Work Text:
"Grandma… Can you teach me how to make the cabbage rolls? I um… I accidentally threw out someone's lunch at work and I want to make up for it." Herman dropped his shoulders with his shame, feeling like the worst person for an innocent mistake. To be fair, there was a similar old take-out box that had sat in the fridge all week, but he had no idea that the box he'd thrown out happened to be Flambae's lunch, of all things.
"Always, Hermie. Though, it does take a long time and labor intensive meal. Are you sure its only because you feel bad over throwing out their lunch?" Grandma put her knitting needles down to get a good look at him from the couch she was on.
"What… what do you mean? I know it takes awhile, but…" Herman started picking at his nails from the slight pressure of the question.
"Well… when I made them, I made them for the whole family, or if I was trying to tell someone I loved them through my food." She reached over, signalling for Herman's hand, to which he met hers. "Do you like this person? Or is it only to make up for lunch?"
Herman bit his lip. Sure, Flambae was objectively attractive, you'd have to be blind and then some to not see it. However one thing Herman didn't really know is how he felt about him. Sure, after everything went down with Shroud, Flambae had started to be a little nicer to him. He would still poke fun at him, but the rest of the team did that to each other, and even hyped him up when he started to poke fun back. Herman also benefitted a lot from training with the fire hero. Robert deliberately pairs them together for sparring since it forces Flambae to actually learn fighting moves instead of using his fire all the time. Herman's been able to learn how to control his drippage a bit better as a result, no longer leaking as much and gaining some confidence, which further reduces how much he leaks. Sure, those are likeable qualities that Chad brought out of him, but Chad still blew up at the slightest annoyance. Which brings him to where they are now, where Herman is asking Grandma how to make a labor intensive dish because he felt so bad about throwing out Chad's lunch.
"I… don't know… Like…" He sighed, gripping Grandma's hand a bit tighter. "What do you do when someone's hot, but they have a hot and cold personality?"
Grandma smirked. "I've run into several people like that in my time. They're fun, but you need to be careful not to burn yourself on them." If only Grandma knew how close she was to the truth. She got up on shaky legs and waddled over to the key rack by the hall. "Drive me to the store, we are cooking." She threw the keys at Herman with great speed. Herman's learned to catch the keys from her, but he still wonders what her powers were if she can throw keys like a major league baseball player.
Soon enough, they arrived at the grocery store. Herman helped Grandma onto a motorized cart, and followed her around the store as they picked up the ingredients.
"Grab that cabbage head. No, not that one, no, left, left, yes that one."
"Those onions, grab 5."
"Get those button mushrooms."
"Get a lot of tomatoes. Like, a few pounds."
"One garlic head. Yes I know we're out of fresh garlic but that can wait."
"2 packs of the stick butter."
"Smaller, no smaller, yes that size of yoghurt."
"We have rice, we don't need more."
"Are you sure about this brand? It's pricey for beef… oh, you'd rather make sure it's halal? Okay."
Herman trudged through the door after their grocery expedition, heavy bags in hand while Grandma scurried about to get the pots and pans. She seemed eager to get started.
"Wash the cabbage head, and remove the outer leaves. Let me show you how to core it. We're going to boil it to soften the leaves."
"Boil the rice, but not too long. We're going to half cook it since it'll finish cooking later."
"Finely chop the onions. Fry them with a lot of butter."
Herman put his hands into some disposable gloves. "Are you sure we shouldn't cook the meat first?"
"No, Hermy, it'll cook when we steam them."
Grandma directed Herman to mix the raw meat, onions, and par-cooked rice in a bowl. "That's the filling, and it'll be easy once you get used to wrapping. It's like… you know how you get a burrito? Roll it like that. You only need a small handful to fill the leaves, like this."
"Put the gołąbki in the pan tightly, like this."
"Can you add some water to the pan? About halfway up. We can add more later."
"Cover it and bake for 40 minutes, and then we'll add more water later."
"Okay, now for the tomato sauce, peel the skins and finely dice them. For the mushroom sauce, finely dice the mushrooms and pan fry them with some of the onions, save the rest for the tomato sauce. We'll blend the sauces and put them in separate containers."
Grandma made Herman sit in the kitchen as the gołąbki steamed, letting him absorb the smells of the freshly cooked food from a time he never got to experience. He thought about himself in the kitchen, preparing… something? He didn't know. All he could remember was feeling warm, strong hands embrace him from behind as he worked, before the chime of an egg timer rang. He jumped, standing up quickly to rush over to the oven to check on the dish. Grandma came back and advised that he needed to add some more water, then into the oven again for another 40 minutes. She sat with him in the kitchen while Herman's thoughts drifted once more.
Herman found himself in a dark field, illuminated by fireflies. He watched the fireflies circle around the area, chuckling as one got close to graze his cheek. He held his finger out to watch one land on it, slowly pulsing a glow. Then, his eyes caught another pair of glowing embers in the distance, slowly blinking at him, watching him as he enjoyed the company of the fireflies. Herman extened his hand toward the distance, the fireflies fluttering forward to illuminate the path. Slowly, the path glowed a deep orange, gently capturing the figure in the distance in a warm light. He started to walk forward, then a jog, then a run forward-
"Hermy, dear, can you get the oven? It's ready, and I need a taste tester." Herman jolted in his seat from the sudden shake of his arm. He shook his head, trying to remove the thoughts from his mind as he slipped the oven mitts on to remove the dish from the oven. He carefully removed the foil from the pan, letting the leftover steam escape and smiled. It looked just like how he remembered.
"Oh wow… It looks so good." Grandma hopped up onto a step stool to rub at his back. "I'll have to teach you more of my secrets so that you win him over."
Herman's face flushed. "How did… how did you know?"
"You tend to mutter to yourself in your day dreams, you know. Maybe this 'Chad' person will be impressed enough to give my sweet grandson a chance." Herman's hands covered his face as he groaned from her comments. He was so fucked.
The next day at work, Herman rushed in a little later than he'd normally like to be. The bus ran late today, and he apologized for his… 3 minute tardy as soon as he got in. Robert shrugged it off, saying these things happen, and that he should go get changed and ready to go. Herman stuffed the hankerchief-clad box in the fridge and got ready to be dispatched.
Later, during lunch, it seemed Chad had already started looking at the suspicious package in the fridge with his name on it. Alice was teasing him, saying maybe he had an admirer. He brushed off the comment right as Herman walked into the break room.
"O-Oh! You uh… you found it already… It's to… to make up for tossing… throwing your lunch out… I-I'm sorry!!" Herman quickly threw himself into a bow to apologize. He noticed a quick flash of a phone camera in his periphery.
"It's fine, wet boy. I'm over it. What is it anyway?" He started to unwrap the hankerchief to a notecard and a glass container.
"It's um… it's gołąbki… It's beef and rice wrapped in cabbage. There's some sauces in there too, its all homemade. The note should… should have the instructions to warm it up! I-It's pretty hearty… you don't… have to eat it now. But if you… you eat it tell me if you like it!" Herman straightened up and clasped his hands together over his stomach. His face held a hopeful smirk.
"Um… yeah… sure. Saves me from going grocery shopping tonight." Chad's cheeks held a tinge of pink as he retied the box and returned it to the fridge to grab his lunch. He stepped over to microwave, and Herman used the free space to quickly grab his sandwich and dip out of the break room. Chad gripped the countertop around the microwave, his hands steaming.
"Chad, you're going to melt the counter. What's got your panties bunched in your ass?" Alice threw some of her chips into her mouth, scrolling through something quickly on her phone.
Chad took a deep inhale in, holding his tongue as the microwave beeped. He opened the microwave to pull his lunch out and stir the contents before restarting the microwave. "It's nothing. Just not used to getting food at work."
"Psch, yeah you aren't. I doubt you ate the sandwich I bought you last week for breakfast. You owe me for that, by the way."
"Fuck you mean I owe you? You owed me because you lost a bet!"
"Yeah, and then I forgot I fufilled my end of the bargain. You owe me a hot breakfast on Friday."
The microwave beeped. Chad took out his container and moved to sit at the table Alice perched her feet on, the metal chair scraping the cheap linoleum floor as he sat down. "You're a greedy asshole."
"And you love me for it."
"I do."
At home, Chad set about reheating the food. His shoulders steamed as he read the instruction notecard again. He popped the gołąbki in the microwave first, hitting the buttons as he re-read the last lines once more.
"…You should have said that to me in person, you wet asshole." He burnt the card to a crisp, letting the embers fall onto his granite countertop to cool off before sweeping them in the trash.
He could taste the love in the food.