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[ The Black Cat Household takes in more strays... If Toki is gone by the time Kido returns, she doesn't have to know. ]

Sucks that you'll have to for the next week too. [ It's great being free. ]

Are we heading straight home today, or is there anything you need to pick up while we're out?

We can go straight home.

[ No more social stuff... he just wants to go home and be dead for a little bit. ]

That's me... the working class...

[ What happened to his pinpointing booth... That had potential to be lucrative.

Kido's relieved to hear that they won't be stopping anywhere, though, because she also just wants to go home and be dead, so despite Terry's potentially aching feet, she takes his hand to lead him home. ]

Then, let's go.

[ It does, but he's volunteering for that murder fine, so... it's still closed until further notice. He'll probably open it back up when things are less hectic. He holds Kido's hand and interlaces their fingers. ]

Yeah, let's go home.

[ It's a normal walk at a normal pace and Terry looks up at the sky from time to time. It's nice. Why do we keep raising shit like sad flags, Card. I'm sad.

Anyway, they reach home and Terry unlocks the door. Sometimes he wonders if he should take up therapy again, but he's too fucking broke for that now. Most of his money go to house stuff. Yeah. ]

Should I cook tonight? Or did you want to?

[ The murder that Terry will never tell Kido about... She just sees him busy working all the time and then at the end of the month she's ??? what happened to your paycheck, Terrence?

Everything's sad all the time because, gestures at the two of them. Kido's hands are still freezing and she's just been wearing a shirt and two jackets for the past month and still it's cold. Winter is coming... ]

You take the night off and I'll cook. I'll just make something easy like soup... maybe with some sort of puff pastry on the side.

[ Warm things, essentially, that'll keep her in front of the stove and oven. ]

Oh, that sounds really good... I'll look forward to it.

[ mmmm warm soup on a chilly day sounds so nice. Terry goes to sit at the kitchen table with chairs (they have this now) while going through his phone for a bit.

Meanwhile, Jace/Orien slithers up on a chair and raises himself before greeting both Terry and Kido and goes to retreat into Terry's hoodie pocket for warmth. ]

[ It's going to take at least an hour, Terry. Go to your room.

At least Kido doesn't mind being watched when she's in the kitchen, digging out the hairtie from her pocket that she'd used at work too so she can get her hair out of the way, and then looking around for the apron. ]

If you have any preferences, now's the time to tell me. The soup will have a vegetable stock base and I'm thinking chicken with curry roux for the pastry. Otherwise, I'm going going to throw in whatever we have in the fridge.

Just nothing too spicy.

[ He has no preferences otherwise. He takes his glasses off, puts it on the table, and puts his head down on his arms while looking to the side. He kicks his feet a little in the air, relaxing from the tension that is Not Fitting Shoes and closes his eyes. He'll just take a nap here... ]

I know. I can do that.

[ It's like conforming to the palate of a child... but something mild and easy to eat makes for comfort food, and that's what she's going for. It ends up being about two hours, with the soup finished first and left to simmer while she gets the pastries in the oven, since it's the actual baking that'll be longer than the prep time. It'd be nice to serve the soup first and have the pastries fresh out of the oven so they're hot and flaky, but she's afraid Terry will pop the entire thing in his mouth at one time and then whine about burning his mouth. So both will have to be finished at the same time and then left to cool a little before serving, because cooking for Terry is like cooking for a child sometimes haha.

She sighs and sits down on the kitchen floor, back against the warmth of the oven. There's a timer somewhere on the counter top that'll tell her when it's done baking, and then she'll go from there. ]

[ Terry isn't sure how long he slept, but he wakes up when the timer starts ticking. He yawns and stretches, looking around. He gets off the chair and goes to sit next to Kido and rests his head on her shoulder. It's so warm and toasty...

Meanwhile, this is too warm for Jace's tastes, so he slithers out of Terry's pocket to rest elsewhere. ]

[ It's warm and toasty and Kido finally feels like she has normal body temperature... She's tired enough to have dozed off by then too, not waking when Terry sits next to her, but the timer alarm is loud enough that she startles awake, and if Terry's not fast enough, he's going to get his head jolted up when her shoulders jump and she turns in surprise to see Terry there. ]

[ Terry... is not fast enough. He was relaxing so much that his head jolts up when Kido turns in surprise and ends up biting his own tongue. He covers his mouth and nearly curls up. ]

Hey, what happened?

[ She places a hand on Terry's shoulder— then stands so she can turn off the alarm and also the oven, take a second to peer inside to make sure the pastries aren't burnt, and then go back to comforting Terry. ]

Are you okay?

[ It's fine, it's fine... pastries can't be saved, but his tongue can. Terry holds up a hand to Kido and he gets up to go to the bathroom.

...

The sound of running water is heard and Terry takes a minute before coming back. ]

... I'm good. I just bit my tongue.

[ That was her thought process too. While Terry's out in the bathroom, Kido gets the pastries out and sets the rack on the counter so they can cool, throwing worried glances over her shoulder at the bathroom door all the while. ]

Is it bleeding? Let me see.

[ Kido: Nekogami, want to come out and heal him?
Nekogami: nah, he'll live ]

[ Terry sticks his tongue out and it... looks fine. ]

I cleaned and healed it already.

[ Nekogami doesn't give a fuck so that's why Terry has to stab himself with scissors every time. ]

[ Kido doesn't know of any healing ability Terry or Vassago have... but she gives him the benefit of the doubt and assumes he went to the bathroom so she doesn't see him eating a healing leaf or something. ]

That's good, then. Be more careful next time. [ As much as he can, anyways, when it's back to being Kido's fault he gets hurt again. ]

Are you good to eat? The soup's done, and I just took the pastry out of the oven, so we'll let that sit for ten minutes first so you don't abuse your tongue a second time today.

[ ...

Terry just states at her for a second before sitting down. ]

[ Kido, you saw his Shadow using those stupid scissors...

Anyway, he smiles. ]

Yeah, I can eat! I can't wait!

[ Why the hell would Terry keep around what Kido sees as a torture device?? As far as she knows, it's something the Shadow conjured up, like that charm axe Terry has no business owning either.

But anyways, it's soup. The base is made with kelp and diced mushrooms, and there's some root vegetables and cubes of tofu and a sprinkle of green onions she adds after dishing out two bowls, for color. The actual meal is the pastries, stuffed with chicken, potato, and curry, but Terry is banned from touching any of them until the ten minutes are up. There's enough for both Hibiki and Rei too, and if they don't eat it, it'll be good for tomorrow's lunch or something. ]

[ Because healers are never around when he needs them, so he's gotta do this shit himself.

He looks down at the food and ahhh, everything looks so nice and delicious. His strong sense of smell makes him feel like he can taste it already. Terry is hungry...

This is like the marshmallow test... ]

[ He should just go forage for magical leaves instead of doing the stabby thing. They won't help for all situations, though, like in the case of stuffing his mouth too full that he chokes.

He gets a weird look for his enthusiasm while Kido blows on a cube of tofu on her spoon, but she's pretty happy about people enjoying her food anyways. With him and Rei, there's hardly ever any leftovers and they get to eat new stuff every day. ]

[ Terry got cursed by Terrence by having scars that will never heal, so nothing will help that anymore... rip. He probably looks like a patched up frankenstein's monster under his clothes or something, though there's still some on his hands and face too. It's no big deal.

After waiting for a little over ten minutes, Terry starts eating. He still likes the food when it's warm, so this is perfect for his tastes. He sounds very pleased with the food as he eats at a normal pace. ]

I wish I can keep eating things like this every day...

That's a pretty easy wish to grant. I don't mind cooking for you every day, but you're in charge of getting the ingredients for everything.

[ aka paying for them, and also carrying everything home ]

You look happy when you eat. I sort of miss seeing that.

I don't eat as much as Rei, but I still like eating. Why wouldn't I be happy to eat something you made?

[ He'd eat her failures too... ]

Don't I do that already though?

[ Guess they're already married. ]

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