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Mars looked at the stacks of ingredients piled on the table, and then to the culprit himself, Earth.
"What is this stuff?"
"I'm making us some if the food my earthlings eat!"
Mars eyed the kitchen utensils warily. It's not that he didn't trust Earth around his own surface, but he didn't like how dangerous all of these things looked, especially with how fragile the earth is when in space.
Earth, seemingly reading Mars' mind just chuckled.
"Relax, I've cooked plenty of times. I know how not to burn myself."
Mars let out a small breath of relief before scanning over the ingredients. He had no idea what any of this stuff was.
"What exactly are you making?"
"Breaded chicken."
Mars raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that one of your earthlings?"
"Nope, I'm making the vegan version. You of all people should know I don't eat meat."
He spoke as he preheated the oven. Mars isn't sure why but hey, he has no idea how much of anything works on Earth's surface. It had taken him years to even get around basic biology.
He can never look at an earthling the same way ever again after that.
Earth then puts a knife through a strange block of white.
"Can you grab the mayo and mustard?"
Mars looked around at the ingredients, trying to find both condiments. When he does, Earth gives him a thumbs up while cutting the block into smaller squares.
"Great! Put a bit of each of them in that bowl and mix."
Mars did just that. Huh, it's a lot easier than he thought. Despite how strange these ingredients looked, the sauce does smell quite nice.
Next to him, Earth was also mixing something. It looked to be breadcrumbs as well as a bunch of seasonings he has no idea about.
"Can you put some flour in that bowl?"
"Reach it yourself, you're taller than me."
"What, you need a stepping stool?"
Earth spoke with a tease.
Mars rolled his eyes and put the flour in the bowl, grumbling playfully.
Earth smiled before he rolled up his sleeves even higher.
"Okay, so now we dip! Flour, sauce, breadcrumbs!"
Mars picked up one of the cubes and looked at it with disgust. It was cold and wet. He dipped it in the flour and then the sauce before dropping it and yelping.
Earth burst out laughing, much to Mars' displeasure.
"It's wet!"
"It's tofu and mustard, it's meant to be wet."
"It's disgusting!"
"Fine, you big baby, I'll do it!"
Earth was still laughing to himself as he dipped the last of the cubes, which Mars had just found out to be tofu.
Once it was all on the baking sheet, Earth put it in the oven, setting a timer for thirty minutes.
"Thirty minutes? Whys it take so long to prepare?"
"Because it needs to cook."
"But it took so long to prepare."
"Because you refused to touch it."
Mars playfully glared at the other who just winked back.
"Besides, there's plenty we can do to pass the time."
"Like what?"
Earth smiled as he ran off upstairs, leaving Mars stood there dumbfounded. The kitchen was getting way too hot for him so he moved into the living room, sitting down on the sofa.
Eventually Earth came back down and flopped himself on the sofa, earning a grunt from the smaller planet.
"Earth!"
"What?"
Earth batted his eyelashes, trying hard to look innocent despite the grin on his face.
"Anyway, I brought a movie!"
Earth held out a dvd to Mars, who squinted to read the text on the front.
'Howls moving castle'
"It's really good!"
"You think most of your earthlings movies are good."
"Because they are! Just trust me on this one."
Mars chuckled as Earth leaned over to put the disk in the dvd player, waiting patiently until the movie started.
He didn't expect to be as focused on the movie as he was. There were slight tears in his eyes before the oven timer went off. Oh right, he had completely forgotten about the food.
Earth got up with a grunt and got the food out. They looked surprisingly good and smelled even better.
Earth sat down again with a proud look on his face.
"We did good."
"You did most of the work."
"Yeah, but you were emotional support."
Mars chuckled and looked away.
"It's true! I don't know what I would've done without you."
Mars hums in response.
"Open."
Mars looked at Earth confused before seeing that he was holding a piece of the tofu. Reluctantly he opened his mouth and allowed him to put the piece in his mouth.
It was warm but tasted surprisingly good. That must've shown on his face because Earth let out a small chuckle.
"It's good, right."
Mars swallowed and nodded.
"Let me return the favour."
Earth blushed as Mars did the same, allowing the shorter to place the food in his mouth.
"What, you can give it but you can't take it?"
There was nothing Mars loved more than beating Earth at his own game. If he wanted to be flirty, Mars would throw it back at him. What? He had a competitive streak in him. How else would he survive playing space poker with Earth for all those years otherwise.
It didn't take long until all of the food was gone and the film to finish. Mars will never admit it, but it did make him teary eyed. For once Earth's movie recommendations were right, which was a huge step up from when he made him watch scream with him. How can earthlings enjoy that stuff.
"Thank you."
Mars jumped. Earth had nestled himself into him that he bad honestly thought the other had fallen asleep.
"For what?"
"For doing this with me."
"Of course, dude. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. Because I'm not really interesting outside of my life."
Mars frowned.
"Don't say that, dude. You're plenty interesting."
Earth doesn't respond so Mars keeps going.
"I was friends with you way before your life, dude. I don't care about that. I care about you."
Earth buries his face into Mars. He can feel the blush on the others face and smiles. He presses a kiss to his hair and smiles.
"I love you."
He hears a mumbled reply in response, indicating that Earth had fallen asleep.
He smiles. Guess they're not leaving his surface for a while.