Phoenix

The Hood

"Emi!"

Emi glanced over her shoulder at the dragon slayer.

"Where's Lector?"

"He said he needed to do something, so I figured we could hang out since everyone else is on jobs."

"Okay."

"I mean I know you really don't—"

Sting looked at her for a moment as he tried to process her uncommon response. He gave a childlike grin and dragged her to his apartment. Emi looked at the building confusion.

"Um, why are we here?"

"Oh I just need to get something. Did you wanna come up?"

Emi stared at the building before slowly following the dragon slayer inside.

"You better not try anything, Sting."

Sting looked at her with a huge blush on his face as he struggled to find words. Emi stood behind him and gently pushed him forward to continue walking.

—————————-

"Didn't I just help you shop for food the other day?"

"Yeah but we ran out of stuff."

Emi sighed before following the blond through the crowds to the market.

"I'll never understand why it's always so crowded."

Sting laughed before replying, "It's the flower capital of Fiore. Everyone wants to be here."

"I don't get people."

"I know."

The pair gathered food for Lector and Sting for the week. They were just about done when Emi spotted a stand with apples. She looked at the stand before turning to walk away. Sting had caught her stares and walked over and bought two apples. He caught up to Emi and handed her an apple while smiling.

"Caught ya looking at it with stars in your eyes. Here."

Emi carefully took the apple from his hands and smiled at the dragon slayer. They made their way back to Sting's apartment and put away the groceries.

"I knew that your apartment would be messy, but this looks so much worse that I imagined."

"Hey!" Sting defended. "It's not that bad."

Emi turned to Sting and held up a pair of pants that was on the floor. She raised an eyebrow once she got a whiff of the odor radiating off the clothing.

"How long has this been here?"

"Uhh..."

"Have you done laundry at all recently?"

"Of course I have!"

"Then when did you do it?"

Sting looked away in embarrassment before mumbling that he had done some a month ago. Emi looked at the dragon slayer in shock.

"Are you serious? A month?"

"I never have time!"

"Maybe you should take a day off every week from jobs so you can actually make your apartment livable. How does Lector feel about this?"

As she asked, she spotted a pile of white vests in the corner.

"You have got to be kidding me. You and Lector are disgusting."