Chapter Text
Breakfast was a noisy affair. Jade and Ortho, thankfully, managed to achieve some weird sort of equilibrium in which they both just ignored each other while making as much food as possible.
"Are you sure we can eat all this?" You already felt full looking at the dishes crammed all over the table.
"We can always eat the leftovers for lunch." Jade smiled placidly.
Yeah, he was definitely still a little pissed at Ortho.
"You guys should start eating soon. Before Ruggie gets to his third serving." Leona remarked dryly, chewing on a bone.
You glanced at Ruggie, who had somehow managed to fit every single thing Jade and Ortho cooked into his plate, devouring it all with remarkable ferocity. You couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, despite his lack of table manners, and moved over to grab some food.
Azul pushed his glassed up. "Jamil, can you pass the-"
"No. Get it yourself." Jamil hardly looked up, carefully testing Kalim's food for poison.
"I'll pass it to you Azul!" Kalim beamed as he handed over the serving spoon.
"Ah, no Kalim I was asking for-"
"Oh you wanted the tongs! Sorry!"
"No it was the-"
"This spoon! Got it!"
"I wasn't-"
"Here! The other tongs!"
"...Thank you."
"You're such a kind guy, Sea Otter." Floyd drawled as he watched Azul finally get to the dish he wanted.
"Ah, you think so?" Kalim laughed. "Thanks Floyd!"
You took a bite of the egg white seafood omelette Jade had made, and hummed in delight. To be honest, if it wasn't for the split in the middle of the table to distinguish between Jade and Ortho's dishes, you wouldn't be able to tell who made what.
"Oh, brother, you should also have some of this!" Ortho gleefully served Idia a few mini pancakes. "This too! And how could I forget to give you-"
"T-thanks Ortho, but I think you've already given me enough food..." Idia looked paler than usual as Ortho continued to pile his plate with food.
Ortho simply looked at his brother for a moment, the two seemingly having a psychic conversation before Idia relented.
"...Never mind. I'd love to t-try everything you've cooked." You could see the sweat glistening on Idia's forehead as Ortho began to explain every miniscule nuance of what he'd cooked.
"Floyd. Stop." Jade glared at his own brother when Floyd reached for some of the pancakes Ortho had made.
"But Jade..." Floyd whined. "I wanna have some pancakes! Waffles are boring!"
Jade smiled menacingly and gave his brother another mini waffle in lieu of a reply.
"...Can I at least have some syrup on them."
"But of course."
You began to eat a little quicker as Jade and Ortho ditched their brothers and began to make their respective rounds. No way were you getting caught up in whatever they were up to. You stood up right before they both got to you.
"Ah, (Y/N), before you go-"
"(Y/N)! Could you please try my-"
"Sorry guys!" Kalim interjected, "(Y/N) agreed to help me with something last night, so I gotta borrow her for a bit!" And with that he dragged you off, seemingly ignorant of the glares both Jade and Ortho were sending his way.
"...Thank you." You sighed when Kalim got you out of range of Ortho's hearing. "I thought I was gonna die there."
"It was no problem! Besides, I did actually need your help." Kalim scratched his cheek with a sheepish smile. "We gotta finish the thing today! Malleus probably already started."
"Then I suppose we should go help him." You replied, mood bright as you followed Kalim to your secret little carving area. "Let's just hope we can finish this carving in time."
You felt like collapsing on the sand when Malleus casted the final spell. It'd be too soon if you ever had to do a carving of this size again.
"Do you think they'll like it?" Malleus asked with a tilt of his head. "It's beautiful work, yes, but I wonder if..."
Kalim beamed, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I'm sure they'll love it Malleus!"
"After all the time we spent on it, they better. If Leona says one rude thing about this I'm gonna destroy him." You spoke, a little out of breath.
Malleus tapped his magic pen against his chin in thought. "Then, should we show it to them now?"
You resisted the urge to frown. "I can't help but feeling like there will be hundreds of things we'll want to change... Maybe we should wait until we can look at it with fresh eyes?"
"Yeah, plus I want them to see it with the sunrise!" Kalim smiled.
"Maybe we should wait until sunset instead. I doubt any of them would be in a good mood if we woke them up before dawn." You pointed out as you began your walk to where the others had set up on the sand.
"Indeed." Malleus smiled, a cruel little thing. "I doubt Kingscholar would be able to get up that time without some petty complaint. He lacks the... necessary discipline to do so."
"You can say that again." You muttered, chuckling under your breath. "Let's go meet up with the rest. I think Floyd might actually drown Riddle today."
"You're back! From your awfully suspicious walk." Cater greeted you with a hug and narrowed eyes. "Just what are you up to, I wonder?"
"Nothing special. Just collecting photos of the scenery as drawing references." You replied smoothly.
"Would you like my help?" Jade chimed in, pleasant as always. "I'm sure we can find some more scenic routes together."
You squirmed ever so slightly. "A kind offer, but no thank you. The last time you tried to help me take photos..."
"Ah, look (Y/N)! There's a lovely view of the landscape from here."
"Jade... are you sure you can stay balanced on that branch? It looks a little wobbly."
"I'm sure you'll catch me."
"...Don't joke about that. Floyd had me lift him up once and he was as heavy as a boulder."
"My, whatever are you impl-"
"Was that just a crack."
"Alright, maybe I should get-"
A snap. And Jade plummeted to the ground.
(Thankfully, he wasn't very injured aside from the cut on his cheek.)
"Oh? I thought we had made an agreement on the subject of that incident." Jade's smile tightened.
"What incident?" You asked, guileless.
Jade just continued to menace you with his aura. And you took that as your cue to leave before he decided to take a page out of Floyd's book.
Wait. Were Idia and Azul...
"Azul, Idia, is that...?"
"What- no- of course not!" Idia laughed nervously, while Azul just sighed wearily. "I would never cast a spell to ensure this sandcastle would be a permanent fixture of the beach. I could never! That would be... so..."
"Just give it up, Idia." Azul rolled his eyes. "We hadn't completely finished construction the other day, so here we are."
"Are you working on the inside of the buildings now or something?" You joked, only to be greeted with a silence. "...You seriously aren't-"
Idia gave you a look. "You're sounding awfully judgemental for someone who-"
You smothered his mouth before he could spit out another word. "No."
He just stared at you for a moment, his hair flaring pink before he acquiesed and looked away.
"Don't listen to her! Do go on Idia!" Azul leaned in close to his friend. "Please, tell me what exactly happened."
"If he told you, I'd have to kill you." You bore your teeth in a smile. "I heard from Floyd that octopus tastes really nice when its grilled."
"...Point taken."
"Good!" You patted both their heads instinctively, mostly because you felt tall for once with Idia sitting in the sand. "I'm glad we've come to an agreement."
And with that, you floated off to go find Ruggie. You wanted to know if he'd tried to steal from Leona's wallet yet. Not that Leona would notice a few thousand missing thaumarks.
"(Y/N)." Riddle greeted you as you approached the shoreline. "Crewel has informed me that tonight we will be cooking together, as well as tomorrow morning. What time shall we start?"
You blinked, a little surprised by Riddle asking you for a time. "Maybe we should start at around 5? If that works for you, that is."
Riddle checked his watch, then nodded. "I shall meet you then." And with that, he walked off.
You exchanged a slightly bewildered look with Ruggie.
"...Maybe this vacation is causing him to chill out more?" The hyena shrugged. "Or it could be that he doesn't know how to cook."
"Surely there's some sort of rule about cookery?" You traced an aimless figure out into the wet sand. "Besides, don't the Housewardens have to cook?"
"...You think Leona can cook?" Ruggie shot back.
"He survived for what, two years without you?"
Ruggie laughed. "Well, when you put it like that... But no, it's not a set rule or anything. Just a formality some of them do. There's no way Vil would trust anyone else to make his super special health foods."
"Rook." You pointed out.
Ruggie shuddered. "Rook can do anything. He's not human..."
"Hm? Did one of you mention my name?" Rook popped up behind you and Ruggie, nearly giving the boy a heart attack.
"Just talking about how Vil trusts you to cook for him." You gave Rook a little smile before going back to drawing patterns with your fingertip.
"Ah, Mon Roi du Poison! My beautiful Vil! It is an honour to be able to give him my quarry, to feed him that which I've hunted! The delight it fills me with to see him eating-"
"We get it." Ruggie's ears flattened against his head. "How about you catch him a nice fish to eat or something?"
"What a lovely idea Monsieur Dent-de-Lion! I shall get to it now." And with a glimmer and a wave, Rook had disappeared.
"Something is seriously wrong with that guy..." Ruggie frowned. "Let's scram to the villa before he finds us again."
"...Sure? I need to check what's in the pantry anyway."
You showed up at the kitchen a little before 5, which Riddle took well to.
"Ah, you're here." He needlessly remarked, smoothing down his apron. "I'm glad that you were punctual, unlike some people I know."
Potshots already? Come on.
"Thank you, I guess." You pulled open the fridge to see what groceries had been left for you to cook with. Two cartons of milk... half a dozen eggs... assorted beef cuts...
Riddle leaned over your shoulder. "For all his faults, the Headmage does not skimp on preparations for us."
You resisted the urge to huff. "I suppose." In all likelihood, Crowley allocated this funding out of fear of complaints from the literal Second Prince and the heir to the largest merchant empire in the world. Coward.
You moved to check the pantries, thankful that Jade and Ortho had washed and dried the saucepans they'd used. You started to roll the idea of some recipes around in your head. Your knowledge of cooking before NRC had been... sufficient, to say the least. Though living on your own, with only ghosts to give advice had drastically improved your skills.
"Do you have any ideas of what we should cook?" Riddle asked, fiddling with his apron once more. How novel, to see him express nervousness.
"I was thinking that we could perhaps make a pasta. With these ingredients, we could probably make a vodka pasta sauce." You paused at Riddle's glare. "Cooking burns off any alcoholic properties of vodka, if I recall. Besides, the recipe I tend to use doesn't actually contain any vodka. Of course, I wouldn't mind if you'd rather cook something else."
Riddle blushed a pale pink, confusingly enough. "No, that sounds... adequate. There are no rules against having pasta for dinner."
You blinked. "Alright then. Shall we start to prepare the ingredients?"
You learnt very quickly that Riddle has no cooking prowess whatsoever. Unfortunately, this was only after you saw him take a ruler out to dice an onion.
"How about I handle the cutting, and you shred the parmesan?" You said after a minute of staring. "Dicing doesn't need to be so precise. Well, really, not much in cooking has to be precise."
Riddle was already struggling with the grater, arms trembling. "Is... that... so?"
"Yes it is. I remember my brother once described it to me as cooking being an art, baking a science, and patisserie astrophysics. With how precise you are, you'd probably be better suited to baking, really." You mused, adding a few tablespoons of olive oil to your saucepan as you waited for it to heat up.
The timer went off on your phone, and Riddle moved to separate the penne from the pasta water. "You really think that?"
"Make sure to keep as much of the pasta water as you can." You reminded him before adding the onion and garlic to the pan. "But yes, you seem rather focused on being precise, and what is more precise than making sure your baking ratios are completely accurate? If you're not planning on being a professional chef, your focus on measurements is really unnecessary."
"I see..." Riddle went back to grating parmesan, while you added ground beef to your pasta mixture. "I suppose I should thank you for the advice."
"There's really no need."
The kitchen was mostly silent after that, besides a few directions from you and a few questions from Riddle. His strict personality came out from time to time, but it seemed he was happy to follow your instructions while cooking. Perhaps getting along with him wouldn't be so difficult, if he acted like that all the time.
"If you're planning on serving tea with this meal, allow me to prepare it. The Queen of Hearts has multiple guidelines to create the perfect pot of tea, after all."
"...Sure." And there it was. Taking over something that he assumed he had more knowledge in than yourself. You supposed in the case of teabags, he did. Yet it was irksome to compare some Queen's tea preparation rules to that of your homeland, which bloody well grows the stuff! Though... with fresh eyes you could see that he volunteered more out of a want to help you than to scold you. Still, you couldn't quite agree with how he decided to brew the tea.
You just wished he asked you instead of demanding it of you in this roundabout way.
"And for tonight!" You bowed theatrically, mostly for the fun of it. Despite the minor setback, cooking put you in a rather good mood. "Penne Alla Vodka, sans Vodka, obviously."
A few groans from the audience. Mostly Leona. Wait- no. That's literally just Leona whinging over and over again.
You patiently waited for him to stop. "Accompanying this we have tea, kale salad, and, of course, garlic bread."
With that, you and Riddle placed the huge casserole dishes of pasta on the table, not without a bit of a struggle. Ruggie looked especially eager to dig in.
"This is lovely." Vil smiled, serving some of the pasta to himself. "The presentation is wonderful." His plate looked more like one of those 'healthy plate' infographics, if anything.
"Oh wow! The pasta is perfect! Not too soft, and not too firm." Cater nodded to himself. "Looks like you two make a good team~"
Riddle blushed at that. You just shook your head, not without fondness, moving to take a seat between Ruggie and Idia. Riddle pulled up a chair opposite you, taking some pasta and humming happily. It was a childish display of glee, but one you welcomed. It made him seem like the kid that, to you, he was.
Lilia sighed. "Oh, what I'd give to cook with you two... 'Twas such a shame that I couldn't cook breakfast with Trey, no?"
Silver coughed when it became obvious no one was going to speak. "Of course, Lilia."
"Indeed." Malleus piped in.
"Anyways! Your cooking is delicious!" Kalim spoke up, "Still not as good as Jamil's though!"
"Is anyone's cooking better than Jamil's?" Idia muttered to himself.
Somehow Kalim managed to overhear. "Not a soul! Jamil is the greatest, isn't he?!"
"Kalim..." Jamil frowned, a hint of a blush on his cheeks.
"Oh I agree completely!" Azul laughed. "Jamil is amazing! Though, I do think he is suited better to another dorm..." He batted his eyes, the picture of innocence.
"Choke and drop dead." Jamil spat back, haunches raised.
Chatter started up around the table, and it warmed your heart to spend your time with your friends. This vacation would be coming to an end soon, and yet...
To stay in this moment forever would be a blessing. (Or perhaps, a curse.)
You took in the atmosphere, savouring this peaceful point in time. Good food, good friends, what more could you ask for? There was something so simple, yet so beautiful to take this bit of respite; to bask in the glow of your friends' banter. Soon this time would past, and this day would end, and so you clutched this memory close to your heart. You placed it in a treasure chest, locked it within your very soul.
A smile, unbidden, came to your lips. You felt... happy.
(You felt loved).