Summary: Natsu's therapy session doesn't end well….
Pairings: Natsu/Erza friendship and some parental Igneel/Natsu.
YouTube Prompt: Lucy, or a general Fairy Tail, tribute to 'Stand' by Rascal Flatts.
When the Magic Council told Natsu he had to go to therapy sessions to deal with his 'arsonist tendencies' he had just laughed.
Until Erza smacked him over the head that is. "It's not funny!" she hissed. "They're threatening to have you committed as a pyromaniac if you don't get a therapist to give you a clean bill of mental health."
"Oh come on Erza!" Natsu whined as he rubbed his head. "All therapy is about is making them jump out of the window. I bet I can do it faster than you or that icy pri-ouch!"
This time Erza had slapped him across the face. "It is not a joke, Natsu!" she said sternly. "You will not push your therapist out of the window to beat everyone at whatever imaginary competition you think exists. You will go in, you will sit down, you will behave, and you will come out with the therapist claiming you're an angel or so help me God I will ensure no one finds your body, kapeesh?"
"A-a-a-aye!"
And that was how Natsu ended up lying stiffly on the one armed sofa as the therapist asked probing question as to why he liked to destroy buildings with fire.
"I don't like to destroy buildings!" Natsu protested. "It's just an accident!"
"Uh-huh," the therapist said disbelievingly as he scribbled something on his notepad. Natsu wasn't the best reader in the world, especially upside-down, and even more so when the handwriting was so terrible, but he was pretty certain that his therapist had just written that Natsu was in denial. "Do you think that you do it because you want the attention?"
"Why would I?" Natsu retorted. "All it does is get me into trouble."
"Some people would say negative attention is better than no attention whatsoever," his therapist said mildly, "and for a child who has been abandoned twice, negative attention is certainly the better option."
Natsu bristled at that. "I wasn't abandoned," he muttered.
"Weren't you?" his therapist raised an eyebrow. "I have read your file. You were first abandoned by your birth parents only to be found by a Dragon and then only a couple years ago you were abandoned by him in the middle of the forest."
Something flared inside Natsu, something furious and simmering, and for a moment he could have sworn he heard Igneel's voice. I didn't fucking abandon you, the Igneel voice growled inside of Natsu's head, tell this guy to piss off! Natsu sat up slowly and glowered furiously at his therapist. "Igneel didn't abandon me," he said firmly, "he's just…..doing something important, you know? He would never just leave. He has his reasons."
His therapist gave him a sympathetic look. "You don't have to make excuses for him, Natsu," he said gently, "he was the parent, not you. It is his fault that you were abandoned and the sooner-"
"I WASN'T ABANDONED!"
"Now, now," the therapist said patronisingly, "the first stage to resolving your problems is acceptance. There is no need to remain in denial now you have the support of myself and the love of your guild to guide you through this. Now say it with me I was aband- YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!"
And that was how his therapy session ended with his therapist dancing round the room with his butt on fire.
It only got worse from there on…
Erza glowered darkly at Natsu as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot worriedly. Her jaw working furiously as she tried to figure out how exactly she'll tell the Magic Council about the therapist's clothes being set on fire and then setting the whole building on fire, without dobbing Natsu in it and getting him committed.
"What?" Natsu blinked innocently (she wasn't fooled for one second). "I didn't do anything!" he protested far too sweetly. "His clothes just spontaneously went up in flames. I think he stood too close to his fireplace."
"Natsu," Erza hissed between gritted teeth, "it's July!"
Natsu tilted his head to the side. "So?" he asked in a sickly, innocent, voice that fooled no one.
"So the only fire in that room came from the Fire Dragon Slayer!" Erza growled furiously. "Now shut up and let me think how I'll explain this to Master!"
And also to let her think about Natsu's escape plan from being sent to an asylum, she had no idea how she was going to do this whatsoever.
Fortunately, however, the Magic Council conveniently forgot that they had sent Natsu to therapy and their threats to what would happen if he had failed them. To make things even better for Fairy Tail all the paperwork surrounding the situation all mysteriously disappeared into Makarov's desk drawer….