The Conbolts

Natsu clenched his jaw as the memories keep getting back at him.

"Shut up! You're not my real father!"

"You don't know anything about me! We're not even related!"

"I f*cking hate you so much!"

The harsh words he yelled wasn't even half of what he had done. Natsu can't believe he even cursed at his own father because he was adopted.

'Igneel...' he gritted his teeth and turned to Lucy, "How long has he been doing this?"

Lucy appeared surprised at first, but remained her composure and answered, "For about 7 years already, I think. It all started when his mother left him and Macao was forced to find a job that can support the both of them."

"Apparently, joining the police had allowed him to have a flexible schedule. Since he was simply patrolling around town, he could watch over Romeo more." she continued, "I actually pity him. He did that much and the kid can't even thank him once."

Nodding, Natsu ran towards the entrance and patiently waited for the boy to come.

'Fights like this usually end if one goes away.' he thought, recalling about how he would barge out of the house to cool down, 'Now, if only Romeo could get out...'

As if on cue, the purple-headed teenager slammed the door open and went straight ahead, only to be pulled by none other than the older.

"You. Me. Talk. Now."

XXX

"Who're you?"

Romeo narrowed his eyes at the taller male, slowly taking small steps backwards.

Natsu inwardly laughed at this, seeing how scared the smaller was. 'This is fun. I should do this more often.' he mentally noted, 'Especially to the creeps at school.'

"You don't have to know my name," he sighed, "I don't really care about yours either."

"Then why did you drag me here?" he raised a brow, "Are you perhaps...a kidnapper?!"

Natsu scoffs as he rolls his eyes, "Relax, kid, nobody would kidnap you even if you wanted to. Besides, do I look like a kidnapper to you? I'm 17 for freaking sake! I'm still a minor just like you!"

"O...kay? Then what do you want?"

"I want to talk about your relationship with your old man." he sighs, "Dude, have some freaking conscience. The guy's practically awake 24/7 just to give you whatever you want, can't you at least be nice to him?"

Romeo grits his teeth, "It's none of your business."

Natsu's eyebrow twitches in irritation and he glances back at Lucy, making their usual eye conversation.

N: 'Can I punch the kid right now?'

L: 'Absolutely not! We need him in one piece!'

N: 'Ugh, fine.'

He rolls his eyes and turns back to Romeo, "Look kid, as much as I hate you right now, I have to do this for a reason. You need to respect your father."

Romeo raises a brow, "And why should I?"

"'Cause you should!"

The younger sighs in exasperation and frowns at Natsu, "Like I said, it's none of your business. Who're you to meddle with what happens between by family? Thanks, but no thanks, mister. Nice meeting you, I guess.."

With that said, he hastily runs away, leaving Natsu behind.

"Why that little brat-"

"Leave him alone, Natsu." Lucy holds his hand to stop him from running, making the pink-haired teen blush a little bit, "I think I've got a plan."

XXX

"Since I promised Macao that I'd help him with his son, I can do it in any way, right?" Natsu simply nodded, still clueless of what Lucy was talking about. Whatever it was, he had a bad feeling about it.

"Great! Actually, I plan to make good use of his job." she exclaims, giving him that creepy grin, "What about we make Romeo think that his father is awesome?"

Natsu raises a brow, "And how will you do that exactly?"

Lucy gives him a smug grin, "We're going to use our acting skills."

XXX

"You want me to do what now?"

Gray blinks in curiosity at what Natsu said. Is this guy still sane or what?

"Can you help me start a fire in the mall?" he asks again.

No, everybody, Natsu is not a pyromaniac (but he does love fire), and definitely not an arsonist. It was something about Lucy's plan that made him do this, and he needed Gray's help to succeed.

"Natsu, has China made you go mad or what?"

"Bastard! I'm still fine, you know! And I'm doing this for a reason!" he exclaims, "I need to reunite a father and son, okay? And the only way I can do that is to start a fire."

Gray still seems unsure.

"Right, and how will you do that?"

Natsu leans in to whisper the plan.

"I see. Let me in, bud."

XXX

Natsu gulps as soon as he sees Romeo approach the mall with curious eyes. 'It's time to do this.' he nods and wears the black mask. As soon as he was done preparing, he dials Gray's number.

[Wassup?]

"How's it going?"

[I got the guards handled. You should move by now, though. They won't forever be distracted with an ice sculpture.]

"Thanks. Bye."

He quickly moves to the other side and pulls out a matchstick, carefully lighting it up and leaving it on the ground before running away.

Romeo thought he was hallucinating when he saw a fire near him, but when he smelled something burning and saw the fire, he began panicking.

'Sh*t. Sh*t. What do I do?!'

The people around him began running around in circles, desperate to save their lives. The fire exits were already jammed, and his heart was throbbing so fast that he his head ached.

'F*ck. Where's the police when you need them?!'

As if on cue, the police arrived, and even the firemen, evacuating the people from the mall as soon as possible. Romeo was surprised to find his father with them.

"Anyone who is injured, come with me! People who are fine, please exit to the right side!" he began yelling, and unconsciously, Romeo came near him, making the man widen his eyes, "S-son! Wha-what're you doing here?!"

"I...I just..."

"Never mind that! We have to go! NOW!" he yelled and took Romeo's hand, ushering 20 other people with him, and they successfully got out of the building.

The firemen quickly put out the fire, and Macao began asking if everybody got hurt.

"Everybody's fine," he sighs in relief and turns to his son, "Romeo, are you alright?"

His son doesn't reply and stares at him with wide eyes.

"...Son?"

"That was so cool!"

Macao blinks, "Err...what?"

"You were so cool helping everybody! You made them get out safely and no one was hurt at all! It was so freakin' epic! You weren't even scared of the fire!"

His father laughs, "It's my job, kiddo."

"Awesome! I wanna be a policeman like you, dad!"

"Wha-what?! B-but I thought policemen are lame..."

Romeo shakes his head with a grin, "Nuh uh. Not anymore. From now on, they're my idols!"

Natsu chuckles at the fond scene and turns his back, walking back to where Lucy was floating, "For once, your plan actually worked."

Lucy grins, "Of course! But Nat-chan, you do know that you have to escape now, right? The police might begin looking for you to find out who started the fire..."

Natsu chokes in his own saliva.

"F*ck."