What we do in the Dark

Chapter Three

He placed it on my lap and smiled. "Wow Zev, this looks great." He actually did a really good job.

"Thank you. I'm not gonna lie though, I did get those pancakes from the freezer. I tried to make them from scratch but... yeah let's not get into that, I'm glad you think they look good." He smiled with his eyes shut.

"They do. Um, what are you eating, though?" I was just curious.

"Oh mine's in the kitchen I'll go get it, I just wanted to give you yours first." That's very nice of him.

He turned on his heel and went into the kitchen to get his own food.

He came back carrying a less impressive-looking plate of pancakes, they were more burnt and his overall plate aesthetic was, well, a mess. Not to be rude, I just feel bad that he gave me all the nice ones.

He sat down next to me. "Dig in, what are you waiting for?"

"You." I looked at the beautiful setup he gave me, then at the less appealing setup, he gave himself.

"Oh well, there's no need for that. Eat." He picked up his fork. "How's your hand feeling." He gestured to my bandaged hand.

"It feels okay." It didn't hurt so I guess that good. It would suck if I had sprained or broken something. I focused over to Zev's plate of pancakes. "Zev why'd you give yourself the burnt ones?" I shifted on the layer of plush blankets I was sitting on.

He looked over at me. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," he laughed nervously, looking back at his plate. "Well the second try, you know after the whole make them from scratch thing didn't work, also didn't really go as planned. But the third one kinda... did. Ok, maybe not but they turned out the best, so I gave them to you." He looked at me and smiled.

"You sure, it's ok?" I gave him a skeptical look.

"You always give me your best-baked goods, so I wanted to do the same. You never give me burnt food, so why should I give you any. Only the best for my best buddy." He turned back to his food and started to cut the pancakes into bite sizes.

I didn't say anything else about the topic. I didn't want to bother him about it. After all, it was already so nice of him to do this. I'm not a bossy person and unless it's causing him physical or emotional harm, otherwise I'll let him do whatever he feels is right.

We sat eating behind Zev's couch facing the closed curtains that were still allowing quite a lot of light through. We didn't say much, just ate.

I don't think Zev can't cook or bake, I think he can but it's just a disaster whenever he does. He's slightly messy. Well slightly may be an understatement. Not many things he has cooked end up tasting funky. Most taste decent. Not to be critical because I know he tries, but the problem I find with the food he tries to make is that it's very plain or overly spicy. He can't seem to find a good middle ground for spices. One time he cooked us some fried chicken, but he spilt the pepper and didn't think much of it. My British ancestry couldn't handle it. Even Zev who likes spicy food teared up.

We finished up breakfast and Zev took our dishes to the kitchen to wash. I didn't even bother to ask if he needed help this time, I just let him do his thing.

We ended up chilling for a few hours. Playing video games, watching movies and anime. I even read more of my book while Zev played on his Nintendo Switch.

It was now well after lunch, considering we slept in and that you could say we skipped lunch. Spoiling our appetite with some of the sweets I brought Zev.

Zev was sat next to me on the couch. "Jasper?" Zev stopped playing on his switch and looked over at me.

I looked up from my book and met his blue eyes staring at me through his glasses. "Yeah?" He looked at me nervously.