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While getting ready for the summer fireworks festival, Natsu helps Lucy put on a yukata.
“I don't understand why you have to wear this thing,” Natsu sighs.
“Because it's cute and I only have a reason to wear it once a year,” Lucy said while looking at herself in the mirror happily. “I also got Nashi one.”
“She'll die before she wears it,” Natsu says, laughing.
“She might consider herself a tomboy, but I think she'll wear it,” Lucy said while digging in their closet.
Natsu snorted.
“Have you never seen that girl's reaction when someone says the word dress?”
Lucy pulled out a small red yukata with little orange flowers on it.
“I think she'll wear it.”
“She hasn't worn anything remotely girly since she was three.”
“Nashi, get in here!” Lucy calls.
Quickly, a 13-year-old Nashi appears in the doorway, her pink hair cut short, even shorter than her father's, who has grown his out since the hundred year quest.
She looks at the garment her mother is carrying and simply says, “hell no.”
“Come on, it's cute.”
“That's the point. It has sleeves, and I can't see any pockets, and that sash looks like it'll take an eternity to get on. Besides, I don't even want to go to the stupid festival, I just want to train.”
“Come on, Nashi, you'd look cute in it,” Natsu says.
Nashi’s eyes narrow.
“I don't want to look cute, I'm a dragon slayer.”
“If you want to be like that, come on,” Natsu says as he started walking towards the door.
“Where are we going?” Nashi asks.
“To spar. I'll even use dragon king mode just to make a point,” Natsu answered simply.
“You wouldn't use that against your own daughter!” Nashi protested.
“I would if it was to prove a point.”
Nashi stared at him for a moment.
“You're bluffing.”
“I am not.”
“You are.”
“Nashi,” Natsu said with a grin that immediately made her nervous, “I've fought demons, dragons, dark guilds, and your mother when she's angry. Do I look like someone who bluffs?”
Lucy laughed.
“Actually, that's a fair point.”
Nashi folded her arms.
“You can't seriously threaten me into wearing a yukata.”
“Threatening?” Natsu asked innocently. “No. I'm offering you two choices.”
“That sounds exactly like a threat.”
“Choice one: wear the yukata and go to the festival.”
“And choice two?”
“We spar, you lose, and you wear it anyway.”
“I might win.”
Lucy nearly burst out laughing, then covered her mouth.
“Anything to say about that, Mom?” Nashi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nashi, your dad is arguably the strongest thing currently alive. As much as I love you, you have no chance.”
“You can at least pretend!”
“What's the strongest monster you've ever defeated?”
“I beat a wyvern once.”
“Your dad beat Acnologia Zeref and Ignia.”
“Fine, I'll wear the yukata, but if anyone calls me cute, I'm burning it,” Nashi huffed while grabbing the garment and marching off to her room.
“Would you have actually used dragon king mode against her?” Lucy asks her husband.
“I don't know, would you have unlocked the seal?”
“More than likely,” Lucy answers.
From Nashi's room, the couple hears several crashes, bangs, and multiple muffled curses.
“Should we get on to her for cursing?” Natsu asks.
“As long as she's not cursing at us, I guess it's fine.”
Another loud thud came from Nashi’s room, followed by a:
“WHY IS THIS THING SO HARD TO GET ON!”
After a solid 5 minutes of cursing and loud bangs, Nashi’s door flew open, the yukata very clearly not on right. It was backwards and not over one shoulder.
“Mom, if you want me to wear this thing so badly, come help me put it on!” Nashi yelled.
Lucy immediately doubled over laughing.
Nashi's eye twitched.
“Mom.”
Lucy tried to stop laughing and failed.
“N-No, sweetheart, I'm coming.”
Still chuckling, Lucy followed her daughter back into the room.
Pretty soon, the mother and daughter came out of Nashi’s bedroom, then went back to Natsu and Lucy's bedroom where Natsu was waiting.
The red fabric actually looked surprisingly good on her. The little orange flowers matched the fiery color in her hair, and despite her constant complaints, the yukata fit perfectly.
“You actually look...”
“You say cute, I'm setting this thing on fire.”
“Would beautiful be better?”
Nashi sighed and looked at her mother.
“Can we hurry up and leave? I want to get out of this as fast as possible.”
Lucy smiled knowingly.
“You've been wearing it for less than two minutes.”
“Exactly. That's already two minutes too long.”
Natsu snorted.
“You know, for someone who hates it so much, you keep checking yourself in mirrors.”
“I am not.”
“You checked three times walking down the hallway.”
“That was tactical awareness.”
“Of your reflection?”
“Yes.”
Natsu burst out laughing while Lucy covered her smile.
Nashi groaned.
“I already regret agreeing to this.”
“Good,” Natsu said. “That means you're growing as a person.”
“That doesn't even make sense.”
“It doesn't have to.”
A few minutes later, the three of them were walking through Magnolia toward the festival grounds.
The streets were lined with lanterns, their warm yellow light contrasting against the night sky, and food stalls stretched from one end of the town to the other, making the air smell of fried meat, candy, and noodles.
Despite all of Nashi’s teenage edge,
She was having fun.
Of course, she would rather fight her dad in dragon King mode than admit it, but she was. She was happy.
As she looked around the festival, she saw out of the corner of her eye her mother trying her best to stop Natsu from running off to a stall with fried meat.
“Natsu, no!” Lucy exclaims while pulling Natsu by his scarf.
“I just want one!”
After Lucy finally reigned her husband in, she tells him, “we both know how quickly one turns into 20.”
Natsu opened his mouth to answer, but a gasp came out instead.
“What?” Lucy asks.
“Nashi is not going to like that.”
Before Lucy could get an answer, she looked over at her daughter, who was 5 seconds away from melting the yukata because she heard someone say, “is that the dragon princess of Fairy Tail? It looks like she can be cute when she actually tries,” followed by several snickers.
Nashi starts marching towards the group of teenage boys, only to be stopped by her mother putting her hand on her shoulder.
She turns around to say something to her mother, only to see Natsu walking directly towards them.
“Wait,” Lucy whispered.
Nashi watches carefully as her dad approaches the boys.
“Hey.”
The boys' laughs stopped immediately once they saw Natsu.
“Six of the strongest people on this planet call me their king. If you want to find out why, keep laughing,” Natsu said simply before walking back to his family.
The boys stood frozen.
Every bit of amusement vanished from their faces.
One of them opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then immediately thought better of it.
Another looked ready to run.
Natsu didn't even glance back.
He simply returned to Lucy and Nashi as though he'd just commented on the weather.
The silence behind them lasted all of three seconds.
Then the entire group of boys turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Fast.
Lucy rubbed her forehead.
“Natsu.”
“What?”
“You threatened children.”
Natsu shrugs. “What if I did? It's not like they can do anything about it.”
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. “That's not the-”
Before she could finish, the fireworks erupted across the skies, causing Nashi to flinch.
Natsu immediately notices and puts his hands over his daughter's ears.
“I know dragon slayer hearing makes it so much worse.”
“I'm fine,” she whispers, clearly lying.
“You jumped about a foot when it first started,” Natsu says, resting his chin on his daughter's head.
Despite that, it feels like cannons are going off in her head. Nashi stared at the fireworks in awe. Even if she was a dragon slayer, for just this moment she was a girl enjoying the festival with her parents.