Prompt: Your ship is on an overnight stakeout. Boredom's set in, and they've run out of coffee. How do they keep each other awake and focused?

"So, what are we supposed to be doing again?" Jellal turned to face the passenger's seat, where his stakeout partner sat. He set his binoculars in his lap.

"We're supposed to find proof that her husband's cheating on her." Erza scanned the file in her hand one more time. "She claims that he leaves every Tuesday night at around ten p.m. saying he has to do some stuff at the office. He doesn't come back until 6 a.m. to take a shower and head back to work. She didn't come to the agency until she found out that he had opened a new credit card tied to a secret bank account. And now she wants us to find proof to go along with the divorce papers she's going to serve him." Closing the file, she turned to face him and sighed.

He sighed as well. "This is the third case we've been on this month that's involved cheating spouses."

Their faces both turned pink as they remembered what happened on the last three cases. It involved some wandering hands, some heated kisses, and almost crossing a line they made sure not to cross for the sake of their jobs. Luckily, or unluckily, the cheating spouse would be seen leaving the house and inadvertently put a stop to whatever they were doing. They would spend the next day at the agency awkwardly avoiding each other.

She coughed. "What time is it now?"

He glanced at the dashboard. "It's almost eleven."

They both turned to look at the house they'd been staking out. The lights were still off so it seemed like the husband wouldn't be leaving today. They had seen him earlier when they started watching them at eight-thirty.

"Two more hours then we leave?" She suggested.

"Yeah."

They settled back into their routine, but the memory of what happened on their last stakeouts brought a charged atmosphere into the car.

This is how it felt last time. She quickly glanced at him. I keep asking the Chief not to put us on these stakeouts together. I'm fine with working with him on any other case. Just not these.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Probably Lucy. She took out her phone and checked the screen. She smiled. She was right.

"I'm going to kill Natsu and Gray. I don't care if the agency is down two detectives. I'm going crazy here, " read Lucy's text.

"So I guess your stakeout isn't going great either," Erza texted back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jellal looking at her and her phone. "It's Lucy," she told him. He nodded and went back to checking the house through the binoculars.

Her phone vibrated to bring her attention back to her text conversation with Lucy. "It's completely awful. First, we just found out, after being here for three hours, that the couple isn't even at home. And second, they won't stop fighting long enough to drive back to the agency."

"Didn't you call the client beforehand to pick a date for the stakeout?"

"That was Natsu's job."

"Guess I now know why they're fighting."

"I'll let you know when or if I ever get home tonight."

"Tell them you're texting me and see what happens." After several seconds, "It worked! We're heading back to the agency now. Though, they both look a bit pale."

"They'll be fine."

"So how's your stakeout coming along? You said it wasn't going great?"

"It's been an hour past the time the wife gave us. I don't think we're going to catch the husband tonight."

"Well, I guess that means you have more time to be kissing your boyfriend."

Erza blushed. Glancing at Jellal, she saw that his attention was still directed at the house. She glared at her phone, hoping that Lucy could feel the heat of her glare. She could already imagine how Lucy's smug smile looked like when she sent the last text. She regretted ever telling the blonde about the kisses. The blonde had taken it upon herself to put her and Jellal in the most uncomfortable situations at work. Lucy locked them in the supply closet more than once and teased Jellal with pictures of Erza in a bunny suit, from when she had to go undercover in a strip club. Though, she did like the bunny suit…

"Jellal is not my boyfriend!" Erza had lost count how many times she's had to say that to Lucy.

"Of course he's not." Erza breathed a sigh of relief. "He's your husband." Erza angrily snapped her phone shut and shoved it back into her pocket. She reached for her thermos, hoping some coffee would help her calm down. She frowned when she realized it was empty.

"We're out of coffee."

Jellal put down the binoculars and looked back at Erza. "We ran out ten minutes ago."

"Hope we can stay awake."

Jellal hummed in agreement while an awkward silence settled between them. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and she fiddled with the buttons on her blouse. Every time there was an awkward silence during their stakeouts, they tried breaking the awkward silence by kissing. Well, they started talking and it just led to kissing. Basically, the awkward silences always led to kissing.

"You know, I never really asked you why you joined the agency and didn't become a cop instead." Jellal looked at her and waited for her answer.

She turned to face him, hesitant to answer. It looked like there would be no cheating spouse to catch this time. If they continued talking, they were probably going to cross the invisible line they set for themselves during their first job. But after spending three years as his partner at the agency, she doesn't really care for the line anymore.

She smiled before answering, "I wanted to be cop, when I was a kid. But you've seen how this city is, how corrupt the cops are. How could I be a part of that?" They had angled their bodies toward each other now and their faces were slowly getting closer to each other. "How about you? Why are you a detective?"

He chuckled. "I never planned on it. I worked in an office before. It was really boring. One day, Natsu came into the office undercover. He wasn't really good at it though and I caught him." He smiled when that got a laugh out of her. "But he asked for my help. Apparently, my boss had made some shady deals and he needed some evidence. I don't know why but I agreed to help him. After my boss got arrested, Natsu asked if I wanted to join the agency, become a detective. I didn't know if I was right for it and when I headed to the agency that day, I was prepared to turn down the offer."

Their faces were very close now. She could feel his breath on her face. "What changed your mind?"

He looked her in the eye. "I saw you."

She leaned forward and closed the gap between their mouths.

The police officer knocked on the fogged up car window, knowing exactly what was going on in there. Muffled curses could be heard. The window rolled down, showing a disheveled Jellal, panting. Erza fell back onto the passenger seat, her hands scrambling to redo the buttons on her blouse and smoothing down her skirt.

"Hello, officer. What seems to be the problem?" Jellal grinned, trying to charm the officer.

"What exactly are two doing out here this late at night?"

"We're detectives." Erza piped in. She dug out a card from her purse and handed it to the officer. "We're from the Fairy Tale Detective Agency. We're currently on a stakeout for a case."

"Oh really." The officer grinned knowingly. "And when exactly does a stakeout require you two to start having sex."

"I can't believe you got caught!" Natsu guffawed. Gray was at his desk, desperately trying to hold in his laughter. Erza was at the doorway and tempted to walk over to smack them both.

"What happened again?" Gray asked, after regaining some of his composure. Natsu was still laughing and had fallen off his chair ages ago.

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose. "The client's husband saw our car and called the cops, thinking we were robbers or murderers or something. The cops show up, drag us to the station, and keep us there overnight. We had to have the Chief bail us out. He's giving us the day off. The case isn't going to be resolved anytime soon." She sighed. "I'm tired and I'm leaving. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved to Gray and threw a glare at Natsu before leaving the room.

"Flame-head, she's gone. You can stop laughing now." Natsu ignored Gray and began rolling on the floor.

Lucy walked in and stared at Natsu. "Why is he laughing?"

"Erza and Jellal got thrown in jail last night," Gray explained.

Lucy blinked. "No, they didn't."

Natsu stopped laughing and sat up. "But Erza sa-"

"She lied to you because the real reason was probably too embarrassing for her to say."

"Do you know the real reason?" asked Gray, his interested peaked.

Lucy smirked. "They were going to be slapped with public indecency charges but I guess the cop felt sorry for them and only gave them a warning. They didn't spend the night in jail."

"But Erza was still wearing the clothes she wore yesterday." Natsu scratched his head, confused. Thankfully, Gray knew what Lucy was saying.

"Finally!" Gray threw his hands in the air. "I hated going on cases with those two because of all the tension. At least some of it's gone now."

"Yeah, though I think the Chief will want one of us to tag along on the missions. Just in case they get distracted again." Lucy and Gray began to snicker.

"Wait, I still don't understand what happened!"