The Truth Behind These Bruises

Chapter 5

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Andy finished his homework and was now watching TV on the couch. Natsu was in the kitchen explaining the Pythagorean Theorem to me as I did my homework. Natsu ended up giving me his papers saying that he would rather stay up and do homework than for me to wait for Erza to arrive and cause me to stay up. While he explained, he also cooked dinner.

"Why would anybody need this and why does it have to be so confusing?" I whined helplessly. Natsu smiled leaning over the counter.

"Look, Luce," he began, "so this whole shape can be broken into triangles if you can find the hypotenuse, you can find the measurements for the rest."

"Still useless." I laughed. He laughed and then went back to cooking. A knock came from the door causing everyone to perk at its sound.

"I'll get it!" Andy yelled running for the door. "Who are you?" he asked to whomever was on the other side of the door.

"I'm Erza. Who might you be?" The voice explained as Natsu then jumped over the what seemed to be a tiny counter now to reach the door.

"Thanks Erza!" Natsu smiled taking the folder from the scarlet-haired girl. Erza pushed the door open. Her eyes jolted around the room in search of something. Her eyes landed on me and her face immediately softened with sympathy.

"Thank god you're alright!" She choked wrapping her arms around my body. Her death-grip began to suffocate me as I tried to find a way to breathe. "Don't ever try and pull a trick like that ever again!" She squeezed harder crushing my back.

"Y...es... ma'am..." I squealed. She finally released the hug and sent me into an all-out war to try and keep from going unconscious. I smiled at the teary-eyed redhead as she pat Natsu on the shoulder. He smiled and closed the door behind her.

"The spaghetti!" Natsu screamed suddenly, scaring the daylights out of me. He jumped over the counter again and pulled the pot off the stove so fast some of the boiling water ended up falling onto his foot. He yelped in pain and dropped the pan on the floor which then tipped over and landed on the same foot. He screamed again and lifted the pan off the floor luckily able to salvage the pasta.

"Are you okay?" I questioned. I dropped everything and ran to the limping boy. He winced in pain as he sauntered around as if he just stubbed his toe. "No?" He whined falling to the floor.

"Andy can you watch Natsu for a second and make sure he doesn't get up." I quickly ran back into the kitchen and placed the pan in the sink and grabbed a large bandage. I came back to Natsu and aided him to stand. "Natsu, don't you dare step on that foot." I warned. He looked worried as he hopped to the bathroom.

I turned the dial on the bathtub to cold and placed his foot under the freezing water. He winced when his foot touched the water. "Stop acting like a baby." I laughed as he glared at me.

"Andy can you go get me some of that gel that I put on your burn that one time." I asked in which Andy nodded and ran off soon returning with the gel. "Thank you Andy! Now off to bed." I commanded.

"But-"

"No but's"

"Fine." He surrendered. He walked out of the bathroom and when I heard the door shut, I turned back to Natsu.

"So, do you do this for a hobby?" I asked sarcastically. I couldn't help but make fun of his clumsiness.

"What? Drop pasta on my foot or take in helpless girls to aid me with my problems?" He fired back with a smirk.

"Both."

"Well, the pasta, yes. Girls, not so much." I laughed at his admittance to his clumsiness. I then took the bandage I had found and wrapped it around the burnt areas. I felt a slight blush on my face as I went to bend down and kiss it, but I suppressed the habit and looked away.