midnightstar | Happy Holidays Charlie Brown! .. oh wait wrong canon

Christmas and Thanksgiving were going to be difficult holidays for Regina and the kids. They had, for the most part, mended from the deaths of their friends, but this would also be the first Christmas slash Thanksgiving without them. So for that afternoon, she decided to let Natsu distract the kids and the dog for the time being. More than likely they were bundled up and jumping in piles of leaves outside, or begging Natsu for more demonstrations. As for herself, she went to help distract Regine with preparing food. Happily, Regina only took Lucy's bright smile for her natural demeanor and not for any other reasons.

On the other hand, Lucy hadn't been able to stop smiling since the night she and Natsu were.. er.. very intimate together. Assuming she didn't drift off into a dreamy spacey mode when she thought no one was looking. And if she actually saw him, forget it - it took everything she had not to grab him and hold him close. Heck, before that night she had difficulty keeping her eyes off him - it was more so now. SO it was probably for the best that she had something like cooking and entertaining Regine to occupy her attention.

If Regine noticed the way Lucy's conversation chatter kept turning to the topic of Natsu unconsciously, she didn't mention it, though she did seem amused for some reason. Currently the ladies were discussing options for the dinner - the kids wanted to start eating spicier food to - obviously - be more like Natsu after all.

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Yessss, and soon enough they will be a not-family of spicy/hot food eaters. Lucy took a bite of her roll, eyeing Natsu and giving a mock offended sniff. "That's not the part that's annoying." Although the warmth in her she suspected was from more than just eating the food. "But I'm glad that you appreciate my cooking."

Justyne flopped back in her chair a little, her belly round from eating a little more than she had intended. The food was so good she couldn't stop eating! Regina chuckled at the kids, "You'll have to share your recipes with me sometime, Lucy."

Lucy grinned, "Some of them, yeah - but a girl's got to have some secrets." She winked over at Natsu, ".. Right?"

Neveren glanced between the two, then leaned over to Justyne, whispering, "What does she mean by that?"
Justyne giggled, whispering back. "I bet it's adult things. Like ki-"

Fortunately Lucy ..did not hear that exchange. Regina did though, and cleared her throat, "Okay you two, finish up~. You get to help me with the dishes in the kitchen."

"Awww, booo."

That act only made her look cuter in his eyes which in turn meant he was more prone to do things that led to it. Still he had to wonder about her words.

"Then which is it. Can't be teh cooking itself since you always get that happy kind of smile." Yes he was looking and observing and noticing. Being mistaken for a dense fool had its benefits after all.

That being said he wasn't prepared for that teasing comment from Lucy and that coupled with Justyne's words, lit his cheeks on fire faintly before Regina recruited his two generals for dish washing duty.

Her words, funny enough, had been relatively innocent! But Justyne, had always hoped the two would get together (much like many others in the guild family), and she, in her quiet way, had noticed the way they steadily got closer. While she didn't have PROOF, of course, she couldn't help but tease.

Clearly Virgo had been talking to her.

Lucy grinned softly, shaking her head, "Hehee, nevermind which it is." More secrets! His reaction was really cute though ) But she got to her feet, "Need some help, Regina?"

Regina shook her head, "No! Don't you even think of lifting a finger!" She scolded, getting to her feet. Neveren was trying to get Justyne to tell him what 'adult things' meant, and his little sister was dutifully avoiding the topic, handing him off some of the empty dishes.

Lucy was already starting to her feet, "Really it's no trouble at all~!"

Justyne would be so happy of knowing that particular secret. Though even Natsu had to wonder where she'd heard about adult stuff especially since she was the little sister of the pair! Who was filling her head with these concepts anyway?

Natsu had no idea but he actually paused for a moment to ruffle Nev's hair again before they went off with the dishes telling him that if he helped out, Natsu would show him the bigger fireworks.

Justyne is the elder of the two though! In any case, that kind of motivation is highly successful! In fact, Neveren brightens up at the reminder of seing the BIG fireworks, and he abruptly races Justyne into the kitchen.

Lucy's grin widens, watching Natsu with Neveren, folding her arms once the group had padded into the kitchen. Of course she tried to follow, and was immediately pushed right back out with another good natured scolding from Regina. WELL. She guessed she'd have to go outside then~! Sheesh. Though before she did, she grinned in Natsu's direction. "You're really something else, you know that?" the way the kids idolize him still amazed her. Only not really.

Nev is so easy to read and lead along. Then again he intended to show them the bigger fireworks anyway so he wasn't misleading the boy just reminding him of what was to come in order to motivate him. And of course it worked.

"Really? What did I do?" Natsu asked curiously before chuckling when Lucy got ejected from the kitchen again by Regina.

Lucy shook her head, smiling. "Nothing. You were just.. yourself." Pausing in the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder. "Come on, I don't think it'll take them long to finish the dishes and Neveren will never forgive you if you don't make good on your promise."

As if there was a threat of that though; Natsu never broke a promise.

Natsu was getting a bit confused about all of this but it didn't seem bad so he decided to just go with it. He looked over her towards the kitchen and noted how quickly they were making headway.

"Heh like I'd let the little guy down."

Lucy must enjoy confusing him from time to time, since she doesn't tryto clarify what she meant. "Mmhmm, I know that - and I think he knows that too. You've never let anyone down yet." Despite him being hard on himself if she got hurt when he thought he could prevent it. "And any- whoah!" That would be Lucy squeaking as Neveren darts out of the kitchen, hands still wet and drippy, to run outside and take his spot to wait for the fireworks.

Justyne was right behind him at a calmer pace, pulling Regina along with her and insisting she hurry or she'll miss it. Lucy was silent a moment, and then laughed, glancing outside after the group. "I swear, Nev seems to take after you more by the day."

That must be it. Then again her having fun usually ends up with him having fun too in some way or another. Her words warm him up a bit on the inside even if there are some things that contradict her stance to some degree.

He took a step back out of the way as the two children rushed past along with Regina. He followed them out speechless before bursting into laughter with Lucy.

"Well what can I say? The kid has good taste~"

Lucy snorted, poking him in the ribs gently. "What an ego." Glancing outside to where the kids were settling in, with Justyne curling up against Regina and Neveren waving Lucy over to come sit with him, she glanced at the dragonslayer. "Well maestro, your audience awaits! I'd give you a kiss for luck, but you don't need it." She teased, slipping away from his side to join Neveren.

"Hey I'll be cashing in on that after the show then!" Natsu called out after Lucy before starting after her as he began composing the firework inside his mind already picking the patterns and the shape of the blast for after it was fired off. In the end he decided for a moving dragon's head.

Lucy giggled at his response, flashing a quick grin over her shoulder at him. As if she would ever expect anything less. In any case, once she was settled with the others, Neveren quickly made himself comfortable against her side, with Lucy slipping an arm around him for a hug.

Whatever Natsu had planned, she was confident it would be amazing - but him creating a moving dragon's head in fire form - or even firework form - would still be pretty impressive. Of course, the children would be the most vocal in their approval of flashy tricks like that.

She had laid down that challenge after all and Natsu never backed from those especially not the ones laid out by Lucy. Eventually Natsu joined the others in the back and stepped out in front of the audience he was supposed to perform for.

He held his palm up and immediately a glob of fire appeared there, shining almost like a small sun. Natsu then put his other hand above it and began to shape and mold the flames to his desired shape. Eventually one could make out the shape of the head and even some fangs if they looked really closely.

Since this was a more complex and larger construct it took him a while longer to put it together but given Nev's awed expression he didn't mind the glimpse behind the stage.

Giving him little challenges like that somehow made things more fun, and she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was how seriously he took the challenges. If he knew of some of the 'challenges' she came up with though, he'd probably laugh at her. .... still, that WAS the point.

She grinned a little to herself, then cleared her throat, wrapping both arms around Nev to help keep him warmer, focusing her attention on Natsu's performance. His ability to control the flames he wielded amazed her every time - especially since he'd always had a reputation for being one of the more destructive members of their guild.

To think he could use his fire for something like this. She was proud of her partner -that was for sure. And this was just the start, with the kids squealing with delight at the sight of the dragon, and scattered applause from the elder women, Lucy grinning widely.

Why question something as harmless as that? If they both enjoyed it then that was all that mattered really.

Eventually Natsu's construct reached it's final stage and sure enough there was a head of a dragon looking around and roaring without sound as it seemed to want to be free of Natsu's hand. A wish that he would grants in the next moment as he threw the flames high up into the air leaving a streak of what seemed like ephemeral flaming petals that on closer inspection would prove to actually be dragon scales in shape. The head soared high high into the sky before it suddenly burst open , the body of the dragon taking shape around the head in a spectacular explosion of sparks and flames of golden and orange. It wasn't as big as the dragons they had seen back in their world but it was big enough to take up considerable space in their yard if it were to land in it.

Simply that she still overthought thinks. Habits were hard to break after all! But his display was just topping itself more by the second, words of awe coming from the kids. You can't deny something like that is totally cool - a dragon of fire in their own back yard~! Lucy glanced between the dragon of fire to the dragon slayer in amusement once or twice, thoroughly impressed at that control ... and the way he insisted on topping himself the longer it went on.

When the dragon head burst open, his audience echoed brief 'eeps' (or the equivalent therein) of surprise. Lucy chuckled at Neveren's reaction, while Justyne's "wow" took up all the breath in her lungs. Wow indeed!

This kind of control was something he'd inherited from his time in Exsilium. Even to this day he missed those gauntlets. But that time had clearly taught him how much control could actually help in dealing with situations. Especially when he had so many important things to protect.

Natsu watched the dragon circle the guild building once before he started focusing flames into his right fist. He smirked. This was going to be a real Fairy Tail ending to the show. He waited for the dragon to circle right over head before punching the air above him with that same hand gesture they had used during Fantasia and during the Grand Magic Games. From the tip of his finger, a bolt of fire soared and struck the dragon's chest causing it so suddenly glow even harder before finally exploding into tiny winged globes of flames that drifted down to the ground harmlessly.

Those gauntlets were pretty impressive, and it was a darn shame he hadn't been able to take them with him. Lucy and the others followed the path of the dragon with varying degrees of awe and impressed-ness (as if that was a word) though Lucy missed that tell tale look on Natsu's face. While the kids were still watching the dragon though, she glanced towards him, her grin widening at the familiar hand gesture.

Oh what their neighbors must think, getting a free show like this - hopefully they didn't think it was a bad omen!... though more likely they'd figure out it came from the direction of the guild building, go 'Oh those Fairy Tail wizzahds' and go about their business. .. or eat popcorn and watch the show is another likely possibility. In any case, the dragon exploding into tiny balls of winged flame was something neither kid expected - Nev's approval went THROUGH the roof - he would even have tried to move closer to catch one of those wings of flame, if Regina hadn't had her hand on his shoulder, anticipating shenanigans like that from the younger boy.

He missed the gauntlets but the lessons had stayed with him and he wouldn't forget them ever.

Natsu lowered his hand from its pose and finally walked over to his audience.

"How was that?!" He asked with a very proud grin. He could see the kits loved it to bits but he wanted to hear the impressions from everyone including Lucy.

Regina laughed as Natsu approached, clapping politely, "It was astounding, Natsu - and the children appreciate the display as well, as you can see. Getting them to sleep tonight will be ..interesting." The kids were quite excitedly talking to each other about it even now. But hey, they'll have interesting dreams~!

Lucy grinned at the proud smile on his face, nodding agreement with Regina's assessment, "It was completely breathtaking, Natsu. It was.. incredible." But saying even that didn't feel like appropriate wording - it felt like it didn't do it justice.

"Hehe. I promised them a show so might as well go all out." Natsu laughed happily before he heard Lucy's answer. Well if she felt the words didn't convey it enough she was welcome to elaborate on that once the kids retired.

"Glad to hear you all liked it though. Had to make a few last minute modifications to the design but it turned out great in the end~"

She'd have to take him up on that unspoken suggestion. Though to be fair, she probably would have anyway - he was much too much of a temptation. Not that she was complaining. "Last minute modifications?" Well he probably won't get a chance to answer that, since he's about to be swarmed by the two kids, excitedly bouncing around him and heaping praise after praise after praise. Lucy mentally facepalmed, but she leaned over to Regina with a grin. "Great, he's going to be impossible to deal with now."

Yes, she knows he heard her. She wasn't even trying to cover it up, smirking in his direction.

Oh he heard that and wouldn't deny it. Having the kids fawning over him like this felt pretty damn good and he wouldn't trade it for anything. Why would he?

"Hehe I told you I'd make it worth helping with the dishes didn't I?" Natsu laughed, ruffling the hair of both kids with a bring radiant grin.

Watching the kids fawn over him was too cute, and she shifted her weight a little, chuckling. She didn't know what it was, but seeing him playing with the kids and looking out for them this was was so endearing she could help but feel warm watching him.

Neveren's grin practically split his face in half it was so big, and he nodded eagerly. "Yeah, it was awesome! Can you do it again next time?!"

Regina, getting to her feet, dusted herself off, laughing. "All right all right. You two both need to get ready for bed. Big day tomorrow morning." Though it wasn't terribly late, but she'd been leting the kids stay up later than usual the past few nights. Enjoy the mutual kidlet-pouts though, Natsu~!