Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
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Flashbacks and Echoes
It is an odd thing, Erza comes to realise, what they have. One moment everything is serious and solemn. But then she's smiling - uncaring about past mistakes, death threats, masks or the fact that the most evil wizard of all time is at large.
He smiles back. Each and every time. And it never fails to make her heart melt.
It's hard not to notice the longing look in his eyes. He's so close to her she wants to throw her arms around him, hold him so that nothing takes him from her ever again. She doesn't, though. And wonders if she'll ever get to. But there's a silent, unspoken plea that keeps the distance between them.
She remembers her toes curling, fingers itching, grinning like a complete idiot as if she were one of those stupid lovesick teenagers they see in Heart Kreuz stores sometimes as she told an enormously jealous Lucy about The Kiss. Just a few brief seconds of being together had erased years of hurt. She'd waited so long for a something she thought would never come, and he waited even longer.
They are an odd pair. The looks she receives from her guild mates confirm that it is undeniable. Master remains silent but watchful, Mira is oddly quiet and Bisca gives her glances underlined with maternal protectiveness.
On the other hand, there's Lucy's warm pushes, Natsu and Gray's cheeky grins, Happy's teasing, a knowing wink from Ultear and a giggle of approval from Meredy.
It's all a bit overwhelming and she doesn't know what she's supposed to think or what she's even allowed to believe. It's not what she's wants entirely, but it's enough to know that he is real.
.
.
.
.
He enjoys looking at the stars, she comes to learn. It's strange to see him so serene, so calm, when he loses himself pointing out constellations. The Magic Council, Crime Sorciere, Fairy Tail, Zeref, Simon… everything is absent from his mind. She loves the look in his eyes when he's like this.
They're on their backs looking up at the sky on the hill outside of Magnolia where Lucy enjoys coming to write her stories. The river shimmers under the moonlight. The grass is still warm from the sun earlier in the day but the air is getting chilly.
He seems happy, but before long she grows bored of listening to strange names of stranger worlds that are so far far away when all she wants is so close by.
She takes it upon herself to throw one leg over his hip and sit on his lap.
"Erza," he warns cautiously as his eyes shrink from the size of saucers to give her a hard look of warning. She's sure her heartbeat can be heard echoing loudly inside her chest, yet she still leans forward and presses her lips to his.
She ponders if it could even be called a kiss.
They don't budge, stay frozen like that for a moment before she pulls back and runs the tip of her nose along the bridge his, her lips trailing gently behind. Her eyelids flutter open as she moves because she wants to see how he reacts to her touch and the first thing she notices is that his remain closed. She can't tell what he's thinking which frightens her even more.
Stopping at his forehead, she places a chaste kiss between strands of his hair as she feels his long fingers push hers back.
"Erza," he says again, softer now like he's half delirious, half scared on a rollercoaster high, finally lost in her and not the stars.
"Don't run away," she pleads quietly against his skin. "Don't run away anymore."
He nudges her back playfully and she resists the urge to smile like a child with her favourite toy.
She kisses him on the mouth again. Really kisses him this time. The butterflies in her stomach fly even faster when his arms come up around her, holding her closer and all of a sudden he's kissing her back.
It's slow and tender for a long moment before it becomes deeper, rougher as years of yearning and need finally breakout like a prisoner from his isolated jail cell. He nibbles lightly on her lower lip in a sudden brazen act and she lets him in, moaning contently against his mouth, delighting in his new-found confidence.
When her head becomes clear again she'll burn the romance novels she has at home tucked under her bed because they are wrong. Very very wrong. They don't compare in the slightest to the feel of him hot and loving and willing against her.
Jellal does not run.
It makes Erza feels alive.
'cause loving him was red
Notes: Since I've written a fanfic from each of Mystogan, Knightwalker and Jellal's perspectives, it seems only fair that Erza gets her story too. And Taylor Swift is a Jerza shipper. No one can convince me otherwise.