trans_9 | Pudding. [Closed]

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Pudding. [Closed]

Even if it made Miku suffer heart palpitations, Steve always found the comfort of his house's usual clutter very relaxing. Even if it was just a sensorium projection, and even if he could warp it clean with a mere thought, it was kind of nice to see the laundry sitting half-folded on the couch, or his dad's coat having fallen off the coatrack, or the stack of dishes in the sink that Steve had at some point neglected to do, probably in favor of video games or riding his motorcycle around the block.

He was trying to tidy up a bit here and there, though, if only for Miku's sake. And if only because she had promised to make him pudding to make him feel better after another of his weekly shots. He still looked a bit pale and looking too closely at his arm would show sickly greenish veins near his elbow, but he had so far kept it covered with the sleeve of his flannel shirt.

"Sugar... sugar... here it is," he said, reaching up on a high shelf and pulling down a bag of sugar to hand down to Miku. That was his other job while she was cooking-- fetching stuff off the high shelves.

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"Ben-yays," Steve repeated. "What are those?"

He tried not to hover over her too much, but Miku would find she had a redheaded snoop peering over her shoulder to watch her pour.

"I know you can't," he said. "But you know I'd tell you if something was wrong. Now that I'm getting these damn shots every week, we should both be able to stop worrying so much."

Miku tapped her head against his while Steve peered at her work, and sighed, "I know you would. Or you'd better." But Steve was stubborn enough, at least he made a promise this time. Carmel warm and waiting, Miku turned her attention to the eggs and started to beat the yolks with a whisk.

"From what I've read, it is some sort of French, deep-fried treat, with powdered sugar? There were a lot of French-themed cafes in Tokyo, but I never saw that on their menus." When the eggs had been beaten into submission, she poured milk and more sugar into a pan and started to warm it. "I've decided I will take the long way around the world by cooking. Eventually, I will get to American, and all of your hamburgers and strange corn flake foods."

"Deep-fried with powdered sugar... like a doughnut," Steve offered. "Mmmm... man, sounds good to me. Make sure you tell me when you decide to cook those, okay?"

"And come on... to be fair, I only made ONE thing with cornflakes in it, silly."

"One is enough," Miku replied and giggled. She poured the milk and sugar mixture into the beaten eggs and whisked them together. A cheerful, creamy yellow, they already promised to be good.

"I hope that just goes for cornflake food and not for puddings," he said. "Because I could probably eat three puddings, just so you know."

He watched her working, already feeling better just from the return of his hunger.

"Well, that's good. This recipe makes four, and I'll only eat one." She poured the strained mixture into the four cups with the caramel syrup and moved some of the pots to the sink, before filling up a pan with water and a folded dishtowel. "This will be about twenty minutes, Steve, so we'll have to do something while we wait."

Cleaning the house seemed good, but then, so did playing with Steve's dog.

"Perfect," he commented, watching her pour out the pudding cups.

Now they had twenty whole minutes before they got to eat. He frowned, folding his arms and thinking. "I don't know," he said. "We could go in the back and play with Shadow... or we could just find somewhere to sit. That sounds low key enough for me right now."

"Or," Miku said, adjusting the heat on the stove so that the water wouldn't boil, "we could sit with Shadow." She liked his dog; cute and black, but too big to ever get along with Ruri.

Not that Ruri was anywhere. "Though, I guess we should sit close; I don't want the pudding to be ruined."

Steve's face lit up at that suggestion. "Yeah! Great idea! I'll go get her from outside and make sure she's calmed down... so she doesn't jump on you."

"I'm not worried about that." Not this time, anyway. "Shadow-chan is cute and sweet. Shall I move the clothes from the couch?" Miku asked, and eyed the half-pile still there. Mocking her.

He smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, sure. You can just throw them on the other chair," he said. "Be right back!"

He slipped out the back door, through the sliding glass and out into the yard, where there was the jingle of dog tags. Shadow, a big, furry black mutt came darting out of her doghouse, barking excitedly and rushing up to her master. It was always a little bittersweet seeing the virtual recreation of his dog... but it was always wonderful to see her anyway, and Steve gave her an enthusiastic scratch on the head, which eventually devolved into rubbing her belly as she laid in the grass like a lump.

"Come on, girl! Miku wants to sit with you too!" he said, and whistled. Shadow leapt to her feet and followed Steve inside, where she raced up to greet Miku with the same excitement.

Miku had cleared off the couch, and as soon as she heard the tell-tale sound of dog nails scratching along a the floor, she turned around, "Shadow-chan!" Miku's chirp was cut off by the sudden weight of dog paws on her shoulders, and the dog and the girl landed heavily on the couch. "Oof! Shadow-chan, don't--your tongue tickles--"

She tilted her head back as far as she could to escape Shadow's doggy kisses. "Steve! Help!"

"Easy girl, easy!" Steve laughed, grabbing the big dog by the shoulders and pulling her down off the couch. Once she was back on the floor, he slid behind her and plopped onto the couch himself, putting his arm over Miku-- and using the other one to block Shadow from hitting them in the face as she leapt up onto the couch, laying across their laps.

"Hi, Shadow," he said. "I think she wants some attention, maybe..."

Miku leaned into Steve, and patted Shadow's back affectionately, "Maybe just a little." She was quiet for a few minutes, "I'm glad that Dr. McNinja is back, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am," he replied. "He was always one of the doctors I liked best... and he really saved our butts back there when that stupid Nightmare King was still around." McNinja was a good guy. Even if Steve had a sinking suspicious that "McNinja" could not possibly be a real name.

Miku touched her throat, and wrinkled her nose at the memory. "Yes, he did. I don't think we ever really thanked him for that, did we?" She distinctly remembered being to fearful to breathe at the time. And when things had finally cooled down, and the day was saved, nothing and nothing. Things went on as usual for the meatship. Still, Miku couldn't allow the past ungratefulness to go unfixed.

"I did for both of us," Steve reassured her, leaning his head against her shoulder. "Still... even if I didn't, I know he knows we were grateful."

McNinja was even more pleased to hear that Steve and Miku were still together. He didn't want to say that part, though, because Miku would clearly be embarrassed about it.

"You did? Oh good!" Still, she'd have to send him a bento, or something good and healthy that wasn't Stacy's grey goop. Miku played with Steve's hair as she thought.

"Don't let us fall asleep, Steve; I don't want to accidentally ruin the pudding because we were too comfortable to get up." Miku laughed a little bit and patted Shadow's side. "Have you given any thought to who you might be voting for for the council?"

He shrugged his shoulders, reaching down to pat Shadow as well. The dog was splayed out in a truly dramatic fashion, clearly enjoying all the love she was soaking up.

"Would it be bad if I said I don't really care?" he muttered. "All those guys are basically the same to me. I don't know any of them."

"A little obtuse of you, maybe, but not bad. I don't really know anyone this go around either." Miku stretched her legs out, and wiggled her toes in her pink stockings. "I guess I'll just read what they have to say and make a good decision based on that. It's important to make your voice known, Steve."

Steve grumbled under his breath.

"I don't need my voice known. Nobody listens to it anyway." Ah, voting apathy.

"I listen. And I bet other people would too." Miku sighed at him and patted Shadow, so that she could get up to check on the pudding. "You just have to say what you want to be heard."

"Nobody wants to hear what I have to say, though," he pointed out, and beginning to feel like a huge cynical jerk, decided he didn't really want to elaborate on that. He always tried to put on a more sunshiney outlook for Miku, even if he didn't believe any of it at all anymore. No matter how much he'd like to.

"I don't know. I don't need anyone to hear my opinions anyway. I'm just a face in the crowd and I kind of like it that way."

"Oh," Miku replied, moving towards the kitchen. "I see." It was probably the least expressive phrase in Miku's lexicon. She decided that she didn't like it, but at least understood wanting to be part of the mob and not stand out.

She'd never liked standing out much, either. But Steve wasn't here, and he was smart and could even be funny when he was relaxed enough. It just seemed a shame that he preferred anonymity. Miku watched the pudding, to make sure it wouldn't boil over, and started up on the remaining dishes in the sink.

He knew when she was soft-spoken like that, it was her accepting something quietly that she didn't like. Steve was of the theory that Miku would never argue with him about anything that she didn't have to, so her resigned acceptance of things was her way of avoiding putting him on the spot.

"If you're anonymous, then you have more peace, you know?" he said. "You're not getting called on all the time to do things. We can do whatever we like because we're not in the spotlight."

And if he was a face in the crowd, nobody would target him or try to use him. That alone was worth it to Steve.

"But then you also have to accept something you don't agree with, too," said the Master Deflector and Most Passive of the Passives. "So if something is 'stupid' or you 'dislike' it, you have to go along with it anyway, because you didn't say anything." There it was, that's what had bothered her.

"At least if you say something, then they know, don't they?"

"Yeah... I guess," Steve muttered. "But that doesn't mean they'll listen anyway."

He grabbed a dish towel to start helping her dry the rest of them, not really wanting to point out that there was a dishwasher right below her. Or that they could just blink the dishes out of existence in here. "I guess you're right," he sighed. "I don't know."

Oh, she'd seen the dishwasher -- and then promptly ignored it. Rei had once bought a dishwasher, too, thinking to make Miku's clean up time easier.

Miku briefly recalled the, 'thank you, but no thank you' conversation afterward. She was silent for a moment, and then leaned her head on his shoulder. The pudding was done and so she borrowed the end of Steve's dishtowel for a moment, and started the work of pulling them out of the hot water carefully.

"I don't think it's a question of who is right or wrong, though. I think..." Miku trailed off and let the sensoriums speed-chill the pudding so she could carefully loosen it from sides and put it on the little serving plates. "Maybe it's just a matter of saying your opinion? I'm not sure what I'm saying now." She sighed and smiled at him.

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Pudding. [Closed]

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