Slow-burn romance and courtship hell, here I come. With a heaping helping of "series re-imagined".
Disclaimer: (Seriously, are these even necessary?) I do not own anything of the Fairy Tail franchise, barring this fic, some concepts I'm playing around with, and the anthology I'm working on in tandem with these romantic bullshit.
Notes: The first chapter is mostly just Igneel's exposition. There's maybe six lines of dialogue, tops. If that doesn't bother you too much, carry on. Also, spoilers for the entire series. I'm slowly going to work my way up to the most recent parts of the manga, one arc at a time. So, if you're not caught up, I suggest you don't read later chapters of this. This one is safe for everyone, though.
Igneel had taught his son many things during his childhood. Most of it was pretty standard, from what he understood of humans: reading, fighting, magic, etc. But most people forgot that Natsu was his son.
And that meant that he'd also had to teach the damned brat pretty basic stuff too, like:
"Don't eat that bug, you'll make yourself sick."
"Yeah, you'll lose that tooth, but a new one will come in, don't worry."
"If you climb that tree, you're gonna fall–and it's gonna hurt like hell."
"Don't punch people in the face as a greeting, you idiot. Unless they deserved it."
"If you ever like someone…"
Well, that last one was way more complicated than Natsu had ever had the patience for as a child, as well as completely useless in the boy's eyes, but luckily, Igneel knew his son well, so he'd stuck more to explaining courtship traditions than the emotional shit that got you into that.
There are three stages to a dragon's courtship: testing, bonding, and proving. Unlike that weird, one-sided crap humans seemed to swear by, both parties were expected to contribute to the courtship, so as to encourage a more equal match. One had to initiate the courtship, of course, but after that, it was up to both of them to progress the relationship.
You mostly went through the first part–the simplest part–in order to test your compatibility with the person. Will they share food with you willingly? How badly do they react to your uninvited presence in their territory? Can they be trusted to have your back in combat? Can you even achieve basic teamwork?
All of these were key in making sure a match was even possible. After all, these were essential with family and friends as much as they were with your intended. Sharing meals and watching over each other implied a vested interest in your wellbeing; cooperation and tolerance to invasions of privacy implied an acceptance of your continued proximity. If you couldn't even manage these, than you were better off ending the courtship before you wasted anymore effort.
Bonding–the next step–was considered easier in some regards, but honestly, the fire dragon found the whole affair more emotionally exhausting than anything else. He prayed Natsu would handle it better than he had in his youth.
He wasn't holding his breath, though.
The second stage was mainly spent maturing the developing bond, so that it might grow from a flickering light into a roaring fire, warning away outsiders from getting too close. You shared personal effects like old scales or–in his son's more human case–clothes, as an acceptable substitute for the more physical contact that would also be encouraged during this phase.
At the same time, you would continue on with the same behavior as before, only instead of as small tests, they acted more to coax a further closeness between the two parties.
There was some benefit to this further intimacy, Igneel admitted. Your emotions would be at a heightened rate around this person, bringing such feelings as joy, amusement, hope, and gratitude to the surface easily. It allowed for an easier way to both give comfort and be comforted.
However, it also had the drawback of enhancing your negative emotions too. Jealousy came too easily, shame was almost paralyzing, and grief could overwhelm to such a degree that you'd be driven mad.
Which is where the actions of protection came in to save them all from the emotional hellhole that was this stage.
Trusting your person to have your back was one thing; expecting them to give up their life for the sake of yours was another entirely. Someone actually believes that you were the most important thing in their world, and they want nothing but for you to keep on living, even if they must pay the ultimate price? That was practically a declaration of intent in itself.
And shielding you emotionally? Sharing in your pain and giving you strength when you feel most like giving up? Taking your heart into their care and healing all the scars you never even knew you had? Sappy as hell, and and pretty much the ultimate guarantee that you won the mating lottery, so do something about it, you moron.
Igneel kind of got excited when he got to the final part: the Acts of Proof. This was the shit that made dragons famous. This was where humans got all their silly legends from, all those fairy tales of battles and riddles and thefts, where they turned impulsive actions made by young dragons high off of romance into insane, maniacal acts of terror.
It was awesome.
"Wait, what the hell do you mean, I've gotta prove myself? What the hell's the point of all that other stuff, then?" And just like that, Natsu completely ruined the moment. As usual.
Scratching his head, he searched for the simplest way to explain to his idiot son just why you had to prove yourself to your intended before marriage without falling back on the old "it's traditional" excuse. He was trying to encourage the boy to actually follow through on this, not cheerfully set fire to thousands of years of propriety just because he felt like demonstrating what a defiant little brat he was.
Ah.
"Think about it like this: you're training to be the strongest Dragon Slayer ever, right?" At the furious nodding, he continued, "Well, what's the point of all that training if you can't prove that you're the strongest?"
A moment of silence followed before those big, onyx eyes lit up in understanding. "Oooh…"
The old dragon smirked to himself before continuing on with his lesson.
Proving yourself to your mate was exactly what it sounded like. Whilst the two of you were now at a point where you were practically mates in all but name, there were still matters of pride to consider, especially considering how far word spread amongst their species.
Dragons collected things they considered of great value. It was a fact, and there was no shame in that. But the whole 'hoarding gold and jewels' myth would probably have died sooner if so many morons didn't do the whole "even amongst all this splendor, you are beautiful" schtick. Gods, the cliché of it all could make him vomit magma.
But yeah, gifts were important. More than bribes, they acted more as a way of saying that you were capable of acquiring whatever you needed, which translated to being able to provide for yourself, your mate, and your future family. (And also, maybe just a little, it was about bragging rights. "I stole that princess right in in the middle of that massive fortress." "Okay, but how about that magic sword in the stone from that one king?" "Pfft, so what? I built a fucking volcano.")
And not just gift gifts. Food was an important and very traditional offering, both providing sustenance and showing off your capabilities depending on the type of game you hunted. Then there were enormous kingdoms carved from mountains, unreachable caves full of magical wonders, castles that forever floated in the sky, all elaborate homes to offer your intended. Hell, there was even one asshole that sunk an entire island city and made an underwater palace out of it.
Following that, there were the standard contests of strength and such that you used as a way to bolster your reputation. And show off, yeah.
Okay, yes, the whole proving stage is one big competition to show up all the other assholes in the nearest hundred-thousand leagues and show off in front of your intended, so what. Dragons are competitive, dammit, name one species that isn't.
Anyways, the point is, you spend the entire time basically proving why you're the best damn thing that's ever happened to your mate and guaranteeing that they have absolutely no reason to ever leave you, for your own peace of mind.
And then you do the proper thing and ask them for their hand, to be by your side for the rest of your lives and even beyond that.
The blank stare he received when he got to that last bit told him he'd pretty much lost his son's interest, so with a sigh, the dragon cut his lecture and resolved to talk more about the "weird romantic crap" when Natsu was a little older and more appreciative of an old dragon's lessons on matters of the heart.
It was unfortunate that Acnologia's scaly ass had to come and fuck everything up before he could.
Several years later, most of which were spent looking for his long-missing father, Natsu would come to regret not taking more interest in that particular lecture of Igneel's. Accepting that the situation was what it was had been hard enough. Figuring out how to act was a hell of a lot harder, and making it sure it worked out was damn near impossible.
Never before had he wanted his old man around so badly, just to give him some advice. But he was on his own for this.
Dammit, why did Lucy always have to make everything so complicated? From the minute he'd met her, she'd unknowingly walked into countless messes and gotten herself entangled without even trying. And here she was, accidentally starting something humans barely even knew existed, easy as you please, driving him up the wall half the time and keeping him grounded the other half. He wasn't sure how much more he could take, especially with her still completely oblivious even after all this time.
Well fine, then. If she wanted to be his so badly (subconsciously or not), he'd happily accept her. Natsu would just have to finish what she'd started.
I think you all know where this is going now.
Contrary to what that last line is implying, I'm not immediately leaping into Natsu trying to woo Lucy. The next several chapters are gonna be revisiting the various points in the series, from the beginning to the end, to establish just how this whole situation got to this point. I meant when I said this was gonna be slow-burn romance and courtship hell.
Gotta admit, writing from Igneel's POV is kind of fun, even if it was mostly just courtship exposition and sidebars. I haven't got a real feel for his personality, so I went with something like what I imagine Natsu will be like in the future: more mature, but kind of "old man-like" petty. Except I think Igneel loved telling stories a whole lot more, so this whole explanation on courtship and stuff is more something he would do than his son.
Sadly, this is the last we'll see of the old dragon now, barring flashbacks. After this, it's completely up to Natsu to carry the story through, in which he takes us on a journey throughout the series as he's courted by an ignorant Celestial mage and subsequently falls for her.
…I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Let me know where I made mistakes, or if you have questions. Or hell, even suggestions will do. No guarantees I'll do anything with them, but I'm really open to feedback right now.
