Waiting upstairs was terrible.

Why the hell did you decide you didn't want to go down and talk to Tommy?

Oh yeah.

It kinda hurt that he was acting so... rough to you. Which, dont get it wrong, you were used to 'mean' from Tommy, cause Tommy is Tommy, but something about how he was speaking... and glaring... told you he meant it.

Whatever bitterness he was projecting was real, and if you went down there and talked to Tommy for longer you feel you'd genuinely fucking cry.

Sobbing- ugly crying- snot and tears- crying.

Which you didn't want to do.

For understandable reasons.

So instead, you pussied out, and now you're waiting upstairs with nothing to do.

..

Except, fuck doing nothing- your agitated head never let's you do nothing, so you started scurrying around and gathered ingredients.

Soup.

Soup makes things good.

So that's what you started making.

Raw rabbit being chilled in a chest? Sure why not.

Potatoes?? Yes.

Carrots?? Why the hell not.

You had the furnace roaring, had the fireplace even hotter, and tried your best to season a dish with what little culinary supplies Techno had.

Salt.

Mmmm.

Salt.

Salt good.

The bubbling of the cast iron pot was soothing in a way- the soft popping and gurgling calm in the quiet of the room.

Somewhere in the middle of soup and salt you managed to wipe the blood off your face.

So much blood. All of it dried.

Blood that you had just kinda fell into because Ouch.

Arm off.

Every now and then you'd hear a particularly loud yell from either Techno or Tommy- but it was still calm despite that.

You were glad you weren't downstairs, confrontation daunting and all, but....

Gah-

You were a confusing mess of emotions, all the time, no matter what the circumstances.

Eventually the noises started traveling up the ladder, Techno yelling about something and bursting through the downstairs door to the outside.

Tommy was laughing. More of a mockery then a genuine laugh, which didn't seem too promising, but you filtered out the thought of Tommy leaving to instead focus back in on the soup.

Salt.

More.

Haha-

You should have realized earlier, but you have no idea how to make soup.

Or cook in general.

More salt will fix this.

So with wide eyes you picked up the salt and dumped more in, a pleased smile taking form on your face when the water swallowed it whole.

You are a functioning living being.

You let it stew for awhile longer, not particularly sure when to say it was finished.

The meat looked-

Not cooked?

So you decided to leave it in for longer.

And longer meant you had to keep stirring so it wouldn't bubble, which made a question rise to the top of your head.

Was this...

Too much heat?

It was only the furnace, with a few lumps of coal in it, but you had it placed directly over the heat and it kept threatening to bubble over.

Huh.

Maybe if you had more culinary skill this wouldn't be a question.

As of now, you don't rightly know, and decide to just leave it as is.

A bell rings for a while, and then the voices talk for a while more, moving around outside the house.

When the voices outside pass the other side of the house, and in doing so wander farther away, you get curious enough to poke your head out the window.

Tommy is following Techno towards the side of the mountain.

Huh.

Interesting.

At least they didn't seem to be too much at each other's throats.

The bubbling of the pot draws you back, so you keep stirring.

And keep wondering.

And keep trying to stave off the negative thoughts.

A solid few minutes pass, with just you and your soup. But eventually the thuds of feet coming up the icy wooden steps makes you perk up.

The door abruptly opens, and in walk Tommy and Techno.

Tommy seemed very... hallowed. In both expression and body.

Which makes you want to both ask him what Techno did to make him stay, and force him tell you everything that happened after L'manberg in excruciating detail.

You can't do that to him though. Not now. The disgruntled and untrusting demeanor he's had so far is clear evidence that he needs time.

Techno closes the door after Tommy when the boy makes no move to close it, before turning back around to make brief eyecontact with you.

Not that you saw, you were focusing on Tommy.

He just- looked so beat up, and you wanted nothing more then to swoop him off his feet and wrap him in blankets like a burrito, but you know one step in his direction will have him glaring.

"You guys gonna linger by the door? Or actually come in?" You ask.

Tommy didn't bother to answer, much less kick the ice off his shoes, but Techno did. His pink braid swayed side to side as he went about his usual routine. Boots kicked off, coats hung, extra shakes to get snow off, "Yeah. Just doing mental stuff."

Tommy waddled forward, before finding himself stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, watching you stir endlessly into a pot of... dubious looking soup.

Whatever awkwardness in him fades the instant he spots the pot.

"The fuck is that." He bluntly questions.

"Soup." You say back.

He gives you the most suspicious look he possibly can- one lip raised in disgust, "I think you mean piss."

Techno finally shuffles farther into the room with a stingy huff, siddling up next to you to stare at what was drawing all the attention.

"That's not soup." Techno bluntly says.

"Bruh- guys- it's soup- it's just not done." You weakly try to defend yourself.

"That's not soup." Tommy says, somewhere in the timespan of Techno talking to you the boy had stopped being awkward in the middle of the room and was now on your other side staring at the pot.

All three of you looked at the bubbling liquid, catching sight of the rabbit meat briefly bobbing to the surface.

"Is... is that the rabbit meat that I couldn't find like a month ago??" Techno says.

"Well I don't remember you searching for any rabbit meat, so I'm gonna assume this is fresh rabbit." You bit back.

"Yeah no. That's definitely the rabbit meat. Fresh meat doesn't look like that." Techno points at the rabbit in the pot again, Tommy making a gagging noise when it bobbed up again.

You glance over at Techno with a calm look, "It's fiiineee."

Techno cringes, "And why's it smell so... sugary...."

Techno dips his head farther down to eye the bag of salt you had been using before cringing again.

"That's literally sugar." He stood up straight and pointed at your pot, "You're making hot sugar water."

"It's finnnneee." You say, still giving Techno that calm look of yours.

"No- we're dumping this. No offense to your cooking skills but it needs to go." Techno's already grabbing the pot before you can stop him.

So you do your best, flopping like a fish after him, noodle arms wiggling all over him to try and get him to halt.

He just keeps walking towards the door, asking Tommy to open it for him while you flounder, "MY SOUP- NOooOooooo-"

You wrap you hands around his torso- grinding your heels into the floor to try and get him to stop, but he just keeps walking, pausing while Tommy shuffled away from the counter.

Once Tommy gets the door open- Techno is walking on the porch and dumping the soup off the side of the railings, dragging you all the while.

"Damn bitch. Get good." Tommy says from the doorway, and you grumble something unintelligible into Techno's back and glare at nothing.

You hear Techno's laugh- the arms you have wrapped around him feeling the vibration of it. Rather then let go, you cling to him as he drags you back inside, your heels still dug into the floor.

Tommy doesn't close the door, but Techno does.

Will Tommy ever close doors?

You're not sure.

But closed doors defintely made for warmer houses.

"You can let go now- I don't have your soup anymore." Techno mumbles.

You all but hiss at him when he does, tightening your arms, "I will make you rule the day you dumped my soup-"

Techno chuckled- a mock chuckle like he didn't at all believe you and what you said, "Oh yeah? How ya gonna do that?"

You can practically hear the eyebrow raise.

"Well, first of all, I'm gonna be a smart ass, and second of all, I'm gonna be a nuisance."

With a huff, Techno tried twisting to look at you, ending up just spinning you around on his back, "Name something you already aren't." He grumbles, which finally gets a laugh out of you.

"Haha- nonono- those are both things I have yet to become- you have not seen nuisance me."

With a grunt- Techno grabs your hands, prying them off his torso, and then spinning to face you.

He lowered himself to make eyecontact, bending his body with your hands still tightly held in between his own.

He could almost curl his finger around all the way down around the top of your hand.

Not that you noticed or anything.

The squint in his red eyes was all mischief, clearly challenging you to find better words, "I don't believe you for a second."

An exchange of squints takes place.

"Would regular me do...." Your grin grows, "THIS?!"

With a growl, you tug him forward, trying to ruin his balance, but instead all you do is stay in place, feet sliding across the floor and hitting his shin.

He laughs again, "Oh no... I am mortally wounded... I don't know if I can make it." His dead serious grumbly voice makes you glare at him.

"No. You're not mortally wounded, I hit your shin. If I hit your chest you'd be dead. Get your facts straight."

You both give grins to each other again, and it was at that moment Tommy decides to speak up.

"What the fuck."

The both of you release your holds, Techno standing up straight and remaining unfazed looking, while you skitter around for a bit to stand up right.

Your eyes shoot over to Tommy who was stood awkwardly near the window.

'Since when did you two get so chummy-' Tommy seemed to want to ask with his questioning facial expression, but neither of you elaborated, and he didn't ask, so no one said anything.

"Deffo flirting." Tommy grumbles under his breath, turning towards the ladder and strutting down it without a second thought.

You and Techno send each other glances- more of a grimace then anything. A flustered look that just said, 'this got awkward.'

"I'll make an actual soup." Techno murmers, busying himself in beginning the search to find stuff he needs.

"I'll uh- go talk to Tommy." You mutter, turning towards the ladder to start making your way down it.

When just your head was peeking out of the trapdoor, you give a lingering glance to Techno.

"Thanks for getting him to stay."

He just waves you off with a nonchalant gesture, "Yeah yeah- now go have an emotional conversation... or whatever it is you two do."

You smile.

A small little smile, and then sink to into the basement.