(A/N): So! How'd you guys like the first two chapters? I'm trying to type as softly as I can, as I have a roomie who's sleeping on the other bed, so I'd like to keep them asleep instead of nudgin' me and asking me what I'm doing at 1 in the morning...Eheheh...Yup. It's 1 in the mornin' as I write this. They're totally awake. But they're pretending to be asleep. What a moron, lol :) Anyways! I've updated this one more than my other fanfic because I guess I feel more enthusiastic about where I want this one to go, as opposed to thinking up where I want the other one to go. Please read/review/follow/favorite if you liked it! If you didn't I'm gladly open to suggestions, just leave them as reviews and I will get back to you ASAP, promise!
CHAPTER THREE
The room seemed to hold in their breath, waiting for his reply. Instead, all they got was a smirk.
"C'mon mom, you know me! These drones just wanted to come in and say hullo! They're escorting me, right guys?"
Grandine's frown deepened, and she looked onto the drone's faces. Blank. Like always. They did seem to be more upset than the usual robot, though, much to her surprise. But back to the matter at hand….
"I'm very sorry for interrupting your schedule like this, Mrs. Dragneel. However, this is Natsu's 19th violation of Code 5-14-4, section 14 title 15. The next time he violates this code, he's going onto Planet Toraboru….where all the juvenile delinquents go." The drone leans towards Natsu's face, and enunciates, "To stay. Because that's all that he is! A delinquent. Like his no good-"
Drone 2 shoulders Drone 1 roughly, indicating that the "no good father" was also married at one time to the woman standing before them. The one agitated enough with all the problems of that day to throw them all out.
Impossibly, Drone 1 clears his throat and stiffly says, "Well then. We hope you can enjoy the rest of your day. See you next week for your Annual Robot-o-holic Choco-holic Grease Day."
With a pompous twirl, they floated out the door and back into the road.
Natsu glared at the ground, red staining his cheeks in embarrassment and fury. Grandine puffs up, but before she can start the lecture, she turns around to see thirty pairs of eyes nosily intruding on her private life. But when they all see that she's glaring at them, they all hurriedly go back to finishing their meals as quickly as possible.
She turns around to face her son, who's fiddling with the earring on his ear, a nervous habit he had developed from his -
"Natsu. Look at me please."
He grunts, and faces the wall.
Grandine sighs. "Natsu...we'll discuss this later. Why don't you go and help me finish washing the dishes back in the kitchen? Then you can tell me what happened-"
A crash from behind her reminds her of the tasks she had left hanging, and she turns when Natsu still glares at the wall, refusing to respond.
When it's apparent that she won't implore further, he trudges up the steps to his room. In there, he flops into his bed and opens his telecommunicator to find that his friends are online.
Gray: Yo!
Loke: Dude!
Natsu smiles at the screen, happy to hear from his friends after a grueling session of filing yet more paperwork into his huge file.
Natsu prepared himself, and nonchalantly sent: Hey.
[...]
Gray: Sounds like trouble.
Loke: We heard what happened. Violation of Code 5-14-4, huh?
Gray: Ooh. That's tough.
[...]
He groaned. If there was anything these guys did to a perfection, it was blowing things out of proportion.
He typed: Will you guys let me explain?!
Gray: And apparently on his period. Chill bro.
Natsu snarled, and he pressed forcefully onto the screen: I can beat you up with one hand, perv.
Gray: Who you callin' perv?!
He smirked, and replied: You're probably half naked right now.
Loke: ...Gray.
Gray: …
Gray: He's right.
He replied: LOL. Ok, so I was hoverboarding over on Area 26, and they caught me this time.
Loke: Dude. Tough. Welp, gotta go! Dad's takin' me out to go galaxy fishin on Lake Gyorui
Natsu grimaced. Any mention of the lack of fatherly things that Gray never will recieve always puts him in a bad mood. No kidding...especially when both of us got dead beat dads. He thought, and waited for the impending doom that Loke had brought upon himself.
Gray: ...Gtg.
Natsu knew there was no sense in trying to stop him. He felt the same way. Like scratching a wound that had just started healing, the one that his dead-beat father had left him would take more than just a couple of years to heal.
The telecommunicator was carelessly thrown onto the bed, and Natsu began the neverending task of finding his slippers. He crawled underneath the frame, sneezing a couple of times to clear his throat from the dust bunnies trying to kill him. Fingers trembling from exhaustion, he finally managed to find one and stopped brushing around when his hand came across a book. One that lit up when his hand brushed over it.
He pulled it out from the bed and wiped off years worth of dust, to find the cover of his favorite book staring back at him. Treasure Planet. Curiosity burning in his chest, he opened it to the first page and felt the same thrill he felt as a child. Snuggling up into his mother's chest, breathing in the smell of stewed vegetables and bread rolls. Watching the hologram show the story of the pirate Captain Flint, and his booty of a thousand planets. What he would give to live that freely….
"NATSUUUU! COME DOWN AND WASH THE DISHES PLEASE!" His mother called from the first floor.
With a groan, he pulls himself away from the book, and readies himself for another battle he would surely lose.
Delbert hands Grandine another chair, and she places it above the table, while the new girl stands off on another table, wiping off any remaining food onto a napkin for disposal.
Grandine pushes away the falling strands of hair out of her face, and looks at Delbert. "You think he's doing okay? It's been 4 years, but it doesn't look like he's been improving. Tom was never his real father, but he was good to us."
Delbert pointedly stared at her arm, where a faint scar rested to show testimony to what they lived through. Grandine pulled her sleeve down, hiding the scar and snaps, "Yes I know! I know. Those last few years weren't….pleasant. But I'm strong now. We don't need a man who will only harm him….or me. We have each other. We have the inn." She looks up fondly at Delbert. "I have you, buddy."
He blushes. "Well, you know I've always been fond of you, but I'm a Inu. We're more closely related to dogs than to humans, Grandine. That'd be strange if you were to attempt to court me-"
"I meant! As friends, Delbert. Friends." She laughs this time. "Why people consider you a genius is beyond me." But then her face sombers. "But really Delbert….you think he'll ever get better? It was hard on him. But I was always hoping he'd grow out of this phase. I mean, he's not stupid. You know that." Delbert nods, urging her to go on. "He built his first solar board when he was 10! And then developed the first solar powered oven. An oven! At 14! And then when all that happened….he just didn't do it anymore. He wouldn't make anything. he stays holed up in his room, talking to his friends and refusing to tell me anything. I don't know what his favorite color is anymore. My baby's just…." She looks out, far into the distance, remembering the time before Tom, when it was just them against the world. And the time after that….when it became them against Tom.
Delbert rubs her shoulder reassuringly. "If it's any consolation, I feel like we've known each other long enough so that if you ever need a day off, I would gladly watch over Natsu for you. Maybe what he needs is to go take a trip somewhere."
Grandine groaned. "Not this again. I was joking when I said you could kill him, Delbert."
He laughs. "Not what I meant, Grandine. I literally speak of a trip. An expedition, to be specific. He'd be with people that I trust, going off into the galaxy to take notes for a colleague of mine. Time to focus his energy on something positive." After a long, weighted pause and no response from her, he finishes with, "Think about it, okay?"
He walks toward the coat closet, and finds his jacket. "Well then. I think I will see you bright and early tomorrow! Have those dehydrated pancakes ready for me! See you, Lucy!" he called out. And with a thump of the door, he was gone.
She sighed tiredly. Welp, no sense in bein' mopey about it. Maybe this time he'll let me in…
"NATSUUUU! COME DOWN AND WASH THE DISHES PLEASE!" When she hears his footsteps "thunking" on down, she gears herself up for another war. Maybe this time, though, it won't end in bloodshed.
(A/N): Yes, it's me again. So! What'd you think? I really need to go to sleep now, but this music that I'm listening to keeps my mind awake, even though my eyes want to shut on their own...But feel free to leave a review/follow/favorite/whatever! Hope your Saturday's as great as I hope mine will be! See y'all as soon as I can finish the next chapter! Did anyone else read the newest chapter of The Keys of Fire by Lonestorm? Go ahead and check that baby out, dudes! You will NOT regret it, fufufu... ;D
until next time! ~**BatheMeInSprinkles**~