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Dareth woke up on Tuesday morning. It was 9:20 and he smelled bacon. ‘That's weird,’ he thought to himself. To his knowledge there was no one in his house but him. Then it hit him. ‘WHAT IF I LEFT BACON COOKING LAST NIGHT.’ He quickly got out of bed, he can't let his apartment burn down, he's only lived here for a year. He enters the kitchen and the first thing he sees is that his kitchen isn't on fire. No, it's perfectly fine, however, there is a man at his stove. HIS stove.
He was barely awake, his eyes still tired. He shook his head and realized that the person at his stove was none other than Ronin. Why was Ronin in his house? He doesn't remember having him over last night.
“You’re finally awake. I was wondering when you would get up,” he said, still paying attention to the bacon. He didn't even turn around to talk to Dareth.
“How long have you been here? I don't remember you being here last night, or I wouldn't have slept in.”
“That's because I've only been here for three hours or so.”
“Well why didn't you wake me yourself, or knock, or call,” Dareth said with a confused look on his face.
“I did knock, you just didn't answer. So I picked the lock on your door. It didn't take very long, you should probably get a new lock.”
“So you broke into my house?” Now Dareth was even more confused
“Yep. I was out late last night doing less than legal activities, so when I was starting to go home it was early in the morning and I was really hungry. Your apartment was closer so I came here. I got here around seven.” Ronin started to take the last pieces of bacon off the stove and turned it off. He went to Dareth’s dining room table, placed the bacon on the table where there were also some biscuits and cups layed out. “By the way Dareth, where's your syrup?”
“Oh, that’s in the second cupboard behind the flour.”
“That explains why I couldn’t find it, but why is it behind the flour?”
“I don't want just anyone using my syrup.”
“But you live alone? Whatever, just sit down. I cooked us a meal so you’re welcome.” Dareth sat down at the table while Ronin got the syrup. Dareth was a little hesitant to eat Ronin’s cooking. It's not that he doesn't trust Ronin, but he's never eaten his cooking and Ronin is a shady guy who's in prison most of the time or off doing something that could land him in jail. So when would he have the time to cook? He decided to eat the food anyway. It would be kinda rude not to eat the meal that Ronin made for him. Even if he did break into his house.
He decided to eat the bacon first. He took the first bite and was delightfully surprised. The bacon was cooked evenly, and was crunchy and crisp, but not burnt, plus it tasted wonderful.
He took a bite out of the biscuit. It was soft and warm; it was like a cloud melting in his mouth.
"Ronin, where did you learn to cook like this?"
"Oh, I took culinary classes in high school. After that, cooking sort of became a passion of mine. I like challenging myself with new recipes from time to time, but I don't always have the time to do so."
"Wow. Let me just say these biscuits are some of the best I have ever tasted."
"Well thanks, I hope this makes up for me breaking into your apartment."
Dareth simply smiled. “You bet!” Then he went back to the meal. He wasn't going to let the food go to waste. They both finished their food, and Ronin started to clear off the table. He started by putting the dishes in the sink and packing up the leftovers.
“I'll do the dishes, It was my mess that I made in your place, it's the least I can do,” Ronin said as he put the syrup back behind the flour.
“Alright, I'm going to go into the office to start on some paperwork.” They went their separate ways, Ronin to the kitchen and Dareth to the office. Dareth may live alone, but his apartment was quite spacious. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bath with the second bathroom being in the master bedroom. He turned one bedroom into a guest room (in case the ninja needed a place to stay or, you know, Ronin too) and the other into an office. He started on the paperwork he had been procrastinating on for a week. He had been working as a manager for this karaoke bar in downtown Ninjago. It was a nice job, it had high pay plus a flexible work schedule. Many workplaces were damaged or flat out destroyed during the whole Sons of Garmandon incident, but the karaoke bar was still standing. Ronin goes there quite often as well, so yeah, he liked his job.
"Yo Dareth, I finished the dishes and started the dishwasher," Ronin said walking into the room.
"You wanna watch a movie or something or do you just hang out since you're here?"
"Yeah, a movie sounds nice. What should we watch?"
"Oooo, I got a movie you're gonna love." They headed to Dareth's living room. Ronin sat down on the couch while Dareth put in his DVD blu ray edition of a movie called the Donkey King. Dareth joined Ronin on the couch and the movie started playing. They were barely 25 minutes into the movie when Ronin spoke up and said, "Dareth, what the actual fuck is this movie."
"What?! Do you not like the Donkey King? This movie is a cinematic work of art!"
“THEIR LIPS DON'T SYNC WITH THE WORDS AND THE ANIMATION LOOKS LIKE IT WAS MADE BY KNOCK OFF DISNEY.”
“YEAH BECAUSE IT WAS MADE IN PAKISTAN.” Ronin rolled his eyes and huffed, clearly not wanting to get into a debate. They continued the movie, it was around the part when the animals were going missing when Dareth paused the movie and asked, “Oh yeah, by the way, what were you doing last night that kept you out so late?”
Ronin was a little hesitant to answer the question. Dareth may act like a dumb bimbo but he is very perceptive, and there was no use in hiding the truth.
“So you’re aware of my less than ethical habits, correct?”
“Yeah, what about them,” Dareth said, intrigued.
“Yeah, so I did a lot last night. I started the night around one forty-five walking around the alleyways in the city. A couple of teens came up to me with some cash, and-”
“WAIT. You're not a dealer, are you? And please tell me you aren't selling to high schoolers!”
“What?! No. However I do know almost every dealer in Ninjago, but that's besides the point. Let me finish.”
“Yeah, okay. Sorry,” Dareth said with an apologetic face.
“So as I was saying, these teens came up to me asking me if I had the goods, so I replied yes.
I gave them ‘the goods’. The goods being dried up oregano.” Ronin had a smirk on his face, One that said ‘I am a fucking menace’
“YOU’RE SCAMMING KIDS!”
“WELL THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN TRYING TO BUY WEED NOW SHOULD THEY! Besides, it's not like I was charging them a bunch of money!”
There was a moment of silence before they both burst out laughing.
“How long have you been doing that?”
“At least 2-3 years. I get a lot of kids that come to me, these kids haven't gotten a clue,” Ronin said looking proudly.
“That's hilarious. Okay, what else did you do?” Dareth said while laughing.
“Well, then I went to an actual dealer for some junk
for a buddy of mine. Next I went to see some bot fighting, I lost two bets and won three, so I decided to head out of the hood. At that point it was around six thirty , that's when I decided to come here,”
“Well, that was some night you had. Aren't you tired? It sounds like you haven't slept for 28 hours. Plus, you’re already here, so might as well nap for a bit.” Dareth really was a good person. He might not always be the most useful person, but he helps in his own ways and genuinely cares about his loved ones.
Ronin smiled and said, “Yeah, that would be nice”