| [Aug. 1st, 2016|10:21 pm] |
He'd been staring at the ceiling long enough to slip toward drowsiness when the door swung open. Kakashi kicked off his shoes and came in, arms laden with a large grilling pan, mixing bowl, half a cabbage, several lidded bowls, a small carton of eggs, and a bottle of sauce. He unloaded everything onto the tiny counter, regarded Ryouma's coffeepot and collection of mugs disapprovingly, and left again.
Ryouma struggled to sit up. He made it to the edge of the bed, one foot on the floor and his bad leg balanced precariously on blankets, before Kakashi came back with a long, sharp-gleaming kitchen knife, a metal whisk, and a spatula.
"You're cooking?" Ryouma said, in disbelief.
Kakashi placed the grill pan on the two-burner stove and flicked the burner on. "Is there anything poisonous or otherwise deadly in your fridge?"
"Uh… no poisons. Possible mold in the back. The tofu's suspect." It'd been pink the last time Ryouma looked. He blinked, trying to scramble his brain together. "Since when do you cook?"
Kakashi crouched down to examine the contents of Ryouma's fridge. "Since I got tall enough to reach the stove," he said absently. A strong left-handed snap sent the offending tofu packet spinning into the trash. "You realize I eat food too, right?"
"Food tends to vanish around you, I didn't realize you ate it," Ryouma said.
Kakashi's breath huffed out, a soft almost-laugh. He straightened up with a packet of liberated bacon and a squeeze bottle of mayonnaise. "I like to cultivate a sense of mystery. Impresses clients." He considered Ryouma's chopping board, judged it adequate, and set to obliterating cabbage.
Impresses me, Ryouma almost said, but caught himself in time. Kakashi'd made his boundaries clear two weeks ago. He wouldn't welcome a violation of them now, on a day when he'd already given up so much of himself. Time, compassion, vulnerability.
Outside of a mission, Ryouma couldn't remember the last time someone had cooked for him.
For a long moment he could think of nothing to say. Kakashi set the shredded cabbage aside, tipped flour into the mixing bowl, poured water, and whisked. A thin, smooth batter dripped off the whisk when he held it up; he nodded briskly to himself and dumped the cabbage in, cracked eggs, added the contents of two of his lidded bowls.
Ryouma cleared his throat. "You're not doing this because you feel bad about Katsuko leaving, are you?" |
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