We Are Young

Track 01: Don’t Let It Be Love
..aka “Erza Has a Boyfriend”

“I hope I don’t fall head over heels ’cause I know how it’s gonna feel.
When it crashes and it burns, it’ll be too much.”
— Bowling for Soup

Fairy Gakuen, like any other high school, is a busy affair in the mornings. Students were just coming in, ready to start their day of learning-…

Oh, who am I kidding? This is Fairy High: some were rowdily running past the school gates, some trying to make their way to school in peace, some were hurrying up because they have homework to copy-.. err, work on, while two in particular were trying to beat the living lights out of each other.

Lucy just got off the car when she was almost knocked off her feet as two boys wrestled their way past her and towards the school building. She turned to see Natsu and Gray trying to kill each other with their weapons of choice: a bottle of tabasco sauce and a pack of ice respectively.

“OI, LUIGI, LAST ONE TO CLASS WILL BE CALLED UGLY FOR THE WHOLE WEEK!” Natsu shouted as he punched Gray in the face. “AND WE’RE WAAAAY AHEAD OF Y—” He was cut off when Gray punched him too.

As the boys ran faster, Lucy shouts, “WHO ARE YOU CALLING LUIGI?!”

“You alright, love?” Lucy turned to see Loke looking at her worriedly from the driver’s seat.

She sighed, then smiled at her thoughtful bodyguard. “I’m used to it.” she said as she accepted her schoolbag from him. “You should get going now.”

The bodyguard opened his arms and Lucy just rolled her eyes and gave him what he wanted — a hug. He was mumbling about parting with her for even a minute breaking his fragile loyal heart. Lucy simply pat his back and said, “At ease, lion.” Finally, Loke withdrew and got back in the car to head home.

“Luigi has a boyfrieeeennndddd!” Natsu teased from a few meters ahead, still struggling on his match with Gray.

“MY NAME IS NOT LUIGI!” With expert precision, Lucy turned and threw her school bag towards the pink-haired young man’s face, knocking him to the ground. Gray quickly got up but Lucy was already running towards them. The blonde grabbed her bag and then swiftly stuck out a leg, tripping Gray and making him land on a barely-recovering Natsu.

Then she ran inside the school building because SHE WILL NOT BE CALLED UGLY FOR THE WHOLE WEEK, DAMMIT.

That’s when it really started.

It started the way Juvia’s favorite shoujo manga starts — Lucy was there to witness it. She had just managed to gain a two-floor advantage against Natsu and Gray in their race when Lucy caught up to their school’s Student Council President, Primary Disciplinary Officer and Official Terror.

“Good morning, Erza!” the blonde greeted cheerfully.

Erza Scarlet smiled back. “Good morning, Lucy. You’re running?”

“On a race with Natsu and Gray.”

“Who’s winning?”

“Me.”

Erza chuckled. “They’ll never win if they’re too busy ignoring the third contestant.” Really, Lucy thought, Fairy High’s ‘Titania’ isn’t really scary when she’s in a good mood.

Then, as the two of them rounded a corner, the usually proper, serene and graceful Erza almost fell back to the floor as someone bumped into her. The Titania would have landed in quite an ungraceful position but the person had reached out a hand to grab her arm and steady her.

Lucy looked up at the guy — blue hair, red tattoo on one of his cheeks and a very shocked but apologetic expression on his handsome face. Erza looked too, but her usual sermon of ‘Please be more responsible and watch where you’re going to avoid accidents, thank you!’ was gone.

There was something in the way they looked at each other that stopped Lucy from asking Erza if she’s alright (which was really the proper thing to do, but): Erza and the handsome young man were more surprised than they’re supposed to be.

“Erza?” voice smooth, deep, and questioning. It snapped both girls out of their daze.

Erza blinked and straightened herself — “Jellal?”

Lucy has never heard of that name before.

The young man stood there surprised for a while, but then he smiled and chuckled. “No, it’s Mystogan.”

“Mysto!” For the first time, Lucy saw Erza blush as she quickly stepped back and held up both hands, looking at the ground. “Oh, I’m sorry! I-.. I thought, well since he and I are— I mean, I… I’m really sorry, you surprised me! You’re here! I didn’t know! Uh, why?”

Mystogan laughed gently and put his hands in his pockets. He looked back at Erza fondly. “It’s good to see you. I just transferred today. I didn’t know you studed here.”

“Really?” Erza smiled pleasantly, but Lucy noted a little light in the red-head’s eyes. “You guys are back in Magnolia, then?”

“Yes.” he nodded. “Is that all you want to ask, though?”

Lucy saw Erza hesitate, and then the red-head expertly diverted the topic. “Of course! Well, class is about to start! Do you know your classroom yet? I have to get to my class too, but maybe I can help you.”

Mystogan shook his head. “I’m fine. I’ve got myself covered, I was just heading for the toilet…”

“You’re heading the right way.” Erza said, then gestured to the direction she and Lucy had come from. “Straight down this hallway.”

“Thanks.” Mystogan pat her shoulder and walked past the girls. “I’ll see you around? You and your friend?” Finally, he addressed Lucy with a pleasant, polite smile.

The blonde nodded slightly. “Lucy Hearfilia! Please call me Lucy.”

“Mystogan. Nice to meet you, Lucy.”, then back to Erza. “Maybe I’ll look for you on my break.”

Erza simply nodded. “You’ll find me in 3-A. Let’s catch up sometime.”

“3-A. I’m on 3-B.” The young man walked away with a small grin on his face. A few good meters away, he called, “I’ll tell Jellal you want to see him! He’s still in love with you!”

Erza blushed and stuttered, and for Lucy that was another first: “W-WHA— MYSTO!” But the guy had already escaped to the boy’s washroom.

“I just saw you blush and stutter over a boy.” Lucy said, continuing the walk to class and smiling slyly at Erza.

As her coping mechanism, Erza adjusted her red-rimmed glasses and tried to look stern. She failed. “I-I was surprised! I haven’t seen them since I was in gradeschool, they moved out of Magnolia with their parents and baby sister!”

“That Mystogan guy is nice…”

Erza didn’t answer that.

“So who’s Jellal?”

Erza didn’t answer that too, but Lucy has ways. Lucy flipped open her phone and proceeded to text Juvia and Levy every single detail.

Both bluenettes were on Erza by the time Erza and Lucy reached the classroom.

Erza spilled it the undignified way, all stammers and blushes. Really — the girls didn’t know it would be so freaking easy.

It was adorable, watching Erza splutter out the beans: “W-W-Well when I was a kid, I-I-I… errr… n-no one l-liked me much because I was an orphan and b-because I didn’t like to play w-with girls very much, a-and then Jellal became m-my friend and we… w-w-well, we were…”

“You were…?” Levy chided. Lucy and Juvia leaned closer.

“We w-w-were v-very good f-friends! I.. I g-guess we were close?”

“So who is this Mystogan-san?” Juvia asks.

“Mysto i-i-is Jellal’s twin.”

“TWIN?!” the girls exclaimed.

“Y-Yes, they’re identical! T-Though Mysto liked to stay indoors, so I d-d-didn’t always g-get to play with h-him much, but me and Jellal, w-we s-s-see each other ev-everyday… Sadly they left Magnolia when we w-were eight. I d-didn’t have other friends until Cana and Gray came along.”

“Erza, why are you stammering?” Lucy asked, because she didn’t think it’s all that embarrassing to have a very good-looking childhood friend back in town.

“It’s embarrassing!”

“Why?” the girls asked in unison.

“I n-never forgot that b-b-before they left, Jellal said that when they come back, h-he’ll marry me! I know he was a k-kid and he w-was probably joking, but s-s-still—”

But then there were screeches and then Erza was listening to them asking every single detail about every single moment of the marriage promise. Erza had to spill more beans when Levy shook her back and forth and Lucy threatened that if Erza’s not telling, she’ll be asking Mystogan: “W-Wha— He was telling me about how they were g-going to move out of t-town and t-then when I said it’ll b-be sad w-without him he s-said not to worry b-because he’ll come back be-b-because he still had to m-marry me—”

Erza ended her story with, “HE WAS A KID!”

“HE’S IN LOVE WITH YOU!” the three insisted. “HE STILL IS!”

“Don’t believe in his stupid twin brother!” Erza knew then that she’s in deep trouble — she’s in the company of a romance novel writer, a romance novel reader, and Juvia. Yeah — Juvia. It can’t be any worse than that. “I’M SURE HE FOUND OTHER GIRLS!”

“We’re sure he remembers you!” Levy insisted, gripping Erza’s hands. “We’re sure he will still want to marry you!”

Lucy added. “You’re beautiful and if those two are identical, he IS drop-dead handsome! Your babies will be beautiful!”

And finally, Juvia grabbed Erza’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “True love knows no bounds!”

Erza gave up — they were believers.

It’s not that she wasn’t a believer herself — it’s just that it has never really been her priority. The idea of romance has always taken her aback. She was the kind of girl who lets the others have the dolls and the shiny jewels and the tea parties. She was the kind of girl who is content to watch while she eats her strawberry cake — that is, if she wasn’t busy brawling with the boys, shouting at them to behave.

Erza is eighteen and many boys found her beautiful, but for them she was always that one girl you have to admire from afar. Natsu and Gray were out of the question: they were practically her brothers. There were still others who wanted to try but backed out at the last minute, though. Erza was the girl who was out of anybody’s league. Erza didn’t know that, but her friends do. And if Erza knew, her friends think she wouldn’t really give a damn.

She patiently told Levy, Lucy and Juvia that she wouldn’t like to indulge in relationships for the meantime. She has her priorities.

They shut up for a while, but Levy mumbled “And now we wait.” to which the other two nodded dutifully. Erza was too busy defending herself to notice.

Lucy, Levy and Juvia keep a silent agreement — ‘We wait because this guy might just be the one.’

They believed in ‘the one’ and Erza didn’t really think that was practical.

When lunchbreak hit, Erza was thankful that the girls had yet to press on the matter with her again. Levy had gone with Jet and Droy to get some lunch in the cafeteria. Juvia had gone to look for Gray to give him his bento. Lucy and Erza headed over to the Student Council club room.

“Erza, Lucy!” Max, their treasurer, greeted them as they entered. “I was just about to leave. Laki asked me to duplicate the cultural festival flyers.”

“They’re ready so soon?” Lucy asked excitedly.

“Yep. That’s our Laki.” Max said with a wink.

“Good. Thanks, Max.” Erza smiled. The guy simply gave her a thumbs up sign and then went out. On her table, their secretary, Laki, left a note saying she’s busy with a research assignment in the library. They didn’t mind that she was always out. Laki was very responsible.

Erza, president, sat on her own desk and started shuffling through various papers. Lucy had her own tasks to do as the vice president. For a few minutes, they started to work, then Lucy stood up and told Erza that she was going to the cafeteria to eat.

Lucy was just finishing up last minute notes when there was a knock on the door.

It couldn’t be Natsu or Gray — they just barge in, or even Cana, Levy or Juvia — they knock and then let themselves in without prompting.

Lucy got the door and greeted cheerfully — “Yes, how may I-… YOU MUST BE JELLAL.” she said, doing a double-take as she stared at the blue-haired young man with a red tattoo on his cheek, wearing the uniform of Fairy Gakuen’s prestigious neighboring school, Sorciere High. The blonde quickly smiled and said, “Erza is right here, please OH PLEASE come in. I’m Lucy if you should call me anything but you won’t, because I’ll be leaving you two alone now!”

The young man named Jellal was too dumbfounded to say anything, but he tried: “Uhhh—”

“YOU’RE WELCOME!” In a rush, Lucy pulled who must be Jellal inside the office as Erza stood up from her chair and tried desperately to get her to stay. Lucy had grabbed her bag and quickly said something about Natsu waiting for her. “See you ’round! Go for gold, Erza!”

As she closed the door behind her, Lucy could feel the awkward atmosphere inside the office. It was practically leaking out the room.

She heard Erza clearing her throat and then, trying hard to keep the stammer away, say “Jellal! It’s so g-g-good to see you! Please, make yourself comfortable! Take a s-seat, I just met M-M-Mystogan earlier—”

“U-Um… Thanks, yeah he told me… Say, did I do anything to the girl—”

“Lucy?”

“—yes, to Lucy-san, err, is she always like that?”

“She’s just… really in a, um, hurry. Take a seat, please!”

Lucy heard shuffling as she hurriedly texted Juvia and Levy — it seems Levy’s ‘wait’ prediction wouldn’t last too long.

“Mysto said you were studying here, so I thought I’d quickly drop by. I really wanted to see you.”

“O-Oh… um, yes, it’s nice seeing you too…”

‘Go, Titania.’ Lucy inwardly cheered. ‘Just don’t stammer!’

“We just moved back in. I got in to Sorciere.”

“Yeah, the uniform. I see that… Congratulations, only the smartest could get in there!”

“Thanks. Umm… I thought I’d just ask how you’re doing. It’s been so long and you’re the only friend I have from here—”

“I’m sure you’ll make a lot of new friends now that you’re back!” her voice was dignified and Lucy can practically see Erza regaining her composure. She’s back to being brave Erza Scarlet who can conquer all the delinquent gangs bullying Fairy High’s students.

“Erza?”

“Yes?”

“Are you okay? Your face is red…”

“No, I’m perfectly fine. Um, would you like some tea?”

“Oh, if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother. Yes, thank you.”

Awkward silence followed. The only sounds heard were the sounds of china teacups being set on the table. Lucy saw Juvia and Levy just heading hurriedly towards her. She gestured for them to hurry up and listened through the office door.

Lucy then heard Jellal break the ice: “I almost forgot. I thought it’d be rude to visit without warning or bringing you anything. So to make up for it, I brought you a strawberry cake—”

There was a sound of a china slamming against the table followed by Erza’s excited shriek: “OH MY GOD — CAKE! I LOVE YOU!”

Lucy gaped and looked at Levy and Juvia who both made it just in time for the declaration.

“Well, that escalated quickly.” Levy said, although she herself looked every bit shaken.

The girls think that Jellal is goddamned lucky, knowing the Titania’s only weakness and knowing when to use it.

Erza Scarlet — Fairy High’s Most Outstanding Pupil, Student Council President and Official Terror — was quick to succumb to strawberry cake specially on tense situations.

Jellal Fernandez is daaaaamn lucky.

Nevertheless, the girls give each other high fives and think, ‘Finally!’

On afterschool cleaning duty, Natsu and Gray were, for once, not arguing and were focused on sweeping the floors. Erza dropped by to check on them (because last time, they burned down half the school when they were only supposed to clear the chalkboard).

“Hey, you two.” Erza greeted. “No burning down anything this time, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” the two said monotonously. They were being good. They didn’t want to make Erza mad—

Then Natsu said, “Hey Erza, you have a boyfriend now?”

Erza paused, looking at Natsu’s curious expression. “What?”

“The girls said someone came over to bring you cake and it’s not the delivery boy.” Natsu said, then he pointed at Gray. “I asked Gray what the hell that meant and he said ‘What the fuck, Erza has a boyfriend’.”

Gray stiffened. Erza glared at him, then turned to Natsu, smiling a patient smile. “Natsu,” Erza said in a tone she usually used for preschool children. “Gray was wrong—”

Suddenly Gray said, “What’s his name?”

“Jellal— WAIT, NO-!”

“Hah! Got you!” Natsu said, pointing at the girl mockingly. Gray sniggered, and then both boys high-fived.

Erza whipped her shinai out of nowhere. She’s been known to do that.

The boys look at her in alarm. They’ve made Fairy Gakuen’s kendo champion take on her kendo pose…

“Natsu, run.” Gray mumbled, and then both of them charged towards the window and jumped out screaming for forgiveness.

Erza made a mental note to deal with ‘the girls’ too.

God help her if Mira hears about it.

But what Erza had to deal with at the moment is the fact there’s this part of her that’s practically nagging on herself, insisting that maybe some romance wouldn’t be bad at all.