Natsu Dragneel wasn't the type of person people pegged as a father. After all, the guy rode a motorcycle most of the time, dressed like a teen, acted as if he himself was five, worked at a security company notorious for defying the laws, and had flaming pink hair.
Yeah, definitely not a father.
Which is why Lucy Heartfilia stood at the door of the classroom with Happy Dragneel at her side, staring in shock at the 24-year-old.
"Daddy!" The 5-year-old beside her ran into the arms of the pink-haired man, who picked him up then extended a hand to the still shell shocked teacher.
"Hi, I'm Natsu Dragneel. I hope Happy didn't cause any trouble, he may or may not take after me in that department."
Lucy shook his hand, snapping out of her daze with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Lucy Heartfilia. Sorry for the shock, I just thought you were his brother or something. And Happy didn't cause any trouble today, but it's only the first day and he hasn't quite cracked open his shell."
Natsu smiled, "You're not the first to think that. But anyway, nice to meet ya." Lucy smiled, nodding slightly. She watched the pair disappear into the corridor, staring at their retreating figures while her mind a jumbled mess revolving around pink-haired father.
Lucy let out a sigh, resting her head against the back of her chair momentarily. She truly despised the first week of school.
Not only did she have to plan her learning schedule and 25 student names, but was now stuck in her office on a Friday for a parent-teacher meeting so as to learn about each students' nature. After all, they were five and extremely gentle things.
Just as her eyes closed, a knock on the door insinuated another parent. Groaning mentally, Lucy called out a faint 'come in' and waited for the next hour of snobby parents discuss their children.
"Happy, you can't misbehave like that. Listen to your uncles, alright? No- Listen, I need to go, your teacher is waiting. Bye, love you." Just as the door opened a smidgen, Lucy heard the voice she couldn't get out of her head and let out an internal groan once again as Natsu Dragneel entered and sat down across from her.
"Sorry for that, he doesn't quite like spending Friday's at home. Anyway, hi." He flashed an apologetic smile, situating himself in the armchair.
Lucy's cheeks flared up as she waved her hand nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I'm Lucy Heartfilia as you already know and I'm Happy's teacher. If you have any requests or questions, state them now." The blonde recited the same statements she repeated at least ten times before, giving a small smile.
"You look really young, you sure you're a teacher?" Natsu asked, raising a brow, causing Lucy's cheeks to deepen a shade. "Y-yes, I am. You look too young to be a father, right?" She chided, cursing mentally at the small stutter.
Natsu let out a slight laugh, "Yeah, you're right. Anyway, I don't have anything to say, just that if Happy's disrespectful don't be afraid to scold him, I'm a bit too easy on him."
"He seems quite respectful, so I guess his mom scolds him better than you do." Lucy stated, picking up her pen and jotting down little notes on Happy's sheet. When her gaze lifted back to Natsu, his cheeks tinged with a light shade of pink.
"I'm, uh, a single dad."
Lucy stared for a moment, registering his words before stammering out, "O-oh gosh, I'm s-so sorry! I didn't know, Happy never mentioned it and I just-"
The pink-haired father cut her off with a laugh. "Don't worry about it, Happy wasn't really something we expected, and we were nineteen away, it didn't surprise me that she dropped out immediately."
The teacher was quiet for a moment, staring in slight awe. "You raised Happy alone? At nineteen?" When Natsu nodded, questions bubbled in her mind and came out before she could stop.
"Wait, but what about college? And your mom and dad? And Happy doesn't have a motherly figure in his life? And-"
Once again, Lucy was cut off with a laugh. Her cheeks blazed as the chuckles escaped Natsu's lips. When he finally calmed, he smiled simply.
"When Happy was really young, I took night classes and left him with close friends. I managed to graduate with a degree, and I work while he's at school. He knows he doesn't have a mom, and he's alright with it, I guess. He doesn't even understand the whole 'single parent' thing anyway. My parents are chill and love him, so even they take care of him sometimes too." Natsu's explained, his voice calm throughout.
Lucy stared in awe at Natsu, taking in his appearance. He would have never seemed to be a father, nor as the person who went through all that at a young age. "Well," she finally said, breaking the silence with a smile, "Happy's a lucky kid with a good dad."
Natsu laughed. "Believe me, when I first started taking care of Happy I was awful. I let him live off junk food and pizza for the first three years of his life."
"Really?" Lucy expression carried a mix of both surprise and amusement, causing the father in question to chuckle. "I had no idea how to cook back then! I still barely do."
At this point, Lucy couldn't hold back giggles. "Some dad your are." She said, her tone playful.
"Well you're probably a mom or something, and I bet you're not the best parent!" Natsu exclaimed, attempting to make his mediocre parenting skills seem justified.
Lucy let out a laugh. "I'm not a mom, no."
Natsu's cheeks burned as he cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just assumed." The blonde waved her hand nonchalantly. Just as she opened her mouth to say something else, there was a knock at the door and Lucy realized she spent too much time getting to know too much about Natsu, rather than his child.
"Oh, that's probably the next group of parents." Lucy said, looking at the papers in front of her. Natsu stood up, giving her a smile. "Thanks for taking care of Happy. See ya."
As he left and a pair of parents entered, Lucy's mind couldn't help but realize that maybe she never wanted him to leave.
"Lily! Get off the table!" Lucy exclaimed, glaring at the small child standing on top of the table who was singing. He stopped, giving Lucy a look as he huffed.
"But sensei, I was singing!" Lucy shook her head, standing up and wandering to his table, picking him up and plopping him down once again. "If you do this again, you'll end up at Principal Mavis's office."
Her tone held finality, a trait needed when dealing with five year olds. Her eyes skimmed through the classroom again, looking for any students misbehaving. Her least favorite time of day was their recess periods, especially when they were indoor. Although most students played around freely, some, like Lily, chose to jump around.
She found her gaze lingering on the corner table, eyeing a pink haired toddler sitting beside a blonde little girl with a small scowl, and smiled. Ever since her two encounters with Natsu, her mind wandered more and more to him. Lucy attempted to justify the thoughts by saying that she was just curious, however the fact that every time he came to pick up Happy she would blush like a school girl said otherwise.
She shook her head, clapping her hands as the bell rang. "Students, start cleaning up now! I'm going to tell a story while we wait for parents to arrive." She called out, watching the five year olds clean up their toys and place them in the plastic bins by the window.
The kids gathered in a semi-circle and sat down, Lucy pulling out one of the many story books from the shelf and sitting down in front of them all with a smile.
"Today, we're gonna read 'Where The Wild Things Are', does anyone know this book?" She asked, flipping open page while showing the cover. The students were all silent, except she noticed that Happy's eyes were bright as she began reading. "The night wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another.."
While she read, she would show the children the images from the book, watching them gasp and 'ooh' at the drawings. When she finally closed the book and sent the children back to their seats to pack up their bags, Happy came up to her and smiled.
"Daddy used to read me that story every night before he would go to school and then he would pretend to be a wild thing and I'd be a king." He said happily to the teacher, causing her to smile.
"Well, do you think you could be the king of the wild things?" She asked, and he nodded fervently. "And who would be the queen?"
He was quiet for a moment, his cheeks burning as he said, "Charle." As he said this, Lucy laughed, "I think you'd have to do a lot of convincing to make little Charle be your queen."
He went back to his seat beside the small blonde 'queen', the blush still on his cheeks as the teacher stood up and pulled open the classroom door, allowing the parents who have already arrived to take their child and leave.
Lucy sat back at her desk, waving at some of the parents till finally, Lily and Happy were the only two who remained. As Lucy corrected papers, a knock at the door came.
"I'm always really late, damn." The familiar voice spoke, causing the blonde to look up and laugh. "Nah, don't worry about it."
Natsu was standing at the door, now with Happy and Lily at his side, a smile on his face as he waved. "Well, I go to work with Lily's dad and he asked me to take him home since he's staying late. That alright?"
"Usually," Lucy began, "I need to contact the parent in question but since Lily seems to know you, I'll let it slide."
The pink-haired dad let out a sigh of relief, "Thank god, our boss would have gotten pissed if he knew we both had to leave for a moment while still on duty."
Lucy's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, you still need to work?"
Natsu nodded, shrugging his shoulder. "I take Happy with me to the office. It's a struggle and prevents me from doing fieldwork, but it's alright."
The blonde pondered his words for a second then spoke up right before he left. "I, uh, I'd you ever need me to I mean, I could take Happy home. Like, I could help him do home work and sorta be a baby sitter or something and then you could pick him up."
As she said this, her cheeks blazed darker than Natsu's hair, considering that he stared at her as if she'd grown two heads. Minutes of silence passed between them till Natsu said, "I think I'll take you up on the offer. I mean, I don't want to burden you or anything, it'd just help a lot."
Internally, Lucy let out a sigh of relief, then wrote down her phone number on a slip of paper and handed it to him. "Honestly, Happy is a great kid and I wouldn't mind at all." She smiled, "Just call me beforehand."
The father looked at the paper for a moment with an unreadable expression then shoved it in his pocket and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by his phone.
Instead of saying anything, he waved and said a quick thank you and goodbye, pulling his phone out and replying to the call.
And as Lucy stood in the empty classroom and heard the trio's footsteps (and Happy's voice as he told his father a story) fading, she realized that she dug herself a hole she had no idea how to get out of.