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"Hey," Juliana yawns as she steps into the kitchen.
It's really too early to be awake, in Juliana's opinion. The sun is barely peeking through the windows, a ray illuminating across the right side of Arven's face. Arven is looking down at a recipe book, his brows furrowed.
"Baking?" She guesses, leaning against a counter. As much as Arven loves anything to do with the kitchen, cooking has always been more of his strong suit. He can bake, of course; it's just that something about the inflexibility of baking makes it harder for him. He nods.
"It's the day I met Mabosstiff. I wanted to make him something special, especially after everything he's been through."
Oh. Juliana's heart melts. Even though she only met Florigato a few years ago, she understands that feeling of appreciation for your partner Pokémon, especially when both Arven and Mabosstiff have known each other for even longer. Now that she looks closer, she can see the cover of the book he's holding — Pokécakes. It's a Pokémon-friendly cookbook. When did he get that?
She hadn't realized there were so many types of cookbooks. She makes a mental note to research more kinds to buy for him. Juliana walks over to wrap her arms around his torso and peek over his shoulder at the specific recipe he's looking at. It looks a little like a coffee cake, except without any coffee cake ingredients. Is that peanut butter?
Once he nods, resolute, she lets go of him and steps out of the kitchen to let him work. Still, she peeks in every so often, enjoying seeing him do the thing he loves. An hour later, Mabosstiff seems to finally have woken up. She can hear the clicking of his nails as he pads over to the source of the current sounds in the house.
When he reaches her, he stops to sniff at her feet. Juliana smiles, bending down to pet his head. "Good morning."
He yawns. She can relate.
A little while later, Juliana sits and watches as Arven cuts a slice of the final product for Mabosstiff. They're in their living room now, Arven and Mabosstiff on one side of the coffee table and Juliana and Florigato on the other. Arven holds a small plate out to his Pokémon, who sniffs it curiously. Eventually, Mabosstiff starts licking at it, and Arven sets down the plate so he can eat the rest of it while the man pets him.
There's a look of pure affection in his eyes whenever he watches anyone, but especially Mabosstiff, eat his food. It leaves her in awe of him and how far he's come from the irritated teenager she had met on her first day at the academy.
Florigato walks over to investigate Mabosstiff's treat, and Juliana giggles when Arven nudges her away. She thinks she doesn't mind being up so early if it means she can spend the day like this.