CHAPTER 7

"Dad! Dad!" An 8 year-old Nashi Dragneel tugged her father's scarf. Natsu looked down on his little girl before grinning.

"What is it kiddo?" he asked, and Nashi's eyebrows creased the longer she looks at him. This made Natsu wonder what's in the girl's mind.

"Dad, why are you wearing Mommy's apron?" she asked and Natsu looked down on himself. He was really wearing Lucy's apron. He studied the details of the apron such as the light pink colour of it and he can clearly see the laces around it and embossed stars and hearts that served as the design for the cloth.

"Well, yes. I am." Natsu said, slightly confused at the stare his daughter was giving him.

"Dad, you look silly" Nashi frowned and Natsu raised his brow.

"What? I look silly? Honestly Nashi, I think Daddy looks quite good in this apron" Natsu replied as he put his hands on his waist. Nashi doesn't seem quite convinced.

Natsu sighed. It seems like his daughter has a bit weirder taste like her mom. He honestly thinks he looks quite dashing in Lucy's apron. But apparently, he feels disturbed upon knowing that Nashi finds it silly.

"Hey, kiddo. How about you try and make Daddy look a lot better in this apron, whaddya say?" Natsu grinned and Nashi seemed pleased. She mirrored the same grin her father was flashing and Natsu swore he saw a sparkle in her eyes.

It wasn't long until Natsu found his pink hair tied into pigtails with a ribbon that has light blue stars in it. Nashi even forced him to wear her pink bunny slippers that Virgo gave her before. And now, his nails were coated with a pattern of yellow and blue nail polish that Nashi found in her mother's stuff.

As Natsu looked at himself in the mirror, he now believes that his daughter has a screwed up taste like her mother. And he's now convinced that he looks silly. He just turned into a young girl's plaything, a doll.

But then, Natsu finds it amusing, and so, with a wide grin on his face he turned around to look at Nashi.

"So! How do I look?!" Natsu said excitedly and Nashi was grinning from ear to ear.

"It's perfect!" Nashi yelled happily before her face fell into deep wonder once more. Natsu noticed this and asked the girl.

"What? Is there something wrong, kiddo?"

"You still haven't answered my question yet. Why are you wearing Mommy's apron?" she asked and Natsu smiled.

It was a special day. It's the exact date when he met Lucy in Hargeon years ago. He had heard from Gray before that Juvia was always setting up an anniversary of their first encounter with each other. And thus, it became a family tradition to them. Natsu felt the need to celebrate it with Lucy since, that day was very special. And he's determined to do something special for her.

Natsu recalled barging in the guild to ask for ideas on how he can cook up something special for Lucy. A surprise to be precise. Lucy is away on a small job with Erza and Wendy, nothing dangerous. And so he heard a lot of suggestions, but much to his luck, most of the guild's suggestions were quite sexual. Natsu doesn't feel like it's appropriate, even though he was really considering it. But alas, Mirajane came for the rescue. She suggested that he should cook something for Lucy, since it was something that he had never done for her.

"Well, you see Nashi, Daddy here is trying to cook something for Mommy, but he wants to surprise her when she returns from her job. Do you wanna help me, kiddo?"

"Of course I do! Let's make Mommy happy!" Nashi jumped in excitement. With this, Natsu brought Nashi to the kitchen with him.

Natsu pulled out a cookbook from the separate shelf of Lucy's collection of cookbooks in the kitchen. He scanned through the book, looking for a possible dish he make for Lucy.

He never thought that deciding a dish to make would be so gruelling. But soon, Natsu ended up trying to make a curry dish, since that was probably the dish that has the shortest list of ingredients and number of steps.

"Okay Nashi! Let's start cooking!" Natsu grinned and shared a fistbump with his daughter.

xXxXxXxXx

Nashi watched her father do his work on the kitchen. She only passes him utensils and materials he would need to get the job done.

The man seemed to take pride in what he was doing. He felt like he was a professional chef who was putting the things needed on the counter.

He prepared the grill, the cauldron, and everything. Nashi seemed to be amazed at how Natsu set things up.

But that was just the beginning. Natsu placed the chunk of meat in the oven and wondered how he will make it work.

"What the hell? How did Lucy make this shit work?" Natsu thought miserably as he fiddled with the buttons. He tried to read the stickers attached to the appliance, but he decided that it had too many numbers and so he stopped.

Soon enough, his patience wore off and he used his Fire Dragonslayer Magic unto the oven. Nashi clapped her hands as she watched the meat burn inside the oven. Natsu was convinced that that's how ovens probably worked, and so he closed the lid.

"Isn't that genius, Nashi?" Natsu grinned at his daughter and Nashi agreed with him.

This time around, Natsu walked towards the bag of vegetables and took some in his hands before looking back at the cookbook.

Natsu was confused. What the hell should he do with the potatoes? He then looked at the cookbook and read the instructions.

"Put the potatoes in the boiling water, along with the carrots. Wait for 5 minutes" he read before looking at the whole potato in his hand. It still had is skin on, and it was straight from the grocery bag.

"Well, since the book said it…" Natsu thought as he threw in the whole bag of potatoes and carrots in the cauldron without peeling or even washing the vegetables.

"Daddy, you didn't peel off the skin? I saw Mommy do that all the time" Nashi asked, curious at Natsu's work with the potatoes and carrots.

"Nah, Daddy's trying to make something new, kiddo. Watch and you'll see" Natsu gave Nashi a thumbs up. Nashi seemed convinced since her father was very confident.

Three minutes passed and Natsu fished out the boiled potatoes and carrots from the cauldron. Nashi tried to read the cookbook so that she can instruct her father on what he should do next.

As Nashi read, she mistakenly switched the 2 cups of water and 1 tsp. of salt.

"Daddy, the next thing we should do is to put 2 cups of salt on the potatoes and carrots" Nashi instructed and Natsu took out a cup.

"I'm right on it!" Natsu said enthusiastically as he threw in 2 cups of salt in the mixture. Soon, the bowl of vegetables was now covered with mounds of salt.

Natsu forgot all about the meat stuck in the oven, both him and Nashi can smell something burning. But both of them decided that it's normal for it to smell that way.

Natsu soon mixed the vegetables in the bowl, but the salt almost covered the whole mixture.

Without Natsu even noticing, black smoke rose from the oven. Nashi frowned upon seeing the oven, which is now being engulfed by flames from the inside.

"Daddy, the oven's on fire. Can I eat it?" Nashi asked and Natsu sighed at his daughter.

"Mommy said that you can't eat fire Nashi. She said it's bad for you" Natsu reminded her before walking towards the oven. He needs to get that meat out of there, the fire isn't a problem at all.

Natsu tried to pull the cover open, but it wasn't opening. He tried again, but it didn't budge. Natsu was losing his patience, and soon enough, without even thinking, he blew the whole kitchen up by attacking the oven.

Perhaps it wasn't only the kitchen. He blew the whole house down.

Everything was burnt down, but Natsu and Nashi were unharmed. In fact, Natsu was the only one covered in ashes as he watched his daughter eat the fire surrounding them.

He can even see the bowl of vegetables burning in the corner, which used to be their living room.

"Daddy! The fire tastes amazing!" Nashi said gleefully

Oh, Lucy is going to love this.

xXxXxXx

Gray heard a knock on the door. He frowned as he looked at the clock. It was 8 in the evening, and he doesn't remember inviting a guest at this hour.

"Who is it, Gray-sama?" he heard his wife call from the kitchen.

"I don't know. But I'll find out soon enough" Gray stood up from the couch, he frowned when he saw a children-sized pair of shorts lying on the floor.

"Oi Silver! I told you to pick your clothes up!" Gray yelled before picking it up and placing it in the nearest laundry basket, but he only got a groan as a response from his son.

Gray walked towards the door and opened it, only to see Natsu who was covered in ashes. And Gray already knew what this meant.

"Did Lucy kick you out again?" Gray asked indifferently as he leaned on the doorframe. Natsu sighed as he slung his bag on his shoulders.

"Yeah, I blew up the house and I let Nashi eat fire. Lucy was furious. And so she stayed in her former apartment with Nashi" Natsu explained.

"You forgot to say, 'again'" Gray stated and Natsu chuckled humorlessly.

"Very funny, Gray"

"So, how long?" Gray inquired and Natsu scratched the back of his head.

"Until Lucy cools off I guess?"

"Yep, I'll give it a day" Gray sighed as he pointed inside, "The guestroom's yours for the night. If you're still kicked out until tomorrow, just head for Gajeel's"

Natsu grinned

"You're a fucking lifesaver, stripper"

"Call me that again, or else you'll sleep in the bathtub"