Chapter 26: Couple's Therapy Part III
Summary: Now that Gray and Juvia had their problems more or less resolved, it's time for Mr. Dover's next couple to enter his office. Which Fairy Tail couple will it be this time? I think we all know.
Side note: I've decided to get these Couple's Therapy stories out of the way. Not that I don't like them, but I'd rather get back to the bigger stories as soon as I can. It's hard to focus on all these continuation fics at once, you know!
Song: 'Right Thru Me' by Nicki Minaj
I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the lines I might've stolen from TV shows in this fic.
WARNING! There are a couple spoilers in the chapter
"Watch what I can do, dad!" Immediately, Lucy felt a rush of anxiety after hearing those words. Nothing good ever came after that phrase was uttered by her six-year-old.
Sure enough, a loud crash was heard not a minute after.
Lucy groaned, standing up from her place on the floor with Luna to go investigate what her two boys had done this time.
As she neared the kitchen, she heard whispering.
"Do you think she'll notice?" A little voice, Ash, asked.
"If we hurry and sweep it up, I think we'll be able to get away with it." Natsu answered.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Lucy called out, making the two boys jump out of both surprise and fear.
They stood up quickly, covering whatever mess they made behind their backs.
"Oh, hey, Lucy!" Natsu greeted her as casually as he could. "Have I told you how pretty you look today?"
"Cut the crap, Natsu. What did you and Ash break now?"
"B-break?" Natsu began to sweat. "What makes you think we broke anything?"
Lucy placed her fists on her hips, obviously unamused. She narrowed her eyes, the look on her face saying that she was not in the mood for any nonsense.
After a moment of Lucy's murderous stare, the boys dropped their hands and brought their hands out from behind their backs, revealing bits and pieces of a shattered cookie jar.
"MY JAR!" Lucy cried. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST?!"
Natsu and Ash winced and replied in unison. "We're sorry."
As angry as she was, Lucy could see the guilt in their faces even as they kept their eyes on the ground in front of them. She sighed and rubbed her temples tiredly.
"Whatever." She grumbled. "Just get out of the kitchen while I clean up this mess."
They both nodded and began exiting the room. Ash made it past the doorway, but Natsu was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Not you, Natsu." A shiver went down Natsu's spine at the tone of voice his wife was using on him. "You and I need to have a little chat."
Lucy and Natsu sat across from each other at the kitchen table. Natsu's leg shook up and down and he twiddles his thumb as he waited for Lucy to say something. Her being angry was so much better than her menacing silence.
"Can I ask you a question, Natsu?" She finally said.
"Uh…y-yeah?" Natsu stuttered, realizing that he was treading on paper thin ice.
Lucy leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table. "You do realize that we are not a very rich family, right?"
"Yeah?"
"So, why, exactly, do you insist on deSTROYING ALL OF THE VALUEABLES IN OUR HOUSE?!"
"It's not like I do it on purpose!"
"Natsu, this is the fifth object you have broken in the house this week. I don't even want to know how many I haven't even found out about yet."
Natsu rubbed his head sheepishly. "You know me, Luce. I can't help it. Everywhere I go, I cause destruction."
Lucy sighed. "Trust me, I know and you've regrettably seem to have passed that trait onto our son."
"What can I say?" Natsu shrugged innocently. "It comes with the Fairy Tail name."
"Actually, I think it just comes with the Dragneel name." Lucy was already fearful about how her daughter might turn out. Ash was enough, but imagine having a destructive, teenage girl on her first menstrual cycle. Lucy shivered just thinking about it.
"Well, while I might understand that you might never change, I think we should talk about how you act around Ash."
Natsu blinked. "What do you mean?"
"As much as I love you, Natsu, I don't think I could handle having two of you around. I think I'd go insane. I'm just suggesting that you should watch what you say and how you act around him more."
Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you talking about? We're best buddies! We're fine just the way we are!"
"He has enough buddies, what he needs is a less reckless father."
Natsu's eyes flashed with anger. He sucked his teeth. "I should've known."
"Should've known what?"
Natsu slammed his hand on the table, glaring at her. "I should've known that it was just a matter of time before you try changing me! You just can't accept me for what I am, can you?!"
"That's not what this is about, Natsu! I simply asked you to start watching yourself around our children! You and I both know what it's like to not have parents so we also know what it's like to not come home from a mission to be scolded by a worried mother or concerned father. Don't you understand? I just want them to be safer than we were."
"So, you don't think they can be safe around me?" Natsu's eyes lost their angry flare. Now, they seemed blank.
"That's not-"
"And I think we both know why you feel that way, don't we?" Natsu stood up from the table. Lucy felt unnerved by the lack of emotion in his face.
"You know that's not true!" She protested. "I told you long ago that I could care less about you being a demon of Zeref!"
"That's what you may have said, but the things you're saying now are starting to contradict that."
Lucy gritted her teeth to keep from screaming out of frustration. She placed her hands firmly on the table and bolted up from her chair. "You are such a pig-headed know-it-all! You only hear what you want to hear!"
"Why don't you tell me how you really feel, Lucy?! Look me in the eye and tell me that you aren't disgusted and terrified by the fact that I'm technically an over a hundred year old demon!"
Both of them glared at each other, obviously upset for very different reasons. After a moment, Lucy backed away. Natsu felt a bit victorious…until he heard a broken sob escape her throat.
"What are we doing?" Lucy cried as she rubbed her eyes, not caring about the makeup she might've messed up.
Natsu sighed and backed away as well. "We're being idiots, aren't we?"
Lucy sniffled. "You can say that again."
"So…what do we do about it?"
"Actually," Lucy placed a finger against her lip as she thought. "Juvia recommended a very good couple's therapist that she and Gray went to when they were having problems."
"A couple's therapist?" Natsu wrinkled his nose. "Why the hell would we need something like that?"
"We need to talk to a professional, Natsu. We'll never have our problems resolved if we don't."
"Sure we could! We don't need to waste any more money on something we don't even need."
"We're going and that's final!"
Natsu huffed. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head casually. "The only way you're going to get me there is if you drag me."
0000000
"LET ME GO! I AIN'T GOIN', I TELL YOU!" Natsu screamed uselessly as he was dragged by the collar down the street.
"That's what you say now, but your actions contradict your words." Lucy replied.
"Hey, that's kind of like what I said to you earlier."
"Yeah, I know. It's called irony."
"THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR IRONING! TAKE ME BACK HOME!"
Ben Dover was sitting in his office, awaiting his latest clients. He felt a little wary about accepting another pair from Fairy Tail since the last ones left clothes all around the office or flooded it with tears. But, it had been a successful session nonetheless and he was happy to help. Perhaps this time would be a better experience.
"SHUT UP AND QUIT FUSSING! WE'RE ALREADY HERE!"
"WE DON'T NEED TO BE HERE, LUCY! LET'S GO BACK HOME AND EAT!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Mr. Dover sweatdropped. That must be them.
The door opened up before he could even stand, revealing an angry, busty blonde dragging a pink-haired man behind her. She closed and locked the door behind her before tossing the man on the ground and sitting primly on the leather couch.
"M-Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel, I presume?" Mr. Dover stuttered.
"Yes, that's us!" The blonde smiled sweetly. The pink-haired man stood up, grumbling a bumbling before sitting down beside his wife.
"Well, let's begin, shall we?" Mr. Dover pulled out a pencil and pad from his desk and sat across from the couple. "My name is Ben Dover and-"
"PFFFFFT!" A string of immature giggles followed, surprisingly from both Natsu and Lucy. Apparently Lucy could be just as immature as Natsu, if not even more so.
Mr. Dover's eyebrow twitched. "Hilarious." He muttered sarcastically.
"Hahaha! I-I'm sorry!" Lucy laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"That's hilarious!" Natsu chuckled.
Mr. Dover cleared his throat. "May we get back to the session, please? I am on a schedule."
Lucy got the hint that the therapist was not amused and immediately stopped laughing. She had to elbow Natsu hard in the ribs to get him to stop, however.
"Thank you." Mr. Dover said. "I assume you are both here because of problems in your marriage. Would you like to tell me more about that?"
Lucy and Natsu looked at each other, both with shame in their eyes. Lucy was the one who answered. "Well, Natsu and I got into an argument the other day that sort of…escalated. We're just thankful that our kids didn't hear."
"What was this argument about?"
"It started out with Natsu and our son Ash breaking a cookie jar in the kitchen then it somehow turned into something more serious. I was just trying to tell Natsu to act more responsively around our children."
"And I was just telling Lucy that she doesn't think that I'm a responsible parent." Natsu replied, bitterly.
Mr. Dover hummed as he wrote something down on paper. "Do you think that Natsu is an irresponsible parent, Lucy?"
"It's not that I think that he's irresponsible." Natsu scoffed and Lucy ignored him. "I just wish he wouldn't be his usual rough self when he's around Ash or Luna. I'm afraid his destructive tendencies might rub off on them and they'll eventually get themselves hurt."
"So, technically, you are saying that he is irresponsible."
Lucy threw up her hands in defeat. "Fine! Yes! I'm saying that he's irresponsible."
"And so the truth is revealed." Natsu griped. "If I'm such an irresponsible parent, why don't you just leave me?"
"Stop being such a stubborn idiot, Natsu!" Lucy half-shouted. "Of course I'm not leaving you over something as stupid as this! Do you think I'm that petty?"
"If I may." Mr. Dover interjected. "You both clearly seem to be at odds with one another over this. But, the main argument here is that you want your children to be safe and happy, correct?" He paused long enough to let the couple nod as a reply. "Natsu, you do want your children to be safe, yes?"
"Of course I do!" Natsu replied, obviously offended.
"But, you do realize that your words and actions do reflect upon them?" Natsu didn't reply. "So, whatever tendencies, destructive or otherwise, you may have will possibly be passed onto your children. Now, Natsu I want you to think back on the events that you went through when you were younger. Would you want the same to happen to them?"
Natsu thought back to when he first joined Fairy Tail, after he was supposedly abandoned by Igneel. He felt so alone and lost without him and it was hard to make friends the first couple of weeks. Jumping ahead, Natsu thought about all of the missions that has threatened not only his life, but also the lives of those around him. How many times has he almost lost Lucy or any of his other friends in Fairy Tail? Also, the time when he actually did lose Lucy. Albeit, she was from the future, but she was still Lucy and it was just as devastating as if it had been the current one. Don't even get him started on the battle with Zeref.
Admittedly, Natsu did not want Ash or Luna to go through anything even remotely similar. Sure, he wanted them to have lots of fun adventures and meet new people along the way, but he's not sure how he would react if they put their own lives in danger.
"No." Natsu responded.
Mr. Dover nodded. "Precisely. Now, Lucy, is Natsu not a good father?"
"He's a great father!" Lucy cried.
"So, don't you think it's best to leave well enough alone? Natsu had admitted that he may have been a bit irresponsible, in so many words, but can you honestly say that you can trust your husband to be left alone with your children?"
Lucy didn't hesitate before she nodded. "Yes. I know that he'd never put them in any real danger."
"I'm glad you both are starting to understand. Now, I want you to turn towards each other and say how you really feel."
Hesitantly, Lucy and Natsu turned until they were looking into each other's eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Luce." Natsu apologized. "I guess I should be more responsible around the kids. I'm sorry about all of that stuff I broke and I'm sorry that I said you were disgusted with me being a demon."
Lucy waved her hands. "No! No! I should be the one to apologize! I knew better than to try and change you, but I did anyway. I love you just the way you are, even if you are a destructive demon man."
They both chuckled, relieved that any ill will held towards each other was gone. Lucy leaned over and placed a kiss on Natsu's cheek, causing him to blush.
Mr. Dover was smiling at the not happy couple. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help you two resolve…wait…..WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'DEMON'?!"
This caused Natsu to smile hugely. "Oh yeah, you didn't know about that, huh? Do you want an example of what I can do, Doc?"
Without waiting for an answer, Natsu jumped up on the wooden table. His hands started to flare up, causing Mr. Dover to retreat behind his desk. Before he knew it, half of his office was on fire and there were holes in the roof.
"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
"WELL, EXCUUUSE ME, PRINCESS! I JUST GOT A LITTLE EXCITED!"
"YOU AND YOUR EXCUSES! CAN'T YOU GO ONE MINUTE WITHOUT WRECKING SOMETHING?!"
"OH, HERE WE GO AGAIN!"
Mr. Dover reached for his phone to call his secretary and push his next appointment back. He felt as if he was going to be here a little while longer.