Falling For The Florist [Natsu Dragneel] | ✓

sixteen; epilogue

     More than anything, Jasmine Izumi Dragneel loved graham crackers. Even though she, being only three, couldn't eat them without her father's supervision, the toddler loved the taste. She was so careful about saving every bit and crumb that her dad didn't even have to worry about vacuuming the carpet afterward.

     One thing she also enjoyed was when her father told her things. She didn't understand too much about what he was saying, but the words themselves got stuck in her mind like her candy on her blanket fabric.

     Jasmine wasn't the only one who noticed this behavior from her pop. Gray Fullbuster, one of his coworkers, pointed it out to the man at one point. 

     He couldn't recall the day, but it was midsummer of the previous year. Fairy Tail, in need of a celebration, had brought in the grills and spent thousands on sausages and hamburger buns among other foods. 

     Gray pushed his wife, Juvia, to the side as he attempted to flip a burger patty without messing it up. "Juv, chill out! I've already fucked up two of these, and you're not helping me out here."

     Juvia went flustered. "It's just that you're, well, really cute in that apron, my darling!" She protested. Once again, he shooed her off, and the water mage finally listened. Juvia left her husband alone to his devices. 

     A few minutes passed, and a little girl with wide onyx eyes, pudgy cheeks, and a floral children's dress wandered over to the grill. Jasmine, with a little dried flower brooch pinned to her dress, sat down at Gray's feet and started untying his shoelaces, in awe because of the complexities.

      Gray nudged her. "Hey, go away," he tried, but he was too busy with the spatula to enforce the order when she ignored him. Despite himself, he smiled. The kid, if nothing else, was a cutie.

     Jasmine cooed and pulled on his pant leg. Immediately, Gray moved out of her grasp. He didn't want a repeat of the last time when she'd 'accidentally' pulled his pants down. If she hadn't been four months old at the time, he would've said Natsu put her up to it. 

     Speaking of the devil, the very same man appeared out of nowhere and scooped the girl up in his arms. With a broad smile, he kissed her cheek, and they both laughed.

     "Hey," Natsu adjusted her, so her head was up near his. "Aunt Erza has some paper. Wanna go draw something?"

     "Lion!" Jasmine chirped one of the words from her limited and odd vocabulary. "Daw lion!"

     Natsu bit his lip and brought her to one of the tables still in earshot where Erza had laid out an array of printer paper. Gray watched from the corner of his eye as the woman helped set everything up. 

     Minutes had passed before he heard Natsu speak again. The dragon slayer shook himself out of his thoughts and peered over at Jasmine's paper and cocked an eyebrow. 

     "You're not drawing, you're writing," he chuckled. Gray caught a glimpse of the sheet the girl was working on, which consisted of a bunch of jumbled, meaningless letters. "Are you writing a story?" 

     Jasmine nodded, which sent her hair flying everywhere. Natsu smiled. "You gonna be an author, you gonna write stories?"

     Again, the girl nodded, although it was this time accompanied by a giggle. Natsu's expression turned proud, yet melancholy. Gray could recall, clear as day, what the man softly whispered next.

     And it was something he wouldn't ever forget.

• • •

"α ѕтσяу ∂σєѕи'т иєє∂ тσ ѕραяк уσυя ιитєяєѕт; ιт נυѕт иєє∂ѕ тσ єςнσ α ѕσмвєя, иαѕту тяυтн σf ℓιfє."