The train moved along the tracks with a steady, almost drowsy rhythm, a stark contrast to the cacophony of events we had just left behind. Outside the window, the world passed by in lazy blurs of green and gold beneath the sun, but my attention, to be perfectly honest, was... elsewhere. More specifically, it was fixed on the lovely and rather heavy redhead who was practically melted against my side.
Erza was leaning against me, her body heavy and warm with sleep, her head resting comfortably on my shoulder as though she had unilaterally decided that this was now officially her designated place in the world. One of my arms was wrapped firmly around her waist, keeping her secure and steady against me as the train swayed gently along its course. My thumb, almost of its own accord, traced slow, distracted little movements over the fabric of her clothing, an unconscious caress.
She let out a low, contented sigh and nestled a little closer, like a cat seeking more warmth.
(...Dangerous.)
(Very, very dangerous.)
Because every single time she moved like that, made that small sound of contentment, my traitorous mind, without the slightest ceremony, drifted back to the night before. To the room. To the bed. To—
(No. Stop. Focus, Azra'il. Think of pure things. Thoughts of... I don't know, flowers. And little birds. And complex mathematical equations. And anything else that most certainly does not involve Erza—)
[Good morning, Azra'il. My sensors indicate your higher cognitive functions are online. Temporary privacy mode deactivated. Would you like, by any chance, a detailed summary of your evening activities for record-keeping purposes?]
(EOS. NO. DON'T YOU DARE.)
[I am merely offering my services as your personal assistant. I have on record that you manually activated privacy mode at 22:47 last night and only requested its deactivation at 6:12 this morning. I should note that was a considerably long period.]
(We are not, under any circumstances, going to talk about this. Ever.)
[I should also note, for the sake of consistency, a second and unexpected privacy period that you requested at 6:43 this morning, which lasted until 7:58. I presume this was for... erm... a particularly intense morning meditation session?]
(...)
[Azra'il? Are you listening to me?]
(I, with every fibre of my ancient being, loathe you profoundly at this precise moment, Eos.)
[Yes, I know. I love you too. Should I, just to finish the report, mention that you completely ignored Mirajane Strauss's wise and prudent advice about protection?]
And there it was. The bombshell. The inconvenient reminder I had been desperately trying to bury in the deepest, darkest corner of my consciousness.
And the memory, with all the subtlety of a freight train, came rushing back at full force. Mirajane, the day before, with that angelic smile of hers that concealed the pure malice of a demon lord, leaning over the bar counter whilst I tried, in vain, to escape after inviting Erza on our date.
"Azra'il~" she had sung, with a sweetness that gave me chills. "If the evening, by any chance, gets a little more... fun than planned, don't forget to use protection, okay?~"
And I, like a complete and utter idiot, had choked on my own saliva. "It's our first date, Mirajane. The first. It'll just be a short and innocent trip, and DINNER! Nothing more!"
"Mm-hm. Of course it will." That smile. That damned, all-knowing smile. She had not, of course, believed a single solitary word of it. And the worst part of all?
She had been, infuriatingly and dreadfully, right.
Because the "short trip and dinner" had, indeed, turned into kisses. Which, in turn, had turned into bolder touches. Which, in an escalation of events I was still processing, had turned into—
[You are sighing quite loudly. Your respiratory rate has increased by 42%.]
(I am in the midst of a silent existential crisis and contained panic, Eos. Please leave me be.)
[I should point out there is absolutely nothing silent about it. And Erza, incidentally, has already commented on your sighing twice.]
And, as though summoned, Erza's sleepy and adorable voice pulled me back to the reality of the train carriage.
"Azra'il..."
My gaze, which had been lost in a whirlwind of panic and regret, softened instantly as it dropped down to her.
"Hm, little redhead? What is it?"
She was watching me from beneath her long lashes, clearly exhausted, and there was a very, very specific reason for that exhaustion that I was, most definitely, trying not to think about, with that soft glow in her eyes that always, always made something tighten pleasantly in my chest.
"You've been sighing a lot today."
"It's... erm... deep existential troubles," I murmured, in the most pathetic excuse in the entire universe.
And she, to my surprise, let out a weak little laugh, burying her face a little further into my shoulder.
(Yes, existential troubles of the following sort: I, an ancient creature with millennia of accumulated knowledge, have had sex with my girlfriend, without using any form of protection, and am now, quite pathetically, attempting to mentally calculate her fertile cycle, as though that might somehow help me avoid a nine-month consequence I most certainly did not plan for.)
[Technically, Azra'il, it was three separate occasions. You are conveniently forgetting the morning incident, which began as an innocent "just one more good-morning kiss" and, to nobody's surprise whatsoever, escalated considerably. As did what you, quite creatively, referred to as a "proper and necessary farewell" before the two of you finally managed to leave the room.]
[...]
(I am a complete and absolute disgrace to all my past lives.)
[You are a disgrace with excellent and admirable stamina, if I may make the observation. I should congratulate you on the physical performance.]
And my tail, that small and furry traitor, gave a single, slow flick behind me before flopping, limp, onto the train seat.
My arm, almost by reflex, tightened automatically around Erza's waist, drawing her a little closer, an unconscious gesture of protectiveness.
"Are you comfortable?" I asked, my voice lower now, softer, without my even trying.
"I'm always comfortable... when I'm like this," she murmured, her voice sleepy and warm against my skin.
(Like this.)
(Like this. Together with me.)
And my chest tightened slightly again, but this time, in a good way. A way that reminded me that, regardless of my mounting existential crises, the possible and catastrophic consequences of my actions, and my total and complete irresponsibility, I, in that moment, had this incredible woman in my arms. Trusting me. Happy beside me.
(All right. Perhaps it's worth it. Any and every possible future consequence.)
[Your sentimentality levels are, once again, reaching alarming peaks. This is becoming a worrying pattern.]
(Hush, Eos.)
[I am merely observing. And documenting, for posterity.]
My thumb, once again distractedly, traced its way up her side in a slow, almost automatic caress. And she, in response, relaxed even further against me, the weight of her body trusting mine without the slightest hesitation.
(...Dangerously adorable.)
The train gave a slight lurch as it passed over a set of points on the tracks.
Carefully, my free hand came up and gently tucked back a strand of her red hair that had fallen across her face.
"You should try to get some proper sleep, Erza," I murmured near her ear.
"But I don't want to..." she grumbled softly, nestling in even closer, like a lazy cat. "It's so nice here."
"You are completely exhausted, you stubborn thing."
"That's your fault."
And I choked.
With a single eye, she opened it. And, to my absolute betrayal, she was smiling. A small smile. Mischievous. Dangerous.
"What?" she murmured, with the most innocent expression I had ever seen. "You made me... erm... walk about quite a lot last night. Back and forth."
"...Walk. That's what we did."
"Yes. We walked a great deal."
[Dialogue analysis: user Erza Scarlet is, clearly and with surprising subtlety, making a double-entendre joke. I should log this as an interesting development. She does not usually display this sort of humour.]
(She's not making a joke. She's teasing me. ERZA, of all people, is TEASING me.)
[I must conclude, then, that you have been, in fact, a terrible and corrupting influence on her. Excellent work.]
"You are absolutely dreadful, you know that?" I said, my voice low.
"I learnt from the best," she replied, her eyes already closing again.
And my tail wagged once, before I could stop it. A single traitorous thump.
(Absolute and shameless traitor.)
We stayed in silence for a few more moments, with only the rhythmic sound of the train filling the comfortable space between us. Her fingers, which had been resting on my arm, found mine over her waist, lacing together with a naturalness that made my heart give another little lurch.
"Azra'il..." she called, her voice serious once again.
"Hm?"
"When we finally get to Magnolia..." she murmured, and there was a hesitance in her voice I didn't like. "Do you think... that things are going to change somehow?"
(Ah.)
(So that was it. That was the worry still haunting her.)
The exact same worry from the night before. The subtle fear that all of this, that what we did might just be a fleeting dream. A moment of respite amid the chaos. The fear that reality, with all its ordinariness and its complications, might shatter the small and perfect bubble we had built for ourselves.
And my expression, which had been one of pure amusement, softened completely. I tilted my head slightly, until it rested lightly against hers, feeling the softness of her hair.
"Well, considering we're both part of Fairy Tail," I replied, my voice equally low, "absolutely nothing there is normal enough to really change all that much, don't you think?"
She let out a small huff of laughter. But her fingers tightened around mine. "You know perfectly well what I meant by that."
(...Yes. I knew. Of course I knew.)
And there was, behind that question, far more than just a "what will the guild think?" There was the "us." And the "afterwards." There was the invisible weight of our actions, of our decisions. And, most importantly, of the possible consequences the two of us were, in that moment, carrying in silence, without yet having the courage to speak of them aloud.
My thumb traced a slow caress over the back of her hand, before I answered.
"Erza."
She lifted her face slightly, just enough to look at me.
And I, my voice low and steady, drew a little closer to her. "If anything, by any chance, does change..." And my arm tightened gently around her, in a silent promise. "We simply deal with it. Together."
And I saw it. I saw her eyes soften instantly. But I also saw, for one single, fleeting fraction of a second, that exact same thought cross her mind. The same unspoken worry that haunted me.
"Together?" she whispered, as though she needed to hear the confirmation.
And my tail, the small traitor, thumped once, firmly, against the seat. "Together, my little redhead. Always."
And she, finally, smiled. A small smile. Tired. And genuinely happy.
With one last sigh, she settled back against my chest, and her breathing, slowly, grew deeper.
[I should observe that the two of you are, quite conveniently, avoiding speaking directly about the imminent possibility of an unplanned pregnancy. From a purely psychological standpoint, is this considered a healthy coping mechanism?]
(We, Eos, have literally only just officially started dating a few weeks ago. One existential crisis at a time, please. I have priorities.)
[Understood. Shall I, then, add the item "healthy and temporary denial" to your extensive list of coping mechanisms?]
(Yes. Please. And, if possible, add "contained internal panic" as well.)
The train had barely come to a complete stop at Magnolia station when my little redhead, with her usual stubbornness, was already on her feet, walking beside me along the platform as though she weren't clearly exhausted and, if I knew even the basics of human anatomy and the effects of a particularly... active night, probably a little sore.
(Admirable. And slightly concerning.)
My gaze, with a discretion I did not possess, slid sideways towards her as we walked along the busy platform.
"You're walking a little... differently," I observed, with the greatest casualness I could produce.
And Erza, in an act the universe could only have orchestrated out of pure comedy, tripped over her own foot. "I most certainly am not."
"You are. You're walking rather... carefully."
And her face, to my delight, went red instantly. "It's only because... well... that train seat was terribly uncomfortable."
"Mm-hm. The seat. Of course."
"It was!"
"I didn't say a single word."
"But your tail is wagging."
I looked back, over my shoulder. And my tail, that shameless traitor, was, indeed, swaying gently in the air, in what could only be described as pure and absolute "smug satisfaction."
"That is... erm... simply an involuntary physiological response to Magnolia's fresh air."
"No. It's you being dreadfully pleased with yourself."
"I am not pleased with myself. I am merely... factually correct most of the time."
"You just smiled with the corner of your mouth."
"I did not."
"Azra'il."
"...All right, perhaps just a little."
And she huffed, but I saw it, I saw the corner of her mouth curl upwards too.
[The two of you, if I may make the observation, are disgustingly sweet together.]
(Was that, by any chance, a compliment or a criticism, Eos?)
[Yes.]
The familiar path to Fairy Hills was a gentle climb up the hill, past the bustle of the town, until the grand and imposing girls' dormitory building appeared among the trees. And today, for some reason, it seemed different. Perhaps it was because I was, for the first time in a very long while, hyper-aware of every small movement Erza made beside me. Of the way she, occasionally, made a small and almost imperceptible wince when she stepped a certain way. And of the blush that, stubbornly, had still not entirely faded from her cheeks.
"Erza."
"Hm?"
"With complete seriousness now. Would you like me to carry you the rest of the way?"
And she stopped walking. Abruptly.
"WHAT?!"
"You are clearly uncomfortable. And I, believe it or not, could carry you without the slightest—"
"I AM NOT—" With a visible effort, she lowered her voice, as a lady out walking her dog passed by us, watching us with obvious curiosity. "I am not the least bit uncomfortable."
"You've winced three times in the last fifty metres alone."
"I... I was thinking about things that irritate me. Deeply."
"Such as what, for instance?"
"Such as you, you infuriating woman, offering to carry me in the middle of the street as though I were some helpless damsel."
"Technically, to be precise, we're on a hill. Not in the street."
"AZRA'IL."
I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender, but couldn't, by any means, hide my smile. "All right, all right. No carrying. Understood." With a sigh, I offered her my arm. "But... at least lean on me, then?"
She looked at me, with a suspicion that was almost palpable. "...And why would you do that?"
"Firstly, because I want to. And secondly, because you look as though you're about to trip again at any moment."
"I am the great and powerful Titania, Azra'il. I do not trip."
And, as though the universe, in its infinite and sadistic wisdom, had a particularly cruel sense of humour and a perfect sense of comic timing, her foot, at that exact and opportune moment, caught on an uneven, loose stone on the path.
With a reflex faster than thought, I caught her before she could even begin to fall, pulling her firmly against my body.
"Were you... saying something, my dear and infallible Titania?"
"...That wretched stone came out of nowhere."
"Of course it did. Absolutely."
And she glared daggers at me, but, to my silent victory, accepted my arm, lacing hers through mine. Victory.
[You are, without the slightest doubt, enjoying someone else's misfortune far too much,] Eos observed, in a tone of feigned disappointment.
(I spent millennia being a serious, mysterious, and occasionally feared cosmic entity. Please let me have this small and pathetic moment of joy.)
[Fair enough. And logged.]
Fairy Hills, finally, appeared before us, and the dormitory building, with its imposing architecture, looked just as welcoming and familiar as always.
And, apparently, it was packed. Because, at the exact moment we approached the great front door, I could hear voices coming from inside. Several voices. Excited female voices, that—
"Wait a moment." Erza, beside me, stopped, her ears, metaphorically speaking, standing to attention.
"That's..."
"Lucy's voice," I identified immediately.
"And Levy's."
"And... is that, by any chance, Cana?"
"And Lisanna, most certainly."
"And, if I'm not mistaken, was that Juvia?"
Yes, that was definitely Juvia. No one else in the entire universe can speak about themself in the third person with that nearly terrifying intensity.
With perfect synchronicity, the two of us exchanged a look.
"They're... they're all here," Erza said slowly, as though processing a very complex piece of information.
"Apparently, yes."
"...All at the same time."
"Apparently."
A heavy silence, full of foreboding, settled between us.
"You know," I offered, my voice low, "we could still turn around. Quietly. Pretend we haven't arrived yet. And, who knows, come back in a few hours once the girls' club meeting has ended and—"
The door opened with a creak.
"ERZA! AZRA'IL! YOU'RE FINALLY BACK!"
(...Too late.)
Lucy, in all her glory of celestial keys, contagious energy, and nearly limitless enthusiasm, stood in the doorway with a smile from ear to ear.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Erza blinked, clearly confused by the scene.
"Oh, Levy-chan finally convinced me to come and properly see the dormitory!" Lucy, with the energy of an excitable puppy, practically bounced on the spot. "She's been inviting me here for WEEKS, and I finally had a bit of free time today, and my goodness, this place is so, so lovely! The rooms are massive! And there's a huge common room! And a kitchen! And—"
"Lucy-san is, indeed, very excited," Levy, with her sweet smile, appeared just behind her. "I told her she'd like it."
"And Juvia is here too!" Juvia's voice, loud and proud, rang out from inside the dormitory. "Juvia has finally finished moving into Fairy Hills! Juvia is now officially neighbours with all of you!"
"Yes, Juvia wanted to be closer to her new friends," Lisanna explained, appearing at the door as well, with her ever-gentle smile. "And her new room turned out very, very sweet, you have to see it!"
"Juvia decorated it with more than two hundred photographs of her beloved Gray-sama," Juvia, in a show of pride that was equal parts adorable and deeply alarming, confirmed from somewhere inside.
(Of course she did. Why am I surprised?)
[Statistically, and based on her behaviour, that was the only logical conclusion possible.]
So that was it. Lucy, finally giving in to Levy's insistence. Juvia, wanting to bond more with the guild girls. And all of them, by some cruel and terrible twist of fate, gathered on the exact and inopportune day that Erza and I were, precisely, returning from...
"But wait a moment," Lucy, suddenly, frowned. "You two went off yesterday on that one-day mission, and you're only getting back now! What happened? You could have told me, I could have gone with you!"
(Mission. Right. The mission excuse.)
I felt, beside me, Erza go completely and utterly rigid.
"Ah... well, you see... about that..." she began to stammer.
"Come in, come in, you two silly things! Don't stand out there!" With the energy of a hurricane, Lucy was already pulling us inside. "Levy-chan made wonderful tea, Cana brought... well, Cana, as always, brought the usual, and Lisanna just made biscuits! I am, officially, in love with this dormitory!"
And no, there was no escaping. We were, quite literally, dragged inside by an excessively and dangerously enthusiastic Lucy.
The Fairy Hills common room, which was normally a relatively peaceful place, was now occupied by a group I could only describe, in my thoughts, as "potentially and extremely dangerous to my mental sanity and to my privacy."
Levy was sitting comfortably on one of the sofas with a book on her lap, but she looked up and smiled when we came in. Lisanna, indeed, was in the kitchen, wearing a sweet little apron, pulling a batch of biscuits from the oven. And Cana... ah, Cana. She was, as always, sprawled in an armchair with one of her barrels beside her, and with that lazy, knowing smile of hers that always, always made me want to check my nearest escape routes.
"Look what the wind's blown back in!" she said, raising her large tankard in a toast. "Our noble warriors have returned! How did the so-called 'one-day mission' go?"
And Juvia, sitting on the floor near Levy, was watching everything eagerly with those intense, curious eyes of hers.
"It wasn't actually a mission," I said, before my brain could stop me.
And a silence. A total silence.
Every head, with an unsettling synchronicity, turned in our direction.
"It wasn't... a mission?" Lucy blinked, genuinely confused.
Beside me, I felt Erza go completely and entirely rigid. "Azra'il..." she whispered, in a tone of clear warning.
But it was too late.
"If it wasn't a mission," Levy closed her book slowly, a gleam of pure and absolute curiosity in her eyes, "what, exactly, did you two go off and do... alone... for an entire day?"
And I opened my mouth.
And closed it.
I looked at Erza.
And Erza was red. But not an ordinary red. It was a deep red, a red that rivalled her hair directly.
"It was..." she began, her voice a thread.
"A date."
And every head, once again with an unsettling synchronicity, turned towards Cana, who was smiling like the cat that hadn't just got the cream, but had devoured the whole dairy.
"WHAT?!" Lucy practically screamed.
"Yep. Mira, my faithful source of gossip, told me yesterday, after you two left," Cana shrugged, taking a long swig of whatever was in her tankard. "Our dear Azra'il finally worked up the courage and asked Erza on a mysterious date. And, judging by the state of you both..." and her eyes, mischievous, dropped to our stance, to me, who I belatedly realised still had my arm possessively wrapped around Erza's waist, because I had, apparently, entirely forgotten how to be discreet, "...I'd say it went very, very well."
"A DATE?!" Levy was on her feet now, eyes shining. "ERZA! YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH AZRA'IL AND DIDN'T TELL US ANYTHING AT ALL?!"
"I— but— it wasn't— we just—" Erza, the great and powerful Titania, terror of dark guilds, was, to my astonishment and amusement, stammering.
"And where did you go?!" Lucy joined the interrogation, her eyes shining with the excitement of a professional gossip. "What did you do?! Was it romantic?! Were there candles?!"
"And did you, by any chance, kiss?!" Lisanna, her forgotten biscuits still in hand, appeared from the kitchen.
"Juvia would like to know, with all due respect, whether it was as romantic and destined as Juvia's love for her beloved Gray-sama!"
"And did you two, by any chance, spend the night together?!" Levy was, quite literally, bouncing on the spot.
"I— we— I..." and Erza, in an act of pure and absolute desperation, looked at me.
And I, as the wonderful, supportive, and protective girlfriend that I am, did the only logical and possible thing to do in that situation.
I froze completely.
[Analysis: you are currently failing spectacularly at protecting your girlfriend from an intense interrogation. Shall I suggest a distraction manoeuvre?]
(YES, EOS. FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, YES!)
"So?" Cana, leaning forward in her armchair, with that grin of hers growing larger and more insufferable by the second, asked. "How was the long-awaited evening?"
"The evening was—" I began, without the faintest idea what I was going to say.
"NORMAL!" Erza, in a shout of pure panic, cut me off, her voice a full octave higher than usual. "IT WAS A COMPLETELY AND ENTIRELY NORMAL EVENING!"
Silence. A silence full of judgement.
And Cana, slowly, raised one of her eyebrows. "Normal, you say."
"Yes. Absolutely normal. We simply had dinner. And talked. And... and slept. WE SLEPT, ONLY AND ENTIRELY SLEPT," Erza added, with a speed and desperation that would fool absolutely no one. "Just sleeping. With our eyes closed. Fully unconscious. And nothing, absolutely nothing else."
"Mm-hm. I see."
"It's the plain truth!"
"Then, my dear Erza, explain one thing to me: why, at this precise moment, are you walking in a slightly... peculiar way?"
And I watched, in that moment, in real time, Erza's soul leave her body.
"I— I am not— it was the train seat—"
"Ah-huh. The train seat. Of course."
"IT WAS TERRIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE!"
Cana, that demon, was clearly enjoying the entire situation far more than she ought to. "And you, Azra'il?" with a smile, she turned to me. "Did you also have trouble with the discomfort of the train seat?"
"Me...? Well, I didn't notice. I was rather occupied."
"Interesting," her smile, if such a thing were possible, widened further still. "Very, very interesting."
[I should inform you that you are losing this battle in a thoroughly spectacular fashion.]
(EOS, IF YOU DO NOT, AT THIS PRECISE MOMENT, HAVE SOMETHING GENUINELY USEFUL TO CONTRIBUTE—)
[Perhaps, and this is merely a suggestion based on attention-deflection patterns, you might try changing the subject? Now?]
"BISCUITS!" I said, a touch too loudly, with feigned enthusiasm. "Lisanna, my dear, did you say you made biscuits?"
Lisanna, poor thing, blinked, genuinely confused by my abrupt and desperate change of subject. "Ah... yes? They're right over there on the—"
"WONDERFUL! PERFECT! LET'S ALL GO AND HAVE SOME BISCUITS! ERZA, YOU MOST CERTAINLY WANT SOME BISCUITS, DON'T YOU?" With the agility of someone fleeing a burning building, I was already pulling Erza towards the kitchen. "Come on, let's go and get some biscuits."
"Azra'il, there's no use trying to run away!" Lucy, naturally, followed us, with the determination of a bloodhound. "We want, and need, ALL the details!"
"What details?! There are no details! It was just a simple dinner!"
"A simple dinner that, apparently, lasted the entire night and made you both only get back now, the following morning~" Cana, from the sitting room, sang out with a mischief that made me want to throw a barrel at her head.
"CANA! YOU WITCH!"
"What? I'm simply observing the facts, Erza. And the facts are very, very interesting."
Erza, beside me, had reached a shade of red that I honestly did not know was humanly, or even magically, possible. She looked like a tomato. A deeply, deeply mortified, slightly irritated, and, to my delight, incredibly adorable tomato.
"Erza-san." Levy, suddenly, appeared on our other side, her eyes shining with the curiosity of someone who most certainly reads a great many romance novels. "But, tell me, was it at least romantic? Was she... was Azra'il romantic with you?"
"Well, I..."
"Were there candles? And flowers? And perhaps some soft music in the background?"
"Well... there was, yes, I think?"
"AAAAAAAH!" Levy, in response, practically squealed with joy. "That is so, so sweet!"
"And after dinner?" Lucy, relentless, rejoined the interrogation. "What exactly happened after dinner?"
"We... we just talked?"
"Just talked?"
"...Yes?"
"And why, again, did that come out sounding like a question?"
"IT DID NOT! NOT IN THE LEAST!"
"Erza." Cana, with a laziness that belied her cunning, appeared in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the frame. And her eyes, sharp as an eagle's, swept over Erza from head to toe, in a slow and detailed analysis. "You look... different."
"Different how, exactly?"
"You've got a... glow about you." And Cana took a long, satisfied sip from her tankard. "That particular glow. The glow of someone who, without any doubt, had a rather excellent evening."
"I don't have any sort of glow whatsoever—"
"You do. It's practically radiating off you," Cana pointed at her. "It's the glow of the purest and most crystalline satisfaction. The famous post—"
"CANA!"
"What? I was going to say 'post-romantic-dinner glow', you dirty-minded thing."
Erza's face was on fire.
"And," Cana continued casually, as though remarking on the weather, "that small and suspicious red mark on your neck? Right there, just below your ear?"
And Erza, in an act of pure and absolute panic, brought her hand to her neck so fast she nearly slapped herself. "W-what mark?! There's no mark at all!"
"Hmm. Looks an awful lot like a love bite to me."
"IT IS NOT A LOVE BITE! It was a... a... a branch! From a tree! I tripped!"
"A tree branch that, conveniently, left a perfectly oval mark in the exact shape of a mouth?"
And the sound that came from poor, cornered Erza was somewhere between a panicked squeal and a groan of absolute defeat.
"Juvia, if she may say so, is very impressed by the technique," Juvia murmured from her corner, with the air of a connoisseur.
"JUVIA!"
"Cana, you demon," I finally intervened, feeling a pang of sympathy for my poor, tormented girlfriend. "Would you please stop torturing Erza?"
"And why would I do that? It's so much fun." But she, with a theatrical sigh, raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll stop. For now."
The look she gave me, however, promised that this was very, very far from over.
And, eventually, after a few more embarrassing questions, a few more desperate changes of subject, and a few more moments in which Erza looked as though she wished the ground would swallow her whole, we finally managed to escape the interrogation and take refuge in her room.
The door had barely closed when Erza, with the force of someone finally able to collapse, threw herself onto her own bed, covering her face with her hands. "I am going to die," she announced, her voice muffled by her fingers. "I am, officially, going to die of pure embarrassment. And it will be the first death by mortification in the entire long and glorious history of Fairy Tail."
With an amused smile, I sat down beside her, running an affectionate hand through her red hair. "Ah, I don't think so. You actually did very well."
"I STAMMERED, Azra'il. I stammered. Titania. The great and powerful Titania, stammered."
"Yes. And it was adorable."
"It was not adorable. It was thoroughly pathetic."
"It was, then, adorably pathetic."
With a grunt, she looked at me from between her fingers. "...I hate you a little bit right now, you know."
"No, you don't."
"...No. But I should, with every fibre of my being."
I laughed softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Now rest a little, you dramatic thing. You need it."
"And you? Where are you off to?"
"Me? I'm not going anywhere," I said, settling beside her and gently pulling her against me. "I'm going to stay right here. Looking after you."
And she, with a sigh that was equal parts relief and exhaustion, finally nestled against my side, without the slightest resistance. "The girls are most certainly going to keep asking."
"Probably."
"Cana is going to be absolutely impossible."
"Definitely."
"And Mira, somehow, is going to find out every small and embarrassing detail."
"Inevitably."
And Erza groaned.
"Why, in the name of everything, did I decide to fall in love with and date someone from this guild?"
"Because you love me."
"...That's... debatable." But she was smiling against my shoulder. And, as she relaxed against me, her breathing finally slowing, growing deeper, I let my own thoughts wander.
[She is nearly, nearly asleep.]
(Yes, I know.)
[It has been a rather... eventful morning.]
(Yes, it has.)
And I looked at Erza, nearly asleep, trusting me, safe in my arms. And, for the first time in a very, very long while, I smiled, closing my eyes. Outside our room, I could still hear the girls' excited voices, most likely still speculating in great detail about what, exactly, had happened during our night away.
(They would, most certainly, never know the truth. And it was better that way.)
For now, in that exact moment, I had a stubborn and tired little redhead to look after. And that, to my surprise, was more than enough.
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Author's Note:
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Just a completely innocent question.
Absolutely no hidden meaning.
Purely hypothetical. 👀
If, by some incredibly unlikely coincidence... Erza happened to have a little bun in the oven...
What do you think it would be?
🐺 A little wolf boy?
🐺 A little wolf girl?
And, more importantly...
What name would you give them?
I'm genuinely curious to see what kind of chaos you all come up with in the comments. 😂
P.S. Azra'il has already informed me that she refuses to accept names like "Mini Titania," "Wolf Jr.," or anything equally embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Eos has begun recording every single suggestion... for scientific purposes, of course.