Hello! I greatly enjoy your work and since requests are open I’d like to make one.
Heathcliff trying (and failing) to cook a meal for gn!reader who is currently struggling to bring themself to do much of anything.
If you would be so kind. Thank you.
If someone were to tell Heathcliff from a few years ago that in the future he would be thoroughly whipped for someone, enough to be cooking for them despite his inability to do so, he would try to bash their head in. Now, he is walking around a grocery store while squinting at the online recipe he found. 'Easy simple dishes for beginners,' the article says at the very top.
The trip itself was not too bad, he almost always go with you to help you out, let alone he already has experience living alone before your relationship. He managed to get all that he needs while trying to swallow the nagging worry at the back of his head about the step after. Heathcliff can definitely cook for you. Of couse he can! Who do you think he is!
He speeds back home to start cooking early. You have not been able to take care of yourself for a bit and he cannot keep on relying on everyone else, even if they are open to it. Heathcliff had woken up at 4:00 to prepare, half an hour for the groceries and some more time for the commuting. A part of him thinks that this is overkill, the website itself says it should not take too long, somewhere squarely around two hours in total, while he has no plan of waking you up so early. But Gregor has also said that if he is not used to cooking then all of the steps will take much longer. He had scoffed then but he kept the other man's words in mind.
The kitchen is filled with barely muffled curses and the sounds of cookware bumping against each other, alongside something suspiciously alike to food burning. Heathcliff has the windows wide open, vents working overtime while he waves the shoddy cooking mittens around to disperse the smoke. Never before does he appreciate waking up so damn early because he can faintly see the clock ticking away to his inevitable shame. He thinks about calling up Gregor, the old dude has got to wake up by now, for help but his damn pride gnaws at him. What kind of man would he be if he cannot cook for his partner!?
In the end, he regretfully puts another pot in to soak and gets to scrubbing the earliest one to get dunked into the sink. One borderline herculean task later, he is standing there in the kitchen, multiple pots and even pans in the sink, some singed to hell and back and others has managed to congeal into strange globs. In his hands, however, is one pot closest to perfection after over four hours of struggling.
The man is at the verge of tears as he goes to plate it up (bowl it up?) for you. There is a faint taste of smoke, yes, but that is simply how the dish is supposed to taste, not that he almost burned the aromatics, nope.
You wake up to the faintest hint of smoke and the sounds of Heathcliff's footsteps approaching your bedroom. He pushes the door open and is visibly surprised to see you having already woken up. He sets the mysterious bowl and cutlery down onto your table with a 'clink' and goes to stand by your bed. "Why 're ya up so early? I told ya to rest and I'd wake you up later." For all the harshness in his tone, you can tell he was worried for you. Instead, you turn to the steaming bowl and ask, "today's breakfast?" Heathcliff feels his face warm. He suddenly feels like the hard earned bowl looks so scrappy compared to what the others had made.
He nods with great difficulty, swallowing that nagging shame at his own ineptness, as he delivers it to your hand with the gravity of a guilty man before the judge. The man stares at you scooping a spoon into your mouth with such intensity that you wonder if he has poisoned the dish or something along that line. You can taste some char and the seasoning was unevenly mixed in, some spots saltier, some spots bland, but you like it. You know it must have been made by Heathcliff himself in all of its imperfection and the way he has been fidgeting with his fingers. He pretend he is not affected at all but he cannot stop glancing back and forth between the bowl and your face.
For once, he finds himself entirely unable to read your expression. He only manages to heave a sigh of relief when you smile. "I knew ya would like it. Totally." Maybe you can teach him how to cook properly once you feel better. Afterwards, Heathcliff realizes that he will have to take care of the pots and pans in the sink and he sighs. It is all worth it to see you well fed. He will do it all over again for you, hopefully less of a struggle though.
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a/n: pspsps so sorry anon for taking ten yrs to finish this ask pspsps i don't know how british ppl talk so forgive me if he doesn't seem very brit. i also wrote this in the middle of the night so i will fix any problems tomorrow, i fought with tumblr and my copy paste for the formatting like dang, why are you like this when i just want to sleep istg :sob: