Work Text:
It's a bright sunny day and Nero wakes up in a good mood—which means he's able to cook anything that the other wizards want to eat no matter how bizarre it is and how many it may be. As Nero goes to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients and utensils, a certain odd but expected fellow comes in.
"Hey." Owen greets Nero in a flat tone as he enters the kitchen and sits on one of the chairs. Nero notices the small smile on Owen's face that lets him know that Owen is pretty excited to eat some sweets and that he's expecting something good from the East country's renowned cook.
"Mornin' Owen, anything you want to eat today?" Nero responds as he prepares some pots and pans on the table.
"I would like some desserts and sweets." Owen smiles happily, "Make sure there's plenty of them. Thanks."
"At this time already?" Nero looks at Owen with confusion, the latter just nodding his head in confirmation.
"What? Is it wrong to do so?" Owen asks.
"Wait, nevermind, I don't care. I shouldn't expect less from a North wizard like you." Nero responds as he cracks some eggs open and puts them in a bowl.
"Wow, that's rude." Owen scoffs but Nero ignores it and starts mixing the ingredients in another bowl. Just as the silence between the two starts to get tense, Akira enters the room, breaking the silence.
"Good morning, Master Sage." Owen greets the new customer as they sit down on the chair near him.
"Good morning." Akira greets back, "Are you going to eat sweets for breakfast today?"
"You're correct." Owen smiles, "I'm glad that you know what I'm going to eat."
"'s there anything you want to eat for breakfast, Sage?" Nero asks Akira.
"I'll just have bacon with eggs and a milkshake please." Akira replies and Nero nods as he prepares another pan on the stove and turns on the fire.
"Oh, by the way Owen," Nero pauses as he looks at Owen from behind, "How come you know that I'm in a good mood to cook anything you guys want?"
"A little birdie told me." Owen replies with a sly smile. He really has no intention of telling Nero how he knew about it.
"Speaking of sweets, have you heard of fried ice cream, Owen?" Akira chimes in and asks Owen, making the latter raise an eyebrow in interest.
"Haven't heard of that. Is that a food from your world?" Owen asks with his eyes showing a small glitter of excitement.
"Yeah," Akira nods. "It's ice cream that's covered in corn flakes and then it gets deep fried after that."
"That's an interesting type of ice cream." Owen comments as he looks at Nero with a grin, "How about you try making that Nero? I'm sure that if it's you, you'll be able to do it perfectly."
"Alright, alright, I got it. Can you stop trying to please me now?" Nero responds as he opens the freezer and looks at Owen, "Flavor?"
"Vanilla." Owen smiles and Nero quietly gets a tub full of vanilla ice cream from the freezer and places it on the counter as he uses his magic to open a cabinet and get a box of corn flakes.
"So, Master Sage, how do I do this?" Nero asks Akira who's quietly enjoying watching the two interact.
"You'll first have to crush the corn flakes and cover the ice cream with it. Next, cover it with a baking sheet and leave it in the freezer overnight. After that, you'll fry it in a deep fryer for about 10-12 seconds and then you're done."
"That sounds easy enough. Just wait for a few minutes and it'll be done." Nero comments as he starts using his magic to crush the corn flakes and cover the several ice cream he scooped with it. Then, he uses his magic again to freeze the ice cream covered in crushed corn flakes.
"By the way Master Sage, do you want one of these too?" Nero asks Akira as he starts pouring oil onto the deep fryer.
"Please do! I wanna taste how well you did it." Akira replies in excitement.
"Roger that." Nero responds and fries the ice cream in the deep fryer for a few seconds and then takes it out, places them on a plate, and gives one to Akira and another one (that has a lot of fried ice cream on it) to Owen.
"Heh," Owen grins as he takes a bite on one of the fried ice creams on his plate. "This tastes really good. Thanks a lot, Master Chef."
"Hey, what's with you calling me that all of a sudden?" Nero looks at Owen with confusion as the latter happily continues to eat the rest of the fried ice cream on his plate. "Anyway, Master Sage, you can have that fried ice cream as an appetizer while I cook your breakfast now."
"Got it. Thank you so much Nero, I'm sure that this'll taste amazing!" Akira replies as they start to take a bite on the fried ice cream and Nero quietly nods in response.
Nero starts cooking Akira's breakfast along with Owen's request for sweets and desserts and within a few minutes, Nero hands them the food they both requested for (with Owen's being the reason why he took quite a while to finish cooking everything).
"Seems like the others aren't awake yet." Nero says as he looks around the kitchen waiting for the others to arrive.
"If that's the case, why don't you come eat breakfast with us while you wait, Nero? That way, you won't be hungry when you're cooking others' meals." Akira suggests.
"Guess you're right Master Sage.” Nero replies as he starts cooking up his own meal.
A few minutes pass and Nero finishes cooking his meal, placing it on the table next to Owen. Nero sits on his chair and starts eating while Akira and Owen silently glance at Nero’s breakfast in fascination.
“Hey Nero,” Owen calls out to Nero as he slices a piece of his fried ice cream with his spoon and offers it to Nero, “Wanna take a bite?”
“The hell?” Nero backs up from Owen's offering hand in surprise, “Don’t do that out of nowhere will you?”
“Oh come on Nero, Owen is just letting you taste the meal you cooked for him!” Akira chimes in, encouraging Nero to take a bite from Owen’s spoon, “Isn’t that right Owen?”
Owen nods in agreement and moves closer to where Nero is, holding out his spoon close to Nero‘s mouth. “Master Sage is right. Come on Nero, say ah~” Owen says in a teasing tone.
Without a word spoken, Nero scoffs and takes a bite from Owen’s spoon. “...Not bad. I guess.” Nero comments, making Owen and Akira smile.
“Told you so. You’re the one who cooked it after all.” Owen responds, “I’m done with my meal so I’ll be leaving now. Thanks for the meal Nero.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t ever do that to me again okay?” Nero replies with a stern tone at the last part.
“Heh, well, I can’t promise that I won’t do it again.” Owen answers as he smiles mischievously, “Farewell you two.” Owen waves at the two as he leaves the kitchen, leaving Akira and Nero who sighs in disappointment after hearing Owen’s reply.
“Master Sage, if you’re done with your breakfast then you can just leave it here.” Nero talks to Akira who’s quietly sitting there.
“Thanks Nero. I’ll be going now as well. Good luck with your work!” Akira replies and leaves the kitchen, waving goodbye to Nero.
Nero collects the plates that have been left by the three of them and puts them in the sink and starts washing them. As soon as he’s done washing the dishes, the sound of the door opening can be heard and reminds Nero that the day had barely just begun as his fellow comrades come in and greet him a good morning, excited to eat the food from the East country’s talented cook.
