Sweetheart

51

Aina looked across to Natsu to see him squirming in his seat.

"Natsu, are you alright? I've never seen you this restless."

Natsu looked up at her, but his eyes drifted to the piles of books scattered across the table in the library. He nodded stiffly and picked up his book for English to try to read. The pages seemed to blur, the writing proving to be impossible to read. He silently cursed at the book and his inability to focus. Aina looked over to him and propped her head up on her hand.

"Natsu?"

"Do we have to tell your mom today?" He blurted before blushing and lifting his book to block her from his view.

A small giggle sounded and she gently pushed the book down so she could see him.

"It's not like you're meeting her for the first time."

"Yeah but--"

"Pst. Dragneel, let's go."

Natsu scanned the room before Aina pointed over to the backdoor where Gajeel and Loke were. He took another look at Aina before she made a "shoo" gesture. The salmon hair quietly slinked out of the library with his friends.

Gajeel punched Natsu on the shoulder once they were down the hall.

"What the fuck was that for?"

"You seriously need to drop that."

"Drop what?"

"Dude the principal isn't even checking in on you to see if you're actually with her, so just skip out. It's free period anyway, so he can't do a thing about it."

"I'm just taking extra precautions because the court is on my ass," he lied.

"God you have shitty luck being paired with the most boring person in school."

"I mean there has to be someone more boring than her," Natsu reasoned, subtly defending her.

"Dude she snuck into the tunnel in the band room...to do schoolwork."

Loke ended the conversation by tapping them on the shoulders and pointing out that the security guard would be starting his rounds. They had successfully slipped out of the school and into the lower level of the parking garage to meet the rest of their group.

"What the hell took you so long?" Bickslow questioned.

"This idiot wouldn't leave the library," Gajeel grunted.

"Why would you wanna be in the library?"

"I have--"

"Because his girlfriend sits with him and he just didn't wanna leave her," Gajeel interrupted.

Natsu rolled his eyes and asked Sting for a beer, which was tossed to him. He sat on the ledge with his legs stretched out and leaned his head on the concrete column that his back leaned against.

"So are you trying to fuck her or something?"

The salmon haired boy whipped his head over to Bickslow.

"Don't give me that look."

"I told you, the principal is making me stay with her."

Sting started to chuckle, drawing the attention over to him.

"What's up with you, blondie?"

"You guys are grilling him like he's dating the principal's daughter or something. Just chill."

He made eye contact with Natsu and winked at him when nobody was looking.

-------

Natsu dragged himself into his health class and sat at his seat along the wall, propping his feet on the desk to the side of him. Everyone else started filing in and taking their seats. Aina entered the class and gave her usual greeting to the teacher, and they started having a short conversation before the starting bell rang. Natsu's eyes were glued to her as she smiled and laughed with the teacher.