Chapter 8 - ...actually scratch that, it's Chef Faun

Faun had no idea how the time flew by, his bowl of apples long empty, he would have kept on watching cartoons if his stomach hadn't rumbled.

He glanced in Declan's direction with skepticism, the human could possibly murder them both if he said he was hungry.

He had kept a sharp eye on what Declan had been doing when they were in the kitchen, he could probably pull it off.

Faun left the show he was watching running so that Declan wouldn't notice his absence, sneaking into the kitchen.

He went straight for the fridge, taking eggs out, he took out the same bowl that Declan had used…

Sometimes when he was in his human form, he wandered through human towns, he was very curious so even though he had never tried a lot of things before, he had definitely seen them.

He had a really good memory and could remember the spices that Declan had used by their smell.

After beating the eggs, he took the pan and placed it on the stove then stopped to stare curiously at the knobs on the cooker.

Twisting a knob made a different stove light up startling Faun slightly but he recovered quickly, fiddling with the knob.

The fire listened to him, growing and reducing as he adjusted the knobs. He smiled to himself, he was starting to get a hang of this.

After trying a couple more, he found the right stove that was under the pan he had already placed. He turned the knob all the way down, grabbing the bottle of oil that Declan had thankfully forgotten on the counter.

Because he had taken it out of a really high cupboard, there was no way Faun would have reached it.

He poured the eggs in and listened to it sizzle, watching it.

He remembered that Declan had tried to flip it which made sense because if he wanted the eggs to fry properly, he would have to get both sides of it on the hot pan.

Flipping it over was easy, his stomach rumbling louder as the smell of perfectly fried eggs filled the kitchen.

Declan perked up from his writing when he could smell eggs frying, a frown on his face.

Had Isla sneaked into his house again? He strode to the kitchen with a growing frown.

He had told her many times to quit doing that but apparently, she never listened to him…

"Isla, I swear to fucking…" He trailed off when he got to the kitchen and saw someone else standing in front of the stove.

Faun turned around in apprehension, turning off the stove with a click. "I…" He was already scrambling to make excuses.

Declan swept forward, his eyes slightly wide. "Wait, you made this yourself?" He asked suspiciously, looking around like he expected someone to jump out of the shadows.

"Well, yes." Faun replied hesitantly, at a loss. 'Was the human angry or not?'

Declan glanced down at the perfectly fried eggs and back at Faun, an expressionless look on his face.

This only cemented his theories about the kitchen in general being out for his neck.

"We could eat scrambled egg sandwiches instead." He suggested, still not over the fact that Faun who probably had no prior experiences with cooking managed to fry eggs better than he ever hoped to, and on the first try too, without anyone to direct him.

Faun nodded like he knew what Declan was talking about, he rather liked cooking.

Maybe he could learn to cook while he was still here, it was a way to pay Declan back for all he had done for him, also, he didn't want to test how long he could survive on Declan's cooking. He would be better off hunting rabbits to eat.

"Could you fry more eggs while I toast the bread?" Declan added.

Faun threw him a look, his words slipping out before he could stop them. "Sure that's safe?"

A vein ticked on Declan's jaw, the caveman was one to talk. Of course he perfectly knew how to use a toaster.

"Of course." He hmphed, turning his nose up as he made his way over to the counter to get the bread.

Grumbling nonstop, he buttered both sides of the bread and then placed the slices in the toaster, turning around to watch Faun.

Faun fried up more eggs with ease, it was far easier the second time around so he finished up the next batch even faster.

Declan just watched on in disbelief, entranced by Faun's fluid and confident movements.

Faun switched off the stove then walked in Declan's direction, catching the taller man off guard.

Declan leaned back with surprise in his eyes when Faun came even closer, his brows furrowing when he walked past him, their clothes brushing.

Faun reached out to switch off the toaster from the wall, he had seen Declan do it a couple times already.

Declan winced at the knowing look on Faun's face, paying attention to the rest of the toasting this time.

Lunch was as quiet as breakfast had been, Declan's curiosity about the hybrid only increased but he knew better than to pry. It wouldn't be good for either of them in the long run.

Faun went back to watching TV after lunch, Declan doing the same with his workspace even though he knew he wouldn't get any writing done.

At dinner time, Faun followed right after him. Declan wasn't dense, he could see that the hybrid was very interested in learning how to cook. What stung was that he was unfairly good at it.

Faun found himself letting his guard down around Declan more, seeing him fight with and lose against everything possible in the kitchen was the major reason.

But also, it was in the way that the human wasn't nosy. He didn't try to pry further, he didn't ask about Faun's past or other pesky questions.

He had simply accepted his shaky story of being a traveller and getting separated from his group

It was refreshing, and also a huge relief for Faun because he knew that there were a lot of things off about him like what grown adult didn't know how to peel potatoes?

Declan paid no mind to it however, treating his queerness like it was perfectly normal. It was why Faun was able to let his guard down slowly but surely.

He could almost pretend, like he wasn't a hybrid and this wasn't a human.

Granted, not all humans were out to kill them but as soon as a human found out that hybrids were different, all hell broke loose.

It was why Faun was ever so careful about acting right but Declan seemed to see right through everything.

He could even come to enjoy his short stay here, pretending to be a human traveller who was down on his luck.