Phoenix

Soup & Gardens

"Laxus!"

In return, the mentioned wizard looked up from organizing his designated cabinet.

"What do you want? Can't you see that I'm cleaning? You know, the thing you forced me to do today."

The white-haried woman simply chuckled. She made her way over to the wizard before jumping on his back.

"I need you to help me reach something."

"Why can't you do it yourself? I'm busy."

"Because you're taller than me by like a foot and I need to get the extra broth for the soup I'm making tonight."

Laxus grunted and turned back to his cabinet. Sensing his disinterest, Emi continued.

"Unless, of course, you don't want to eat tonight. I would be more than happy to not cook."

Laxus suddenly stood up and straightened his back, causing the girl to slightly fall off his back before grabbing onto his neck. Laxus wordlessly made his way over to the top of the fridge and reached for the unopened container of broth. He looked at her with his usual bored look and shook the box of broth as to show her that he listened.

"Thanks, Laxus! You're a lifesaver."

Emi jumped down from his back and took the box of broth from his hands before making her way over to the stove. An oversized pot sat on the stove, where carrots and noodles laid on the side.

Laxus returned to his cabinet, sitting down in front of it and taking out all the plastic containers and stacking them neatly. Emi looked over at him as she heard a loud sigh. She walked silently over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't we stop for today. You look like you could use a break."

Laxus did not even look up from his work as he said, "Well yeah. It's been like two hours and you made me clean out the most difficult cabinets."

Emi looked at Laxus with a small smile on her face.

"Tell you what - I'll finish up with preparing dinner and after we can go to the gardens! I know how much you like seeing the flowers."

The lightning wizard made eye contact with Emi and sighed again.

"You're the one who likes the gardens so much. Everytime you want to go you drag me with you and spend hours there. You're just rewarding yourself."

Upon hearing this, Emi gave a sly look to the wizard.

"Yes, but you like the ice cream stand that's next to the gardens. And I think we have enough money left over from that Vulcan job you took last week to get some. So what do you say? You up for it?"

Laxus and Emi looked at each other for what seemed like forever before Laxus stood up and stretched as he said, "One hour at the gardens. No more."

Emi's eyes lit up, giving a big smile to Laxus and clapping her hands together to show her approval.

"And no less!"

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After finishing up cutting all the vegetables for the soup, Emi dragged Laxus out of the house and sprinted to the gardens. When she saw the vast amount of flowers, her eyes sparkled.

"Laxus look! They added more flowers! These purple ones weren't here the last time we came."

Emi ran over to the new additions and squatted down in front of them.

"Why don't you just sit on the bench like a normal person instead of sitting right in front of the flowers? You're blocking other people from seeing them."