"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."
Emi turned and started to walk out of the apartment.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going to get trash bags. By the look of your overflowing garbage can and the mess that's scattered around the kitchen I'm assuming that you don't have any."
Emi returned with the roll of trash bags and emptied the trash in the garbage can first. She walked over to the dumpster next to the building and then started to work on the trash thrown in random directions.
"Um, you don't have to—"
"I know I don't, but I can't allow Lector to live like this. I don't get how you both can't smell that. I mean you guys both have a heightened sense of smell, which makes me even more concerned about how long this had been going on."
Sting's face flushed and he looked away for a second.
"Well?"
"Huh?"
"Grab a bag and start packing. You should put Lector's vests in one bag and your clothes in other ones."
"Why can't I just put them both in the same bags?"
"Lector's vests are white, which means the colors of your clothes might run off to his vests. I don't think you would want to ruin his clothes, do you?"
"Really? I didn't know that."
"Have you never done laundry in your life?"
"I told you I did it last month! Plus Lector does his own laundry."
"Put your towels in one bag, shirts in another and pants in a new one."
Once Emi had finished picking up the trash, she had started to wash the giant pile of dishes left in the sink. Emi cleared her throat to bring attention to herself and Sting turned around to see that she had her hands on her hips.
"Do you not wash dishes either?"
"I ran out of dish soap."
"That's what the store is for."
Emi checked the cabinets and sighed after seeing that there were no dishes left.
"I'll be right back. Please continue sorting."
Emi quickly ran to the market and picked up dish soap and returned to the apartment to see that Sting had fallen asleep on the floor while holding a bag full of clothes. Emi rolled her eyes and stepped in front of him before kicking him in the shins. Sting jolted away and looked around frantically to see what happened. Emi stood there and shook her head.
"I leave for ten minutes and you decide to take a nap?"
Sting rubbed the back of his head and apologized. Emi opened the bag and showed him that she bought the dish soap.
"I also bought you some disposable plates and cups so that you don't have to wash dishes after coming back from a long mission."
"You know, you really don't have to do all this."
"You're my friend and I can't allow you and Lector to continue living like this."
"Holy shit," Sting breathed.
Emi stopped and looked at the dragon slayer.
"What?"
"You said we were friends."
Emi's eyes snapped down to the ground.
"Well...aren't we?"
Sting walked up to Emi and ruffled her hood before giving her a reassuring smile.
"Of course we are."
Emi played with her fingers for a minute before taking in a deep breath. Sting looked at her concerned before he saw her reaching for the edges of her hood.
"Emi, what're you..."
Emi slowly removed her hood from her face, revealing a hesitant smile. She kept her hands around her hood in case she needed to put it back on. Sting stood with wide eyes as he looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because we're friends. And friends should trust each other."
"You're not gonna put it back on?" Stign asked, confused as he watched her turn back to the sink and continue washing dishes.
"I think I'll keep it off for a while. It gets hot."
Sting grinned before Emi yelled at him to get back to work.
"Yes, ma'am!"