I rushed through this one a bit but had to clinch it before inspiration died. Gajeel is built for the kitchen and I've liked the fics I read where he was secretly an excellent cook.
"You're doing it wrong."
Levy whirled around to face the irritated voice.
"What? What am I doing wrong?"
"That's not the right way."
"But it says right here in the book-"
"He doesn't use the book."
Levy sighed, irked. Of course he doesn't use the book. He doesn't use any book.
"Ok, well I don't know what you want me to do then," she sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. "You won't tell me what you want or what I'm doing wrong, you won't let me use the book and you won't tell me what he does differently so…"
The child folded her arms across her chest and frowned at the empty plate in front of her. Levy frowned too. She was trying desperately to make her daughter lunch, but it was proving impossible.
"Make it the way Daddy makes it!" the girl had cried when they went into the kitchen an hour earlier, but Levy had no idea what that meant. She'd tried several dishes now- macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders and fries, grilled cheese sandwiches- but her daughter kept insisting nothing was made 'the way Daddy makes it'.
Even consulting the lone cookbook in the little kitchen had elicited a hiss from her daughter, because 'Daddy doesn't use the book'. Levy was at her wits' end and now she and her young daughter were getting cranky from empty stomachs.
She pushed herself into the edge of the island counter, fingers tapping wildly against its surface and leveled her eyes at the girl.
"Ok, just tell me what you want and how Daddy makes it and I will follow your instructions exactly, alright?"
"I'm five," the girl answered scornfully.
"Yes. I know that. But apparently, you seem to know more about cooking than I do," Levy said slowly. "So, what does Daddy do that's so special?"
The girl looked confused for a moment, before looking up at her mother with tearful eyes.
"Yeah, what do I do that's so special?" a rough voice playfully asked from the kitchen doorway.
Mother and daughter were awash in relief as they turned to see the man carrying a bag of groceries to the refrigerator.
"Oh finally!" Levy wailed. "Please tell me what you feed this girl! She insists I do everything all wrong."
"Gihihi! Well, you do, Shorty," Gajeel teased as he wrapped his arms around his little wife from behind.
He rested his chin on Levy's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the little girl still sitting impatiently across the counter from them.
"You givin' your mother trouble?"
"No, Daddy," she answered dolefully. "I just wanted a hot dog, like you make 'em."
"Hot dogs?" Levy cried. "You never said-"
"Ah, I got it," Gajeel said as he stepped back and pushed his sleeves up. "If my Small Fry wants hot dogs, she gets hot dogs."
He began to stride purposefully about the kitchen, pulling ingredients and equipment from cabinets. Levy moved to sit at the counter next to their daughter and together, they watched in awe as the tall muscular man expertly sliced through bread rolls, diced onions and stirred barbecue sauce on the stove top before them. A package of hot dogs sat, waiting for Gajeel to brush them with the sauce before setting them directly atop one of the stove's burners.
"Shrimp, Smallfry- you may want to sit back a bit for this."
Levy eyed him nervously but the small girl beside her clasped her hands together and beamed with joy as her father lit the burner up in a blaze. A small fire engulfed the row of hotdogs, popping and sizzling in the heat.
"Little trick Natsu showed me," Gajeel said under his breath, but Levy caught it and smirked.
"Daddy! Do the thing! The special thing!" their daughter screeched happily as she hopped in her seat.
Gajeel chuckled and glanced at Levy's curious face. He held out his arm and they watched as he activated his iron dragon scales up to his elbow. He then used his protected arm to turn the hot dogs in the flames unscathed.
Levy huffed- she should've known!- and turned to the widely grinning child beside her.
"You know only Daddy can do that, ok?" she stressed, but the girl was rapt. "Gajeel, she's going to stick her hand in a fire someday because of this!"
"Nah, she knows better. Right, Small Fry?" he said as he turned off the burner and moved the hot dogs to their rolls on a plate. "Besides, she learned her lesson with the can opener last time."
"What?! What happened with the can opener?!" Levy exploded, eyes flitting between her husband and daughter.
They both ignored her as Gajeel retrieved more plates and dressed each with the finished food. He set a plate before the girl and she tucked in with enthusiasm. He snaked a hand into the refrigerator for two beers, popping the caps with his teeth.
"You don't do that either- ok, Small Fry?" he said to the girl, winking.
He settled next to Levy and slid their plates onto the counter, placing a beer in front of his wife before taking a swill from his own.
"So that's the special trick, huh?" Levy asked between small bites. "Well, I definitely can't do that."
Gajeel just smirked and sipped his beer, having already inhaled his food in three big bites.
"You going to tell me about the can opener?"
He waved her off.
"What can opener?" he scoffed. "We've handled worse. Ain't that right, Small Fry?"
"Uh-huh!" the little girl muffled through a full mouth.
"What else?" Levy fearfully inquired.
"Oh, let's see…there was the omelet on the ceiling, the baby doll in the oven-"
"The knife lesson!" their daughter chirped happily.
"Knives?"Levy gasped in horror, but again, they shrugged her off.
Gajeel continued to tick off kitchen incidents on his fingers, blatantly avoiding his wife's burning scowl.
"Then the hot sauce fiasco- bet we'll never look at strawberry jam the same again, eh Small Fry? And finally, the day I played around with turning my hands into spatulas and whisks. That was…bad."
Their daughter snickered at the memory before finishing her hot dog.
"You did that?" Levy giggled, trying to imagine the sight. "How would that even work…?"
He shuddered and took a gulp from his beer.
"Yeah but never again. I ain't no tool."
Suddenly, Levy burst into peals of laughter, clutching her sides and laying her shaking head into her husband's rigid shoulder. Gajeel watched from the corner of his eye with mild indifference as their daughter joined her mother's boisterous laughter. He couldn't help but grin to himself at the sound of them cackling away.
After a minute, Levy calmed herself and sighed, leaning against his side more fully. She reached for her beer and took a long pull from the bottle. She patted her daughter's head, giving her silent permission to go play.
The young girl tottered off, belly full and content.
Gajeel stood to clear the plates but Levy pulled on his arm, stopping him.
"Listen, about the can opener-" Gajeel started but Levy shook her head, smiling.
"I just love you, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Thank you for lunch."
He shrugged and moved to clean up again. Levy stood to help.
"Just do me one favor please?" she asked lightly, sweeping some crumbs off the counter-top into the sink beside him. He tilted his head, waiting for the request.
"You two have got to stop watching Iron Chef."
"Gihihi!"
Yeah, I didn't name their daughter. But that's mostly due to how many differing stories I found on the GaLe/Gajeevy kids and their varying names. I know Emma is typically accepted for their eldest daughter, but in an effort to appease a wider audience (do I have an audience? haha) I kept her nameless. Well, she's Small Fry, which suited Gajeel's mannerisms, yeah?
Just a quick note: I am really dying for reviews. I've only gotten a few on my other stories (and they made me very happy!) but I'm hoping to develop my writing more so please, I'd love to know your thoughts on any of what I've posted so far. What did you like, what did you hate, what was iffy? Am I structuring my sentences a certain way, repeating myself? Too vague, too detailed, pacing off? So, please! Help a sister out!
Thanks! Hope you're enjoying my stories- I know I am! :)
~And thanks to whoever mentioned I should tag these stories.I was wondering how people were doing that but I figured it out and I've gone back and done it, so thanks!~