… served him right for falling into the trap of having an emotional discussion with a drunken woman.

"Jellal, you idiot, what do you think I spent those eight years after you kicked me out of the tower doing? If trying to forget you didn't work when you were evil, you think it will when you're good?"

"I tried to kill you," he reminded her, as if attempting to throw fuel into the fire.

"You saved me too."

"I killed Simon."

"It wasn't you."

"Except it was," he insisted. "You deserve better."

"Moron!" Suddenly, she was angry and, without a warning, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard. Yes, he was starting to get the idea of where the hellion rumors came from… "I deserve to be with the person I love. And that is you," she told him, her voice taking a vulnerable tone again. "It should be easy, so why are you making it so hard?"

He didn't respond. His mouth wasn't working.

"What did I do wrong?" she asked.

He fought to make his mouth work. He managed one word, at least. "Nothing."

"Then why do you keep dragging me into your punishments?"

He'd like to say his words didn't affect him. That her rollercoaster of drunken behavior, from playful, to seductive, to emotional, to angry was inconsequential. That would make things so easy… but they weren't meant to be easy. Not for him. His guilt was ruining her happiness. His punishment was dripping all over her. So, his world was turned upside down. He was at a crossroads and he didn't know which road to take: her happiness or his redemption. Were they even mutually exclusive? What to do? He needed time. Time to think.

"Erza, this really is a terrible time to be talking about this. We should stop."

She sighed. "Fine, be that way. I've said what I needed to say, anyway," she gave in, disappointment in her eyes. But then, as a wave of alcohol-fueled mood swing hit her, that glimpse of disappointment became something else. Something… mischievous. Her position over him shifted and she was once again leaning forward, balancing her weight on her elbows and cupping his face with her hands. Just like that, he got the feeling that the rollercoaster was far from over. "I think I'll skip to doing what I wanted to do."

"Wha…?" But, before he could finish, she was already kissing the daylights out of him and, god, was it hard to fight a woman on a mission. Especially when that woman was Erza and the mission involved catching his crippled self by surprise.

His brain was mush and he half-expected it to start leaking from his ears because Erza was kissing him and that was setting all his alarm bells to the highest of alerts. Death would follow soon and he couldn't help thinking that might not be that bad a way to go… possibly traumatizing for Erza but glorious nonetheless.

He didn't fight too hard – if anybody asked, it was solely because of his current physical condition – but it was clear by her determination to have him parting his lips as soon as she could and making it a whole new level of kissing that she wasn't going to let that be a repeat of last time, when their lips had barely brushed and he'd started spurting nonsense about his fake fiancée.

She tasted like spiked strawberry milkshakes and something else hard to put into words. Perfection, amazingness and glory came to mind but sounded pale in comparison. She was Erza and Erza was everything. Just everyt…

"Jellaaaaal! Stop being a wet blanket and come join the party! I know you're there!" Meredy's voice came from outside, prompting them to break apart just as she appeared in the open doorway and gasped. "No. Way."

"Go away!" Erza barked.

"No, don't go!" Jellal begged. He needed someone to stop that madness because he sure as hell couldn't do it himself.

Meredy cleared her throat. "Well, since it seems like you two are having a party of your own, I'll just…" she left the sentence unfinished as she reached for the doorknob and started pulling the door closed, winking at Jellal before she sealed the room shut.

"Meredy!" he shouted after her before he felt Erza hitting him on the shoulder again.

He looked up to find her once again sitting back on his thighs on more time, pouting at him like a disappointed child. "You wanted her to stay," she said, dejected. "Why did you want her to stay? Don't you like how I kiss?"

Back to emotional Erza, then. He was starting to lose track of her drunken personalities, really. "What? O… of cour… there's nothing wrong with the way you kiss. It… it was…" Oh God! What was he doing? What was he saying?! "Very enjoyable."

In fact, now that he thought of it, it was actually very enjoyable and not just because it was Erza and he worshiped the ground she walked on – she was actually skilled at kissing. And considering they had only kissed once before, if that could even be called a kiss, that didn't make him particularly happy. Where had the skill come from? It was Erza, after all, and she wasn't exactly known for going around kissing people just for kicks. Should he ask? No, that was completely ridiculous. But then again, so was he when it came to her and since she was drunk…

"It is hard to imagine where your… skills came from," he said coyly, hoping she'd fill in the gaps.

She did. Gladly. "Well, there was all that practicing," she said with a childish giggle.

His eyes widened. "Practicing?"

"With fruit. I tried to do it the way they do at the books Levy gives me. It was yummy."

Really? All that skill had come from fruit?

"… and then there was that time with Ichiya…" she mumbled.

His eyes widened. Ichiya?! He felt sick. Physically sick. "What?!"

She frowned. "Don't look at me like that. 'Twas your fault."

He frowned. "My fault?!"

"Yesss!" she said, slurring her voice. "You had to go and introduce your evil self to me as your 'twin brother' and I got mad and then I ran into Blue Pegasus on the way home and they hit on me, so I hit them and Ichiya had this weird perfume bottle on him that I accidentally broke and 't made him start looking like you, so first I punched him and then I kiss his face and mouth and it was gross," she said, all in one breath. "Well, it was gross afterwards when I figured out it was him, not during when I thought he was you. He does know what he's doing in that area, I'll give him that."

He covered his face with his hands, embarrassed beyond words. "Erza, please stop talking about that man's kissing skills."

"Just saying… it would have been a good first kiss if it was actually you. And second one… and third… maybe tenth too… I lost count."

"Please stop. I beg you," he squeaked.

She made a little sound of annoyance. "Alright," she mumbled before yawning. "I'm sleepy now. I'm going to sleep." And, just like that, she slumped forward and made herself comfortable on his chest.

He blushed. She'd flashed him, she'd made out with him, she'd possibly traumatized him with that Ichiya story… and now she was sleeping on him. He loved Erza beyond words but she was going to be the death of him.

He cleared his throat. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the actual bed?"

"No. If you don't like me being on you, then maybe you shouldn't have chosen to become a pillow," she informed him.

He frowned. A pillow? But then, he recalled her earlier display with his pillow, which Erza had named Pillow Jellal. For a moment, he was confused – had she been convinced she'd been interacting with his pillow the whole time?

"Mmm, Jellal?" she mumbled against his neck. "Can you remind me tomorrow?"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"That your eyes are hazel. Can you remind me? I'll keep wondering if you don't."

He hesitated for a moment. "Okay."

She smiled and, satisfied, went to sleep.

He sighed. How strange had his world become lately?

"Meredy, leave it alone. I told you she was drunk and I couldn't stop her. You know my strength isn't at its best these days," he whispered furiously the following morning when his team mate came into the guild and proceeded to tease him into oblivion about the previous night's events.

"If you were so bothered, why didn't you just cast a sleeping spell on her?" she asked, smirking.

He was silent for a moment. Why hadn't he thought of that, actually? Well… "My magic isn't doing much better than my body," he excused himself.

"Please. Sleeping spells take almost no effort at all, especially when the target is already drunk out of her ass. I bet even little Asuka could do it if she felt like it," the pink-haired girl challenged him. "Just admit it, Jellal. You may not have asked for her to jump you but you sure as hell liked it. I know it, you know it, even Erik knows it!" She turned to the Dragon Slayer in question. "You can read it all over his mind, can't you?

On his seat, Cobra lowered the newspaper he was reading just enough so he could glare at them with his single eye. "It's Cobra to you, pinkie." Although he sat at the same table as them, he'd made a point of taking the very opposite end of it, putting a considerable distance between himself and the bunch of dorks that were supposed to be his team mates. "And if signing into this team means I have to take part in this… sentimental crap, I want out."

"What, so you can do your own sentimental crap with your favorite barmaid formerly shaped as a snake?" Meredy teased. "Nothing like a well-served drink of Arsenic to win your heart over, hmm?"

He grunted in displeasure, closing the newspaper and walking away as he mumbled something about being better off in prison.

"Grumpy butt," she giggled before returning her attention to Jellal. "So, when are you asking her out?"

"I don't know," he mumbled.

Her face lit up. "That's an upgrade from last week's 'never'."

He sighed. "Can't you just leave it alone?"

"Of course not. Wherever she is right now, Ultear would never forgive me if I did that." She seemed to be about to continue arguing her case when she suddenly got a glint in her eye and appeared to change her mind. "But I guess you've had enough for now, so I'm going to see what Juvia is up to. See you later." And, with that, she was off, finally leaving him be.

But, of course, her sudden exit had to have an explanation and he got it in mere seconds when he heard her saying 'hello' to someone behind him – given that he had his back to the door, they must've just walked in.

"Jeez, you look great for someone who should be having the mother of all hangovers," he heard Meredy saying.

"I… I don't get hangovers," Erza replied, sounding nervous for whatever reason. His heart started beating faster the moment he heard her voice.

"Lucky you! Well, I'm off but I think Jellal wanted to say something to you."

His eyes widened. Et tu, Meredy? That little schemer! Couldn't she have left it alone? Why, of course she couldn't – she was Meredy, foster daughter of Ultear Milkovich, who couldn't keep her nose out of other people's business if it killed her.

"Jellal?" he heard her saying in a little voice, standing by the side of his table. He looked up at her to find her averting his eyes and blushing furiously to the point that her face was hard to tell apart from her hair. "I… I believe I owe you an apology from last night."

He tensed for a moment before realizing that the girls over at Fairy Hills had probably filled her in on her previous night's drunkenness and, thankfully, they likely didn't know much of what had gone on in his room between Mira locking her in it and Elfman coming to collect her hours later (thankfully after he'd already managed to pull himself from under her sleeping form and hidden the evidence of their… ministrations).

But then, something occurred to him. Meredy lived in Fairy Hills now and she knew about the… kissing. Could she have told the others about it? No, no way. She might be sneaky but Meredy wouldn't betray him to that point. Of course not. He hoped.

"It is truly disgraceful that I allowed Cana to drive me into such a state. I apologize – rest assured it won't happen again," she said, still looking away in embarrassment.

"It… it's okay," he told her in reassurance. "You didn't do anything too bad like beating me up or anything." You only kissed me and turned my world upside down but I guess I may have partially had it coming…

She seemed to blush redder, if that was even possible. To think that was the same Erza from last night, who'd snuggled against him with no shame whatsoever…

Oh, speaking of snuggling… "I almost forgot. Last night we… talked. You asked me to remind you of something in the morning: the color of my eyes. You asked me about it and they're…"

"Hazel, yes. I remember."

…

Wait, unless there was something he had missed, nobody else knew about that part of their conversation. Which meant…

His eyes widened at the same time as he stopped breathing. She remembered. She remembered. But how much did she remember? She couldn't remember… everything, right? That couldn't be why she was so embarrassed. "But… you said you never…"

Her head hung in shame. "It seems drinking also brings out the liar in me when I'm around you."

Crap. But wait. If she tended to lie when she was drunk… "So that story about… Ichiya."

If she turned any redder, her head might explode. "I wish," she said. "I only lied about my memory issues. It was a shameful action. I don't know what crossed my mind…" Other than wanting him to speak honestly with her for once. "You have my deepest apologies."

His mouth hang half-open. He didn't know what to say.

"And concerning what was said about… us," she continued. "Please don't feel coerced into… acting if that is not what you feel comfortable with. I had no right…"

Well, about that he had something to say. "Actually, you did. You have every right to call me on it when my actions are hurting you," he said firmly.

She seemed more than a little surprised at that, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I promise that from now on I will keep in mind your situation in the middle of all this when I consider our… status," he vowed. "I'm not saying I will change my mind overnight but… I won't brush the things you said aside. The last thing I want to do in this world is causing you any more pain."

She looked touched by his words. The blush was still there on her cheeks, yet far less pronounced than before. But her lips… there was the faintest hint of a smile on them, just as a glimmer of hope became visible in her eyes. "I know. Thank you."

A moment of meaningful silence formed between the two, lasting about thirty seconds, up until Jellal spoke again. "Would you like to have a seat?" he asked, pointing at the seat in front of him.

"If that's okay with you," she replied, a little nervous.

He nodded and the message he was passing along covered more than just their current meeting. The avoidance was over, he was trying to tell her, for better or for worse.

She took her seat and, again, silence formed between them. That was, until Erza, once again red as a beat, interrupted it. "Jellal?"

"Yes."

She blushed very red again. "That initial talk about my… physical assets… can we pretend it never happened?"

"I have no idea what you're referring to," he said immediately, blushing too. "You must've dreamt it."

She bit down on her lip, fighting back a smile over the fact that he'd played along. "Yes, I really must have."