VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

35. Adopting One

"Eir, what's that? Can I have one?"

"Eir, Eir! That shop over there is selling something really cool-looking!"

It's sort of nostalgic.

Eir found himself dragged around by all of the kids. He hadn't gotten a chance to see Crocus by the streets aside from his morning runs, so this was a great chance to make up for all the lost time.

"It's already this messy... Karen and Ren aren't even here yet, and I'm exhausted."

(They would be here tomorrow in time for the finals, caught up in an urgent mission in regard to a magazine shooting they had to do.)

Cana and Gray excitedly wandered around town, eager to show Levy and Sherry around the places they've discovered just yesterday. Bickslow kept an eye on them, deploying one doll to accompany each of them.

Laxus followed a little behind them, and Eir didn't miss the way his glare sharpened each time the older stepped away from their path.

Seriously overprotective, the lot of them.

It reminded him of the days where Eir would be grounded for something, and Cana and Laxus would be sent on distract-Eir duty. It usually consisted of them wandering around town, hand-in-hand, making Eir buy them anything that caught their eye.

He loves this.

"Eir Eir Eir please please please can we have one please?!"

He takes that back immediately.

Levy and Sherry have somehow managed to gather up a whole armful of bunnies in their arms, from white to gray to black, all those furry little critters crawling around them as their eyes sparkled in adoration.

Eir had to look away from their eyes. "No," he said, making sure to sound as firm as he can manage, "you cannot have them."

And here came the despaired wails. "But whyyyyy!!!"

"They're so cute, Eir! Just look at them!"

"Just one! No, two!" Sherry tried to bargain, before faltering and adding it up to "I mean, six! Please? Promise we'll take care of them!"

"Seven, seven!" Levy corrected quickly, "pleeeeease?!"

Eir had to put his foot down, "all of you get exactly one thing today, no more!"

"Then I want a colony!"

"That is not what I meant by one thing!"

Seriously, this was starting to become a headache. Eir's wallet is not at the risk of running dry, but it would be if they suddenly took in a hundred rabbits into the guild. Plus, he wasn't ready to teach the kids about responsibility yet.

(Yes, he knows that's his job. God knows Macao sucks at that.)

"Of course, that includes you as well, Laxus," Eir remembered to tell him. "If you want anything, I'll get it for you."

Laxus scowled, "I can buy my own things, Eir."

"I know, Laxus, I'm proud of you for that," Eir said without missing a beat, "but I feel like spending some money today, and well, no one would notice if you slipped a really nice coat into the pile while I was distracted."

Laxus scoffed at that. "I said I don't need anything."

Eir hummed. "Bickslow," he called out, and the boy in the distance turned around eagerly like a beckoned puppy, "pick something out of the clothing store for our resident thunder god, will you? He's been wearing the same shirt for years and I'm getting sick of it."