Bully
"Ah, we're finally home!"
Natsu smiled to himself as soon as he stepped foot at Japan's airport, happy that they're finally home and not with some random Chinese people Igneel knew (whoever the hell they may be).
"We're back~" Lucy grinned as she floated towards him.
'Oh, and her too.'
Sighing, he headed towards the luggage area to pick up the bags. Since he kind of made Igneel a little mad (dude, are you kidding me? The old man was effin' red!), he had no choice but to make up for it, and that meant following his orders EVERYDAY.
The damn man just had to make him pick up the luggage, huh?
"What the hell is even inside this? Rocks?!" Natsu huffed as he struggled to balance himself and limped back to their meeting place.
Even at a far distance, Natsu could already see Lucy floating happily.
'When I arrive there, I'll make sure to make her carry ALL of these f*cking rocks and carry me to the taxi!'
"Nat-chan, Mira sent you a message! Look!"
Natsu raised a brow and grabbed his phone from the ghost, surprised that he got a message all the way from Beijing.
I just wanted to say thank you for helping us find Lisanna. Elfman was truly happy when he saw her.
You're an angel, just like Lucy.
May she rest in peace.
- Love, Mira :)
P.S: If she were still alive and you two would fall in love, you'd make great babies~
Natsu wanted to barf at the message because one, Lucy is definitely NOT an angel and she is NOT resting in peace, and two, he would definitely NOT fall in love with her and they would NOT make great babies...
...right?
Shaking his head, he replied a 'you're welcome' to Mira and headed to Igneel.
"Guess what, Nat-chan?!"
The lad flashed Lucy a bored look, "What?"
"We're doing our next favor!"
"...Oh..."
Lucy frowned, "What's with the bored look?"
"I'm not bored. I'm tired. I've been carrying these for only 5 minutes and I feel like my arms are going to pop out."
The ghost chuckled, "Anyways, want to hear about who to help next?"
"Yeah?"
"Romeo Conbolt."
The luggage Natsu was carrying immediately fell to the ground as he faced Lucy with a troubled look.
"You mean that brat who bullies Wendy?!"
XXX
"I can't believe I have to help that brat," Natsu spat out first thing in the morning as he began walking to his classroom, ignoring the weird looks everyone was giving him - he was used to it anyways.
"Tch. Why did he even go back? I prefer school without him."
"Oh my god, he's here already!"
"That pink headed loser doesn't know where he belongs, huh?"
Though Natsu appreciated the fact that they're back at his home country, he didn't like returning to school AT ALL. It made him a loser again.
Once he entered the room, the chatters were now gone and all eyes were at him.
"He should've just stayed wherever the hell he went to."
"I know, right?"
"He just HAD to return."
He managed to keep a straight face despite wincing inside. 'Come on, Natsu, just 2 more years. 2 more years...'
"Hey Dragneel," a guy he didn't know slammed his hands on his desk, "we heard you went to China. Was it fun?"
Natsu gritted his teeth and looked up, trying to stop himself from punching the stranger . This guy is probably just another junior wanting attention, and by attention, it meant humiliating him.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Oh nothing, I just wanted to know if you had a nice time there."
Judging by the roll of his tongue at the word 'nice', Natsu knew this guy was trouble. Still, he kept a poker face, "Yeah?"
The stranger smirked, "Good, 'cause you might wanna go back there now-"
"Leave him alone."
All eyes traveled down to the source of the voice and Natsu widened his eyes, realizing it was no other than-
"Gray." he mumbled.
The raven-haired teen clicked his tongue in disapproval, "If you wanna punch him, then leave, he's not worth it. Or else I'll be the one punching you instead."
"Sheesh, can't take a joke will you, huh, Fullbuster?" the guy nervously laughed and headed to the door, "I'll be taking my leave now."
Gray sighed once the guy was gone and approached a still surprised Natsu.
"Next time they come, call me, okay?" he grinned.
"O...okay..."
XXX
"Nat-chan~! How was school?!"
"Fine," Natsu simply said as he took a bite of the burger, "where were you though?"
"Oh nothing. Just floating around. Shall we go now?"
The pink-haired teen raised a brow at Lucy's suspicious answer but nonetheless nodded and followed the ghost.
"Romeo Conbolt is mostly known as a bully at his school." Lucy started, "One of his usual targets is Wendy."
She continued, "However, I've met that kid before, and honestly, he was nowhere similar to the Romeo back then. The little brat was a goody-goody who was all smiles to everybody. I don't know what happened to him though..."
"What about his family?"
"Romeo is an only child living with his single father, Macao."
Natsu raised a brow again, "Macao? You mean, Macao Conbolt? The town policeman?"
"Yep."
"How does he deal with his son's attitude?"
Lucy shrugged, "I don't know either, but I salute that guy for living with the kid for solid 13 years. He never got along with his son well, something about his job or whatever. Anyways, we're here at their house."
Natsu looked confused, "House? I thought we were going to his school?"
Honestly, the only reason why Natsu agreed to come with Lucy was because he wanted to see Wendy. He missed the little girl, but why did they go to the brat's house?
"I just thought that you should personally know more about the kid before helping him."
"I see."
"Why can't you just take another job?!"
"What's wrong with being a policeman?!"
"What's wrong?! All you do is patrol every night and drink! There's nothing cool about it! My friends say you suck!"
"Romeo, take back EVERYTHING that you said!"
"Hell no!"
Natsu froze on his tracks when he heard yelling and saw the father and son arguing. Only then, did he realize...
Romeo is the exact version of him in his childhood.