Work Text:
Nero carefully flew through the door to the shop as it opened with the jingling of bells. Asta, however, seemed blissfully unaware of her presence as he began looking through the rows of various items—pulling things off the shelves seemingly at random to excitedly show to Liebe who was perched on his shoulder. Nero fluffed her feathers and perched on the windowsill to keep a watchful eye on them. They hadn’t invited her along on their shopping expedition today, but Nero wasn’t about to leave them to their own devices in Nean.
Though they always meant well, they could definitely cause quite the chaotic ruckus on the merit of often being impulsive and empty-headed. If Nero was being honest with herself, it was probably the reason that she spent so much time perched on Asta’s head—to make sure he didn’t end up in some kind of trouble or other. She had kept an equally watchful eye on him when he was growing up, but she had felt comfortable only watching from a distance then, since he had had Yuno around to keep him grounded and stop him from doing anything too dangerous or ridiculous. Liebe on the other hand seemed to encourage such behavior and though they were a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, they were a whirling dervish in the day to day—full of hairbrained ideas and foolhardy impulses. It was a wonder that neither of them had died or been seriously injured yet.
“What do you think of this one, Liebe?” Asta asked as he put on a wide brimmed hat covered in feathers.
Liebe shook his head. “You look stupid.” Asta’s brow furrowed almost determinedly as he picked up another hat—a horrible burnt orange with models of fruit in the rim. “That one’s worse!” Liebe insisted before Asta could even try that one on, and Nero was inclined to agree with him.
“I’m not giving up!” Asta declared as he picked up yet another hat. Nero sighed. That was possibly the worst one yet—beige with splotches of color streaked across it at random as if it had had paint spilled on it.
Liebe made a somewhat playful gagging noise before he insisted, “Put that back before it makes me sick. Who knew there were so many ugly hats in the world?”
“I liked that one,” sighed Asta. “It was colorful.” Liebe rolled his eyes and huffed, and Nero shook her head ruffling her feathers. With that fashion sense—or lack thereof—it was a wonder Asta managed to dress himself in anything even semi-cohesive.
With a dryly teasing exasperation, Liebe crossed his arms. “You’re hopeless. I’m going to pick it out myself.” Nero could only blink at him, however, as he pointed to a black and white hat, covered in a cumbersome amount of dark crepe that would likely only get in the eyes of the person who was wearing it.
“Ooh! I like it!” said Asta with widening eyes. Liebe puffed out his chest, seemingly pleased with himself though Nero couldn’t imagine why seeing as his chosen hat wasn’t much better than the ones Asta had picked out. Asta held the hat admiringly in his hands before turning to Liebe and asking, “Do you think she’ll like it too?”
“Of course. It’s the best hat in this place!”
That was a boldface falsehood, and Nero almost felt sorry for the poor “she” who was going to be stuck with that hat. She couldn’t help but be somewhat intrigued, however. Who was this mysterious girl Liebe and Asta were shopping for? Someone on their squad perhaps?
Nero chuckled quietly to herself as she tried and failed to imagine Vanessa, Charmy, Grey, or Noelle in that monstrosity. Like most odd and secretly unwanted presents, it would likely wind up in the possession of Luck, Magna, or Zora and eventually set on fire—on accident, probably.
“And see here…” continued Liebe. “It’s tall enough to fit around her horns if she wants.”
Horns? Nero’s eyes narrowed. Wait…what…?
“Yeah or we could cut holes in the top too,” Asta suggested. “If she wanted them to stick out.”
“Why would she want that, moron?”
Asta shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know…maybe they need sunlight to grow…?”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” huffed Liebe with a shake of his head, before Asta suggested a whole list of ridiculous reasons that she might want to cut out holes for her horns—none of which, as Liebe wasted no time in pointing out, made the slightest bit of sense to anyone except him. Nero, however, was only half-listening as she was too preoccupied with the notion that Asta and Liebe were clearly shopping especially for her. Ugly hat or not, a warmth spread through her chest at the thought.
In her other life as Secre Swallowtail centuries ago, she hadn’t had a family—hadn’t had any younger siblings, but she suddenly wondered if this is what it would have been like to have younger brothers. They were troublesome yet well-meaning and always full of surprises. It was clear to Nero that despite the chaos that followed them wherever they went and their, quite frankly, terrible taste in headwear, Asta and Liebe had such big hearts. They were going to buy that awful hat for her and nothing in the universe would stop them from it. If she had been able to smile in her bird form, she had no doubt that an almost-dopey grin would have tugged at her lips—too powerful for her to hold back. That hat…that stupid, hideous hat…
“And they said we wouldn’t be able to pick out a birthday gift,” chuckled Liebe rather smugly, clearly very proud of himself as Asta gave the shopkeeper more much Yul than that hat was worth. “Now we just have to keep it a secret from Nero until tomorrow.”
“That’s going to be hard,” sighed Asta as his mouth curved into a bright, beaming smile and he practically bounced up and down with an excited energy. “I’m just too excited to give this to her. I know she’s going to love it!”
Nero’s eyes softened. If they smiled at her like that when they gave it to her, she was sure she would, no matter how ugly it was. After all, Luck and Magna could always light it on fire later.