An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Day 20- Secret Crush
*(Hmm. Not really sure. Some time between chapter 18, Asuka, a Fairy Tail Wizard, and chapter 24, Progress)
Asuka was hard at work on another drawing. She's been on an art binge all week, it seemed, drawing one picture after another, going all out with the colors and all the different people, animals, places, or whatever she could imagine.
It all started with a simple drawing of a bunny. She was having a play date with one of her friends, and they'd started doodling on some scrap paper while having snacks. Her friend, Chloe, had admired the cute picture, and Asuka was happy to let her have it. The next day, she'd given a picture to another friend, Samantha, as they were passing each other on her the way to the guild. She just ripped a random page from her drawing pad and gave it to her, giggling all the while. She found she liked giving these little gifts to her friends.
Alzack thought it was adorable. He'd gotten one of those gifts just that morning, a fine rendition of a purple unicorn wearing boots. And the horn was longer than its whole body. But she'd put a lot of love in it, and that's what mattered. Bisca had just gotten a picture of a butterfly flying over what may have been the guild hall. It was bigger than the whole building, but what a cute smiley face it had! They could always ask Reedus to give her lessons if she was interested in pursuing this hobby for a while.
She really loved her friends and family, and it was so cute how she wanted to give these little tokens to all of them. She had worked all weekend to make simple drawings for each kid in her play group, and would be delivering them tomorrow when they'd next meet. Right now, she was working very diligently on another one, but instead of rushing through a quick drawing like the others, this one's been taking a while to complete.
Instead of a cartoonish looking animal, it was a pretty decent looking drawing of a cat. It was white and gray, with little black stripes. It wore a crown over one ear, so big that you couldn't really see that ear. And it had butterfly wings. So not an exceed? Now she was drawing a background. Grass and trees. A big pot in front of a house. With fish? Well, cat's like fish. And there were big puffy clouds in the sky, with happy faces drawn on them. And a smiling sun. All this was cute beyond all reason, but she sure was putting a whole lot more effort into this drawing.
It took more than a few glances and several minutes for both Alzack and Bisca to notice how much time she was devoting to this one picture. Usually she would have churned out three or four by now. Why was this one so important to her?
!!!
Could it be for an extra special someone?
Bisca motioned Alzack to come closer, and through whispers and quiet murmurs, asked what he knew about possible candidates for this special drawing.
"I don't know. I'm not that familiar with all of her friends," he shrugged.
"Maybe she has a best friend we don't know about? She's old enough for a best friend, right?"
"I don't know. My best friend at that age was a stuffed turtle named Shelly."
"Shelly?"
"I was six."
"I'm not judging. I think it's cute. I had more than one best friend at that age."
"You can't have more than one best friend."
"Maybe you can't… Do you think it's for Selah? They've been friends since before they could crawl."
"Maybe. But she also made a new friend at her horse riding class last week."
"You never told me she made a new friend."
"She's got so many, it's hard to keep up. And I was talking with the other dads while the kids were riding. I didn't notice. But Mason seems like a nice kid."
"You weren't watching them, but you caught the kid's name?"
"I take enough notice when a boy's chatting up my little girl."
"Uh huh," Bisca smiled. Then a thought came to her, and the face she must have been making had Alzack wondering, but not for long as he came to the same conclusion.
"You don't think she has a crush, do you?" she asked.
"Oh, Lord, I don't think I'm ready for that."
"Let's not panic. She's six. It's perfectly innocent for a little girl to have crushes. In fact, it's kind of cute."
"Not until I meet this boy!"
"You were just saying he was a nice boy."
"That was before I knew he had eyes on my daughter!"
"Are you forgetting that it's Asuka making the extra special gift, not the other way around?"
That cooled him down a little bit. Taking a moment to watch and think about the situation, both of them realized they were jumping to conclusions. This was a huge leap they were taking, assuming there was a boy involved just because their little girl was drawing a picture. For all they knew, she was drawing it for herself, just something to hang on her wall. Now able to laugh at themselves, they relaxed and sat back to admire her handiwork as they finished their meal.
And almost choked when she wrote "I Love You" in a big heart drawn over the cat.
"Could it be one of the boys in her play group?" asked a frantic Alzack.
"Better not be. They're all brats. One of them stole her hat last week."
"Who?! I'll hunt his father down right now! Nobody bully's my princess!"
"Don't worry about that. She got it back on her own. Tackled him to the ground and sat on him until he cried uncle and gave it back. His mom and I saw the whole thing. We couldn't stop laughing."
"Okay. Good. That's my girl. It's probably not him, then. Who else?"
As they were pondering the possibilities, Asuka looked up at a bunch of movement from a few tables down, where team Natsu were just finishing lunch. Wendy-nee was helping her Gray-ni put on his coat—which meant he was probably about to leave!
Asuka's frantic hurry to finish her drawing drew her parents' attention. With a shout of, "Gray-ni, wait! I made something for you," their eyes widened in shock and a little alarm.
Gray!?
Could all that time spent together have caused their innocent little girl to grow an attachment to her big brother that went beyond the norm? Were her expectations too high? Maybe it wasn't really a crush at all. She really did love her big brother figure, but as a brother! They knew she had a bit of hero worship. Could that be evolving into some childish infatuation?
But she also loved her Natsu-ni and all her big sisters with as much zeal. But they'd already seen the gifts she'd given them. She hadn't taken time to draw such detailed pictures for them.
Gray was approaching, the rest of his friends waiting patiently by their table. What an awkward situation they were in. What would Asuka say? Would he humor her? Would she get her hopes up, only to have them crushed when he would inevitably turn her down? Would they have to console her through her first broken heart at only six years old?!
"I finished the picture I told you about!"
Wait. He already knew?!
"That's great! Tell me about it," he said with a big smile.
'What's he saying?' they wondered. Usually, Asuka would translate everything he said, but she must want to keep this conversation private!
She was describing the drawing to him, and they watched as his countenance grew more pleased. He was very excited about this gift.
"And I wrote 'I Love You' with a great big heart! Do you like it?"
"I love it."
!!!
They knew that Gesture. It means love! Would they have to intervene soon? He was saying something else. Dang it! Why have they never thought to learn Gesture Speak with her?!
'Come on, Gray. Just let her down gently. She may be six, but she's tough. She can handle it. Kids are resilient… Why's she still smiling? ... She should be sad by now. Or disappointed. Aren't you going to let her down? Don't tell me you're playing along with this? Oh no! Maybe since you can't see her face, you can't tell how serious she's being!'
Both parents were having similar thoughts, and both grew more and more convinced that their daughter was about to suffer the biggest let down of her life. But maybe this was a good thing. Wasn't it better to let one's children try risky things, and to make mistakes, so they'd learn from them under their parents' loving guidance? It was better than hovering over them, and keeping them from exploring their world, stifling them, until they'd turn resentful and rebellious, and going overboard with daring deeds.
This wasn't just her first childhood crush. This was a milestone in their young daughter's growth and development into a strong, confident young woman!
But still, did her first crush have to be Gray?! Sure, he's a sweet kid, and he's definitely strong and dependable; but if it weren't for Tenrou, he'd be old enough to be her father! Plus, they didn't want to hold his emotional baggage against him, but they had to put their daughter first!
Alzack was chewing at the bit, wanting to step in between them, just to set things straight, and maybe lay out some ground rules for future—purely platonic and nothing further—interactions. Bisca was willing to let this conversation play out, then talk to her daughter about the appropriateness of certain relationships, and maybe have Alzack pull Gray aside to let him know about Asuka's true feelings.
Neither would want to embarrass him, though. They could just play it off as if they thought the whole thing was funny. Just a childish infatuation. Totally innocent. Would he be able to tell from the sounds of their voices how distressed they really felt about it? They'd just have to stay calm. Cool heads would prevail.
Gray suddenly pulled Asuka into a hug.
Don't overreact! It's just a hug! They do that all the time!
They released each other, and Gray turned to them, rolling up Asuka's drawing—he didn't want it to crease—to place in a cargo pocket. Then, with Asuka finally translating for him, he spoke to them.
"Alzack, Bisca, you two raised a sweet, smart, beautiful little girl."
He had to pause as Asuka started giggling at all the praise, but smiled as he waited.
He couldn't see her parent's shared looks of dread. What could he possibly have to say that would follow such an opening?
"And she's so talented, too. If her drawing is half as lovely as she'd described it, I know it'll be the best one in my collection so far."
Dear Lord, he's collecting tokens of her affection! Gray was still Gesturing, but Alzack was about to rise, ready to end this before it could go any further, when he heard Asuka interpret what those gestures meant.
"I'm going to hang it right next to the one she gave me."
Wait, what?
Both of them sat confused, hearing those last words, but not yet comprehending all the implications behind them. What did he mean by "the one she gave him"? Wasn't the one she just gave him "the one she gave him"?
But one of them had to say something before this silence between them got awkward. How long has it been? Someone should be saying something right now.
"Of course/ That's my little—" they started off, each talking over the other. Alzack decided to be the gentleman and allowed his wife to go first.
"Of course we're very pleased with how much you adore her! She's all you said she is and more. She'll always be our most precious treasure, and we'll always cherish and protect her. Against any perceived danger. To the very last breath if necessary."
That's a good start! Showcase their mama and papa bear mode, and imply dire consequences should anyone try anything with their daughter, without targeting him in particular. No reason to make him get defensive when cool, collected heads would prevail.
"She's a precious gift, that's for sure. I've got to get going. I'm keeping the others waiting. Thanks again, Asuka. She's gonna love this."
With those parting words, Gray turned away as he was extending his cane to its full length, raising his hand in a "see ya" motion as he left.
Bisca and Alzack were dumbfounded. The drawing wasn't for him? Who was gonna love it? Considering his anxieties, the only "she" they knew for sure was in his life was… no. Had they been worrying all this time over a—
"Asuka, sweetie, who did you draw that picture for?"
"Hmm? Oh, I drew it for Joy! She's my favorite kitten in the whole world!" She then flipped to another page in her sketch pad, starting on yet another work of art.
Alzack and Bisca could only stare in wonderment, feeling more than a little embarrassed over their outrageous assumptions. But the relief they felt at coming out of this false crisis left them feeling giddy, and they couldn't help but to laugh at themselves. At least they were able to see how they'd likely react to their daughter's real first crush. They could call it a rehearsal, and make a few tweaks here and there, able to be more prepared for when the real first time comes.
But they'll certainly be keeping an eye on little Mason from the riding stables, along with a certain hat thief from the play group.
Next Prompt: Knuckle Kiss
Featuring: Joy, Gray, and Asuka
