"Wait, don't—" baby food splattered on Zeref's face, a deadpan look spreading along his features.

The look doesn't last long before he’s laughing, scolding your daughter as she bursts into a fit of giggles in the wake of her destruction. He treats your child as if she was his own. He doesn't mind looking after your daughter while you were out on an errand. It's the least he can do for you, really. With nothing anything planned for today, he was as free as a bird. It’s also not as if his entire schedule practically revolved around you.

You're his friend—for now—but he’s patient. He’s waited this long enough, he could wait just a little bit longer. You've recently just gotten out a marriage, and while he did do something relating to it, tender wounds don't heal easily. He's just glad your spouse was finally out of the picture. Years without you was nothing short but grueling, even more so watching the three of you play house. Zeref never blamed you from falling in love with someone else other than him. Sure, it hurt, knowing that you picked them over him, but it was partly because the two of you didn’t know each other well at the time as much as he liked despite dating on and off during your college years.

Now, the two of you were good friends. Close friends. And after staying close by to where you lived (no, it’s definitely not a coincidence. He just happened to move in to the apartment a few blocks down from yours!), you often crossed paths with one another. He’s just glad you’re still in the area. It’s not like you had any other place to go to, anyway. At least, not somewhere far away, and he wasn’t complaining in the slightest. It makes things all too easier to see you. Whether by happenstance or on purpose.