Work Text:
Standing in front of the steel cupboards of the Shadow Operatives’ kitchen, Labrys put her hands on her hips. Today was Valentine’s Day and she still had yet to do something for Sho. She had heard that girls were supposed to cook something for the person they liked, but she was drawing a blank on what. Labrys hoped she could figure it out herself; it couldn’t be too hard, right?
Reaching an arm forward, her fingers wrapped around the cabinet’s handle and pulled it open. An assortment of boxes, cans, and small bags filled the shelves, and Labrys hummed as she read the writing along the products. Many of the labels seemed to proclaim, just add water! which was easy enough. She still had yet to learn how to cook, but even she could add water to a mixture. … Was she the reason all of these food products were so easy to make? She brushed off the thought with a shake of her head.
“Now, what should I make Sho-kun…” she murmured to herself, sifting through the variety of products. Valentine’s Day was special, and there had to be a specific food girls made for their loved ones. Very distantly, she could recall her sister standing in front of the stove last year stirring a pot full of a brown liquid. When Labrys had asked, Aigis had explained her tradition of making whatever that was for her departed friend. Once it was done, she would leave it by a picture of him every year for the holiday. While asking Aigis about the food was the easiest solution to her current dilemma, her sister was still busy with Shadow Operatives stuff and this was hardly as important. She could figure it out herself; there was no need to bother anyone else.
Her fingers stalled on a small box towards the back of the cupboard, its light red background catching her eyes. It was the same color as Sho’s hair, and she found a smile tugging at her lips. While he hated the attention-grabbing color of his hair, Labrys always admired how it complimented his eyes. Spurred by her sudden bout of sentimentality, she slid the box closer to the front and inspected it further. It depicted a brown liquid - just like the one Aigis made for her friend every year. This had to be it! Labrys grabbed the box and pulled it from the cupboard to read its labeling.
BROWN GRAVY
No artificial flavors
Premium quality
Takes less than five minutes
Best thing since burnt bread!
“Brown gravy, huh?” She turned the box over in her hands, humming to herself. Written on the back was fairly simple instructions on how to make this gravy, and she was certain it was a feasible task for someone of her minimal cooking skills. “And it takes less than five minutes?” She bounced on her heels in her triumph. “I can get this done in no time!”
Closing the cupboard, Labrys smiled to herself. She couldn’t wait to see Sho’s reaction when she gave him this. He would probably blush, turn his face away from her, and start calling her a stupid toaster or something of that ilk. He tended to do that when he was flustered, but she didn’t mind much - it was honestly cute.
Making her way towards the stove, she placed the box down on the countertop. Leaning down and opening the cabinet there, she retrieved a small pan, a bowl, and a whisk. She closed the door, straightened up, placed the bowl and whisk onto the counter, and adjusted the pan to fit on the burner. Brown flecks of dust burst from the packaging as she tore open the plastic bag inside the box, causing her to swat at the air. It looked dry, grainy, and inedible; how was this supposed to become the liquid in the picture on the box? It seemed impossible.
Pushing her doubts aside, she turned the dial on the stove, and a small flame burst to life beneath the pan. Turning back to the products on the countertop, she hummed to herself as she held up the box with gravy mix in it. “I guess I just dump the whole bag in there?” Nodding to confirm her thoughts, she tilted the box and allowed all of the brown grains to sift into the bowl. With all of the powder emptied out into the bowl, the whisk was almost completely buried.
“Then I add water, right?” she said under her breath, taking the box into her hands again and rereading the directions. Adding water was next, so that was a good sign. “That’s easy enough.”
Placing the box down and grabbing the bowl, Labrys made her way towards the sink. Holding the bowl under the faucet, she lifted the small lever and watched as water began to shoot down, drenching the powder and turning it into something resembling dark sludge. Turning off the water, she warily inspected the concoction in her hands.
“Did I screw this up?” she asked quietly with a frown, fingers tightening on the rim of the bowl. Maybe it wasn’t edible now and she’d have nothing to give Sho. It was horribly disheartening, seeing the subpar result of her efforts. A small voice in the back of her head nagged her to quit now, but she brushed it off. She was determined to make something for Sho - she couldn’t give up now! She had fought and came out victorious against a god. Certainly making gravy was an easier task.
With a strengthened resolve, she returned to the countertop, lowered the bowl, and took the whisk into one of her hands. The directions said to stir it after adding water, so maybe that would help. Maybe this gravy was still salvageable if she stirred it well enough.
As she stirred the concoction together, she hummed a tune to herself. It was one she could never remember the origin of, but it was a familiar one nonetheless. Perhaps she had heard it back in the lab, or maybe it was a song she had heard during her time as a Shadow Operative. Whatever it was, it helped to settle her nerves and reassure herself that everything would turn out just fine.
After a minute or so, the mixture was more cohesive and less… sludgy looking. Labrys took that as a small victory and decided to move forward in the cooking process. It was time to pour the mixture into the pan, so it was a good thing she already had the fire on. Using the whisk, she poured some of the gravy into the pan until it covered the entire bottom. She still had quite a lot in the bowl, so she would have to do this multiple times, it seemed.
“The box lied to me,” she grumbled to herself with a small pout, taking the whisk out of the bowl and using it to push around the concoction in the pan. The dark liquid was bubbling slightly, and Labrys continued to stir it around, uncertain of how long to keep it on the fire. After a minute of mixing it around and watching the color grow darker and darker, she nodded tentatively. “T-That looks yummy…”
Retrieving a small resealable container from the overhead cabinet, she scraped the gravy out of the pan and into the plastic. It hardly covered the bottom of the plastic, so maybe she would have to cook the rest of the mixture in the bowl. It shouldn’t take too long…
Half an hour later, the container was nearly filled to the brim, and only some of the liquid was bubbling. Whatever this gravy was, it looked better than Chie or Yukiko’s cooking, so she must have done something right. Labrys would have taste tested it, but her internal machinery might not enjoy whatever this concoction tasted like. By the smell of it, it may have fried her circuits and sent her into standby if she were to try it. She would just have to hope it wasn’t too bad and that Sho wouldn’t pass out after a single bite.
Bringing the bowl, whisk, and pan to the sink, she resolved to wash them later. For now, she needed to seal the container, fly over to Inaba, and hunt down Sho. The entire trip there, she held onto her hope that he would like her gift.
Sho dug his hands further into the pockets of his oversized jacket and blinked expectantly at the girl in front of him. “You said you had something for me?” he asked, curiosity and a childish sense of glee swirling in his chest.
He had been trudging his way through the shopping district on his way back to the Shadow Operatives’ Inaba branch when Labrys had run up to him with a small box in her hands. He didn’t miss the tiny hint of fear in her eyes as she tightened her fingers around the tightly-wrapped gift. Was she afraid of what his reaction would be to it? … Was her happiness hinged solely on his opinion of her gift?
“Yeah, I made it myself,” she began, smiling tentatively. With all of her fidgeting, it was easy to deduce how nervous she was. “It’s Valentine’s Day, and girls are supposed ta-”
“It’s Valentine’s Day?” Sho asked abruptly, eyes widening slightly. He had never been one to keep track of the days, but knowing that they were halfway through February felt like a slap in the face. Had it already been three months since he joined the Shadow Operatives? He shook his head, focusing on the matter at hand. “You uh. You didn’t have to get me anything, Scrap.”
Labrys shook her head, confidence returning to her features. “Maybe I didn’t hafta, but I wanted to,” she rebutted. “Besides… it’s our first Valentine’s Day together. I wanted ta make it special.” Without any further prefacing, she brandished the gift to him.
Sho inspected the light blue wrapping paper and red bow around the box before his eyes flicked up to his girlfriend. While she was still smiling, the shakiness of it seriously irked him. He was certain she was forcing a smile for him, and it caused a small sense of anger to burn in his gut. He shook his head and took the box from her with a small grumble. “Don’t be so worried about this,” he reprimanded her. After a brief moment of contemplation, he said, “And you don’t have to halfass a smile, y’know. I hate that fake crap. Reminds me of Dad and his creepy smiles whenever I did something he liked.”
“Sorry…” Labrys said quietly, allowing her arms to drop to her sides. While she didn’t look defeated, the despair tingeing her features caused guilt to pang uncomfortably in his chest. In an instant, Sho wanted to smack himself, knowing that he had caused her to feel like that. His ineptitude in situations like these served as a reminder that he was never going to be good at emotions that had nothing to do with combat. It wasn’t like he could unsheathe his katanas and fight his way through the intricacies of romance.
Focusing on the girl in front of him, Sho reasoned through her intentions. Labrys had spent time making something for him, flying out to Inaba from Tatsumi Port Island, and hunting him down… and he was making her feel awful for no reason at all. He hadn’t been lying about hating fakeness or how unsettling Ikutsuki had been in retrospect, but the sadness on Labrys’ face made him reconsider his words.
“Never mind that,” he said with a shake of his head, attempting to lighten the mood. “You said you made this, right? It can’t be that bad, then.”
The girl’s frown lifted slightly. “It didn’t come out as good as I wanted but ah… I hope it ain’t too bad.”
Sho braced himself for whatever was inside the box and undid the ribbon, allowing it to fall over the palm of his hand. With a sense of care he exhibited solely when he was cautious, he began to delicately tear apart the wrapping paper. It was a meticulousness that suited Minazuki more, but Sho found himself borrowing that trait in situations like this. It wasn’t like the bastard would reprimand him for exhibiting caution; it was a safer approach than being reckless and acting without thinking, after all.
Once the wrapping paper was completely removed, Sho raised the container in his hand to eye level. Whatever was inside the plastic was a dark brown and - did that just bubble?
“I made you gravy!” Labrys explained, her voice returning to its usual optimistic tone. “I know that’s what girls make for their loved ones on Valentine’s Day, so…”
Sho stared down at the concoction in his hand and swallowed. She… made him gravy? It was an odd choice in foods, that was for sure. Didn’t girls usually make chocolates for Valentine’s Day? Scrap must have had a screw loose if she thought you made your loved one gravy. What a piece of junk.
His thoughts stalled as he stared down at the brown liquid inside the container. Was it chocolate that girls made? They were both brown. Now that he thought about it, he was seriously drawing a blank on what girls made for the holiday. It wasn’t like he had experience back in the lab on romance and what people did on Valentine’s Day. Ikutsuki was certainly not a love guru, and if it didn’t have anything to do with Project Puppetmaster, there was no need for him to teach Sho about it. It wasn’t like the topic of girls’ expected gift to make for their love interests was something he needed to know to become a better weapon. He doubted Labrys would know something like that either, so she must have asked Kirijo or one of her lackeys. If they told her it was gravy, then maybe she was right. Where did he get the idea of chocolate from? It had to be gravy.
Of course, while he had never eaten it before, he was sure as hell it wasn’t supposed to be bubbling like that. Didn’t that only happen when it was cooking?
Steeling himself, he removed the lid from the container. As if the gods were attempting to give him a sign, an unsettling aura rose from the substance. The gravy continued to bubble, and each pop seemed to give off a quiet scream in warning.
I don’t foresee this ending well, Minazuki mused gravely, breaking his self-imposed silence. Perhaps the immediate threat to Sho’s health spurred him into talking.
“I-I can’t eat this right now,” Sho blurted out, scrambling for any excuse he could come up with. Latching onto the first thing that came to mind, he said, “I don’t have a spoon and I don’t want to get it on my jacket-”
“I brought one just in case, actually,” Labrys said, handing him the utensil in question. Sho gaped, completely baffled because she did not have that spoon a second ago. “I didn’t know where I’d find ya, so I wanted ta be prepared.”
With a shaky hand, Sho accepted the spoon from her. He had no excuse now, did he...
It emits the same aura as a Shadow, Minazuki interjected with a hint of worry. It cannot be safe to eat.
As much as Sho agreed with him, the situation remained unchanged: Labrys spent time making this for him, and she was watching him expectantly. He had no options…
Reluctantly, Sho lowered the spoon into the concoction, scooped up a small amount, and held it in front of his lips. Glancing back at Labrys, her crimson eyes were glinting in anticipation and her fingers were laced together. She would smile genuinely if he tried it and enjoyed it. All he had to do was eat it, even if his mind was screaming at him to drop the container into the nearest volcano.
Sho, Minazuki pleaded, an incredibly rare panic underlying his voice. I am begging you not to consume that… that thing.
Labrys blinked expectantly at him. “It can’t be that bad, Sho-kun,” she said. “Just one bite, okay?”
Pushing down the dread that threatened to consume his entire being, Sho parted his lips, brought the spoon into his mouth, swallowed, and promptly collapsed.