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Czerny looked down at his hands fiddling with each other while listening to Hibiscus alternate between using her pen to tap her clipboard or her chin. Eventually he hears a soft sigh and he expects to hear the usual song and dance to tell him to stop skipping meals. Instead he feels an unexpected weight being pressed beside him on the hospital bed.
He looked up from his hands to his side a bit bewildered and wasn’t expecting to be met with an absolutely pitiful expression from the Sarkaz nurse. With a voice that’s trying to hold back another tired scolding she told him while looking straight in his eyes.
“Mr. Czerny, please eat.”
— – -
“Pfft, hahaha!”
“Herr Nothing, please don’t laugh at me.”
Mr Nothing’s laughs continued in the kitchen while Czerny was pressing a hand to his temples in the cafeteria. The sounds of the fire stove cooking something mixed with the Liberi’s laughs. Usually Czerny would try to take in the ambience of it all, but right now he’s a bit distracted by the heat of embarrassment on his face.
Mr. Nothing’s laughing came down, “I must say I never imagined a young poised lady like Miss Hibiscus to break like that.”
Czerny let out another countless sigh, “I’ve been crunching on some academic writing and finalising lessons for the children here, I’ve gone on for much longer without eating before-“
“Goodness, it’s ironic a teacher can’t seem to learn his lesson.”
Despite the jab, Czerny didn’t feel any malice from it. A quick look at Mr Nothing’s amused smile as he stirs the pot only confirms it. Somehow it only made the Caprinae want to sulk even more.
“Once Sir Ebenholz gets a word of it from Benefactor Lava… Well one can only imagine his satisfied smile the next time we gather.”
“I will make him practice that new piece from start to finish without breaks if he does.”
“Spare him, not everyone is built for non-stop musical playing like you.”
Mr Nothing let out another laugh while he ladled whatever he was making into a bowl. Czerny looked away while propping his chin onto his palm, huffing until he heard the tap of the filled up bowl alongside a spoon. He recognises it as some sort of porridge with fried onions as the topping.
“Porridge?” Czerny questions while mixing the food with the spoon and is surprised to find it to be very thin. He raised his eyebrow at Mr Nothing, “… I’m pretty sure I’ve had soup thicker than this when the Afterglow was at its poorest.”
“It’s called 清粥, plain congee, it’s something that’s typically made for the sick but for you it’s a punishment,” Mr Nothing sat in front of Czerny with an amused look before continuing, “Miss Hibiscus tells me I have to make sure your fed as your sparring partner, can you believe it?”
“So you’re trying to get back at me here.”
“Essentially, if I get scolded by Miss Hibiscus for it again I’ll force you to eat this during training breaks.”
Czerny resists the urge to roll his eyes and takes a spoonful of the congee. The rice grains were so soft it felt more like sipping water and it was very subtly seasoned with salt, black pepper and the fried onions. At least it’s easy for him to eat.
Czerny couldn’t stop the small smile forming on his lips, “You’ve become more honest thankfully.”
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“If this was coming from the you from at least… hm, let’s say a year or two ago, you would have started by prattling about how this was the absolute best thing for me to eat based on my training style or spiritual energy or whatever else just to convince me.”
Mr Nothing put a hand to his chest and made a dramatic gasp, “Czerny Laoshi! How could you say such words, you make me sound like a swindler!”
“Your self awareness still needs some work though it seems.”
“Czerny Laoshi!”
It was Czerny’s turn to let out a small amused laugh in between sipping a spoonful of almost plain congee. He took in the way Mr Nothing leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Czerny wouldn’t be surprised if he started pouting at some point. Though Mr. Nothing was the type who could shrug off the jabs they exchanged with each other (and especially when he was being playfully torn apart by the women in their group), Czerny could never help but give him some form of a bone in the end.
“Do you like cooking? You carried yourself in that kitchen as if you were familiar.”
Or maybe he just liked talking to Mr. Nothing, that could just be it too.
The Liberi looked back at him and there was a strange beat of silence before uncrossing his arms, “Oh my, do you like observing me perhaps?”
Czerny damn near choked on his congee, this bastard always said embarrassing things that insinuated this or that.
“Nevermind, I don’t want the answer anymore.”
“Forgive me Czerny Laoshi, I’ll answer anything you ask, you know this!” Mr Nothing cleared his throat, Czerny raised an eyebrow at this before paying full attention. Usually, Mr. Nothing started acting all nervous like this when it pertained to some parts of his past.
“I… used to work odd jobs in my old hometown, you know when I… stayed at the dojo.”
“Mmh.”
“And one of those jobs was a part-time position for a restaurant, I did all manner of things there like cleaning the tables or dishes alongside cooking too. It was run by this old couple that just wanted to feed the community, practically charged nothing for the food.”
Ah, Czerny noticed it again. When Mr. Nothing’s anxiety of talking about his past melts away to reveal this quiet love for his home. His eyes always went ever so slightly softer. He could relate to it somewhat. The only difference is that Mr Nothing had never invited Czerny to see his hometown even as Czerny has invited him to see the Afterglow a couple of times.
“The old uncle said I had a knack for learning recipes at least, and I became really good at this particular one!” Mr. Nothing smiled as he continued to tell the story.
“Was it thin congee?”
“Don’t tease me Czerny Laoshi…”
“Then what is it?”
“I won’t make it for you even if you ask.”
“Verdammt, Herr Nothing.”
Mr. Nothing laughed, and before Czerny could say anything to that, he answered.
“Gloompincer Glass Noodle Soup, it wasn’t necessarily a Kou-Wu specialty but apparently people loved what I did with it.”
Czerny pursed his lips, “I see, well I wouldn’t ask you to make something like that anyways.”
The Liberi didn’t look upset by Czerny’s reaction, he just smiled, “l already expected that.”
“I don’t dislike the taste of insect meat though.”
“Mmh, you just hate the peeling, don't you? It’s hard to crack and the sharp edges of the shell feels bad on your sensitive skin. You’d prefer your food to be as easy and quick to eat as possible.”
Czerny paused at that while Mr Nothing continued, “Not to mention Gloompincers have to be cooked with the shell still on, and you’d feel uncomfortable getting your hands dirty from the sauce and oil-
Mr. Nothing blinked and he realised that Czerny had been staring at him. It was as if the latter was looking at a particularly difficult paragraph of a book. The scrutiny had the Liberi a bit flustered, “C-Czerny Laoshi, if-if you still want to taste it I could always help deshelling the gloompincer for you, it would be such a shame to not try it out after all!”
“Ah… No-“
“You finished your congee, would you like me to go get another bowl for you? Ahah…”
Czerny belatedly realised that his bowl was empty. Before he could even say anything, Mr Nothing hurriedly picked it up and went back into the kitchen. Leaving Czerny a bit dumbfounded.
He might be making it up, but it seemed like Mr Nothing was talking about him the same way he talked about his hometown…
Was Mr. Nothing always that observant of his habits?
‘Hold on,’ Czerny pinched the bridge of his nose while he thought, ‘Don’t make any weird assumptions. He’s as observant of you as Fraulein Hibiscus is and it’s not like you particularly hide what you dislike…’
Then he thinks about the congee, and how he would often forego eating for long periods of time just to finish his work. When it was actually time to eat, his stomach would be sensitive to anything too heavy so he’d resort to having just bread or instant noodles. The noodles filled him up the best but even the plainest flavours the pantry had was just too salty for him and had too strong of a scent.
Did he ever tell Mr. Nothing that?
No, but Mr. Nothing was the only one that had caught him grabbing something to eat in the kitchen after a session of writing or composing. Once, the Liberi caught him choosing bread over the noodles.
‘… There’s no way.’
Czerny looks back down to where his bowl used to be. The congee almost felt like swallowing water but since it was rice it would fill him up quick. Mr Nothing had seasoned it ever so slightly but he could have it as plain as he wanted it to be. It was great for his stomach if he went on for too long without eating again.
Czerny covered his face and sighed, and then he laughed slightly. He looked up to see Mr Nothing returning with a newly filled bowl of congee and mumbled against his hand.
“… I take it back, you’re as dishonest as you were a year or two ago…”
“Czerny Laoshi, what did you say? I couldn’t quite hear you…”
“It’s nothing, I’m just thinking out loud about how I can get you yelled at by Fraulein Kroos or Fraulein Lava.”
“A-Ah?!”