Enemies at Heart // Natsu Dragneel

Seeing for the first time (18)

"I can not believe you thought this was a good idea," I sighed as I rolled my eyes, leaning back on my elbows.

"Oh lighten up!! It's fun here!" Lucy laughed as she hit a dodgeball in my direction. I simply groaned as threw it back to her, harder than I meant. "OW! Y/N!! That was uncalled for!!" She whined as she gripped her arm.

"You shouldn't have thrown it at me!!" I yelled back.

"Well, you're a stick in the mud! " She whined again, before looking back at levy and throwing the ball at her.

"Stick in the sand, technically," I sighed as I looked around me, to see what else was going on. Overall, everyone was having a pretty good time, laughing, running around or just lying around.

I sat in the shade, under my own umbrella, smiling and laughing to myself as everyone just acted stupidly. "What's up, L/N," Natsu said as he plopped down next to me. I gulped to myself, silently yelling at myself to act chill.

You've been talking to him for your whole life, it's nothing different... "Just... Thinking," I squeaked out as my voice cracked, giving away my apparent discomfort.

"That's a first, whatcha thinking about," He laughed as he scooched closer to me. Oh Mavis, why did he do that.

"Just... uh, stuff," I choked out as I tried to string together a valid sentence. I saw Mira's head snap in my direction, an evil smirk appearing on her face.

"YOU'RE STUFF!!" She yelled as she waved frantically at us.

"Huh? I'm Natsu? She's so strange sometimes," Natsu laughed as he looked around in confusion

"Ha...ha, yeah, she's such an odd person," I sighed in relief, sometimes I'm grateful that he's so ignorant.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're not acting like yourself," He said, his usual bubbly tone melting away.

"Yeah, I'm fi- Argh, why am I even bothering," I started to lie before giving up, I'm not a great liar anyway. "It's a guy," I said sheepishly as I looked down at the sand.

"Ah, that's why you're... you know," He muttered as he gestured to me. "If you're changing for him... don't" He suddenly added.

"Pardon?" I said in response, not sure what he meant.

"Don't bother changing for him, if he can't see how... beautiful you are, he's not worth it," He smiled, shooting me his classic toothy grin. "I just noticed that you've been dressing and acting different lately."

My heart skipped a beat as I internally screamed, god I was absolutely and unequivocally in love with this. moron. I smiled down at the sand as I tried to work out what to say. "T-thanks, that means a lot," I smiled at him, a genuine and full-hearted smile. Natsu had just told me I was beautiful, that I didn't need to change to impress anyone - even though he was the one I was trying to impress.

"U... I.." He looked at me like he had seen me for the first time, his eyes wide and words getting stuck in his throat. "I couldn't have my fighting buddy hung up over some guy... could I?" He laughed as he looked away from me, his face painted slightly pink.

"Hahaha... guess you couldn't," I smiled as I looked away too, not sure what to say. We both stared away from each other, embarrassed, confused and quiet.  "I-I'm going to see Mira... Bye," I said as I excused myself, jumping up off the ground and walking away. My cheeks burning as I thought about what had just happened.

Natsu's P.O.V

aaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I internally screamed as I watched Y/N walk away. Presumably to talk to Mira about how weird I was acting.

Lucy and Levy are always going on about love, how it's an emotion that grows slowly, that it grows stronger and a relationship changes. Yeah, they were wrong. I didn't slowly fall in love, noticing small things that made my heart skip I beat.

I freaking tripped and fell face first into it. Being crushed in new feelings and emotions with the timespan of a few seconds.

I don't know what sparked it, I've always loved hanging out with Y/N, she's easily one of my closet friends. I've always assumed the things I felt towards her, were just platonic. I saw her as a friend.

But when I saw her sheepishly look at the ground and smile at me... god that smile. It was genuine and so perfect. Sometimes just clicked inside of me, everything fell into place, like a puzzle I hadn't been able to solve until today.

I didn't know who the Mystery guy Y/N liked was - I'd be lying if I said I didn't secretly wish it was me - but I hope he's the right person for her. I mean, I wanted to punch him, but I don't think that would go down well.

I sighed as I watched her laugh and run around with the other girls, splashing and swimming in the water. I had never viewed her as a fully grown woman, she was just Y/N, the person to fight against and closest friend.

I was crushing on my best friend, did I like that our relationship had gotten more complicated? Not really. Was that going to change my feelings?

I looked over to her as she laughed, smiling as Lucy made some kind of anecdote about our missions.

Absolutely not.