Work Text:
Bobby walked into the house, just coming home from a shift, mid Saturday morning to find Buck and Harry playing (or trying to) a board game in the living room.
Bobby watched them, silently for a minute. He couldn’t tell which game they were playing, but judging by the two boys' expressions, it was either a bit too complicated for Buck, or Harry didn’t exactly know how to explain all of the parts yet.
The spell was broken when Buck got a little too fed up, turned his head in the direction of the front door, and immediately spotted Bobby.
“Mr. Bobby!” he said, standing up and running over to Bobby, wrapping his arms around the man’s legs in a hug.
“Hey,” Bobby greeted them with a smile and rubbing a hand through Buck’s hair. “Have you two eaten yet?” Bobby asked as he walked into the kitchen, the two boys following after him.
“Not since breakfast,” Harry said. “Mom went to talk with the neighbors next door. She said she’d make lunch when she got back.”
From the way Harry said it it sounded as if Athena had just gone over there, and if Bobby knew one thing about her conversations with them, whether it was good or bad, they took a while.
“How about I make something for lunch,” Bobby asked. “Make some extra for when Athena comes back?”
Harry shrugged. “Sure,” he said as he walked back over to the living room.
Buck remained standing there. “Can I- Can I help you?” he asked.
Bobby smiled. “Sure,” he said. “What do you think we should make?”
“Can we make… chicken?” Buck asked.
“Chicken?” Bobby asked. “Sure. What type of chicken do you want?”
Buck thought about it for a second. “Chicken nuggets,” he said. Much to Bobby’s dismay, all Buck asked for regarding food in the last month was chicken nuggets. “And noodles,” Buck added.
Well, Bobby thought. Maybe he could add some vegetables to the noodles.
“Only if you help me,” Bobby said, causing Buck to run over excitedly to grab the step stool that was in the corner of the kitchen.
He dragged it towards the counter. “What do we need to do?” he asked.
“Why don’t you get a pot out and the box of noodles from the pantry,” Bobby said as he took the pack of thawed chicken out of the fridge. “You can cook the noodles while I cook the chicken,” Bobby said as Buck walked back over with the box of fusilli. Bobby helped Buck fill the pot with water, the boy not yet tall enough to reach over the sink to do it himself, and turn the stovetop on.
“Now we just need to wait until it starts to boil to put the pasta in,” Bobby said.
Buck stood there, staring at the pot intently, waiting for the bubbles to start. Waiting… waiting… and waiting…
He looked up at Bobby. “When will it start boiling?” he asked.
Bobby chuckled. “It’s not instant,” he said. “It will take about ten minutes.”
Buck’s eyes widened. “Ten minutes?” he asked. “But that’s longer than it takes to get to school.”
“Yeha, it is,” Bobby said, recalling last week when Harry and Buck had timed how long it took the man to drive from their house to the school parking lot. With hitting all of the green lights it had taken just over nine minutes.
Buck hummed as he turned his gaze back to the pot of water. “Has it been ten minutes yet?” he asked.
“It’s been two.”
“Oh.”
Eight minutes later, Buck had run off to the living room to resume what he and Harry had been doing when Bobby came in, the pot of water had finally started to boil, and Bobby called them both back.
Buck stood on his tippy toes to see over the edge of the counter. “What do we do now?” Buck asked.
“Now we pour the pasta in,” Bobby said as he handed Buck the opened box.
Buck very carefully poured the box’s contents into the boiling water.
“What do we do now?” Buck asked.
“We wait again,” Bobby said as he checked the side of the box. “Eight minutes this time.”
“We need to wait again?” Buck asked.
Bobby chuckled. “Yes, only four minutes this time though.”
Buck wasn’t happy with that.
Fifteen minutes later, the meal was finally finished. The pasta was sufficiently cooked with a marinara sauce and paired with some grilled chicken.
They weren’t exactly chicken nuggets. But luckily for Bobby right now, Buck didn’t say anything about it.
“How is it?” Bobby asked.
“Good,” Buck said, nodding vigorously. “Very very good.”