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There was no need for them to be here like this.
It was not an uncommon occurrence for Neil to drop by Eva's house on their day off unannounced. Whenever that happened, they mostly just watch some movie or play video games (Neil would bring his Nintendo Switch and would Eva just watch) before they go grab dinner at a restaurant nearby, or just cook something up. It may have come as a surprise that Neil was a more competent cook than Eva, as he could make a decent meal while she just settled for homemade soup and salads, or just take out for the night.
So, whenever they're in the kitchen, Eva was Neil's personal assistant while he cooked everything up for the two, making some snide comments on his partner's cooking skills here and there, which Eva never appreciated but had nothing to counter with. Whatever Neil made was edible, and she did enjoy eating some homemade cooking which was more filling than her mere salad and soup.
With that said though, Eva was surprised Neil dropped by again on their day off, with no intention to play video games or watch movies together. Instead, he had a bag of ingredients ready for a surprise cooking lesson on how to bake a carrot cake. Eva could only gawk at him as he made his way into her house and towards the kitchen, telling her to get ready because he was going to teach her how to make a proper carrot cake. Not like the one she created during the Christmas Party last year.
"What? You didn't seem to be responsive when I told you off back then," Neil turned to her, his eyes fixed on her as she just stood there. His glasses glinted a bit as he went on. "If that didn't stop you from making another atrocious cake, I'm just gonna have to teach you."
"E-Excuse me?" Eva's brow twitched at that.
"You heard me," he grinned at her slyly. "I'm just doing the world a favour. Now you coming or not?"
Eva didn't need to answer him, but she did stomp a bit into the kitchen, aggressively grabbing her apron in the process. She had the garment on nice and snug, with her arms crossed as she waited for Neil to put on his and set up the counter for their abrupt Cooking Lesson 101.
She watched him set everything he brought over down onto the kitchen counter, grabbing the utensils and some carrots from her fridge. Eva always had fresh fruits and vegetables prepared at home, so Neil just needed that from her.
And from there…things got interesting.
Normally it was Neil who would cook and prepare meals for the two, but today, everything was all up to Eva, with Neil instructing her what to do, and how to properly do it. How to measure the flours. How to crack the eggs. How to whisk the batter. How to everything.
And it was annoying Eva to no end.
"Good Gravy, Neil, I am not that incompetent!" Eva grumbled as she tried to whisk the batter slower now, frowning at it even.
Neil was having none of it though. In fact, he was putting on a very poor imitation of Gordon Ramsay to prove his point. "No, you're still going too fast! You trying to splatter the batter all over the place with how fast you're going?"
"I'm not splattering it all over the place!"
"Yes, you are! Look! It's all over the counter and on your sleeves," he just shook his head in dismay. "Honestly, with how fast you're going, it's gonna lose its moisture and soft texture. That's the other problem with how you made that carrot cake. It was…hey!"
Before he could even finish, Eva flicked a bit of the batter onto his face, grinning at how she even got some onto his glasses. "Ha!" she grinned at how she got Neil to finally shut up. And the look on his face was priceless!
Neil, however, was not amused. "Oh, you shouldn't have done that." Without warning, Neil grabbed a handful of the flour and flung it at Eva as he screamed "Smoke bomb!"
"H-Hey!" Eva covered her eyes with her forearm, coughing a bit as the air was filled with fine white flours. "Neil! You're making a mess!"
"You started it!"
Glaring at him, Eva dropped what she was doing, grabbing a handful of the cake batter before leaping forth to smear it all over Neil.
"Take that!"
"Hey! That's not fair!"
And within seconds, the entire kitchen fell into chaos. Everything was covered in white as Eva and Neil tossed anything they could grab at towards each other. It was hard to see through this cloud of flours, but they managed to get a few hits by throwing cake batter, eggs, grated carrots, and even more flours. Both the doctors were shouting and squealing, laughing even as they continued with their food fight. It only ended when there was nothing left to throw and the cloud of flour finally settled.
Panting, they looked around the kitchen, and at themselves. "You're helping me clean up," Eva gave him a look, spotting some eggshells sitting on Neil's head.
Rolling his eyes, he took off his glasses to wipe off the gunk stuck on it. "As if you'll allow me to say no and just leave," he put his glasses back on. "Besides, I think I'll need to borrow your bathroom for a shower later."
"Noted." And with a sigh, Eva looked down at the bowl that once contained the batter for the carrot cake. "So much for trying to make me bake a 'proper' carrot cake," she grumbled as she picked up all the used kitchen utensils to put the sink.
"Hey, maybe this is just a sign you can't make a carrot cake. Ever."
He quickly caught the washcloth thrown at his face. "Just shut up and clean, moron."
"Yes, ma'am." After shooting Eva another grin, Neil turned around to try and wipe up the mess they made together. As much fun as it was just then, Neil sort of regretted having a food fight with Eva if it meant cleaning all this up. There were even some egg yolks dripping down from the cupboard, making him groan as he realised this was going to take a whole day to clean.
Looking down at himself, he noticed there was still a clump of the carrot cake's batter stuck on him still. Glancing over at Eva, making sure she's still cleaning up the mess on her side, he wiped up the batter on him and gave it a taste.
"Hmm."
"What is it?" Eva turned to him when he made a sound.
"Wha? Oh, nothing. Nothing nothing!"
Frowning at his behaviour, Eva just stared at him with doubtful eyes before just shrugging it off and get back to work. Neil did the same, and as he cleaned the mess before him, he started to wonder if he should ever teach Eva how to cook again.
The carrot cake could have been amazing, but Neil also didn't want to risk admitting to Eva that she had some potential in cooking something for once. That and he didn't want to clean up the entire kitchen again. One food fight was fun enough, thank you.