*A/N- Okay, okay, here we go again, I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. I know if any of you read my other four ongoings then you knew I would be revisiting this story and you've already read this apology twice. If you don't read those then this is my first apology and I AM SO SORRY OKAY. I needed to step back and focus on high school, but now that I'm a college student with some time on my hands I can look back over these. I can't make promises for regular updating, but I can promise I will do my best.
So welcome to the newest (and long overdue) chapter of Ohana!
X x x
On his way home from the Dragneel house Erik was deep in thought. That Zeref was a strange one. He had done some interviewing around town to see what public opinion of him was, and was surprised to find strangely conflicting stories. Half the people he had asked had described him as a harmless sweetheart who couldn't hurt a fly with puppy dog eyes that just made you want to hug him and tell him everything would be okay. Those interviews had more closely reflected his own first impression of the boy.
However, a few people who had had talked too had seemed terrified of him, claiming his calm to be hiding a storm, and that he was a man with demons eyes who was ruthless to the core. These had given him great pause. The way these people talked made Zeref sound dangerous and formidable, and he certainly did not want to leave a child in a house like that; but the same people who claimed he had eyes like a devil claimed he was absolutely no danger to Natsu. It was peculiar.
He'd initially disregarded these people's statements after meeting the boy himself. The most dangerous vibe he got from Zeref was that he'd failed to look both ways before crossing the street and nearly getting hit by himself. That, at worst, made him a little reckless, not a devil to be feared and avoided. But tonight Erik thought he'd seen just a little bit of the man those villagers feared, who they claimed to have eyes like the devil.
After Zeref assured Natsu he would never leave him he'd shot him a challenging look, gazing directly into his eyes and seeming to pierce his soul, when before he had seemed nearly to afraid to look him in the eye. His eyes had seemed to flash red, but no, that had to have been a trick of the light, the ambulance lights reflected, or something. But still, the look in Zeref's eyes could only be described as murder, like he would kill to keep his brother safe.
This investigation was getting interesting indeed. Which side of Zeref was the one he really showed Natsu, and just who exactly was this boy who inspired such different opinions in his peers?
"Cat! Cat! Cat! Cat!" Natsu chanted, bouncing up and down excitedly in his seat as they drove to the kennel. It would have been cute except Natsu had overheard Zeref telling Mavis that last night, and he'd literally only said one word since then. He'd woken Zeref up early by running into his room and jumping up and down screaming the word "CAT! CAT! CAT!" over and over again until Zeref had finally gotten up and getting dressed to take him to the kennel for the damned cat.
"Natsu if you DO NOT SHUT UP I am going to CRASH THIS CAR and you will not LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER CAT!" Zeref finally snapped, after Natsu had said the word one too many times. Natsu settled down in his seat looking smug, like Zeref's mental break had been his intent all day long. That little brat, he thought as they pulled into the kennel parking lot. Natsu barely waited for the car to stop before leaping out onto the gravel and running inside.
"Damn it, Natsu," Zeref muttered, turning the car off and running in behind his brother.
"I'm here for a cat!" Natsu shouted, standing on his tippy toes so he could see over the counter.
"Inside voice, Natsu," Zeref chided. He looked up at the cashier. "We would like to adopt a cat." He sighed. The woman smiled knowingly, then leaned over the counter to better speak to Natsu.
"Alright, You can go on back to the kennel and pick one out if you want!" She lifted the barrier to the counter, quite unnecessarily because Natsu could have walked straight under it, and he went through to the back.
"He seems quite full of energy," the woman commented to Zeref, smiling.
"You have no idea," he groaned, massaging his temples.
X x x
"Hi cats!" Natsu said, walking through the kennel, waving merrily to each one. He eyed them analytically, wondering which cat would be the best. There were calico cats, which were pretty, but none of them really looked like what he wanted. He wanted a cat to fit their family. Something that could play with him when Zeref was tired or upset. A cat that could help him snuggle Zeref when he was sad would also be a bonus. None of these cats seemed like they made the cut.
That is, until he reached the last kennel and saw a cat that was exactly what he was looking for. It had a big head and little arms, and it was blue. Natsu had never seen a blue cat before, but he knew it was special, just like their little family was. A special cat for a special family. He opened the door and cuddled it in his arms, laughing when it rubbed its face against his cheek.
"I'm going to call you Happy," Natsu said, smiling, and carried it out of the room in his arms to present it to his brother.
"Yeah he actually asked the nurses is-ahh! Natsu what is that?" Zeref shouted, alarmed, when he laid eyes on Natsu.
"It's our new cat! His name is Happy!"
"That is not a cat!" Zeref exclaimed, reaching down as Natsu walked under the counter to take the animal away.
"Hey!" Natsu cried, "give him back!"
"Natsu this isn't even a cat! It's- it's, I don't know what it is but it isn't a cat!"
"Who says? He looks like a cat to me and he was in the kennels with the cats!" Zeref looked desperately up at the cashier, who shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
"I don't know what it is," She said, they brought it in this morning, I didn't think it would live long because it was so deformed."
"Hey, that's mean!" Natsu said. "Zeref says you're not supposed to point out when people are different from you 'cause you might hurt their feelings!" Natsu said, stamping his foot.
"I-ah, yes, that's true, but in this case…"
"Happy is just another cat! It's mean to pick on him because of how he looks."
"Natsu…" Zeref groaned, "does it have to be this cat?"
The cat turned over in Zeref's arms and made a strange sound.
"Yup. He's good. I can tell."
"Blue?" Mavis asked, looking incredulous.
"Yes, literally blue. It's insane. And it looks like something out of a cartoon, I'm a little scared it will give him some sort of disease."
"You should have it tested," Mavis suggested.
"I know, but that takes money, and it's a little tight right now…" He trailed. Mavis nodded. "Oh, by the way, thank you for cleaning up the house after Natsu got hurt, you really shouldn't have troubled yourself."
"Oh, it wasn't any trouble," Mavis replied. "It was a pleasure to help out." Zeref smiled and looked down. Things between them had been slightly different since that day, more tense, like they could both feel the weight of what was between them now and they could no longer ignore it. Zeref kept almost bringing it up and chickening out. What did he expect to happen after he told her anyway? The situation had not changed, he couldn't let himself get distracted by romantic entanglement right now, and Mavis knew that, even if she was interested in him as well.
"Today is the second day of the three day period the social worker gave me to convince him to let me keep Natsu," Zeref sighed, "and day one didn't go well." Mavis bit her thumb nail.
"He can't possibly take Natsu away from you, he just can't." Zeref leaned back up against the locker heavily and put his face in his hands.
"I don't know what I'd do, Mavis," Zeref said, for the first time allowing his fear to show through. He couldn't let Natsu know how worried he really was, or Natsu would get scared, and there was no point in scaring the child. "If they took Natsu away I'd- I'd…" his breath hitched, and he stopped talking, biting the inside of his cheek to suppress the sob building up in his throat.
There was a warm hand on his shoulder, and then Mavis pulled him into her arms. He sucked in a breath and then relaxed into her, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her close. He breathed her in and sighed, he hadn't had the chance to vent in a while, and it was a relief now.
"I'm sorry I'm such a mess."
"No, no, you have every right to be. It hasn't been all that long since your parents… and now this. Not to mention you never had the chance to properly grieve, you had to be strong for Natsu. You're doing much better than most would in your situation. Really."
"The social worker doesn't think so highly of me," Zeref whispered, struggling to keep his voice even.
"Then we'll make him," she said soothingly, reaching up to stroke his hair.
"How?" he asked, sounding so helpless and broken that Mavis's heart twisted painfully.
"Because I'll be there tonight," Mavis said. "I'm coming over to help out and cook dinner. It'll be a nice family dinner, and when the social worker shows up he'll think 'wow what a nice and cute little family' and that will be that." Zeref chuckled.
"I can't ask you to do that," He started, but she interrupted him.
"You're not asking, and for the record, neither am I. It's going to happen so just deal."
"Even if you did come over, I doubt it'd be that simple."
"Well it would hardly hurt." Zeref couldn't argue with that. Mavis leaned up and and kissed him on the cheek briefly before ducking out of the room.
"I'll be over later," she called. Zeref stood, looking after her, hearing his heart thud in his ears.
"You have that dumb look on your face again," Natsu said, as soon as Zeref walked through the door to pick him up from dance class.
"I do not!" Zeref protested, quickly rearranging his face into something he hoped resembled anger.
"You do so!" Natsu retorted.
"Nuh-uh," Zeref replied.
"You do sort of," Makarov chimed in. "Did something happen with Mavis?"
"S-shut up, all of you," Zeref said, picking up Natsu and tossing him over his shoulder like a potato. "We're going home."
"Zeref and Mavis sitting in a tree. K-i-s-i-n-g!"
"THAT'S NOT EVEN HOW YOU SPELL KISSING!"
"I don't need to know how to spell it to know that you are doing it!"
"I am not!"
"Well then I'll just have to ask Mavis!"
"You better not!"
"I'm gonna!"
"I'll return that stupid cat," Zeref threatened.
"You will not!"
"Wanna test it?" He asked menacingly, buckling Natsu into his booster seat and glaring at him. Natsu didn't reply, instead he opened up his bag, smirking, to reveal Happy sleeping inside. "Natsu!" Zeref protested. "You can't just tote the cat around in your bag! What if it gets hurt, what if it smothers!"
"But what if he got lonely home alone! I had to make sure he knew we hadn't abandoned him!" Zeref felt his heart soften, but kept on his stern face.
"I understand you want your cat to be happy, but you can't carry it around with you. Some people are allergic, what if one of the other kids in your class had a reaction?" Natsu looked down guiltily. Zeref sighed and rubbed his head. "It's alright, just don't do it again."
"Okay," he said sadly, reaching into his bag to pet the cat. Zeref smiled at him and closed the door, walking around to the front door and climbing in. He glanced at Natsu in the rear view mirror, to see that he was now snuggling the cat close, whispering into its ear. Zeref smiled again. The cat had been a good decision.
"Mavis is going to come over later, we're all going to have dinner."
"I knew it!" Natsu cried, startling both Zeref and Happy. "I knew something had happened!"
"Nothing happened!" Zeref insisted, though his cheek burned where she had kissed him.
"She's just going to come over and have dinner."
"Are you trying to impress the social worker by pretending we're all a family?"
"Uh…" Zeref said. How was he supposed to react to that? They were trying to impress the social worker, but who said they were pretending? Family took many forms. Natsu was a little young to understand, and Zeref wasn't sure he could explain it even if he was. He supposed he should try though.
"We are a family," Zeref said. "It doesn't matter if it's just the two of us, or if Mavis isn't related, we can all be a family. There are lots of kinds of families, sometimes a family is just the people you love the most, and that's okay."
"Does that mean you love Mavis?" Natsu asked. Zeref choked and glanced at Natsu in the mirror again. He blinked innocently at Zeref, waiting for an answer.
"It's-it's not as simple as that," Zeref stammared. Damn, I'm so bad at this.
"So you don't love Mavis?"
"That's not what I- you'll understand when you're older."
"Aww!" Natsu protested. "I hate when you say that!"
"Well then stop asking such grown-up questions." Natsu screamed in anguish, and Zeref rolled his eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, you're not going to die because I can't explain it to you."
"I might!"
"No you won't."
"My feet hurt!" Natsu complained when Zeref was helping him out of the car seat once they'd arrived at their house.
"Of course they do," Zeref replied, picking him up and setting him on his hip, placing his bag on his other shoulder.
"I want macaroni for dinner!" Natsu cried.
"You'll have to tell Mavis, she might have something in mind already."
"I hope it's macaroni!"
"Well you're going to be nice and say thank you no matter what, right?"
"I guess," Natsu pouted.
Zeref handed Natsu the keys so he could open the door, and he walked up the steps while Natsu rattled the keys. Zeref rolled his eyes. Kids. When they reached the top of the steps Natsu unlocked the door and Zeref carried him through the door and set him down on the other side.
"Alright, ride's over, go get ready for dinner, put up your things, and feed the cat."
"What are you gonna do?" Natsu asked, sounding irritated.
"I'm going to clean up your mess in the kitchen so when Mavis comes over she won't run screaming."
Natsu walked away with a huff, dragging his bag behind him morosely, like cleaning up his own things was a death sentence. How can there be so much drama wrapped up in one small child? Zeref wondered, not for the first time.