Sweetheart

101

It took a total of four seconds for Aina to make it over to Natsu. And after that fourth second, the young girl clung to him, almost as if she was afraid that he would disappear if she let go. Natsu let out a small wince, causing Aina to gasp and quickly release him from her death-like hold.

Her apology came out broken as she continued to fight the tears that threatened to fall. She looked over to the nurses for reassurance, and when she got the confirmation that he was actually awake, she broke down. Brown waves covered her face as she held her hands by her eyes. And that was when she went to collapse on the floor like many times before. The head nurse caught her before she could, and he quickly got her a chair to sit in by the side of Natsu's bed.

The nurse tending to Natsu continued to check him over. In her presence, Natsu leaned away from her whenever she would come close. It was, afterall, going off his instincts from all the times before. Natsu's eyes trailed over Aina's figure, a small frown present.

"Was anyone here when you woke up?" Kelia asked.

Natsu scoffed, shook his head, and gave an 'of course there wasn't' before letting out a small hiss when the nurse adjusted his bed. Kelia sighed and gave a comforting smile. Aina had recovered after a few minutes, but Natsu had not.

"What happened?" She questioned. "What did he do?"

"Uh, stabbed and shot me. What else?"

His voice was cold, dripping with irritation as he answered her question. Not one to forget her reflexes when she heard such a voice, her whole body tensed. And suddenly, she became painfully aware of the fact that he had been facing away from her. The nurses sensed the tension in the room, prompting them to dismiss themselves so they could let the pair do whatever they needed to work it out. Kelia looked between them and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you two have going on needs to stop now."

Aina gave her mother an anxious look, but it was denied by her mother's stare. Natsu had, on the other hand, not made eye contact with the therapist. His eyes were downcast, his frown was still present, his fingers tapped in the side railing of the bed.

"I'll give you the room to have this discussion," Kelia announced. "Use it."

And with that, Aina's mother left the room in search of a report from the nurses and doctor. The two teens sat in silence for a good few minutes, Aina nervously picking at her fingers and Natsu staring blankly at the food in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Natsu," she cut the silence. "I panicked. I spent my whole life trying to please people, and I guess I just felt that pressure again."

"Yeah, okay. Because that makes it better. Sorry I don't fit your vision of a relationship that's approved by others enough to maintain your stupid reputation."

"That's not it at all!" She argued. "What I'm trying to say is that I now know that people's opinions of me don't matter when compared to how much you matter to me. I never meant to hurt you. Hell, that's the last thing I would want to do to you. I care so much about you and I just...this is all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself for putting you in danger. But I'll also never forgive myself for hurting you like that."

His eyes made brief eye contact with her before they flashed back to his untouched pudding.

"I promise you," Aina continued. "I promise you that I would never be embarrassed to be around you. I almost lost you, and that finally snapped back to realize what and who was important to me."

"What's the order?" Natsu spoke up.

Aina let out a confused 'huh?' to his question.

"Where am I in the list of people that are important to you?" His face held a serious expression, but the glint in his eyes told Aina something different.