This little bit was written literally in the last hour. I got an itch to write seeing how close the Fairy Tail archive is to hitting 20K and so I wanted to contribute.

A bit of Jelza fluff, for your reading pleasure.

Disclaimer:

Erza Scarlet, Jellal Fernandez, and anything making an appearance in the Fairy Tail anime or manga is the sole intellectual property of Mashima Hiro. I do not own anything but this little short storyline (and I'm sure this has been done before anyway).

Thank you!

When things don't go the way she likes them to, Erza Scarlet gets a little testy.

When her cake goes flying across the guild only to land on the floor or a table or someone else's head, she gets furious. After all, how is she supposed to eat cake that's touched…whatever it's landed on? She doesn't want to eat Natsu's hair, for Master Mavis's sake.

When someone actually defeats her in battle, Erza gets even…and then some. If anyone thinks they can defeat the Titania, then they had better wake up soon. She's not very lenient when she's been angered, you know.

But when someone confesses to her…Erza Scarlet, the indomitable Queen of Fairies, Fairy Tail's own Titania…she's completely and utterly lost. She doesn't know whether to outright refuse or whether she needs to think about it for a while. She's not sure if she should worry about how her hair looks or whether she should have done that an hour ago. When she's confronted with this situation, she just doesn't know how to win.

Thankfully, the first time it happens to her, it's an enemy, and everyone knows how she is when the adversary is an enemy of Fairy Tail. She pummels him into the ground and makes it look easy—she's the Titania, after all. But the second time she faces this problem, it's just an admiring townsperson who has no magical talent whatsoever. Granted, he's a bit of a creepy sort, but she's still flattered and confused nonetheless. Erza is flustered, and stutters, and then is saved by the most unlikely person—Wendy Marvell.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Master needs to see you, Erza," the blue-haired dragonslayer says timidly. Erza awkwardly thanks the person who has confessed, apologizes and refuses because suddenly it's just so easy, and walks back to Fairy Tail together with the young girl.

"Thank you, Wendy," the redhead sighs, and she suddenly feels immensely relieved. And she just hopes that this situation never happens again, because she just doesn't know how to handle it.

"You looked like you needed help," the younger girl responds, then shifts her weight timidly as the two briefly stop by the canal. "The Master doesn't actually need to talk to you. I just said that to get you out of there."

Wendy's fifteen now, and Erza remembers thinking just a few days ago that Wendy was still too young to pick up on things like this. She realizes now just how wrong she was, and thanks the girl again. She's not angry that she lied—not this time. It's just this once, after all, Erza decides, and it's not likely to happen again. Not from Wendy. And the redhead doesn't think it very likely that any other man will ever have courage enough to seek her out, so she feels safe on that front as well.

"Let's just go back to the guild. I think I want cake."

"I love you, Erza. Please…stay with me."

The third time it happens, though, Erza doesn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do the second time, either, but now she's totally and completely lost. Words won't seem to come to her mind and her hands start shaking as she stares into those oh-so familiar eyes. Those were eyes she's been in love with for years, although she does her best to keep it at bay. She feels her heart beating erratically in her chest and she's panicking and panicking hard.

"I…um…er…"

She stutters. Oh, Mavis, does she stutter. And she's feeling the heat rising to her cheeks in waves and her entire body feels as though it's on fire and she still doesn't know what to do.

"Yes…?" he prompts her, gently rather than forcefully, just as she's used to. She feels her ears go just as warm as the rest of her and he cocks his head, a few blue locks blowing in the light breeze. And she wants to run her hands through his hair—is it as silky-smooth as it looks? Is it soft?—but she resists the temptation, trying to find some words to say.

Her vocabulary is failing her.

Her vocabulary is failing her, but she knows she loves him too, she just can't say it. She wonders frantically how he ever worked up the courage to speak about it, and then panics more when she realizes that it's probably killing him to see her so confused.

But she loves him and she really wants to tell him. She doesn't want to hurt him, not when she's feeling all of…all of this. Erza's still confused, adorably so, but she wants—no, she needs—to say something to him. She can't leave him hanging like this!

"Jellal, I…" she begins, but her words catch in her throat as soon as his name passes her lips.

It felt so right to say his name.

As he looks about to say something, she has to speak, and soon, because she's afraid that he thinks she's rejecting him and oh, Mavis she's not. Why should she?

"Jellal, I'm…I…me too. How do I…?" she is trying her hardest. Really, she is! But Erza Scarlet just isn't cut out for this kind of conversation. She blushes darker and complains vehemently, "I don't know how to say what I feel!"

And after blinking confusedly for a moment, Jellal Fernandez just smiles, and chuckles, and can't help but say, "You're doing fine. Just keep it up."

The redhead still stutters and stumbles over her words until finally she throws her hands up in the air and exclaims, loudly and desperately and confusedly, "I just don't know what to say!"

So the blue-haired man who loves her so much more than she's ever known decides it's time to take pity on his beloved and steps forward. He's putting on his brave face but he's actually terrified of what's about to happen. Jellal has made his choice, though, and knows he can't keep going without at least trying to make her his when he flaked out upon her return from Tenrou Island. He's got to do this and he's got to do it now, before he convinces himself that seven years is too much of an age gap and that she deserves someone younger.

And he says, in a voice that he almost doesn't believe is his, "Then just say yes," before he cups her chin in one hand and kisses her soundly.

And if Erza is so flustered by just a confession, she's positively floored by this kiss.

But it's Jellal and she's so in love with him it hurts, sometimes, so she's not bothered for long. And when he finally pulls away from her, she has just enough breath left for one word.

"Yes."

To be honest, I wasn't sure how to get into Erza's head. I hope I did well enough. And I tried present-tense again, and present-tense likes to eat me up and spit me back out, so if you spot any errors, let me know!

Without author's notes and page breaks, this checked off at 1,130 words.

Thanks for reading!