Chapter 7 - Chef Declan

Meanwhile, Declan was lost in a world of his own, brainstorming on what breakfast would be.

When he still lived alone, he would have just eaten cereal for breakfast then snacked if he felt peckish, lunch would be a hastily made sandwich and for dinner he would brave the kitchens by trying to actually cook something up.

He usually gave up and went out to eat but last night had been one of the good days.

But now that Faun was here he couldn't do that anymore, obviously, he wasn't about to murder the poor hybrid by undernutrition.

He would have to tempt fate and try to fry eggs and bacon.

Declan side eyed Faun who just stared up at him expectantly, waiting to see what he would do.

Declan gulped, feeling like an entire crowd of people were watching him, he couldn't fuck things up this time, not with Faun watching.

This was exactly why he never wanted kids or pets, 'what were you supposed to feed them?'

"Sit over there." He directed, pointing at the small kitchen island which had a couple chairs on one side.

Faun obeyed quietly even though a vein ticked on his forehead, he wasn't a fan of being treated like a child.

He was tempted to remind the human of his age again, just in case he selectively forgot.

Declan placed both of his hands on his waist after getting out the ingredients for breakfast, deep in thought.

It wasn't that he didn't know how to cook but that whenever he cooked, things never went right.

It didn't matter if he prepared a meal exactly how the recipe said he should, it always turned out a disaster, hopefully he wouldn't start a fire this time.

After stalling for far too long and there was no way to delay the inevitable anymore, Declan went for it.

He got out a bowl and started by breaking the eggs and naturally from the first thing he did, his cooking was already falling apart.

Thank goodness the monstrosity he was cooking up was hidden by his body from Faun or he would feel even more embarrassed than he already did.

He had hit the egg too hard on the side of the ceramic bowl, causing it to shatter and spill on the counter top, eggshells falling inside the bowl as well.

Declan let out a juicy curse, cleaning up quickly and getting rid of the eggshells.

The rest of the eggs posed no problems and after adding spices, he whisked it up.

Now to face his mortal enemy, the gas stove.

He got out a clean pan and lit up the stove, pouring oil on the pan. Everything seemed to be going so well that he relaxed, pouring out the raw egg to fry with ease.

He even hummed, deciding to toast the bread while the eggs sizzled on the fire.

By the time he got back to it and flipped it, the underside was burnt badly, the smell of burnt eggs filling up the kitchen.

Declan cursed again, bending slightly to check on the stove only to realise that he had set the burner too high.

Without thinking, he reached for the handle of the pan to pick it, forgetting that it was hot.

As soon as he picked it up he dropped it, getting the burnt eggs all over his kitchen floor.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath, he had been meaning to get a frying pan with an insulated handle but he kept forgetting.

He bent down to pick up the pan and banged his head on the edge of the stove, his hair nearly catching on fire because he still left the stove on.

Faun just watched in horror as so much went wrong in the span of just a couple minutes, how did he manage to cook the night before without killing himself?

Declan forced himself to take a step back, took a deep breath and then counted to ten.

Then he put off the stove and cleaned up without any further complications.

He would just have to start over again, he knew exactly what not to do the second time. 'At least he hadn't started a fire this time' he thought optimistically.

Just as he was distracted with making plans to start from scratch, the fire alarm went off, startling both him and Faun.

Declan had a dead look on his face when he looked over to the toaster, the smell of burnt toast reaching him.

He had enough after that and minutes later they were both seated at the counter, eating cereal.

Faun glanced secretively at Declan, the human had been in an irritable mood the entire time and Faun gave himself props for not laughing.

After all, he should be grateful that he even got something to eat.

"Thank you." Faun managed to say with a straight face after he was done eating, wandering to the living room.

Breakfast had been odd, Declan called it cereal. He didn't mind it and it tasted sweet.

His meals usually consisted of raw meat when he hunted down smaller animals in his Fox form, fruits and the occasional vegetable he could find that could be eaten raw when he stayed in his human form.

"Here." Declan handed Faun a bowl of apples when he came in, taking one out.

Faun stared at the big red apples with wide eyes, he hadn't wanted to come off as a glutton that kept eating all of Declan's food but his stomach was a chasm.

"Thank you!" He said with unmasked happiness this time.

Coming across apple trees in the wild wasn't very easy, stealing them from orchards was risky too so he couldn't remember the last time he got to enjoy so many apples without a care.

"Do you want to watch something?" Declan offered, handing Faun the TV remote and showing him how to use it.

He was curious to see what he would end up watching and stood there for a couple moments while Faun scrolled through the channels so engrossed in what he was doing that he forgot his apples.

He got to a cartoon station and Declan watched as his eyes went wide, his brows furrowed as he leaned forward in his seat, trying to make sense of what he was watching.

Actually Declan wasn't surprised, turning around to make his way over to his workspace.

Faun gave off the aura of being a child or someone whose childhood was taken from them, he didn't need to be a therapist to know which one was the case here.