Sweetheart

62

Natsu lazily pulled a shirt on and staggered out of bed, looking at his phone and cursing at the single hour of sleep he got between coming home from work and waking up to get to school.

Won't be there to free you of your chains today. Got a family thing. Good luck with miss boring.

Natsu rolled his eyes and grabbed his apartment keys, locking the door and slowly making his way down to the main level.

"Man this sucks."

He looked at his phone again and scoffed when he saw the time.

"Another day, another reason Justine hates me. There's no way I'm gonna make it in time."

He sighed and made the start of his walk across town.

-------

"Hey where's your boyfriend?"

Aina looked taken back by the question and let out a 'huh?' as she looked up at Lucy. The blonde rolled her eyes and pointed to Natsu's empty seat. Aina shrugged.

"I mean, he's Natsu. He never comes on time."

"I mean he's been more on time in the last couple months than he had in all his years he's been here."

The salutatorian brushed it off, but her nose scrunched up as she remembered something.

"Did you just call him my boyfriend?"

"Uhh, yeah? That's kind of the whole part about him asking you to be his girlfriend."

"Guess it never crossed my mind."

The class started as usual, and they were currently discussing The Crucible. About thirty minutes later, the door slowly opened to reveal the familiar mop of pink. Mister Justine took one disapproving look at the boy and directed him to his seat. Natsu settled into his seat and smirked when he saw the teacher's face.

"Don't you dare put--"

He was cut off by the noise of a foot hitting the top of another desk. Mister Justine gave him an icy stare before turning back to the class discussion. Aina took a quick glance behind her and raised an eyebrow at him. He just held his hands up before grabbing his phone and started playing on an app.

-------

Natsu placed his forehead on the library table.

"Are you okay?"

He looked up at Aina's worried eyes before placing his head back on the table.

"I got home at five thirty and I overslept to six thirty. Then I had to walk all the way here."

"Why don't you go to the nurse? It's not healthy to go off one hour of sleep. She'll understand if you want to go take a nap."

"Sure, sweetheart. Why don't I just waltz right into the nurse's and ask her if she'll let me, the most hated student here, skip out of class to take a nap."

Aina looked at him, a small frown on her face. She wordlessly got up and gently took hold of the right hand that was dangling off the side of the table.

"What?" He moaned.

She just tugged at his hand and he eventually sat up. Aina pointed to the back door before she went over to the proctor to sign out. Natsu breathed out heavily and forced himself up, sneaking out the back door and meeting with her in the hallway behind the library.

"Aina, I don't have the energy to--"

The brunette took his hand again and tugged him down the hall. Natsu laughed when he saw that they were going towards the drama room.