VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

6. Baked Goods.

Gildarts finally came home after two months, and unfortunately the first thing he did wasn't run to Cana sobbing tears of joy.

So Eir kicked him hard in the shin and, upon Cana's insistence, didn't explain why.

"Cana is Eir's kid now," Wakaba reported, very helpfully. Gildarts contorted in agony, holding onto his shin and hoping it wasn't shattered because god that kid had a hard foot.

And Eir agreed. Wholeheartedly. Screw you Gildarts, Cana's mine.

"Now, now, Eir," Makarov spoke up, reaching a too-long arm out to bonk the boy on the head, "that's a nasty glare. What have I told you about being hostile to fellow guild mates?"

"That we're a family and should treat everyone nice," Eir muttered reluctantly. "But Gildarts is an asshole so I can--"

"I did not say that, Eir," Makarov chastised half-heartedly, "but alright. You can do it if you catch Gildarts hurting someone's feelings."

There was a moment when Eir stopped talking to process that information. Then he turned back to Gildarts with a glint in his gaze, and drew his sword.

"Stop! Stop him!" Laxus barked from the other side of the room, more alert than the other adults in the room, clambering across tables in a panic, "Eir, NO! BAD!"

"Enchant: Wind--"

-

Eir was now walking around with a sign around his neck that read "Currently reflecting". Munching on his cookies and sporting a big bump on his head, he let himself be loaned out to entertain the kids today.

(On a vaguely unrelated note, Gildarts went right back out of Magnolia on his next job. He needed a new coat to replace that shredded mess Eir caused, anyways.)

Cana tugged at the highest point she could reach, his long coat, and led him around town. Laxus lagged two steps behind, arguing with Cana the whole way.

"The ice cream store is the other way," Cana would point sharply, arms clenched around Eir's clothes, "we went this way last week!"

"That's because we went to see Mommy Cat beside the bookstore. We're not going that way anymore-- this," he pointed in the other direction, grasping at Eir's collar and pulling him the other way, "is the faster route."

At this point, Eir was just going to resign himself to this. He chewed on another cookie and shoved the rest in his pocket.

"Hey, Eir, what do those forbidden cookies taste like?" Cana was now draped over his arm.

Laxus was leading them on the route towards the waffle store, pouting in defeat.

"Forbidden cookies," Eir repeated, taken aback, "uh... they taste normal... I guess. Maybe a little sweet. They're just normal cookies treated with magic, after all. I'm not sure why Porlyusica put them in cookies to begin with..."

"You have it so nice, the scary pink grandma bakes you cookies every week," Laxus muttered. His hands clasped to rest behind his rest, and although Eir couldn't see from this angle, he just knew the boy was pouting.

"We can bake in the guild's kitchen," he suggested, "no one really uses it anyway."

All movement froze.

"Eir, you can bake?!"

"We can?!"

Dear god, he'd just signed himself up for something terrible, didn't he?

-

"Cana, don't stare at the oven. Your eyes will go bad."

Eir regretted a lot of decisions, including the decision to try and bake with two murder children in the room.

Laxus was in time out, standing in the corner with his face against the wall, and Cana was crouched down by the oven staring at the cupcakes in the tray as if it'd make them rise faster.

Cream was all over the room and the counter, flour spilled across a section (half of it is still in Cana's hair as far as Eir knows) and someone egged the wall at some point. Probably Laxus. The milk was all over the floor in a slippery hazard and yeah, Eir was going to retrieve a mop right about now.

"Hey, Eir," she spoke up, "do you think we could save some of this for Gildarts when he comes back?"

And Eir's face fell, grip tightening on the broom.

Despite everything, Cana clung to the understanding that Gildarts was her father. That had to mean something, right? Even if Gildarts didn't know... the fact was true. It was the man her mother chose-- it was the man that loved her mother.

Eir never had a father. Not in both of his lives, never.

But if one day, he found out he had one-- maybe he would feel like Cana did, wanting his attention and wanting his love, even when he failed to acknowledge your existence.

It's not something that could be replaced by connections built over the guild. Fairy Tail was family, would be family, could be family to her-- but nothing can truly replace blood-connected ties. Just like Makarov and Ivan, Ivan and Laxus... It just wasn't something Eir could understand.

So he won't. He won't try to understand it.

Instead, he'll respect it.

"I think it'll go bad by the time he returns," Eir admitted a little disappointedly. Cana's face sinks into an upset, and Eir set a hand on her head. "But don't worry. I'm sure he'll stay a little longer next time, so we can bake another cake when he gets back."

"Really?" Cana brightened up.

"Of course," Eir said, then he turned to the other occupant of the room, "Laxus can help next time too, provided he doesn't destroy another metal bowl."

"It was an accident!"

"Does that 'accident' include chucking it across the room shouting 'fuck this I'm using magic' then blowing it up with fifty thousand volts of electricity?"

"I said I was sorry!"

Cana burst into laughter.

And across the room, sitting by the counter, Reedus drew up a sketch. He smiled softly to himself as the children bickered, covered in flour and sugar and smelling like baked goods.

This was a good picture. Definitely one for the books.

The cake they baked, huge and tiered twice with lots of cream and fruits, was shared ecstatically among the guild members.

The outstanding popularity demanded at least one cake day every two weeks, and Fairy Tail became a wizard guild that smelled like, not just booze, but cake as well.