Igneel's Guests (?)

After all the stress Natsu has gone through (Dude, are you kidding me? You barely did anything!), he decided he deserved a brake. A day off. Some relaxation. And so, he's here at the bakery, together with a giddy Lucy.

Hanging out and eating all the sweets you like. El Oh El.

Being stuck in a frilly, pink bakery in the next 3 hours. Not so El Oh El.

He did say something about wanting to relax and eat, but he didn't expect his father to actually drag him here and make him wait.

It was something about guests, he thinks, since he didn't really listen.

"What shall we eat, Nat-chan?!" the ghost immediately asked as she floated to the counter shelves, staring at the cakes-and is that drool on her face?

Natsu only shook his head at this and focused on eating the cake instead, ignoring the drooling ghost who was probably smothering her face onto the glass counter.

Poor, wet counter.

He sighed and glanced around to distract himself, eyes darting to every direction, searching for a certain bluenette, but after remembering what happened in school, Natsu cringed and decided not to interfere with Juvia instead.

'Stupid Gray might probably think I'm trying to steal his girlfriend.' he thought.

The door opened, gaining the lad's attention, and widened his eyes at the sight of his muscular father, together with what he had assumed as a couple.

"Igneel better not do those love counseling sessions again..." he bitterly mumbled to himself as he reminisced his father talking to a broken couple, something about how he cheated on her and she hated him and sh*t like that. Honestly, why would they bother talking to a stranger about their problems? They could just break up and kill each other for all he cares.

Laughter erupted from the three adults and Natsu inwardly cursed for being left out.

"This is my son, Natsu." Igneel said after calming down from his roaring laughter.

Smiling, the boy decided to introduce himself nonetheless, "Nice to meet you."

"Oh my! He's very handsome indeed!" the woman chuckled and placed a hand on his cheek, much to Natsu's surprise because dang woman, get your filthy hands off of mah handsome face!

"You raised him well, Igneel." the man said with a sincere smile.

Lucy pouted, feeling bad for being ignored and tugged on Natsu's shirt, to which the lad replied with a soft but annoyed 'what?'.

"I wanna eat..." she whined.

Natsu groaned, resisting the urge to reprimand the girl, but decided to just ignore her again, not wanting to embarrass Igneel in front of their guests.

"Nat-chaaaan~"

Cringe.

The eyebrows on Natsu's face twitched in annoyance as Lucy began tugging harder.

"I wanna eaaaaat~" it felt weird at how Natsu felt memories coming back to him at this time. It was like their first meeting all over again, when Lucy had began pestering him during class.

'And when I got a D- in my exam.' he bitterly thought.

Shrugging the memory aside, Natsu inwardly shook his head and focused on the couple again, but not listening to their boring conversation. He didn't understand adult sometimes, and he decided not to force himself on them either.

It wasn't until the woman had said something about 'adopted' did Natsu pay attention.

"It was nice that even though you guys aren't related, you still treat him as your own son," she happily remarked to Igneel, "I envy you guys."

Meanwhile, Natsu shifted, uncomfortable at the topic.

The woman seemingly noticed this and immediately turned to Natsu with an apologetic look, "Oh my god, I am so sorry, I swear I didn't-"

"N-no, it's fine." he forced a smile, "However, I don't think I'm fit to be here, since you guys are talking about serious stuff. May I please be excused?"

Igneel was confused at Natsu's strange behavior but nodded at the request.

Without a word, he quickly stood up and pranced to the door, with a confused Lucy floating behind him.

XXX

"Are you alright?"

Lucy asked, as she couldn't take the silence between them anymore, and they were already walking for effin' 30 minutes now.

Well, Natsu was, she's floating anyways, but still!

"Nat-chan?" she asked, and the lad turned around.

Truth be told, Natsu wanted to tell her 'no'. No, he definitely isn't alright. He wanted to tell Lucy how he felt but for some reason, no words could come out of his mouth.

Despite living with Igneel for a full 12 years already, Natsu was still not comfortable with the idea of being an 'adopted' son. Every time someone talked about it, he felt stiff, and avoided talking about it as much as he can.

'The 5 year old me should've just ignored it instead.' he thought, recalling the time when he asked Igneel what the word 'adopt' meant and why the kids were teasing him about it.

Turning back to reality, Natsu smiled at the ghost. "Thanks, Lucy."

The blonde girl raised a brow in confusion, "What for?"

"For keeping me company, I guess." he shrugged, "It's the first time anyone treated me so warm before, and I just wanted to thank you for it..."

'While you're still here...please...let me enjoy our time together...'

Lucy only mumbled a 'you're welcome' before sitting down on a bench.

Natsu smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying the peacefulness of the area and relaxing for a bit.

XXX

It was already 10 by the time Natsu came home. Igneel's probably angry because he spent a long time outside but the pinkette didn't care. It was a day of relaxation after all, so shouldn't he relax as long as he wanted to.

He threw his shoes to the carpet as soon as he got inside and walked to Igneel's room, slightly hesitating whether to open it or not.

Until, two voices were heard.

"I don't know what to do. He grew up with you. He sees you as his father now. We're nothing but strangers in his life. I can't believe my only son doesn't recognize me..."

Natsu visibly tensed after realizing it was a private topic and gulped.

Well, okay, time to turn back now and pretend you didn't hear anything-

"I can't believe, Natsu, our only son, doesn't recognize us..."

-Bloody hell.

TO BE CONTINUED