The long dress flowed seamlessly down to her feet where two silver heels glittered as she walked up to her mirror. Examining her face, Erza found that her gently curled hair combined with the splash of makeup adorning her brown eyes and the light artificial blush all put up the same illusion. Appearing put together but really feeling nothing of the sort. A crisp, electrifying nervousness shot through her as she fretted over her appearance, wondering why at all she cared in the first place, Natsu has seen her at her worst (or close to it) surely his expectations weren't too high. Also, she wasn't quite certain that Natsu, of all people, gave a damn about appearances, he was too thickheaded.
That being said, she still spent the last hour and half preparing before meeting him. She wasn't sure just how this night would go and frankly thinking about the different possibilities sent her head spinning. On any other occasion she would have surely berated herself for losing control of the situation so easily but those fears were quieted as a desire to make an impression burned stronger.
She went about her way, navigating her bedroom making sure she had everything she would need, sneaking glances at her reflection whenever she passed her mirror. Nodding her head to silently confirm that she had all of her things, she walked down the steps, careful to keep her footing with her high heels on. Upon arriving down the stairs she heard her mother's voice, "You look beautiful." She told her truthfully.
Erza blushed, for once, unused to that sort of attention, especially from her mother. Nonetheless she was glad all the same, feeling the endlessly jumpy butterflies fidgeting in her stomach. She sat waiting for Natsu, her cheek resting on her hand. He was going to pick her up and she could just imagine him showing up in his beat up old Cherokee Jeep. The thought sent a smile across her face. Her parents had offered that they could take one of their cars for the special occasion but she couldn't picture him behind the wheel of a nice fancy car, it didn't suit him.
As her thoughts began drifting she heard her doorbell sound throughout the house. Taking that as her cue, she sat up and answered the door. Natsu stood there, the goofy grin decorating his face being the first thing she noticed. Erza let herself soak in his appearance, almost finding it unnerving to see him in a tuxedo. The two stood in the doorway, forgoing any greetings, only standing there. Erza in a long spring colored dress with pinks, purples, and greens seamlessly mixed together. While the other in an immaculately cleaned white tux with a pink tie that matched both his hair and her dress. They had chosen the right color scheme, if anything.
Erza let him in, finally regaining her senses, "Hey, Natsu, you clean up nicely." She hated herself for the corny line but didn't know how to address him in the current situation.
Natsu, for his part, seemed just as unsure, "Thanks, Erza," he laughed, "So do you." Their conversation was nothing of what it usually was but that thought didn't bother Erza in the slightest. Instead she found it a bit refreshing, to have the time to collect her thoughts, she hadn't really had time to see Natsu for the past month except during class. She hadn't had time for much of anything really, between all her extra-curricular activities and school, free time was far and few in between. She wasn't used to, and hardly prepared, to see him outside of a school setting and so personally since it'd been so long since they'd just hung out together.
Still, she couldn't seem like some awkward, love struck girl with a crush, and so she began meaningless conversation that she could keep up with while not really paying attention. As she questioned him about their plans for the pictures, she listened with half an interest. Unsure was never something Erza would use to describe herself, she was determined, strong, and ambitious; but in that moment, as Natsu carried on, his lips curved up in a natural smile while he spoke, Erza could count her heartbeats with each second as they were loud enough for her to hear.
Was she in love? The idea in itself seemed ridiculous, Erza was never that good at understanding her feelings, she preferred to keep things simple and so never before had she taken a chance and allowed herself to fall so carelessly. This time around she wondered what went wrong, how it was possible for her to feel so different about Natsu than all the other people who walked into her life.
However, more than anything, even with all the sweet thoughts of romance floating about her mind, she felt more terrified than any other sensation. What was she getting herself into? Her mind seamlessly supplied the answer "heartbreak," it whispered, "disappointment," and she couldn't help but agree. She knew that the reason she and Natsu worked out so well, the reason that they were such great friends, was because they never really addressed the heavy stuff. Every time they were together conversation was light, happy, Natsu liked her because she was fun. But Erza didn't feel like that all the time, in fact, Erza didn't even feel like that most of the time. Why would Natsu ever want to put up with that?
Erza mentally shook herself, now wasn't that time to be having a mental crisis. She smiled up at Natsu as she pinned the boutonniere to his tux, making sure that she didn't poke him in the process.
After he mom took her fill of photos of the two, they made their way to Natsu's car in order to dive to next picture taking location. The thought alone made Erza cringe. The next hour to come would surely be filled with fake smiles held up long enough to make her face feel numb in order for everyone to get the picture they wanted. She hated formalities more than anything and would rather skip all the fuss and get on with the enjoyable part of the night but prom wouldn't be prom if it didn't include taking an ungodly amounts of photos.
Natsu could kick himself for his stupidity. For once in his life he was truly aware and invested in the situation but it didn't help him at all. He knew that Erza probably thought he was the biggest fool ever. She seemed so certain to him that in comparison he felt like he was just a little kid she was humoring. As he drove he let his music calm his nerves, he loved talking about music with Erza, she always seemed so eager to learn the new songs he played and he liked the idea of sharing that connection with her.
Their conversations had seemed mindless so far and Natsu didn't know why everything seemed so different than it usually did when they were together. Erza was still Erza after all, she still scared the hell out him when she got angry, still held that ever present unreadable look on her face, that seriousness that balanced out his lunacy. Erza was still Erza but then, why did it feel like she was different somehow?
Natsu didn't think much on it, after all he found it hard to believe he'd ever come to understand it by himself, and so he allowed himself to push the thoughts out of his head. Instead he found himself resisting the urge to take his eyes off the road and point them in Erza's direction. She'd been occupying a large portion of his mind recently and that wasn't necessarily a fact he was unhappy about. In the end, it kept his mind off of other things that he didn't really want to think about.
All things considered, Natsu had been in relatively high spirits recently (a fact his classmates can attest for with all the interruptions he's caused lately) and he owed it all to the redhead sitting in his passenger seat. She brightened his mood, she understood him and even when they weren't really talking about anything, she always made him feel important. He liked the freedom he felt around her, like anything he did would be okay because she would stand beside him even if he didn't ask her to.
He pulled into the parking lot of some Japanese Garden where he and the rest of the group were planning on taking pictures. Both him and Erza got out of the car and walked toward the fenced area. There were cheery blossom trees surrounding small ponds and little bridges making the whole place look like a scene out of a movie.
He saw Erza walk ahead of him as he paused to take in the scene before of him. Just as he was about to regain his momentum he paused once more as he watched Erza turned halfway around, her hair blowing gently with the wind, cherry blossom petals surrounding her as if they wanted nothing more than to accent her dress perfectly. She held a hand up to clamp down on her wayward hair to keep it from drifting across her face, "Are you coming, Natsu?" She asked him, those dark brown eyes that surpassed the depths of any pool he'd ever seen meeting up with his own.
A smile took root on his face and slowly grew as he hurried to catch up with her after a momentary pause to truly appreciate the sudden scene that resonated so deeply within him. For once he didn't shake it off, instead he just left the feelings to linger.
Erza was a really good person, he decided. A really good person that he cared about. For some reason he felt the need to acknowledge those thoughts in his head even though it was something he's known for a long time before this.
Together they walked, quickly meeting up with everyone else. Natsu greeted everyone but eventually wound his way up until he was standing next to Gray and Juvia, Erza following suit. Before much conversation could start, parents began herding their kids to certain locations in order to get their pictures. The group made their way to one of the bridges and each couple positioned themselves, it was somewhat of a tight squeeze since the bridge wasn't all that big and they had quite a few people in the group.
Natsu felt weird wrapping his arms around Erza's midsection but she didn't seem bothered by it so he let his hands pull her close to him, never knowing quite what it was like to pass such a barrier with Erza of all people but the idea sent a shock of excitement through him. After countless minutes of arranging and rearranging, the group finally organized themselves enough for the picture when Natsu suddenly noticed something, he sniffed around him, expecting what he's come to call the Erza smell but it was overwhelmed by something much stronger.
Looking around he saw Gray standing next to him unsuspectingly, "Hey! Gray! You have way too much cologne on, what are you trying to mask with all that? Sheesh!" Natsu was irritated, he wanted to smell sweet strawberries and instead was assaulted with Gray's stupid chilly outdoors smell.
Naturally, Gray wasn't one to take the blow sitting down and it was all too soon that the carefully crafted picture formation was broken as the inevitable brawl broke out. It should have been expected, it was a miracle they'd made it this far without a disruption. However, as per the normality, there was one extremely peeved girl ready to knock whatever brains Natsu had left out of his thick skull.
And so it was, the group picture turned out to look more like something out of a newspaper reporting on a riot than it did prom pictures but that suited Natsu just fine.
A/N: Hello my friends, wowie… it's been a while. Really I should be apologizing but I have just been pulled through the hell that is finals week(s) and all my reservoirs of remorse have run dry. That being said, it's now spring break! Look forward to a much speedier update now that I have actual free time!
