(A caster ficlet for @yuutfa!)
Vincent stares blankly at his filled bed.
He was going to go to Nakano’s apartment today. That was the plan. At least it was until Nakano showed up on his doorstep the night before, nearly frozen to death.
A snowstorm had trapped them both in Vincent’s apartment.
Vincent stalks around the bed once more, looking at his sleeping companion.
Nakano would almost be cute in this position. If only he wasn’t drooling all over Vincent’s fine thread sheets.
“This is how he repays me for being such a good friend.” Vincent tsks, complaining to the air.
The snow outside showed no signs of stopping. Vincent’s glaring at the sky didn’t seem to help either. Which meant Nakano was stuck at Vincent’s place for the foreseeable future.
Vincent debates waking up Nakano now but it was only 9:30 am. Nakano was unlikely to get up before noon on a good day. Now? With the horrible weather outside? While still recovering from frostbite? Nakano probably wouldn’t wake at all.
Nakano turns in his sleep, disrupting Vincent’s thoughts. “Mm…no.”
“Arguing with me in your sleep, eh?” Vincent chuckles to himself. He walks over and kisses Nakano on the forehead once.
Nakano shifts in his sleep, squishing his face in his own drool.
“Disgusting,” Vincent says as he takes out his phone and snaps a picture.
He sends the picture to his sister, Julia, with the caption, ‘He is paying for those sheets.’
There were stacks of leftover takeout, a half carton of milk and an...orange?
Vincent takes out the orange. “How did you get here?”
At the orange's lack of response, Vincent shrugs and places the fruit on the counter.
Moving the leftovers to the side Vincent finds a carton of eggs. He puts that on the counter next to the orange.
Eggs and oranges. Probably healthy. Better than nothing.
Vincent turns on his stove, taking out his only pan. He’d make Nakano some breakfast like a good friend. Because he was a good friend. No matter what Nakano and that bear-man he keeps around say. Who knows, maybe that scowl on Nakano’s face would soften for a moment. That’d be nice.
Cracking the eggs was simple. Some of the shell fell into the pan but that was probably healthy. Protein or something.
Vincent leans back, watching the eggs for a minute as he looked for a response from Lia to his message.
“Why are the eggs taking so long?” Vincent tsks. He raises the temperature to the highest the stovetop would allow. “Better.”
Vincent turns to the orange. He had to do something with this, but what? He takes out a knife from his counter.
“This will make it easier to eat.” Vincent reasons as he cuts the orange in half and then cuts the orange into even thinner slices, getting juice over the counter and onto his hands.
Vincent takes the oranges slices off the counter and tosses them onto a paper plate. Some remaining juice spills out onto the plate. Vincent wipes the counter quickly when his phone buzzes.
‘Did you kidnap him?’ Julia texted back.
‘No he came here willingly for once’
‘Why’s he naked?’
‘It was a blizzard Lia. I’m not going to leave his wet clothes on. He is wearing underwear’
‘Whose underwear?’
Vincent is about to write a reply when he smells something burning. He turns back to the eggs.
There was a plume of black smoke coming out of them.
“That means they’re cooking right?” Vincent questions. He grabs the spatula and lifts the eggs. More smoke comes out, blinding him.
“Fuck!” Vincent waves his hands until he finds the knob and flicks the stovetop off. He waves his hands at the smoke until it dissipates, leaving a half charred-half uncooked mess of eggs in its wake. “Oh, the eggs are done. Finally.”
Vincent uses the spatula to dump the eggs into the plate. Some of the juice splashed out of the plate so Vincent has to waste more time cleaning up the counter.
Remembering his sister’s text Vincent takes out his phone once more and writes a reply.
‘It’s my underwear. He put it on himself. Did not let me help.’
Vincent waits for a minute but there’s no reply. He pokes at the meal with a fork. It must be getting cold he should hand it over to Nakano now.
Vincent puts away his phone and heads into the bedroom with the plate and a fork.
Nakano stirs at his arrival. His eyes blink open and his nose scrunches up.
“Oh god, what‘s burning?” Nakano’s whole body shuddered with disgust before he covered his nose and mouth.
“Relax you baby. It is just the stove.”
“You left the stove on?”
“It is off now Nakano. I would not leave the stove on when I am not in the kitchen.” Vincent rolls his eyes. With pride, he reveals the plate of ‘breakfast’ to Nakano. “First you have to eat your breakfast.”
Nakano lurches away from the offending plate. “That’s... What smells like that? Are you trying to poison me?!”
“It’s just eggs and oranges.” Vincent looks down to the plate. Didn’t look too terrible.
“That may be what it started out as but I’m sure whatever’s on that plate is not eggs and oranges anymore.”
“So you will not eat what I made?”
“You made it? That explains a lot.”
Vincent smacks him lightly on the arm. “Rude.”
Nakano laughs. “I appreciate the gesture and all but please don’t cook again. Ever again. Now excuse me while I go bury this monstrosity and make us some real food.”
Nakano takes the plate out of Vincent’s hands and walks out of the room.
Vincent smiles to himself as he watches Nakano go. He didn’t quite get the reaction he was expecting but he did get a laugh. He'll count that as a win for the day.
“Vincent, why is there so much smoke in the kitchen? There’s juice all over the floor!” Nakano yells.
His only win for the day.
