Igneel was missing for the fifth time that week. Natsu wasn't a bad father but he did get a bit careless sometimes. Lucy had only been gone for about two hours to get groceries and she came back to a torn appart house and her husband running frantically as if he were searching for something.
"Natsu…" Lucy began to say.
"It's not what it looks like!" Natsu shouted, cutting her off. "We're just playing hide and seek," he assured her.
"Then why is the house so messy?!" she screeched.
Natsu just looked around as if he had no clue what his wife was talking about. A look of shock was shown on his face. Did he really have no idea what he was doing? "Oh…" he whispered. "I'll look upstairs now! And I'll clean up later!" Natsu yelled as he quickly ran up the stairs.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled after him. She took a deep breath and sighed. This was pretty common in the Dragneel household so she knew Igneel would turn up eventually. But she was still his mother, so it was obvious that she was worried about her missing son.
Ding-dong
"Who could that be…" Lucy spoke to herself. She brushed off her clothes and opened the door to reveal the face of one of her greatest friends. "Levy!"
"Hey Lu-chan," Levy said with a huge smile. "I think I left something here the last time I came to babysit, mind if I take a look?" she asked innocently.
"Sure, but the house is a huge mess right now," Lucy confessed.
"Oh don't worry, I'm used to mess," Levy giggled, thinking of her husband and kids back home.
"Alright then, if you're sure…" Lucy said, opening the door wider so Levy could come in.
She took a few steps into the house and saw piles upon piles of mess. Levy knew Natsu was a messy person, but even this was a lot for him. Something must have gone missing in order for him to tear apart the house this much. She turned to Lucy with a questioning look on her face, but before Lucy could respond Levy saw Natsu leaping down the steps.
"Levy!" he shouted. "Hey, have you seen the…" Before finishing his sentence, Natsu looked up and found what he had been looking for. "Oh." he gasped.
Levy and Lucy followed his gaze upwards so they could see what he was looking at. There, suspended in the air by his diaper hooked onto one blade of the ceiling fan, was Igneel Dragneel. "Igneel!" Lucy screamed. Levy's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes opened wide. Natsu quickly ran into the kitchen to grab a chair to get the baby down. "How did he even get up there?" Lucy asked.
"Like I would know," Natsu shrugged, "but he's going to be a great climber when he grows up!" Natsu laughed momentarily, until he looked at his wife who was sending him a hard glare. "I'll get him down now," Natsu said meekly. Carefully, he stepped on top of the chair and reached up to his son. Natsu placed his arms around him and cradled him softly as he stepped down from the chair. Lucy extended her arms and took hold of her son.
"Natsu?"
"Yeah Lucy?"
"Next time, you're getting the groceries."