Camp Crush |✔️|

The Archery Coach

"I like archery day," five-year-old Erica confided in Lucy's ear that morning, her chubby little arms wrapped around Lucy's neck while Lucy carried her across the lawn. Lucy's group was comprised mostly of 10-12 year-olds, but Erica had been crying unceasingly for the first three days after her parents had dropped her off at camp a couple of weeks ago. For whatever reason, Lucy had been the only one who had been able to get her to stop, so every day, Lucy came and picked Erica up to join her group for the morning, and then brought her back in time to join the younger groups, which started their camp activities a little later in the day. It kept the wide-eyed brunette girl happy during the day and she was slowly adjusting and gaining a little more independence and warming up to her own counselor, Gray.

'Me, too,' Lucy silently agreed, spotting a familiar pink head of hair on the archery course. "Oh?" she asked Erica. "Why's that?"

"I like Natsu," Erica explained quietly, her little face turning bright pink.

Lucy grinned. Erica had a crush. Cute. The sound of an arrow whistling through the air reached their ears and she looked over again to see that the archery coach, Natsu Dragneel, had just embedded an arrow directly in the center of a target several yards away. He'd obviously been out here for a while, Lucy noted, her mouth going a little dry as she observed the thin sheen of sweat on Natsu's brow and his damp white T-shirt, which was clinging to his very well-defined body.

Erica wasn't the only one with a crush.

But Natsu was 18 to Lucy's 16, and he was about as unattainable as a movie star in a magazine. He was a flirt, too, which made it that much harder not to have a crush on him, even though logically, she really knew better. It was how he acted around all the girls. She was fairly sure he had never looked twice at her. And anyway, what did she want with an arrogant fop like Natsu Dragneel? She kept telling herself to steer clear, but he was hard to resist. His antics were charming, even if they were moronic. He was always teasing her: sending a couple of little boys with squirt guns to spray her on lake day, sneaking up behind her and scaring her during ghost stories by the campfire...the usual 'pigtail-pulling' that both flattered and annoyed her.

She self-consciously smoothed her ponytail unnecessarily, and Erica grinned, reaching out to straighten Lucy's slightly crooked ponytail. "Thank you," Lucy mouthed and Erica giggled. Erica liked Lucy's bubble-gum pink lipstick and brightly colored fingernails, which changed every day (today's selection was neon pink, which stood out sharply against her bright blue Camp Counselor T-shirt). Her wrists were covered with about three inches worth of macrame friendship bracelets on either side, all of which had been given to her by campers, several of which were a little bit in love with her, though Lucy didn't know that part.

"Hi, Coach Natsu!" one of Lucy's boys, Kyle, shouted, and Natsu finally looked up, smiling broadly when he spotted Lucy and her group. He raised an arm to wave.

"Hi, Natsu," Lucy said shyly. Ugh, get a grip, she told herself inwardly.

"Hey, Lucy. Erica," Natsu greeted, coming over to them and bumping noses with Erica, who giggled delightedly, burying her face in Lucy's shoulder to hide her smile. The gesture also, unfortunately, brought Natsu face very close to Lucy's, and she thought she caught the scent of a seductive aftershave mingled with the smell of freshly cut grass and sweat. She swallowed hard as he winked at her, his face still much too close.

"How're my two favorite ladies?"

"Good," they chimed together. Breath. Breath. For the love of God, attempt to inhale and exhale, Lucy, she instructed herself to no avail. Natsu grinned before pulling back. "All right, guys," he said more loudly, turning to face the group and going into his usual spiel, asking everyone to raise their hands and remind him of the safety rules, which they were able to do tolerably well.

Lucy helped everyone get their equipment sorted out, then sat down in the grass off to the side while the kids lined up, Erica staying in her lap.

She watched while Natsu patrolled the groups, correcting grips and stances occasionally, commending them when he saw improvement. She sighed. He was just flat-out dreamy. It made her insides squirm just looking at him.

Seeing that everyone was behaving, she started putting Erica's hair into a French braid, the affectionate interaction combined with the mechanical work of her fingers successfully calming her heart rate and cooling the blush in her cheeks.

"Think you can do that to my hair?"

Never mind.

Beet red again, Lucy looked up to see Natsu standing over her, and Erica giggled at his silly statement. "What?" he asked the little girl innocently. "Can't she?"

"It's too short!" Erica exclaimed.

"Too short? What? I don't think so! What do you think, Lucy?"

Unable to stifle her amused smile, Lucy shook her head. "I think she's right, Coach Natsu," she said, subtly reminding him that he was supposed to be watching the kids.

But Natsu was not to be deterred. "Aw, come on. You better test it to be sure," he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes, leaning over so that top of his head was right in front of Lucy. Erica's giggling was out of control.

Gulping and trying to keep her mouth shut so she didn't reel off on one of her notorious babble-sessions, Lucy lifted a hand and very tentatively ran her fingers through Natsu's short, soft hair, ever-so-slightly damp from the heat.

He tilted his head up, eyes meeting hers just a couple of inches away. "What's the verdict?"

Verdict? What was he talking about? Oh, right. Hair. "Definitely too short," she breathed, and Natsu smirked, still not drawing back, looking at her like he knew exactly what he was doing. Which, Lucy reminded herself, he probably did.

"You're so silly," Erica interrupted them, utterly charmed. Yes, Natsu officially had this effect on all women. None of them was safe.

"I'm silly?" Natsu repeated incredulously, pretending to be wounded. "You're silly!" He reached out and tickled Erica, who squealed and tried to wriggle away, gasping for breath until he released her seconds later to go check on the campers' progress.

Lucy felt herself breathe again.

Natsu tugged at his shirt as he walked away, trying to tempt some cooler air against his skin. It was hot out, and he was feeling it. Meanwhile, his scalp still tingled from where Lucy fingers had blazed a trail through his hair.

He swallowed a light curse and resisted an urge to glance over his shoulder at her. Even at 18, Natsu understood that Lucy Heartfilia was special. There was just something about her. He could never quite be sure that she actually liked him. Sure, she got flustered around him, and would start talking at 80 miles an hour, which was by far his favorite thing about her.

But it was hard to be sure whether that really meant she liked him. She thought he was attractive, but that wasn't quite the same thing. Natsu frowned. He wasn't used to worrying about the difference. What was the difference?

He paused to help a girl adjust her aim and wondered if he should be adjusting his own.