Work Text:
Animas.
The holiday wasn’t a new one for Mariz, but they weren’t sure if Fleck was familiar with it, not to mention the fact that they were out of the orphanage and getting to spend it with Dillinger too. The orphanage had done its best to let the kids celebrate the holiday, a small gift each, a different dinner than usual, a few songs, but this was… different.
Mariz had spent a solid chunk of the month flitting around their school library, looking for different books on the holiday, mostly searching for different recipes. They had a notebook just for this, like it was a secret project that deserved their unwavering time and attention, and… there was a chance they missed the bell once or twice to get to class while doing research.
Once they’d gathered the recipes, that was when the testing began. Now this was the hard part. It was nigh impossible to hide the delicious smells that started coming from the kitchen, though Mariz tried to do most of the cooking while Dillinger was at work, and left the windows open to try and air the rooms out.
Without fail, Dillinger would get home, and the sniffing would begin.
“Hey kiddo, you cooking something good?” Dillinger asked hopefully, purple snoot leaning into the kitchen while still sniffing at the air.
“No, I haven’t started dinner yet.” Mariz said simply, and it certainly wasn’t a lie, they were sitting at the table while trying to focus on homework, and not which cookie recipe they were going to attempt next.
“Huh… sure smells like… gravy?”
“Are you insinuating I’d make gravy for dinner??”
“I mean… okay I was going to say gravy and something else would make a pretty good dinner, but with how this smells? I think I’d happily have a cup of gravy.”
“GROSS! Go find whatever neighbor’s cooking and bother them with your gross eating hab-FLECK GET OUT OF THE TRASHCAN!”
“Why? Something smells good in here! I wonder if it’s the-”
That was about as far as Fleck got before Mariz dove out of their chair and tried to nab him from the trashcan. It was a near miss, as Fleck grabbed an empty bag of chocolate chips, and darted off.
“Chocolate chips?” Dillinger said hopefully as she watched Fleck skitter off. “I wouldn’t mind some of those either, also Fleck you shouldn’t-”
“I DON’T HAVE ANY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! NOW STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN I’M MAKING DINNER!” Marizi shouted as they hovered in the kitchen doorway, wings buzzing angrily as they tried to shoo off their older sibling. “The kitchen is OFF LIMITS! I’ll bring out the food when it’s ready!”
Dillinger gave a laugh and nodded, knowing full well that Mariz wasn’t one to keep food to themselves, especially when they personally made it, and went to see if she could stop Fleck from eating the chocolate chip wrapper instead.
The next several days were hard; running a side business with Fleck to beat up sainins for extra money, wrestling with the crowds to get the ingredients they needed, but at least it wasn’t too hard to find people at school to try some of the things they made. Feedback, however, was a different matter. It wasn’t that Mariz didn’t appreciate the thanks, or the kind words, they just… didn’t help . The closest they got was going into the cafeteria, and asking a few of the adults there. Mariz frantically took notes, whether it was something simple, like adding an extra crack of pepper, or a suggestion of substitution, trading sugar for honey, or leaving the dough in the fridge overnight to have a different result after baking.
Finally, they felt they were ready.
When Animas morning rolled around, the smell that drifted through the small apartment was nothing short of heavenly. Dillinger, drooling in her sleep, was pulled from bed, and while still very much asleep, attempted to get to the source of the delicious smells. They successfully made it to the doorway that lead into the kitchen, but simply bonked against the doorframe several times before Mariz noticed her, and lead her away to the cushion pile, and shoved her in so she could stay trapped till she woke up properly.
It was a day of feasting, starting with a warm breakfast with other foods slow cooking throughout the day to be ready at different times, as Mariz was determined to not skip a single thing they’d sunk all that time into practicing. Worth it would have been a vast understatement, as they watched Dillinger and Fleck eagerly devouring anything they brought from the kitchen, though somewhat lighter grazing commenced once they’d filled up on breakfast. As much as Mariz loved the gifts they’d unwrapped earlier that morning, there was nothing like watching someone enjoy their cooking like this. Although they were still going to break in their new baking stuff once the latest batch of shortbread was out of the oven.