Chipping the Surface

She was a lady, flowing hair and a smile that could pierce his heart. A lady unlike any other. Not the typical tea-sipping and elegant dress-clad women he'd heard about. She protected herself with her stoic words and armor. She knew where she'd been by the callouses on her feet and the scuffed swords she held in her hands. She was strong, she was mighty, she was everything that a ladylike woman wasn't.

She didn't worry about appealing to men. She worried about the lives of her friends, and would give up her own for them without a second thought. She wasn't gentle on the outside. She wasn't one to laugh daintily or one that needed protecting.

That's what he'd always seen women to be. She broke all the rules. She broke his views. She shattered his want for a woman like that. He suddenly preferred the cool metal across her chest than feeling soft lace. He suddenly loved the way she would steel her features and bare her very soul with her words instead of a blush or a laugh or anything those ladylike women did.

He found it interesting exactly how different she was, and how much he liked different. He also found it interesting that beneath that hard and warrior-like surface, she was painfully soft. She was weak in a way he hadn't known possible. Not physical, not emotional, but… weak and afraid in a unique kind of way that she hid so well he almost missed it.

It wasn't the weakness men seemed to like in women. A weakness that allowed them to swoop in at the right moment and play the hero. No, it wasn't anything like that and yet it brought a light smile to his face. It made him want to touch her, wipe away her tears and give her the much-needed support he knew he was the only one who could give her.

Because the armor-clad Titania did need him. And he did need her. They were different he guessed, yet quite similar in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on. They could both bring out the best and worst in the other. They could bring the other to their knees with mere looks and could set each other's heart aflame with the brush of fingertips. He'd not met someone who could unravel him like she could, her otherworldly control over him even evident at the young age he'd been when he'd fallen for her as a child. He was positive she'd never unraveled before anyone else like she did him.

Because she wasn't some weak woman. She was strong and everything a woman wasn't portrayed to be, and he loved it. He loved getting those small glimpses into her heart when she'd let her guard down for the slightest instant, and he could look into her eyes and see the true Erza. Someone a little more like she was when she was a child.

And in those moments his heart would skip a single beat, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to memorize every second. Because she didn't let people in. She hid herself away in a shell of metal that was impossible to crack. Well, impossible for everyone except for him. And he'd get to see her for who she was, and he was positive in those moments his eyes reflected his deepest emotions, and she could see who he really was as well.

Flash Bingo - #193 - reduce - an anime who is airing or has aired a new season this year

I love Jerza. There are other pairings that definitely take more of a spotlight, but these two really do have something special. I can't believe this is my first time writing about them! Whew. Just a little random thingy. I just re-watched the Tower of Heaven arc and the feels came right back. XD

I hope you enjoyed this little snippet and I hope other people love Erza and Jellal as much as I do. I'd love to hear what you thought! :D

~Foxtail-chan