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perxywonderland · 10 months

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Cooking Lesson

Willow finally got what she wanted. For years, she had wanted to teach Kuras how to bake and cook. It wasn’t like he needed it, but the fae liked to give her knowledge to her loved ones, and so maybe he could also treat himself as well, or his friends. Finally, Kuras accepted, but warned her he was quite bad at it. How could it be that wrong?

Relationships: Kuras/ OC (mostly) Ais/ OC Characters: Kuras, Willow, Ais, Leander, Princess, Nessie Details: soft, Kuras learns how to cook lmao, POV third person, SFW, just soft cute and funny interactions!

Wordcount: 2591

Willow gave him 30 minutes, her kitchen, and an “easy cookie recipe” that “even a baby could make!”.

Kuras went upstairs to Willow’s office in order to announce he had finished the task. Sunlight was softened by the almost see-through marine blue curtains, giving a purple-ish colour to the room, and the cryptic creature was there at her desk, reading something about mercury metal, taking notes from it. She dropped the book immediately when she heard Kuras. “I finished.”

“Oh.”

Willow closed the book carefully and settled her notebook on top of the large book before standing up. Without her heels, Willow was much smaller than Kuras, her chin was at the height of his shoulders, but by tiptoeing her way downstairs, she reached the lower half of his face. They both went downstairs to Willow’s kitchen behind her shop.

“Let’s see how they are; I quite crave some cookies right now.”

She said with a smile, curious how those cookies had turned out. Kuras was a little wary.

Willow faced the plate, puzzled, flabbergasted, perplexed, clueless, at a loss for words for what she had in front of her eyes. It was inexplicable. She took the recipe again, wondering if maybe it was at fault, but it wasn’t; the baking time and temperature, measurements, and ingredients were just right. She furrowed her brows, focusing on comparing the drawing and the reality; she truly was clueless about what the hell had happened in 30 minutes. Kuras remained poker-faced during those long, silent minutes. “Hey Kuras… Can I ask you something, out of pure curiosity, really.”

“Sure.”

“What the fuck happened to those cookies?”

She pointed at the coal mess on the plate with pure concern in her eyes, staring at Kuras.

“I followed the recipe.”

Kuras said with all sincerity and seriousness, a little puzzled himself.

“No fucking way you did.”

Willow intensively stared at the recipe, smacking it with the back of her hand at the title.

“Even a baby could do that! It is written right there! How have you been able to fail? ”

“I… I don’t think they meant it literally, Willow.”

“...Oh.”

Her gaze softened, her wide eyes and mouth forming in an “O” shape. Ah, expressions were not her best.

“Well, I learned how to cook at 5, and I could make those cookies! Damn, the rumors were right; you truly are the worst cook in the city! The grocery store owner looked at me a little weird when I said I would teach you how to bake and cook. It wasn’t an impression in the end...”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she tried to gather herself to maybe find a solution. She didn’t want to give up just yet. “I have been able to ameliorate Vere’s cooking skills, but yours, that is a whole other level.”

Her amber orbs turned to stare at the doctor. Progressively, her eyes squinted into an intense, reflexive state; that was her deep thinking look, calculating what she could do, searching for the solution. It was a funny look, almost cute. Kuras looked back at her, patient. “Let me call for Leander.”

Willow said before going through her front door, lucky enough, Leander was walking near with his bloodhounds in the street; after all, it was Amaryllis District, near the Wet Wick. By the concerned look on her face, Leander knew she needed something from him and joyfully walked to her. He called her with her usual pet name but also inside joke, demonstrating his affection towards her as well, “deer” instead of “dear” emphasizing her antler-like horns in her creature form.

Willow deer, hello! Need anything? Extra help for a banishment? Got your shop haunted again?”

“Far worse.”

Willow said with an empty tone. Her eyes were wide, accentuating her dark circles. Her concern was contagious to the mage. Leander asked wide-eyed:

“That must be very serious, what is it? Ask me anything. I can handle everything!”

“How can I level up Kuras’ cooking? Can you help me?”

For a good couple of seconds, Leander remained silent, frozen with wide eyes and o shaped mouth. And finally replied while going backward.

“Willow, I can do everything, except that.”

“Then you cannot handle everything, can you at least give me a tip?”

“ Oooooh I have forgotten about something, uuuuh- Good luck!”

“Hey wait! Leander!”

He surrendered, waving goodbye. She never saw him running so fast. Alone against Kuras’ absolutely terrifying cooking skills, Willow closed the door after coming back inside, almost defeated in a hunched, depressed position. Kuras observed her with his usual neutral face. He rested his fist under his chin in a thoughtful position, trying to find a solution.

“Mmh, do you have fruits?”

Willow looked up at him, with a gloomy tone she asked:

“Why?”

“I was thinking about a fruit salad? It has only a few steps; it seems to be the easiest plate?”

Willow perked up. “That is… a surprisingly good idea. It can be a good start.”

“Should I toss the cookies? Before Nessie eat them.” “Even Nessie who would eat anything from meat to paper wouldn’t touch those…. Things. No need. We’ll keep them for the soulless, no waste here.”

“I don’t think the soulless would want them either-”

Willow stopped him by placing with force her index on his lips, shutting him up. She stared deep in his eyes with an owlish and threatening gaze.

“Just let me believe.”

He nodded rapidly. She moved away and went into her storage to find the fruits she had in stock and knives to peel and remove the seeds from the fresh ingredients.

“Okay, a fruit salad is literally in 3 easy steps. Mmmh. See it as surgery? Sanitize, peel, cut. Wait, we don’t peel in any kind of surgeries…”

“Don’t worry, I get it.”

She placed the fruits into the sink. “Wash your hands first, and wash those fruits.”

Kuras nodded and diligently did the tasks; luckily, he wasn’t clumsy with the fruits.

Willow filled herself a cup of tea while he was washing the ingredients and sat on one of the benches of her plain wooden table with her legs crossed.

Kuras broke the silence, curious.

“You said you learned how to cook at 5 years old, is that true? It's too young to touch stoves and knives.”

Willow shrugged and looked away.

“Maybe.”

Her answer was quite unclear; was it for the veracity of her information or for the usual age for cooking? She was always vague about her past before coming to Eridia. Not wishing to give too much, it took vigor in order to get any information about her that was deeper than what she was.

“Family fosters autonomy and perfection.”

“I see. I didn’t know faeries had families.”

“How about you?”

“We don’t. Only peers, colleagues.”

“It might be better like that, honestly. Families are a curse.”

Willow looked down at her cup, Kuras tried to manipulate his question to be the most acceptable possible.

“Do you dislike your family?”

“It is… complex. I feel way better far away from them, and I behave better around you.”

Kuras gazed at Willow in the corner of his eyes, a light smile on his lips that Willow shared as well.

“Did the malicious goat become a benevolent lamb?”

He asked, using her hair as a metaphor. When they first met, she had horn-like braids; nowadays, she changed to sheep-like braids. It truly reflected her behavior. “I can remember the time I slapped a student with a canteen platter. You were the one who caught me doing it and lectured me. At least that gossip bitch never gossiped about me ever again.”

“Don’t forget to mention the time you hexed another student, because, I quote “It is fun, you should try it too”.”

A chuckle escaped from Willow, a little proud of her actions; she couldn’t blame herself, it was in her nature to trick humans. Willow concluded,

“We definitely started on the wrong foot.”

“You were just a big troublemaker, a terrifically smart but unpredictable and hellish student.

“Why thank you. But hey, I’ve gotten softer.”

Willow replied with a grin, amused.

“Almost a decent amount.”

“Progress is progress!”

Willow said in a mocking, positive way.

Kuras finished washing the fruits and moved them to the table. Willow handed him a knife, and she took another to help him peel the fruits.

“My family is way much worse than I was back then, trust me, they don’t pull tricks for fun, especially to angels and humans. They are affiliated with demons, some of them are.”

“And this is where your knowledge about occult and demonology comes from.”

“And necromancy, too… Both my parents worked a lot with the dead, we can say? They were the nicest of my family though, fortunately. But not very present, unfortunately, because well, work.”

Her way of speaking became a little distressful and choppy. Kuras tried to get a little more information.

“What was their job?”

A little drop of sweat rolled down her forehead. She was a little shaky in her peeling gestures.

“Ehhh, I don’t think you want to know…”

“Were they angel hunters?”

“Human killers in fact…My mother is a banshee, and my father is…Dullahan himself.”

“The headless horseman?”

Willow nodded. He had a surprised look, but it all made sense with all the information he had gathered on Willow. A demon faerie like Dullahan might link her to both demons and faeries. Banshee warns humans about their death while Dullahan collects them. Only by knowing the name of his target The Dullahan with his great black horses, find them, and kill them. Willow had always said that names held great power; if it wasn’t for the Senobium, he would have known her full name only when she had finally trusted him enough.

“That explains a lot. I already saw from your student file that you came from a great bloodline. But there is something I do not get, since they are faeries, they would know that the Senobium would be a death sentence for you. Why did they send you there?”

“It wasn’t them who did it, it was- …someone above- shit!” She stopped as she slipped and accidentally cut her palm, which instantly raised spikes of solid gold like stalagmites, stopping the bleeding. Kuras stopped his interrogation, feeling he had gone too far. He put the knife and the fruit down and took her palm in his hands with culpability.

“I am sorry, Willow, I have been a little intrusive. Such curiosity is sinful. Let me to fix your hand.”

Willow nodded reluctantly. Kuras knew where her first aid supplies were in the bathroom and swiftly searched for them and a file to file down the spikes. He quickly started to work. Observing the golden veins of her hand. He broke the silence.

“Dullahan was called the angel of death amongst my peers.”

“While amongst mine he is called the demon faery. Or death bringer. I suppose it depends on the species. He is nice to me, and so is my mom. I don’t have bad memories about them, I just wish they had been around more for me.”

When he finished his work, Willow moved her hand away. “Anyway, weird family. You better make a really good fruit salad after I spilled so much information.”

Willow grinned, changing the atmosphere to something more cheerful. Kuras winced.

“I am afraid I am not so sure about being capable of that! The fruits are not even ripped enough to be very sweet.”

“You can add sugar for that, no excuses!”

Willow went back to peel what remained. And they both cut the fruits into cubes and reunited them into a large bowl.

A familiar voice rang into Willow’s and Kuras’ ears after the front door opened and rang the chimes above it. A pair of heavy boots and four pairs of paws made noise on the wooden floor. A black floof was happy to see the faery, it was Nessie. It meant Ais had come back from his walk with Nessie and Princess.

“Why does it smell like coal there?”

Ais asked, putting aside the curtain of the kitchen door aside with his forearm.

“Kuras decided to create a new cookie flavour, coal chocolate chip cookies”

Kuras rolled eyes at her teasing, and Ais grinned and said sarcastically

“Hope you spared some of me, would be a bummer to not taste those delights.”

But in no time, the coal-filled plate turned empty; Princess immediately had eaten them all. Kuras, surprised, looked at Willow.

“Told you they would like them.”

Willow chuckled and handed the container with white powder to Kuras, who sprinkled a tablespoon of it on the fruits before mixing them with big spoons.

“Am I dreaming or is it the first time Kuras nailed a plate?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, Ais. I cannot see how you can fail a fruit salad anyway, it requires no stove or anything like that. I guess now we will be eating fruit salad at the clinic now; that is progress.”

“Apples keep the doctor away”

Ais said with a grin. Kuras brought three little bowls and spoons

“We will be able to taste my success after you both stop teasing me.”

All of them sat at the table and Kuras served everyone. At first sight, it looked very delightful.

“Well thank you for the meal, Kuras. If we don’t die, that will be a miracle. Now I stop making fun of you; I am proud of you for your very first well-done dish, we always have to believe!”

“Why thank you, Willow.”

“Let’s dig in.”

Willow and Ais took a spoonful of sliced fruits. The Silence was heavy for the verdict. Willow winced and squinted her eyes.

“...Why is it spicy?... Did the fruits go wacky?”

“Weird, I would have said they were salty...”

Ais replied, a little confused. Willow’s eyes widened. “Salty?!”

Salt burns faeries; She only had some in the same cabinet as sugar for spells and all her containers had no labels as she remembers everything.

“Kuras has mistaken salt for sugar.”

Willow dropped the spoon and held her head between her hands, spiraling on how she could eat those fruits as she didn’t want to disappoint Kuras by not eating them.

“At least it’s not his fault here, you should label your containers; it’s a bit weird in the mouth, but it’s good, better than some Leander’s drink failures.”

Ais said with constatation before taking another spoon of fruits and patting Willow’s shoulder. Kuras tried it himself; he hummed and said

“If I put 3 tablespoons of sugar, do you think it will suppress the salty taste, Willow?”

“Put 4, just in case.”

“Well, we will know why if we have cavities; Kura’s special dish, fruit-flavored sugar.”

Ais said with a shrug.

Despite the intense sweetness of the salad, Kuras and Willow were happy with the improvement. The worst cook in Eridia had become a better one. Maybe he is not the worst anymore.

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