3RD PERSON POV

Natsu and Lisanna walked side by side along a trail in the park. Lisanna had suggested that Natsu go out and get some fresh air, hoping to cheer him up and help him take his mind off of his father's passing.

But how could she when he literally sat there and took those brutal words from his own father, who should never have said that to his son, no matter if he was a full-grown adult or not.

As Lisanna was thinking about how to approach a conversation with the pinkette, Natsu spoke up with a low tone, still struck by the event that took place today.

"What should I do now, Liz?" The pinkette stopped in his tracks and looked down at the ground with wrinkled eyelids.

"..." Lisanna looked back at him but remained quiet. She didn't know how to answer him as she felt that answering anyhow could push the salmon-haired man to dangerous lengths.

Natsu has always been...

A depressed person.

If you had not known him as long as she did, then you would assume that was how he normally was, but it took Lisanna a mighty long time to get Natsu out of his depressed state and she would succeed from time to time by annoying him with her stupidity. She would rather have him pull her cheeks and call her a moron than be a hollow shell of his previous self.

Besides her, there was only one person who could brighten his mood and bring out the bright colors in him every time they were in each other's presence.

And that was Cana.

Even though she didn't reciprocate the same feelings as Natsu did until University which is still something to be talked about, you always saw the pinkette smiling, taking part in conversations, being less grumpy, and offering to help whenever he could.

Lisanna knew she couldn't be by his side forever, she also had to move on with her life.

So, how could she replicate the same effect Cana had on Natsu?

"... What do you mean by that?" Lisanna replied to his question, treading slowly around the question to get a better understanding of what the pinkette is asking.

"I don't know... I just think that... my only purpose was to keep my dad alive and follow his every rule but with him gone... I just don't know what to do anymore," Natsu responded.

His tone of voice remained the same,

Neutral.

Even with what he has gone through, he remains the same as always.

Lisanna let out a sigh before smiling brightly and turning to the pinkette. She grabbed a hold of his hand, "You live!"

"Huh?" Natsu's brows raised as he glanced over at her, not expecting that answer.

"You live, Natsu! You've been living under your Dad's hand for so long that you don't know how to operate without him being around!" Lisanna exclaimed as she pointed her thumb at her chest, "Lucky for you, your best buddy has got it all under control! I planned for a situation like this and know how to get a little of your happiness pumped up,"

"Uh ok. I feel like everything you're about to do is going to be ridiculous, but I'm curious to see what you have planned," Natsu smiled.

Lisanna cheerfully smirked as she pulled at Natsu's left cheek, "Keep that smile up and it'll be the best day of your life,"

Natsu smacked her hand away as he grinned down at her. The two continued walking on, playfully pushing each other as they made jokes.

The day was eventful, enough to get Natsu's mind off of things for a while. They first went to a random movie that was in the theatres so that they could play "Mr Critical" which was fun before the two got kicked out for making noise on having different views on the criticisms that they had made amongst each other, the two were even still salty when they got outside of the theatres.

They soon laughed it off and continued with their day, making their way to an arcade which was an immense sweat fest between Natsu and Lisanna who were one-upping each other in every round they played and having heated arguments here and there, demanding rematches and causing such a huge ruckus that people around them started betting on who would win next.

After two hours of hitting incredible high scores, they went to an Italian Restaurant due to Lisanna's craving for something tasty, of course, the pinkette ended up paying for it and what a bill it was with the silver heads appetite. Knowing how she is when it comes to stuffing her face, Natsu picked up a cake and suggested they head to Macao's in an Uber.

It was a simple 45-minute drive.

They had sat in the backseat of the Prius and slouched into the seats.

"That definitely hit the spot! We should do that again some-." Natsu looked over at Lisanna who was instantly knocked out.

He sat up straight and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder, snoozing away from all the fun she had today. Natsu looked down at her and smiled before looking out of the window with a small grin.

He couldn't remember the last time he had fun like that which isn't a surprise because most of the fun he has is when Lisanna is in his vicinity.

The drive was soothing and left the pinkette to ponder on his thoughts. The battery-fuelled car made it so that he felt like he was drifting on air.

"I'll probably have a lot of work waiting on my desk when I get back... that's if Mrs Scarlet doesn't slap me with that termination notice first. I'll have to apologise to Mrs McGarden when I get back..." Natsu thought to himself as the many important faces in his office crossed his mind and without even having to see a certain face, he thought,

"I wonder how Lucy's doing..."

At first, he cursed himself for thinking about that but decided to ponder on it a little longer considering she confessed to him yesterday and it was probably a good time to formulate his response. The moment was still fresh as if it happened an hour ago.

"Natsu, I... I really like you,"

Is the words that bounced around his head. He would be lying to himself if he didn't feel a pang of...

Happiness rise inside of him.

A feeling of being wanted by a stunning woman who was seen as remarkable in their office was interested in him- a boring man.

He couldn't help but smile as he remembered the kiss.

Natsu raised his hand to his mouth, "I've never had something like this happen to me before,"

The last time he recalled a woman showing such interest in him was never. He couldn't even remember Cana showing him such interest when they were together, he always had to initiate an interaction to get anything from her.

"But that moment... was perfect, and if we went further..."

A thought of 'self-control' entered his mind but the moment was all his mind could ponder on, and thus his mind drifted, drifted into a land of want and desire and what may have occurred if they weren't disturbed.

"Her lips were succulent and sweet, her chest pressed up against mine... She was small, almost like I could cover her up with my entire body. I should've wrapped my arms around her, feel her out, absorb her every curve, and commit them to memory," Natsu thought as his intrusive thoughts began to invade his mind, fill his brain with sexual desire that was nothing but,

Desire.

"What the fuck am I thinking?" Natsu cursed to himself, "Lucy isn't an object!"

The driver looked back at Natsu with a brow raised, "Uh, is everything alright back there buddy?"

"Uh yeah, things are great man, thanks," Natsu reassured him and the driver turned back to face the road.

"You've put me in an awkward spot, Luce," Natsu sighed aloud.

He continued to look out of the window, still thinking of the moment he and Lucy shared. Smiling to himself, he didn't notice Lisanna lifting her head a bit and opening her eyelids to be half-slit.

"I knew it," She thought to herself.

Later that evening...

Natsu pressed the doorbell in front of him as he held the cake in one hand. Lisanna rubbed her eyes behind him and blinked them a couple of times to keep them open.

"I need a nap," Lisanna rested her forehead on his back.

"You'll be able to in a minute, just hold on," Natsu reassured her as he glanced over his shoulder.

"I got it, I got it!" A young male's voice exclaimed from behind the door as loud thumping footsteps could be heard.

The door opened wide.

"Big bro! Lisanna!" A 16-year-old young boy opened the front door to his home.

"Hey!" Lisanna jumped up with a disappointed face, "I thought I told you to start calling me Big Sis-."

Natsu pushed her to the side and stepped into the home, wrapping his arm around the boy's neck, "Hey! Romeo, how long has it been kiddo?"

"About 6 or 7 years, give or take," Romeo laughed as he also wrapped an arm around Natsu's neck.

"Is that Natsu???" Macao's voice sounded from the living room.

"Yeah!" Romeo shouted back.

With Lisanna in tow, Natsu and Romeo made their way to the living room which was decorated with three couches that surrounded a flat-screen TV that hung on the wall. The walls were painted with a cream colour that matched the carpet which was a darkish brown colour.

"The one and only," Natsu held a hand up as he set the box of cake on the glass coffee table that was in the middle between the three chairs.

"I told ya he would come," Macao cheekily grinned as he cracked open one beer and threw the other one to the pinkette, "I guess you owe me a bottle of whiskey,"

"You got me, you got me," Wakaba laughed out in tears as he crossed his legs, he looked back over at Natsu and raised a brow at the individual behind him, "Say Natsu, have you been fishing lately?"

"Pfft, no," Natsu shook his head as he cracked open the bottle and almost brought it to his lips, "That's just Lisann-."

"LISANNA!" Macao and Wakaba jumped back into each other and immediately embraced each other.

Wakaba shivered as he took his pipe away from his lips, "Did she come on her own or with the other one?"

"Forget that! Romeo get my gun from under my bed," Macao pointed to the ceiling as he stared at Romeo with wide-plated eyes.

"Dad, it's just Lisanna and big bro that came, nobody else," Romeo rolled his eyes.

"Really??" Macao sweated bullets.

"Yes Dad," Romeo shook his head.

"Thank God," Wakaba placed a hand on his chest.

"Finally," Lisanna brushed past the pinkette and passed out on the couch in front of her, ignoring the commotion that had just occurred. Macao and Wakaba chuckled to each other as they sat down in their place on the same couch.

Natsu kicked back on the couch too and took a swig from his beer. He hasn't drank in a long time that it almost feels brand new to him, he turned to Romeo who sat down on the armrest beside him, ruffling his hair, "Look how big you've gotten, you're almost as tall as me. I bet the ladies are all over you,"

Romeo was wearing blue loose trousers, a white shirt with a purple flame design on it and had flared-out purple hair, and was lean and defined in the physique.

"I'm pretty sure I'm taller AND bigger than you, bro," Romeo grinned, chuckling to himself at the joke he just made.

"Ahaha," Natsu pulled at Romeo's cheeks, "Let's not get cheeky now, I'm old enough to be your father, you know,"

"Whatever you say," Romeo rubbed his cheeks.

"How long do you plan on staying, Natsu?" Wakaba asked as he blew out a heap of smoke.

"Just for the rest of the week. I'll be heading back on Sunday night so I can get to work early," Natsu yawned.

"Three days of complete chilling and catching up then," Romeo said happily, "Oh yeah! How is it working at Fairy Tail Corp? Dad and Mr Gildarts said you ditched us for better things or something along those lines,"

"He did! This little rascal left us on the porch, picking at straws, wondering where he was until Lisanna let us know that he had a job up North," Wakaba grunted.

"Same old Dragneel," Macao commented.

"Always picking work over his friends," Wakaba laughed.

"Shut it, you old geezers. You're drunk, as for Fairy Tail Corp, working there isn't all that. Just work, work, and even more work, nothing special," Natsu responded, "And don't mind your dad and Gildarts, they are morons,"

"They do like to taunt you, don't they?" Romeo laughed.

Macao almost choked on his beer, "Taunt? Wakaba, Gildarts and I practically raised him. That dad of his is a real nut job so we stepped in and worked our magic,"

"Is that true, bro?" Romeo turned to the pinkette in awe.

Natsu eyed the level of liquid in the bottle, "Maybe,"

"Romeo's mother had him in her custody around the time we'd go on our crazy adventures; it was us and the Strauss'," Wakaba fist pumped the air, "Say, we should start those up again-."

"No!" Natsu barked back.

"No!" Lisanna exclaimed as she sat up from her sleep, drool running down the side of her mouth before dropping back onto the comfy couch.

"Hell no! I'll need to buy a double barrel before that happens," Macao scowled at Wakaba who recognised the error in that plan.

"You're right, you're right. My bad," Wakaba sat back on the couch.

Romeo was confused, darting his eyes at the four adults around him, "What are you guys being so dramatic about?"

The four of them turned to Romeo with a grimace printed on their faces, the old memories that they dug away were returning to bite them in the butt once again so the last thing they needed was to come in contact with the manifestation of those memories.

Natsu just shook his head, "You don't wanna know, it's best you see for yourself, kid,"

"From the sound of it, it's like you guys had a lot of fun without me," Romeo joked.

"Your dad and uncle just have nothing else better to do," Natsu shook his head. He slapped the boy on the back, "Forget about all of that, let's go catch up in your room,"

"Sure!" Romeo ran up the steps with Natsu in tow.

"You rotten bastard! At least come and drink a couple more with us," Macao shouted after him.

"I'm good!" Natsu shouted back.

They entered Romeo's room which was neatly tidied up; a single bed in the corner with a desk opposite it, a drawer beside the bed and a tall chest of drawers in the corner on the left after they entered the room. There were two dumbbells by the foot of the bed alongside a blue basket with a fish chew toy beside it.

"Ha, I haven't been here in a while. What's with the pet basket, do you have a dog?" Natsu asked as he pointed at the basket, the fish plushie caught his eye as he knelt to pick it up, "Wait, this is-."

"Happy's toy. Sometimes Wendy drops by to hang out and she brings Happy and Carla with her so I got a basket to accommodate Happy since Carla normally likes to sleep on my bed," Romeo explained as he threw himself on his bed.

Natsu grinned, as he sat down at the desk opposite Romeo's bed, "You and Wendy have gotten close, huh,"

"I mean, it's not like that!" Romeo waved his hands frantically in front of him, "We just hang out here and there, do homework together. Sometimes she needs someone to look after Carla and Happy so I offer,"

"Hence the basket," Natsu pointed at the basket with his eyes.

"Pretty much," Romeo shrugged his shoulders, he let out a sigh and sat up from his bed to ask Natsu a question.

"Big bro?" Romeo turned to the pinkette.

Natsu gently placed the plushie back in the basket before responding with a "Hmm?"

"What should I expect... When I go out into the real world?" Romeo asked with a serious expression, he stared at the pinkette, giving Natsu his full attention.

Natsu raised his brow, "The real world,"

Romeo didn't break his gaze, "Yeah... Me and Wen- I mean, a girl I'm seeing has been talking about our future and what we should expect from this world. We're hoping to make a lot of friends and meet nice people at our workplaces that'll brighten the mood every day. We want to get away from this small town, but I want to be ready for the world to accept me,"

Natsu looked down at his beer, "The real world, huh, the real world is shit,"

Romeo gulped as he felt the aura around Natsu change. The pinkette gripped onto the bottle, veins popping through his skin.

"Let me tell you about the REAL world, Romeo," The pinkette said sternly.

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To Be Continued