Nijimura had no idea where his and Akashi's daughter got such a love for everything romantic and lovey-dovey. None. Zero. It wasn't like he and Akashi were very affectionate with each other really. Perhaps it was all those Disney movies they watched together, especially the princess ones his daughter loved. Yeah, that could explain why the 6-year-old was staring so intensely at their garden gate.
"Aimi," Nijimura called over to his daughter. He was watching her under the shaded sitting area. "You've been staring at that gate forever now. Are you waiting for something?"
Little Aimi only nodded her head. She didn't turn away from the gate, still staring as she laid on her front on the spring grass. Nijimura prayed there wouldn't be any grass stains on her dress.
Despite the serious look on his daughter's face, Nijimura couldn't help but softly laugh. He stood, making his way over to his daughter. Sitting crisscross beside Aimi, Nijimura asked, "What are you waiting for?"
"My prince," Aimi answered.
"What?" Nijimura sputtered through a laugh he tried to hold down. He cleared his throat. "Your prince?"
Aimi nodded again, finally turning away from the gate to look at her dad. "I'm sure he'll come any second now. Like with Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel, and…"
Aimi's list went on. Yep, it was Disney.
Nijimura smiled down at his daughter, ruffling her short hair. "Sure, sure," he said, though knew those were all fairytales. It wouldn't happen in real life, but he wasn't going to burst Aimi's bubble. "But, you know, some princesses go out instead of wait."
"Yeah, but I'm still little," Aimi huffed, pouting childishly. "Can't go out yet." Nijimura wanted to laugh again at her face.
Calming down once again, Nijimura purposed another thought. "Well, there's other ways to summon up princes other than waiting, right?"
Aimi thought on her dad's question. She perked up when her own idea came to mind, getting up on her feet. "With a smile and a song!"
Nijimura did let his laugh out at this, his daughter's cheeriness contagious. "There's a way to go."
Aimi excitedly hopped in place. The plan made her squeal in glee. She was going to meet her prince like how 'real' princesses did.
Aimi calmed herself with a deep breath. After taking another, she sweetly began singing her favorite songs.
At first, Aimi was really into her singing. She went as far as twirling around in her dress, skipping around the flower garden. Sadly, after singing many songs later, Aimi's enthusiasm slowly dropped.
Each time Aimi finished up her song, she would turn back to the gate. Each time there would be no prince. "Daddy!" Aimi whined, huffy.
Nijimura was still seated on the grass, leaning back against his arms for support. He let out another laugh. "Like you said, you are still little. Maybe too little for a prince," he suggested.
Aimi only pouted more. Nijimura knew the look in her eyes; she wasn't giving up. Instead, Aimi took yet another deep breath and sang. At first, it was rather strained and filled with irritation, but it quickly softened because of the love for the song.
This time, instead of sitting and watching, Nijimura stood. He followed along his daughter as she danced about, holding her hand up as she twirled. Both their smiles grew.
"When you smile and you singEverything is in tune and it's springAnd life flows alongWith a smile and a song"
Aimi twirled one last time as she finished her song, and as she did, a sudden voice called from the gate.
"Aimi! What're you doing!?"
At the sudden voice, Nijimura's heart jumped. He and Aimi turned to the garden gate.
"Kazuki-kun!" Aimi huffed with a little foot stomp. "You're blocking the gate for my prince!"
"Oh, sorry!" Kazuki apologized from the top ledge of the gate. He had somehow managed to climb the gate, only his head and little fingers peeking over the top.
"Squirt! Get down from there!" another voice scolded. It was Aomine, hastily carrying his son down before he fell. "Jeez, we take our eyes off you for one second—"
"Hey, Aomine," Nijimura greeted, opening the gate.
"Yo," Aomine greeted back.
"We would've used the front door, but Kazuki was already on the gate," Kuroko explained, popping out of nowhere and giving Nijimura's heart another scare. Like father like son…
"Don't worry about it," Nijimura responded after his heart calmed down. "It was smart for Kazuki-kun to come around back; I mean, that's where we are, right?"
Nijimura lead Aomine and Kuroko to the sitting area, letting their kids play. The two of them played together whenever they could.
"When's your prince coming?" Kazuki asked Aimi while they skipped by the flower garden.
"Hopefully soon," Aimi answered. "I've been waiting all day, but nothing. I sang and everything!"
Kazuki halted, giving a thoughtful look. "Hmm… Maybe you need to be in trouble?"
Aimi tilted her head. "Eh?"
"Like, what if there needs to be a dragon or something?" Kazuki offered. He perked up. "Oh! I know! I can pretend to be a dragon and chase you and maybe that'll make your prince show up!"
Aimi's eyes widened in awe. "That's brilliant, Kazuki-kun!"
Kazuki smiled brightly at the praise.
Setting their plan in motion, Kazuki first looked around the yard. He needed something like… a red tulip! "Ah ha!" Kazuki picked one tulip, holding it out to Aimi. "Pretend it's fire, okay?"
Aimi nodded. "'kay!"
Kazuki began chasing Aimi with the 'fire' tulip as Aimi screamed, though it was more in glee than fear. It was supposed to be super dramatic and terrifying, but the two kids ended up only laughing.
Back with the parents, their small talk was put on hold when they opted to watch their children have fun.
"Was that flower okay to pick?" Kuroko unsurely asked Nijimura.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," Nijimura said again. "There's plenty over there."
"I see you have a thing for flowers," Aomine teased, laughing when seeing Kazuki jump out from behind the begonias.
"Ha ha," Nijimura sarcastically laughed. "Nah, Sei's mom grew those flowers, so he kept them growing. And Aimi loves them, too."
"That's very sweet," Kuroko commented with a soft smile. It dropped a bit when overhearing his son's shouting.
"Roar! Burn!"
Aimi let out a high pitch yelp, dodging a close call when Kazuki almost touched her with the 'fire' tulip. They then turned to the gate again when another voice came in.
"What's burning?"
Akashi.
"Papa!" Aimi squealed in glee, taking off to jump into her papa's arms. He easily caught her, carrying her up tightly in a hug.
"Hello, my dear," Akashi greeted, smiling.
"I'm guessing you heard the noise?" Nijimura asked with a laugh.
"A little hard to miss," Akashi answered, turning down when feeling a light poke on his leg.
"I win," Kazuki said, grinning widely up at Akashi. He just poked Akashi with the tulip.
"Kazuki-kun!" Aimi fumed down at her friend. "You can't do that to my papa!"
"Yeah I can!" Kazuki said back, still cheerful. "I'm the evil dragon, remember?"
"Dragon, huh?" Akashi asked before bending down to pick up Kazuki as well. He hauled the boy over his shoulder while still carrying Aimi with his other arm. "And evil dragons are meant to be slain, right?"
"Oi! Put me down!" Kazuki argued, trying to fight back. Even so, he and Aimi were still laughing.
Akashi ignored Kazuki's childish whines for the moment, heading back towards the others. He passed Kazuki over to Kuroko when reaching his friends and spouse. "Hello, Kuroko, Aomine."
"Akashi-kun," Kuroko greeted back.
"You're late," Aomine joked.
"Remember who invited you for dinner, Aomine," Akashi responded with false friendliness, turning to Nijimura. "Shuuzou, would you like to explain the grass stains on our daughter's dress?"
"Wha—?" Nijimura looked down at Aimi's dress. Yep, there's the stain. "You weren't even here for two minutes; how could you have seen that?"
Akashi only rolled his eyes at Nijimura's statement.
Aimi ended up answering for her dad. "I was waiting for my prince."
Aimi's answer didn't give much of an explanation, but Akashi took it with a smile. "And did he come?"
Aimi smiled brightly, hugging her papa again. "I think so!"
I guess this is kinda similar to my other kiddie fic Daddy and Papa's Little Girl? idk. but fluff!
With a Smile and a Song - Disney's Snow White