[Gift] Mornings take Effort!

The morning sun rises gracefully upon Butch’s ranch-style hut… the roosters crow to signal the beginning of the working day, sunlight dapples in through the half-closed curtains… on lovely quiet mornings like this, Butch prefers to wake up slowly, savoring this beautiful moment before—

“BAO-LO BUTCH!”

And there goes the moment. Butch attempted to rub the grogginess out of his eyes with his paws, turning to the side only to be faced with… a wall of flowers. Vividly pink roses that looked quite out of place in Butch’s rustic little home. Butch blinked a couple times… oh, looks like there was a bear behind all those roses. Fae looked almost like a stuffed toy with how big the bouquet of roses was compared to his size… and was it the morning sleepiness, or was Fae even pinker than he usually was?

“… Fae, buddy, it’s six A.M.—”
“A-a-any time is the perfect time to show I care!” In a voice that was awkwardly too loud for the situation, Fae proceeded to shove the bouquet into Butch’s face, causing the older bear to flail for a moment before begrudgingly accepting the huge bouquet. Now where in life’s greater dumplings was he gonna put all these flowers?!

“Mmm… yeah, thanks I guess. Any particular reason why ya’d wanna do that now, of all times?” A slight tinge of irritation made its way into Butch’s tone, but that didn’t seem to distract Fae… as Fae seemed too busy nervously wiggling in place.
“Now? Uh… uhh…” Fae stumbled a bit, blinking owlishly and stepping back a little as Butch started to get up out of bed. “Y’know… they say the early bird gets the worm and all that, and I know you’re an early riser, Butch! I didn’t wanna miss ya before you went out for the day…”
“Yeah, alright. Tell me ya at least brought a vase with ya this time, unlike… a week ago.”
“I did, I did! I put it on the table over there for you.” Fae pointed through the door to Butch’s bedroom to the self-carved wooden side table in the hut’s main room… and upon locating the (particularly gaudy) vase, Butch waddled over and slotted the giant bouquet into it. Hey… it fits. Go figure. With a sigh, Butch placed his paws on his hips and turned to Fae.

“And speakin’ of a week ago… you DO know what’s gonna happen now, right?” Butch eyed Fae up and down as Fae pulled a teeny little gardening trowel and straw hat from behind his wings.
“You said, ‘The next time ya show yer face round here, yer gettin put ta work’ — and yep! This time I came prepared!” Fae waggled the little trowel daintily, and Butch simply sighed… then pointed to the door.
“Go out ta the shed and get a bigger spade. I got somethin’ ta fix in here, so go help the others move some dirt and fix fences… oh, and be back here by lunch.”
“Yes sir!” And as Fae fluttered out the door, Butch sighed… time to roll up his metaphorical sleeves.

…

“Butch, I’m back!”
“Hm… right on time. I may have underestimated ya. Now… take a seat.”

Despite being covered in muck from the work he did, Fae did as he was told and took a seat at the rustic table. The vase had been pushed out of the way to make enough room for the two of them to sit comfortably, and… what was that smell? Burning? It… was hard to describe, but when Fae had walked in, the kitchen looked… less than clean. T’was confusing for a moment, but the culprit quickly revealed itself as a dish was sat on the table in front of Fae.

A cast iron skillet full of egg, sausage, bacon… with a couple of biscuits and gravy on the side. The contents were indeed a little burnt around the edges… but it sure did look good nonetheless. With a surprised expression, Fae looked up as Butch toddled over with a biscuit basket, jam, and honey.

“What? Don’t gimme that look. Ya helped me out with some work… I might as well feed ya.” Butch’s face scrunched up as he used a fork to separate portions in that skillet… you know what they say about feeding wildlife… but did Fae count as wildlife in this situation? Who knows; Butch just makes it a rule that he never leaves a debt unpaid.
“For… for me?” Fae’s eyes were practically shining as Butch slid him silverware.
“Yeah. Go on, eat what ya can… and then get out.”
“Oh my dumpling, this is the best day EVER! Thank you Butch!” And almost instantly Fae dug in. A little crunchy, sure… but this was MADE for him! By BUTCH of all people! Why wouldn’t he be happy about that? He didn’t seem to pay much attention to anything else as he munched happily on his brunch, singing a little ditty along the way.

And with his own portion off to the side… Did Butch blush? Was he smiling, seeing someone eating his cooking like it was the best thing in the world? Nah, nah. His face was cemented in a stone-cold frown; he’s just opening up his mouth to eat, that’s all. 

Even if Butch liked his calm mornings… he did have to admit it sure was nice to see hard work pay off, in more ways than one.