Lahar's P.O.V

She sat across the table from me, poking at the entré she ordered. 

"Something... Wrong?" I asked curiously. Did she not like the food here? I'd have no problem buying her something else if she didn't like what she ordered. We could even go somewhere else if she wanted. Am I being irrational again?

"No, nothings wrong," She stated shyly, "Just thinking about something," She twirled the pasta on the edge of her fork.

"Well, if you want to talk about something, I'll be right here." I told her, giving her a warm smile. She returned the expression and looked as if she were about to say something.

"Okay, well... This is kind of awkward, but..." She flushed pink and set her fork down, then proceeded in placing her hands on her lap. She looked down, and got extremely quiet. I was beginning to grow worried  when she didn't say anything more, but before I could say or do anything, she spoke again. As she did, it was barely audible. I had to replay it in my head a few times just to make sure I heard correctly.

"It's just that I like you a lot, and I don't know if you feel the same way back... I like you more than a lot..."

I tensed up, unsure what to do. An unsettling, unfamiliar happiness flowed through my body. I felt the same way. Of course I did! Just then, I realized a heat radiating from my face. Was I... blushing? Again!? This is so embarrassing! 

I just comprehended I'd been sitting in silence this whole time, probably scaring her more and more every second

I finally let my feelings show, and I let a wide smile spread across my face. I laughed from how exhilarated her confession made me.

"L-Lahar?" She asked, looking up sympathetically, "What's so funny?" She continued, her tone now defensive.

"You are, Akemi." I announced gleefully. She placed her hands on the table harshly, most likely thinking I was making fun of her feelings. I need to remember to react at a faster rate, or else I'm afraid she might get the wrong impression quite a bit...

 "Of course I feel the same way!" I beamed, taking her hands into mine gently. 

"R-really?" She asked, her expression softening.

"Really." I replied, picking up one of her hands to place a kiss on the back of it. I did it without thinking. What if she didn't want me to? What if that was too forward? What if she gets creeped out now?

She giggled and gave her famous, beautiful smile. It made my heart melt, and I couldn't help but do the same. 

"Come'on, let's go! I wanna go somewhere fun!" She cheered, getting out of her seat. Our hands were still linked, so she dragged me up with her.

"You have a habit of dragging me places,"

"You have a habit of not keeping up!" She joked, jabbing my  side and began to pull me along behind her. I quickly tossed money on the table (Which was way more than what we owed, but it's not like I had time to give the proper amount), and tried to keep at her pace. 

This was going to be... Different.

Erza's P.O.V

The sky was fading in teal and navy ómbre as Jellal and I walked out to meet Meldy at the edge of the water. She was smiling at the water and watching a fish swim in figure eights. 

"Hey, that looks like Ebony!" Jellal said, grinning like a little boy at the water, "Isn't he cute?" He asked without looking up. He put his finger in the water, and surprisingly the fish didn't run away. It instead began circling his finger in a playful manner. 

"The cutest!" Meredy cheerily agreed.

"You have a way with fish," I shook my head laughing. 

"Awww! you missed me, didn't you Ebony? It's been awhile!" He cooed at the fish, talking to it as if it were his baby. 

"Wait, Jelly, that can't be Ebony because fish can't liv-" Meredy started, but I immediately covered her mouth with my hand.  I shook my head at her with wide eyes, telling her not to say anything.

"Huh?" Jellal asked, looking up from the fish for a moment, "What did you say, Meldy?"

"Nothing!" We said in unison, my hand removed from her visage. 

Jellal jumped a little before he returned his attention to 'Ebony', "Did you just rub against my finger? You're so cute! I missed you too, buddy!"

Meldy leaned into me, "Wow, he really loves that fish! Jelly shows that fish more attention than his girlfriend!"

I was drawn back a bit, being called his girlfriend by someone else for the first time before. It was different, but it caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach. I swallowed harshly, trying to rid my system of  the dreaded 'butterfly' feeling. And hold on, he shows that fish more attention than me? 

"What makes Jellal happy makes me happy too, it's nice seeing him like this..." I stated coyly, looking away from her. 

"Are you suuuure you're not even the least bit jealous?"

"Erza scarlet? Jealous of a fish? Please." I replied with a cold tone. I looked over to see Jellal playing with his fish some more, chanting sweet phrases and compliments. 

"Aren't you just the cutest thing? Aren't you? You're my favorite-est thing in the whole wide world! Yes you are- yes you are!" Jellal was talking to the fish in a baby voice, and it was completely comical. However... I thought I was his favorite. Does this fish think it can even come close to me? It isn't even the real Ebony! The more I heard from Jellal, the more my face scrunched up.

"Somebody's getting jeeeeealous!" Meldy sang while poking my cheek.

"Erza Scarlet... Is never jealous!" I pronounced nobly with a fist raised in defense.

"Erzy-Werzy's getting mad!"

"ERZY-WERZY IS GOING TO STRIKE YOU IF YOU CONTINUE SPEAKING!" I shouted, raising Meldy up by the collar.

Meldy giggled wildly, finding amusement in my frustrations.

 Suddenly, silence consumed the air. 

"Your shouting... Made Ebony swim away..." Jellal said sadly, looking at the empty, murky lake water.

My expression dropped almost as quickly as I dropped Meldy, who stumbled to find her stance.

"I-I'm sorry," I said quietly, regretting my aggressiveness.

"No... It's okay..." He said, standing up, his back towards me. Crickets began to sing in the distance, as the last fragments of light in the sky were slipping away.  "Because..." Jellal started in a low volume,

He pivoted and ran at me, swiftly picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder like I was nothing; "It's okay because I made Erza Scarlet jealous of a fish!" He said laughing hysterically while running towards the house, with me in tow. 

At first I was stunned, but then came to my senses and started punching his back and kicking my legs. "Put me down! And I was NOT jealous!" I shouted angrily. "MELDY!" I bawled, lifting my head to look at her as she stood on the grass, unmoving. "HELP ME!" 

She shook her head with an evil grin, and watched as Jellal took me away. How could she.

"Stop acting like you're not enjoying it!" Jellal yelled back at me.

"I'm not! Now put me down!" 

He pushed the front door open to the house, and walked through the entry into the first room he saw. 

"Jellal if you don't put me down, I swear to-"

He carefully tossed me onto the bed and then held himself over me, causing me to blush. 

"You swear to what?" He asked with one eyebrow raised. When I didn't answer, a smile crept up his face remembering a few minutes ago, "A fish! You got jealous of a fish!"

I felt my blush deepen, and looked away from him. I crossed my arms and made a face at his accusations. 

"How could you be jealous of something so little?" He said softly, turning his head to meet my gaze.

"I'm not," I replied, closing my eyes and refusing to look at him.

"Are you sure?"

"Certainly."

"Positive?"

"Of course."

"Because I find it really cute. But if you're not- I mean- that's okay too..." He said smoothly, trying to get me to admit that I was.

I didn't respond.

"No answer?"

Nope.

"Hmm maybe I'll go and play with Ebony again. He's probably jealous of you right now," He said calmly, moving to get off the bed. 

As he removed his focus from me, I opened my eyes to see the back of his head and a small portion of his face. As if instinctively, he looked at my from the corner of his eye and smirked. "Unless you don't want me to."

"Fine!" I said, tugging at his sleeve. "I thought I was your favorite anyways..." 

His smirk widened, revealing some of his teeth, "You are, silly," He said, moving closer to me once again. "You'll always be my favorite. You're much more fun to play games with than that fish anyways."

I smiled happily at his words for a moment, then paused.

"Wait- are you trying to say you set this all up and purposely made me jealous?"

In response, he gave me a devilish smile. "I'm smarter than I look, huh?" 

"Jellal I-"

He pressed a finger against my lips, 

"Shh,"

 He leaned in slowly and kissed me tenderly.

"You know I love games," He purred with that very well-known smirk of his.

I tried to say something, but words escaped me. I was transfixed by him.

Without warning, his expression changed from seductive to excited.

"W-Wha?"

"There's something I forgot to tell you about!"

"Uh-Um- Y-yea what is it?" I asked, completely off guard.

Before speaking, Jellal pulled back and rearranged himself to sit with his legs crossed in front of him. He set an elbow up on his knee and held his face in it; looking like he was deep in thought. He looked into blank space, his excited expression fading to a blank stare.

"I've been thinking: If Meldy and I have been too weak to face our enemy, I wondered how you and I would do. Of course, our magics are both strong and well-trained. Yours, above all, never fails to astound,"

"Where are you going with this?" I questioned, bewildered.

"I've just been thinking, is all," He shrugged lazily, "And I thought of something  we could try. It's highly unlikely it'll work or be successful but if we can make it work- this attack should be able to defeat even the strongest of enemies."

"That's an interesting thought, I have to admit. But our magics are nearly impossible to balance together- they're both too powerful. We might end up injuring each other if we try, and I don't know if I want to take that risk." I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair. 

"That's why I said it's highly unlikely. But I think we should try, it's our best shot at defeating Asmodai. Will you hear me out?"

"I'm all ears." I said, sitting myself up across from him.

"The attacks I'm thinking of combining aren't our strongest personally, so they'll be easier to sync. Once they do sync, I truly believe the power will be able to annihilate our enemy. Your Circle Sword attack from your Heaven's Wheel armor working alongside my Grand Chariot spell would be a lovely combination, don't you think?" He smiled at me hopefully,

"That's going to require extensive training-"

"You don't mind spending a little more time with me, do you?" He asked with a wink.

I rolled my eyes at his flirting, "Of course not. We can start training tomorrow. I know just the place."

"I almost can't wait," He said with a sigh of relief. 

"Almost?" I inquired,

"Well, I suppose I can wait. That's all."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm more or less enjoying where I am right now. I have what's truly important right next to me. Why would I want to be anywhere else?" He stated, looking at the walls of the room.

"Oh, shut up," I said jokingly with a smile as I jumped on him, causing us both to fall backwards onto the bed laughing. I kissed him in between smiles, and allowed the butterflies in my stomach to flutter on.