Sweetheart

25

Natsu had heard the intercom go off about twenty minutes later, and he strolled over to the machine and buzzed Aina in. It took her a little while to get to his apartment door because she struggled to climb the stairs. She was leaning over herself and gasping for breath when she knocked on his door. Natsu slowly opened the door and laughed at her.

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Out of breath?"

"Shut up. You could've come down but you made me come all the way up here."

She took a look at him and crossed her arms. Natsu was standing in the doorway with no shirt on and cheese in his hand.

"You're not even ready," she said accusingly. "You had plenty of time to get dressed."

"Oh relax sweetheart. It takes two seconds to put on a shirt. It's hot."

Aina stood in the doorway as Natsu disappeared into his room. Curiosity got the better of her, and she made her way into the kitchen to peek in the fridge. Her smile twisted into a small frown when she saw that he had some pickles and a carton of milk left.

"What are you doing? Hungry?"

She quickly shut the door and spun around.

"Not particularly. Are you ready?"

Natsu studied her face for a minute before letting it go. He grabbed his backpack and ushered her out the door. She took a deep breath before starting their long descent to the main level. They had eventually made it down and into Aina's car. Natsu took his usual spot in the passenger's seat and turned on the radio.

"So why'd you want me to come over early?"

"I just thought that you might be--"

"Is it so we can have some fun, sweetheart?"

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that so we can have a nice night."

He tittered and turned his attention back to the music. They had arrived at her house, and Aina quickly unlocked the door and flung her shoes off. She told Natsu to go into the living room while she gathered her math stuff from her room.

"Why can't we--"

"Because my room is a mess and I don't want anyone to see it."

She returned a couple minutes later and joined Natsu on the floor in front of the couch. They both leaned against the front of the couch, Aina crossing her legs underneath her and Natsu stretching his long legs across the floor. The brunette started to open her notebook and scribble down some steps for a couple math problems. He was paying half-attention to her explanations, too busy taking in the way that her hair formed waves halfway down her head. He noticed that she had a small curl by her forehead that she kept trying to push back. The faint scent of honey hung in his nose and he started to notice the--

"Natsu? Are you okay?"

The salmon haired boy was snapped back from his trance as his confused eyes met Aina's worried ones. He slowly nodded and coughed before asking her to continue explaining.

She continued to look at him before she asked incredulously, "How much did you actually understand about that?"

"Uh, none actually."

Aina sighed and flipped to another blank page before redoing the problem. He forced himself to focus, and he was able to understand some of what she was saying. After listening to her for a few more minutes, Natsu was asked to try to figure it out himself and much to his surprise, he was able to do it. He looked at the paper and saw that his answer matched hers.