It crossed my mind to write this—so I guess this story is going to turn into a cookie jar of NaLu drabbles! The story's inspired by a short royalty-free song…which means that I have only heard it once and despite its awesomeness can't find it on Youtube or anywhere. This sucked, so I decided to dedicate a drabble to it instead.
Please enjoy! Also happy full moon post-lunar eclipse, everyone!
Heart Like Fire
"I can do it myself!" she insisted, her eyebrows furrowing cutely.
The dragon slayer just smiled, letting the blond try another attempt at starting a fire. He watched the celestial mage's chocolate brown eyes focus—almost cross-eyed—as she lifted the matchstick and the matchbox at nose level, ensuring that both were gripped firmly in her fair hands.
She swiped, quickly and sturdily, grazing the two components together, but either out of faulty luck or an admittedly bad talent, only a spark sizzled between her hands. The precursory flame came as quickly as it left, and so did her expectant grin, which disappeared under frustration upon her realization that she had preemptively celebrated before guaranteeing her success.
Her frown deepened, but her persistence didn't fade. She gave out a small hmph under her breath and threw aside the used matchstick—into a small and growing pile of its colleagues—before sliding out another from the pack.
The fire-breathing mage smiled again at her steadfastness before rolling onto his back, supporting his head under his arms and the soft scaled scarf around his neck. He shifted his charcoal gaze back up, watching the twinkling of small white stars against the satin blanket of the night sky.
He still hadn't told her that he thought she was beautiful. He still hadn't told her that her eyes reminded him of the constellations that made up the heavens or that one day he hoped to embrace her snugly in his arms the way the dark fully encircled the moon.
The time for them would come soon, he presumed—perhaps after the Black Wizard rested his case.
He would know it when the itch at the back of his neck stopped bothering him, the itch that had never disappeared since he first met death-bringing mage.
A small musical pout sounded from his companion's hunched-over body and another matchstick joined the graveyard of spent potential.
He peered over at the tenacious girl, seeing her pink glossy bottom lip stuck out in silent complaint.
Nothing had gone well that day for her. She had planned the whole camping adventure for the two of them—for friendship's sake, she insisted—yet everything from the collapsed tent to the stolen trail mix to the stinging bees added themselves onto her agenda.
Most recent on her list would be the campfire that never was.
After the smoky result of another try, her face turned from a simple annoyance to a growing sadness of her incompetence.
He noticed it right away. It was when the tiniest of optimistic sparkle faded from her hazelnut eyes, when the gleam of optimistic sank into an ocean of self-doubt.
Her hesitant hand withdrew another matchstick from the box, poising it slowly over the worn out strip. Her gaze intense, her concentration momentarily forgetting her failure—he could almost hear her mental chanting, encouraging herself that this would be the one.
She flicked—and a healthy flare crackled into being, dancing at the end a proud matchstick.
"Natsu!" she exclaimed, eyes brighter than the fire, holding out the element like it was one of her golden keys.
He gave her a toothy smile and a thumbs up.
He would have probably kissed her on the cheek too, but that would have given away the fact that his lips were still warm from discreetly blowing over his magic to the stubborn matchstick.
After all, there was nothing he loved more than seeing her eyes light up like fire.
Different writing style than usual. (Actually that last chapter was probably more unlike my style than this one, so I guess I can't say too much about that, lol.)
Whatcha think? Reviews much appreciated!
thir13enth